Newport post match thread 2- 1

[TheSomersetFox]

We created enough chances to win 3 games last night, but we had no one capable of putting the chances away. Not taking Vardy was absolutely criminal and I imagine Vards’ll be absolutely seething at seeing us get knocked out while he was left at home.

 

Play Vardy for the first hour and we win that game. That was Claude’s biggest mistake for me. 

 

Thought Ghezzal looked so much better through the middle than out wide. Can’t say anyone performed ‘badly’ apart from James and the 2 forwards.

 

Ultimately we had 2 international forwards out there who were quite frankly embarrassing and they should have been good enough to see us through yesterday, but Claude must take blame for leaving Vardy at home. 

 

Really, really ****ing annoying. Hopefully the rest of our league campaign makes up for it.

[siraaj_lcfc]

Lol just saw that the Foxes Ladies have won 4-0. Gerremin!!!!!

[Twitcher]

3 hours ago, MC Prussian said:

Five. You forgot Schmeichel.

 

But I agree with the general notion. That list shows where our problem lies: No punch, no outstanding players in midfield:

 

Gray - greedy

Albrighton - steady, but not overly creative

Maddison - creative, but still coming to terms with the demands of the Premier League and sometimes a bit greedy, too

Ndidi - erratic, has taken a bit of a nosedive recently

Mendy - good, but not that physical in defensive midfield (no Kanté, sadly)

Ghezzal - a ghost, clumsy, one-footed, comes across as rather fragile

Diabaté - disappeared off the face of the earth

 

All in all, these players are all somewhat lightweight.

 

Then we have Iborra and Silva who both have been frozen out of the first team for quite a while now. Which is baffling.

 

Isn't it great?

This unfortunate situation in return, is reflected directly in the lack of distinct scoring opportunities and the lack of service for our strikers (mainly Vardy and Iheanacho).

What we need is somebody to complement Maddison in the middle and/or better outside midfielders.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again - we finally have to approach the transfer market, be it now or this summer - with more nouse and an eye for quality.

 

 

I'd say four. Chilwell is improving but isn't there yet. Some of his final ball distribution is woeful. If I was taking five players at the moment I'd pick Albrighton ahead of Chilwell, (obviously not as left back though).

[David Hankey]

5 hours ago, ClaphamFox said:

It would only be a watershed moment if the owners cared about the FA Cup. I've never seen any evidence that they do. If they prioritised the cup, that would be communicated to our managers and reflected in team selections. Our habit of playing weakened teams must have been either tacitly or explicitly approved by the owners or we wouldn't do it every year.

Are you saying Top and his family have an input into the day to day decisons of team selection, I don't think so. Puel has to take full resposibllity for the side put out else what's the point of having a manager?. Where I do agree foreign owners and managers and some players to that extent have no idea about what the FA Cup means. They attach no historical importance or attachment to the competition and see it as another game getting in the way of league matches.

[David Hankey]

I see Wes Morgan backs his manager over the team selection for yesterday's game and goes onto state "If you look at the chances and opportunities we had, we could have won that game quite easily". The fact is we didn't!! Having the greater part of possession and creating all the chances we did means nowt if you can't convert them into goals. Just look at the Spuds and Manchester City, create and take chances.

[z-layrex]

19 hours ago, Lineker's Left Foot said:

Disgusting.  Really do despise this team.  

10 years ago if I had told you you would say this about a team of ours sitting 7th in the Prem you'd have never believed me...

[Guest Bob Hazels shorts]

Man City took their game seriously to win

 

Imagine Rotherham looking at the team sheet and thinking oh fuuck as amongst others De Bruyne  Mahrez Sterling.

 

Newport must've been doing the conga pre match.

 

Only Hamza if he develops and maybe Albrighton have futures at the club and are without issues.

 

Can carry the odd player if we play the core of -  Kasper (unofficial captain) - Maguire (Morgan if surrounded by strength) Ndidi  Vardy

[Guest MattP]

I'm actually getting more and more pissed off by this the more I think about it.

 

BBC on a Sunday afternoon and about 5 million watching us, completely humiliating. Played on NYD and then not again until the 13th.

 

Really was no need to rest anybody. Attitude to the cups is disgraceful to be honest over the last couple of seasons, no excuse whatsoever not to be going all out when we are already effectively safe. 

 

I'm not blaming Puel either, the guy got to two cups finals with Soton, the attitude is from higher up inside the club.

[Wdywd]

Even Man City made 8 changes (would've been 9 if their reserve keeper didn't blow his leg up a few months ago), it's just that their backups are Gundogan, Mahrez and Jesus while ours are Fuchs, Simpson and Matty James. Not sure what we can do about that

[Guest MattP]

8 minutes ago, Wdywd said:

Even Man City made 8 changes (would've been 9 if their reserve keeper didn't blow his leg up a few months ago), it's just that their backups are Gundogan, Mahrez and Jesus while ours are Fuchs, Simpson and Matty James. Not sure what we can do about that

Man City are still in the Champions League, fighting for a league title and have a 2 legged match in the League Cup shortly.

 

We don't. 

[siraaj_lcfc]

11 minutes ago, MattP said:

Really was no need to rest anybody. Attitude to the cups is disgraceful to be honest over the last couple of seasons, no excuse whatsoever not to be going all out when we are already effectively safe. 

 

I'm not blaming Puel either, the guy got to two cups finals with Soton, the attitude is from higher up inside the club.

Are you seriously saying that wasn't a strong squad. I thought it was too strong. Players like Silva and Diabate didn't even play/

[Guest MattP]

2 minutes ago, siraaj_lcfc said:

Are you seriously saying that wasn't a strong squad. I thought it was too strong. Players like Silva and Diabate didn't even play/

Nope, I've re-read my post and never said that at all.

[siraaj_lcfc]

4 minutes ago, MattP said:

Nope, I've re-read my post and never said that at all.

said what? 

"Really was no need to rest anybody"

[Guest MattP]

Just now, siraaj_lcfc said:

said what?

That is wasn't a strong squad - which is what you asked me.

[siraaj_lcfc]

Just now, MattP said:

That is wasn't a strong squad - which is what you asked me.

U said there was no need to rest anyone? Indicates wasn't strongest squad possible

[Guest MattP]

Just now, siraaj_lcfc said:

U said there was no need to rest anyone? Indicates wasn't strongest squad possible

There wasn't, that's my point. We should have played our strongest team.

 

If we had eight games this month like Man City I could understand it, but we don't, we have five. 

[siraaj_lcfc]

1 minute ago, MattP said:

There wasn't, that's my point. We should have played our strongest team.

 

If we had eight games this month like Man City I could understand it, but we don't, we have five. 

I would say this squad was arguably as good as the one that faced City. 

Except James and Okazaki Maybe.

[Fox92]

My only positive was it was a new ground ticked off for me.

 

Thought Evans was MOTM for us.

 

Team selection aside, that team should have been enough to comfortably beat a League Two side.

[siraaj_lcfc]

5 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

My only positive was it was a new ground ticked off for me.

Wait, Did we sing the My Garden Shed Is Bigger Than This Chant?

[The Doctor]

15 minutes ago, siraaj_lcfc said:

Are you seriously saying that wasn't a strong squad. I thought it was too strong. Players like Silva and Diabate didn't even play/

It wasn't a strong squad. 2 forwards with 4 goals between them in a calendar year, and nothing on the bench. A winger who's goal was the first touch he's had that's not been pure garbage in 4 months. A CM consisting of a kid with 10 senior appearances for us and a bloke so knackered he belongs at the glue factory, with Andy King as backup. It should have been strong enough to beat Newport if they'd shown any interest or effort but it was not a strong squad. How you can claim it's stronger for having James and King in it rather than Silva is baffling

[Guest MattP]

6 minutes ago, siraaj_lcfc said:

I would say this squad was arguably as good as the one that faced City. 

Except James and Okazaki Maybe.

We had Kasper, Maguire, Vardy, Ricardo, Chilwell, Mendy and Ndidi on the pitch against Man City.

[Fox92]

1 minute ago, siraaj_lcfc said:

Wait, Did we sing the My Garden Shed Is Bigger Than This Chant?

Yes all the typical "banter" come out. Could have had that one at EVS.

[siraaj_lcfc]

Just now, The Doctor said:

It wasn't a strong squad. 2 forwards with 4 goals between them in a calendar year, and nothing on the bench. A winger who's goal was the first touch he's had that's not been pure garbage in 4 months. A CM consisting of a kid with 10 senior appearances for us and a bloke so knackered he belongs at the glue factory, with Andy King as backup. It should have been strong enough to beat Newport if they'd shown any interest or effort but it was not a strong squad. How you can claim it's stronger for having James and King in it rather than Silva is baffling

Silva played against Fleetwood last time round and did what tho?

Our lack of back up for Vardy is worrying but he needed resting. I mean its not like we have Musa and Super Slim now?

[siraaj_lcfc]

1 minute ago, MattP said:

We had Kasper, Maguire, Vardy, Ricardo, Chilwell, Mendy and Ndidi on the pitch against Man City.

You knew we weren't gonna have those players playing. can't complain. We had Premier League CHAMPIONS on that Pitch

[The Doctor]

8 minutes ago, siraaj_lcfc said:

I would say this squad was arguably as good as the one that faced City. 

Except James and Okazaki Maybe.

Kasper, Ricardo, Chilwell, Mendy, Ndidi, Maguire, Vardy, Maddison or Ward, Simpson, Fuchs, James, Ghezzal, Evans, Iheanacho and Okazaki. Behave, the squad yesterday was weaker in 8 positions, and that's only because 3 players played in both