Think you need to forget about Holden , treat it as a bonus if he gets back this side of Christmas, last I heard he was seeing a surgeon which doesn’t sound great.
You make that sound like I never shut up about him 
To fair scoob you wouldn’t be the only one , we all want him back but realistically he’s been out a while with what must be a pretty serious issue .
Hopefully he can get back sooner rather than later.
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Tuesday will be very interesting the only guarantee is it will be frustrating as ever.
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fingers crossed , the DOF can pull a rabbit out of the hat
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As much as I would like to see a fit Holden, I think he’s going to be one of those players we have who are injury prone. One niggling injury, then a recurrence, has to get match fit to get back in to the team. Plays a few games, gets injured again and on and on. Not his fault, but we need a fit Rory to help us get out of this division, we have no chance without him.
Earring looks like he could fill the void, in the next year or so, he’s far too inexperienced at this level at the moment.
I thought Osadebe might assume the role but he hasn’t shown us anything at all. In fact, he’s proven to be more of a liability than an asset.
I really hope we sign some decent players before Tuesday, it’s blatantly obvious we need them.
I agree about Holden but still feel Osadebe is made the whipping boy. He has been played out of position and been on the bench. But when he came off the bench he has done OK. He chases back and he can make things happen. Sawyers he isn’t but I think he is still our best bet with Holden out.
Shade looked dangerous when he played. I would put him on the right in place of Phillips, who should be developed carefully.
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Osadebe is clearly a confidence player as he showed last season. He was erratic until he had a run in the team in a forwardish role and was then our most dangerous player by a mile, not hard last season admittedly. Playing him as a defensive midfielder was always going to be a disaster, he has not got the tactical or positional discipline to play there.
bUt He’S sHiT
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Yep, Osadebe is definately a confidence player but he did a good job when he came on and nullified any threat on that side of the pitch, can’t believe someone behind where I sat booed him when he came on🙄.
We did fade badly after a very good first half where we perhaps should have scored more than the one goal. Not sure if it was a fitness thing or that we didn’t seem to react to the the changes they made. MT is still raw like many of the youngsters we have and will need time, but it was great to see us win and his reaction at the end.
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Should’ve just said ‘scroll up, you lazy bastard’!
My daughter heard boos when Osedebe and Taylor came on!!! Supporters??
Yes, as I said, Osadebe is the whipping boy and for no good reason. He always does his best.
This fitness issue is very odd. Certainly, something has happened after an hour or so of each game but I cannot believe it is down to fitness at this stage of the the season. Maybe that’s the reason why most managers make substitutions on the hour, to shake things up. With us, it’s as if we lose the plot rather than lose the ability to run.
I still feel we need a leader on the pitch. Labadie is the opposite of a leader, Kinsella leads by example but cannot organise the others. Taylor and Ward should be able to do the job but they are not playing well at the moment, which is an issue.
@Laundryman in what sense is Labadie not a leader? This is not meant as a criticism at all: I would be interested to hear what you mean, that’s all.
Is it in the sense that he is a bit of a ‘loose cannon’ - therefore he doesn’t necessarily set a perfect example? Or is it that he focuses only on his own job and is not active/vocal enough in encouraging others?
In terms of Monthe and Taylor, I still think that Sadler still has a role to play on the pitch. He is the same age as Ward and he showed great leadership qualities in a difficult season, last year.
Also, what kind of leader did you have in mind? A Bryan Robson type or someone a bit calmer? For me Martin O’Connor was a favourite of mine from yesteryear…
I think a serious problem is the make up of the midfield. We were dominated in possession (at home) against a really poor Stevenage side to be honest. That’s an issue - especially when our plan this season has been to play out.
In my humble opinion… that’s because the combination of Kinsella and Labadie isn’t right as the 2 in a 4231.
It’s one or the other for me. I have been saying this for about 3 years. We seem incapable of controlling a game, and we haven’t had a midfielder who can push up and occasionally pass through, or get in the box since Mantom. That’s a really big problem.
I think MT knows this, and that’s why he tried a more creative option in Osadebe in the 2 for a couple of games, but he’s clearly not got the ability to play that role, so Matt has had to resort to Labadie and Kins.
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Great post @Thanatos and completely agree.
I think it’s caution over creativity from here on in. Got a feeling it’ll be drawsall again this season. At the end of the day. If Taylor recognises these squad shortfalls then he must play to the squads strengths. Newport have done it for years and it’s always had them in the mix.
Agree with some of that however on Saturday we saw a bit more directness with regards to balls going from the back. You can’t hold a midfield totally responsible for lack of possession when the ball is by passing them and as we have no one to hold the ball up therefore regularly gift possession to the other side.
I actually thought Kinsella and Labadie won possession back well at times otherwise it would have been even more dominant for Stevenage. They also worked well with the defence to to restrict Stevenage to mainly shots from outside the penalty box.
Yeah I agree with that - but I don’t think them pair just doing that is enough if we want to actually think about promotion.
The counter argument to why we were more direct is because Labs\Kins don’t work in a way that allows us to play through.
We need a bit more about us, I think.