Just Back

A really frustrating afternoon, we were 2nd to every ball and resorted to hoofs up the pitch.  Ref was excrement but even if we had a good ref we would still have lost. No one particularly had good games.

It was just one of those games. We’ve had three excellent performances out of five. Newport’s pitch is notorious. Even Podge took the urine out of it before he ended up there. All will be well.

Newport fully deserved their win. Much quicker to the ball and crowded us out when we had it while when they had it they moved it quickly so we looked exposed.

Ref was clueless and Newport used that to their advantage, going down under every gust of breeze. Know some think we need to be similarly streetwise, I would rather rules were changed as at times in the second half it was painful to watch as a town player got close to the ball, they went down and got a free kick. That isn't to say they didn't deserve their win bit boy it was tough to watch at times.

Well back in Newark and gotta say that was poor,we looked very leggy from the off,they were first to every ball and closed us down forcing stray passes and eventually panic hoof ball, don't think any of our players played well, its as if 2 long journeys and the blood and thunder off Lincoln and MK have taken their toll, there no15 ran the show we couldn't get near him coupled with a poor ref and some strange antics from the Newport players who fell over at the slightest glance ,even Podge( I think a little less off him after his unsportsman like shenanigans today),however we got what we deserved NOTHING.
Please we are appealing the red card it was a crazy sending off,i think it was to appease the Newport bench who seem to have taken lessons in baffoonary from those twits in the Gimps dugout
On the plus side I found the Newport fans to be very friendly and was nice chatting with them at the Dodger
onwards and upwards ,we go again next Saturday,UTFM

Having put our all into facing the top two teams in the league I can forgive the lads for a below par performance today. Plus it’s a horrible place to go, unusual ground, awful pitch (even in August) and we never win there. Yeovil won’t be easy they’re in decent form but hopefully we can get something having said that there’s no need to panic if not.

- I fully expect Wes Thomas’s red card to be rescinded without even seeing it. MJ’s reaction is all I need to hear.
- I feel for MJ at the minute because there is a missing piece to this side however I think he’s already signed that missing piece. Trouble is he’s currently wearing a knee brace.

I just get the feeling that today the lads didn't have much left to give, it's been Tuesday/ Saturday for he last two weeks now and none of the games were easy strolls. Not to criticise MJ but I think he needs to rotate the players a bit to bring fresh legs in.

Thought Whitmore and Hessenthaler had decent games but everyone else was poor. Felt sorry for Cook as he was on a hiding to nothing up top on his own against 3 units!

To be honest I think MJ got his team selection wrong today. The changes that some on here wanted were made but as subs 60 minutes too late. It's easy to say they had little effect for the rest of the game but by then the flow of the game was established. It may have been a different outcome if Rose, Vernam and/or Thomas started the game. We all know that Newport are physical, work hard, have limited ability and move the ball quickly forward on an extremely tricky pitch yet we didn't seem to be set up to combat this or certain players didn't perform to MJ's expectation.

The back four were a huge positive coming out of this game, Whitmore stood up to everything as did Famewo, Davis defended well and the big bonus for me is that Hendrie looks a really good signing. Cook worked his socks off and held the ball well up at times yet seemed too isolated. Hessenthaler put another decent shift in but that's where the positives end. Welsh toiled today, maybe one game too many in a hectic schedule or maybe he didn't get enough support from Clifton who frankly just got outmuscled out of the game. Knowing how Newport set up, I really thought MJ would have brought Rose into the starting eleven. Down each side we were completely ineffective with and without the ball. Woolford had a very poor game and JJ was virtually non-existent, popping up to hand them their match winning free kick by sleeping and getting wrong side of his man. And that free kick. I think Podge did Macca there. Totally disrupted his lining up of the wall and Macca's thought process must be found wanting on this occasion. Totally flat footed and his starting position seemed to leave too much room over a three/four man? wall. What was added to our play by putting two up top and Vernam on the left was completely lost with Welsh blowing out of his behind for the last 30 minutes and the game was effectively over when the inexperienced and easily influenced young referee sent Thomas off for an accidental challenge on a player on his blind side who was trying to head the ball from below waist height. The red card should be rescinded but I've got a feeling that the League panel may wrongly come down on the side of a fledgling referee.

I think there are a lot of lessons for MJ to learn after this game. He tried to rectify it with second half subs but due to his initial team selection and a lack of further options on the bench (if he was allowed to make four or five instead of three) the game was already gone.

I've seen enough of our defence without Collins to not be worried about his absence. I've seen enough of Hooper to hope that he doesn't start too many games if he continues to play like he has this season. I've seen enough of Vernam to know that he can take on and beat opponents to give us more of a goal threat. I've already seen enough of Hendrie to know he will be a good signing and I've seen enough of Thomas to think the same when he's fully fit, which he isn't at the minute. Cook, Whitmore, Famewo, Davis and Hessenthaler all continue to impress, so even if today was an extremely disappointing way to lose to a very average side, hopefully MJ will learn a lot to quickly find the right blend that will bring a consistent level of play that will result in a higher average points haul as the season progresses. We are still nowhere near the finished article and the squad seems to be lacking a dynamic left sided player and also a more dynamic central midfielder if we hope to threaten a play off place..

A lot has been said about Newport's shithousing tactics. Well, I think as a team we are far too honest, and the sooner some of our players learn some of League Two's tricks of the trade, the sooner we'll become more streetwise as a team. Newport didn't create much, but deserved their win as they were stronger and more organised in all areas of the pitch..

Can't see why some are saying it's a terrible pitch ,they spent £750,000 last year replacing the old pitch that suffered from flooding with a new irrigation and drainage system and the surface is a new Desso playmaster pitch that is a mixture of both live grass and artificial fibres,similar to Man Cities surface.. Perhaps our players couldn't get to grips with an artificial playing surface,the bounce of the ball is completely different to when playing on normal grass,not making excuses for their poor display but could be taken into consideration.

The pitch looked amazing today, so that excuse isn't plausible.

Quoted from TheRealJohnLewis

The pitch looked amazing today, so that excuse isn't plausible.

The pitch did look amazing, but players were finding it hard to keep their feet, the grass was too long and the bounce of the ball was indifferent to say the least. Newport knew how to play on it, we didn't. They went long from the off, we didn't. They had an advantage and used it well. If MJ could replay the game tomorrow, he would definitely not go into it with the same starting eleven or formation..

On the subject of the pitch - sprinklers activated after Town completed their pre match warm up -could explain why some Town players were losing their footing

Quoted from conscorner

On the subject of the pitch - sprinklers activated after Town completed their pre match warm up -could explain why some Town players were losing their footing

MK did that on Tuesday and we came out and arguably played the best 45 mins I’ve seen us play since we came back up.

Great detailed report from Bigdog on page1 of thread.

Newport played 3-5-2 didn't they? Would be interested to hear from people what differences there were in how they played it today to our performance with that formation on opening day.

Did they have any pace in the wing-back positions?

If so, that's a pretty big difference to our 3-5-2 this season.

well....lets blame the pitch...their skullduggery....two games a week....i will say it as i see it.....a relatively harmless looking free kick sails in while Mckeown stands there rooted.... that was the difference today between 0 points and 1 point.....we played shite but could have realistically still got a point but for one set piece.
McKeown.....interviewed earlier in the week and said he hates coming to Newport, horrible ground to play, he's never won there, terrible record , Podge pretty much gets on his nerves playing wise......with that negative mindset should we have played Russell ?

Watching the goal...McKeown looks at the wall...the wall looks at McKeown....it looked saveable to me. Did Podge get in his head in the setting up of the free kick ? ....again ?

Dont even take a chance next time MJ, Russell to start next time out.

Quoted from Maringer

Did they have any pace in the wing-back positions?

If so, that's a pretty big difference to our 3-5-2 this season.

A little on the right hand side but more often than not the ball was simply passed through our midfield .
We were either stood off waiting for something to happen or chasing shadows.

I think it's been said elsewhere, but Newport were in our faces from the off with the same attitude we showed against Lincoln and MK Dons. Clearly rattled us as we struggled to maintain possession and our passing was very poor.

Think Michael et al have some thinking to do as it looked to me we were tactically out-thought. Early days though and this team has shown the standard they are capable of reaching - Yeovil are in for a thrashing I reckon

Quoted from Tommy

Great detailed report from Bigdog on page1 of thread.

Newport played 3-5-2 didn't they? Would be interested to hear from people what differences there were in how they played it today to our performance with that formation on opening day.

I think the major difference was that they played a higher line than we did against FGR which enabled them to get close enough to not give us time on the ball and outmuscle us which is their biggest attribute as a team..They also played through the lines less and played the ball more accurately and earlier to the front two. From memory the pitch at BP on the first day of the season was dry with long grass which was not conducive to playing tippy tappy football and for different reasons the pitch yesterday was a leveller. Sometimes you have to adapt your playing style to the conditions, and until Thomas came on yesterday, we didn't. Our formation of 4-5-1 against their 3-5-2 yesterday should have given us a numerical advantage in wide areas but Woolford couldn't control a ball to save his life and Hooper was just as ineffective. Having said all of this, Newport just seemed to want it more yesterday and two or three of ours shirked from the physical challenge that Newport posed..

We just simply wasnt good enough.

We can over analyse the game but the team from Tuesday didnt turn up , frustrating because we know we can compete to be a potential force in this league but being consistent is a must.

Play like we did against mk dons and we could be up there or play like we did saturday and we will be going nowhere.

Frustration is the word atm.

Quoted from Bigdog

A lot has been said about Newport's shithousing tactics. Well, I think as a team we are far too honest, and the sooner some of our players learn some of League Two's tricks of the trade, the sooner we'll become more streetwise as a team. Newport didn't create much, but deserved their win as they were stronger and more organised in all areas of the pitch..

Agree ,but it's a tough call at times. Watching Newport players sprint  50 yards to say to the ref they had a better view than him and he should show red for what looked to be very innocuous is sickening, and would be even more so if I had to watch Town players do it. But you're right that we need to wise up and show a more cynical side to so called 'sportsmanship' of the game.
As for the display, I just hope MJ has a games-quota in his head for those players not delivering. And I hope Hooper hit his quota of poor and lacklustre games limit yesterday and he's benched for the foreseeable.