Rob Fielding shares his views after the League Cup exit to Barrow – including his view that Brighton loanee Benicio showed how he could be a potential match winner this season.
The Valiants lost the game 3-2 on Tuesday night despite first goals for the club for Ruari Paton and Tom Sang.
Rob Fielding writes…
Thought one – Benicio could be a match winner
For the first twenty odd minutes of the game, I thought that Brighton loanee Benicio Baker-Boatley was a passenger and barely touched then ball. Then he suddenly sprung into life with two lovely passes to Funso Ojo and Baylee Dipepa as well as drawing the foul for Ruari Paton’s free-kick. The youngster looks to have the ability to turn a game in an instance – perhaps not over ninety minutes – and may be a more than useful addition from the bench as the season progresses. It was good to hear his withdrawal at half-time was tactical and not due to any injury.
Thought two – Tom Sang turns things around
It’s only two games in but the relationship between Tom Sang and the Vale fans, not to mention the player’s confidence appears to be completely different from last season. During the relegation campaign, Sang was one of a number of players castigated for his performances, especially in the right wingback role. When the unfortunate injury to Mitch Clark put Sang in pole position to play on the right of defence, some fans were alarmed. However, a string performance at Salford and a first goal on Tuesday has helped the player win the crowd’s affection, something that will no doubt boost his confidence. Sang looks likely to be the first choice on the right this season and although it’s early days, the signs are promising that this could be a much better season for him than the last.
Thought three – I hope Kyle John is cut some slack
Recent signing Kyle John didn’t have the most auspicious of debuts on Tuesday. He did OK but didn’t pull up any trees. I hope Vale fans don’t judge him on this solitary appearance. After all, consider John’s career so far. He has been at Everton for over ten years and now aged 23, the game on Tuesday was his first ever senior appearance. I would imagine if I was in John’s shoes I would be so nervous after waiting so long to appear in the first-team. For that reason, I would cut the player some slack and see how he fares now he has that all-important first-ever appearance out of the way.
Thought four – was a change at the back needed?
One of the potential turning points in the game came when the home side brought on powerful, six footer Emile Acquah. The forward looked a far more powerful unit than anyone in the Vale back three facing him. If only Vale had a powerful six footer of their own to bring on. Oh, hold on… they did, in the form of Ben Heneghan who was on the bench. It was a surprise that Vale didn’t bring on Heneghan to counter Acquah. After all, after just one ninety minutes for the club, it’s hardly as if another thirty minutes for Heneghan on Tuesday night would have been too tiring.
In pre-season, Darren Moore mentioned that during some games he had deliberately overloaded players to test them out. As a result, he didn’t put too much emphasis on the friendly results. That’s fair enough during the build-up to the season when results don’t count but the performance on Tuesday almost seemed like a friendly at times with Vale trying out a few players in different positions. However, the end result was a cup exit and I felt that perhaps a move like bringing the experienced Heneghan on to shore up the defence would have been an indication that Vale were taking this game seriously and could also have potentially resulted in a different final score. We’ll never know now.
Thought five – a worthy Worrall reception
And to finish on a good note. While it wasn’t the biggest crowd on Tuesday night, the reception given to late Barrow sub David Worrall was heartwarming. Worral has been a huge crowd favourite at Vale Park for six years before his move to Barrow last summer and it was clear that Vale fans still retain a great deal of affection for the hardworking winger. It was nice to see and well deserved.
What do you think of these thoughts? Do you agree or disagree? Post a comment below.
I wouldn’t pay my hard earned money, to see the reserve B Team go out of this cup ,very poor decision Darren , I hope barrow get a good draw in the next round, to see how wrong you were, Looks like you’re not interested in the cup matches, you might hear a pin drop in the crowd at Salford next week,
Alright we did not take this seriously our main aim is promotion remember last season when we played no forwards against Portsmouth then played Wilson who at that time was playing well in a Mickey mouse cup the following Wednesday against Newcastle where he got injured which he never really recovered
John Steven’s I Agree , I pay up front I want to see the A team,
I think the biggest concern was just how far these so called fringe players are from competing for a place in the first team of a club with promotion ambitions
With the rewards from last years cup run in mind, one would think the owners would be very disappointing with the amount of changes Mr Moore made. With the amount of substitutes which are allowed in today’s game, the majority of players don’t play more than 60mins, so why is it to much to expect them play twice a week? Moore showed no respect to the travelling supporters by making so many changes and belittling the competition.
We seem to change formations in anticipation of the opposition. We must use 4 4 2 more often and put pressure on the opponents straightway. We have better players than last season so go for the throat right from the start.
I’m usually a big advocate of playing your best team in any game however I can’t agree with the moaners on here giving Moore stick this time!
The league cup run last season was nice in one sense(club record, Mansfield away a good win) but it did little for our league campaign and argubably kept Crosby in a job longer than he should have been. It also didn’t earn the club as much as you think, the money in the League Cup is rubbish(£5k had we won Tuesday), you get £40k for winning a game in the Pizza box cup. I’d honestly rather concentrate on that out of the two if I had to pick one.
Naturally the league has to be our priority, possibly 9 changes was too many but football is a squad game thesedays and had injuries occured to senior pro you’d be the first to moan.