Great chat team. Thoughts on the Mullin discussion - first, I love the guy. Favorite player and root for him to score every game. Secondly, what about seeing him run less? Heard Messi say, "run less, look more." If you can tackle a Shrewsbury guy to stop a counter in the FA Cup, rock on. But the volume of sprints after backs and goalies with no chance of getting the ball may look good on TV, but I'd trade them all for one inspired run to get on the end of Barnett's best pass across the goal mouth against Newport. Save it for when it matters. Thanks agains boys for the great content.
Our fans have become unbearable sadly, I rarely read anything on twitter at all anymore. We lost a game when we had a player sent off, that's it. We're flying in our first season back in the league. Also, the idea that we're desperate for another striker when we have Mullin, Palmer, Fletcher, Dalby and Bickerstaff is ridiculous. People need to chill out, these will be looked back at as halcyon days.
Fair play. Nothing like a loss to bring out the fringe. I’m including our podcasting friends on this occasion. The match? It was a red all day long. The fact some officials might not have given it is a comment on the dreadful inconsistency of officials rather than the offence. Two other things to be said on that. Firstly, Boyle doesn’t know the basics of defending. The aim is to stand up; block or manoeuvre. If you leap in then you’re an idiot and a poor defender. He got what he asked for. Secondly, no the linesman didn’t give it. The referee gave it but checked with the liner because he couldn’t see the Newport players foot to see whether that contacted first. Contrary to many assertions he had a clear view bar a little to his left and the exact actions of the Newport lad. My friends, actually Cardiff and Spurs fans, were sat right in front of the incident and could see and hear it all. Why are we poor away? Not sure I’ve heard so many daft explanations in one place. The narrowness of the pitches impacting the Tozer throw? You have to be joking. Home or away he barely takes 2 steps and almost all away grounds afford him that. Are the throws falling shorter or more waywardly than last season? Nope. Seen zero evidence of that. The simple reality of that is that we rarely have a Hayden or Palmer to get on them or pick up the flicks. Are teams high pressing us? Again, nonsense. Almost right, but nonsense. We have zero pace in midfield and no-one who can see a simple pass and play it immediately. Evans turns. Lee turns. The turn allows them to be closed down. Lee is years past his best in this division and it shows. The goals hid it for a while but he’s largely done nothing but chase shadows and get robbed of the ball cheaply. Evans does the same. Putting aside turning into trouble, the turn before the pass kills our build up. It’s piss easy to defend. When he gets it right we’re off and running but when he constantly gives it away the results are obvious. Same as going up against McClean. He’ll kill you if you get hit with a ball over the top he can chase but give him the ball and a man to beat and he’s screwed. Backwards or sideways and another attack postponed. It’s recycling the ball to no purpose whatsoever. Give Cannon the ball as we attack or let Max walk the ball over halfway and play a wing back high up the pitch and we look good but… … we literally have no ball winner in midfield. Same is happening in home games where entire halves drift by without us having much possession or creating chances. If the opposition have the ball we struggle to get it off them bar restarts for corners and other set pieces. When we have the ball we can mask the problems at home to some extent. Away, where there’s an onus on the opposition to have the ball and attack then we see even less of it. For Newport see Accrington. Evans can’t tackle for toffee. Lee gets through work chasing but never actually gets a tackle off. Cannon isn’t there to tackle although his chase back and cheap foul when he’s lost the ball are increasingly unfunny. So, nothing changes until we have 1 tackler/ball winner in midfield and start to get more possession. Nothing changes until Lee and Evans get back to basics and start playing the simple early ball to the available man forward of them. There’s no crisis here but there is a pattern to these losses. Players wanting more time before making a decision in a division where they won’t be afforded that. Happy to make 2 doubtless unpopular predictions. We will ensure a similar defeat at Salford. We will have little possession; concede during 1 of those periods and not look like we can ever get the ball and play. Going 1 further, Blackburn is not Coventry or Sheffield United. We have a slightly weaker team than last season and should prepare to lose by 3 or 4 regardless of Blackburn’s form or position. Think Derby away under Denis or Stoke away under Kev. Great aspirations and false hopes but games we were never really in.
Totally agree, when we played the FA Cup the Shrewsbury player threw our guy to the floor using a judo throw on the touchline and didn't insist on red. Mathers walked up and down the pitch side to side a lot of the time had his back to play but uses cards to impose authority and flow of play is an afterthought. He went into the game with 121 cards in 20 matches. I think the ref stunted Wrexhams game.
Wimbledon came to the Racecourse and were very close to turning us over - if they had the strikers that were away on interlational duty then I think the chances they created would have become goals. Our team setup has been found out, but the crowd generates a very intimidating atmosphere and that helps us get over the line. This said, we have been without the pairing of Mendy and Barnett. This reduces our attacking threat. McClean is class but he doesn't have the pace of Mendy. On the right Forde doesn’t have the same attacking threat of Barnett. However, it appears that centre midfield is our biggest problem. Evans is very silky, but if there are no outlets available then he doesn't have the ability to hold the ball up or drive forward unless he is given space - something neither Wimbledon or Newport gave him.
I think bobbly is being very kind to describe the pitch. On TV it looked they were playing on an ice rink. The ball was bouncing around like crazy and it looked like footing at times was sketchy for the lads on both sides.
Pitch was slightly soft, what with all the rain in the previous 24hrs after a few days of frost. However, Newport have a hybrid pitch with turf over-stitched specifically to stop the surface breaking up. The footing was good, the surface gave enough for studs to enter and provide traction. Both Barnett and Lee had no trouble with close ball control. All this refutes claims that the pitch was a problem.
Our away form is terrible due to us showing up is the homes sides cup final. It’s usually their only sellout and the crowd go bonkers. Yes, we need pace but we also lack depth at midfield. That’s not the issue. The issue is overcoming that home side emotion. Score early and that usually shuts its down. We play the same, the home side plays for their lives. We played the same as we did against shrewsbury, didn’t look our best but we changed up the formation and came away with a win. When we do win on the road we have a bunker mentality. Going down to 10 didn’t help at all. Btw I hate this cup draw. It distracts from the league and our depth has gotten hit yet again. I say we start our backups and hope no one is stretchered off
Missing cannon was huge. No link up play between the backline and midfield. Cleworth looked a rookie. That red card was rubbish. The lineman got it wrong. It’s a yellow card. He had no time to move his foot. Guys the momentum carrier him into the challenge. it’s a yellow. You cannot pull Up on that challenge. That being said our away form is horrid. Part of that it’s the home teams cup final. Sellout crowds and amped up players. We need depth at center mid. Barney was total class on the pitch. He’s a witch on the right. We need Hayden and OConnel back badly. Need a championship level midfielder of cannon/evans standard. Blazing striker to pair with Mulls would be nice
www.justgiving.com/page/chrismartinsmith#timelineUpdates
Great chat team. Thoughts on the Mullin discussion - first, I love the guy. Favorite player and root for him to score every game. Secondly, what about seeing him run less? Heard Messi say, "run less, look more." If you can tackle a Shrewsbury guy to stop a counter in the FA Cup, rock on. But the volume of sprints after backs and goalies with no chance of getting the ball may look good on TV, but I'd trade them all for one inspired run to get on the end of Barnett's best pass across the goal mouth against Newport. Save it for when it matters. Thanks agains boys for the great content.
Our fans have become unbearable sadly, I rarely read anything on twitter at all anymore. We lost a game when we had a player sent off, that's it. We're flying in our first season back in the league.
Also, the idea that we're desperate for another striker when we have Mullin, Palmer, Fletcher, Dalby and Bickerstaff is ridiculous. People need to chill out, these will be looked back at as halcyon days.
Fair play. Nothing like a loss to bring out the fringe. I’m including our podcasting friends on this occasion.
The match? It was a red all day long. The fact some officials might not have given it is a comment on the dreadful inconsistency of officials rather than the offence. Two other things to be said on that.
Firstly, Boyle doesn’t know the basics of defending. The aim is to stand up; block or manoeuvre. If you leap in then you’re an idiot and a poor defender. He got what he asked for.
Secondly, no the linesman didn’t give it. The referee gave it but checked with the liner because he couldn’t see the Newport players foot to see whether that contacted first. Contrary to many assertions he had a clear view bar a little to his left and the exact actions of the Newport lad. My friends, actually Cardiff and Spurs fans, were sat right in front of the incident and could see and hear it all.
Why are we poor away? Not sure I’ve heard so many daft explanations in one place.
The narrowness of the pitches impacting the Tozer throw? You have to be joking. Home or away he barely takes 2 steps and almost all away grounds afford him that. Are the throws falling shorter or more waywardly than last season? Nope. Seen zero evidence of that. The simple reality of that is that we rarely have a Hayden or Palmer to get on them or pick up the flicks.
Are teams high pressing us? Again, nonsense. Almost right, but nonsense. We have zero pace in midfield and no-one who can see a simple pass and play it immediately. Evans turns. Lee turns. The turn allows them to be closed down. Lee is years past his best in this division and it shows. The goals hid it for a while but he’s largely done nothing but chase shadows and get robbed of the ball cheaply. Evans does the same. Putting aside turning into trouble, the turn before the pass kills our build up. It’s piss easy to defend. When he gets it right we’re off and running but when he constantly gives it away the results are obvious.
Same as going up against McClean. He’ll kill you if you get hit with a ball over the top he can chase but give him the ball and a man to beat and he’s screwed. Backwards or sideways and another attack postponed. It’s recycling the ball to no purpose whatsoever. Give Cannon the ball as we attack or let Max walk the ball over halfway and play a wing back high up the pitch and we look good but…
… we literally have no ball winner in midfield. Same is happening in home games where entire halves drift by without us having much possession or creating chances. If the opposition have the ball we struggle to get it off them bar restarts for corners and other set pieces. When we have the ball we can mask the problems at home to some extent. Away, where there’s an onus on the opposition to have the ball and attack then we see even less of it. For Newport see Accrington. Evans can’t tackle for toffee. Lee gets through work chasing but never actually gets a tackle off. Cannon isn’t there to tackle although his chase back and cheap foul when he’s lost the ball are increasingly unfunny.
So, nothing changes until we have 1 tackler/ball winner in midfield and start to get more possession. Nothing changes until Lee and Evans get back to basics and start playing the simple early ball to the available man forward of them. There’s no crisis here but there is a pattern to these losses. Players wanting more time before making a decision in a division where they won’t be afforded that.
Happy to make 2 doubtless unpopular predictions. We will ensure a similar defeat at Salford. We will have little possession; concede during 1 of those periods and not look like we can ever get the ball and play.
Going 1 further, Blackburn is not Coventry or Sheffield United. We have a slightly weaker team than last season and should prepare to lose by 3 or 4 regardless of Blackburn’s form or position. Think Derby away under Denis or Stoke away under Kev. Great aspirations and false hopes but games we were never really in.
Great episode again thanks but Please put onto gallery view. Cheers. Cmon the town.
They usually are but there was a problem with the upload.
Never seen a linesman so keen to get involved - they never do at Y Cae Ras !
Totally agree, when we played the FA Cup the Shrewsbury player threw our guy to the floor using a judo throw on the touchline and didn't insist on red. Mathers walked up and down the pitch side to side a lot of the time had his back to play but uses cards to impose authority and flow of play is an afterthought. He went into the game with 121 cards in 20 matches. I think the ref stunted Wrexhams game.
Wimbledon came to the Racecourse and were very close to turning us over - if they had the strikers that were away on interlational duty then I think the chances they created would have become goals.
Our team setup has been found out, but the crowd generates a very intimidating atmosphere and that helps us get over the line.
This said, we have been without the pairing of Mendy and Barnett. This reduces our attacking threat. McClean is class but he doesn't have the pace of Mendy. On the right Forde doesn’t have the same attacking threat of Barnett.
However, it appears that centre midfield is our biggest problem. Evans is very silky, but if there are no outlets available then he doesn't have the ability to hold the ball up or drive forward unless he is given space - something neither Wimbledon or Newport gave him.
I think bobbly is being very kind to describe the pitch. On TV it looked they were playing on an ice rink. The ball was bouncing around like crazy and it looked like footing at times was sketchy for the lads on both sides.
Pitch was slightly soft, what with all the rain in the previous 24hrs after a few days of frost.
However, Newport have a hybrid pitch with turf over-stitched specifically to stop the surface breaking up.
The footing was good, the surface gave enough for studs to enter and provide traction.
Both Barnett and Lee had no trouble with close ball control.
All this refutes claims that the pitch was a problem.
Audio yay!
Lads he connected with his studs and County player’s leg …check it out boys , the player has the gash on his leg to prove it!
I'm sure we're all worried about Rhys' backdoor getting a tempestuous beating
Love the absolute meltdown on social media after a loss - bunch of drama queens !
Rhys didn't last as long as Boyle
Our away form is terrible due to us showing up is the homes sides cup final. It’s usually their only sellout and the crowd go bonkers. Yes, we need pace but we also lack depth at midfield. That’s not the issue. The issue is overcoming that home side emotion. Score early and that usually shuts its down. We play the same, the home side plays for their lives. We played the same as we did against shrewsbury, didn’t look our best but we changed up the formation and came away with a win. When we do win on the road we have a bunker mentality. Going down to 10 didn’t help at all. Btw I hate this cup draw. It distracts from the league and our depth has gotten hit yet again. I say we start our backups and hope no one is stretchered off
Missing cannon was huge. No link up play between the backline and midfield. Cleworth looked a rookie. That red card was rubbish. The lineman got it wrong. It’s a yellow card. He had no time to move his foot. Guys the momentum carrier him into the challenge. it’s a yellow. You cannot pull Up on that challenge. That being said our away form is horrid. Part of that it’s the home teams cup final. Sellout crowds and amped up players. We need depth at center mid. Barney was total class on the pitch. He’s a witch on the right. We need Hayden and OConnel back badly. Need a championship level midfielder of cannon/evans standard. Blazing striker to pair with Mulls would be nice
I'm sure we're all worried about Rhys' backdoor getting a tempestuous beating