Notts County v Colchester United (4/8/18)

[Wooderson]

Predictable reaction from some Notts fans at the ground/in the pub after yesterday - 'well that was s***e'/'same old Notts'/'We look mid table at best' etc etc, as if it wasn't the first game of the season.

Never really got going, but these things take time. Not sure some of them were fully fit - Hemmings wasn't quite as mobile as I expected based on what the Stags fans had said, Tootle never really got forward as he did last season or linked up with Boldewijn (who also came in for some stick despite putting one on a plate for Dennis), but on the plus side Vaughan looked class and didn't waste one ball all day, and Thomas was good too. Also, a clean sheet and 7k+ plus was a nice surprise - pretty sure that was as many if not more home fans than we had for the opening game v Bradford after the 'Munto' pre-season, Sven et al.

At the end of the day it's a point (compared to last season's 0-3 opener) against a very decent looking Colchester side who passed it around well and looked solid at the back with some seriously big lads right across the park. Lacked a bit of a cutting edge but can see them having a good season.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Anyone commenting in such definitive terms before say 10 games have been played need to have a word with themselves. Some football fans have their script already written on what they are going to say if the side fail to win. They seem to get far too much joy from Notts losing / drawing / struggling. I find it a little weird.

No doubt, the manager, coaching, training methods, selected pre season friendly choices, the lack of a certain sort of central midfielder will all be questioned extensively after 90 mins of the league campaign. They are rollercoaster fans who overreact both ways after every single game.

Jokers the lot of them, thankfully the NCM net seems to have swallowed them all up. They would be shot down in seconds from Notts supporters on here.

 

[Optipez]

Shoot me down Viking, I thought we were poor overall.

​

Really not sure 442 will work for us without an Ameobi type character to lump it to.
I'm really hoping Nolan can adapt to get the best out of this squad but last season when he strayed to one up front we went backwards until he reverted.
I think we may have to sacrifice a winger to shore up he middle and will end up nearer to a 433 unless we further strengthen with either a Ryan Yates class midfielder or someone like Nouble who is big but mobile up front.
Colchester looked a good test as they did last season.
Roll on Cambridge.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Nothing wrong in saying how we performed (poorly or not) , and you maybe right regarding the need for the coaching staff to
see that the players suit something other than Nolan’s preferred 4-4-2. If that is indeed the case then it will depend on how fast KN spots it.

But it’s one game. You can’t conclude anything from one game, nor one month. Let’s see how it all looks after 10 games

 

[F!RTHY]

Predictable reaction from some Notts fans at the ground/in the pub after yesterday - 'well that was s***e'/'same old Notts'/'We look mid table at best' etc etc, as if it wasn't the first game of the season.

Never really got going, but these things take time. Not sure some of them were fully fit - Hemmings wasn't quite as mobile as I expected based on what the Stags fans had said, Tootle never really got forward as he did last season or linked up with Boldewijn (who also came in for some stick despite putting one on a plate for Dennis), but on the plus side Vaughan looked class and didn't waste one ball all day, and Thomas was good too. Also, a clean sheet and 7k+ plus was a nice surprise - pretty sure that was as many if not more home fans than we had for the opening game v Bradford after the 'Munto' pre-season, Sven et al.

At the end of the day it's a point (compared to last season's 0-3 opener) against a very decent looking Colchester side who passed it around well and looked solid at the back with some seriously big lads right across the park. Lacked a bit of a cutting edge but can see them having a good season.

What a horrid flashback.

Aye, we fetched just under 2,400, and the overall crowd was 9,396!

 

[Youpies]

My favourite doing the rounds ion NCM at the moment and was heard at the ground too "players don't need time to gel".

I give you Crewe banging 6 past Morecambe to testament to why teams need to gel no matter how many signings they've made. Morecambe won't get blasted every week

 

[Crewelad87]

My favourite doing the rounds ion NCM at the moment and was heard at the ground too "players don't need time to gel".

I give you Crewe banging 6 past Morecambe to testament to why teams need to gel no matter how many signings they've made. Morecambe won't get blasted every week

It's a good point, we're playing with almost the same team that finished the season, and it certainly shows. It will take some teams 5 or 6 games to get going.

 

[valefan16]

Surely gelling is what pre season is for in the main? Cambridge have made the least changes over the summer and our new look side took them apart with new found partnerships being key to the performance (Pope and Miller, Joyce and Oyeleke for eg)

Even our relegation season with loads of foreign signings saw us start like a train! Notts County don’t tend to play exciting football under Nolan from what I’ve seen, it’s mainly functional and efficient but Colchester are a tough nut to crack in fairness.

 

[LongEatonPie]

I don’t think it’s necessarily players having to gel more we are attempting to change from direct balls to a target man to actually using a playmaker and the wings.

With ColU having a strong back line and particularly tall, Stead had no chance really, as soon as the ball was played wide we got in behind but that’s the part we need to work on getting right. We could have had a couple from low crosses but we wasn’t sharp enough in front of goal.
Still we got bopped 3-0 at Coventry last season so we are already a point better off!

 

[jacobncfc]

One thing I kind of took from it is that I can see us probably not being as good at home this season, but much better away. We were happy for teams to sit back at ML last season because we only had to stick a long ball into the box to cause chaos, but that won’t be the same this season without Ameobi. I think it’ll be easier for teams to sit quite deep like Colchester and frustrate us. The one time they did commit players forward, we broke with Boldewijn and had the best chance of the match.

 

[Hamez]

One thing with Hemmings that i noticed with us, it took him about 6 weeks to get going. Didn't really look that good for us until late October-November time. Might be one of those players thats a slow starter.