Just Back

David Artell is going to be a fantastic manager for the Mariners.

To get a team playing brilliant attacking football in 5 weeks, who previously all had to track back leaving no attacking threat whatsoever is a real treat.

Yes of course the defending is abysmal but he will soon sort that out.

Someone on the Notts forum said we should have been 6 up before they scored and they are not wrong.

Congratulations to both teams for serving up the game of the weekend.

Quoted from HerveJosse

After entertainment like that you just have to forget the deficiencies for the day bank it as a game you will remember forever and move on to next week

How right you are, everyone was moaning about how drab going to BP had become and whether it was the large away following, the reaction to the awful tragedy or something else but the ground had energy and expectation as soon as I walked in today. A football match that had absolutely everything, including an excellent referee, and typified the ups and downs and emotional extremes that only football can provide.

As I said on another thread, Jones, Mc Goldrick and Bostick ( not forgetting the guy on the right) are three of the best players in L2 this season. Too many football fans are obsessed with the result and it becomes the be all and end all but occasionally chaps just forget that and enjoy the fact that today you witnessed a classic.

Can’t wait for the next home game after that.

We go to football matches to support our team and hopefully be entertained, last year we watched some awful boring football and were crying out for goals but today was a game that had everything and we got a point out of it against a team in a much higher league position than what we are, the game was end to end stuff and was never dull. Ok we conceded 5 goals but so did Notts but we played some great attacking football but were let down by our defending. We should have scored more goals in the 1st half but we didn’t and that’s football. Great game and one that will be remembered for a long time.UTM

Quoted from The Yard Dog

I had to chuckle to myself when Harry scored our 5th to equalise, all those fans who had left to beat the traffic.
I have never understood why people leave a game early, my old man would drag us out early to beat the traffic, especially if we were losing.
When I started to attend games on mine own, I vowed I would not leave a game early, I was still there to the end against Walsall.

Can remember going to Luton we lose 6-0 (plastic pitch), what made it worse went in my uncle's bright orange Lada, took forever getting back.

I had to leave before the last goal, on nights and started at 6pm.

I think we’re starting to see what Artell is trying to do, the midfield & attack were significantly better than I can remember in recent years when we’ve come up against good opposition.

Playing like we did today we would have smashed most sides in this league but Notts County have some exceptional players for L2 Langstaff, Crowley, McGoldrick & Jones have 49 between them.

But …. and it’s a but that needs fixing quickly. We can’t concede 11 goals in 2 home games & think we’re truly progressing, our starting back 4 today just aren’t good enough to play the game Artell wants to play. I would imagine he’ll be busting a gut to get Effete & Amos clubs who’ll offer them deals then try & bring in 2 better defenders than Glennon & Mullarkey.

Like I say the midfield today played as a real unit & helped provide plenty of ball for our front 3 who certainly gave Notts something to worry about.

The result wasn’t what we all wanted considering we where 2 - 0 up and ahead in the game 3 times but I think this was a good day for our club after what has been a horrible week.

Couple of other things, thought the ref was good and credit to the Notts County support, a full Osmond makes such a difference to the atmosphere at BP especially when they show class like they did prior to kick off.

9 points from 28 since Artell arrived, just need a couple of wins otherwise the last quarter of the season could be harder than it should be when we play like we did today.

All that said it was just so good to come to BP & see an open attacking game with both sides going for it.

UTM!

To the minority of miserable fúcks unhappy about a 5-all draw, I wasn’t able to make today’s game and, believe me, I’m absolutely mortified to have missed a classic that will live in the memory for a long time. If I’m not mistaken, the second highest scoring game of my lifetime (1985 onwards), after the Burnley 6-5. Incredible.

Having not been there, I’m not in a position to comment on the specifics of the match, but the emerging patterns are clear. 20 goals over the course of our last 3 games; we’re no longer boring. Ultimately, you change a manager because you want to bring about change, and specifically the kind of change most Town fans were crying out for. Attractive, attacking football with a clear intent. It’s certainly what we’ve got, and huge credit is due for getting there in such a short space of time.

But, with the boring, goal shy problem apparently solved and then some, our soft underbelly has also been exacerbated. There’s always going to have to be concessions made, but while it’s great going from being almost non-scoring to having notched 9 in our last 3, conceding 11 in our last 2 is too high a price to pay in the long-term. It’ll have to improve if Artell is to get beyond his current 25% win ratio, though I acknowledge the small sample size.

But if, IF Artell can crack that defensive nut whilst ironing out a smidge of our offensive profligacy, the potential seems genuinely exciting. A bumpy road ahead perhaps, but it feels like it might well be a fun ride.

That equalising goal right at the end was a HUGE goal.

Let's just say it — had we not got it, the mood on here tonight would be very different. Two home defeats and 11 goals conceded.

However, getting our fifth wasn't just massive for the game, but potentially for a long time to come. Can you imagine how the players were feeling at 4-5? Probably exactly how we were feeling!

So to pick themselves back up, when once again they'd let a lead slip to a crushing defeat, when confidence must have been at an all-time low, after conceding 11 goals at home in two games... that fifth was no ordinary goal.

Yes, just a point... but a massive point in the context of what had happened.

As others have rightly pointed out already on this thread, Notts County have a front line far above the standard here in L2. And Artell's asking us to play more positively.

It was absolutely certain we would concede goals today.

I think the criticism of Mullarkey and Rodgers is warranted, but let's not totally ignore who they were up against, and that our defence is always going to be more exposed by the way we now press.

Things will improve. I hope those two in particular improve. If not, I'm sure DA will do something about it.

I think we all know how sterile some of our home performances were under PH towards the end. Let's also remember that, in a season where we're out of all cups — and we shouldn't go down — the best we can hope for is to see a little more entertainment.

Well, we got that in spades today.

I get that it's frustrating and annoying that we can't hold onto leads, see teams off, etc. But we'd have lost that under PH. At best we may have knicked a 2-2 or something.

I've never known us draw 5-5 in my lifetime, so even though we didn't win I can at least enjoy the rather bizarre scoreline to some degree!

In the past 20 years, we’ve had unlucky teams, lazy teams, pïssed teams, shït teams…

This current team must be the thickest, most stupid team of their generation.

Just like the Crawley match, at 2-0 up, our midfield, and worst of all, Mullarkey, are completely the wrong side of the ball. What the fûck was Mullarkey doing? Why’s he going forward and turning like a döner on a spit?

It’s the sort of mistake you should only make once a season. But then Mullarkey gets the wrong side again 7 mins later for their second goal.

Holohan made the same mistake twice in 5 mins against Crawley.

They are all (Rose and Cartwright excluded) thick as pig shït

I don’t mind mistakes. Just learn from them. But they don’t.

Is there any sort of post match video analysis done? How can you keep making the same positional errors?

Yes I enjoyed the roller coaster ride today, and I know we have a poor defence but ….
I think Cartwright should take some of the flak at the back. He often lacks confidence, was indecisive at crucial moments, and fumbled several times.

Quoted from Plankton

If you drew every game you'd get relegated. 5-5 is nothing to celebrate when we should have gone 3-0 up and cruised to the win.

It's not going to be 5-5 every week is it