Notts and The Matrix…

[TSANHO]

I was talking last night with a friend about Notts and our chances of promotion this season. He was asking if we’d go up this year, and I answered that I doubted it because ‘we’re just not good enough’. However, when I started to think about it I realised that we are good enough, and that we have amongst the squad enough quality players to bring success this season….so why the doubts about us not being good enough?

This thought reminded me of the scene in the Matrix where Neo visit’s the Oracle to find out if he was ‘the one’. The conversation went like this…

Oracle:
OK, now I'm supposed to say, "Hmm, that's interesting, but..." then you say...

Neo:
..."but what?"

Oracle:
But... you already know what I'm going to tell you.

Neo:
I'm not The One.

Oracle:
Sorry, kid. You got the gift, but it looks like you're waiting for something.

Neo:
What?

Oracle:
Your next life, maybe. Who knows? That's the way these things go.

….

It reminded me of Notts because the squad is so gifted yet look like they’re waiting for something to happen to give them the belief they can go on and smash this league. We have top players for this level throughout the squad, Slocombe (whatever anyone says), Lacey, Cameron, Palmer, Roberts, Ruben, and Wootton and maybe even add Vincent to that list.

IB has done a good job coaching and improving these players, but how does he make them realise they are ‘The Ones’? What are they waiting for? Will they realise too late come the seasons end that they were good enough all along and there was nothing to be scared of?

Perhaps they are subconsciously waiting for next season….maybe they just need to mature as a team, like a fine wine getting ready to be popped open.

[jackal2]

The squad during the Munto season was obviously very strong, but that strength only came to the fore in the second half of the season, partly because of Steve Cotterill's impact but probably also because other teams with less squad depth stumbled a little bit. Our 'surge' really started from February onwards, while earlier in the season we only hovered in and around the play-offs.

I don't think our current squad is as deep for this league as the Munto one was for League Two (because obviously it was assembled with a ridiculously large budget) but I'd say we are amongst the four strongest squads in the league, with not much to choose between them. Wrexham are probably the ones most likely to go on a real surge post-winter with their Munto-eque resources, whilst Chesterfield's chances will depend mainly on Tshimanga not getting injured.

Burchnall's squad isn't huge, but the quality is fairly even and players are reasonably interchangeable in most positions. As with Chessie, the most difficult player to replace for us is probably our centre-forward Wootton. At this level you definitely need a bit of luck, in terms of few or no injuries, to sustain a title challenge, but we're in amongst the contenders at this stage.

[matt_magpie]

I was talking last night with a friend about Notts and our chances of promotion this season. He was asking if we’d go up this year, and I answered that I doubted it because ‘we’re just not good enough’. However, when I started to think about it I realised that we are good enough, and that we have amongst the squad enough quality players to bring success this season….so why the doubts about us not being good enough?

This thought reminded me of the scene in the Matrix where Neo visit’s the Oracle to find out if he was ‘the one’. The conversation went like this…

Oracle:
OK, now I'm supposed to say, "Hmm, that's interesting, but..." then you say...

Neo:
..."but what?"

Oracle:
But... you already know what I'm going to tell you.

Neo:
I'm not The One.

Oracle:
Sorry, kid. You got the gift, but it looks like you're waiting for something.

Neo:
What?

Oracle:
Your next life, maybe. Who knows? That's the way these things go.

….

It reminded me of Notts because the squad is so gifted yet look like they’re waiting for something to happen to give them the belief they can go on and smash this league. We have top players for this level throughout the squad, Slocombe (whatever anyone says), Lacey, Cameron, Palmer, Roberts, Ruben, and Wootton and maybe even add Vincent to that list.

IB has done a good job coaching and improving these players, but how does he make them realise they are ‘The Ones’? What are they waiting for? Will they realise too late come the seasons end that they were good enough all along and there was nothing to be scared of?

Perhaps they are subconsciously waiting for next season….maybe they just need to mature as a team, like a fine wine getting ready to be popped open.

Add Brindley to that list too
The reasons to doubt for some are

Mega money being spent by others
Probably think IB is not good/experienced enough
Cant play decent football to get out of this league
1 auto spot
It’s Notts, it never goes right.

As for the players I think they do believe. Chesterfield and Boreham Wood have had great starts, when you actually look at our points total it’s pretty decent and I would 100% have taken it at the start of the season. There’s always doubters, the ones after that patch that said we’ve had an easy run, see what happens when we play Stockport, Grimsby, Boreham Wood etc, we’re in the chase and that’s all most of us probably wanted at this stage.

[queenslandpie]

The squad during the Munto season was obviously very strong, but that strength only came to the fore in the second half of the season, partly because of Steve Cotterill's impact but probably also because other teams with less squad depth stumbled a little bit. Our 'surge' really started from February onwards, while earlier in the season we only hovered in and around the play-offs.

I don't think our current squad is as deep for this league as the Munto one was for League Two (because obviously it was assembled with a ridiculously large budget) but I'd say we are amongst the four strongest squads in the league, with not much to choose between them. Wrexham are probably the ones most likely to go on a real surge post-winter with their Munto-eque resources, whilst Chesterfield's chances will depend mainly on Tshimanga not getting injured.

Burchnall's squad isn't huge, but the quality is fairly even and players are reasonably interchangeable in most positions. As with Chessie, the most difficult player to replace for us is probably our centre-forward Wootton. At this level you definitely need a bit of luck, in terms of few or no injuries, to sustain a title challenge, but we're in amongst the contenders at this stage.

We were also extremely lucky with injuries. The quality side of the squad was very small. After you got rid of Hughes and Rogers you were left with Delroy Facey and Edin Badinbuy or whatever the Notts fans christened him. A few injuries that season and it may well have been a very different picture.

[durhampie]

I was talking last night with a friend about Notts and our chances of promotion this season. He was asking if we’d go up this year, and I answered that I doubted it because ‘we’re just not good enough’. However, when I started to think about it I realised that we are good enough, and that we have amongst the squad enough quality players to bring success this season….so why the doubts about us not being good enough?

This thought reminded me of the scene in the Matrix where Neo visit’s the Oracle to find out if he was ‘the one’. The conversation went like this…

Oracle:
OK, now I'm supposed to say, "Hmm, that's interesting, but..." then you say...

Neo:
..."but what?"

Oracle:
But... you already know what I'm going to tell you.

Neo:
I'm not The One.

Oracle:
Sorry, kid. You got the gift, but it looks like you're waiting for something.

Neo:
What?

Oracle:
Your next life, maybe. Who knows? That's the way these things go.

….

It reminded me of Notts because the squad is so gifted yet look like they’re waiting for something to happen to give them the belief they can go on and smash this league. We have top players for this level throughout the squad, Slocombe (whatever anyone says), Lacey, Cameron, Palmer, Roberts, Ruben, and Wootton and maybe even add Vincent to that list.

IB has done a good job coaching and improving these players, but how does he make them realise they are ‘The Ones’? What are they waiting for? Will they realise too late come the seasons end that they were good enough all along and there was nothing to be scared of?

Perhaps they are subconsciously waiting for next season….maybe they just need to mature as a team, like a fine wine getting ready to be popped open.

We didn't look that gifted against a bunch of part timers on Saturday night.... The only one to look that part was the lad from Forest..

[kill_the_drum]

How often do teams absolutely smash a league?
There’s several clubs in this league that can get promoted and we’re one of them. Unfortunately it’s not just about quality and ability. You also need a bit of luck.
We absolutely shouldn’t have lost 3 games on the spin but it’s undeniable that we were very unlucky to virtually lose our back line at the same time. If that hadn’t happened I’m almost certain we’re at least 1 point clear at the top of the league right now.

[SwalePie]

How often do teams absolutely smash a league?
There’s several clubs in this league that can get promoted and we’re one of them. Unfortunately it’s not just about quality and ability. You also need a bit of luck.
We absolutely shouldn’t have lost 3 games on the spin but it’s undeniable that we were very unlucky to virtually lose our back line at the same time. If that hadn’t happened I’m almost certain we’re at least 1 point clear at the top of the league right now.

Provided the season continues to and runs to the end there is plenty of time for a lot of twists and turns, unexpected results etc. What price Kings Lynn to beat Cheaterfield or their defeat by Chelsea disrupts their confidence (Like our Swansea hammering)? Perhaps Tshimanga breaks another fingernail in training (further Covid cases adding to the apparent 750 or so 'injured first team players' they already have) causing them to postpone another big home game creating a further fixture pile-up? Notts to go on a 10 match unbeaten run starting on Boxing Day? Wootton and Ruben are sold and the Mitchell/Sam combination comes shockingly good for the remainder of the season (a stretch I know but not impossible!)?

These things happen in footie. Fingers crossed we can be the beneficiaries for a change.

[durhampie]

Provided the season continues to and runs to the end there is plenty of time for a lot of twists and turns, unexpected results etc. What price Kings Lynn to beat Cheaterfield or their defeat by Chelsea disrupts their confidence (Like our Swansea hammering)? Perhaps Tshimanga breaks another fingernail in training (further Covid cases adding to the apparent 750 or so 'injured first team players' they already have) causing them to postpone another big home game creating a further fixture pile-up? Notts to go on a 10 match unbeaten run starting on Boxing Day? Wootton and Ruben are sold and the Mitchell/Sam combination comes shockingly good for the remainder of the season (a stretch I know but not impossible!)?

These things happen in footie. Fingers crossed we can be the beneficiaries for a change.

I think you will find the odds of that pair coming good are about the same as San Marino winning the world cup..

[i961pie]

Provided the season continues to and runs to the end there is plenty of time for a lot of twists and turns, unexpected results etc. What price Kings Lynn to beat Cheaterfield or their defeat by Chelsea disrupts their confidence (Like our Swansea hammering)? Perhaps Tshimanga breaks another fingernail in training (further Covid cases adding to the apparent 750 or so 'injured first team players' they already have) causing them to postpone another big home game creating a further fixture pile-up? Notts to go on a 10 match unbeaten run starting on Boxing Day? Wootton and Ruben are sold and the Mitchell/Sam combination comes shockingly good for the remainder of the season (a stretch I know but not impossible!)?

These things happen in footie. Fingers crossed we can be the beneficiaries for a change.

You were doing well until the Sam and Mitchell bit