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

[LongEatonPie]

I don’t think there is any harm getting this up now, we are only 8.5 days away from the start of the season.

Notts have pretty much completed their transfer dealings, most of which was done early in with a new look front 2, a better looking wing and a couple of great additions to defence. Maybe one more loan in but I don’t think that will happen until after the KO of the season

Anything more Colchester in terms of signings? Always rate ColU and our games recently have been very close affairs. I think we will see the same here with Notts shading it 2-1.

Bring it ON!

 

[AFaceInTheCrowd]

Anything can happen first game of the season. Think Colchester have a shocking record at Meadow Lane can't recall seeing them beat us at home for years!

 

[Wooderson]

When you have so many new signings it will always take time to gel, but it's probably good they are attacking rather than defensive ones. Unless Dennis (who has been injured and not really had a pre-season) starts at Luton, I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Stead start this. I think he'd be ok with Hemmings though and the extra service we should have this year with Vaughan/Boldewijn/Thomas/Kellet.

Reckon we might go:

Fitz,
Tootle, Duffy, Hall, Jones
Boldewijn, Hewitt, Vaughan, Thomas
Stead, Hemmings

Subs

Pindroch
Brisley
Dennis
Kellet
Allesandra
??
??

Colchester have been pretty active in the transfer market too, and like us made a few attacking additions. They impressed at our place last season (although not theirs) and I don't think this will be easy at all if they're fielding the likes of Pell, Szmodics, Norris, Nouble, Dickenson etc etc

Hopefully the weather will hold and we'll see a decent crowd of around 7k, I'll predict a narrow win for Notts - 2-1

 

[Youpies]

First game if the season is basically an anomaly and we are usually terrible first game...

I can see this going a bit tits up like it did at Coventry, but that basically kick started our season. I just think we haven't played enough games and while Nolan is all system and shape, I think we will be rusty.

2 - 2 with a full on Notts meltdown

 

[Optipez]

Think Woodersons team is what he'll go with, maybe Kellet for Thomas.
Home win but not by much.
Really looking forward to it, hope it's a bit cooler though.

 

[LongEatonPie]

Adding subs to Woodersons, maybe Patching and Dondra He.

 

[Indian Dan]

Dondra He? Wtf is that?

 

[LongEatonPie]

Dondra He? Wtf is that?

You’ll find out, as long as we keep him quiet enough not to get snapped up by a Champ/Prem club.

 

[connorpie]

*Donga He, Asian Academy player, only came to us this year, iirc.

Really hoping notts will make a statement of intent a week saturday, yes colchester are a decent outfit and players will take time to gel, but I'm going to say 3-0 notts, they'll just have too much quality.

Also, would be disappointing with anything less than a crowd of 7.5k, there's been some much optimism around the club this pre season, and the owner has backed notts, least the fans can do is turn up to offer their support!

 

[The Jovial Forester]

If this Dongda He lad is being groomed for success back home there'll be some chance you're getting paid to have him too I'd reckon.

 

[Youpies]

Stead will start imo. Dennis on the bench. Nolanball.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

He’ll probably go with the approach that saw us reach the play offs and has been very successful at home ever since the manager arrived. Alas, the new signings don’t suit it as well as last season’s crop could see mixed results in first quarter of the season.

Overall, very happy with the signings as the vast majority of fans are. Just need patience , the friendly results give me a little more added confidence of a good season ahead

 

[Wooderson]

How are Col U likely to line up?

 

[jacobncfc]

If this Dongda He lad is being groomed for success back home there'll be some chance you're getting paid to have him too I'd reckon.

Already mooted for a £50 million move to Guangzhou Evergrande. Be surprised if we saw much of him this season, even with the rule about an academy player in the squad. He’s very, very young still, clearly exciting though and caused problems for some very good teams in pre-season.

Anyway, I think we might start slowly, so wouldn’t be surprised if we lost this, but we always beat Colchester at Meadow Lane so..

 

[Youpies]

I think we are undercooked. Can see us doing a bit of a Coventry, flitting in and out of the positions before going on a decent run after Christmas....

 

[jacobncfc]

All of this said, we looked absolutely shite last pre-season and then went on that mad winning run, so who knows?

 

[Optipez]

Thought we looked quite promising in spells against Leicester. It's the only game I've seen though.
Expect us to be quite dynamic going forwards, probably as a three once we get going .

 

[GTFCfish]

I’m hoping that Notts win this and end up getting promoted this season, just to get rid of Viking Magpie so he can be League 1’s problem.

 

[LongEatonPie]

Less optimistic about this pre-Luton game.
Some of the faults of last season, even the one before that are still there.
Add to that Nolan attempting to change the style of play I think we could be in for a shaky start to the season, it could well take 5-6 games before we start firing.

 

[dedwardp]

Based on last season at least, that's a decent point on an unpredictable opening day so I'm happy with that. Solid enough start.

 

[jacobncfc]

Bit of a weird game, both seems seemed to decide that they needed an extra friendly and it was played at that pace. Looked nailed on for 0-0 from about ten minutes in although it opened up a bit at the end with Colchester hitting the bar with a great effort and Dennis putting one over from really close in.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Anymore for a lifelong pie who won’t be able to see many home games this season?

Best performer? Worst performer? Biggest worry? Biggest positive? Fair result or not?

Saw on the BBC the crowd was over 7000 which for August is a really good crowd, shame we couldn’t start with a home win but could of been worse.

 

[AFaceInTheCrowd]

Was very impressed with Colchester huge improvement on last season the two centre backs looked very strong and the additions of Pell and Nouble make them a dangerous team.

Draw was a fair reflection on a cagey contest. Plenty of promise from both teams

 

[jacobncfc]

Anymore for a lifelong pie who won’t be able to see many home games this season?

Best performer? Worst performer? Biggest worry? Biggest positive? Fair result or not?

Saw on the BBC the crowd was over 7000 which for August is a really good crowd, shame we couldn’t start with a home win but could of been worse.

Very fair result. Vaughan was the best player on the pitch and never gave the ball away, both teams looked very solid at the back and restricted the opposition to a few half chance, both looked like they hadn’t worked out the final ball in attack yet.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Thanks gents for that , much needed. A little gutted not to be sat high up behind the away dugout this season. I blame work,the metropolis that is London and a beautiful woman so will be relying on fellow pies for honest assessments

Not surprised to hear Vaughan was MOTM , hopefully we can gel and improve as a team over the coming weeks

 

[Youpies]

Hewitt is very important this season. Vaughan can play but he won't / can't run ... Hewitt will have to cover a lot for him

Thomas was the most impressive of the new signings for me. Think we have a top player there.

Players clearly have to gel from both sides. Thought Colchester were a good side though. They will be up there. Big, tall, strong, pacey... Your right back is top notch.

Notts fans can't make their minds up and it's embarrassing. Hoof it! Dont hoof it pass it. We have a spell of possession and people cry in the box, Gerrit forward.

Also be careful what you wish for. Fitzsimmons is less than convincing. Don't think he will be first choice end of Jan... Too error prone.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Let’s be honest YP, a lot of Notts fans wanted him over Collin for the second half of last season and universally we were delighted to have saved on wages and got an equally good keeper.

Hewitt I fear isn’t good enough to cover for another. Nice to hear one of the new wingers impressed

NCFC are predominately a hoof it side, more success with direct play than any other in my lifetime so these shouts from the stands will always be there

 

[jacobncfc]

Fitzsimons I think has massive potential but is worth sticking with, it might cost us in the short term though. He’s a great shot stopper, great with his feet and decent on crosses, so has the basis to be an excellent keeper. You can also tell that he hasn’t played that much senior football, though, so he will make mistakes. A keeper with his ability on the ball could be worth a fortune in a couple of years, though, so he’s worth sticking with.

 

[Youpies]

He definitely has huge potential but he needs to command his box and cut out the silly mistakes. His mistake against Crawley last year still rankles with me. I hope he was fined for that.

Fans will be on his back soon just as they were with Collin for slow distribution. Nolan clearly gives his keepers the instruction to hold on. Notts fans are just too stupid to realise.

We were too static up front. We have pace in behind but not learnt to use it yet. All of our front 4 had their backs to goal for long periods

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Plenty to work on. Plenty of potential