Five thoughts following Port Vale’s defeat to Scunthorpe United
Rob Fielding shares his thoughts on a hugely disappointing Tuesday night defeat for the Valiants.
Share your thoughts by posting a comment (click the orange button). I want to hear your thoughts whether you agree or disagree with the thoughts…
The never ending story of Vale’s lack of cutting edge
It’s starting to get boring but if Vale could only get goals from their good approach work then they wouldn’t be in the situation they are right now. Mark Cullen looked an isolated figure on Tuesday night but he’s not the only one – it was a similar story for Tom Pope on Saturday. So, it’s perhaps not the personel but the formation or tactics which is causing this problem. Whatever is causing it, Vale need to sort it out, quickly, before it curtails any chance of a promotion push.
A side devoid of confidence?
This was a really dispiriting Port Vale performance. Where was the dynamic play we can sometimes see from the likes of Mitch Clark, David Worrall or Tom Conlon? Port Vale looked a bit shell-shocked and unable to rise to the challenge of taking the game by the scruff of the neck and getting something out of it. It looked a slog and Vale look a side seriously short of confidence. It’s a worrying sign.
Keep faith or wholesale changes?
It will be interesting to see how John Askey reacts to this game. He gave a fair bit of game time to subs McKirdy, Rodney and Montano. McKirdy, in particular, looked lively. Will Askey opt to start any of them? Will he start all of them? Or will he continue to keep faith with the tried and trusted regular starting eleven. I would argue that as per my previous point, Vale look devoid of confidence and now is perhaps the time to spark a reaction with a rotation of who’s in the starting eleven. On this performance, no-one’s place in the starting eleven should be guaranteed.
Perhaps a good job there were no fans allowed in
It goes without saying that this result was another huge disappointment. It’s two poor home defeats in a row for the Valiants. Judging by the mood of the Lorne Street on a good day perhaps it’s a good job there were no Port Vale fans allowed into the stadium on Tuesday evening!
Oyeleke offers another option in midfield
I’ll try and end on a positive note.
I’m a Luke Joyce fan and I think his steady holding role is sometimes underestimated. However, Manny Oyeleke offers a different dynamic to Joyce. Manny is far more likely to power his way through the centre to support an attack. He was one of the few bright spots from Tuesday night. Oyeleke can give another dimension to the Vale midfield and if he can shake off his injury issues, he could be the long-term replacement to Joyce in that position.
Phil Yeomans
18th November 2020 @ 11:58 am
Totally agree formation appears the problem it may indicate 4-3-3 but always develops into 4-5-1 with whoever plays up front isolated.
Trevor Hankey
18th November 2020 @ 1:54 pm
If we had played another 90 minutes i don’t know where a goal would have come from,good build up then no idea in final third , we were saying 2 home games against teams were expected to beat,6 points up to top 3 ,no points no goals ,big shake up required or the only way is down, come on the vale you can do better,
JOHN STOCKTON BROOK
18th November 2020 @ 2:06 pm
Vale have been a powder puff attacking force for years since Tom was 30 ,he was the main source of goals then he can’t be expected to be that now, but the other strikers Cullen Robinson Rodney etc will not take us to the playoffs or promotion. Anyone who thinks that need a checkup from the neck up. 75 goals are needed in this division to make the playoffs or promotion and that won’t happen with this strike force.
Gary Williams
18th November 2020 @ 2:11 pm
I don’t think we recruited well enough in the summer especially up front, sorry to say but Theo will never be a 15 to 20 goals a season man. Its a good job we have the best keeper in the league because he has saved us a couple of times this season already. They did exactly what Morecombe did against us and we do not have the guile to break them down . Not sure the tactics are great either from Askey.
Frank Hibbert
18th November 2020 @ 2:46 pm
When Zak Mills is available at right back I think by moving Mitch Clark into the midfield could help the striker, Clarke’s darting runs could draw defenders out of position giving more room for someone like Cullen or helping Amoo to receive the ball higher up the field.
Plan ‘B’ play Rodney alongside Cullen with only one winger
Geoff Ainsworth
18th November 2020 @ 4:02 pm
Sorry fellow Valeite, but I cannot share the infatuation for Luke Joyce and I agree with your sentiments re Manny Oyeleke. He would give us another dimension, as you say, driving through the middle, making tackles, interceptions and getting shots away. All of these we rarely see from Luke Joyce, and if we could keep him fully fit he would be an asset. Our biggest problem is scoring goals and I am sure that if we had scored off the six chances that we had we would have turned the game around and won (Cullen’s miss from six yards springs to mind). After all everybody has been beating Scunthorpe lately but we have always been a generous club. Seriously though our shooting at goal has been diabolical and must be improved or we will find ourselves at the wrong end of the table. and why do we always attack as though we had Tom Pope on the field and center to a non-existent six foot center forward. And why do we always pass the ball around so slowly and always on the carpet making easier to intercept.
Colin Haith
19th November 2020 @ 9:26 am
Well done Scunthorpe. Credit where credits due
Steve Walker
19th November 2020 @ 5:26 pm
I thought Manny had an awful game. He looked slow and sluggish, gave the ball away numerous times and had ample opportunities to put a tackle in on their guy who ran from his own half before cutting inside and scoring. He was far too slow when in possession and only retained possession when he went backwards or sideways. Offered nothing positive all game.
To be fair, he’s normally much better than that performance but I don’t share the positive thoughts above. I though Conlon was the pick of our midfield. Burgess disappeared, Woz was quiet, as was Amoo.
What on earth was our injury time equaliser disallowed for?
Bob Norbury
20th November 2020 @ 12:00 am
There is definitely something happening among the Vale players which is disrupting their ability to play well against some ordinary opposition. At the start of the season I was of the view that Vale had put together a fairly good squad of players but in my view they are not playing to their potential. John Askey’s attitude to the game seems a bit on the negative side because I have to say that with him at the helm Vale start every home match as though they are the away side. Being very cautious and letting the away side dictate the play. When they should be showing the opposition who the bosses are and attacking them with a view to getting on top and perhaps score some goals. It seems to me that he does not give the players their heads and tell them to get out there and win. He looks as though from the off he tells his players to at least get a draw from the match , which puts them in a cautious frame of mind and they try to contain the opposition rather than play to get on top and make the opposition feel that they are the away side and are there to get beat. It showed against Tranmere – instead of building on the two goal lead they started defending the game and Tranmere eventually got on top and we know what then happened.