Where Did This Season Go Wrong?

For all the pre-season hype about back-to-back promotions and potentially reaching the play-offs, this season really has gone pear-shaped.

Today, as on the opening day, Notts were beaten 3-0 by a far superior Huddersfield – who have shown us the proper way to play football both at the Galpharm and in our own back yard this season. It is a result that leaves us a miserly two points above the League One relegation zone as the season draws to a close, and I for one am worried that there may be an immediate return to League Two only a year after ending a depressing six season stay in the football league’s basement division.

The blind optimists among the Meadow Lane faithful – of which there appears to be few – will point out that Notts still have up to three games in hand on the teams around us and if we are able to win those and pick up points elsewhere we will be fine. But ‘if’ is the important word.

Notts have now failed to score for 400-odd minutes and even that goal was a penalty – Alan Gow’s only goal in a Notts shirt at Hillsborough. By the time Oldham visit Meadow Lane on Saturday; it will have been over a month since Notts scored a goal from open play, Craig Westcarr’s goal against Brentford at Griffin Park, which is a frightening statistic at the best of times, but being in the midst of a relegation battle makes it that much worse.

So, where has this season gone wrong?

Some may look to January and the sale of Ben Davies as the moment our season petered out. Others will argue that our fantastic run in the FA Cup distracted us from the bread and butter of the league, leading to the position we find ourselves in currently. Others will go back further, to October 24^th, and see the sacking of Craig Short – or even a few days after that and the appointment of Paul Ince – as the point our season turned for the worse.

For me, you have to go way back to the 27^th May and the day that Steve Cotterill informed us that he would not be remaining as Notts County manager for the 2010/11 season.

It was the news that every Notts fan had been dreading. The man that had guided us to the title – a man we had idolised as a manager for the previous three months – would be leaving Meadow Lane.

Many will argue that I am living in the past and need to move on from the fantastic time that we had under Cotterill, but the stability that we would have gained had he signed a long term contract could have played a vital part in shaping this season differently.

I look to both Bournemouth and Rochdale for proof. Both started this season with the same managers that won them promotion into League One last season and both are still in with a chance of making the play-offs come the end of the season, albeit Rochdale’s chances are fairly slim now. Even when Bournemouth did lose manager Eddie Howe to Burnley in January, the men at the top decided to go for a continuation of what they already had in appointing Lee Bradbury as player manager with big Steve Fletcher as his assistant. This move has kept Bournemouth ticking over in the same way they were before Howe left as, whilst Bradbury will have added his own spin to the managerial position, he will have kept much the same as before he was appointed.

If only Cotterill had stayed, we may be looking at the other end of the league table to find ourselves well in with a chance of challenging for the play-offs instead of languishing a couple of points above the drop zone in the lower reaches of the table.

However, that is all ifs and buts and we do have a serious threat of being relegated, which will continue to be a threat in my eyes until we can find some form in front of goal. A season that initially promised us so much could go horribly wrong, but I believe that we have enough in the locker (or changing room) to pull us through and to then push on under Paul Ince next season.

Back to the Bread & Butter

After the day out at Manchester City last Sunday, where the game was played on actual grass, it really hits home that it is back to the league in a Friday night game in the pouring rain.

Notts were in front of the cameras, this time of the Sky Sports variety, for the 3^rd time in the last month, as they played a Charlton team challenging for promotion. The game earlier in the season at The Valley had been one of the most disappointing results of the season – not because of a bad performance, but exactly the opposite; Notts had dominated the game, only to suffer the consequences of not taking their chances as Joe Anyinsah scored in the eighty fifth minute to complete a ‘smash and grab’ to sum up Notts’ early season.

But enough of that game, it was important for Notts to prove to everyone that they weren’t going to allow the cup run to affect them and to get a result in a tough game.

Notts started the first half brightly, even if no real clear cut chances were made – a ball flashed across the face of goal by new loan signing Carl Regan, which Craig Westcarr failed to make contact with, being the best chance in the opening stages.

As the Sky Sports commentators talked about Notts’ solid defensive record this season, the team weren’t exactly showing why they have that proud record with Krystian Pearce and Mike Edwards initially struggling to cope with the pace of Bradley Wright-Phillips and Nathan Eccleston. 

Questions were asked of the Notts defence when Anyinsah got clear of Krystian Pearce, before attempting to lob the ball over Stuart Nelson who clattered into him. The Notts goalkeeper got away with only a yellow card as the referee adjudged the back-tracking Pearce to be sufficient cover to not warrant a sending off, although some may argue, especially the 686 that travelled up from London, that he did prevent a clear goal scoring opportunity.

Wright-Phillips also spurned a golden opportunity to put the Addicks in front. After a cross from ex-Notts man Johnnie Jackson was spilled by Stuart Nelson, the ball fell to the Charlton striker who – fortunately for Notts – was unable to bundle it home.

Charlton then had another great opportunity to go in front later in the half, when Eccleston’s well timed run and pace allowed him to beat the offside trap and get through on goal, only to be thwarted by the on-rushing Nelson. At this point it seemed as though it was only a matter of time until Charlton grabbed the games opener.

Notts did also had chances in the opening 45 – both Westcarr and Alan Gow had shots that forced good saves from Rob Elliot in the Charlton goal, who spent a single season at Meadow Lane as a reserve goalkeeper – but neither side were able to find the net in an eventful first half.

I suppose it wouldn’t be right to write about a Notts game without mentioning the horrendous state of the pitch at Meadow Lane – I’m sure most football fans in the country have seen it during one of the games aired on TV in the last month and it didn’t make yesterday’s game, between two sides who wanted to pass the football, easy – but as Notts fans, I think we’ve heard enough about it from Paul Ince recently, “It’s not good, it doesn’t help passing football.” Okay, we get it! The sooner we get it sorted, the better, but for now we will have to deal with it, so stop moaning!

Back to the game, and Notts started the second half as they started the first – in the ascendancy. However, this time, they were able to make the chances count as Neal Bishop, somewhat fortuitously, managed to divert Alan Gow’s poorly taken free-kick off his backside, via a deflection of Charlton’s Simon Francis, into the bottom corner – leaving Elliot scrambling across his line to no avail. Not pretty, but a goal’s a goal.

Charlton then came onto the attack trying to get back into the game and, undoubtedly, their best chance came from the spot after a clumsy challenge from the usually solid Mike Edwards sent the tricky Anyinsah flying in the box. It was at this moment I had the sinking feeling that we had thrown away a lead for the umpteenth time this season. Wright-Phillips stepped up from the spot, but Stuart Nelson’s ‘death stare’ obviously did the trick as the striker dribbled the ball to Nelson’s right – an easy save for the ‘keeper. It was a penalty which may have reminded Notts fans of when Lee Hughes steps up from twelve yards – it looks calm and confident if it goes in, but terrible when it is saved.

Notts had been forced to shooting wildly from range for most of the game, but when Westcarr took aim from distance late on in the game, anyone at the ground or watching on Sky, must have thought the ball was flying into the back of the net, but Elliot pulled off a fine save to keep Charlton’s hopes of a point alive.

But they weren’t able to salvage a point and Notts were victorious in what was not a classic, but definitely was an entertaining game. All in all a good day at the office for Notts who’ve now won their last two league games – against two teams chasing promotion – without conceding a goal, which has to be a major positive.

It may not have had the glamour of the cup-tie in Manchester, but it is definitely a more significant result and with all our games in hand, who knows? A late dash for the play-offs may be difficult, but just remember last season – anything can happen.

The Fixture Pile-up

So, yet another Notts County game has been called off, meaning yet another fixture pile-up in the run in.

Today’s game against Tranmere is the fifth time that Notts have had a game called off this season (previous fixtures against Hartlepool, Brentford, Brighton and Rochdale have fallen foul to the weather) and this, coupled with another excellent run in the FA Cup, means the club’s small squad will face a run in playing two games a week, every week. To me, this bodes the question; what can be done to stop this happening?

Please don’t think that I am just a Notts fan complaining about something that may cause my club a few problems in the run in to the end of the season, as it’s not just us that face a pile-up of fixtures – Burton Albion have yet to reach the halfway point in their season.

Many will suggest the introduction of a winter break, but with this arises many issues – the biggest of which being when the winter break would be. Last season, fixtures were called off during January, whereas this season the fixture list was affected during December. This alone proves that it is impossible to tell when a winter break will be needed, meaning that an incorrectly timed break could result in an even bigger pile-up of fixtures.

I personally, feel that the original fixture list is badly arranged.

The FA decided before the beginning of the season that there would be two midweek fixtures for Notts played between the New Year and the end of the season in May, both of which could have been played before Christmas.

I can’t understand why these midweek fixtures are arranged for after Christmas, when there are plenty of Tuesdays or Wednesdays early on in the season – especially in October, when Notts didn’t play a single midweek fixture – that are free, even if a club was to have a run in the not-too-prestigious League Cup or the even-less-prestigious Football League Trophy.

If it was up to me, I would change the layout of fixtures over a season so that all of the midweek fixtures arranged for the second half of the season are played before Christmas. This would mean that when lower league clubs inevitably get fixtures called off, there won’t be as much of a backlog as there has been for Notts in the last two seasons.

Notts County v Walsall (3rd Feb)

I write this a day after the game itself to avoid any knee-jerk comments I may have made straight after a very frustrating game against a plucky and determined Walsall side.

Notts should have won this game by a long way and it was easy for anyone in the ground to see that Notts were clearly the side with the better quality players at their disposal. It was a game that may have reminded many fans of some games earlier in the season – Tranmere and Carlisle, as recently as eleven days before hand, in particular.

It would also have been easy for many people to assume this game would be three points in the bag for Notts against a side who, at the time of writing, are bottom of the table, albeit only on goal difference, and whom many expect will be condemned to playing League Two football next season.

Walsall started the game possibly as the livelier of the two, and could have gone ahead early on – Jason Price was put through on goal, but dragged his shot wide – but Notts soon settled into their stride and began to control the game after a scrappy opening ten minutes.

Many in the ground were hoping to see if relatively new loan signing David Martin could produce the same good performance that he produced against the riches of Manchester City on Sunday, in the league and, during the first half, he certainly showed some of the quality the fans were hoping he had, linking up well with the players around him as well as showing the ability to get down the wing and deliver a cross – even if the latter of these wasn’t done with consistent quality.

There was some good football being played by Notts, even if Walsall seemed to be getting the rub of the green with deflections inside and around their own penalty area. The good football did however, lead to the two best chances of the half – a ball across the box which fell to Lee Hughes eight or so yards out, who casually stroked the ball wide; a chance he really should have scored from, followed by Craig Westcarr forcing a good save from Walsall’s goalkeeper Jimmy Walker.

However, as the first half wore on, Notts began to resort to playing long balls up from the back towards Hughes and Westcarr – neither of whom are tall enough to win balls in the air against their opposing centre backs.

I was hoping that, during half time, Paul Ince would gather the players and tell them to get back to playing the football that created some good chances in the first half. If he did say this, his words of motivation were ineffective. Notts continued to go too long too early, which meant they weren’t able to carve out the same quality chances they did at points in the first half.

Finally the breakthrough did come though, an excellent glancing header by Lee Hughes after a near post corner from Martin. That’s two goals from corners, in two games for Notts – are we really missing Ben Davies? The feeling around the ground at the time was summed up well by my Dad sat next to me, who turned round and merely said, “About time.”

Hughes then went on to force Jimmy Walker into another fantastic save with a curling effort from just outside the area, before a goal that felt as surreal as Neal Bishop’s did on Sunday. Unfortunately, this time, the shock was not coupled with euphoria, but with disappointment, as sloppy defending allowed Alex Nicholls in for an equaliser with little time remaining. Whilst many will say that Stuart Nelson shouldn’t have been beaten at his near post, others will argue that Nicholls shouldn’t have been allowed the time and space to get the shot away.

It meant the result was as much of a disappointment as the performance; however credit where credit is due, Walsall didn’t lie down and allow us time and space – even after we had taken the lead.