Quote Originally Posted by jacobncfc View Post
Vaguely sensible thoughts:

- We started horribly, their press caught of us off guard and we nearly conceded twice in the opening ten

- We got to grips with it pretty quickly and I thought we were very good for the rest of the first half without quite creating anything clear

- The Cameron cock up was a nightmare because it allowed them to just sit back and defend

- Mitchell helped to change the game in our favour again because he disrupted the centre backs, largely by just pushing them about a bit, but it made a difference

- We need to be more willing to play the channel ball to Langstaff

I don’t think tonight is a disaster really and, if Cameron (who has mostly been a very solid pro for us) doesn’t make an absolute nightmare individual error I think we probably go on and win, but a few too many of the old problems have crept in since the opening day. Saturday is a big game, win that and it’s a decent start, lose and it’s a poor one.
My thoughts exactly, plus a few more.

With our current system we do not have the wing backs to rip into teams. Chicksen put in one cracking cross last night which Langstaff might well have scored from and Nemane consistently took on his opposite number in advanced positions and made a few threatening breakthroughs especially as the game wore on. I saw us at York and I thought that TAR was very poor, way behind Nemane in impact.

It was good to see Palmer back in the line up and instantly assured but JOB is his usual mix of energetic and erratic, and Francis gave the ball away in possession several times, at least twice leading to direct run ins on goal when he was in the screening position so that midfield 3 is not a creative powerhouse. I would definitely give Francis a chance to come good.

Put all this together and when we concede a sloppy goal it was easy for Gateshead to compress the game and make it hard. Having said that, the sustained effort from Notts to get back into the game was good to see, and even the last few minutes we tried to win it so I don't think that LW is an intentional draw specialist.

On the upside, Slocombe was assured, Palmer was very tidy, apart from the error Cameron & Bajrami were sound, Ruben was again the best player on the pitch.

Overall it was not the disaster some are talking about. If we can steadily improve from here, we should be OK.