⚽Match Thread vs. Oldham Athletic 01.01.23 [NL]

[optipez]

Apart from Cameron, all other players have been rotated and tested already this season. We don't really have that option with Slocombe and he has had dips in form every season he's been here.

Rested, that should have said.

[laddo]

Yes his lack of physicality is a weakness, as is hia over defensive side of the game, both are very understandable.

But I'd say Nemane was better than just decent yesterday, I'd say he was our obvious man of the match.

I'd play TAR personally but is he not playing because of a knock/minor injury or has he been dropped?

Either way if Nemane or TAR is your second choice, your back up it says you are in a strong position at RWB.

[TSANHO]

Yes his lack of physicality is a weakness, as is hia over defensive side of the game, both are very understandable.

But I'd say Nemane was better than just decent yesterday, I'd say he was our obvious man of the match.

I'd play TAR personally but is he not playing because of a knock/minor injury or has he been dropped?

Either way if Nemane or TAR is your second choice, your back up it says you are in a strong position at RWB.

I wouldn’t say he was our MOTM. He was largely anonymous in the first half and one or two moments he did get on the ball he opted to run into congested areas and lose the ball or fall over. In the second half he twice did what I’m always crying out for him to do…beat his man down the line…and put the ball in. Yes, it created two goals, but they were two moments out of the 90+. He also needlessly gave away the free kick that resulted in the penalty. I’m at risk of sounding like Durham I know, but he worries me a lot when the opposition have the ball, TAR doesn’t.

He is indeed a good back up, especially if he’s in the mood to attack defenders but he is inconsistent in doing so….that’s what we get at this level though I suppose, inconsistency, otherwise he’d be playing further up the pyramid.

I may sound like a broken record, but Palmer was my MOTM again. He nearly always is!

[keldsyke]

Wrexham 1-0 up at Solihull (19 mins) Live on Streaming devices 🙂

[BigFatPie]

Slocombe needs proper competition for his place he has always had a mistake in him and each season has had a run where he loses confidence leading to poor choices and points dropped. He's lost his spring, if we end up in the playoffs and a penalty shoot out we'll lose it.
LW has done brilliantly this season, getting almost everything right but I am a bit concerned that he's dropped the Langstaff and Scott two up front for basically a six man midfield. Together they score lots of goals, separately they look less dangerous, Langstaff especially looks better with a partner.
Our best part of the game was when they were both on the pitch with RR just behind. That's a real handful for defences, the movement pulls them all over the place, creating space.
Bostock is very left footed, not very quick and if we're not careful he'll morph into a Mark Fotheringham / Stanley Aborah / Andre Boucaud kind of player who look good but don't create very much, always playing safe from very deep.
We're only halfway through the season, too early to be cautious trying to eke out the points and manage the games. We're a far better team on the front foot attacking teams and being dynamic.
It's a fine balance, most seasons we'd be 6pts clear on our form but this isn't panning out as a normal season us, Wrexham and Chesterfield are all averaging over 2pts pg which is unusual and ultra competitive.

Great post, bang on. I’m still gutted about yesterday, partially because of the dropped points, but also because it would have been great to win a tight game at a proper ground with a proper away end. Let’s hope we do it at Chesterfield instead.

[Elite_Pie]

As others have said, Chicksen didn’t offer a decent final ball all game on Boxing Day.

Strongly disagree. There was a 10 minute spell in the second half where Chicksen put 3 or 4 great balls into the Oldham box. It's amazing that we didn't score from at least one of them.

[The_Don_ORiordan]

I’m less concerned about the team selections yesterday, LW will need to keep things fresh.

I am however very concerned about our lack of threat from corners which is not being addressed.

In fact it’s getting to the point when I feel (reality or not) we are more likely to concede from our own corners (and a counter attack) than score.

We seem to have three types of corner.

The ones which hit the first defender (and are too low or short)
The short ones which get passed up the line until they go back to Slocombe.
The short ones which are passed up the line, and across and are intercepted and result in an opposition attack.

The lack of threat from the ridiculous number of corners we have had in the past few games is staggering. Score or not, we appear to pose literally no threat.

[Elite_Pie]

The ones which hit the first defender (and are too low or short)
The short ones which get passed up the line until they go back to Slocombe.
The short ones which are passed up the line, and across and are intercepted and result in an opposition attack.

The lack of threat from the ridiculous number of corners we have had in the past few games is staggering. Score or not, we appear to pose literally no threat.

That's spot on. We seem to treat a corner as a chance to play it backwards, then build from the halfway line again rather than put the ball directly in the opposition box. I just don't see the logic in it.

[laddo]

I wouldn’t say he was our MOTM. He was largely anonymous in the first half and one or two moments he did get on the ball he opted to run into congested areas and lose the ball or fall over. In the second half he twice did what I’m always crying out for him to do…beat his man down the line…and put the ball in. Yes, it created two goals, but they were two moments out of the 90+. He also needlessly gave away the free kick that resulted in the penalty. I’m at risk of sounding like Durham I know, but he worries me a lot when the opposition have the ball, TAR doesn’t.

He is indeed a good back up, especially if he’s in the mood to attack defenders but he is inconsistent in doing so….that’s what we get at this level though I suppose, inconsistency, otherwise he’d be playing further up the pyramid.

I may sound like a broken record, but Palmer was my MOTM again. He nearly always is!

Yeah but Palmer is the obvious and easy answer most games due to his natural talent and style of play, keeping things simple but effective.

We all want it to happen but one of the hardest things for a wide man to do is beat a defender and put in a ball that finds a team mate and results in a goal. He did it twice.

It was the complete opposite to Chicksen on Boxing Day who benefited from all too easy 1-2s and movement off the ball and then struggled to a) pick the right option b) find a man. And he had many opportunities to do either/both. Thankfully this is a rarity for Notts this season.

Nemane is a concern defensively (why wouldn't he be this season?), he can definitely be inconsistent but he's not rubbish (or even close) and has been regularly selected on merit.

On a separate note I am in total agreement with Don, these corners need a lot of work. Even with undersized options in the middle the production is very poor this season whether we aim near post, or take it short.

[TSANHO]

Strongly disagree. There was a 10 minute spell in the second half where Chicksen put 3 or 4 great balls into the Oldham box. It's amazing that we didn't score from at least one of them.

Not one of those balls got past the first defender. He got into great positions and linked up well with Austin but final delivery was poor.