By Chris
Notts County were held to a goalless draw in Saturday's League Two match away at Newport County.
The Magpies were forced to settle for a goalless draw at Rodney Parade in a game of few clear cut chances.
Notts were more dangerous than their opponents, with Lewis Alessandra and Jon Stead both going close, but neither side could find a breakthrough in South Wales.
How did the game pan out from a tactical perspective? Pride of Nottingham's Chris takes a look with this weekend's Tactical Talk.
Was the result fair?
Both teams struggled to get a grip of the game, however if chances had been taken, Notts could have won and a goal may have changed the entire game forcing both sides to attack. Yet the game wasn’t that entertaining and the 0-0 seems fair.
How did Notts play?
By all accounts it sounded scrappy and not a direct result of the pitch – more a lack of application. Notts simply didn’t create chances very well enough and the performance does leave some questions about how we can improve away from home. The midfield lost the battle, never really connected play and overall it was a quiet performance by Notts.
How did Newport play?
Very similar to Notts bar the more physical approach to the game. They looked woeful on goal and scrappy at the back, their midfield did well, moving the ball into dangerous areas, but they never seemed sure how best to distribute the ball. Overall, they didn’t apply themselves well either.
Did our tactics work out?
It’s hard to tell, if we aimed to cancel out Newport and never attack them in a way which would ask questions of their defence, I guess so. However, I think there were yet again questions over the starting line-up.
How did the referee perform?
The performance of the match officials wasn’t an issue yesterday, a good call to disallow Newport’s goal – overall pretty decent for League Two.
Who do we play next?
Next up Cambridge United – the departure of Shaun Derry seems to have hit them at a time whereby they’re making a transitional switch and it’s hard to see what U’s team will turn up.
How should we play them?
I want to see two strikers start both home and away games, I think the only time one is warranted is away from home when the opposition team we face is much stronger than us across the park.
Cambridge United aren’t this team in my opinion and if we focus on playing football we should be able to do well.
It’s all down to performance and ensuring that the starting line-up can get the job done from the off, so we need to see some flair and creativity from the midfield.
With two strikers it would make life naturally much harder for Cambridge United, yet we need to make movement – players must drift into areas whereby we can move forward and the type of chances we create must ask questions.
Naturally our midfield needs to be stronger, this is the type of game whereby a player such Liam Noble would be useful – however, I don't think he has proven why we chased or became obsessed over him this season.
Yet he could be the type of player that could drive the squad forward, it would be nice if he could lead the midfield but I think Elliot Hewitt is more likely to run himself into the ground.
Just smart play, where we work as a team. I think in recent performances we rely too much on forcing play and lack the team work which has given us good results.
We are very capable of playing football, so remove the pressure from ourselves and just become expressive on the pitch – try to enjoy your football lads, maybe we will then?
Newport County fan reaction (from weareexiles.net)
Stan A Einstein: I'll be honest I thought we'd be better today but lose 1-0. We are now 20 points clear of relegation with 13 games remaining. Realistically we are not going to make the play-offs. Perhaps time for Flynn to experiment, tell his team to go for it, especially at home?
Exile 1976: Team worked hard today, I thought we were unlucky with the disallowed goal. Labadie was excellent, Day & back 5 very good. I thought Marlon had a decent cameo too. A point stops the rot. On to the next game.
Confuddled: I thought [Marlon Jackson] was fairly decent. Won most things in the air. However, that team was completely void of any creativity. I think we work our front two harder than any team in this league. Defensively the team was solid. But our game plan was to thump the ball down the channels as soon as possible. Get the front two running all day. Hopefully we will get a throw in and long throw but that is pretty much our entire offensive threat. Now considering our recent form and who we were playing I can accept that. Stop the rut. Be solid and use this game as a springboard to get some form back.
Bush: Thought the defence played well after a shaky start which was maninly down to O'Brien playing like someone with a lack of match practice. Second half O'Brien was really good. My MOM. We have to keep that back 3 together as much as possible although I noticed a slight change today and O'Brien played on the white and white in the middle which was other way around the times I saw them together this season.
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