Saturday's win at home to Grimsby saw Luke Williams' Notts County put in the kind of performance we became accustomed to last season.
Williams stuck to his guns and persisted with the back 3 and wingbacks, however, the defensive high line had been tempered a bit along with a slightly more direct approach from the back. This resulted in Notts recording fewer passes than usual, reducing the deep circulation a little but somehow still managing to maintain the lion's share of ball possession.
Both teams pressed each well but considering that Notts had more of the ball Grimsby did well to record similar PPDA numbers to Notts. One observation would be the difference in shape between the two teams when transitioning in and out of possession. Paul Hurst had drilled his team well and Grimsby were quick to drop into a very compact 434/451 mid block meaning Notts had to work extremely hard in the attacking phases to create the chances they did. Notts on the other hand were not as quick to transition defensively and with the wingbacks playing so high the defensive transitions were not particularly fluid, meaning the central midfielders were pulled out wide to cover the wingbacks leaving the middle of the pitch exposed and often resulting in Grimsby picking up most of the second balls in that area of the pitch.
Both of Grimsby's first half goals came from just 3 attempts with the second coming completely against the run of play with Notts looking the most likely to score. Funnily enough the second half was quite the opposite in terms of chances with Notts scoring twice from 3 attempts, although the Waterfall own goal has not been recorded as a shot on goal by Jones.
Langstaff and McGoldrick both had very big chances in the first half with Langstaff's miss from 5 yards out recording 0.53 and McGoldrick's close range effort shortly after recording 0.39. These chances pushed the xG up for Notts suggesting they were good value for the win, but those of us watching probably appreciate it was much closer than the data suggests.
Don't forget you can get up to speed with the season stats here