Give the manager more time

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Originally Posted by Chicken Balti Pie

We should have signed Mair. He showed enough last year to suggest he was on par if not better than Slocombe but lacked experience. He's certainly better than Stone

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Before Wembley I only remember him playing a couple of cup games (FA Trophy?) and being widely ridiculed on here. Could be wrong though.

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Originally Posted by slack_pie

The problem is, if we continue with the possession-based style, is it possible to find defenders at L2 level who are comfortable on the ball, good at defending, and up for the physical battle? You'd imagine that players that possess all of those qualities would be playing football higher up the pyramid.

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Absolutely this.

The system so far has been to recruit players that have either just or in the last few years been released by a Premier League academy. This often means they are decent on the ball but can lack the grit required for league 2 (and the NL - but got away with it due to the quality of the opposition).

A bit of a re-think might be required or we may need to splash some cash on a couple of defenders in the summer.

It’s a fair question.
First thoughts - it was going swimmingly, riding high, until losing a key cog in the machine, and not being able to replace him in a timely manner.

Then, can we imagine the owners and all the other leaders of the club getting together and deciding ‘right, let’s go in a completely different direction?’ Or would they be more likely to look for solutions within their model, even if that means big changes in personnel over time?

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Originally Posted by the_anticlough

It’s a fair question.
First thoughts - it was going swimmingly, riding high, until losing a key cog in the machine, and not being able to replace him in a timely manner.

Then, can we imagine the owners and all the other leaders of the club getting together and deciding ‘right, let’s go in a completely different direction?’ Or would they be more likely to look for solutions within their model, even if that means big changes in personnel over time?

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Why change a system that has been so successful? - just needs re-adjusting to suit L2. When watching so many successful clubs you can see that Notts are playing the modern game. Long may it continue for me anyway I doubt the Bros would want to change their model probably, they would rather change their club.

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Originally Posted by the_anticlough

It’s a fair question.
First thoughts - it was going swimmingly, riding high, until losing a key cog in the machine, and not being able to replace him in a timely manner.

Then, can we imagine the owners and all the other leaders of the club getting together and deciding ‘right, let’s go in a completely different direction?’ Or would they be more likely to look for solutions within their model, even if that means big changes in personnel over time?

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Look for solutions within their model, and rightly so. It served us brilliantly last season, and it did reasonably well at the start of this season, but at the moment we've hit a wall and some weaknesses are being exposed by opponents who are consistently of a better quality at this level. This is perfectly normal. If you aspire to move up through the levels, you'll hit barriers like this many times along the way.

We've got some outstanding attacking players, and many who are very good on the ball. We don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater, we've just got to gradually add some grit and know-how to what we've already got, particularly in defensive areas where I think the obsession with possession has perhaps blinded us to the frailties of some of our previous recruits. We need some players who are at their best when we're not in posssession, to win the ball back and give it to the ones who can play.

I already see signs that we're beginning to address this problem with more combative players like Robertson and Macari, but we'll need more, including a bit of grizzled experience and height in the centre-half positions. Jaden Warner has height, but he hasn't yet accumulated the experience to dominate anything. Several times over the years when a Notts team has been struggling a bit, at least part of the answer has proven to be a really big, dominant, experienced centre half - Colin Foster, Anders Jacobsen, Gary Strodder, Graeme Lee being examples. I think we might need that again.

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Originally Posted by BanjoPie

Why change a system that has been so successful? - just needs re-adjusting to suit L2. When watching so many successful clubs you can see that Notts are playing the modern game. Long may it continue for me anyway I doubt the Bros would want to change their model probabthey would rather change their club.

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isn't it the definition of madness - doing the same thing over and over even though you know it's going to fail.

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Originally Posted by drillerpie

Before Wembley I only remember him playing a couple of cup games (FA Trophy?) and being widely ridiculed on here. Could be wrong though.

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He played a bunch of games when Slocombe was injured again just before Wrexham away and had a couple of clean sheets and a penalty save. Seemed assured but Slocombe came back in for Wrexham as it was a crutch game

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Originally Posted by drillerpie

Before Wembley I only remember him playing a couple of cup games (FA Trophy?) and being widely ridiculed on here. Could be wrong though.

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He had a ‘mare against Maidstone in the FA Trophy, but was excellent at Altrincham when we won 2-0 and he saved a penalty.

I guess the new ethos is to try to buy players rather than bring them in on loan, but I’d have been much happier with Archie in goal this season than either Stone or Slocombe.

I see young Brooks is getting mixed reviews from Rochdale fans on Twitter - complaints about his distribution and ability to come for crosses. He did save a penalty last night, but I’ll be surprised if he’s our first choice keeper next season.

Careful mate, some on here seem to think that Brooks is the new Gordon Banks.

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Originally Posted by Chicken Balti Pie

He played a bunch of games when Slocombe was injured again just before Wrexham away and had a couple of clean sheets and a penalty save. Seemed assured but Slocombe came back in for Wrexham as it was a crutch game

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Ah ok, apologies in that case. I remember Brooks having a bit of a run but not Mair - my mistake!