Blarney

MATCH TWENTY-FOUR NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS GATESHEAD (10) @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH TWENTY-THREE MAIDENHEAD UNITED (23) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ YORK ROAD

MATCH TWENTY-TWO SCUNTHORPE UNITED (24) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ GLANFORD PARK

MISC STATS-N-STUFF Finances Board Approval Supporter Approval Attacking Analysis Defending Analysis League Team Stats League Player Stats Notts County Player Stats NOTES Is it possible for everything (most things) to be going so right but at the same time it just seems they're not? Our attacking is superior... but our data analysis of our attacking shows some serious weaknesses. We still can't pass. When I'm watching the game we're erratic at best and not following instructions. For instance, I have explicitly told the club to dribble, be less expressive and do short passes. Watching the game however we're not dribbling and we're making long passes up the pitch... definitely not what I've asked. The thing is.. one on one or in the open we're beating our opposition handily. So it's working... but it's not working. I'd rather control possession and have quick short passes, which I think with our ability would lead to even more goals and better quality. On top of that you look at my club and the average player rating... and it's horrible. We have a few guys doing well but most of them I wouldn't consider even an average rating at the moment. We're just not good... even though we're good. But it's obvious that going forward, especially if we gain promotion that we're not good enough. Unfortunately every attempt to get better this year isn't working. I can't find quality players for some reason. I've tried to sign a few guys only to be told no. Several of my players have told me they want out and have no intention of staying... which is fine since I don't want half of them anyway other than Rodrigues, but I can't jettison them until I find replacements. And I can't find replacements. I do not want to lose guys without getting something in return. So something has to give.

NOVEMBER Ups, downs and everything in between. So first off, I don't care about the FA Cup. At least not right now. We stood absolutely no chance at going anywhere in it and I'd rather not play the extra games. I know it's extra cash but the rest is worth more to me at the moment. I would have rather just lost the first game honestly but we pulled that one from the frying pan - as the saying goes. I'm glad we lost the 2nd and don't have to continue. Unfortunately then we played 2 straight "bad" games where we had some relatively tired players and just didn't perform well. But we were lucky to escape with draws in both. Luckily - as well - the poor play didn't last long and we got 2 wins to end the month. All-in-all... 2-2-0 for the month in league play isn't bad. We still hold the top spot but we're not really pulling away as there are a few other teams having brilliant seasons as well. But we are really comfortably in the safe zone as we are 19 points clear from 8th place. As much as I'd love to pull further away at the top, the most important thing is just making sure we're safe.

MATCH TWENTY-ONE NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS BARNET (15) @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH TWENTY NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS YEOVIL TOWN (16) @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH NINETEEN SOUTHEND UNITED (11) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ ROOTS HALL

FA CUP: FIRST ROUND (PART 2) NOTTS COUNTY VS CHESTERFIELD @ MEADOW LANE

FA CUP: FIRST ROUND CHESTERFIELD VS NOTTS COUNTY @ THE TECHNIQUE STADIUM

MATCH EIGHTEEN EASTLEIGH (5) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ SILVERLAKE STADIUM

OCTOBER All good things must come to an end I mean I didn't really think we'd go undefeated this season but it sure was a valiant attempt through the first few months. What's shocking is our loss didn't come to Wrexham which I suspected it would. We beat them rather handily, but then we turned around and played a really poor match against Woking and paid the price. Still a 3-2-1 month isn't anything to get upset about. And on top of that we breezed through our FA Cup qualifying match. We maintain an iron-grip on the top of the table, clear by 8 points now from 2nd place and 15 from 8th. We also have an incredible 26 goal difference as well which just goes to show the quality of our matches both offensively and defensively at the moment. York is playing very well also with just 2 less wins on the season... but 4 more losses is where the point difference is. Wrexham is playing better and is safely in a playoff spot currently but they really haven't caught fire like I thought they would and only have a 9 goal difference on the season. I still expect them to get hot and challenge us at some point, assuming we fall off a little and don't let the pack come to us. Can this continue?

MATCH SEVENTEEN NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS TORQUAY UNITED (11) @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH SIXTEEN WEALDSTONE (22) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ GROSVENOR VALE

MATCH FIFTEEN NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS MAIDSTONE UNITED (8) @ MEADOW LANE

FA CUP: 4TH QUALIFYING ROUND NOTTS COUNTY VS BROMLEY @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH FOURTEEN WOKING (13) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ KINGFIELD STADIUM

MATCH THIRTEEN NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS WREXHAM (5) @ MEADOW LANE

FA CUP DRAW Good draw for us. Should be a match that we can sleepwalk through.

MATCH TWELVE NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS ALTRINCHAM (6) @ MEADOW LANE

MISC STATS-N-STUFF Lovin' all the green with the average ratings, but that's not really surprising considering our start to the season. Again not surprising to see a good attacking analysis. Our pass completion and cross completion ratios could be better but it hasn't affected our performance so you don't yell too much about it. This is surprising. Our analytics aren't great. Our interceptions per game is outstanding but our tackles won ratio is average and our blocks and clearances are below average. Honestly this is sort of what I expected us to be... but we're doing this and not allowing goals. I guess don't question it when it's working. Losing money, what's new. I'm glad they're happy... now give me more money to work with. Supporters are just never satisfied. First in goals (albeit by 1 only), 2nd in shots on target ratio and 2nd in conversion rate. Not bad. Langstaff has some serious competition in most goals scored.

SEPTEMBER What an absolutely ridiculous (in a good way) month. Five wins in five matches is good enough. Outstanding really, obviously. But it's the fact that we scored 13 goals in 5 games.... and didn't allow 1. Not one goal allowed. Out of 11 matches so far this season we've completely shut down our opposition 8 times now and allowed just 1 goal twice. That means that in only 1 game so far this season have we even allowed more than 1 goal... and 8 times we haven't allowed any. Absolutely amazing. Obviously it is very early and we certainly don't want to get ahead of ourselves.. but we just dismantled another "top" team in York - who was in 2nd place at the time we played them. Right now our match that we drew in where we allowed 3 goals (but also scored 3) is just the outlier on an absolutely stunning performance early in the season. We have almost double the goal difference of the 2nd best club in the league at the moment... and we've already mounted a 7 point advantage at the top (and 13 points clear of 8th place.) Oh.. and I did say that Wrexham would bounce back, didn't I?

MATCH ELEVEN YORK CITY (2) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ YORK COMMUNITY STADIUM

MATCH TEN DORKING WANDERERS (21) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ MEADOWBANK

MATCH NINE NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS ALDERSHOT TOWN (21) @ MEADOW LANE