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

[durhampie]

By the time Christmas comes around we should have a very good idea as to whether we are to be in the mix for promotion. Personally i think our season is drifting away, and will end up where we finished last season. I would doubt the owners spending money to strengthen the team in January, as by then it will be a lost cause. Maynard and his management team to be sacked at the end of the season.

[marky]

By the time Christmas comes around we should have a very good idea as to whether we are to be in the mix for promotion. Personally i think our season is drifting away, and will end up where we finished last season. I would doubt the owners spending money to strengthen the team in January, as by then it will be a lost cause. Maynard and his management team to be sacked at the end of the season.

Well yeah if we drift away like last season and finish 14th again I'd expect Maynard to be gone. Sadly we'd lose a lot of our better players as well so we'd have to rebuild again.

[matt_magpie]

By the time Christmas comes around we should have a very good idea as to whether we are to be in the mix for promotion. Personally i think our season is drifting away, and will end up where we finished last season. I would doubt the owners spending money to strengthen the team in January, as by then it will be a lost cause. Maynard and his management team to be sacked at the end of the season.

It?s a worry but what I saw yesterday and quite a few times was a decent L2 team that controlled the game with 100% effort and had 27 shots, a few speculative but really if you have 27 shots and in around the box that much you should be scoring.
We?re missing 2 players with massive goal contributions, does it beg the question we?ve put all our eggs in one basket with them two budget wise ? maybe, but if we had let even one go people would have gone ballistic. I?m not saying SMs pep but I?m struggling at the moment to see regarding team selection/tactics/commitment what he?s doing that wrong, what was glaring yesterday bar Jattas/Didzy proven goal scoring records no one else really is a goal threat.

[Boomerangpie]

That?s an excellent post from Matt and a point that requires highlight. Are we over reliant on Jones and Crowley, probably. Would people go ballistic if we had sold one of them after the Langstaff sale, 100% guaranteed. The owners would have been accused of being unambitious. Should we have used a chuck of the playing budget to retain Jones, yes yes and yes.

If we don?t finish in playoffs I would change the head coach. The drift away is disappointing but hardly unexpected in the circumstances. We have been top 6 almost all season with key men all out for considerable time, that is higher league positions than I expected.

[The_Pie_Man]

This is our best tilt for promotion.

This league is bang average and ripe to be gripped by the balls. Why else do you think we?re still 4th after playing in a very average way and winning the odd game in 5? I would argue that on a normal year, we?d be nowhere close.

There is nobody to fear - Vale and MK Done aren?t anything special, they?re solid at best, have a bit of guile and put the ball in the net a few more times than they concede. The rest are average League 2 fodder. There?s no Wrexham, or Stockport - even that lot up the A60 - the general standard is trash.

It will be an enormous missed opportunity if we don?t go up this year. Personally, I still don?t think Maynard is the man to get the job done, but we are stuck with him.

[Med Pie]

I don't see why the club insist they can't afford another 'Jatta' type signing, not necessarily a tall striker but anyone who would improve our strength in depth and make us more resilient to injury setbacks.

I'm told by a fairly, reliable source (I think) that the Nest alone, is covering the wage bill so then we have the padel courts plus tv, Cup and gate monies so why can't we?

If we can't have an extremely competitive budget in League Two, it will only be harder if we get up, I see Rectum are rumoured to be signing Patrick Bamford for 4.5 million quid.

[Notts78]

I don't see why the club insist they can't afford another 'Jatta' type signing, not necessarily a tall striker but anyone who would improve our strength in depth and make us more resilient to injury setbacks.

I'm told by a fairly, reliable source (I think) that the Nest alone, is covering the wage bill so then we have the padel courts plus tv, Cup and gate monies so why can't we?

If we can't have an extremely competitive budget in League Two, it will only be harder if we get up, I see Rectum are rumoured to be signing Patrick Bamford for 4.5 million quid.

Isn?t it Sheff Utd looking at Bamford?

Has the club insisted they can?t afford another Jatta type signing? I have not seen anywhere that the club won?t sign anyone due to finances. What I did see is that we?d only sign players that the club felt were right for us. If those players haven?t been available and at the right price, then how is that the clubs fault.
The reality with is at the moment is that our most creative players are injured. Even players that could be more creative than what we have been able to put out in recent weeks are injured?missing Edward?s, Grant and to a lesser degree Robbo on top of Crowley and JJ has taken away so much of our attacking ability.

[PedroTheFisherman66]

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.

Do you think theres a fair possibility of us being relegated with a full uninjured squad to choose from.??

[jacobncfc]

It?s a worry but what I saw yesterday and quite a few times was a decent L2 team that controlled the game with 100% effort and had 27 shots, a few speculative but really if you have 27 shots and in around the box that much you should be scoring.
We?re missing 2 players with massive goal contributions, does it beg the question we?ve put all our eggs in one basket with them two budget wise ? maybe, but if we had let even one go people would have gone ballistic. I?m not saying SMs pep but I?m struggling at the moment to see regarding team selection/tactics/commitment what he?s doing that wrong, what was glaring yesterday bar Jattas/Didzy proven goal scoring records no one else really is a goal threat.

The problem is that we?re still playing like we have Crowley and Jones available when, as we know, we don?t. Our game plan is generally to control matches by having lots of the ball, and trusting that we have enough to break teams down because we have two players who can create something from nothing and against massed, deep defences. Teams also generally double up on them, which creates space somewhere else - there?s no one else who required that kind of attention, so it?s easy for teams to do what Newport (and Crewe) did last week and just get back, keep their shape and restrict us to hopeful crosses into the box. The only time we ever looked like scoring yesterday was when Newport had the ball in their own third.

Ever since Jones got injured we?ve just been asking Tsaroulla to be him which, with the best will in the world, he isn?t. I?d like to see us sacrificing some possession and ?control? while those two are out injured (and even when just DC is back) to try and get some of our other threats into the game, particularly Jatta running in behind and McGoldrick on the ball around their box rather than in his own half.

As an aside, I thought the Gordon for Brown sub yesterday was bizarre. Not that Brown was doing much, but he was taking up attacking positions in a way that Austin was never going to.

[durhampie]

It?s a worry but what I saw yesterday and quite a few times was a decent L2 team that controlled the game with 100% effort and had 27 shots, a few speculative but really if you have 27 shots and in around the box that much you should be scoring.
We?re missing 2 players with massive goal contributions, does it beg the question we?ve put all our eggs in one basket with them two budget wise ? maybe, but if we had let even one go people would have gone ballistic. I?m not saying SMs pep but I?m struggling at the moment to see regarding team selection/tactics/commitment what he?s doing that wrong, what was glaring yesterday bar Jattas/Didzy proven goal scoring records no one else really is a goal threat.

We are missing Macca to put those easy chances away. Brown is a decent player, but is not a striker.