Time for common sense

[BJPIE]

Matter Palmer may not be world class but he's been ****ing brilliant for us. I'd buy my season ticket just to watch him play.

[51Magpie]

... yep, in the top group. We know, don't we (?), that we've ridden our luck defensively for months. What we do have, and haven't had for YEARS, is and outstanding attacking force - wonderful and joyous for those who have witnessed some of the dross of earlier years. We're enjoying the ride, but some of us are not blind to the need for sustained development.

This is all true, but it highlights the main problem against Mansfield which was that our attacking force was largely cut off from the possession at the back, because neither the game plan (presumably) nor the players (evidently) could figure out how to get the ball to where we could do damage with it. As The BH said in an earlier post, Brindley was one of the most obvious dead ends... not once did he attempt to work his way down the line with Nemane. Every single time it was an about turn, and back to Slocombe. We don't know if that was risk avoidance on his part, or rigid instructions. To me, the big question is whether or not LW sees any of this as a problem. If he doesn't, then there's a risk we'll be throttled by our own dogma. Personally, I'd be happier to see him trying new approaches, even if they don't come off, rather than sticking religiously to sideways and backwards in our own half.

[TheBlackHorse]

... Blow Job ... you are the only one who has said 'world class'. All I said was that he under-performs in big games. Others view him differently. Some say we play a 'risk v reward' game. Playing the same game strategy is not risk/reward; it's simply predictable and not risk taking.

[TheBlackHorse]

... and another thing ... our set piece defending. It's madness; doing the same old thing and expecting to improve. How do our defenders expect to out-jump in-running attackers from a standing position? Answer: you can't. You have to run forwards from a far post position to give yourself a chance of getting elevation and/or position blockers to prevent the attakers run-in.

[thefulltenyards]

Not sure how ANY Notts fan could not give Luke Williams much credit by this point. That is hard to compute.

As for the game as is almost always the case we are out fought and lack desire when we play Mansfield Town. They are always massively up for it. I very much doubt they played anywhere near that against Wimbledon last week.

We had limited desire and when falling behind no fight. Even with a more balanced side it would have made no difference to the end result. Players weren't up for it, Luke Williams got it wrong, which is very rare.

Disappointing obviously, very but as expected, sadly. Same will happen in the reverse fixture later in the season.