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For those struggling: season - good tonight - really, really bad

Since Montaño has been playing left back, we haven’t really seen the best of Worrall who has sacrificed his own game a bit to help protect him. A specialist left back would free up both to play to their strengths.

Worrall has the highest number of successful crosses in the league and is one of the top assisters, so he is, by definition, a prolific crosser of the ball. I'm sorry mate but Taylor has 7 goals this year, so your midfield claims don't stand up either. Our lone target man hasn't scored against 11 men, apart from penalties, all season. That's an issue, regardless if you shoehorn the shift of blame to everyone else.

We four were in the 1894 as well and we jumped for joy when Popey scored. Couldn't believe how many of us Vale were in that part (spend their £80 per ticket)!

Surprised to wake up this morning and not see a list of maybe 5 Morecambe players who we should sign !!

I am not a Conlon fan but I thought he had possibly his best game for us.Apart from Brown and the back four I thought Conlon was the best of the rest with Worrall just behind him. Like one or two others I was expecting the worst as the game wore on, so was ecstatic when their defender pulled Conlon down to give us the penalty which enabled us to come home with three very valuable points. i don't subscribe to the "we are not ready to go up this season" brigade and I hope that we can make a couple of signings and at least make the play offs.

That wont go down well with some on here, too many want heads on stakes at every setback.

It would be very interesting to see Taylor and Manny together. Mouthwatering prospect.

Smurthwaite generally flogged off our best players in Jan. To be Jan neutral would be an improvement on recent history,

Dear Max. You have done an Exceptional work at our be loved Port vale . Thank you . So very very much . We will miss you .with love and and Best wishes For your future . Love Marilynxxxx

Sometimes we have to just take a step back before posting . Over the past few days I've read that Ironside is the natural successor to Pope. Vassell and McCourt are worth signing and the latest offering is Leitch-Smith is better than Cullen and Bennett. If nothing else it gives me a good belly laugh when I come on here

I agree with your sentiment. I'm also pretty sure this will come. We're already progressing better than expected. So much to do. It will take time and patience. If we are re-established as a respectable mid table league one club in 5 years time, then I would consider that to be a job well done. We've already taken some decent strides in that direction.

Agree with all of this

Can’t help himself. Which is why anything he says just isn’t given any respect.

And it's finding a way to win these ugly, uninspiring, bread and butter games that will determine our season. The Swindon's, FGRs and Plymouth's are the icing on the cake.

Conlon won the penalty, not Worrall

He's only played 20 odd league games, so he clearly lacks experience, but he's also scored a few goals, which we've lacked in a midfielder for YEARS (I think Sage mentions it annually around May/June) and should grow with a full season under his belt. He's definitely worth it - he's a good age, with decent potential and it he continues to develop, a prospect to contribute now, and potentially sell in the future if the chance arises - plus it's quite exciting to hear of us looking to invest too! That said, we shouldn't get too excited and overcommit - we're still developing under Askey, and we're not at the stage where it would get us over the line for promotion for example.

That's true. We couldn't just launch it because we were playing against a very strong wind but that appeared to be what some fans wanted. Some were screaming at Amoo throughout the game and were shouting for Browne - that's Browne who had his worst game in a Vale shirt at Salford when he played instead of Amoo. And the ironic shouts of olé when we kept possession in the second half were pathetic.

Worrall and Amoo are both better on the right.

Yes but some of his comments were laughable. I think 'we weren't brilliant' is putting it mildly! "We had the wind against us", "one goal was an own goal and the other 'looked' offside". He then puts the all important caveat in 'no excuses'. You've just made three. Some fans at games are bad for stick though, I agree; a group at Mansfield gave Amoo vile abuse for an hour before he set up Smith's goal. I think fans just expected more battle and we looked profoundly off the pace for an hour against a team with 4 wins, and led to disappointment. I don't think anyone has properly 'slated' the players, simply pointed out Tuesday wasn't very good.

Crookes has had a hard press on here. For my two penneth he is a far better defender than Monty. However he gets a nose bleed when he crosses the halfway line and tends to chicken out of putting a cross in or trying something. He is better suited to away games. No manager worth his salt would play a left back at home and a different one away. So to me we need a specialist proper left back next season. The lad from Newport will do nicely thank you. A proper left back would enable Crookes to be a cover for Centre Half and Left back and free Monty up to be an attacking player. Despite ( again ) having his critics Monty scored 7 in 33 games last season. Decent return and much needed goals from a wide area, This season he is yet to score in 28 appearances in a better team. That is because he has been left back. Numerous people were saying left back was a problem in August, myself included. It continues to be so, i'm not critical of Monty at Left back but we miss his goals higher up the pitch. PS Sorry for the use of the words Left back about 300 times

Blame VFIA

Prejudice there is no prejudice towards any player at Vale from me . Smiths done very well this season I never said he had not . Im a bit daft yeah admittedly but there’s no malice in me . I hardly go as have a life but like to hear we doing well ,being the odd game about 6 and they have performed well in them (probably down to my encouragement mainly ). UTV

Palmer would be reasonable. A definite upgrade.

Now you have said that it rings a bell. Smith is to VFIA what Lloyd is to Ernie. I myself was a bit critical of Smith partly because he set such high standards in his first season despite relegation. I felt he struggled for a while in League 2 but he has proved clowns like me totally wrong and has come back with some outstanding form , i think Legge is a great mentor. There are no agendas whether Smith is a Stoke fan, Liverpool or Curzon Ashton, fan . It makes no odds as long as he gives everything on the pitch. Jaded my A**E

Personally I’m not overly concerned about this transfer window, we are rebuilding after 3 awful seasons and it’s not going to happen over night, realistically we are 3 or 4 players away from being a strong team, Pope, god bless his cotton socks, is at the tail end of his career, always good for a goal here and there and will never stop trying but realistically he will never be the prolific Tom of old, we don’t what is going to happen with the Jake Taylor situation, Manny will be coming back in what is going to be a “make or break” end of the season for him, Worrall and Legge, 2 of our most consistent players, are out of contract at the end of the season and for me, that is a more important situation, yes we have made a few bob from our cup runs, but I would rather kept it in the back pocket and carry on the building, it has taken Crewe 3 seasons to put them self’s into their current position..... we will never be in the fortunate position that Salford find themselves in but I would wager that we will be in a better position than them in 4 or 5 years time, when the novelty of there owners has worn off...keep the faith.

How many chances do we create for Popey Cullen or Bennett ,hardly any I’d say we should try a 3-5-2 with Pope being partnered by Cullen Or Ritchie Bennett as Gibbons should be relieved of defensive responsibility along with Monty . We spend too much time respecting the opposition and not going out and saying come on lads let’s get some decent ball into Popey as some games the level of ball up to Pope is abysmal but be nice see Cullen have a run in the side as he is a very good finisher but he cannot finish if he isn’t being played and when he is he is given 20 mins every now and again because Askey is frightened of the opposition

Agreed PV , but whatever the reason, the forward threat was weakened and midfield engagement has suffered as a result, though the emergence of Jake Taylor has masked this to some extent.

how come that's the only thing you all say "you didn't know what you were voting for", after 3 votes ALL the same result, we know... that beggers the question for you remoaners "do I understand what democracy means" Accept it come on in the waters fine, and that's the coffee you can smell...its not such a big deal to admit you were beat... and the world wont stop turning, the sun still comes up in the east, cause its now blue over Stoke on Trent...

Supplied by a superb cross from Amoo also... Vale lost a game of football on a <ovf censored> night in Morcombe after a very hectic run of fixtures. It happens, when we were one of the worst teams in the league last season we won 12 times, I wonder if on 12 occasions the opposition fans wet there knickers over it?

I agree with keeping hold of the ball but unless you have movement from midfield and wide men you soon have no option other than Popey where are you. The gale blowing doesnt matter as we still hoof the ball far too much because we have no other option created for the player on the ball. We are not Man City. Its simple how they did it against us. One up front and hes 5ft 6in but then several options all over the pitch and all moving to help create the next pass

I'm not sure it will be much harder next year, Cav, unless somehow Plymouth, Exeter, Swindon, Bradford all miss out. Southend will be lucky not to fall straight through, Bolton seem to have resorted to being battered every week again and I suspect we would beat any of MK, Wimbledon and Tranmere currently. In terms of the teams currently in the top 7 of the Conference, only 2 have any recent league experience. It's a missed opportunity this season (as things stand) in terms of our inability to beat teams at the bottom, but I'm not expecting us to suddenly plummet down the league next year.

Mike; we've lost one game at home. We've had a few iffy performances but its been far from 'not an easy watch'.

Nobody gets a decent run in the team to cement a place , ok maybe Bennett but Cullen and Archer definitely haven’t . I love Tom pope we all do he’s a club legend but sadly we have to a have a plan going forward to replace him

I started the thread about the depth in our squad and I believe this is our problem. We have three games left in this month before the transfer window closes. It’s well known that players brought in by clubs in January are normally a bunch of misfits that don’t pay off. Only one team is being relegated this season and my personal opinion is that one more win from our remaining games will confirm our position in L2, next season. I’ve said it before that I was hoping to finish 14th and safe by Easter. I can’t see any reason why we can’t achieve this and some may say that from where we are now that it would be a disappointment and I can see their point of view. So I’d ask that the players we’ve got that have performed well this season and are out of contract at the end of the season then extend their contracts. The ones that we haven’t seen and on the fringe need to be given game time so we can judge if they should stay or go (Archer)Those who have had a chance and haven’t produced the goods (Bennett) and those who don’t get on the bench, should be told now that they’ll be being released. This is fair to the individuals who can seek employment elsewhere. We’ll need to persevere with the same starting 11 which at the moment is our strongest team. We only have to concentrate on the league so it’s not two games every week. So sign no one and see how we get on, but this doesn’t give JA a get out of jail free card. There have been questions asked regarding JA this season around substitutions, tactics and a lot about a negative attitude. I don’t want to put a line through the play offs as we need something to aim for or the season is already over. I’d just ask JA to give us something that makes us applaud the okay or to get out of our seats and applaud on a more regular basis. I’d really like this to happen even if it’s no good fir the knee that I had an operation on a couple of years ago.

Anything in short supply is expensive though, especially in January.

We were so garbage for the first 60 it defied belief. Against the bottom team. They played us off the pitch. Reality check.

Will all the knicker wetters please form an orderly queue................................................

Listening on the radio Jacko, is it as bad as it sounds ?

"Taylor" money is investment money likely to result in a development payback in the future, Ironside just a run of the mill player.

I think the fact that we've beaten most of the sides in the top 7, coupled with being within 2 favourable swings of the top 7, and obstensibly having a least some cash to spend in January (we clearly had some put aside for Taylor's two bids, which can now be used for other players) means that there's no harm in Vale fans hoping for the playoffs. I've kept expecting the season to meander into a mid-table borefest but we keep picking up points and are amongst the hardest teams in the division to beat. 6 losses in 26 is exceptional, built on what has become a very good back 4, reinforced by an excellent keeper, and one of the league's best defensive midfielders in front of them. Anything in the top half is a good season, but for the first time I'm having genuine aspirations that, given 2/3 signings (a mobile striker capable of being the lone striker in a 433 being paramount) and the return of Oyeleke, we could be that team who arrives in 7th in good form.

Agreed its 3 points in the bag , mission accomplished. However think you also have to reflect on your performance against a team at the bottom of our league who are there for one reason only they are one of the worst sides in this league. Particularly so if you have aspirations of getting promoted , away at Stevenage has to be regarded as place to go and get 3 points. So we scraped a win and that's good enough isn't it ? Yes but to get promoted you also have to put teams in the top 7 to the sword and the same performance would not have done that. If you are old enough you will have seen good Vale teams from the past who have been promoted, this side does not look like one of them yet. This game we would have lost under recent managers and Askey is moving us forward, we look what we are a decent mid table side. After the last few years that's good progress, still think Askey needs a Summer transfer period to make us something better. Success before has been built on a reasonable season followed by retaining the spine of the team with the addition of 3 or 4 really good signings.

I agree, they were woeful. Our failure to create very many clearcut chances from open play, particularly as the game wore on, is a bit of a concern.

Looked like 250-300 to me, and although Worrall is still an excellent player, I do feel there's been a slight decline since the news of his ongoing hip issue was announced. Don't get me wrong; he's still up there for player of the season and still contributes loads, but isn't quite as all-action and creative as he was in October/November, in my view.

If Gibbo had not made that cracking clearance, I could not see us scoring from free play to draw against them. Thank goodness he cleared it and we got a penalty which Pope duly scored from. Both teams huffed and puffed, but it is about time we took the 3 points for once from this sort of match. Normally it is us loosing 1-0 in the last few minutes of the match. Hopefully the team will get some confidence from this game and take another 3 points on tuesday.

I had my doubts about the Blades this season RR but it seems you were right. Tremendous effort.

As well as he’s done for us i’d be looking elsewhere.

Teams that end up in the play-offs, or even higher, will more than likely win at both Stevenage and Morecambe. I would be very surprised - but highly delighted - if we manage to complete this double over the two bottom clubs. It would just be so un-vale like !!

We have had this issue for years . In my mind ( probably wrong ) since Mickey Adams left. Page used to have huge squads filled with loanees who never played, ditto Bruno and Brown. Aspin also liked a big squad. I've read different managers saying quality over quantity but it rarely happens. It's a really difficult balancing act. If we are realistic the majority of League 2 back up players are going to be average . This will apply to most clubs not just ours. The transfer windows and change to the loan system have been detrimental to the lower league clubs. Are we just being a bit knee jerk after a poor defeat ? In the main a bench with Browne, Conlon, Atkinson, Bennett has looked far superior to one with Tonge, Elliott, Turner etc .

Bob, if the Labour Party truly believes that the British people will ever want socialism in this country they will never be elected again. British people are conservative with a small c by nature. What they want is social democracy where the exisiting system is improved to benefit all, not a completely changed system where capitalism is chucked out of the window. Having wonderful socialist ideas of equality for all and no billionnaires is all well and good but if you are never elected to put such ideas into practice it is completely pointless.