What have we learnt?
We're predictable, play out from the back, across the box, check back Chicksen had one foot goes 2 steps forward 3 back, soft at set pieces, slow, midfield has no steel, forward line not quick or mobile enough. Same as the last 4 seasons but those at the helm can't see it for some reason.
Don’t mess about throwing beach balls on the pitch as the ref may add time where we could easily concede a very late goal.
Learned that in this League if you get a penalty from the referee for a handball you certainly won't get one for a nailed on handball in the same game. Now that would have killed the game off. Very poor refereeing.
I hope we're going to learn that to boss a game you need a strong midfield.
Last season Jake Reeves ran his legs off because Doyle and JOB couldn't, this season Palmer's done the same because JOB and Francis couldn't.
Up against the good teams with experienced managers we've been found out pretty much every time. Last night the loose balls were nearly all picked up by Grimsby, by never being in control we created very little for the strikers.
Only Vincent tries to run beyond the strikers because he has the legs to do it and Burchnall seems to not rate him because he gives the ball away too often.
We've had the strikers, we've had good enough defenders but we've packed dynamism in the middle two years running.
1. Yes
2. You're not blind, you're correct. The midfield is a massive weakness in this team. We need a couple of big, strong, dominant 'animals' in there.
3. We play a style of football which is ridiculously over-complicated for the level we're at and the players we've got. It can look attractive at home against weaker teams, but for two (perhaps three) seasons running now it has seen us fall well short of the title challenge we should be capable of making. We're a 'nice' team for anyone half decent to play against, and that really angers me.
It's probably fair comment to say we haven't done enough about these failings so far, but this summer needs to the one where those lessons are learned. I've bought my season ticket, but I don't want to come back next season and see us play like a bunch of pretty boys. I don't mind seeing good, positive football in the right areas of the field, but I don't want to see us taking needless risks in our own half. I want to see a team that can go toe to toe with any opponent in this league in terms of physicality and aggression.
If IB can adapt and deliver such a team, then great. However, if he plans to subject us to another year of some sort of over-elaborate, purist football experiment, and if he can't coach a team to defend properly, then he might be as well heading to Nailsworth.
Last edited by jackal2; 24-05-2022 at 06:12 PM.
My Mrs has learned not to bang on at me for not getting excited when we scored. She listened to the game with me for the first time ever and was surprised that I didn't do cartwheels when we scored. I told her to wait until the final whistle then I would smile. BANG!!! last kick of the friggin game and we implode as normal in the big games.
In the 60+ years I have been an active Notts supporter this result has taken me to the lowest depths ever. I feel so depressed with last night and the never ending failure in recent years. Another year in the NL and no real hope, or expectation, of anything really positive happening next season. How the hell is Notts bloody County FC in such a crap state?