deep blue

It just gives us something else to talk about, instead of every other topic leading us down the depression path.

Our wingers are awful. They are petulant & sulky, always risk yellows, don't work hard enough to provide meaningful help to the fullbacks, make many mistakes of judgement on the ball. Neither are team players. In any other team they would be censured by the more experienced players and given coaching help by the manager. This doesn't seem to happen. I watched the whole game tonight and didn't realise BCDR was in the team - my bad, perhaps, but I can't think of anything he did of note. As for Luke Thomas, I used to feel sympathetic for his loss of confidence but I have to admit now that he has gone consistently bad - very poor in positioning and anticipation of threats, ludicrously weak & uncommitted in the tackle. I could go on. How anyone can think that our youngsters e.g. Aluko and Page, can be any worse is beyond me. Chances are they'll improve and adapt rapidly, which is good for this season and a no-brainer in terms of progression and the future of the club. I personally thought that on the whole there was effort from the players tonight but our set-up is so poor and disjointed that a lot of the effort is to no effect. One of the worst consequences if out team structure is that somehow we have both fullbacks isolated in defence, yet our wingers are usually unsupported in our rare attacks. Even with the limited options at his disposal Cifuentes must take a lot of the blame because he fails in every aspect of management.

What I don't get on here is the view that Maresca has been shafted by Chelsea (or, for that matter, by us previously). Professional people involved in the game must talk to each other and observe the goings-on within clubs. Maresca, and our other recent managers, may have been lied to by our board when interviewed for the job but surely they were aware what a shitshow our board is, just as Maresca could surely see how Chelsea operated before he took the job. Surely the reason a manager takes a job is simply to better his current situation. Maresca could see us as the perfect way to get into the English leagues, and Chelsea gave him the next natural and promising step up. Cifuentes must have seen us, with our fairly recent history and achievements, as a better bet to advance himself than with QPR.. etc etc. At the end of the day, managers are looking to their own ambition and in doing so must accept that that doesn't always gel with the ambitions and workings of the club they have chosen to move to.

Yes, got a goal, and an assist for the other goal. I think the issue is quite clear. He is almost certainly up to our level already, with a much higher ceiling to reach, would flourish with better players around him, and we desperately need someone of his ability in our midfield. But on the other hand, it will be counter-productive if he comes back but then doesn't get decent minutes on the pitch. So it's all up to how Marti views him and whether he would give Sammy a trustworthy guarantee that he will compete equally for a place in the team. Going on Marti's words and actions so far I wouldn't trust him, and that's a shame. The situation is further complicated by the unstable position of Marti.

Oops, there's also David Nish, of course. A really class performer.

Banks not from our academy. Bought from Chesterfield and, as far as I can remember, was already an England U23 player when we bought him.

Agree with this. I doubt he can progress much more technically or tactically teamwork-wise with the poor players around him at Newport. But if he came back here (and we certainly could do with his ability and commitment) then it would only benefit him if he were guaranteed to get plenty of game time and to be playing in a squad with more togetherness and positivity than we have at the moment (which probably means one which includes more of our talented youngsters).

Has Rudkin been present at the recent matches?

I don't understand. If there are rules of impartiality why are they broken by (a) reporting the concerns expressed by many fans and (b) asking questions of the club?

I get the feeling that both our wingers are luxury players for us this season ... we need players that contribute more to the team.

I didn't think we'd regressed that badly at that time, but maybe we were beyond avoiding the slide at that point as our new inept owner and his sycophant DOF were in place together by then.

This continues to haunt me ... what could have been. If we'd replaced Rodgers with Emery at the right time, and there were some great Championship strikers & others available at the same time that have gone on to grace the Premiership.

At least the LibDem leader is calling out the US for their behaviour. I suppose you can forgive the reluctance of the government in that respect as their position is more delicate and they must feel they have to be more diplomatic (ironic since the US seem to have dropped that word from their vocabulary). What about the Tories? Can't remember them having anything anti to say.

Interesting. I've seen the occasional comment on here regretting the loss of JJ. Yet he got the same pelters last season as Thomas is getting now, and mostly it seems to be that he isn't coping in one-on-one situations with the winger. While I'm not trying to excuse Thomas (and I particularly dislike his pathetic attempts to rugby tacke or pull back his winger rather than making a better attempt to block him or to chase back) I do feel that our set-up seems to leave our fullback badly exposed. We keep complaining that our wingers only receive the ball when they are stationary and doubly marked, but the opposition wingers are often receiving the ball when on the run and only have our fullback to beat, and having to start by backpedalling isn't the best way to defend. I can't out my finger on why that's happening - is it our formation, or that our wingers don't drop back to help, or because our midfield is so weak and appears outnumbered?

I just get this feeling that the formation makes us very vulnerable in midfield - only 2 genuine midfielders - which makes it easy for us to get overrun if the oppo go hard at us. We need the wingers to cover back a lot better than they are at the moment. It doesn't help that throughout the whole team there's a lack of will to compete strongly for the ball, to be alert to picking up the loose ball, and to support each other over the pitch.

Not quite as far as Fatawu's goal but better, in my view, because the goalie wasn't that far out of his goal as the ball was struck, so the speed and accuracy of the shot had to be absolutely spot on. Incredible technique. A very hard strike, too, for someone small and not at all strong-looking. Also, he was much more alert to the initial interception than our dozy first-teamers.

I can't help thinking that Vestergaad is now our biggest problem, and the sooner he is replaced the better. He doesn't have the right physicality to cope with balls or players that come on him quickly (why we are so vulnerable to counter-attacks) and I feel sure we wouldn't be so welded to this slow, no-progressive passing style if he weren't at the core of it. Imagine someone more mobile, with quicker feet and mind, and with a more direct clearance (quick pass, or lumping it when necessary) in his place and you can imagine something much better than what we have at the moment.

I didn't manage to watch the game, but reports make it pretty easy to see how it played out. What I can't get my head round, and a similar thing has happened several times this season, is how we are often caught completely cold at the start of a half. This, for me, is unforgiveable in a professional team. Last night the home team, down by 2 goals after the first half, were absolutely nailed on to come out and at us as soon as the second half started, and with their supporters to cheer them on. What other alternative did they have? Yet it appears that our team were totally unprepared for it. That's it. I am simply gobsmacked.

Aluko

Iversen played a blinder for Preston. If only ...

Newport looked rubbish, so disorganised, Braybrooke a class above anyone else. Although he's getting valuable playing time I don't think his development will be helped with such poor teammates around him. I think he'd be better off back in Leicester now, as long as he can be guaranteed a reasonable amount of playing time.

For anyone who wants to see Braybrooke in action I assume he'll be in Newport County's team who feature (v Boreham Wood) on BBC1 at 2.15 today.

This opinion keeps popping up on here, but is it really true? What verification do we have? You say "I'm told ... ", ... but who has told you?

My personal view is that flat living is extremely undesirable because of noise and other issues of living so close to others. Also, problems arise with responsibility for the whole fabric of the building (you only have to think of the dilemma caused by cladding). l suspect that most people in this country would agree with that view and that many of those who live in flats do so not out of choice but because their financial situation gives them no other option. But who knows? It would be interesting to know what percentage of people in this country would prefer to live in a flat rather than the more conventional housing.

Unbelievable. To have signed him for that length of contract, and price, they must have assessed him as being crucial to our midfield and the first name on the teamsheet every week.