⚽ Match Thread vs. Chesterfield FC 20.08.22 [NL]

[jackal2]

I think the booing comes from the style of play, which was in evidence last season when IB was in charge, who showed his displeasure to the booing at the Dover game. I would imagine until these people force the manager/owners/club to abandon this style of play we can expect to hear more boos, unless we win every game.

I think there is a growing undercurrent of dissatisfaction with excessive amount of time we spend on the ball in the defensive third of the field and I must say I can understand why. It's a stressful and unpleasant thing to watch, because we look like we could make an error at any moment and sometimes do. We were lucky not to let at least two more goals in today from overplaying and losing the ball in ridiculous areas, and there's only so much kamikaze play fans can watch before they vocalise their exasperation.

You're right that this sentiment was building under Ian Burchnall last season and Luke Williams is a tad unlucky to have arrived when that frustration is really boiling over, but it could be a blessing in disguise if he realises early on that something needs to change. I genuinely don't think Notts fans are averse to seeing their team play good passing football, but they want to see it in the opponent's half of the field, not our own.

There was a former manager of ours present today whose style epitomised what it takes to win games and promotion at this level and in the Football League. His teams were built on solid, no nonsense defending and players imposing themselves physically on their opponents, but Warnock's teams also played some very entertaining football in the right areas of the park, and it was done with the purpose of getting the ball into the box as often as possible in the space of 90 minutes.

If Luke Williams can get this group of players playing something like that - and the beauty was in its simplicity - then we should be able to stop conceding so many silly goals and get a tremendous return from strikers like Langstaff and Scott, who will thrive on that quantity of service. These players can results if we start playing to their strengths instead of exposing their weaknesses.

[Elite_Pie]

You're right that this sentiment was building under Ian Burchnall last season and Luke Williams is a tad unlucky to have arrived when that frustration is really boiling over, but it could be a blessing in disguise if he realises early on that something needs to change.

Agreed, but the concern is will he be allowed to change it?

[MAD_MAGPIE]

I think there is a growing undercurrent of dissatisfaction with excessive amount of time we spend on the ball in the defensive third of the field and I must say I can understand why. It's a stressful and unpleasant thing to watch, because we look like we could make an error at any moment and sometimes do. We were lucky not to let at least two more goals in today from overplaying and losing the ball in ridiculous areas, and there's only so much kamikaze play fans can watch before they vocalise their exasperation.

You've hit the nail on the head for me in this paragraph. There is nothing wrong with trying to play football on the ground and passing it around but please can we do it in the oppositions half. I can also understand and get the discontent and sense of anxiety within the stands because as you say it's stressful when the opposition adopt the high press when we are passing and "recycling" it in our defensive third as one of it's key features is to put our defenders and goalkeeper under pressure and force them to make the error. So when an opposing player nearly intercepts a pass from a LB to CB or from GK to LB or any variation you want in our defensive third it feels like we are playing with fire. The thing is the high press tactic does need a lot of energy to sustain it for a full 90 min.

One thing I noticed yesterday was that on occasions we were also trying to play it out of our box when it was full of Chesterfield players and they had a corner or were playing in our defensive third. I get it but it puts us at risk of getting picked off if we are not careful and also stifles a quick counter attack. It's the national league just kick or head the ball out of our box. The Chesterfield No.5 with the blond hair and pony tail was just the type of big physical head it and kick central defender (like Ellis) that I'm talking about.

No wonder Notts is the most stressful team to support. How some of our older fans have lived to a ripe old age is one of life's great mysteries. Can we be enlightened by any over 60's on here.