Notts County welcomed Grimsby Town to Meadow Lane in their first home game in the EFL in the last four and a half years and it didn’t disappoint!
Notts County today welcomed fans back to Meadow Lane in their first league fixture at their ground this season and what a welcome it was.
A spectacle for the neutral with a largely possession dominated game by The Magpies but with stints of quality from both teams.
Notts County came away with all three points with a well-finished volley from John Bostock, a deflected Jodi Jones cross and a leaping Dan Crowley header giving Notts the three goals to trump Grimsby’s two from Rose and Clifton.
With both sides farely new to the EFL this time round, with Grimsby joining the pack last season and Notts commencing their stay this season, what can we take from this game?
1 – Notts are a possession based side.
Tell us something we didn’t know.
Notts County come into this season with very similar tactics to those deployed last season with their possession based style and building up slowly through the lines.
Notts ended the game with 64.4% possession and it was rare for them to have long spells without the ball.
2 – Jodi Jones is an unbelievable signing for League Two.
Jodi Jones had the game of his life today, claiming the Man of the Match award with a deflected cross ending up in the back of the net and a superb piece of skill before assisting Dan Crowley with the winner.
A handful from the beginning of the game to the end, he terrorised the defense before coming of the pitch in the last knockings of the game.
3 – The new rules need time to settle in.
With 8 yellow cards shown in a game which wouldn’t be described as feisty with the majority of the cards coming from time-wasting tactics which are now punishable by cards.
However, these can be disputed. For example, Toby Adebayo was booked for alleged time-wasting for kicking the ball away after a free-kick decision. The problem being Toby Adebayo and the ball were about 40 yards away from the foul so it surely wasn’t an attempt at time wasting?
Anyway.
4 – Notts’ defense needs work…now!
Defensively, Notts need to tighten up.
Going forward Notts County played some excellent football, utilising the wings very well and McGoldrick, Crowley and Langstaff showing their quality on the ball.
In the last three competitive games they have conceded 9 goals. For reference, it took 9 league games last season for Notts to concede 9 goals which is a shocking record this early in the season.
However, with Baldwin out suspended and new loan signing Tipton not included for reasons unknown, Notts do have reinforcements which can be used, but maybe more reinforcements are needed, especially after the Bajrami injury.
5 – Partnerships are already forming.
Notts County utilise partnerships all across the field and this is clearly coming into effect already and it’s noticeable to see.
Matt Palmer and John Bostock constantly working well together in the middle of the park and being the engine of the Notts team, being the options as they work out of defense. There is no doubt they are the primary partnership which makes the team tick.
Furthermore, Dan Crowley and Aaron Nemane are already forming an excellent partnership down the right hand side, with Crowley stepping into Ruben Rodrigues’ role, playing him through on numerous occasions. This partnership is only just forming and the potential it has is fantastic.
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