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PV1993
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Posts posted by PV1993
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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.
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1 minute ago, Black N White said:
I think your missing the point. She sets the budget, she authorises selling all the players and not replacing them. Do you really think Flitcroft does this?
He is left without any budget that’s why we are all left with loan signings. He sells players but she won’t let him sign anyone because she’s skint. She had to go begging to Dono as she could afford the scoreboard! Can’t afford to finish the Lorne street concourse or fix the toilets in the paddock! All this they will be fixed in the summer is a smokescreen she said the round be fixed in the new year. Lie after lie and doesn’t give a toss about the fans she’s more interested in giving meals out and trying to mix with celebrities!
Can only see us going down unless she sells up.
The club is a shambles and that is because of Carol.
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
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6 minutes ago, Iron Curtain said:
9 dart reference.
Taylor
Dale Taylor?
Taylor liked a double 16 finish.
Gerwyn Price likes a double 12… any Prices knocking about? 😅
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Denver Hulme gone to Grimsby.
thought we were rumoured to be in for him in the summer but couldn’t agree terms?
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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
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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
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1 minute ago, Doha said:
Would be fuming if that happened. Going to championship fair enough. But same league?! No no no
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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!
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5 hours ago, Nippy Naylor said:
End of the season I'd like to see James Wilson get a long term contract cos since he's come back in the team the guy has been absolute pure class , in my opinion.
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
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1 hour ago, valiant_593 said:
Carlisle doing everything to stay in the league. Sidibeh would clearly be a gamble and these haven’t paid off in the past, he is the kind of player I would want us to be after though.
I’d agree, if he was a bit younger. 25 is maybe a little too old to make such a massive step up
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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.
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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
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Second half was good but we can’t keep not turning up in the first half, it’s just not good enough.
At the start of the season the football we were playing was good, so even if we didn’t quite get the result I was quite happy.
Then the goals dried up. Again, we were playing decent stuff so I thought we would turn it around and had faith.
Now, however, although we can score, we only do it when we can be bothered to play on the front foot. That first half was the worst I have seen Vale play in a long, long time.
The game really changed when the two young lads came on. Alfie dropped in and the balls he was spraying left and right were brilliant. That is something we need to make more of. We need to be able to play it long and short, not just tippy tappy.
We were also more assertive and went forward much more, looking to run a t players. I’m more than happy for them to keep possession and play backwards if necessary. But how many times have we had a throw in in line with the penalty area only for it to end up at Ripley’s feet. That must be addressed.
Big shout out to Wilson. Best thing we can do is give him a longer contract, tear up loft and uche’s, and put it towards one good striker. Loft had a good first 10 minutes (albeit not doing a lot) and then completely faded away. Uche put himself about but was still pretty embarrassing to watch. It’s like Bambi on ice.
We also need to pick a back three and stick with it. Let’s have some consistency and generate some understanding at the back. For me, Smith in the middle as the enforcer, with Deborah and Lowe either side (Jones when back). Iacovitti, for me, continually loses his man at the back post.
Lastky, the two lads that came on were brilliant. Rhys didn’t do much and was very ineffective. We need to use these boys as back ups and not over use them. They’re not all ready yet. Lots of potential for sure though.
Anyone know where Sang and Cass were today?
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Recycling from half time but it stands for the overall performance: We can’t even string two passes together without Ollie and Funso. Anyone doubting them two as our stand out players can see that now. No-one else comes close to them. The rest of the team is relegation fodder and we need to sort it out and fast.
Ripley made some important saves, although easy. No chance with the goal. Nearly gifted them one via Crosbyball trying to keep it in rather than getting rid.
Today’s back 3 don’t work. Smith and Iacovitti too slow and not good enough on the ball. We need to pick one and stick with it. Keeping changing it doesn’t help anyone and means no consistency. For me, stick with Debrah, Lowe and Balmer. They can play out from the back. Jones for the left side when he’s back fit.
Already spoke about the issue in the middle, but let’s get Sang in there. It’s his favoured position. Let’s give him and Walters a run in there. Push Alfie back up to a number 10 but let him roam and drop deep to receive when he needs to.
Massey ineffective today but has been playing well. Didn’t help that half the balls out to him were awful. Stick with him in the right and Grantnin the left as it gives us good balance.
Finally, Garrity shows again why he needs to play up there, but I think Wilson, Garrity and either Chislett or Devine should be our front three.
pick an 11 and let’s stick with it now. Get some consistency!
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18 minutes ago, mikey said:
BBC says Garrity also
I’m not convinced that Garrity’s header crossed the line, but I think the liner flagged. Shame, because Wilson’s follow up finished was class and shows what an actual good striker can do.
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Terrible half. We can’t even string two passes together without Ollie and Funso. Anyone doubting them two as our stand out players can see that now. No-one else comes close to them. The rest of the team is relegation fodder and we need to sort it out and fast.
Massey has been quiet but, one <ovf censored> cross aside, that’s because Devine has been so <ovf censored> that every time he passes out wide it’s nowhere near him. Lift useless again. Starting to think that Garrity is actually a much better striker than CAM. He’s had the odd good run but that’s it. Lowe should be at centre half or not at all. Sang is a good outlet by or his height out wide but on the left he’s so ineffective. Chislett has been okay when on the ball but he’s only managed to do that twice.
We need changes at half time. Loft off, Garrity up top. Sang into the middle. Alfie into number 10 and Lowe into the back three. Grant in on the left and Walters in the middle (purely because there’s no one else).
Feel sorry for Balmer, he’s made some mistakes but has been comfortable aside from that. In fact, you can’t massively blame him for the mistake on Tuesday, just last Saturday. We need to get control of the ball and the back three of last week could do that. We need to pick a back three and just stick with it.
Ripley; Debrah, Smith, Lowe; Massey, Devine, Walters, Sang, Grant; Chislett, Garrity
Bring Wilson on a little later.
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I understand the need for them not buying too much and not selling it all, but at least have everything stocked u til after Christmas, at which time there will be an influx of people or kids with some money to spend. I know I will get a club shop voucher for example, but now nothing to spend it on!
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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
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As we all know, Christmas is a great time for buying gifts for loved ones (or even ourselves). We also know that football shirts can make great presents.
Football shirts are expensive and we have released a lot of them this year. I have no problems with this and am happy to give my money to the club. What it does mean however is that we can’t buy them all at once and have to wait until a time like Christmas to get ones we would like.
If you’ve stuck with me this long, here is my point (of which I maybe should have led):
I went into the club shop today to pick up the pink keepers shirt for the missus. I had noticed the last few times I had been in that stock was dwindling. I asked the lad at the counter when they were expecting new stock to which he replied that there wasn’t to be any.
Both myself and my partner both bought the home shirts at the beginning of the season. We then bought the limited edition blue shirts because, well, they were marketed as limited. This is around £160 in shirts already.
I was told that the keepers shirts were also limited, but they were not marketed as such.
I am really disappointed because now I can’t get those shirts anymore (there’s a few black ones left in random sizes and a load of green, but I’m not fussed about the green).
It would have been a great Christmas present and now I can’t get them purely because I couldn’t afford all 5 shirts, times two, at the start of the season.
I’m not trying to moan, or cause a fuss with this. Does anyone know who I could contact about this? It just seems like an oversight and a loss of profits when we’re not even halfway through the season yet. I don’t want to just email the club shop because I already spoke to someone in there in person.
Any advice?
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Firstly, to the people giving Carol grief… bore off. She employed a man to be in charge of all things football because she knows that’s not her forte. Whether that man is up to it though we will find out very soon.
As for tonight’s game, we were in complete control until the 60th minute. The subs absolutely killed the game in so many ways.
sub 1 - Grant for Massey. Massey was actually played really well and constantly getting in behind on the right. Grant came on, didn’t do much, and then was subbed off at 90 mins. What the hell was the point in that. Why are we just trying to get minutes in players legs?! Just play the best team
sub 2 - we take Alfie and Ollie off. Our two best players. We replace them with a centre half (again, I assume to get minutes in legs) and a kid who, even though he has looked promising, is starting to show why he’s not there yet, and needs to get off his high horse in terms of that contract. Then Jason Lowe, who was playing well, moves into the middle and is completely ineffective. Our middle three ended up as 3 defensive midfielders, two of which we asked to push on and looked uncomfortable doing it. Who’s idea was all that?!
sub 3 - Loft did okay when he came on, but he only actually kicked into life in extra time. Before that, it looked to be another disappointing night for him. Don’t blame him for the pen though. Chislett was putting in a great shift before he went off.
sub 4 - back to Grant. What a pointless sub. I’m actually so disappointed with that signing.young Ben tried when he came on but with him and Walter’s down the right we looked open. It says it all that we ended the game with essentially 5 centre halves on the pitch.
I’m so annoyed that we lost that game. Stevenage didn’t look a good side, they were just effective where it mattered.
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My main issue with the philosophy is once you’ve got one every team is trying to work out how to stop it.
Has Pep kept the same 4-2-3-1 system he started with at City? No. He’s changed it over the years. You don’t need to be Man City to be able to switch between a back four and five, depending on the opponent, or switch it up up top.
You need some brains, of which we have none.
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At the time of this poll, I voted yes. I would like to change that, since the Shrewsbury game, to no in Crosby. At the time, we were playing some nice football and I was sure we would turn it around. Since then, we haven’t and the football has gotten worse. It’s now painful to watch how clueless we are up front.
Not sure how I feel about DF
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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.
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1 hour ago, Warren said:
I'm going radical. Keep Massey. He's a lot more useful than appreciated.
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)
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Players I never want to see in a Vale shirt again
in Port Vale present
Posted
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