Match Thread vs. York City 30.07.22 [PSF]

[TSANHO]

Sam Slocombe must have had the most touches of any player on the pitch but none of them resembled a worthwhile save. It felt like enduring 100 back passes.

Bajrami is way better as a CB (2nd half) than a CM (1st half).

Our first choice centre backs (Cameron, Baldwin, Brindley) looked very accomplished.

York never looked like scoring really, and credit to our defence and the harrying and niggling of most of the Notts players which meant that they rarely had control of the ball.

After the subs, Palmer and Francis looked very assured in midfield.

Ruben is head and shoulders above the rest of the players in terms of ability.

Langstaff had great movement, aggression and overachieves in the air. I hope his injury is minor.

Cedwyn looks a proper physical unit, is fairly mobile and should have scored but hit the post.

The only goal was due to a horrendous error by York. We should have (and will need to) score more goals in games like this in the coming season. 1-0 is precarious, but we definitely defended the lead very well. All our defenders were physical and energetic - great to see.

We won most of the 50-50 balls, and most of the second balls. Our ball retention was very good when Sam wasn't kicking it to them.

After Leicester and Forest, down to earth with a very down to earth win against opposition from our league.

I am not sure LW knows his best team yet.

As a spectacle it was a disappointment - efficient but fairly joyless. A good platform is being established I hope.

COYP!

Thanks, good to hear some fam feed back….judging by our pre season games, what’s going to be our biggest strength and biggest weakness? I haven’t made any games this year.

[Magpies1959]

wiseoldmagpie, that report seems to mirror the hospital radio commentary, apart from the fairly joyless comment. It is a shame we could not have stuck away one or two more of the chances we created, but great to keep a clean sheet, whateverintensity the game was played at.

[Notts78]

Thanks, good to hear some fam feed back….judging by our pre season games, what’s going to be our biggest strength and biggest weakness? I haven’t made any games this year.

I thinks that’s a good question. From what I have seen our strengths look to be in our passing and movement. Ruben is absolutely key to that as he picks up pockets of space that make him difficult to mark. We definitely have more versatility up front in terms of what Langstaff and Kedwyn offer us… they both offer good movement which is important with the style of play we have adopted.
Weaknesses for me are possibly the same as years gone by… we still look to be a short (in height) squad, so can still see defending set pieces as an issue. We also don’t have enough players that will run at and take on a man. So if plan A fails I’m not sure we have anything different to bring in and change the game. This is where Cal is a big loss.

[Magpies1959]

I have to disagree about not having players to run at the opposition. Langstaff, Rodrigues, Austin and to a lesser extent, in clips I have seen, Scott.

[kill_the_drum]

I have to disagree about not having players to run at the opposition. Langstaff, Rodrigues, Austin and to a lesser extent, in clips I have seen, Scott.

And Nemane.

[i961pie]

I thinks that’s a good question. From what I have seen our strengths look to be in our passing and movement. Ruben is absolutely key to that as he picks up pockets of space that make him difficult to mark. We definitely have more versatility up front in terms of what Langstaff and Kedwyn offer us… they both offer good movement which is important with the style of play we have adopted.
Weaknesses for me are possibly the same as years gone by… we still look to be a short (in height) squad, so can still see defending set pieces as an issue. We also don’t have enough players that will run at and take on a man. So if plan A fails I’m not sure we have anything different to bring in and change the game. This is where Cal is a big loss.

I think opposing managers were starting to suss out Cal, keep him out wide and stop him cutting inside to shoot with his left foot.

[durhampie]

And Nemane.

He is a ten minute wonder, after which he runs out of steam and does nothing but pass the ball backwards... I would be surprised if he is a regular starter..

[kill_the_drum]

He is a ten minute wonder, after which he runs out of steam and does nothing but pass the ball backwards... I would be surprised if he is a regular starter..

I don’t think he’ll be a regular starter either but I think he’s got far more to offer than we’ve seen.

[laddo]

I concur I don't see him being a regular starter. But without doubt he qualifies as a player who can beat a man in the squad.

When he's 'on it' he can be a real threat and difficult to contain (Woking away) just needs to do that more often when given chances.

[optipez]

Thanks, good to hear some fam feed back….judging by our pre season games, what’s going to be our biggest strength and biggest weakness? I haven’t made any games this year.

I watched Basford, Alfreton and Forest FWIW. I think our strength is going to be our harrying off the ball, we've stopped being passive and letting teams have time on the ball, we've snapped straight into them. We attack in numbers, Williams seems to want to commit more men into the box and do it with pace.
Weaknesses , apart from the centre halves there's no height in the team. Wootton helped us out in defence a lot and if we're throwing crosses in ourselves Langstaff is going to find it hard going up against men the size of Cameron and Bejrami each week.