Vale fans reaction: Alnwick kept the score down, we really missed Grant
Port Vale fans have reacted to the heavy 4-1 defeat to Bury on our dedicated forum thread. Here’s what they had to say
The wet conditions
“It never rains with the Vale, it absolutely hammers it down…”
ValeForever
“It’s waterlogged for both teams so we can’t blame the performance on that…”
Hagrid
“Bury played the conditions better than we did. We were shambolic. That said, the pitch was unplayable and I’m astonished the referee allowed the game to end…”
Santa
“The pitch didn’t help matters at all today, but that first half performance was not acceptable . We basically got battered by a team that’s one of the favourites to get relegated this season…”
beasty77
The absence of the injured Anthony Grant
“We missed Grant a lot, his closing down was missing…”
Emile
“We really, really, really missed that midfield protection usually provided by Grant…”
jjvale-03
“The problem is none of our midfielders are defence minded and/or ball-winners, and they’ve been carved through time and again. That simply wouldn’t have happened had Grant been there, but we can’t just rely on one player and someone who put in a transfer request recently…”
Beechy
“I think this performance just shows how much we rely on Granty to protect our back four…”
For Us All
“Vale missed Grant but we can’t be a one man team, we’ve signed enough players to have a solid replacement for him, I still question the logic behind some of the overseas signings e.g. why the heck have we signed another goalkeeper, why have we signed unfit players…”
Paul6754
“The destroyer in front of the defence has being missed, severely…”
ValeForever
Who impressed…
“Despite conceding four goals today he is a contender for our man of the match because he kept the score down by another 3-4 and couldn’t do much with the goals that did go in…”
pvfcglenish
“Positives are Smith and Streete depite his mistake and Alnwick made some great saves…”
Paul6754
“Anyone who was there will tell you Foley was one of the few players who put in a shift and Alnwick made some top saves to prevent the scoreline being an embarrassment…”
fuzzyvalefan
“If it wasn’t for Alnwick today we could have lost 7+…”
Andy06
“Alnwick MOM for me some excellent top saves…”
elav trop 1876
Formation
“Once Defreitas went off we needed another centre mid on. We were too exposed in the middle. We played 4-2-4 and as such it was easy pickings for Bury. Their more physical approach was a massive benefit for them today. We looked light weight, but we need to be adaptable and Bruno made the wrong call. Patterson looked a yard behind the pace and Forrester struggled with the amount of water on the pitch. We were really unlucky with the Alex Jones substitution as straight after Forrester got injured…
Inny
“Personally I think Bruno got it wrong when De Fraitas got injured. I would have brought on Mac-Intosh and put him at left back and pushed Knops into the Grant role in front of the defence, leaving either Amoros or Foley to push forward a little more and gone with 4-5-1. This way we could have kept it tight made sure we were difficult to break down, then try to catch Bury on the break and see it we could have at least come away with a point…”
1977Valiant
“Big mistake replacing Defreitas with Pattison. We have lost this game in midfield and having four upfront has enabled Bury to walk straight through us and have pot shots on goal. In these conditions that is asking for trouble…”
Inny
Final thoughts
“Nobody `appy tonight…”
Fosse69
If you want to share your views please click on this link