⚽ Match Thread vs. Newport County AFC 23.11.24 [EFL L2]

[SmiffyPie]

mmm maybe 2026?

[Old_pie]

The owners won't be getting twitchy, because they don't see football in terms of "big investment" and an instant need for promotion like previous owners have. They simply look to improve the team - at a sustainable cost - each season, making the odds of promotion steadily greater. They also recognise that there are variables in football, like injuries to your best players, that can hold back even the strongest group of players.

Don't get me wrong, the owners are ambitious and want to climb the leagues, and if the squad this season proves strong enough to win promotion they will be delighted I'm sure, but if it isn't, they'll just look to improve a bit more again next summer. There's no "top five budgets" or "promotion or bust" panic about this regime, and the club is immeasurably better for that lack of chaos and anxiety.

Aren't we missing the buzz of marquee signings? We need some excitement; any hopes in the past couple of months have leaked away.

[Woodypie]

Not good enough, can't see promotion this season.

[jackal2]

I think most know what you are saying is accurate but bloody hell I've not got many years left and have had a bellyfull of year-on-year progression! We have rebuilt the defence (and a good job done there) so next season we should look forward to a much improved forward line? So season 25/26 there should be no more "building" excuses then?

I dare say there are quite a few supporters who will take the view "I've not got many years left, I need success now" view, and a fair few others who have got plenty of time left but still don't want to wait anyway. Frankly though, if you're in a football club boardroom you have to be more strategic than that. It was playing to the fans' desire for big signings and quick success that view that led Ray Trew and Alan Hardy (to name just two recent examples) into big trouble.

Owners who think too much like fans are not actually doing their club any good in the long run, because only sustainably built success can be maintained. There isn't even the realistic prospect of a billionaire shooting a club like ours to the stars anymore, because FFP prevents outlandish levels of investment. I appreciate that's not what the average football fans wants to hear, but they're often the same ones who cry salt tears when the club is on the brink of bankruptcy because it chased the dream too quickly. Success takes hard work, time and a lot of patience. There are no short cuts.

[jackal2]

As with supporters of any club, they will get bored and stop attending if they believe momentum has been lost along with any tangible evidence of genuine ambition on the pitch. They don't turn up to be "educated" and told what to think, they pay money to be entertained.

All of the last three gates have been less than the previous one. Too early to tell if that's an indication that people are deciding they've had enough (of Maynard at least) or just other factors (opposition/ko time/weather), but as I've said before, you can't take support for granted and nobody is just going to sit there and accept they "need to be more mature and patient", they will do what fans have always done and go and do something else and spend their money elsewhere until the club gets its' act together again, be that a change in the dugout that gets people excited or a significant upturn in results.

Without doubt there's some truth in that, but it doesn't justify any panic reactions. We're 4th in the league and have only lost 3 games out of 17 despite having had to soldier on without our best players in recent weeks.

If we're comparing the approaches of previous regimes and the current one when it comes to building attendances at Meadow lane, there's not even an argument to be had. The explosion of gates under the Reedtz brothers over the past few years has been phenomenal, and that has happened as a result of the calm, consistent, mature approach they've taken on and off the pitch. Yes the last couple of attendances have dropped a little, probably impacted by a range of factors including the weather, but previous owners of Notts County - even including Derek Pavis when he took us to Division One - would have killed to get the kind of gates that have been consistently achieved under this ownership.

[1955pie]

Weren’t both Tsaroulla and Gordon playing on their “correct” sides in the second half? Neither did enough.

Wing back is the one disappointment this season - we really miss Aaron Nemane’s pace as an out ball on the right, and obviously JJ is proving a huge miss. JJ and Crowley have missed plenty of matches, but I’ll be amazed if they aren’t still topping our assists table.

Yes we are lacking the pace of someone like Nemane.
I was disappointed with Tsaroulla who I don?t think beat a man all afternoon on either his correct or incorrect wing.
On another note ( and one that I know will get some feedback ) I feel that we as fans didn?t play particularly well. A very flat atmosphere didn?t help the team. 5 out of 10.

[Elite_Pie]

On another note ( and one that I know will get some feedback ) I feel that we as fans didn?t play particularly well. A very flat atmosphere didn?t help the team. 5 out of 10.

True, there wasn't much noise from either set of fans.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

A very frustrating afternoon and was one of those games whereby we could have been playing until the usual 5pm and not scored. It was summed up for me of that complete and utter moment of chaos in the first half in the Newport box where it was like pinball and the ball just would not go in. We've seen it many times before where the away team comes for a point has one shot on target and they go away with all three points. Thankfully that did not happen today.

It's disappointing that we did not win and it feels like a loss and two points dropped today especially when we created so many chances and dominated. I thought in the first half we were slow in our build up and passing and did not really get out of second gear. The second half was much improved.

We seem to be lacking that bit of spark or something even with the likes of Didzy and Jatta on the pitch we have to try and find away for others to score particularly the midfielders we have available. These goals and assists would have come from Crowley and Jones if they were in the side the way I see it. Losing those two has been detrimental to our progress this season so far. We were worried in the summer they would both leave and the irony is fate has shown us what it's like without them.

So today we had no Macca, no Crowley and no Jones in the side compared to last season so it makes it a triple blow. I'd also throw Nemane into the mix. Take all that creativity, quality, pace and attacking threat out of any side and you end up with less goals and become effectively a mid table side. It literally has transpired to be the worst case scenario and the pendulum has swung from us being a side that scored lots of goals and conceded lots of goals to one that concedes little and scores little in recent weeks. The injuries to key players has caught up with us.

Having said all of that we have to take the positives that once again we have created an abundance of chances, but with over 25 chances we should be putting at least one or two of them away. Especially to the likes of Newport at home.

The return of JJ and Crowley can't come fast enough for me and likewise the January transfer window as we maybe able to bolster the team and have a good second half of the season and see this side reach it's full potential.

[Woodypie]

A very frustrating afternoon and was one of those games whereby we could have been playing until the usual 5pm and not scored. It was summed up for me of that complete and utter moment of chaos in the first half in the Newport box where it was like pinball and the ball just would not go in. We've seen it many times before where the away team comes for a point has one shot on target and they go away with all three points. Thankfully that did not happen today.

It's disappointing that we did not win and it feels like a loss and two points dropped today especially when we created so many chances and dominated. I thought in the first half we were slow in our build up and passing and did not really get out of second gear. The second half was much improved.

We seem to be lacking that bit of spark or something even with the likes of Didzy and Jatta on the pitch we have to try and find away for others to score particularly the midfielders we have available. These goals and assists would have come from Crowley and Jones if they were in the side the way I see it. Losing those two has been detrimental to our progress this season so far. We were worried in the summer they would both leave and the irony is fate has shown us what it's like without them.

So today we had no Macca, no Crowley and no Jones in the side compared to last season so it makes it a triple blow. I'd also throw Nemane into the mix. Take all that creativity, quality, pace and attacking threat out of any side and you end up with less goals and become effectively a mid table side. It literally has transpired to be the worst case scenario and the pendulum has swung from us being a side that scored lots of goals and conceded lots of goals to one that concedes little and scores little in recent weeks. The injuries to key players has caught up with us. We h

Having said all of that we have to take the positives that once again we have created an abundance of chances, but with over 25 chances we should be putting at least one or two of them away. Especially to the likes of Newport at home.

The return of JJ and Crowley can't come fast enough for me and likewise the January transfer window as we maybe able to bolster the team and have a good second half of the season and see this side reach it's full potential.

We have now achieved consistency, can't win regularly home or away. We are as unlikely to be promoted as we are to be relegated. It really is very disappointing.

[TheBlackHorse]

... bed wetter