Thoughts after Port Vale’s Orient and Rochdale wins – squad depth looks good
Rob Fielding shares his views after Port Vale picked up back-to-back wins over Leyton Orient and Rochdale in League Two and the Football League Trophy.
Rob Fielding writes
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Squad depth looking good
If Port Vale are to mount a genuine promotion push this season then the burden needs to be shared. The Valiants need competition across the board to cover for loss of form and injury. In that respect, the current squad appears pretty strong.
In some areas, the competition is fierce. Take the left wingback role where there’s arguably a queue consisting of James Gibbons, Mal Benning, Danny Amos, Dan Jones and possibly even Alex Hurst. Upfront, the returning Devante Rodney is going to have to be on top of his game to get ahead of Jamie Proctor and James Wilson, while George Lloyd and David Amoo are pushing their claims too.
Ben Garrity has rapidly become a key figure and if he is injured he will be missed
It’s perhaps a little thinner in central midfield where the injuries to Ben Garrity and Brad Walker may cause concern but overall this looks a really strong Vale squad with lots of competition. The performances of Dennis Politic, Jake Taylor and David Amoo off the bench in the Orient win will only make that competition even fiercer.
Football League Trophy game shows squad flexibility
One of the questions ahead of the Football League Trophy game with Rochdale was how would Vale rest key players while fielding a competitive side and perhaps crucially have adequate replacements in some key places?
It could have caused problems. How do you rest the likes of Nathan Smith and Dan Jones in central defence when you are missing Leon Legge and Aaron Martin through injury. Darrell Clarke’s answers seem inspired in retrospect.
Need to rest some central defenders? Bring full-backs Danny Amos and James Gibbons into the back three. Need to rest David Worrall? Bring in left winger Alex Hurst at right wingback. Need another central midfielder to allow the returning Brad Walker a rest? Bring in untested youth teamer Ellis Jones.
Hurst – did a good job on the right flank
Arguably all of the above could have gone horribly wrong but they didn’t. That’s down to Clarke knowing his players, being prepared to make some brave positional choices and the attitude of the players themselves as they compete for a place, anywhere, in this competitive Port Vale side.
Rochdale game gave more positives than negatives
Considering the FLT is often a much maligned competition where often the only positive is a chance to give game time to fringe players, this game was a big success for the Valiants.
Not only did Clarke get minutes to squad players – ninety minutes out of Jake Taylor, Dennis Politic and David Amoo (and game time for Brad Walker) but he also tried and tested the positional changes I’ve already mentioned. Amos looked a solid option on the left of defence, Hurst put in a host of crosses on the right while youngster Jones hints, along with Eden Bailey, of some promise from the youth ranks.
When you add in a win and the £10,000 prize money, it was a good day at the office.
Agree or disagree? Share your thoughts by posting a comment at the end of the article.