Highlights vs Wrexham

[magpie_mania]

To answer your question, by over-reacting to the post you misrepresented. Just who was saying it was a disastrous start?

Anyway, I spelt out how I think we can get the auto spot or top three. It's going to take separation from the pack and R and R firing on full cylinders is the blueprint for that

That would then shut up that young Wrexham Youtuber ...Liam Roberts...I think his name is. Talking about Notts in his match review he said 'they won't win the league' so casually and emphatically it rankled with me. Obviously it doesn't matter a jot what he thinks, but it kind of rang true after his lot had outplayed us, we failed to beat 10 men at home and a couple of areas of our team are looking less than great. Happy for all these teams/fans to think this way, knowing that we have the weapons to leave them in the dust

Thought the Wrexham guy on Magpie Circle last night was really good. Very fair.

[AllNottsAreWe]

I’m probably on the glass half empty side of pragmatism at the minute. A bit like Anticlough says, I want to see signs that we can go and dominate teams, I don’t think that is unacceptable.

This may be unpopular but I don’t think we played well against Wrexham at all. They dominated us. They forced their style and tempo on us and created far more opportunities than we did. Had we gone in at the break 2-0 down there couldn’t be any complaints…and had their ‘offside’ goal rightly stood and the effort that went narrowly wide actually gone in, that’s exactly what would have happened.

Of course, ifs, buts and maybes don’t mean anything in the league table but I was concerned, still, with our lack of midfield presence and how easy it is for the opposition to bypass it with such little effort. Neither Palmer (as tidy as he is) and especially Francis are going to strike fear into any combative midfield. All this, of course, puts an added strain on the defence.

To be fair to the defence they stood up well to most of the air borne attacks but they still looked very vulnerable trying to play out of their six yard box, it was scary stuff at times. It may be unfair to use the phrase ‘polishing a turd’ but that’s what the score line did to our performance the other night.

At the end of last season we had glimpses of what we thought an IB team was all about, high pressing, winning the ball back early, plying in the opposition’s half, harrying the opposition and moving the ball quickly and purposely…and more often than not, forward.

Against Wrexham we looked more like the team that Ardley left behind than anything resembling what we thought we were going to see this term. Don’t forget, before the sending off, Torquay were also managing to dominate us and put us under pressure…the same Torquay who we’re smashed by both Woking and Altrincham at home. We couldn’t beat them with an extra man for 65 minutes.

Say what you want about gelling, being unbeaten, good signs in defence etc etc. The signs are there for all to see, this isn’t at present a promotion challenging side.

Agree with all that. I wish I had written it .

I think we will make the playoffs but nothing more.

We (the fans) seem very hopeful and reliant that R and R are going to be on their game, every game, which isn't going to happen.

Cal undoubtedly has plenty of talent but all this talk of the best player in the league, that's based on what exactly ?
And if it proves to be true he won't be at Notts anyway beyond this season.

Still think we need more of a midfield presence.

[the_anticlough]

We (the fans) seem very hopeful and reliant that R and R are going to be on their game, every game, which isn't going to happen.
.

And with good reason, it's our best shot to get out this league. We're not talking about every game, but both of them to have a very good season playing to their potential. If both fail to do that for one reason or another, what realistically is our ceiling this year?

It was interesting to me that IB brought them on at exactly the same time. I hope he isn't having to manage any rivalry between them (although no problem if they've both got pride), we already know they're talking over who takes free-kicks and penalties
What I hope they both realise is that there'll be times this season when ones on fire and the other is off his game and vice versa. It might even be that say Ruben carries more of the load in the first half of the season and Cal in the second. It's a long season, nobody's gonna show themselves to be the main man over the first 15 or 20 games.

[Killerkline]

To answer your question, by over-reacting to the post you misrepresented. Just who was saying it was a disastrous start?

Anyway, I spelt out how I think we can get the auto spot or top three. It's going to take separation from the pack and R and R firing on full cylinders is the blueprint for that

That would then shut up that young Wrexham Youtuber ...Liam Roberts...I think his name is. Talking about Notts in his match review he said 'they won't win the league' so casually and emphatically it rankled with me. Obviously it doesn't matter a jot what he thinks, but it kind of rang true after his lot had outplayed us, we failed to beat 10 men at home and a couple of areas of our team are looking less than great. Happy for all these teams/fans to think this way, knowing that we have the weapons to leave them in the dust

I haven’t overreacted. My comment ‘disastrous start’ was to highlight that there was nothing in 3 games that suggests we can’t compete for the top spot, certainly top 3.

We definitely need our best players to be firing on all cylinders, I’d suggest we need majority of our players to be at least 7/10 most weeks.

In terms of Wrexham, we were away from home. I’m more than happy with our performance. As for Torquay, I get the disappointment, but I’m encouraged by Burchnall’s comments post match.

Which 2 areas are looking less than great? Goalkeeper and I presume midfield?

Ultimately, I guess where I’m at, is far to early to make any suggestions re our potential to finish in the top 3. But, I find our start far more encouraging than not.

After 10 games you may come back to me and say I told you so!

[magpie_mania]

And with good reason, it's our best shot to get out this league. We're not talking about every game, but both of them to have a very good season playing to their potential. If both fail to do that for one reason or another, what realistically is our ceiling this year?

It was interesting to me that IB brought them on at exactly the same time. I hope he isn't having to manage any rivalry between them (although no problem if they've both got pride), we already know they're talking over who takes free-kicks and penalties
What I hope they both realise is that there'll be times this season when ones on fire and the other is off his game and vice versa. It might even be that say Ruben carries more of the load in the first half of the season and Cal in the second. It's a long season, nobody's gonna show themselves to be the main man over the first 15 or 20 games.

I think he brought them on together as a statement to Wrexham.

Not sure if worked though!

[Killerkline]

I’m probably on the glass half empty side of pragmatism at the minute. A bit like Anticlough says, I want to see signs that we can go and dominate teams, I don’t think that is unacceptable.

This may be unpopular but I don’t think we played well against Wrexham at all. They dominated us. They forced their style and tempo on us and created far more opportunities than we did. Had we gone in at the break 2-0 down there couldn’t be any complaints…and had their ‘offside’ goal rightly stood and the effort that went narrowly wide actually gone in, that’s exactly what would have happened.

Of course, ifs, buts and maybes don’t mean anything in the league table but I was concerned, still, with our lack of midfield presence and how easy it is for the opposition to bypass it with such little effort. Neither Palmer (as tidy as he is) and especially Francis are going to strike fear into any combative midfield. All this, of course, puts an added strain on the defence.

To be fair to the defence they stood up well to most of the air borne attacks but they still looked very vulnerable trying to play out of their six yard box, it was scary stuff at times. It may be unfair to use the phrase ‘polishing a turd’ but that’s what the score line did to our performance the other night.

At the end of last season we had glimpses of what we thought an IB team was all about, high pressing, winning the ball back early, plying in the opposition’s half, harrying the opposition and moving the ball quickly and purposely…and more often than not, forward.

Against Wrexham we looked more like the team that Ardley left behind than anything resembling what we thought we were going to see this term. Don’t forget, before the sending off, Torquay were also managing to dominate us and put us under pressure…the same Torquay who we’re smashed by both Woking and Altrincham at home. We couldn’t beat them with an extra man for 65 minutes.

Say what you want about gelling, being unbeaten, good signs in defence etc etc. The signs are there for all to see, this isn’t at present a promotion challenging side.

Take on board your points. Without going OTT with my response, I see a lot more positives than negatives. Additionally, the negatives are more areas of development. There’s absolutely nothing I’ve seen so far that suggests we can’t achieve our target… promotion.

Biggest positive for me, Burchnall.

[matt_magpie]

How I look at it, is we’re unbeaten, played away 2 of the 3 games, played 2 very decent sides and only one of the big teams has done any better in terms of points (Chesterfield). The new signings especially the ones we would class as work in progress have all had steady starts and that’s no mean feat. People being critical of Slocombe really need to get a grip, happens with every keeper now and again.

[laddo]

Agree we look like w need more presence in midfield more grit more control of that area of the pitch, and as mentioned Slocombe is having a dip in form but ridiculously early to be demanding a new GK. Competition needs to only be brought if it's over a longer period of time than a handful of games.

Polishing a turd is completely out of place and unfair imo when describing the performance at Wrexham. Yes if you read the comments on the match thread during the game you would think, as Mark did, that we were crap and time is better going food shopping but that's far from the truth.

If there had to be a winner then it was definitely Wrexham who deserved it no doubt about it based on that first half performance, very impressive. However i thought it was even in the second half especially when you take out the Tozer long throws which although we handled well all night long still gives the unfair impression of them being in control when they weren't.

Two very good goals scored , and one very close call (unlucky/lucky depending who you support) for the disallowed goal. To go to one of the title favourites and be as competitive as we were whilst resting and there is no doubt the game was competitive, defend as well as we did and come away with a point especially when resting two of our best players is a good sign in my eyes. Not a performance to worry supporters, leave that to the Torquay game.

I doubt anyone thinks R & R are both going to be in their game every game, if you are you need to have a word with yourself. Both have enough talent in my eyes that it only needs one to be on song and that spells problems for our opponents as we've seen before.

[the_anticlough]

Which 2 areas are looking less than great? Goalkeeper and I presume midfield?

Well, by bringing in 'disastrous start' from nowhere, you were suggesting I was critical of the start we've made whereas I'm very happy whilst still 'reading the tea leaves' and projecting ahead...

That's a good question. No, I'm happy with the keeper. Sam will work it out, I'm sure.
Midfield is a question mark, isn't it? Any talk of Doyle playing will have me throwing the laptop against the wall. Let's see how Francis progresses...it's a very important position. We need someone to stamp their authority in there and have a real presence about them..

My main concern though is the right-hand side. I think they may have screwed up. Nemane has played, what 16% of our match time so far? Does IB intend to use him much more than that? I've got more faith in Chicksen and Taylor on the other side. But I think it's hard to recruit for 3-5-2, there aren't many specialist wing-backs out there. Between DKE and Nemane they have defence and attack covered, but the fact that neither can offer enough of both is a real problem IMO. So what I predict is that 3-5-2 won't last, and it'll be the latest in the long line of failed wing-back experiments. A 4-2-3-1 with a back line of Brindley Lacey Cameron, Taylor and any 3 of our great attacking players behind Woots could be on the cards - a lucky accident from a recruitment failure

[Killerkline]

I think he brought them on together as a statement to Wrexham.

Not sure if worked though!

It didn’t in terms of winning. But, I do think it said to Wrexham that we’ve not come here to cling on for point and probably stopped them from being to adventurous.