Four thoughts after Port Vale’s cup exit to Sunderland
Nothing to smile about? What to make of that insipid performance in the Football League Trophy? Rob Fielding shares his thoughts…
Agree or disagree? Post a comment at the end of the article.
4-3-3 a step backward?
After the positivity of the tactical change for the Grimsby game, there is much less to enthuse about the tactics for this one. For me the move back to 4-3-3 seemed a backward step. It was clear against Grimsby that Vale played well with two upfront in the first-half and less so when forward Devante Rodney was replaced by midfielder Scott Burgess at half-time. It was a similar issue here. Theo Robinson (pictured) was isolated too much and Vale persisted with one upfront for too long. It was notable that Vale failed to create a single shot on goal in the first-half.
Perhaps the risk to the legs of veteran Tom Pope and injury-prone Mark Cullen to play more than the last twenty minutes was too much? Perhaps this competition simply wasn’t important enough to risk an injury to either so Vale soldiered on with Robinson isolated for seventy minutes? Whatever the reason, I hope that when the Forest Green League fixture arrives it’s back to 4-4-2 for the Valiants.
Pugh fails to advance his claim
Interviews with Chair Carol Shanahan suggest that the club will take their time with the next managerial appointment and Danny Pugh may be in charge for the foreseeable future. It’s a reasonable approach and it could be argued that should the caretaker deliver a sea change in performances and results then he may make the owner’s decision much easier. However, this result feels like a step back after all the positivity of the Grimsby result. John Askey arguably left the club because of his dogged determination to play 4-3-3 while the goals dried up. This felt like a bad taste tribute to him. Vale didn’t threaten at all, didn’t have a shot on target and Danny Pugh didn’t advance his claim to be considered the next manager. Let’s hope it was a blip and things improve on Saturday.
Football without fans – an empty experience
Watching a game played out among thousands of empty seats at the Stadium of Light was a weird one. It was probably exaggerated by two things for Vale fans –
One: technical issues meant there was no live commentary and all supporters could hear were the shouts of the players and those of the handful of other folk on the sidelines.
Two: the side’s performance was so boring it was arguably more fun to try and count the empty seats.
If any match summed up the weird, soulless word of pandemic football then this game was it. It was more akin to watching and listening to a training session than a competitive game. Obviously safety comes first (and I hope all of you stay safe and well) but I long for the day of fans being allowed back in grounds again.
Image: Stadium of Light, mostly empty before kick-off” by majabl is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Anything positive from this game? Nope, not really!
What can we get from this game? Well, nothing positive really. Vale appeared to suffer two injuries – one to Danny Whitehead (pictuerd) and another to youngster Alex Hurst. None of the players brought in – among them Leon Legge, Adam Crookes and Theo Robinson – did anything of note to advance their claims for a League start. Captain Tom Conlon picked up a yellow. Vale missed out on a Football League Trophy win bonus. And that was it. It’s a struggle to find anything positive to write about that performance.
Agree or disagree? Post a comment at the end of the article.
Phil Yeomans
13th January 2021 @ 11:50 am
Having listened to the commentary on the radio it appeared a drab affair and Rob is correct the players stepping in didn’t advance their chances although I understand the need to change the team was expected but 4-3-3 could prove a mistake if that formation is chosen for Saturday’s game, 4-4-2 is a must and we may start to see improvements. Jake Taylor will be a big bonus and the return of James Gibbons being back in training is also a positive. The next two results will lay down a marker as at this point I’m still in favour of a more experienced manager coming in.
Phil Smith
13th January 2021 @ 3:34 pm
I think Pugh was right to prioritise the league over this crappy competition. He/we found out/confirmed what we always knew – I think he wss proving a very important point. He just proved what we’ve always known. When we are without handful of first team players, whether through injury, illness, suspension, lack of form, or through choice such as prioritising the league, the players coming in are just not good enough for this level. These second string players are almost all Askey signings, whereas mostly the first teamers were all signed pre-Askey. Accommodating the odd one of Askey’s signings we can just about get away with, but more than that we’re on a hiding to nothing. Whoever takes over fully at the Vale needs to turn over at least 6 players in the short-term, and to do that he needs an extensive network of current contacts. This was Askey’s biggest failing; he found it hard to look past players with which he’d already had experience of, due in a large part to a lack of contacts in the EFL. It was always going to happen at some point whereby we’d need to look towards his signings to carry us over a crisis of some denomination; thats when the Vale would be found wanting, and we certainly were, and Askey paid the inevitable price. Other than that, he did a pretty sound job.
John
13th January 2021 @ 5:52 pm
Pugh was a poor player , and he will be no better as a manager. In this time of no fans, and little money, Vale had a chance to progress to the quarter finals, and earn a decent payment for their efforts. However , there was no effort , especially in the 1st half. Pugh folds his arms , and Sinclair barks at everyone, including the officials. It’s doomed to failure , that management team, temporary or not. There is no pride there , no willingness to fight for every ball. It’s pathetic to watch. We need a root and branch clearout , a manager who is not on first name terms with players, and vice versa, or otherwise we are looking at relegation this season. I don’t envy Carol her job, but I am sure that she will say “enough is enough” at some point, and straighten it all out. The pandemic has no doubt played a big part in the physical ,and particularly the mental state of everyone, but this is unacceptable. Last night was the worst game of football I have ever seen from the Vale, even if it was the Football League Trophy. Fans paid money to watch that rubbish, for many it’s money that they can ill afford . Shame on those players who are only playing for their pay packet. It will come back to bite you all eventually. Carol Shanahan put a huge amount of money in to save Port Vale, and you lot throw your toys out of the pram, and then apologize to her? It’s John Askey you should be apologizing to , to begin with. There is a cancer at the Vale now, one that needs to be rid of. That’s the truth of the matter.
Geoff Ainsworth
13th January 2021 @ 9:15 pm
I agree with Phil Smith re prioritising which competition we want to excel in as we simply haven’t got enough good players to do well in both the P.J. cup and the 4th division.On Dec 5th we thrashed Bolton 6-3 and our midfield was brilliant. Monty was a revalation & Oyleke ,Conlon,& Worral were also top class. Four days later (Dec 8th ) they were all put into the P.J. cup match vs Wolves u 21s. Since then they have all been out injured (except Tom who was self isolating ) and as you know our form has been diabolical..Last week 3 of the 4 were playing again and our standard of play was almost back to it’s best.So it’s obvious, we have not got enough good players to do well in both
Keith Dawson
13th January 2021 @ 10:03 pm
The display against Sunderland was feeble at best, so much so that Vale didn’t have an attempt on goal in the first 45 minutes. Sadly the formation of 4,5,1 meant that Robinson was Vale’s loan forward which actually meant we played with no one up top!!! Robinson, Amoo and Whitehead were by far our worst performers, I think that they should find another career because they can’t be serious about being a professional footballers, their performance was embarrassingly poor. Sunderland played the ball around us like we weren’t there, how we got to the break only one nil down remains a mystery. Second half commenced and we didn’t look any better, failing to get anywhere near them as they moved the ball around with ease, sadly it took Alex Hurst to get injured for Monty to take to the field before we showed any sign of putting up a fight, things got slightly better when he was joined by Pope, Cullen and Taylor but we still couldn’t get anywhere near them. Slight excitement when Cullen seemed to be pulled to the floor in the penalty area but the ref simply wasn’t interested and to add insult to injury Sunderland went straight down our end and were awarded a penalty, game over, their goalkeeper put his strip straight back in the clean kit bag given that it was unused. So Forest Green beckons, come on Vale, get 2 up top and give it a go, I am sure that we can still turn this season around but it needs a collective effort to do so!!!