NCS Shorts | #14: FANTASY

Of NCS shorts. And in the Spirit of Squad rotation, which is becoming quite a common theme whenever we're talking about Notts county, for various reasons, I've got Tom joining me this week. Tom, how are you doing?

I'm great, thank you, mate. How are you?

Not too bad, I know that we're both very excited because obviously FM 24 was released this week. How's your save going? Have you managed to get any time in?

Not too many hours, but I'm trying to take this one a little bit slower than my usual saves. I'm going to try and build up. I'm actually going with crew Alexandra, who not's face this weekend, so that's quite an interesting one. So I guess that once I've done a little bit more of the in depth look on my save, I can have a little bit of a scouting report using footmanager. But no. How about yourself? How's your save? Have you got many hours in yet?

Well, to be honest, many hours, yes. Have I progressed past the first screen? No. So anybody who knows my approach to football Manager is I have to effectively click on every opportunity going. So I'm Malaga, who've fallen into the third tier of the Spanish football system and fantastic facilities. I'm literally going through everywhere for every kind of untapped talent, looking at new gens that have come through the USA, you've got European passports. It's an obsession. Like I say, I've put so many hours in and, like, I've progressed absolutely nowhere. But also for anybody else who's listening, because we'll get off the FM chat too much because there might be some people who really can't abide by it, but obviously, myself and Tom love it. We've both written blogs, haven't we, for view from the Touchline. Do you want to talk a little bit about that before we move on? Yeah.

So, view from the touchline. We've both written blogs there, obviously, as I mentioned while I was on crew and in mine, I just set out a five point plan that I've got for success and it's going to be steeped in quite a lot of realism based on chats I've had with former crew managers and articles on the academy as well. So it's all about youth development and things like that. But, yeah, you can find that on my page or on the view from the touchline. And you've also done one on there, I believe, Cole.

Yeah. And like I say, it's interesting, isn't it, that we've both done saves, I think where we've got that kind of personal connection to in some way shape or form. So I went to Malaga when they were in the second tier. I feel like I cursed them a little bit because we did the stadium tour and whatever, they got relegated at the end of that season. But it's an absolutely crazy stadium and a crazy size club. I think something like 19,000 season ticket holders in a 30,000 all seater stadium, a club that was playing in the Champions League only sort of ten or eleven years ago, now finds itself in the 30. And also to bring this round to a kind of not steam, a very tenuous link with Al Munto takeover. So if you remember with Munto, that was the Althani family who knew absolutely nothing to do with it, obviously, and that was part of the fraud. But actually that family do own Malaga and there's been some controversy around that ownership which has led Malaga to slide down the divisions after a very promising start. So I almost feel that there is a Notts element to this save as well. But no, I'm looking forward to it and hopefully we'll be able to provide some updates either through these podcasts or obviously from more blogs from view from the touchline, but on to some slightly more serious matters. And I think it doesn't come any more serious than the injury that we picked up rumors about last week and myself and rich made reference to it, but also in the hope of it not being true. We didn't want to name the player, but I think it's only right to pass on our condolences and just our deep sorrow at losing Matty Palmer for the rest of the season. Tom, how do you feel now that that injury has been made public?

Yeah, I'm absolutely gutted, to be honest. Firstly, I'm glad there has been some clarity on this injury. In particular, I think there have been other injuries that have sort of gone without public comment and we've been left to draw our own conclusions. And I think that's really important that the club got that statement out there so that we weren't left in the dark about Matthew Palmer because he's such an important player on and off the pitch for us. And obviously he'll still be in and around the squad, I imagine, with rehab and things like that. But if you ask me at the start of the season, who's our most important player, I would say Matty Palmer. So to lose our most important player for the whole season is a massive blow, but obviously we'll probably touch on it in a moment. But recent developments in terms of transfer activity have definitely improved the mood and how we feel about that in particular. But there's no sugar coating it. Losing Matthew Palmer is catastrophic to our season, but there is a but there is that it doesn't feel as quite as bad as it did at the time. We've kind of moved on, I think, as a fan base, quite well from it. And there's a little bit more positivity, certainly around the fan base at the moment.

Yeah, I echo those sentiments. I mean, you hear it a lot about managers saying players always a solid six or seven every game. I think Matty Palmer is at least an eight every single know. He is a fundamental part of the way Notts play and so therefore that loss is definitely going to be felt. But I do want to talk a little bit about what you've alluded to, the arrival of Dan Gosling. How do you feel that that piece of recruitment is going to help Notts? Obviously it's helpful in terms of having bodies in the building, but what do we think we're going to gain? What do we think we're still going to lose? How similar or how different are they as players and thinking about hopes going forward as we get closer, slowly but closer and closer to that transfer window being open fully.

Yeah, I think it's absolutely spot on, to be honest, because he's the best available option. We had to bring in a free agent. It couldn't be someone that was already at a club. Obviously, we're not in the National League anymore and there's not many free agents available now. We can't bring in a loan, anything like that. So it was a very limited pool of players. And to consider that he's only ever played in the Championship in the Premier League and he was playing in the Championship last season, then I think it's an extremely high level of player in terms of his caliber, and if he didn't have injuries last season, he definitely wouldn't play at this level. And of course, that's a risk, but it's a risk we took with the likes of Jody Jones and it's paid off there. And in terms of what we can expect from him, to use another football manager term, he's very much a box to box midfielder, and I think that that's kind of similar in a lot of ways to Matty Palmer. In terms of he covers a lot of ground, gets between the two boxes. From what I've heard, bits of what I've seen, his legs might not be as fresh as they once were. But I think he's 32, 33 so it's understandable. But I think he still covers quite a bit of ground and he's also got the potential and scope to be a goal scoring midfielder for us. He gets into some really nice positions in and around the box and I think that at League Two level he should be a few steps ahead of the game than he is used to being at the Championship level where, if we're honest as well, the Championship teams he's playing in, Watford and Bournemouth, they're some of the better teams in the Championship, Premier League, sort of Yoyo club if you like. So he's used to playing in these sort of sides. So I think we'll see his qualities and I think if a player of that caliber up into his level playing in their side that keep 65% at least of the ball every game, then I think we're going to see some real quality from Dan Gosling.

Yeah, I echo that and what I liked as well was how impressed he was with Notts. Obviously we're talking about an impressive name with an impressive resume and you've done a really good job at summarizing that. But the fact that he's come into a club saying openly that he's impressed with. Know, we've talked about stats, haven't we? And there still continues to be this debate on social media and within the fan base about the relevance of stats. I find it very interesting that Dan Gosling was very much aware of the number of passes and the average number of passes that this Notts team play and that being one of those levels of attraction. So however we feel as a fan base, certainly it's attracting players and that awareness of those key performance indicators that are very evident in a Notts team. So I think that's quite interesting. I must admit as well, this comes with a bit of a caveat that obviously we need to have these kind of replacements, these players in and obviously I hope that Goslin hits the ground running, performs fantastically. It's a very short deal that maybe we'll be able to extend and continue going into there, particularly if performances warrant that. But also we need to remember what Notts are about as well, or certainly their activities in the transfer market previously. Yes, we've had those transfers where we've been able to capture those players who've had stellar careers and being able to bring them in and being able to really enforce that style of play. But I am looking forward to when it goes to January and this is one thing that I was quite pleased to see with the club statement that they continue to monitor players looking at that January transfer window, probably looking at players from other areas of football. So other than looking at the free agent pool, but looking at players who. So, for example, the finished, you know, Tiernan Brooks will be on his way back to Notts very soon. I think his last game's Friday. But looking at that market as one potential, I know Lincoln City are very active in that market, for example, and I'm not saying that's the only market we're looking in, but hopefully Notts are going to be able to continue that side of their transfer policy as well as finding these quite stellar, but also getting the last bits out of some really sort of fantastic pros. So I'm really hoping that that's something that is happening alongside. And that statement from the club certainly gave me confidence that was going forward. Now, moving forward, then, we want to talk a little bit about Lincoln, but I do think I'm deliberately using that word a little bit because I'll be honest with you, Tom, the only key takeaway I've got is we're out of a trophy that, frankly, we don't have the squad depth for. How do you feel about it?

Yeah, I'm glad like you are, to be fair, I think that we don't have the squad depth for that competition, and I'm not going to sit here and sell the competition off. People can enjoy their own conclusions on that, the format and the under 21 teams and all that. But I'll be honest, with the squad depth we've got at the moment, I'm glad we're out. The only thing I'll miss slightly is the unpredictable nature of the teams. It was quite fun having to predict sides that containing loads of young players and players and stuff. And the only other key takeaway for me is what a difference two days or three days makes. At the weekend in the FA cup, we could only name five on the bench, and then on Tuesday we've named a really strong bench and a decent team and the squad looks a lot healthier. So that's all I'll say on the Lincoln game because we're finally out and we've not got to bother with it anymore.

Yeah, and I think that echoes an awful lot of the sentiments that I saw on social media and certainly echoes my feelings as well, that this was just a competition too far with a squad that is short. Deliberately so. We've talked about this, the decision, the active decision we think that the club have made to keep a small, integrated squad in order to be able to keep that transition going forward from what was a fantastic year. But unfortunately, with injuries, with the extended game time that I still think is a significant factor. With the extra time that seems to be playing, this just feels like a competition too far. And I don't think that anybody would be setting their standards on what Notts'season would be like, good or bad, on progress in the EFL Trophy. So on to more important matters then. And that is the crew game that's coming up. A really important game. Two sides up know we've got fifth versus second, separated by one point crew with a slightly better goal difference than Notts, but also two sides that can score goals, that have defensive abilities as well. It's going to be an interesting one, isn't it, Tom?

Yeah, 100%. You've got the top scorers in crew in the third, top scorers in Notts, and neither side are particularly good at keeping the ball out of the net either. So I think that is going to surely should make for a really exciting game. We're bigging it up. It's going to end up being nil nil, let's be honest. But it should be a fantastic game. It's two sides that play similar shapes, three at the back with the like to play nice football. It's ingrained in their culture, it's ingrained in ours. And like I mentioned earlier with the football manager chat, they're a team that are very much focused on bringing through young players. And I think that's probably where the biggest differentiation between the two sides are, is that we are very much an experienced team. We haven't got any players in the starting eleven at the moment, under the age of 24, 25. I think Stone is probably not even in the start eleven, really, at the moment. He's the youngest player in the squad. Whereas crew are absolutely littered with teenagers and early 20s. They're captains, 23. So they have got some really good young players and I think that's perhaps what we saw. I watched them at the weekend in the FA cup against Derby and they played brilliantly and you saw the two sides of Krefic in that game. You saw them having some real attacking intent. They used to keep more of the ball, but I think they'll probably keep probably similar level against us. But they have that ability in the final third to take chances. They are really potent, but also they two goals in late on, they were tuned up with minutes to go and they ended up being taken to a replay. So it's a case of a game where we may have to dig deep, but as long as we can stay in it, we'll have chances because they do concede chances. The one thing I would highlight for them is their threat from set pieces. They've scored the most goals from set pieces this season, which is obviously a concern. Mickey Dimitrio, their centre back, Samson, a bit of an Indian summer, he's scored five goals and got four assists from centre back this season already and he's a massive threat in both boxes so he is going to be really important for them. So that's probably one thing I would highlight to look out for.

Yeah, I echo that. I was definitely going to bring up the set piece threat as well and that is something that has been a little bit of an Ecles Hill for Notts, I'm sure. Obviously the team are aware and are going to be working on those threats and have probably been working on it as it continues to be an issue going forward for Notts. So hopefully they're able to demonstrate the benefits of that extra work that's probably going on onto the training pitch. No, I echo your sentiments about crew as well. One of the things that I think is whereas Notts have lurched from one approach to another and thankfully, finally we seem to have found a formula that we're sticking with and trying to play through. In fact, I watched the youth team a few times now as well as obviously watching the stream and I found it quite reassuring despite the result as it ended on the game that was streamed, that Notts were trying to play the same sort of shape and play in the same sort of way. Obviously it's impossible to absolutely replicate it when you consider the talent that we've got in the first team, but trying to play that same style and play that same way with those fundamentals is something that I think we've borrowed from clubs like crew. So whereas Notts have yoyoed throughout the divisions, crew have been fairly consistent with the divisions they've got. I'm sure if you ask their fan base, they'd still love to be getting promoted, pulling out bigger deals, spending the type of money that, let's face it, we as a club in the past, thinking about our last season in League Two, for example, and how much we probably spent just to get relegated, I'm sure Crew would have loved the opportunity to spend that type of money, but they've stuck to what they are good at and what they believe in and it's going to be an interesting test, isn't it, of a side that have had this playing style for what feels like a very long time with tweaks and adjustments to it versus Notts who have come to this very similar style like you say, over the last couple of seasons, a steady progression through several managers and obviously culminating in what is still a very good side. So Tom, on to your predictions and how is this one going to go?

Yeah, I think it's going to be very open. I think it's going to be lots of goals. Not going to shy away from that, that both sides have got the threats to cause each other problems and both sides have probably got the weakness at the back to let each other score. So I'm going to go for two all high scoring draw. Maybe I'm influenced by the fact that Crew drew two all in the cup at the weekend, but obviously we were in a three two could have eased the end of the two all. I think it's again say there'll be chances in we're looking stronger in terms of our squad players coming back, which is brilliant to see and hopefully we'll have more of a team that's resembling something more that we're used to at the weekend. But Crew have got some really good players. They've got long and Baker Richardson up front who have been scoring lots of goals for them. So they are a very good side and I think they'll get chances and I don't really back us to keep a clean sheet at the moment. That's without too much disrespect to us. I think that maybe a bit of a basketball match, as it's often termed, would suit us, but then that probably suit them as well. So I'd really like to see us go and control the game, but that'll be difficult against a team that like to keep the ball as well. So I very much sit on the fence by saying they're evenly matched teams, but I think the figures and the stats back that up and I think we'll see a very even and open game at the weekend. So I've gone for two or draw.

I was going for something similar. I don't feel that we can both go for draw, so I'm going to go for a narrow Notts win. So I'm going to go two one. I'm going to echo what you said about I don't think there's going to be a clean sheet in this. Obviously the goal differences demonstrate that. I think both sides offensively have got their qualities and have got probably too much for the opposition's defense to cope with. I just hope that Notts come out on the right side of that particular I hope that Notts go ahead and take the momentum forward that will ease, I think, some of the concerns and really allow us to settle back into that play. Remembering that we're likely to be giving the likes of Dan Gosling some minutes. There may still need to be some tweaks and adjustments to that traditional tactical way that we approach the games, that we might need to be making some of those adjustments for things that are going on, players recovering from injury or still carrying knocks or whatever. But I really hope that if we go there, we take that confidence, we ignore some of the results, particularly, like I say, the Lincoln game that I don't think we could take necessarily much from. We go in there, we show and demonstrate why we are in the position that we're in, are able to kind of get that early goal settled down, then I really do think that Notts could take that to its conclusion and hopefully we'll be celebrating three points and the next podcast.