PV1993

My personal opinion: we cannot just get rid of everyone, it doesn’t work like that. We’d have no money left to sign anyone decent by paying up. So got to be careful and think about who can do a job in L2. don't forget, we were poor when we played Mansfield, who were unbeaten at the time and have stormed L2, and we played them off the park. There is a gulf between L2 and top half of L1. Our squad wasn’t good enough for L2 but I am confident that there are players there that have done or will do a job at a lower level. All loan players go back (obviously). Don’t sign any - not been good enough. Under contract players to keep: Connor Ripley - two L1 relegations but stood out in both of those campaigns. Would easily be good enough for a promotion chasing L2 side Nathan Smith - We know what he can do at L2 level. I do this we need a commanding Leon Legge type defender alongside him though. He’s not a leader to me. Mitch Clark - been really unlucky this season. Get him back and he’ll be a good player for us Ben Garrity - nothing more to be said. Got to build the squad around him. Make him captain for me. Just hope he doesn’t force a move or someone else comes in for him. At least we’d get some money though. Ethan Chislet - copy and paste Garrity (bar the captaincy bit). Funso Ojo - lost his way a bit but a more than good enough player - should run the show in L2 (look at the Mansfield game, they were top and unbeaten when we played them and we made them look average). James Plant - we’re ruining him a bit by playing him more defensively. When he first broke through he was fantastic further forward. Let’s get him further up the pitch. Shorrock/Lomax - loan them out Baylee Dipepa - proved himself enough for a part to play in L2. Jesse Debrah - I do like him. He’s young and has pace which none of our other defenders have. We can improve him, I just think NL to L1 was a step too far, so L2 should be good for him. Under contract players to release/undecided Dan Jones - we already know he is good enough for L2 having been promoted with us before, but he is too injury prone. Could go either way. With his fitness though, I don’t think he would want to end his contract, so might be stuck with him anyway Tom Sang - trouble with Sang is, he’s becoming a bit of a jack of all trades. He’s not good enough defensively to be a full back or wing back, at least he wasn’t in L1. But he’s still young enough to develop and I’d like to see him in CM. Ryan Loft - sorry, but a bit of work rate just isn’t enough. Although his strike rate in L2 does work out at one in four. I don’t know what his contract is like but if he’s a higher earner he needs to go. If not, he might be good in the squad. Connor Grant - same as Sang. I’d love to see him in the middle, he is a tidy footballer. Not defensively good enough or quick enough out wide though. Alex Iacovitti - sometimes he’s brilliant and sometimes he’s dire. I don’t think we can keep all the centre halves as we need to get at least one better commanding one in. He’d probably be there one of look to move on. Out of contract players Maybe keep Leutwiler as he can’t be on much and is a solid back up, but honestly I’d rather see a younger lad come in and learn. Give that Wynne a game next week just to see what he’s about. Keep the academy prospects if they’re good enough or want to stay. Release the rest. Even if all the under contracted players stayed, that gives us a squad of 16. If we add 9 quality additions of top of that, we’d probably be alright. Aim to get a left wing back, and then an experienced CB (big commanding leader), CM (like Ryan woods at Exeter) and ST (Cameron Jerome?), and hope we can find some more young talent like Ollie and Alfie. Couple more strikers I think we’ll have a good squad for L2

Right, I’ve slept on it now… I’m still fuming but hopefully I’m a little more rational. Let’s start with the positives - first half we did and a job and we’re okay (nothing more though) - Dipepa did well on his first start. - Lopata was solid, and the Yak did well coming back from the wilderness. Debrah, despite his mistake, was decent that aside too That’s all I can really think of, so here’s the rant. Darren Moore both won and lost that game. First half tactics were spot on. Then he didn’t react AT ALL to their half time subs. They put two out wide and in some cases they had 3 on 1 against Sang down our right. He just changed it like for like which didn’t help at all and if anything hindered us as the players who came On were dreadful. We couldn’t keep hold of the ball second half. Say what you want about Crosby, and I’m not saying I want him back at all, but at two nil up we would have been able to hold onto the ball and not give them a sniff, even if we could break them down going forwards. Last night we hoofed it forward and it just came straight back. The goals were inevitable. Mighten is in no way a striker and needs to get stronger. I don’t think I saw Loft in a forward position apart from the one tame effort he had. Lowe shouldn’t be playing in the middle. When they made their subs at half time we should have switched back to a back four and gone 4-5-1 to help out the full backs but we didn’t. We just let them keep pummelling us hoping it’d be okay. Not good enough. Some of those players have no fight whatsoever. You know who they are because instead of coming to applaud the fans, they walk straight down the tunnel and <ovf censored> off. Loft and Massey are the two biggest culprits of that. It’s no wonder they get pelters. This whole mess is DF’s fault. You don’t need me to tell you that. It’s not the one bad January, it’s the fact he did it last year as well. Or sold our top goalscorer in August and didn’t replace. Call it incompetence, negligence, or just not being very good: he’s had his chance now. Get him gone. He might have done well in other areas but the most important area, on the pitch, he has failed. I’m all for a DoF, I think Carol needs one, but we need someone who is actually able to do the job, not just someone who sweet talked his way into it.

The club is still here and that is because of Carol. i don’t want the club to be relegated and want us to succeed. But succeeding for me, at the moment, is actually having a club to support

Taylor liked a double 16 finish. Gerwyn Price likes a double 12… any Prices knocking about? 😅

Denver Hulme gone to Grimsby. thought we were rumoured to be in for him in the summer but couldn’t agree terms?

We have a more the. Capable first XI. The problem is they’re all either injured, or injury prone. As I and others have said, to not bring in a striker and a left wing back this window is disgusting. I’m not one to usually call for heads but Flitcroft has to pay for such a dismal window. Please lay off Carol though. She saved us, and had made me proud of our club off the pitch. She hires people to run it on it that she trusts because she’s not a football person. They’re the ones who need to answer the questions

I don’t know how true or realistic the Wyke rumours are but… At the start of January everyone knew we needed a left wing back and a striker. If we end up with neither then it’s a shocking window

Would be fuming if that happened. Going to championship fair enough. But same league?! No no no

Right, got the worst kept secret in History with Gore finally over the line! what’s the next rumour? If we hear it now we might just get it done by the end of the window!

Agree: he is so so important to how we play. It’s no surprise that we’re now starting to score more goals, and how good we were at the start of the season. what we need now is a back up for him. Someone who we can rotate or bring on so we can manage Wilson’s fitness and not struggle when or if he goes off. There must be a young lad with good pedigree in the England youth set up who can do this? Someone we can take on loan like Alfie or Ollie

I’d agree, if he was a bit younger. 25 is maybe a little too old to make such a massive step up

Personally I’d have Gibbo back - but it would a 6 month loan to see how he does. He was great in League 2 so we’d have to assess for ourselves if he can fit into the team at this level. It works in his favour that he can cover both wing back positions - an area we have struggled with in terms of injuries. I also hope DJ can come back and stay fit. Much better than Iacovitti for me on that left side. Of the players we have, I would be looking to move on Loft, and send Balmer back. I actually really rate Cass on the right of a back three, especially in games where we should be attacking more (like Carlisle), but it seems Crosby doesn’t. Same with Conlon, so I expect both to leave. We all know we desperately need a striker (or two depending on Thomas) and a load of wing backs. I would want one on both sides minimum - a pacy left sided player (like Mitch) and maybe a loan cover for Mitch - who despite his injuries I still think should be one of the first names on that team sheet.

We’ve gone from having a really strong midfield to who the hell do we play there?! Thanks for everything Ollie, I will be watching out for your career and you will always be welcome at Vale. Got to hope Devine can dig in and do that job now. Based on his excellent display 2nd half on Boxing Day he can! My only issue is he can drift in and out of games a little. He needs an Ojo alongside him… let’s hope he comes back soon. Losing our two best players has shown how poor the rest of them are. Walters is a good prospect but nowhere near the standard yet. Sign that contract so we can loan you out to Chesterfield or someone of that ilk. I would love to see Sang play in the middle, and Grant! I think they’d both be suited there. Let’s have some proper wingbacks in and hope Mitch recovers soon so we can make it a reality

As has been stated by ourselves and Flitcroft, a few need to leave so that we can get fresh faces in. The goalkeepers are sorted, no issues there. I would say we have an abundance of centre halves On the right we can play Cass or Lowe On the left we can play Jones or Iacovitti That leaves Smith, Debrah and Balmer all vying for that ‘no-nonsense’ position. I don’t think we need all free, so maybe Balmer will go back? That said, I think it’s more likely we will see Cass leave, although I do like him on the right. Holding midfielders we have Ojo, Arblaster and Walters. I’d argue Sang too although he has been pushed out wide due to our severe lack of wing backs. Lowe can also cover there (although I’d rather he didn’t). Conlon also fits here although out of favour. We also have a number of no.10s - Devine, Garrity, Chislett, Massey… even Grant before he became a LWB (admittedly before he joined us). My main concern is the lack of natural full backs. As I have stated on previous posts, we only have Mitch Clark as an out-and-out natural wing back. We need a pacey LWB and one more on either side as back up. Then maybe we can stop playing people out of position. As much as we all would love a striker, we are so over stocked in some areas, and under in others. Wing back has to be our priority

Yes we need forwards, or someone with a bit of confidence upfront. It’s a shame that Wilson is injured as you just felt he was hitting his stride. However, the more important issue is the lack of actual wing backs. Which, in a system that relies on wing backs, is pretty poor. We have one in Mitch Clarke. Connor Grant is an attacking midfielder converted in a wing back. Tom Sang is a centre mid. James Plant is a right winger. Gavin Massey is a winger. Lewis Cass is a RCB I’m sure I’m missing someone, but the point is none of them are actually wingbacks. Which is a pretty important position to <ovf censored> up. The fact that the only left footer has barely played in the last two seasons due to injury, and has already picked up a few injuries, is equally mind boggling. Add in that there’s not a lot of pace between them and it’s a recipe for disaster. That needs sorting out, first and foremost.

I actually think Conlon would be more useful. I’m not knocking Massey, he’s been much better this year, but Conlon gives us free kicks, goals and assists. Massey doesn’t score, rarely assists, and is t as quick as maybe he once was. His increased work rate, whilst appreciated, doesn’t compare for me. That said, I don’t see Conlon coming back in, but I would like him too in one of those number 10 roles (not as a starter but as a squad member)