Saturday 14th August

[AdamStag]

I don’t agree with Adam in regards to Newport today, but the referee was absolutely atrocious and regularly gave away free-kicks to Newport when it was actually the other way round, your defenders really struggled to contain Oli Hawkins upfront and kept fouling him, nothing vicious, general shirt pulling, and he just let it happen throughout the entire game. In fairness he also missed a blatant yellow for James Perch.

I agree today was close, although I think we did edge it overall and offered a bigger threat, Abrahams looked a handful and your #18 (forgot to check who it is) was probably your best player. We matched the physicality you lot offered, and just had that bit extra quality on the ball. I’m sure Newport will be challenging for top seven again.

I just don’t understand newport’s approach, it’s the same physical crap every season, no attempt to play football, every chance to con the referee, just actually focus on playing football which when newport do they’re pretty decent at it, if they did it often enough fair enough, but they don’t - everyone was the same before the game, knowing we’d need to be lucky to win and adapt to their physical approach- thankfully mansfield and football prevailed.

I just can’t accept that football that they serve up, it’s awful how folk watch that tripe for a whole season must be hard to take.

 

[County1]

I just don’t understand newport’s approach, it’s the same physical crap every season, no attempt to play football, every chance to con the referee, just actually focus on playing football which when newport do they’re pretty decent at it, if they did it often enough fair enough, but they don’t - everyone was the same before the game, knowing we’d need to be lucky to win and adapt to their physical approach- thankfully mansfield and football prevailed.

I just can’t accept that football that they serve up, it’s awful how folk watch that tripe for a whole season must be hard to take.

Again, full of prejudice and stereotypes. You clearly know very little about the football we play and your ideas are rooted in misconceptions. Our midfield last season included Josh Sheehan and (up until January) Scott Twine, with Matty Dolan playing the ball out from the back. Hardly ‘physical crap’. Our season was derailed for a while when the pitch was shocking and we couldn’t play our passing game. Hopefully the huge expense on the pitch this summer will pay dividends and it won’t be the embarrassment it has been.
Take away the prejudices and look at the stats on today’s game. Yes, we have physical players, but Mansfield committed six more fouls. Possession was 51%_49%, shots on target 5-4. From our perspective it was a tough game and I thought 2-1 was possibly right but, as the away side, am obviously going to say I felt we were worth a draw.
Thought Conker’s assessment was balanced and fair. I expect Mansfield to be top three and us in with (another) shot of the play-offs.

 

[WilsdenBantam]

We have another keeper. But apparently we aren’t able to play him for one reason or another. Embarrassing from us to not come away with a point at the end but that’s us all over - always find a way to fuck it. Gut wrenching

You won’t have many dull games tbf, but can’t see you being successful. As you seem to enjoy attacking but neglect the dirty work and defensive side. Second half your defenders were left exposed so many times but we kept choosing the wrong option to pass to or fluffing our lines.

 

[Stringy]

I don’t agree with Adam in regards to Newport today, but the referee was absolutely atrocious and regularly gave away free-kicks to Newport when it was actually the other way round, your defenders really struggled to contain Oli Hawkins upfront and kept fouling him, nothing vicious, general shirt pulling, and he just let it happen throughout the entire game. In fairness he also missed a blatant yellow for James Perch.

I agree today was close, although I think we did edge it overall and offered a bigger threat, Abrahams looked a handful and your #18 (forgot to check who it is) was probably your best player. We matched the physicality you lot offered, and just had that bit extra quality on the ball. I’m sure Newport will be challenging for top seven again.

There was a Newport free kick in the first half for a tackle on the Newport right back. Robbie Wilmott was laughing and I swear before he got some abuse from our fans for laughing he was actually laughing because it was such a bad decision. Later he booked Hawkins for dissent when he didn't appear to be dissenting. Also, someone had their arm around Hawkins neck but it wasn't a foul. I couldn't figure out what the referee was thinking. The linesman who was also bad but not as bad the referee seemed very stressed with it.

It was a close game. Newport probably edged the less important parts, but we had the better chances and got the goals.

 

[Stringy]

Take away the prejudices and look at the stats on today’s game. Yes, we have physical players, but Mansfield committed six more fouls. Possession was 51%_49%, shots on target 5-4.

From our perspective in the angry home crowd it really did feel like the referee missed at least six fouls.

 

[County1]

From our perspective in the angry home crowd it really did feel like the referee missed at least six fouls.

Absolutely no problem with that. It wouldn’t be football if it didn’t would it! We would be exactly the same. Just felt Adam showed a bit of a lack of class really with his comments half hour or so after the game. If we edge a 2-1 home game this season, I would be disappointed if our fans came on a League Two forum rubbishing the opposition.

 

[Soz]

saw a few comments on the tranmere forum about it being 2 points dropped, calling us poor and average. bit delusional from them, can't see how they're much better on paper and they certainly weren't on the pitch today.

 

[AdamStag]

Again, full of prejudice and stereotypes. You clearly know very little about the football we play and your ideas are rooted in misconceptions. Our midfield last season included Josh Sheehan and (up until January) Scott Twine, with Matty Dolan playing the ball out from the back. Hardly ‘physical crap’. Our season was derailed for a while when the pitch was shocking and we couldn’t play our passing game. Hopefully the huge expense on the pitch this summer will pay dividends and it won’t be the embarrassment it has been.
Take away the prejudices and look at the stats on today’s game. Yes, we have physical players, but Mansfield committed six more fouls. Possession was 51%_49%, shots on target 5-4. From our perspective it was a tough game and I thought 2-1 was possibly right but, as the away side, am obviously going to say I felt we were worth a draw.
Thought Conker’s assessment was balanced and fair. I expect Mansfield to be top three and us in with (another) shot of the play-offs.

Mate, you’re going to know more about your side than i do, and if you think what i say is bollcoks then so be it.

I can only comment on what i see from newport which, well isn’t impressive, it’s rough dreadful football playing on the ref.

Now, look, you’ve got a great manager, you’ve clearly got a competent side and you can play football, you’re not up the playoffs spots by luck. The reason i hate the way newport play (from what i see) is that you don’t need to play what you do against mansfield, when you actually played football you created a real threat, you really had ability, had you done so for 90 minutes doing that you could have won, but you don’t.

That’s what i don’t like, i don’t see you playing the football you should and could be playing, whether flynn specifically does that because he sees mansfield as a threat or not i don’t know, you can do better, the mansfield crowd have come to expect what we saw today from newport which might not represent what you are at all.

You might read that and think i’m speak bollocks but the reason i give you a hard time is the football i see you play isn’t the football i believe i think you can play.

 

[James Frost]

Don’t take too much notice of him. He is very anti-Newport and his summary bears absolutely no relation to the match stats. He tends to see Mansfield as football purists, gets frustrated that their financial muscle has yet to bring promotion and in the past has commented on County’s ‘physicality’ on the basis of two minute highlights on Stag TV (or whatever it is). Two seasons ago, he ignored all the red cards Mansfield had at the start of the campaign to have a go at our disciplinary record! Interestingly, today Mansfield committed 18 fouls, County 12. Both sides had nine shots at goal, they had five on target and we had four.
From a County perspective, today was very close. Mansfield are a decent, strong side and will certainly be in the mix for automatics. Maris was a handful. We had a fair bit of the ball second half, especially wide, but didn’t really think we would score. Substitutions didn’t change things and we obviously weren’t helped by having to make four changes from last week. We won’t have many tougher trips this year. Wish Mansfield well and move on.

Mate, you’re going to know more about your side than i do, and if you think what i say is bollcoks then so be it.

I can only comment on what i see from newport which, well isn’t impressive, it’s rough dreadful football playing on the ref.

Now, look, you’ve got a great manager, you’ve clearly got a competent side and you can play football, you’re not up the playoffs spots by luck. The reason i hate the way newport play (from what i see) is that you don’t need to pay what you do against mansfield, when you actually played football you created a real threat, you really had ability, had you done so for 90 minutes doing that you could have won, but you don’t.

That’s what i don’t like, i don’t see you playing the football you should and could be playing, whether flynn specifically does that because he sees mansfield as a threat or not i don’t know.

You might read that and think i’m speak bollocks but the reason i give you a hard time is the football i see you play isn’t the football i believe i think you can play.

That's a more articulate description of your views than "an embarrassing shitshow of a club" in fairness

 

[valefan16]

saw a few comments on the tranmere forum about it being 2 points dropped, calling us poor and average. bit delusional from them, can't see how they're much better on paper and they certainly weren't on the pitch today.

No strange comments but ones we could equally say after the game in terms of points dropped.

Having possession is pointless if it’s around the half way line and never really felt like they were dominant with the ball bar the odd spell first half and a bit more once we put Amoo on and lost a man in central midfield.

If our keeper hasn’t had a single save to make it’s hardly two points dropped! Whereas we’ve struck the woodwork and put their keeper to work at least a couple times.

Two similar sides with a bit of a turnover of players still gelling. (And we missed our best player today)

I would argue we were slightly better than them today in terms that we did actually create some chances and work them whereas Leggey was just going to head any crosses away all afternoon. (He was superb on his recall)

 

[County1]

Mate, you’re going to know more about your side than i do, and if you think what i say is bollcoks then so be it.

I can only comment on what i see from newport which, well isn’t impressive, it’s rough dreadful football playing on the ref.

Now, look, you’ve got a great manager, you’ve clearly got a competent side and you can play football, you’re not up the playoffs spots by luck. The reason i hate the way newport play (from what i see) is that you don’t need to pay what you do against mansfield, when you actually played football you created a real threat, you really had ability, had you done so for 90 minutes doing that you could have won, but you don’t.

That’s what i don’t like, i don’t see you playing the football you should and could be playing, whether flynn specifically does that because he sees mansfield as a threat or not i don’t know.

You might read that and think i’m speak bollocks but the reason i give you a hard time is the football i see you play isn’t the football i believe i think you can play.

Mate, you’re entitled to your opinion. Enjoy your victory of course but I didn’t feel your comments reflected today’s game. As for ‘playing the ref’ it certainly didn’t work at Wembley a few months ago!
Anyway, all the best for the season - see you at Newport where we will play like Brazil on our new pitch!

 

[Gassy]

Even Gassy who thinks wrestling moves are acceptable in football would have been wanting some free kicks.

My word, you really are obsessed. I've let you have the last word twice on the subject, and now you want it a third time?

Move on man. Get help.

 

[AdamStag]

That's a more articulate description of your views than "an embarrassing shitshow of a club" in fairness

which is fair, your side genuinely does wind me up, and i take that back and i apologise.

It was a bit sharp and sorry to the mansfield posters here also. x

 

[AdamStag]

My word, you really are obsessed. I've let you have the last word twice on the subject, and now you want it a third time?

Move on man. Get help. x

My word, you really are obsessed. I've let you have the last word twice on the subject, and now you want it a third time?

Move on man. Get help.

how long does joey have?

 

[Gassy]

1-2 loss at home to Carlisle. I think the wrath of the fans were for the Carlisle comms. Apparently the players have no respect for Ben Garner which is an odd statement to make. 'Obnoxious' was mentioned more than once.

Anyway, we lost despite giving it a bit of a go. Safe trip home to the Carlisle fans.

Eh? From the Carlisle commentators?

How/where would they even get that impression?

 

[Pablosammy]

Didn't realise we were playing prime Brazil. Thanks for lowering yourselves to our level Birkenhead footballissimos.

We had 65% posession to your 35%, and completed nearly three times as many passes as you. I wasn't trying to be billy big bollocks, it's just how it was.

 

[Gassy]

Adam, for some reason I can't reply to your post..

A while yet. The assistant manager, Clint Hill, has left though. I think Barton & him were living in an apartment together and he wants to get back to his family, I personally think there's more to the story but we'll see.

We had about 5 first team players missing today from the first 11 and we don't really have a striker, so he'll be able to rely on that excuse for a little while longer. There's a good team in there, but they need organising.

 

[James Frost]

which is fair, your side genuinely does wind me up, and i take that back and i apologise.

It was a bit sharp and sorry to the mansfield posters here also. x

Apology accepted.

Best of luck to Mansfield for the rest of the season. I predicted Mansfield would be in the playoffs & it is early days but I wouldn't be surprised to see you in the top three. Didn't expect anything today so I'm not disappointed by the result. If we can pick up two or three points from the next two fixtures at Tranmere & Salford away it would be a good August for us.

 

[RLC]

I thought we were by far the better side in possession today and controlled the midfield. Vale had the better efforts on goal, but Murphy only had one proper save to make in the final minute of the game. We had as many clear opportunities but did not test the keeper, largely because we are playing without a genuine centre forward at the moment.

We have played two of the fancied sides and have looked solid and controlled, and are yet to concede a goal. Now we just need that elusive striker.

 

[Stringy]

which is fair, your side genuinely does wind me up, and i take that back and i apologise.

It was a bit sharp and sorry to the mansfield posters here also. x

Don't worry about it Adam. Conker, you and I are easy to distinguish.

When I used to post crap I just said it was Steady or Stoney

 

[Soz]

No strange comments but ones we could equally say after the game in terms of points dropped.

Having possession is pointless if it’s around the half way line and never really felt like they were dominant with the ball bar the odd spell first half and a bit more once we put Amoo on and lost a man in central midfield.

If our keeper hasn’t had a single save to make it’s hardly two points dropped! Whereas we’ve struck the woodwork and put their keeper to work at least a couple times.

Two similar sides with a bit of a turnover of players still gelling. (And we missed our best player today)

I would argue we were slightly better than them today in terms that we did actually create some chances and work them whereas Leggey was just going to head any crosses away all afternoon. (He was superb on his recall)

yeah maybe i misunderstood them, was thinking they were making a judgement aside from the game rather than based on it. not sure how anyone can say we were poor today though, two good teams and an entertaining game i thought.

from memory they had two "chances" where i thought oh shit, goal here. but the shots were so bad that it was quite laughable, the right back in the first half and the striker in the second when he nearly hit it back across goal. other than they they had a few good crosses but didn't even get on the end of them.

I think Wilson should have done better with his two shots in the first half and worral/rodney both had good efforts. Rodders bar hit was a bit of a fluke really as im certain he was crossing it.

i think benning also had a cross/chip tipped over although it was fairly comfortable for the keeper.

definitely never felt like we were penned in so surprised with the possession stats - i dare say a lot of that will have been in their own half whereas we were quite direct with the balls over the top.

how good was foley by the way, thought he ran the show for them.

 

[Reremnart]

I thought it was a fifty/fifty game between two evenly matched teams who both seem to have the same problem as in having somebody to stick it in the net. Yes we had a lot of the ball but to be honest created very little. We got in good positions out wide several times but the ball in simply wasn`t good enough. And talking about not being good enough how does Andy Haines remain on the league lists.? He was shocking today. His performance could be summed up by an incident just before half time when we had a 3 man break after a Vale foul and he pulled it back for a free kick when any half decent referee would have played the advantage. He made a stream of highly dodgy decisions against both sides, mainly us it has to be said. I`ve seen this guy more than a few times now and every time he falls below the required standard.

 

[RLC]

I thought it was a fifty/fifty game between two evenly matched teams who both seem to have the same problem as in having somebody to stick it in the net. Yes we had a lot of the ball but to be honest created very little. We got in good positions out wide several times but the ball in simply wasn`t good enough. And talking about not being good enough how does Andy Haines remain on the league lists.? He was shocking today. His performance could be summed up by an incident just before half time when we had a 3 man break after a Vale foul and he pulled it back for a free kick when any half decent referee would have played the advantage. He made a stream of highly dodgy decisions against both sides, mainly us it has to be said. I`ve seen this guy more than a few times now and every time he falls below the required standard.

I think a number of Cogley's deliveries from the right were very good, but there was no movement in the box and nobody attacking them. Mani is not an eighteen yard box striker, and I don't think Glatzel is really a natural centre forward either.

 

[kieran_vale]

I thought it was a fifty/fifty game between two evenly matched teams who both seem to have the same problem as in having somebody to stick it in the net. Yes we had a lot of the ball but to be honest created very little. We got in good positions out wide several times but the ball in simply wasn`t good enough. And talking about not being good enough how does Andy Haines remain on the league lists.? He was shocking today. His performance could be summed up by an incident just before half time when we had a 3 man break after a Vale foul and he pulled it back for a free kick when any half decent referee would have played the advantage. He made a stream of highly dodgy decisions against both sides, mainly us it has to be said. I`ve seen this guy more than a few times now and every time he falls below the required standard.

I think you make a good point just speaking generally about possession. Personally I think it’s one of the most pointless stats in football as teams who dominate that regularly tend to be the ones who roll it along their defence at a slow pace and rarely do much of note where it matters.

Good to get a point and a clean sheet on the board. Already more than we got in two games against you last season. Good luck to Tranmere.

 

[Pablosammy]

yeah maybe i misunderstood them, was thinking they were making a judgement aside from the game rather than based on it. not sure how anyone can say we were poor today though, two good teams and an entertaining game i thought.

from memory they had two "chances" where i thought oh shit, goal here. but the shots were so bad that it was quite laughable, the right back in the first half and the striker in the second when he nearly hit it back across goal. other than they they had a few good crosses but didn't even get on the end of them.

I think Wilson should have done better with his two shots in the first half and worral/rodney both had good efforts. Rodders bar hit was a bit of a fluke really as im certain he was crossing it.

i think benning also had a cross/chip tipped over although it was fairly comfortable for the keeper.

definitely never felt like we were penned in so surprised with the possession stats - i dare say a lot of that will have been in their own half whereas we were quite direct with the balls over the top.

how good was foley by the way, thought he ran the show for them.

I haven't seen anyone say Vale were poor - you created more than us with less possession. I thought it was an entertaining game between two good sides trying to play football, but unfortunately both with shortcomings in the final third.

Those who said it was two point dropped for Tranmere (me included) are just bemoaning the fact we couldn't make anything from the posession we had.

All the best for the rest of the season, Vale away is always one of the games I look out for

 

[AdamStag]

Don't worry about it Adam. Conker, you and I are easy to distinguish.

When I used to post crap I just said it was Steady or Stoney

I don’t view it it as being crap, i just don’t like something i believe that’s substandard on what could be produced.

Either way, 6 from 6 for us

 

[leedsvaliant]

I thought we were by far the better side in possession today and controlled the midfield. Vale had the better efforts on goal, but Murphy only had one proper save to make in the final minute of the game. We had as many clear opportunities but did not test the keeper, largely because we are playing without a genuine centre forward at the moment.

We have played two of the fancied sides and have looked solid and controlled, and are yet to concede a goal. Now we just need that elusive striker.

The possession stats were a bit misleading. There was lots of knocking it around in midfield and at the back but without much purpose. Forest Green do it a lot.

I thought both teams looked top 7 worthy and the game could have gone either way, with vale perhaps having the better chances. Both teams looked a bit short on cutting edge but we're creating enough chances to suggest that once we get 1 they will start flowing.

We'll beat poorer teams comfortably if we play like we did today, so I'm feeling pretty optimistic.

 

[valefan16]

I thought it was a fifty/fifty game between two evenly matched teams who both seem to have the same problem as in having somebody to stick it in the net. Yes we had a lot of the ball but to be honest created very little. We got in good positions out wide several times but the ball in simply wasn`t good enough. And talking about not being good enough how does Andy Haines remain on the league lists.? He was shocking today. His performance could be summed up by an incident just before half time when we had a 3 man break after a Vale foul and he pulled it back for a free kick when any half decent referee would have played the advantage. He made a stream of highly dodgy decisions against both sides, mainly us it has to be said. I`ve seen this guy more than a few times now and every time he falls below the required standard.

Parts of the referee I liked in terms of not being booking crazy like some… I mean how did your lad go through the back of ours and not get a yellow and similarly Walker dumped Spearing on his arse on a break and didn’t get booked! Refreshing in some senses I guess but that break was a mess, I would have been furious at that one although did think it was a foul on Wilson seconds before the foul on your lad.

He was lenient, had a big penalty call in the last minute when Smudge got pulled but to be honest despite the fans protests he didn’t make much of it either.

 

[hellogregory]

I wasn't at the game and for the first time in a year, wasn't able to watch a league game in any format, live or otherwise.

Sounds like despite the injury to Clough and lack of a proper number 9, we're not as toothless as HG fears. Strikers misfired a bit in our opening games but Abrahams off the mark should be good for his form and Mellish and Riley were threats last year and a couple of quiet games doesn't mean they've lost all their ability.

Not sure what happened for the equaliser, BBCRC said our defence was nowhere to be seen, but otherwise they were quite complementary about our back four... less so when we went to a back five.

We'll get better as the season goes on hopefully.

I take it you weren’t at the game. We were still so wasteful, not quite toothless as we got two goals, but toothless in terms of the openings we created. Abrahams couldn’t miss his goal, but only got the chance because Mellish completely fluffed the initial shot. Riley’s was brilliant technique, he has that in his locker but need to see it more often. We absolutely need a proper number 9 because we were putting some superb deliveries in but not getting on any of them. Abrahams and Alessandra have some good qualities, but I don’t think goal scoring is high up in either of them’s strengths.

Their goal was pathetic from our point. I’ll have to see it again but their player seemed to have acres and acres of space to run into to tap it in. To be fair it’s the only real horrific piece of defending we’ve produced in 3 games so not a major concern.

And yes when we switched formation we turned to absolute turgid backs to the wall shit. After looking organised for 70+ minutes. On Tuesday we started off with a similar back 5 formation and we were disjointed.

 

[valefan16]

The possession stats were a bit misleading. There was lots of knocking it around in midfield and at the back but without much purpose. Forest Green do it a lot.

I thought both teams looked top 7 worthy and the game could have gone either way, with vale perhaps having the better chances. Both teams looked a bit short on cutting edge but we're creating enough chances to suggest that once we get 1 they will start flowing.

We'll beat poorer teams comfortably if we play like we did today, so I'm feeling pretty optimistic.

It’s just getting that front two working, like they said after the game on the pod, Rodney seemed to stroll against Peter Clarke when he should of been killing him for pace but seemed to play within himself (maybe carrying the knock from last week?) and Wilson is a top quality striker who should be banging for fun at this level, looked great for 20 minutes but seemed to go off the boil. They kind of frustrate as a two when on paper it should be a great pairing with Daves pace and Wilson’s movement.

Proctor might be worth a go until we sign this new striker, maybe even play Rodders wide if we play a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3

Just need a win, poor error from Covolan last week, battered Sunderland for large periods midweek and hit the woodwork twice today. Once that clicks hopefully we will push on but to sum up the changes from those two horror shows against Tranmere last season only Legge, Smith, Worrall, Amoo and Rodney featured at any point today and that includes the full coaching staff. Huge turnover so won’t happen overnight.