NL v League 2

[matt_magpie]

I think most Notts fans are scarred from seasons past and any bad result dredges up all sort of bad memories and fears.

That said, we can't be naive either. There were clear signs towards the end of last season that we had problems at the back. Let's be honest, we were poor in both playoff games, and we'd have lost either to a half-decent side. The Stoke friendly was another eye-opener. Yet seemingly nothing has been done to fix our defensive problems.

Perhaps it was just a bad day at the office and we'll start shooting up the table over the coming weeks, but I have to say there are similarities to what happened under Nolan.

Of course you can't compare our current owners to Hardy, and Williams is clearly more professional and driven than Nolan was during that pre-season of doom. But even during the playoff season under Nolan, it was clear after a great start that there were problems. Those problems were never really addressed. Rather, they got bigger. And we all know what happened the following season.

I'm not saying the same thing will happen again. What I'm saying is if you continue to ignore obvious issues, those issues will eventually grow. Our defence needs sorting, either tactically or through new personnel. If we don't do that, we'll continue to get battered by teams who are good enough to take advantage of it.

That season there was a massive decline Jan onwards and then to try and get a manager to play a creative style when he was the extreme of long ball was never going to work and that was only the half of it.
That said I get what you’re saying, if we’re playing 3 at the back we need another top level defender at the very least, a lot depends on Tipton too.
We got promoted last season because we had high intensity and especially away from home. I didn’t see any of that yesterday, I think the occasion got on top of them and they didn’t show Sutton the respect they deserved.
LW will sort with the owners, they are both intelligent and both want success and they aren’t stupid enough to think Notts can coast it, that’s one positive from Hardy’s reign, the lesson even if you’re as big as Notts you’re not too big to go into non league football.

[Davy500]

That season there was a massive decline Jan onwards and then to try and get a manager to play a creative style when he was the extreme of long ball was never going to work and that was only the half of it.
That said I get what you’re saying, if we’re playing 3 at the back we need another top level defender at the very least, a lot depends on Tipton too.
We got promoted last season because we had high intensity and especially away from home. I didn’t see any of that yesterday, I think the occasion got on top of them and they didn’t show Sutton the respect they deserved.
LW will sort with the owners, they are both intelligent and both want success and they aren’t stupid enough to think Notts can coast it, that’s one positive from Hardy’s reign, the lesson even if you’re as big as Notts you’re not too big to go into non league football.

The reason for the decline from January , was Yates leaving, and Hardy failing to strenghtn in the January transfer window , whilst the other teams did