MATCH: Notts County (H) 01/01/23

[daniel]

2 hours ago, Clifford said:

Play the 2 strikers with Rooney behind. Put the rest of the turds in whatever formation you fancy behind them and give it a go.

No chance will he do that. We also need to find a formation to suit Tollitt, as I don’t think he’s an out and out striker, and for me he has to play. 
I’d personally play 4231, with Nuttall up front and Reid, Rooney and Tollitt in behind. That team has to score goals. Still need a couple of midfielders and a right back as matter or urgency mind. He won’t do that either mind. 

[Red Adair]

Good luck tomorrow lads and lasses.

[Clifford]

1 minute ago, daniel said:

No chance will he do that. We also need to find a formation to suit Tollitt, as I don’t think he’s an out and out striker, and for me he has to play. 
I’d personally play 4231, with Nuttall up front and Reid, Rooney and Tollitt in behind. That team has to score goals. Still need a couple of midfielders and a right back as matter or urgency mind. He won’t do that either mind. 

 

Toilet on the bench. He isn't a winger, nor a striker or a central midfielder. Rooney is goals in this division so needs to be on the pitch. 

 

Toilet could be a winger if he bothered to track back and work hard. Flatters to deceive for me. Doesn't have the creativity to justify his lightweight effort.

[Andy Barlow’s dietician]

19 hours ago, steveecky said:

If we go 4-4-2 with our two new strikers up top, then we need to lose Tollitt despite his scoring record. He is not a left midfield player and hasn’t the energy or defensive ability to play the role. Similarly we don’t have a suitable right sided midfield player. You also can’t play Rooney in his best position just behind the striker. Basically, we have spent money buying players that can’t play at the same time unless they are out of position. 

Some good points made here.

 

The formation is not the silver bullet, it’s getting the best players we have in the squad playing in their preferred positions.

 

what is hard to understand is why Unsworth signs players and then leaves them out or plays them out of position.

 

some options?

Centre half is an issue, it’s not clear that Hogan and Peter Clarke can play together, and that lack of pace is perhaps causing issues elsewhere in the set up. Unfortunately squad limitations and injuries means that for now this problem can’t be fixed, so we have to get better elsewhere to compensate and Hogan especially needs to put a proper shift in and him and P Clarke need to sort out the way they are going to play.

 

Right back needs sorting. We have options here. Why not get Jordan Clarke back in in his best position? I know he was poor earlier in the season but most of the time he was deployed as a clueless wingback in a clueless five man defence. Is the chopsy  Windass another option here? He has to make some changes because what we have now does not work.

 

Holding midfield can then be ‘bolstered’ by putting Sheron in his supposed preferred position. We have seen he is not a right back, but he’s pretty much an ever present this season, and although limited is one who at least puts a shift in, and I believe he may have some attributes as a player who closes down, makes some tackles and can provide some cover to the defence.

 

An equally big problem is who plays alongside Sheron. Options are severely limited. Gardener gets the nod for me, with a clear instruction to work hard in partnership with Sheron and keep things tight and play simple football - win the ball and play it forward.

 

Then in front of them it’s Chapman left side, Rooney as playmaker (and instructed to play closer to the centre forward) and then Reid right side (but again it’s an attacking option not a tentative negative player in a five man midfield). Nutella then up top.

 

There are plenty of options from the bench, including Tollitt who is unlucky not to start, but is sacrificed for Rooney who it is hoped will provide some creativity from a more central position.

 

for me, Rooney, Peck and Tollitt should be seen as creative attacking midfield players and should be deployed as such. Against the league leaders some caution is needed and that is why only one of them can start in this game.

 

honourable mention also to Big Mike Fondop. Somehow we look more potent when is on the pitch, and whilst Nuttal should be assumed to have more of an all round game and is likely to be the better finisher, Fondop’s hold up play is not to be underestimated, and may be a useful ploy from the bench, especially if we need to hang on for the last fifteen minutes.

 

I have zero expectation that Unsworth will set us up anything like this, and we can probably expect more of the same, five at the back, Maynard, playing deep, standing off and waiting to concede. Being honest with myself a gutless 0-3 is the most likely outcome.
 

It feels very close to the end of the line for Unsworth, as he appears unable or unwilling to imagine any other way than sitting in, hoping we don’t concede and then nicking a goal. Those players are not capable of playing 90 minutes without a catastrophic mistake or a period of mindlessness when they just completely lose the plot. Dave’s not brave enough to set us up to score one more than them. He only seems to want to free the shackles at 2-0 or 4-1, by which time the games done more often than not.

 

 

 

 

[Littlemoor Lad]

17 minutes ago, Red Adair said:

Good luck tomorrow lads and lasses.

You winning the league depends on it but we'd take it right now

Have a Happy new year in Cymru

[Monty Burns]

24 minutes ago, Red Adair said:

Good luck tomorrow lads and lasses.

it's nailed on

[Monty Burns]

25 minutes ago, Clifford said:

 

Toilet on the bench. He isn't a winger, nor a striker or a central midfielder. Rooney is goals in this division so needs to be on the pitch. 

 

Toilet could be a winger if he bothered to track back and work hard. Flatters to deceive for me. Doesn't have the creativity to justify his lightweight effort.

Tollitt has goals for this team. this season. this month. top scorer even.

[Monty Burns]

On 12/30/2022 at 10:41 AM, Monty Burns said:

l'll take it. provided we actually turn the corner.

l would like to wothdraw this comment and also piff in my own general direction.

[Clifford]

12 minutes ago, Monty Burns said:

Tollitt has goals for this team. this season. this month. top scorer even.

It's not a high bar and he's given a free role. I'd expect any player in that situation to be toping the stats. Rooney is a 1 in 3 man. Needs to play higher up.

[GlossopLatic]

If it was upto me I'd play a 4-3-3 with the front 3 being from left to right Tollit Nuttall and Reid.

 

But that's just one issue the bigger problem is the mentality we need to be aggressive press from the front and get in there faces. It's hard to believe that we have 2 Coaches in Ebbrell and Unsworth who played in a team dubbed the "dogs of war" which is so passive. If Mr Unsworth wants to get the crowd onside then get the team to start doing that a few big tackles and being aggressive will get us atleast 20 yards up the pitch and it will get the crowd going.

[BP1960]

18 minutes ago, Monty Burns said:

Tollitt has goals for this team. this season. this month. top scorer even.

 

Flits in and out, need team players now who will all bust a gut.

[Wardie]

Funny how we all know what we need and desire from the players and yet we are fully aware that we are not going to get it. The one true certainty I can expect from tomorrow is that nothing...absolutely nothing...will change. Come roughly 40 mins before kick-off, as the team sheet makes its way onto social media, the piss-boil will begin to simmer on the surface until the raging pot of anger and vitriol bubbles away when another abject performance unfolds before us.

The club has made an almighty and titanic mistake.
Emphasis on 'titanic'.

[Monty Burns]

17 minutes ago, Clifford said:

Rooney is a 1 in 3 man. Needs to play higher up.

l can agree with that. even if he has shown next to nothing.

l like the 4231 call but we havent really got the 2. Maynard n Peck maybe. Rooney 10 Tollitt n Reid either side and Nuttall up top.

 

oNe Up FrOnT aGaIn!!!!!

[Monty Burns]

15 minutes ago, BP1960 said:

 

Flits in and out, need team players now who will all bust a gut.

l was thinking over @b0ndl1ne's one trick pony description trying to argue with it but he's kinda right aint he!!!

 

l just think him n Kitchen are building something, lets have another look at it when they can be within 10 foot of each other..

[b0ndl1ne]

37 minutes ago, Monty Burns said:

l was thinking over @b0ndl1ne's one trick pony description trying to argue with it but he's kinda right aint he!!!

 

l just think him n Kitchen are building something, lets have another look at it when they can be within 10 foot of each other..

It’s not a bad trick to have to be fair and if the rest of the midfield/strikers could occupy defenders then Tollitt would be even more useful.

 

None of anything matters though without two competent centre midfielders

[Monty Burns]

10 minutes ago, b0ndl1ne said:

It’s not a bad trick to have to be fair and if the rest of the midfield/strikers could occupy defenders then Tollitt would be even more useful.

 

None of anything matters though without two competent centre midfielders

that was pretty much the basis of my whole arguement!!

so frustrating we are talking of leaving players of the calibre of Tollitt, Fondop, Abraham on the bench in division 5 yet it doesnt matter bc weve got no midfield

[oafcmetty]

Rooney has played 11 in the league, scored what? 1? Garbage.

[Lee Sinnott]

5 minutes ago, oafcmetty said:

Rooney has played 11 in the league, scored what? 1? Garbage.

He's scored 0. The goal credited to him at Solihull was put in by Clarke...

[Littlemoor Lad]

33 minutes ago, oafcmetty said:

Rooney has played 11 in the league, scored what? 1? Garbage.

Hugely disappointing, given what we all thought would be a given here

He's not alone in that department 

[yarddog73]

Teams full of square pegs and round holes despite being the biggest squad in the National League, no rightback, no midfield and probably our most effective forward player needs to be carried as he is weak as piss and can't be trusted to defend out of possession which contributes to our midfield being overrun when he's selected.

[Clifford]

47 minutes ago, oafcmetty said:

Rooney has played 11 in the league, scored what? 1? Garbage.

 

Suprised it's so low given he's playing next to Kevin De Tollet.

 

Played ok vs Wrexham off the front and seems to have been sub or holding midfield since. Says a lot about Unsworths mentality really.

 

Like Rowe before him, Rooney is a king of the binmen. Needs playing every week where he's done well.

[Gaz_Oafc]

Cricket score.

[south east latic]

Interesting seeing a few wanting Reid wide in a forward 3. Is he not a centre forward? My understanding from comments from fans of his previous clubs was that he needs to play in a 2.  Playing off Nuttall is surely the way to go.

That creates its own problems because I’m not sure who plays wide in that system as we don’t really have players who could play in a wide midfield type role. 
 

Again shows the issue with our recruitment. For all of our many players, we don’t seem to have a system which doesn’t leave square pegs in round holes. 

[Flemboy]

10 minutes ago, south east latic said:

Interesting seeing a few wanting Reid wide in a forward 3. Is he not a centre forward? My understanding from comments from fans of his previous clubs was that he needs to play in a 2.  Playing off Nuttall is surely the way to go.

That creates its own problems because I’m not sure who plays wide in that system as we don’t really have players who could play in a wide midfield type role. 
 

Again shows the issue with our recruitment. For all of our many players, we don’t seem to have a system which doesn’t leave square pegs in round holes. 

I think Unworthy's tactic is get loads of players in at Frank's expense,play them in lots of different  formations and hoping one day he will get it right and arrogantly take all the credit calmly stroking his beard and saying I told you so.

[Andy Barlow’s dietician]

12 minutes ago, south east latic said:

Interesting seeing a few wanting Reid wide in a forward 3. Is he not a centre forward? My understanding from comments from fans of his previous clubs was that he needs to play in a 2.  Playing off Nuttall is surely the way to go.

That creates its own problems because I’m not sure who plays wide in that system as we don’t really have players who could play in a wide midfield type role. 
 

Again shows the issue with our recruitment. For all of our many players, we don’t seem to have a system which doesn’t leave square pegs in round holes. 

I see the front three interchanging, yes running channels, but not hugging the touch line. 

For me the real width in an effective 4-3-3 comes from the overlapping full backs. Kitching is likely able to do that, but we haven’t seen anyone who has played for us this season who can do that on the right side.