Thetownend.com

Let’s get back to basics after the tub thumping of the transfer window.

Piece of piss, 1-4.

Newport 1 Swindon 3 Att: 4,780 (1050 Reds)

***EARLY KICK OFF REMINDER KLAXON***

0-2 defeat and chants of Morris Out

1-1 after a mediocre last day transfer window. All depends on how fit Clayton is and as suspected whether Brennan is out and if Tomlinson isn't injured.

If most of that goes in our favour 2-1 Town.

Newport 1-5 Swindon att: 5,372 (1,187 away)
Austin (3), Shade, Wakeling

0-2 Austin brace

A hard fought 2-1 win, Austin & Cain.

Going to be way harder than many think, Newport always is.

They have just signed striker Charlie McNeill on loan from Man Utd who has been scoring lots for Man Utd's U23s after his £1m+ transfer from Man City as a 17 year old.

He has scored 3 goals and 1 assist in 5 games for United in the EFL Trophy this season.

Swindon to line up in a 4-0-6 formation with Khan suspended, final score 8-9

Well it's always the Swindon way, we don't do the new manager bounce thing, and we also have a suspended Khan.

After all that's happened in the last month, I'm hoping for a stable hard thought performance with some intent. And no bullshit excuses hiding behind stats of box entries.

I felt the same until I looked at the recent "non temporary" appointments at the club.
Of the last 8 appointments on full time basis we have won 5, drawn 1 and lost 2 of the first games in charge.

Scott Lindsey   Harrogate   A L 0-3
Ben Garner      Scunthorpe A W 2-1
John Sheridan  Shrewsbury A D 3-3
Richie Wellens  Carlisle       H L 0-4
Phil Brown       Port Vale     A W 3-2
David Flitcroft  Carlisle       A W 2-1
Luke Williams  Colchester   A W 4-1
Martin Ling      Scunthorpe  A W 2-1

I stand corrected, cheers

Although some of the 'managers' listed there is shocking!

With all the uncertainties at the moment, I would be pleased with a hard fought draw.

Be interested to know who is actually fit and available for this. Defence is thin at the moment and not exactly clear who works. My biggest concern is Clayton and FBT are both left footers but probably the best two CBs at the club.

Midfield with Khan out I think you have to start Iandolo and Cain together behind Wakeling/Williams/RHM.

I said similar with regards to two left footed CBs worrying me on the transfer rumours thread.

I can’t give any logical reason why having two left footed CBs makes me feel uneasy. I wouldn’t feel the same way about two right footers - it makes no sense but it’s a gut feeling

 I wonder whether Kadji will come in ahead of Iandolo.

Completely forgot about him in amongst the madness to be honest. Worth slinging him and Cain in together then. It might be a bit rash, two new players but we don't have the luxury with Khan suspended.

Tomlinson is still injured.

Problems with both Lavinier and Shade.

Unsure of whether Clayton is ready.

Bit threadbare if those are out of contention.

So anyone who might play left back apart from FBT (needed in the middle) and Iandolo (presumably needed in midfield). This could get funky.

Kadji could play CB according to Morris.

The Tomlinson signing makes zero sense to me if he is genuinely out till March.

All he said was he’d be OK ‘soon’.

It's entirely logical. Right footers get accustomed to playing on their 'wrong' side because of the shortage of left footers. For the same reason, left footers almost always play on the left and never learn to adjust to playing on the right

Sent from my moto g(6)

Iandolo at left back with Kadji and Cain midfield?

(https://media.giphy.com/media/jOpLbiGmHR9S0/giphy.gif)

Wouldn’t be a first for us though would it?

I wonder if the option was loan (whilst injured) with a few to permanent or no deal?
Particularly if we are picking up his wages too.

possibly.

makes deadline day a bit of a clusterfuck though

That's bullshit. Most left footers tend to be able to use both feet relatively well. Many right footers can't put one decent pass in with their left foot and are always looking to get it onto their right.

Much like with "right handed" items in real life. Left sided/orientated people tend to have to learn to use the right sided stuff. In effect they end up being ambidextrous.

In footy, they tend to learn passing well with the right foot as the majority of coaches will be right footed. When copying the technique, at an early age, even knowing a player is left footed, they will often practice/train with the other foot.

Personally speaking, I used to practice taking corners, penalties and long passes with my right and left (more dominant) foot. So much so, that there became little difference between the two.

Used to play in a centre back pairing and strangely enough all our best/most selected CBs were left footed (3 out of 4). Who also were the primary penalty takers and were all comfortable with playing either LCB or RCB (or sweeper and CDM then using three of us). No issues with being on the ball regardless of foot.

Maybe many right footers will have a bias but I've definitely seen that most "left footed" professional players tend to be more comfortable if having to opt with their "weaker" foot.

Looking at some of the very top level left footed players, it could be argued that the right foot was definitely just for standing on.
Possibly a case of being so good with the left that not much point in doing anything with the right.
Maradona, Messi, Giggs, Salah, maybe Bale, probably some others as well.

Being competent with both feet could be more of a selling point / marginal gain / advantage, call it what you will, at lower levels.
Our own Kasim, SSP and Jake Cain (from the video clips at least).

I remember seeing one compilation of a left footer where it was insane the lengths they'd go to not to use their right. Think it might have been Juan Sebastian Veron.

Is Kadji fit?

I’d go the complete opposite and say a lot of left footed players are very one footed.

Because they are in the minority they are much more likely to end up occupying a left sided position rather than a central position where they’d have to play in both directions.

I’d be delighted if our biggest defensive concern was the leftfootedness of our CBs.

In reality I think we might struggle to field four working defenders. Could it even be Minturn to start?

I would

I’m a Minturn fan so I’d be happy to see him start.

Looking forward to this. Think as others have put, now is as good a time as any other to give Minturn a go starting, can't be any worse than dragging players from their more natural position to try and fill the void.
Austin scored one in his first game, two in his second, let's hope it's three in his third (I know he probably won't, but we can dream)

This is an incredibly underrated reply. Top marks for wit there DMC  :D

Calm, confident, knowledgeable what's not to like!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y2cxMX7u9Jg

So what are we expecting if Lavinier, Shade, Clayton, Tomlinson, Baudry and Harries are all out? Perhaps one or two of the first three might make the bench, but it leaves us pretty short with Khan suspended. Is Devine fit? Can Devine ever be fit?

                Brynn
Hutton Brennan Minturn FBT
         Iandolo Cain
Wakeling Darcy Williams
             Austin

With Jephcott, RHM and Kadji on the bench with some of Adeloye, Roberts and the youth teamers?

It's looking pretty thin potentially. Only obvious swap option would be Minturn out, Kadji in with FBT at CB and Iandolo at LB?

Newport are second bottom in this league for home form.
3 wins, 3 draws and 7 losses with a minus 5 GD.

Is Brennan fit?
I was under the impression Clayton was close to being back?

Brynn

Hutton
Brennan
FBT
Iandolo

Kadji
Cain

Wakeling
Williams
RHM

Austin

Brennan wasn't mentioned as injured in the presser, but then again neither was Tomlinson. Clayton specifically was mentioned and sounded like he wasn't quite ready. Could be Wellens-style presser games, we'll see at 2pm tomorrow I guess.

Other interesting question is whether any of the ones out on loan are back, Aguiar perhaps?

11:45am

At last! A proper KO time for me - 2.45pm.

That's the one.

To avoid disappointment - 12:45pm GMT for those of us not in Euroland -

12.45 GMT is when the game is scheduled to kick off, but 11.45am GMT is when we'll find out about the Wellens' style game that Nemo alluded to.

:)

Oh balls. Missread that thread.. Thanks

This is the best line up assuming Brennan is OK.

I'm not a fan of Darcy but he's better off the bench.

D'oh. That was meant to be in reply to DV.

I reckon we may see Laviner behing Austin in place of RHM

Perhaps. I left him out because he was the ‘injured’ list Nemo posted

Interesting hearing Morris suggest the squad may not be fit enough yet to play the way he wants to play... turns out all that stuff about intentionally playing fatigued in pre-season appears to have been horseshit.

To err is human, to be unfit is Devine.

I think we see that from the last game with at least 2 players cramping up towards the end of the game

I was concerned when Lindsey said they had the balls out in I think the first training session back. Almost always fitness comes first preseason.

Think of our most success division four teams under Macari and Di Canio, both worked immensely hard on fitness preseason and we scored so many goals late because of it.

Most of what came out of Lindseys mouth was horseshit.

Preseason? Did we have one?

Players are going up today which is a surprise. Only an hour so to the road.

Perhaps due to the early KO & managing players food intake in the morning. That would be my guess.

Perhaps Morris is making them run there to get fitness up.

Early kick off possibly/probably affects preparations though?

Team bonding and a pasta blow out for breakfast.

Going by Train tomorrow expecting absolute chaos.
Trains will be packed with the Rugby going on.
Birmingham at Swansea.

Not on ifollow for those of us not resident in Venezuela - can't work out why not unless Newport have knocked it back.

At least you’ll be able to get a drink on the train? Hardly likely to penalise those lovely friendly rugby types…

In the news section of our website, it says video coverage is available - the ifollow site says audio only. Anyone got any idea?

Staying behind after the game for a few beers with my Newport Mate.

Nice one.

Pre match whatever happened to the Sons of Glyndwr in The Godfrey Morgan.
Always good to walk by the crystal clear blue waters of the River Usk, sparkling in the winter sun, or would be if the sun was shining.
And not forgetting the grand unfinished castle as well.
Reg would have enjoyed the Chartist walking trail through Newport I suspect.

A few rugger buggers on the train.
A hint of burberry at Swindon station ready to be herded like sheep on arrival, maybe for their own protection.

So, the big local derby.
It's possible that any fracas in the High Street won't be caused by an argument over the contribution of Goldie Lookin Chain to popular music culture.

Jody Morris is short in stature but a great opportunity for him to walk tall in the pantheon of STFC managerial greats.
Hearing him talk about intensity was music to the ears.
That coupled with organisation & technical talent will be too much for most L2 sides to deal with more often than not.

Not too fussed about the selection today, more interested to see how the team approach the game.
A win would be great, of course, but sometimes a new manager can learn more about a team following defeat.
There is some need to hit the ground running though, but an early slip up or two can be absorbed.

With the testicle chasing spectacular going on in Cardiff, hopefully it won't be a trying time for us down the road in 3hrs or so.

happy new manager

Seems to be available here in Germany.

Zay haf vays…

Selfishly speaking the kick off time is ideal, i will watch the Jody Morris era hopefully getting off to a positive start. (I reckon 1-1) Then onto the 6 nations, lovely stuff.

Only down side is my home brew chocolate stout is 2 weeks away from being ready - bottled last night. I will have yo make do with leftovers from Christmas.

Newport winless in 6 league games. Only 6 wins all season. Only 24 goals scored.

It's a bit of a must win really.

Similar to Gillingham last week.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FoHsXZBXEAMy2a0?format=jpg&name=large)

Surprised Brennan is fit - he looked banjaxed last week. Would have liked to have seen Minturn given a chance.

Nice to Tomi back in the squad.

Come on, be honest. Would you all be feeling this excited if Artell had got the job!

Looks like this to me

                     Brynn
Hutton. Brennan.  FBT.  Iandolo
                 Cain. Kadji
       RHM.   Williams.  Wakeling
                      Austin

Looks ok considering the injuries

I’d imagine - and hope - Kadji and Cain will beef it up a bit in midfield.

I’m not sure that’s a great lineup. Big responsibility for the two youngsters in the pivot. RHM and Wakeling a bit too similar, and a little light. And Iandolo.

Surprised we can’t put out a stronger 11 after our January business.

100% this line up for sure.

There are weaknesses there but not sure we could do much else with the players available. Pressure on Cain and Kadji but hopefully they rise to it.

Where are Shade and Lavinier ?

Injured I think Hawes just said but not entirely sure.

Both mentioned as injured in the presser

Nothing like being good guests

Is Kadji a physical presence at all? Only seen pictures of him on his own, so hard to tell.

He's 6 2 I think, not sure he's super broad with it though.

You are correct, on ifollow they showed him getting off the coach, hes similar build and height to Clayton.

6ft 2
Eyes of blue
Big Jim Holton’s after you!

Not really sure why Darcy is out of favour at the moment. Always seems lively to me when he's on the pitch

He’s lively but a bit of a liability for me. He has cost us a few goals/gifted chances trying stupid flicks or giving the ball away in stupid positions. He’s not a defensive midfielder so you’re then left with the question where do you play him?

Notice Aguiar is back as well, apparently he was poor for Torquay so a big few months for him in terms of his career.

Lively, energetic, enthusiastic, busy.

But the game passes him by far too often. Seems to have more of an impact off the bench.

Also like Darcy but for me he’s a #10 and that position in our team is currently occupied by Williams.
Wouldn’t even say Darcy is out of favour. Just we currently have a better player in his position in the team

Same problem for me

OK in Serbia

Fine in Germany.

I had the same problem  , refreshed the page a few times and I have it ok now, server Romainia

Darcy and Williams are very similar style and build, its difficult to shoehorn both into the team, Darcy is a great option off the bench though.

I had the same problem  , refreshed the page a few times and I have it ok now, server Romainia

McNeill straight into the team for them, interested to see how he does. Hopefully not very well straight away!

Only way you fit both in is by moving one of them out wide in a 4231 or a 433.

Newport seeming to line up 352 against us.

Top scorer Bogle on 7 goals is on the bench.

Shame Newport don't have Day in goal as hes usually really poor against us.

Ground looks busy, realise the capacity is fairly low but it's nice to see full stands all the same.

And I don't think either work well out wide TBH, both much better through the middle.

Concur. It would be shoehorning in for the sake of it (or a massive injury crisis)

Sky have us down as 433. Could be that or a 4231

Guess we will see in a few minutes

Hadn't realised quite how short Morris was. Standing next to Mildenhall doesn't help him much.

I know we sold out on the day or ticket release so be a full house in the away end at least.

Might even get close to 5,000 today, their highest gate this season was 4,988 for the opening day fixture vs Walsall.

Hell of a eulogy.

5ft 5

…our shortest manager?

Hes a people mcnugget.

Martin Ling? I think Lingy was 5 foot 6ish though.

5ft 7 according to wiki

We were 1-0 up by now last week. Morris out.

Although it worked pretty well at Mansfield. I know that's only one game but it was a great performance

Pretty sure isnt that tall! pretty sure when he signed he was listed as 5 foot 6, he may have grown :)

4231 it seems today.

We were 2-1 down by now last week. Morris in.

Touché.

Not sure I want to see Jonny Williams man marking at set pieces here.

Great tackle by Iandolo there.

Ozzie? Dennis wise?

Very early doors but I like the look of Kadji.

I forgot Wise, he was small. Ossie was a bit taller.

He likes a tackle.

RHM does well to beat his man and it comes to Austin who juggles it and shoots but its blocked for a corner.

Nice Dive by Iandolo!

Its a lively start to the game.

Wise measures in at 5ft 6

RHM's touch is a little off at the moment but he looks very very up for it today and chasing everything.

Iandolo gives away a poor free kick well inside our half. Cant keep on giving away soft free kicks.

Newport are uncomplicated, aren't they? Not one for looking down on more direct football, but I can't imagine the scouting report took very long.

Wise listed as 166cm and 5'6 and Jody as 165cm and 5.5"

Ossie 5'6 (but 170cm). Macari (as Ossie) and also Sturrock 5'7

We've done ok with midfield shorties.

Ball finds our net but the free kick was way overhit into touch.

RHM will go for that.

What was Iandolo doing there?

RHM in trouble here

RHM sent off…

Silly boy RHM.

Can't really argue with that but not sure how there's no punishment at all for the Newport players. That didn't happen in a vaccuum.

Ah, Newport player booked. Probably the right result, fucking stupid from RHM.

100%, the Newport player just as bad.

Idiot

Idiot

Why do we have such dicks? Learned nothing from last week.

Why the fuck does he do that? Absolute idiot.

He'll be gutted, that could easily be the end of his professional career, he's not got a contract beyond the end of the season and he's hardly a fixture in the team.

Fucking moron.

RHM you fucking knob

Fucking hell, RHM looked good against the big centrebacks.
Williams and Wakeling narrower now?

So, the nasty bit worked out well

Such a mild thing to react to.  ::)

Could be a long day this

Rule number 1, you never raise your hands. Muppet.

I get that he's angry at a centreback has just flipped him over, but he even pushed the wrong centreback.
Hope the fella who went down recovers, one hell of a fall

Thats the worst part, he had the beating of them, really fucking stupid of him, control your fucking temper or fuck off.

RHM - Dear, dear, dear!

Game over?

So can only last about 20 minutes fitness wise and an idiot to boot. Can’t see RHM lasting here long.

8th red of the season

No YOU control YOUR anger etc ;)

The newport lad has got him sent off for going down holding his face. Zero contact with the face.

RHM stupid for reacting and pushing. But that newport lad is a cheating cunt.

Is that right it’s our 8th red of the reason? That’s appalling.

Be lucky to get a point now.

If only I could when faced with such twattery :)

He is, but a professional footballer does that 10 times out of 10. He's fallen into the oldest trap in the book, no point complaining that there was a trap there in the first place. It wasn't soft, it's a red every time. Newport lad did nothing we wouldn't have done in the reverse situation.

Modern game innit. Same as no concept of foul throws

Great thinking RHM right in front of the new manager. Out for three and won’t be trusted again for a while.

Yeah kind of, but doesnt have to be if Refs had a brain.

Also you can see that the Newport manager and staff dont react to the push, they don't believe it to be that bad either.

Shame

7th isn't it? Khan twice, Harries, Aguiar and Brennan in the Boycott Trophy and McKirdy right at the start of the season. Am I missing one?

Yeah, solid red IMO. Sold to the max by their guy, but no place for that. As others have said, could be catastrophic for his career.

We will need to weather some storms and be clinical on our part.

Iandolo getting ripped apart at LB.

Yep, 100%....no team has ever won with 10 men in the history of the sport 😉

Got nobody in front of him now, not a huge surprise he'd be exposed.

Have we got Brand yet or has he still not signed?

Every Newport player is chirping away at a town player

not seen anything announced

Cain cross inches over FBTs head in the box.

Thank you for your considered response.

we've now gone 4-4-1 so let's see if that helps

There’s a pic of him and Sandra at Newport

Great block by Brennan there looked a certain goal.

Think we are going to have to sacrifice Williams or Wakeling to shaw up the midfield

Doubly fucks us over as puts a hell of a work load on Austin now so no idea how long he will last.

Foul on Brynn there, saved us.

You could argue it saves us a sub as there wasn't much chance of RHM playing the 90!

Wakeling hasnt really kicked the ball yet. Williams is tracking back well but we need more in midfield.

We haven't got anyone on the bench who could shore up the midfield.

That’s the biggest irony, between the red card and chance of an injury you’d doubt he would have made it to half time anyway.

Clayton can apparently play defensive mid.

I would get Minturn on for Wakeling and push FBT to LB and sit Iandolo in front of FBT as hes being torn apart without much cover in front of him.

There is that too.

I'll look, I assume the Bristol city lad isn't on the bench?

He's on the pitch Batch! Playing quite well too I think...

Bloody hell. He’s playing!

Anyone else lost home comms?

:D

I think that’s a good shout!

Or Clayton if hes fit enough of course.

can we pretend I was joking.

I wasn't, genuinely didn't notice. The newport Comms have hardly mentioned him. And I haven't either.

Poor foul on Williams there, deserved yellow.

I think hes possibly our best player this half so far.

not for me

Why would you be listening to the Newport comms?

Hutton puts in a good cross for Austin but its inches off his head.

Our stand out player for me, interesting.

Not sure that was a foul at all, heavy touch from Kadji but that's just a 50:50.

because I can't change it ;)

Ref has almost lost the plot with all the arguing and moaning from the Newport players.

That was more of a foul on Kadji.

Diving Newport twat in the box, should be booked too.

That’s shocking officiating, never a yellow  

Huge mix up in the Newport defence, corner to Town, keeper came out and is flattened by his defender.

Williams corner comes in the box and bounces and misses every red shirt.

kadji yellow, over ran it but I'm not sure he got there first

Iandolo down injured.

Iandolo looks like he's hurt his knee there. One of those where they go down and don't move. Walking off though gingerly.

Still the best player in red today ;)

still disagree

4 mins added time.

I'm shocked

Carry on but you are wrong :D

Good left foot cross from Hutton there.

Iandolo less injured now!

Long throws aimed at Jake Wakeling against this Newport defence feel like a... low percentage play.

Not sure I've said this before this season, but I think Brennan has been our best player this half. Mixing it with Newport a lot more successfully than most.

Ref has a lot of decisions to make. He's got a few right and a few wrong, but in terms of volume of decisions, this game must be very difficult to ref.

Newport fans are gobby twats.

Another dive in our box by Newport.

That was a pen

As was Wakelings ;)

Town should've had a pen from the corner. Newport should've had a foul and second yellow for Kadji holding outside the box. Ref's having one

Will agree with that

If Morris can learn anything from last week and this week its that League 2 refs are fucking shit.

H/T

A very very poor ref and assistants today.

bloody hell kadji was lucky

HT 0-0

Kadji the best player for me so far.

Thought that was a penalty that Kadji had given away then.

Think Brennan and FBT have done OK.

Kadji has been a presence.

all things considered 0-0 is pretty good. didn't feel like we were down to 10 but we've obviously had to sacrifice some  attacking internet

Williams obviously the stand out. A bundle of every (shut it Venks :) )

Lightly chaotic half. Ref has had hundreds of decisions to make, he's got some wrong and some right but overall this is just a really bitty, nasty game with far too much refereeing to be done. Newport an uncomplicated side, not quite Stevenage levels of nasty but certainly know what they're doing. RHM a moment of madness, fell for an obvious trap hook line and sinker.

Tactically, we're doing a better job of screening the defence through the centre than usual - Kadji and Cain together are working well, Brennan is having his best game for us in my view. Much more threat coming down the flanks as you'd expect with the numbers.

We won't learn much about tactics from this game, it's just going to be a matter of hard fucking grind and trying to get something on the break. Fingers crossed. Williams the key going forward, Austin is going to struggle to have many touches but I'd back him to finish the once chance we get over anyone else. Probably have the right players on the pitch, but we'll need to use the bench later as people are going to tire heavily.

Home commentary has been very complimentary about the ref!

Hmm, frantic opening, looked like we had more quality.

Not enjoyable viewing after the red card. You can tell Newport are on a poor run I think. Fairly desperate behaviour all round, understandable given where they are.

One thing this side of the window, if Austin is on the pitch, you feel we have a goal in us. Need to be v.patient 2nd half.

COYR

Khan, Kadji, Cain would be decent in a 4-3-3

 :D he is buying what Newport are selling.

I think in normal circumstances I would be keen to take Kadji off before he sees red as well. Not sure we can afford to though.

I was going to say the same! Speaking of which - how long until he gets a second yellow? :D

Strap in for a bumpy ride.

Bump

I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t make it past the 64th minute

I like Zanzala, he's been strong and fast so far. Fingers crossed he can't shoot for shit

Not really expecting anyone to know, but why is the terrace at Brynn's end so far back from the pitch, has the pitch been shortened at some point?

There are few things worse from a betting point of view than a player from the team you've backed heavily expecting a new manager bounce getting himself sent off after fifteen minutes. Apart from the Aberdeen player who got himself sent off after seven minutes on Wednesday.
Come on you ten men!

Charsley has run across Kadji twice now looking for a foul and a second yellow - cunning, but shitty.

MORRIS OUT

0-1

Oh dear.

 :crash:

Been coming this half.

Beaut of a cross. Iandolo not covering his man very well but mostly that's just a perfect cross.

Is Kadji playing LB now?

Iandolo has to tell Brennan he's not spare there and pick up Zanzala so Norman can't just nod it in.
Shit defending

ffs.

may as well go for it now. get another forward up.

It was a great cross.

Newport shit housing their way to victory.

No just defensive midfield still.

Well, no one was playing LB for the goal!!

I know it’s tough with 10 but we barely look like getting out of our own half

hard to tell from the ifollow angle of iandolo has 2 as #20 was on the edge in front of him for a bit.

peachy cross

Tome and Jeffcott time! Groan!! 😥

Hopefully Morris has a ruthless streak as a few of these players need a few home truths fired their way. The discipline in this team is appalling and consistently costing us.

Clayton on for Wakeling.
Darcy on for Williams.

One of Williams poorer games today.

Not the obvious subs at 1-0 down, but probably the best players on the bench. Changing the shape will hopefully change the flow of the game which is pretty bad for us at the moment.

FBT LB, Clayton in the centre, Iandolo into midfield I think.

Or possibly 3-5-2 wing backs with FBT on the left of the three. Probably more that.

completely disagree. Morris doesn't

Bit disappointed with Cain today, not been involved much.

You’re a man over

me too. I'd have taken him off

Worried about keeping kadji on with a yellow. Looks a walking red card. Don’t need another suspension.

Quite right, 3-5-2 shape anyway. Except with only Austin up top.

The goalie is one of the 3😀

Rush goalie.

Too much emotion playing against his old club

It's the only way his system works😀

Cain has been poor today, I thought he would loved to play against his old club and raise his game.

FBT our best attacking move this half with a great run, love FBT.

He carries the ball out of defence better than anyone we've had since Nathan Thompson.

He is incredibly versatile and could even play DMC if we didnt need him in defence.

Kadji for Jephcott, another system change. 3-4-2?

Jephcott on for Kadji.

Has to be now.

Probably a good sub that.

Would be a good time for Jephcott to score his first goal since October, this.

at least he's trying to get back in it

not sure Austin and jephcott work mind

Austin was almost treading water chasing the keeper down then.

I think we could see Adeloye on for Austin soon, he looks fucking knackered.

aside: are shade and lavinier injured?

must be I assume. shame as would have been handy in latter stages

Great to have Clayton back at least. This back 3 has potential.

Yes they are injured.

Looking back at the goal Iandolo is 25 and has played well over 100 games for us but still plays like a naive youngster with no appreciation of what is going on around him. He’s meant to be an experienced pro now but consistently looks the complete opposite, he definitely needs some home truths fired at him.

Yeah, if you play a back three you need one to be able to carry it out of defence like FBT does - and as Kyle Walker does for England/Man City.

I'd bloody love Town to have a box entry

Mason Greenwood got arrested for that!

 :clap: :clap:

eww

Cracking result for the Toffees!

Jephcott flicking the ball on to Austin on the halfway line is hilarious

New manager bounce🤣

Cain very poor today, really disappointed with him.

2-0

Surely there were two offsides there?

Edit: first one wasn't. Second one looked pretty suspect to me, but perhaps behind the man playing the ball? Ahead of all the Town players though!

Game over.

Indeed, I'm glad someone got it. I fear Jody had a puncture!

End the thread not interested 😡

Officials never spot them but wasn’t the last pass offside?

Game over, RHM ruined the game, he’s got a lot of growing up to do

This.

both players had Brennan behind initially. then the scorer was behind the ball when squared. I was desperate to be justified in anger but alas, I can't be on this occasion

Eh, write that one off as a bad job. Understandable in the circumstances but we need to start winning quite a lot of consecutive football matches at some point this season, and we basically haven't strung two performances together all year.

Well done RHM  >:(

Consecutive sending off's it needs addressing

MORRIS OUT

Should have stuck with mad Gav.

Is their manager the guy that played briefly for us?

Yes late 90's

fucking hell. very damaging defeat

Neither was offside. The ball went through Brennan like he wasn’t there.

Fair enough.

Yeah second one is one of those weird "you are the ref" ones where the scorer is ahead of our players but behind the ball. Shows how slow we were to get back when there are two players clear of the defence!

Told you that an hour or so ago!

Note: The first player was on side, but Kavanagh was offside I thought

Think some of those that started today are quickly going to find themselves surplus to requirements startling with Brennan & Iandolo hopefully.

Until the goal I had Brennan as my MoM. Maybe I'm wrong but I though he'd had his best game for Town, which admittedly isn't saying much.

I guess it depends if Kavanagh jumping over the ball interferes. In League two it'll depend on the magic 8 ball they're using

Ah well. Was always the likely outcome after the red card.

6 nations time. See you later.

Get Austin off please, no benefit in his still being on the pitch.

SHOT ON TARGET! THE COMEBACK STARTS NOW

Jephcott has out 1st shot of the game on target i think today.

Absolutely.

Get Adeloye on for the last 10 mins for Austin.

yeah, 75 minutes with 10 men is obviously a big ask.

we had totally sacrifice our attack and it was a matter of whether we were good though to keep them out and hope to nick one.

we did neither.

got to be winning games like this

Just checked, on the stepover the squarer of the ball was a yard off as Kavanagh steps over it. I'd say that's interfering, hunt down the ref

Wales are getting gubbed in the egg chasing. so it's not all bad

No! Another midfielder to give Jephcott some service. He is much more likely to score a goal (or touch the ball) than Adeloye.

We could and should be beating every team in this league.

Brennan at fault for both goals.

Never looked like creating a chance.

Go on Tomi, whack one in from 30 yards and give us something to enjoy.

Adeloye on for Austin.

Hutton largely done nothing today. Seems he really doesn't want to be here. If players want to throw their dummy out because they didn't get a move then they can get sent to Chippenham for the rest of the season.

Shame about today's loss, not helped by RH-M of course but there's been next to zero character shown. The plan to win for Newport has been pretty straight forward - Shithouse them but they'll also rise to any minor provocation...

Although Kadji was ok. Austin out on his arse.

...here's hoping Town (with Morris in charge) don't develop ''small man'' syndrome  :hmmm:

Onwards and maybe upwards.

Edit: Nice impact sub. How to impress your new manager. Adeloye, take a bow

Adeloye! 1-2

Called it.

If it's any consolation, Wales are getting hammered.

Iandolo great run and cross for Tomi Adeloye's cool finish- the most unlikely of all goals! Let's hope that does the world of good for both of them.

 :D

Fuck me!!

Good finish from Tomi TBH!

Iandolo Tomi combo.  That will please the boo boys.

Who wanted a midfielder to come on instead? ;)

Maybe it wasn't Pivac's fault?

Not great for me tbh

Newport look surprisingly rattled by that goal, what might have been if we'd nicked one earlier.

Keeper booked for time wasting, then takes another 30 seconds to kick it. Marvellous reffing

good run by iandolo tbf

keeper must have been unsighted but a good finish

I hate you! 😂😂😂

To be fair it’s hardly undeserved. Neither has anything this season to deserve anything other than criticism.

Newport hit the post.

I know :D

Go on your magnificent bastards, nick this.

FT 1-2

Shame. We’d have destroyed them with 11. Cheers for that Rushian.

Disappointing, but not really instructive for how the rest of the season will go. We really need to a) start winning games and b) stop picking up dumb as rocks red cards though.

Iandolo should not be starting for this team. No where near good enough.

RHM a complete moron today and really let everyone down. Hard to reach much into a game where we played 75 mins with 10.

I feel the same, only one person really at fault and thats obviously RHM. Good effort by the rest of them though but always a massive ask against 11 men for 80% of the game.

He was the only person who could reasonably have played left back today. If any of Tomlinson, Lavinier or (perhaps) Devine are fit, he's not at left back. FBT obviously the best left back at the club, but he's also the best centre back and that's more important.

Can believe the slating Iandolo is getting! How did the ball get to Adeloye to score the goal?

Cain was anonymous.
Hutton was poor.
Austin did nowt.
Wakeling poor.
Williams poor.

Brennan and Clayton both made some silly mistakes.
Kadji was lucky to stay on the pitch.
FBT nearly let Bogle score at the end, although he was playing LB, CB, LWB and LC midfield all at once!
Darcy ran about but didn’t influence the game.

Constructive criticism, for sure.

I thought Iandolo was quite poor today overall.  

However, one or two seemed quite eager to load the blame on him for Newport's first.  Anything other than an absolutely pinpoint, deep cross for Newport's goal and Iandolo heads that on or it sails over.

A moment of quality in a poor, poor game.  

On the flip side once Tomlinson is fit that should be the end of Iandolo. Morris obviously didn’t want to rock the boat straightaway today but after a few weeks I’m sure this will change. Iandolo has been picked for the large part based on a manager’s sentiment this season rather than performances and you imagine this will change now.

Not certain that Jody Morris learnt a great deal from this game due to the ineptitude of RHM, missing an out and out left back, Khan out and seemingly Hutton rather disinterested and too many others off the pace which all makes for a rather shambolic start.

Welcome to Divvy 2 management.

Also worth noting that with 11 men we most likely would have run out winners.

The problem is we've recently forgotten how to keep 11 men on the pitch😀

One person at fault today - Hepburn-Murphy. Let him lick his wounds and move on.

The quickest way to become an outcast with a new manager

What actually happened with the red? Didn’t hear it clearly on the comms as was rushing to get ready for a wedding, sounded like RHM punched a player?!

No evidence of that, Newport were all over us from the start

Push

Don’t understand the Iandolo slating TBH he did the best he could considering we went down to 10 men after 15 minutes. Decent ball to Tomi for the goal.  Tomi could well become a revitalised player under JM who knows. Clean slate for all.

RMH was a silly boy and reacted in a moment of madness.  He’ll be feeling bad right now and knows he cost us today.  

Push rather than punch, but he launched into it and it was no surprise to see a red given.

Not many box entries today but no sign of any microwaves and Town nearly got a draw which would've meant they just needed one more for a win....plenty of positives to take.

No dramas. Lose the first - win the rest...simple  ;)

 :pint:

Sandro has earmarked 2 points per game to get us promoted. We now need 4 next week v Doncaster to get back on track😀

Worked for Wellens

On what planet was this happening?

Morris:
- Obviously disappointed
- When you have to play with 10 for 75 mins the game plan goes out the window
- I was disappointed with how we used the ball when in possession]
- We made lots of mistakes on the ball
- Did better when we went to a back 3, but shouldn't have to change formation to stop making mistakes
- Took too many touches, didnt make space, inaccurate with passes
- Not sure its a sending off
- Two maybe 3 penalties we could have had a t 0-0
- Could have been better in possession to give us a rest on the ball
- Problem we gave ourselves was that we weren't good enough on the ball
- Second goal: Poor. We were attacking. We could have been more aggressive with their clearance. Disappointing as we were doing well at that point and they didnt have to work to score
- Adeloye: You always want subs to be ready and take their chance
- Took Austin off to save him.
- More impact you have off the bench the better it is for the team
- Kadji: He was ok. Elements of his game that looked 'alright'. His physicality was evident
- We are stretched. Couple of bodies that we thought were coming through the door, but it didn't happen. We are a couple of bodies short.
- Players who were on loan or not playing need to be ready to take their chance

How many 'as I said/say' input quotes do we think would be fair for the "Jody Says Post Match Interview" Bingo Card? 10? 12?  :hmmm:

"Two, maybe three pens"....really? Is that right? I didn't watch the game...Whenever Lyndsey or Garner came out with that, I took it with a very large pinch of salt...

Blatant red card not sure he should be defending the indefensible.   RHM needs games but won't get them if he continues to be so stupid.

Yep, I think he was clutching there. Gets a hall pass today but if he continues most weeks (when those moments weren't evident or obvious) then it will wear thin.

Penalties should have been 1 each

RHM was silly today but some of the comments/criticism is over the top IMO.  With young inexperienced players you will get silly mistakes happening more often than not.  You can tell that some posters on here are longer in years and can't remember what it is like to be a 20 year old :D

Maybe Gladwin passed the scapegoat t-shirt to RHM on his way out, our fanbase loves a scapegoat

FIFY ;)

He's 24, he's not a teenager. One of our older players!

Just my opinion..

To quote a certain Tommy Wright (again):

'They are grown men, they are not CHILDREN!'  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

We've played 32 games this season, we've had the same outcome consecutively only three times, once for each possibility:

Draws v Carlisle and Leyton Orient
Wins v Sutton and Doncaster
Losses v Crewe and Crawley

Consistently inconsistent.

Season results are:

LDLDDWDLDWWLWLWLWLWDWLDLLDWLWLWDL

Hepburn Murphy thanks mate, 3 points dropped, expensive day out.
Grow up and learn from it.

Hepburn Murphy cost us 2 points last Saturday.

Cost us the chance of getting anything today. Fucking headless from him. Brainless thinking. Made of glass and now he’s out of 3 games. Only way someone like him finds form is a run of games- blown it for himself

Iandolo rotten. Yes He crossed it in for a consolation goal. But he had a Stinker at left back. Shame we didn’t pull our finger out in the window and sign a centre half so FBT could play left back. Get what you deserve sometimes aye.

FBT or Kadji MOM, nobody else. Austin helpless and ineffective if we can’t get to him in the box, also hard when he was the only voice on pitch today. Thought Brennan was shakey and Hutton far from his best.

Not a great start is it, but it’s fuck all to do with Morris. Have to put it right Saturday.

Once again the poster on this forum that gets it spot on.
Iandolo a passenger.
FBT motm easy call.

Absolutely livid tonight Hepburn Murphy.
Brain dead twat. Newport were shite, we lost.

Minor consolation. Other results couldn’t have gone much better. Only Stockport gained 3 on us.

Oh, Piss Stains and Gas both lost - again.

Could be squeaky bum time for both. Unlikely but not impossible.

Crawley now 1 point off the relegation spots, it’s not going to end well there.

Robinson can't have long left at pox and see Carlise have sneaked into third spot!

Luckily for him there’s only 3 relegation spots now as the vegans are gone. Duncan Ferguson must be questioning his decision to start his career at the vegans now, 7 points adrift with 2 extra games played.

Fact is we just cannot deal with the shithousery at this level.

Obvious from kick off they were rolling around the floor looking for fouls- RHM was silly as uou just can’t retaliate in those situations - but it was obvious their player did something deliberately and only got away with a yellow.

In league 2 you have to be able to deal with the dark arts of the game

One of the most irritating traits that egghead Garner had was complaining about how many penalties we had. Must be a premier league academy thing.

🫡🫡. careful mate don’t be too nice they might change your bio and stalk your account 😂
Think we’ve missed out not selling him, like to think the replacement would have been a significant upgrade on him. Hepburn Murphy doing well to undo all his hard work/good form from the last few weeks with the way he finished last week and his clown antics today. Newport absolute fodder, results like these remind me of the Colchester/Stevenage/Rochdale results last season - ended up being very costly.

Stayed in Newport after the game for a few beers with my Newport Mate.
Eased the pain, the Welsh egg chasing girls in the pub at least raised a smile.
If only I wasn’t an old Man 😂⚽️🍺

Stupid to let MacDonald go without a replacement.

Bizarre. I didn’t think much of MacDonald at all, had some real poor games for us I thought and wasn’t a great captain. But he could head it, clear it, played 20 odd games and was experienced. I thought we needed a centre half before he left, think most did. It cost us today.

Other than RHM, I don't think that any individuals particularly stood out enough to warrant being singled out of criticism after that display.
As a group failing, yes of course.

MacDonald was limited on the ball but first and foremost could defend.
We have no other defender like that in the squad and I’d even argue it’s the type of player we missed last season.

I guess in theory FBT was the MacDonald replacement at CB and Tomlinson was the FBT replacement at LB - which only works when all are fit.

We had a replacement but the deal fell through due to some paperwork balls-up.

.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GF4ge8ldBaI&t=188s


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DAMgd-ZfmPw

45 seconds evidently.
The lad was training with us.

Just got in from work. In a nutshell how Good/bad was it?

RHM sent off after 15
contained them first half
they were better in second

we didn't look like scoring, even though we did!

summary: can't really tell anything from that

If he’d been training with us then why the fuck did they leave it to the last minute? Ridiculous.

This. Thought we looked sharp within first 15 and we’d have beaten them 11 v 11

Interesting to see Williams say that RHM had a gash down his leg. Doesn't surprise me and his reaction makes more sense, but still inexcusable.

He was obviously riled but like you say it dosen't excuse his actions.

Just curious, as I wasn't there.

When Austin was subbed on 90 mins who was given the armband?

FBT

Interesting to see that the Newport manager said it wasn’t a red too. We haven’t had the rub of the green last couple weeks (FBT “handball” and the red card yesterday, both of which looked like the right decision live to me). Luck will turn and it was nice to see proactive subs from a manager yesterday which improved the team. The squad has a lot of spirit which has got us to this stage. A bit of tactical nous and we can keep in the playoff race, despite being a couple of players short.

Didn't see the incident live, but looking at the highlights the contact does seem to be in the head / face area which would be a red.
In the chest and he probably gets a yellow.
As per usual the contact possibly might not have been enough for their guy to go down clutching his face like he did.
But that's the way of it unfortunately.

the red looked a red to me. Way softer than their player made it.  but as above the hands were in and around the face.

FBT pen was a terrible decision, but we did get one of our own and Austin got away with another too (imo). we have had some luck

Newport commentary said it themselves , it was clearly a shove to the chest with a clear view from that side, and the Newport man made the most of it by going down holding his face. I was thinking at the time, how many reds do you see for shoves to the chest? I can’t think of any. But the ref bought the Emmy winning performance and the assistants and 4th official hasn’t helped the ref out at all.

If I was the club, I’d be appealing the straight red / 3? Match ban.

That doesn’t detract from the fact that RHM was utterly moronic for giving Newport exactly what they were hoping to get and getting himself in a position where the ref has to make a decision on what card to get out.

luckily for him (probably) we’re so light on numbers that it probably won’t put him out of the selection frame once he’s back. In a squad with more depth you could see him being shuffled to the back of the pack as that moment ultimately sums up his involvement this season so far, looking lively and threatening in bit parts but marred by absolutely terrible decision making.

Absolutely spot on.

Saw on someone else's Twatter feed that RHM has posted an image of the injury- open wound to the knee/ lower thigh. That sort of shit makes people respond in funny ways and possibly explains RHM's reaction?

Yer tis

Injury looks nasty

Problem is you cannot react- though the Newport player as do most in league 2- went down like he had been shot and holding his face.

Not just league 2 it's rife across all levels of football.

Do we know how many Town fans were there yesterday?

They roughed us up for a bit, to be expected....well it fucking should but it looked as if we didnt expect it !
We just never got going at all.

The shit housery tailed off and they just ran around and spoiled play and took their chances.
At a fourth tier level, they probably deserved it.

Silly silly sending off but im not sure it cost us.

I stuck with it to the bitter end and was a bit shocked we managed to score a goal!

write it off and move on.

Had a glance back to a post ref the shit teams that turned us over last season and the cost to us, that game yesterday is certainly in that bracket.

NB - My favourite bit of shit housery yesterday, was the lad running into the box and grabbing a defenders arm, yanking it and doing a somersault...quality!

Just finally watched the highlights.

RHM was stupid. I’ve seen the pic of his leg but can’t really see how / where that happened in that altercation. It just looks like a tangle and then he gets up and pushes the defender tracking back and not the one who he tangled with. I’m assuming the one he pushed stamped on his leg whilst he was on the ground but really can’t see it.

Probably can be critical of the goals conceded but on the highlights they both look well taken to me. Peach of a cross for they first and whilst he’s got space in behind Iandolo I can only assume due to the extra man he (and the centre half) were probably split between men.

Brennan gets turned but think you give the Newport player credit for that. He’s sold him down the river.

Decent run & cross from Iandolo and a decent finish from Tomi. Hopefully that’s the start of his bottom division Fjortoft redemption arc but we shall see.

Whilst I listened to the game (whilst entertaining a 4 year old) and have only seen the highlights - I think we could have done better for goals (can’t you always?) but it wasn’t exactly prime Swindon shooting our selves in the foot completely our own fault style defending.
Newport deserve a bit of credit for the well taken goals.

Just out of interest I recall he has a history of injury, have any of these been caused by shitty tackles? Another Robinson vs. McGinley situation?

RHM will wish he could rewind to kick off I’m sure. He’s a young man, who would have thought he had a Premier League career ahead of him at 18/19, who had over a year out, and got back to fitness and seems to revel at the thought of playing L2 football. I’ve got a problem with players who show a bad work rate and don’t track back. I can tolerate a one-off impulse reaction, so let’s lay off him. If it becomes a thing, then it’s a problem, but give the guy a chance….

Some women (and men) really need to go more gently with their teeth!  :soapy tit wank:

By the letter of the law - Violent conduct is when a player uses or attempts to use excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball, or against a team-mate, team official, match official, spectator or any other person, regardless of whether contact is made.

In addition, a player who, when not challenging for the ball, deliberately strikes an opponent or any other person on the head or face with the hand or arm, is guilty of violent conduct unless the force used was negligible.

Usually on commentary they make reference to 'raising your arms/hands' and RHM clearly did that. I personally think he raised his hands and pushed the defender away with reasonable force on his chest, possibly just around the neck area at a push.

My gripe - (and whilst I understand why players do it) is the pathetic reaction of the Newport player holding his face/head when there had been absolutely no contact in that area. Given that the concussion protocols around head knocks are prevalent at the moment, I think there needs to be stricter rules around footballers play-acting with the sole purpose to get the opponent sent off by feigning they have been struck in the head. There are surely enough cameras in grounds that can ascertain whether a player, who is clearly on the ground in 'pain' holding his head actually had any contact in that part of his body. If there was none, he gets a 1 game ban.

Professional footballers are peak athletes, (usually) built sturdily, to act the way some do is shameful.  

No worse than FBT last week when he went down holding his face after he’s clearly handled the ball in the penalty box


That’s heavily laden with sarcasm just to reference

I thought he pushed in the chest too maybe further up near his neckline but there was absolutely no contact to the face which Norman insinuated by clutching his face and going down like he'd been hit by a sniper.  Disgraceful by their player really but seems to be more and more prominent in modern day football players duping referee's.  Neyma is a prime example of that

Absolutely correct.

To be honest, I think RHM was getting the red regardless of what the Newport player was holding.

He was, and he deserved it 100% for his reaction, but the Newport player was doing his best to con the ref and it worked.

Not that it really matters, but Nathan Blake who was doing co-comms on the Newport feed did criticise the Newport player for his behaviour and thought that a yellow apiece would have been his interpretation of the incident.

Att: 4,757 (1,000 Swindon Town fans)

I was so close attendance wise😀
   
Re: Newport v Swindon matchday thread
« Reply #1 on: Thursday, February 2, 2023, 09:57:17 »
Newport 1 Swindon 3 Att: 4,780 (1050 Reds)

Cheers.

I wonder if they quoted the number of tickets sold, or whether everyone turned up