As the players leave the pitch after a solid 1-0 win away to rivals Mansfield, Eagles stands in the middle of the pitch, arms aloft and clapping the Notts County travelling supporters, acutely aware of the importance of the result. Captain Carl Cameron meets Eagles and they are all smiles in conversation as they leave the pitch, celebrating a welcomed clean sheet following an uncharacteristically leaky January month where Notts conceded 15 goals in 7 games. They will be looking for more results like this and to regain that solid, hard to beat mentality that has been the foundation of what has propelled Notts to top of the league at this mid point of the season.
“It was like an unstoppable machine when we got going. We all attack and defend together so you feel like part of a bigger beast.”
One player who has left the party is Robert Snodgrass, following his decision to retire from professional football on the 16th January. Eagles sighted the summer signing of Snodgrass as one that would immensely help in establishing the strong team relationships he is after on the pitch, describing Snodgrass as a “player who works hard for the team and has experience developing successful partnerships at the highest level of the game.” In his 20 matches with Notts, Snodgrass developed a fruitful partnership from his right midfield position with full back Matt Olosunde, also a summer signing, with the two combining with 13 assists. Following his decision to end his career at Notts County, Snodgrass only had positive things to say about what Eagles is developing thus far.
“You think of the most successful teams over the years and they all have outstanding partnerships,” observed Snodgrass when asked what he thinks is working at Notts County. “John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho. Cole and Yorke. Shearer and Sutton. Vidic and Ferdinand. Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish. We all remember and celebrate the great footballers but no player achieves success alone. This is what I think he (Eagles) is trying to get across to his players and it’s working well for him so far. Everyone knows their role but also how they are expected to be playing together. Combination play and building familiarity with one another is something the gaffer puts a lot of focus on.”
Things are working very well for Notts at both ends of the pitch. After 31 games played they sit top of the league with the most goals scored, 77, and are in the top three for fewest shots faced and goals conceded. The centre-back pairing of Cameron and Baldwin, central midfielders Palmer and Bowden and the two forwards of McGoldrick and Langstaff have proven to be a backbone of solid partnerships through the middle of the team. Indeed the approach play has been fascinating to watch with Notts moving as one to get numbers into the box.
“It was like an unstoppable machine when we got going. We all attack and defend together so you feel like part of a bigger beast. You feel more confident about what you are doing when you know we all have each others backs. The fans love a bit of that too, to see that we’re all so committed. I absolutely loved my time here and am happy to have played my part in this positive chapter for the club. I will be watching more football on my Saturdays now with my feet up,” jokes Snodgrass. “I will certainly be keeping a close eye on Notts results and hoping they can get promoted this season. I believe in the boys.”
A tough run in January has seen Notts lose 4 from 7 games, seemingly the impact of a recent injury crisis. They are over the worst of that now with key players back and new faces joining the club to add much needed depth in key areas. With 15 games left to play, Eagles will be hoping to string a few consecutive wins together soon to help gain the momentum needed to surely see through a likely promotion to league one. One thing is for sure. The goals of Macaulay Langstaff, with 23 in 21 games, will play a big part in their fortunes and they will be hoping this rich vein of form continues.
Football Manager Focus
A dive into the datahub after 31 games played tells a very positive story indeed in how we are meeting expectation with our performance in the league. At the start of the season we said we wanted to replicate Eagles defensive capabilities as well as meeting the boards vision for playing possession football and, if we can, please the fans with attacking football too. A tall order some might say!
I was quietly confident that the planned approach, setting up a possession style of play in a 4-4-2 formation, had a good chance of achieving defensive stability, a fair chance of challenging for high rates of possession, and a decent stab at good attacking output. I did not expect us to be, comfortably, the highest scoring team in the league.
77 goals in 31 matches, 15 ahead of Stockport in 2nd. That is a rate of 2.48 goals per game. Our total expected goals at 58.47 equates to an XG over performance of 18.53. I feel we have a lot to thank for the sheer quality of Macaulay Langstaff. This is all while playing the majority of matches with a balanced mentality.
This is not at the expense of solid defensive performance either, being 3rd for the number of goals conceded and 3rd for fewest expected goals against. With the team coming in at 3rd, there’s a pattern here, for most possession over all league matches played, the board conclude that “The teams attempts to adopt a possession-based style of play have been very encouraging and we are optimistic for the future.” Yes and so am I.
Enough bragging. Let us take a look at how this is being achieved and areas we can look for improvement.
This is my first save in FM24 using a 4-4-2 formation, all be it with two defensive midfielders. In matches I can see how this is particularly good for utilising the counter press, with players well positioned to win the ball back together.
In this phase of play you can see our left back, left winger and left central midfielder all working together to win the ball back quickly. From the moment this opposition winger received the ball they were all in close vicinity to surround him instantly. This helps to win the ball back quickly and retain possession. We are pretty poor however with the high number of passes we allow the opposition to have before a defensive action is made. This seems quite contradictory right? Well, we set up with a mid-block, meaning we are happy to allow the opposition to pass around their defense for a bit if that’s what they want to do, but we’ll work hard to win it back in the middle of the pitch and stop them getting close to our goal. And this is working well being as we are top for final third passes against and 2nd for having the fewest shots against.
We don’t press with constant intensity. We don’t have a team with an abundance of aggression, bravery and stamina to do that. So we pick and chose the right moments to win the ball back in a balanced fashion.
Our higher line of defense means we are squeezing the space we’re allowing the opposition to play in when being engaged with the ball. We do not have much pace however with our centre-backs so we occasionally find ourselves having to drop the line slightly to reduce the space behind that fast opposition forwards can exploit. Despite the mid block, having two strikers means we can attempt at preventing short goalkeeper distribution and force the opposition to play long, thus increasing our chances of winning it back in an area where we typically out number the opposition’s attacking numbers. A weakness often cited about the 4-4-2 formation is the space left in front of the two central defenders to exploit. Setting it up with two defensive midfielders though means we’re covering off this area of the pitch. Does this sacrifice our threat from central areas I here thee cry?
Well, not really. Some player instructions under the hood orchestrating the dynamics from wide positions is meaning that we are able to exploit central and wide areas, where ever we might find the space against the opposing team. When we have the ball, the narrow, short passing with a low tempo is allowing us to keep possession well. Draw out the opposition players. We will then work the ball into the box to increase our quality of chances and encourage players with good dribbling ability to run at the defense to help break them down as we do have some players with strong attacking flair. Our left and right midfielders are instructed to sit narrow and cut inside with the ball. This is where we will attack the central areas from. We then encourage players to find our attacking right full back with an overlap. We will also activate a left overlap if we feel it is an area of weakness. To balance this out, our right midfield player will be in a support role. On the left our full back plays in support and sitting narrow to better support the central defenders in defensive positioning, while the left winger will have an attack duty and get forward more often.
This creates space in multiple areas of the pitch. Makes our approach play dynamic, adaptable and unpredictable.
As this became apparent, we found a higher number of teams setting up with 5 at the back to out number our attacking players. This is where we had to start making more in game changes to try to win the match, often moving one or both of our wide midfielders / wingers further forward to the wide attacking forward positions in order to compete effectively in the final third.
Let’s look at an in match example in our 7-2 turn around from 2-1 down away against Doncaster.
Our Regista, Matt Palmer, picks up the ball in central midfield and finds a pass to David McGoldrick who has dropped into space in his Deep lying forward role. While he completes a central dribble with the ball, both our wide midfielders have made forward runs into central areas of the pitch towards the edge of the area. With Langstaff, centrally highlighted, playing as a poacher, posing a constant threat looking for space between the central defenders or between a central defender and full back, their back 4 have become very narrow, opening up lot’s of space on both flanks to exploit. You can see both our highlighted full backs making runs into this space.
McGoldrick plays the ball to an overlapping Olosunde who crosses from the byline to Crowley. He has checked his run from wide right and finishes nicely into the far post from just inside the area. It’s not an endless wave of attacks from us but what we do is work together to build attacking momentum so that when we do find space to work in and get the ball into the box, there are good numbers in there to finish the move off.
What areas can we improve on? Well we are pretty abysmal in the air in attacking play. A weak 21st for cross completion percentage. We’re not competing well at all from corners. 5th worst for goals from corners.
There is not a great deal of height in the squad but perhaps we need to utilise what we have by mixing our routines up a bit. Relying on a single near post routine is making us predictable from corners.
Signings
Summer
There has not been much money to play with and a narrow scope for scouting so it has been slim pickings for who we can bring in.
A romantic acquisition of Robert Snodgrass was a shrewd signing, providing experienced competition for the right midfield slot with the attacking talent of Dan Crowley. Snodgrass fit the DNA nicely as a player with a good level of workrate and teamwork as well as being competent on the ball and from set pieces.
Jamie Bowden was another pre-season signing that fit the DNA very nicely indeed. Adept at both his defensive positional play and passing game, Eagles was personally picking him up from the airport and cooking him dinner to get this signing across the line! Playing predominantly as a defensive midfielder on support, he has chipped in with 2 goals and 4 assists which is pretty decent.
Tolaji Bola significantly improved our left back options. He is quick and solid in the air making him ideal as the narrow full back supporting our central defenders with attacks towards our box. He is not going to get regularly mugged at the far post, something I personally like to look for in full backs. Jake Carroll was a little stronger in defensive positioning and marking so acted as solid competition, although he was later sold in January, needing to free funds for other signings. Making quick money on a player that didn’t cost us anything. Lucien Mahovo was promptly promoted from the U21s to add cover to left back and is quickly developing nicely.
January
Ben Heneghan adds much needed quality competition for CB. At 6’4 and reasonably strong in the air, could he be the ammo we need to improve our threat from set-pieces? Mariappa was also brought in to add experienced and reliable cover, fitting the required DNA along with all other signings made with strength in teamwork, work rate and positioning as well as being solid on the ball with decent first touch, passing and composure.
Dariusz Formella was a tasty attacking all rounder that was a January priority signing, what with Snodgrass retiring. He can play confidently in all wide midfield and forward positions on both flanks and is a good all rounder with strong attributes as a quick dribbler and competent passer. With 2 goals in 3 appearances playing in a weakened team impacted by a recent injury crisis, he looks like he could be an exciting prospect in the second half of this season. Finally Jordan Cousins is an experienced midfield workhorse who will add solid cover for Jamie Bowden in the defensive midfield role.
We did however sell John Bostock. He had given the ‘considering his options’ ultimatum and so as a player nearing the end of his career, we cashed in to free funds for other signings. This means we are low on cover for Palmer in the Regista role. Oh yeah, about that! We had planned on a double Regista gamble, but Bostock picked up a serious injury pre season so we put that idea to bed. Bowden came in at this point and was more suitable as a defensive midfielder on support.
I feel we are in a strong position to see through our promotion push. Will the Notts players be lifting Eagles to the skies come the end of the season? We will be back for another update in part 3 where we’ll review the seasons achievements and look to the next chapter of Notts Dreams. In league 1? There’s nothing stopping us now. Is there?