Cheltenham Town v Newport County AFC

[Jon Palmer]

Team news, live updates and reaction all here this evening: https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/s ... ty-8818420

[HamTown]

Very curious to see the lineup

Guess we'll see Thompson, Malcom and Keena start

[Haitch]

Send out a search party for a missing Australian, last seen on the bench hardly being used, wears an Alice band like “the boy” once did. Goes by the name of Cam.

[Jon Palmer]

He's cup-tied, of course

[Shade]

Oh, but for a goal or two from Keena tonight and a shot of confidence.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

He's cup-tied, of course

Search over

[Anteros]

Apart from ferry and keena it's a different starting 11 to the Derby game. At least that gives the manager a good assesment of all the players.

[Shade]

FFS, absolutely dominating and then they score what looked like a very offside goal pretty much out of nothing.

The season continues with no luck.

[Si Robin]

I don't think it was offside - poor defending from a set-piece again though.

Apart from ferry and keena it's a different starting 11 to the Derby game. At least that gives the manager a good assesment of all the players.

Ferry and Smith

[HamTown]

Missing:

Striker goes by the name of Keena

[Shade]

I don't think it was offside - poor defending from a set-piece again though.

Apart from ferry and keena it's a different starting 11 to the Derby game. At least that gives the manager a good assesment of all the players.

Ferry and Smith

Still looked offside on the replay to me

[CTFCfan99]

Not many doing themselves any favours this evening. That second goal was practically straight down the middle of the goal.

[HamTown]

Not many doing themselves any favours this evening. That second goal was practically straight down the middle of the goal.

Chapman certainly hasn't. He'll be first on DCs exit list

[Shade]

Not many doing themselves any favours this evening. That second goal was practically straight down the middle of the goal.

Might have had something to do with us only playing one centre back but you'd still expect someone to throw themselves at it.

Thank f#!$ the FGR game has finished. Fed up hearing commentary of it instead of the Cheltenham game.

[CTFCfan99]

The January clear out is going to be quite something. Should be trying to offload at least 50% of the squad.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

The January clear out is going to be quite something. Should be trying to offload at least 50% of the squad.

At least by January we’ll know if we are recruiting for a L1 survival battle or a L2 promotion challenge.

[Shade]

The January clear out is going to be quite something. Should be trying to offload at least 50% of the squad.

At least by January we’ll know if we are recruiting for a L1 survival battle or a L2 promotion challenge.

It's October, but I'm pretty sure we know which we will be recruiting for.

[Fuller]

A positive start but failed to take a few decent chances again. Absolutely woeful for the last 70 minutes.
Sorry to say we appear to be going in only one direction with most of the current squad. Can’t believe from what I’ve seen this season so far that many of the players out there tonight will be EFL players in one or two years time.

[Garby74]

Ferry and Bradbury only players that started to come out if that game with any kudos.

Smith and adshead weren't awful.

The rest well....

Chapman ...WTF ...your playing for your livlihood man!

First 30 minutes we were on the front foot playing on the deck then bam...offside goal.

DC better prey the Academy has a couple of other gems.

Us fans better prey Southwood doesn't get injured !

Ref was bad but were used to that sh#t now.

[andgarod]

I though Josh Williams was good until switched to LB
Thompson started well but went downhill
Skipper not skipping

Smith was better at LCB than LWB but still only average
Did Harris have a save to make

Get them sorted

Booing at the end but why would it suddenly be sorted

[RS1978]

Looks as if all Keena's confidence left when Alfie May left

[andgarod]

Looks as if all Keena's confidence left when Alfie May left

I think that may be correct
Everything was put on his shoulders. No senior striker in to help him out or take the presure off
Again down to money or poor recruitment
I would move Milton back to the academy and hopeful DC has someone in mind to lead the line but it will cost money yet again
Too late for this season

So DC saw the boys playing he has now given virtually the whole squad a run out apart for the injured
He had Lloyd at Vale so will know what hes about ( average lge2 striker)
Horton can he be worse and Davies
Fulham RWB - I liked in the 2 matches he played
I assume he has gone back to Fulham for treatment so not on the wage bill
Does not look good for Hammond

[Broadway Brian]

Looks as if all Keena's confidence left when Alfie May left

I think that may be correct
Everything was put on his shoulders. No senior striker in to help him out or take the presure off
Again down to money or poor recruitment
I would move Milton back to the academy and hopeful DC has someone in mind to lead the line but it will cost money yet again
Too late for this season

So DC saw the boys playing he has now given virtually the whole squad a run out apart for the injured
He had Lloyd at Vale so will know what hes about ( average lge2 striker)
Horton can he be worse and Davies
Fulham RWB - I liked in the 2 matches he played
I assume he has gone back to Fulham for treatment so not on the wage bill
Does not look good for Hammond

D’Auria Henry was on the bench last night and warming up on the pitch at half-time with the other subs.

[Fuller]

Looks as if all Keena's confidence left when Alfie May left

I think that may be correct
Everything was put on his shoulders. No senior striker in to help him out or take the presure off
Again down to money or poor recruitment
I would move Milton back to the academy and hopeful DC has someone in mind to lead the line but it will cost money yet again
Too late for this season

So DC saw the boys playing he has now given virtually the whole squad a run out apart for the injured
He had Lloyd at Vale so will know what hes about ( average lge2 striker)
Horton can he be worse and Davies
Fulham RWB - I liked in the 2 matches he played
I assume he has gone back to Fulham for treatment so not on the wage bill
Does not look good for Hammond

Hammond presumably with the Wales U21 squad?

Anyone know how long each of the seven loans is for? Half season or whole season?

[Warwickshire Robin]

Not many doing themselves any favours this evening. That second goal was practically straight down the middle of the goal.

A big contributor to the second goal was the fact that Adshead was off the pitch changing his boots after being fouled (he felt anyway) and his boot being ripped off and damaged. This left their CM with acres of space and time to pick his spot. Again symptomatic of the lack of on field leadership and football brain as someone should have dropped in to cover whilst he was off.

It is so soul destroying watching Cheltenham this season. We just look like an U11 team that gets battered every week in that we start with enthusiasm but as soon as we get a set back we collapse like a pack of cards. So disappointing for a so called professional bunch of players.

[Swiss-Robin]

Looks as if all Keena's confidence left when Alfie May left

I think that may be correct
Everything was put on his shoulders. No senior striker in to help him out or take the presure off
Again down to money or poor recruitment
I would move Milton back to the academy and hopeful DC has someone in mind to lead the line but it will cost money yet again
Too late for this season

So DC saw the boys playing he has now given virtually the whole squad a run out apart for the injured
He had Lloyd at Vale so will know what hes about ( average lge2 striker)
Horton can he be worse and Davies
Fulham RWB - I liked in the 2 matches he played
I assume he has gone back to Fulham for treatment so not on the wage bill
Does not look good for Hammond

Hammond presumably with the Wales U21 squad?

Anyone know how long each of the seven loans is for? Half season or whole season?

Anyone care?

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Looks as if all Keena's confidence left when Alfie May left

Confidence is part of it.

But he can’t run 90 mins currently when last season he could after getting up to speed; so off the pitch I think some health and fitness issues must be at play.

[andgarod]

So what has changed
no buzz now a 3 year contract
Has he changed digs or bought a house
Has he changed his style of living off the field

[horlickfanclub]

I though Josh Williams was good until switched to LB
Thompson started well but went downhill
Skipper not skipping

Smith was better at LCB than LWB but still only average
Did Harris have a save to make

Get them sorted

Booing at the end but why would it suddenly be sorted

Williams and Smith played on the right side but I agree with your ratings.

[horlickfanclub]

He had two decent efforts last night which is more than he has done most games. Malcolm and he are split far apart most of the time which might be Managers orders. Malcolm does not get in to strikers positions enough for me yet stayed on the pitch.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

I though Josh Williams was good until switched to LB
Thompson started well but went downhill
Skipper not skipping

Smith was better at LCB than LWB but still only average
Did Harris have a save to make

Get them sorted

Booing at the end but why would it suddenly be sorted

Thompson would have gone down hill due to fitness. He started off doing the running required to compete, but once his muscles lost the energy and oxygen needed he would have looked a bad player simply because he would never be able to get to the right positions quickly enough.

[Warwickshire Robin]

He had two decent efforts last night which is more than he has done most games. Malcolm and he are split far apart most of the time which might be Managers orders. Malcolm does not get in to strikers positions enough for me yet stayed on the pitch.

Agree. We put three or four decent balls into the box in the first 20 mins last night but as usual there was not one red shirt in the danger area to get on the end of them.

[Broadway Brian]

So what has changed
no buzz now a 3 year contract
Has he changed digs or bought a house
Has he changed his style of living off the field

No partner up front of Alfie’s quality, no CAM.

Both of these aspects meant we saw the best (or a better) version of AK last season.

He dropped deep last season aplenty, but could link up with the CAM (Broom mainly toward the season end) and could also switch play to find a reliable someone with excellent pace and control in Alfie.

He’d often try a gambling first time pass having collected the ball a bit deeper - see Plymouth, Wycombe, FGR etc.

Alfie’s PCR and control could make a 60% pass work though. Whilst Alfie was then toying with defenders and working room for his shot, AK had worked his way up the pitch (pace not his strong point) to feed off the resultant parry etc.

So, in short we saw the best from him as part of a very effective partnership.

Not having that shows up his lack of pace and makes his work outside the box seem wasteful. Those 60% passes are now just bouncing off people.

Layer a bit of low confidence, frustration and unfulfilled fan expectation on top of that and he seems a shadow of last season.

He’ll break the net soon.

[Si Robin]

I think if we can get Will Goodwin fit enough to play more than a game every 2 or 3 then he'll be the perfect partner for Aidan. He seems to have learned how to use his build and strength and he'll do the dirty work that Keena needs doing for him.

[Robin]

Looks as if all Keena's confidence left when Alfie May left

Confidence is part of it.

But he can’t run 90 mins currently when last season he could after getting up to speed; so off the pitch I think some health and fitness issues must be at play.

There is a player in Keena, I would say it's more frustration that he doesn't have a competent partner to play off and confidence which is clearly extremely low. Aidan needs someone he can play off who will create space for him to move into.