menzinho

First half we were building nicely, Grant probably should scored even so I thought after basically chasing us the whole time they’d tire and we’d take advantage second half. But that early goal second half rocked us and unfortunately gave them a bit of a boost. I think if we go 1 nil up we win that comfortably. Outside of a long-throw and Norburn heading it to Kamwa, they didn’t do much, I thought on the ball Newport were poor. In terms of the new boys, Cotter, Iorpenda and Dennis were the pick of the bunch for me. Roos didn’t have a lot to do but I feel he could’ve prevented the goal, other members might disagree but the ball bounces in the 6-yard box for their goal, he’s got come and collect that. I think he needs to be braver with his starting positions. Sonny defended ok, considering he’s a Man Utd academy player surprised he wasn’t always that good on the ball. Only their first match though, so I’m not getting to carried away. Hard to read too much into it all but you can see the idea to play balls forward quicker is there. I’m glad we didn’t lose in the end but I can’t help but feel timing wise playing Newport after 10 matches or so would’ve been better when everyone is a bit sharper. I think lots of teams (half-decent ones) will go there and win this season. Obviously very sad to hear about the Notts fan who needed medical care, I hope he we get a good outcome after hearing he’s stable but serious.

I would say on the whole most of the team played well, but no-one really had a "wow" performance. I agree about Palmer, he was very tidy on the ball and dominated the midfield, especially with Iorpenda beside him first half. So Iorpenda is my MotM, I thought he did really well, a little less effective when he was pushed into the No10 role but prior he was making good runs, getting on the ball, dribbling forward and was probably a touch unlucky not to score.

Yes, thanks for the reminder! Bradford City 1-2 Wycombe Wanderers Doncaster Rovers 2-0 Exeter City Lincoln City 3-2 Reading Plymouth Argyle 1-0 Barnsley Barnet 2-2 Fleetwood Town Cambridge United 2-0 Cheltenham Town 🃏 Grimsby Town 1-1 Crawley Town Walsall 0-1 Swindon Town

I thought MK would win the league last season but they were horrific, I think they'll do better but I'm not convinced they stroll to the title by May like some seem to think. Also seen a lot of people tip Chesterfield too, I'm going to stick my neck out here and say they don't finish top 3 this season. Play-offs for them again. I think it's really hard to say with any confidence who'll do well because the form from the better teams last season in the run in was shocking. I wouldn't be surprised to see Walsall suffer a play-off/shocking form hangover with them bottom half this season. I'd have Swindon and Fleetwood as dark horses to crash the play-offs this season too. We are really hard to call, I think it's going two ways, we'll either do better than last season and finish higher than 6th or we'll linger around the mid-table/bottom half.

I really like Jatta, he’s shown again this late pre-season if you get him in on goal he’ll score. I’d hope he stays but as he’s now in his last year there is that dilemma of losing a very good player and getting nothing in return. In a dream world he signs a new contract with a release clause fee so everyone is happy. If he was to move I think we’d have to pretty much have agreed a deal for a new striker and I’d even communicate that to the fans in Jatta’s leaving announcement. The last thing we need is total silence and then to be chasing players around on the last day of the window.

Just on a slight side but still relevant and possibly tedious note... As per league rules: "Clubs also need to name at least one club developed player in their matchday squad; if they don't, they must name one fewer player on their bench". So after our promotion we had the luxury of Didzy counting as this player everytime he was in the matchday squad. This season we don't have that luxury, we'll technically get 6 subs, because the 1 to make up the 7th will have to be Reynolds, Perott, Robinson, Sanderson etc. Against Newport one of them makes the bench, or we just name the 6 subs...

The up close and personal facial shot is never really flattering, just reminds me of passport photos, maybe this season we've taken a step back and got more of a top-half shot. Also I don't know why we just don't list everyone in numerical order, the current lay-out makes us look like we've just got a whole team of midfielders! And are wingbacks defenders or midfielders? There's a question.

For me the time period in which we were waiting for the new head coach to be announced really seemed to drag, but the pre-season has flown by and I can't believe the new season is already kicking off in a few days! I’m quietly confident, I think we’ve ended our pre-season really well and from what I can gauge everyone is more encouraged by Paterson too. I watched a bit of the EFL Cup match that Newport were involved earlier this week. They conceded two goals in the 97th and then 99th minute which was pretty shocking after being 2-0 up. Even so, given the flow of the match they were a tad lucky to be 2-0 up, it was only thanks to two wonder goals they scored, it wasn’t through good attacking team play. Barnet we the better team and the 22-8 shots and 76% possession tells a bit of a story. Newport has been a good place for us the past few seasons too, we strolled to a 2-0 win there last season truth be told. If we are switched on and play with the kind of tempo Paterson will want I see no reason why we can’t start the season with a win.

You are right about the competition for places @Robbie I can't see Reynolds or Sanderson getting into the first 11 unless we have a big injury crisis! If it's possible a loan at a National League club for Reynolds would be great experience and challenge for him. And I think as Sanderson is still only 18 a move to a National League North/South club would suit him as he's yet to really experience proper first-team football.

I'm a bit shocked to see Hinchy and Jarvis in our B team. But as Kouhyar featured as well I'm hoping this means it was just a way of giving them some extra match-time and that they aren't suddenly going to be banished from the first team!

I think Jodi has the ability to play in a central attacking role, it might just take a bit of time for him to adjust. When you play out wide you get more space, a winger only really needs to beat a full-back/wingback and then they are in a position to cross. The middle of the pitch is different, usually it's a lot more congested so you have to be quicker on the ball, more aware of the players around you and more precise with your passing. But Jodi’s got a good first touch, good passing ability and a great shot from distance too. It’s probably a harder position to play than wing-back, but I think Jodi has the skill especially at this level to be a really good attacking midfielder for us.

I always took Joe Palmer's comments to mean that the club will be able to operate and sustain itself up to Championship level, as opposed to we have the money to compete in the Championship now, which we clearly don’t. I always thought it meant that if we do get to League 1 and even the Championship our structure, strategy, plan whatever you want to call it will still work. And when you do get promoted more financial opportunities become available like better sponsorship deals, more tv money and higher attendances, which with our stadium size means we won’t miss out on like some clubs do. I think teams spending massive sums but with owners who are just happy to finance the losses does skew the way we look at modern football, but the reality is it isn’t the norm in the lower leagues. Most teams at this level are losing money and that means for some clubs selling a player is a necessity at times. I don't think we always want to sell our players either, I'm sure the Bros wanted to keep Crowley and Bass, but what can you really do if a club comes in and offers much better wages that we can't compete with? Just because we've not spent a fee doesn't mean we've not invested the money either, the new signings aren't playing for free, all these wages soon add up. And the window isn't shut yet, whose to say we aren't working on a deal right now?

I'm a tad unsure as to how this signing will play out, I feel the priority for this position is a Didzy/Crowley replacement and it's asking a lot of a 20 year old to be this... One positive is that because he's he's under 21 he won't count towards the player registration limit of 22. So we could still bring in a proven No.10 but given the number of players who can play as attacking midfielders now (Luker, Jones, Grant, Edwards, Jarivs, Kouhyar, Reynolds) surely one would have to go out before we sign another otherwise we're totally overloaded and wasting wages.

He also went through the German and then England youth national teams up to the U19s, so he clearly possesses a lot of talent and skill. I'm hoping his cameo appearance is just a glimpse of what he can do, I think if he can settle with us given how we’ll suit his style and how he’s probably better than this level of football, he should be a really good player for us.

The National League Board are seemingly more worried about following procedure to a tee than the potential death of a club… I didn’t know until I saw it on the news today but it mentioned how Morecambe has been up for sale since 2022!? 3 years to do a deal (or not do one as the case is) now they’ve got weeks… Their owner released a new statement yesterday which basically blamed the negative media as to why the club wasn’t sold to the imaginary new group that was suddenly interested in them. Then he blamed Punjab Warriors for going quiet on them, even though they've spent the last year or so trying to buy them! This was on Morecambe's website nearly 2 months ago on June 6th: Panjab Warriors is delighted to announce that it has received clearance from the English Football League (EFL) to proceed with the acquisition of Morecambe Football Club — marking the beginning of an exciting new chapter in the club’s proud history. Kuljeet Singh Momi and his Panjab Warriors team will now finalise the deal in the coming days. Since mid-2024, Panjab Warriors have been providing financial support and outlining a vision built on sustainability, inclusivity, and long-term success. Someone really needs to step in now because it’s so blatantly obvious for whatever reason selling the club is the last thing this current ownership group wants to do.

Didn't exactly have the best time at Crewe last season, but he is 34 now and his pace and power was a big part of his game and that will be fading now. It's an ok signing for Barrow, provides a bit of experience and cover, but I can't see him up at the top of the scoring charts.

Oldham will be extremely pleased that they were able to navigate their way through the play-offs last season, but promotion to this league isn't a magic fix, they'll still be losing money in League 2. I think Rochdale sold a young player to Brentford for quite a bit of money so that could explain why they had positive figures. And as for a few opinions from Chesterfield fans, we didn’t throw money at getting promoted though, the club was losing money but we didn’t throw money at getting promoted it was quite the opposite. 5 of our 6 summer signings were from the National League North/South and the 1 that wasn’t was Baldwin who signed as a free-agent! A really odd take considering Wrexham were basically able to offer players in League 1 better contracts than they were on!

Definitely one of the best home shirts we’ve had in a long time, especially seeing it as part of the whole kit as modelled by Nick and Tom it looks really smart. I was looking back over some previous shirts and so many of them have been ruined by bad sponsors (which is unfortunate, because I get the sponsorship provides an easy income for the club). I think this season's home shirt will sell out pretty quickly.

Will Jarvis for me, besides McGoldrick and Jatta, was our best attacking player back end of last season. He has a natural ability to just glide past players, he makes it look easy even though it isn’t. I think if he was able to get a consistent run in the side he’d be really good but it doesn’t help his best position is one we don’t play. It reminds me when we had Roberts but switched to a back 3 and wing-backs, he just didn’t fit the system. Is this going to play out the same way for Jarvis? I think Grant and Traore will have the most attention on them this season, because the expectation level of them is still pretty high. Traore gets a slight reprieve as this is his first time playing in England, he’s had more time to settle in now but we are yet to see the best of him. And Grant even though he is young has played tons of matches in League 1 and 2 now, he needs to start adding a few more goals and assists if he is to be a regular starter.

Highlights from Cardiff’s website: https://tv.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/videos/fb13e428-ed84-449f-87e7-fec56fe5de24 Looked a good competitive match and a good way for us to finish pre-season. Given he scored 2 in the behind closed doors friendly and another today I really think we need to keep Jatta this season. And I’ve seen lots of good things about the trialist, Bennetts, seems to have caught the attention of everyone in his short cameo. The only little issue I have is with some of our poor challenges, it’s been a bit of a theme this pre-season. Even though Norburn is lacking match fitness, you can see it was a bad challenge. Jatta in the play-offs was our only red last season, feels like we’ll see a few more this season at this rate…

Whilst the result is totally meaningless, to keep that optimism growing a good performance would really give us a boost before our first match of the season. It'll be a good test for us but if we start as slow as we did in Germany we could well end up a few goals down early doors. I'd imagine the starting line-up will be a lot closer to the one that will start at Newport, so I'd expect Roos to be in goal too.

Jason Whittingham must have meant this Friday when in his statement last week he confirmed the deal would be completed on Friday 18th... Right? It's a good job that FA and National League Board are doing all they can to help (I think they've probably sent him an e-mail). Complete silence now since that statement last week, he's definitely not out the country with his phone switched off sunning himself by the beach 😬😖 I feel for Morecambe fans, given what happened with Worcester Warriors, the odds don't favour a good ending.

Walsall did press quite a lot last season and that left space in behind to exploit (which teams worked out in the second half of the season). If Flint finds himself on the half-way line a lot and has to do a lot of running back it's not going to suit his game at all. He'd be perfect for a team like Colchester, where he'd basically spent all his time in his own box just kicking and heading it away!

I’d argue a bit of that money has probably gone into the running costs, I think the last time the accounts were released we lost just under 2 million over a year, someone will probably have the exact figure, but it’s a lot and it can’t carry on. And as @Robbie says they are investing off the pitch to help the club be more sustainable. I think player sales form a part our strategy too, especially if we can consistently do it can be very lucrative. But at the same time, there is a balance needed. If you constantly sell your best players it weakens the team, it dejects us fans and puts real pressure on the recruitment to constantly get it right. We have spent money on players, in January we paid fees for both Jarvis and Traore and who’s to say we won’t spend more money before the window closes? I think the Brothers are just very careful with the money and that's probably a good thing, they don't rush into big decisions or listen to the "noise" from fans like our previous owners did. And it's still too early to say if we've spent enough or wisely enough, the new season hasn't even started yet but we know from interviews that our squad right now isn't the finished article. I think once the window closes we'll be able to better judge how effectively the money has been used.

Well the vacant No.9 shirt after the announcement of the squad numbers is the biggest clue that a new forward is hopefully work in progress!