With you on this one EN
Gordon is one of our better players, who like several others has had a few dips in form recently. Nothing to single him out though. Much prefer him and Asiimwe to start on Saturday rather than Barrett / Asiimwe.
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And he actually scored on Friday as well as offering one of our other shots. And he is always totally committed.
One aside from Monday, there were those on UTS who said we should sign Kyle Hudlin…
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Im not saying hes a poor player and i agree hes one our better players but that shouldn’t make him immune from criticism. Criticism he deserves after some awful displays the same goes for Barratt
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Yeah. It’s this idea that because people have picked one hole in his game that he’s rubbish defensively or that he doesn’t contribute at all in attack otherwise that particularly rankles.
I don’t think anybody in their right mind would argue his crossing is good. It’s not. It’s a fair criticism, and I have no issue with fair criticism, I do plenty of that myself. As I have said many a time, name a player though and I will tell you what their weakness is (some with plenty more than Gordon that get plenty more leeway).
The idea that he is poor defensively though … it’s just exaggeration because people took up a position with him initially when he was coming back from a horrendous injury and are just so entrenched in their opinion now they refuse to move from it, despite him being outstanding for the best part of two years. Just nonsense.
And give me a player that actually takes a man on and advances us up the pitch over a pinpoint deliverer of a cross in this side any day. When he isn’t absolutely knackered, he’s the only player in the side that does it regularly, switching us completely from defence to attack (normally after another interception, which is pretty impressive for a player who is “poor defensively”).
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Why? His progress has stalled.
I don’t think that it’s become received wisdom without some evidence. His defending has been below the standard required for a while. I thought he was improving this season, but recently he has made some high profile and costly errors, the worst being against Vale - that could prove really costly!
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Newport view of the ‘goal’ where you can see the ref and linesman.
https://x.com/AledHopkins16/status/1914651178954084737
Referee doesn’t react in any way to indicate he’s thinking about and the linesman appears to start running back to the halfway line. Neither seem to be giving anything.
Yes, 100% it was the right decision ultimately but I would love to know just how this decision went down.
Either you see it or you don’t.
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From what i saw on the highlights their player was signalling handball then the ref went and consulted his linesman and they came to the decision. Since when do players influence the refs decision?
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I wonder how we would all have felt had the goal stood despite the handball. ‘Uneasy’ would have been my reaction. ‘Livid’ would have been the rest of the pack if it had cost them promotion.
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Exactly. It’s a tricky one because ultimately it was 100% the right call, can’t argue. But I just don’t see anything in the body language of the officials to suggest they were considering not giving it. Fair enough if we had VAR and they had suspicions they wanted to check. But they don’t, and they can’t.
You see it or you don’t.
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Ask Mat Stevens. He did exactly the same for Wimbledon earlier in the season and got away with it, from a set piece in a congested goal area…
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I have downloaded Saddler JK’s link.
The TV coverage did not change the score on the display. I think that they must have known that it was handball and passed the message on to the 4th official. The TV producer can see all the different angles at the same time. A lot quick than Stockley Park.
I would have loved it to have stood as a goal. It’s football they even themselves out.
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Some limbs tho in the away end… 3 months of frustration…all for nowt
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The ref awarded the goal. The linesmen showed zero intention of giving a handball decision until I presume/fear there was intervention from the 4th official and/or TV people in his ear. Obviously it was handball (and thought so at the time) but I would love to know how they came to the decision. Gutted.
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Nipped across to the pub tonight. A few that watched the game were a bit disappointed in the fact that Osin basically cheated. Thought it was a bit off.
I kinda get that and they also get that their own teams players would probably have done the same.
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Oh my god 
The one where the keeper bowled it out to him at an awkward height with players already closing him down? Yeah yeah I know.
Personally, I think we are due a bit of luck! I wouldn’t have cared if Oisin had caught it with 2 hands and thrown it in - we deserved to win the game and get 3 points - the 1 point means nothing to Newport, whereas the 3 points means almost everything to us! Do Newport fans, who were taunting us, really want Billy Big Bollocks Bradford and Doncaster to go up instead of us? We are not a cheating club, we haven’t gone into administration and got rid of our debts like some clubs and started again with a clean slate. We are little ole Walsall and we deserve a little bit of luck!!
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