⚽ Match Thread vs. Newport County 24.10.23 [EFL L2]

[nw6pie]

Funny that, I thought the opposite. Junior to me looks precisely like a supporting striker rather than someone you would rely on as your 'main man' for goals. I thought he complemented Macauley really well in Didzy's absence, hence why Langstaff had a good game. Junior's work rate is excellent and I thought he actually did well dropping deeper, picking up the ball and running at players. He looks to me like one of those players who doesn't necessarily stand out individually, but who makes those around him really tick. I liked what I saw and the way he was deployed.

It seemed to me that most of LW’s coaching advice was to Junior (followed by Lewis Macari), telling him when to come deep for the ball. I’m just glad he’s finally getting some minutes on the pitch, though, as we’re going to need him over the next few months.

As for Macca, I’d say Jodi Jones was the main reason he had a good game - I think even the penalty appeal came from a JJ pass.

[Magpies1959]

Morias looked injured again when he came off, hope it was only cramp or something. Macari looks very assured and does look for a forward pass. Looks after the ball well too.

[SwalePie]

Highlights: (Apologies if they've already been posted!)

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/12992064/notts-county-3-0-newport-county-league-two-highlights

[ajojones]

Macari looks so accomplished, very impressed. Crowley so routinely dangerous and Macca at his best, should have got the match ball really. Baldwin looked great and nice to see wider squad getting a chance. Don't get the love in for Morais yet and missed a bunch - but needs game time, looked injured in the end. Such an amazing buzz when we are on song and brilliant to watch, so many positives from tonight but JJ was class above all game. Super Notts.

[nw6pie]

One other positive last night was getting Will Randall on the pitch. He’s going to be rusty for a while (same as Morias) and will need time to bed in, but hopefully can now stay fit and give us another option. He played on the right when he came on, but I’ve no idea what his natural position is (from what I remember, he’s a right footer who plays on the left). I do know that Aaron Nemane is never going to be a central midfielder, though!

[Proactive not Reactive]

Good performance I thought, and a clean sheet to cap it off. There was a 10-minute-ish spell in the second half when we seemed to stop playing for no apparent reason and gave Newport a sniff, but otherwise I thought we were well in control.

I liked what I saw of Macari, who seemed more positive and creative in possession than 'backpass' Brindley, and although Junior Morias needs to be more composed with his finishing, I thought he looked a very good, hard-working team player with a good first touch, decent vision and the ability to turn and wriggle away from opponents. Playing alongside Langstaff I thought he did a good job, looking a more than capable understudy to McGoldrick.

Slocombe seems to have returned to the team determined to re-establish himself as number one and show that he can distribute the ball well enough, and if he carries on like tonight I can't see Aidan Stone getting the jersey back anytime soon. Experience is important in that position and Sam certainly doesn't lack that.

Personally I would like Luke Williams to leave things a bit longer before making multiple substitutions, and to spread them out a bit more, because I do think making so many subs in one go, especially when moving players into unusual positions, disrupts the flow of a team that's so heavily based on cohesion and patterns of play. Nemane I thought looked like a fish out of water playing more centrally, but that's a minor gripe. Overall, you can't fault anyone on the Notts side on tonight's outcome.

Jackal 2 the only problem with the subs rule and using the 5 subs which LW wanted to do with having another game at the weekend, you only have 3 windows maximum(apart from ht) to use them so the permutations are limited so at best you would have to do 2 x 2 and a 1 to get them all on and much needed rest for players
Mind you LW was holding his head in the 78th Minute when Baldwin went down injured and all the 3 transactions had taken place

[thefulltenyards]

Indeed football last night was the winner and a rare clean sheet. Lovely Jubbly

[ncfcog]

Ollie Heathcote reports on an impressive win …

https://www.ncs-news.co.uk/read/repo...wport-county-h

[countygump]

Good match overall. We did the job asked of us. JJ was superb first half and Mecca was close to a hat trick.

I was praying he'd get one, HD.

[countygump]