valefan16

Coming up to 2 years (April 2022) since our last Tuesday night league win which is bonkers, considering we've had plenty of cup wins in that time it is a strange one! We will get beat here I think and possibly heavily, they have goals throughout the team and we rarely do well against them, especially away.

When are Vale not skint? I cant see how we would be totally skint though yet building a gym and new office space.

What are the "rumours"

I did post something similar a few weeks back, the youth players would benefit possibly by relegation in getting game time and they have the ability at that level, plus we have many of our best players contracted so they either have to stay in L2 or we sell for decent money... However the events of the last couple of weeks have left me very worried now as we seem to have lost all control and direction, we need to ensure the management appointment is right enough that we can see them at worst not keeping us up but having the capability to have us back up next year.

Not sure what everyone is moaning about, we are getting a new building on the training ground with a gym and office space... will be the best in League Two. So frustrated at the moment.

It mentions all the good stuff, which is correct and he deserves credit for BUT doesn't mention any of the failings which need addressing and which have turned the fan base on him.

I would say whilst in balance he has done a lot of good at the club his position has now become untenable, the past year have been a complete disaster. Once you lose this fan base you don't get it back and he has lost the fan base.

They've had some of these players for weeks and still not improved, their fans seem on forums more to feel its built with L2 next season in mind. Fleetwood similar in getting rid of high earners to replace with loan youngsters.

The only gimmer of hope I can see if that we played Wilson up front early season on his own when we were winning week in week out for that spell so could we make it work with Chislett and Mighten in behind (or Weir). We need to try and pick up 4-5 points in the next fortnight and hope Funso is back for the rest to give us some hope but a lot of pressure now on JW29.

Vale have posted positive news, all be it the famous 2 weeks line for Funso being able to start a game.

Terrible night, stayed up until 1am hoping something would come out but nothing. Pretty much leaves us hoping James Wilson can play 2 games a week for the next few months or we are in deep deep trouble. Think we will struggle to stay up now, the fact we've not even got a young loanee striker let alone a decent experienced one is absolutely nuts, didnt Flickers say at the fans forum one would come through the door?

Possibly back for the last 2-3 league games... not great.

Azeez will be a massive loss for them/

One thing that should get the best out of Mighten is Vale Park, that wide pitch should be a dream for him to play on.

I recall him tearing us apart in a friendly a couple of seasons back. Decent pace which we need, does seem to be shoe horning a winger at wing back mind!

Disaster and leaves us now needing a centre half as well, so three our four decent options needed in 9/10 hours. Would take Lopata from Barnsley if the case and has more experience at this level but lets see. Nervous times.

Burke would be an odd one, on loan I assume from my second team SV Werder Bremen but been at Birmingham City this season. Scored the winner in a mental game for Bremen where they came from 2-0 down with a couple of minutes to go to beat Dortmund 2-3 in their own backyard and never really got a look in again. Went to school in the town I am from in Leicestershire and my sister knows him so will have to do some digging on that one.

The keeper save rate is a worry, maybe points to Stephens and Stone not being as to blame as thought last season... as Ripley who had one of the best last season is now posting low stats so we are possibly giving away too many better chances. Tackles won and Interceptions I am not that concerned about, the fact Peterborough and Bolton are mentioned as worse that us in either stat show that but image this is down to 2 factors: In many games certainly pre December we'd dominate possession (all be it often without success) so less need to tackle often as we had the ball and games like Saturday when we haven't had possession we've generally tried to sit in rather than press so would say thats down to tactics more than player inability.

As mentioned on my Portsmouth post I would be looking to get Grant as a midfield option with one of Gore or Weir until Ojo is back to avoid what we saw at the weekend with the two together, needs an experienced head there and Grant hasn't done it at LWB for me. In terms of relegation, disaster for us fans and probably the club in general but I would be less worried than the previous two relegation's because I think we'd have a strong chance of challenging rather than need 4-5 years again, the club whatever we think of Flickers etc isn't in a bad in hows its run and the one part that probably would benefit is the youth players, you'd fancy Shorrock, Walters, Plant and Lomax to certainly make a good impact as League Two players and probably help their development. Ripley would be under contract, you'd assume Debrah, Smith, Grant and Yak would be decent in L2, Jones still under contract and we should still be able to get decent loan players. We'd struggle to keep Ojo I would think, Chislett and Garrity but as all under contract it would depend on valuations being met and or our desire to sell. I think we'd be up there challenging but as we know its not easy to get back up so need to do all we could to avoid it. We would have no excuses not to be play off challengers minimum especially considering some of the big spenders will be promoted this season.

But surely a great option for us Bodvarsson, probably wont cost a lot, we have decent links with Bolton (Carol IIRC is close to their owner) and would be a perfect striker to be the hold up man. Long term wise he would be a perfect part of the jigsaw.

Bolton signing Aaron Collins which is set to allow Bodvarsson to move to Cambridge... surely we can compete there? Ideal replacement for Uche.

February is a big month as we will pretty much close the backlog of games off and have some very winnable games (Fleetwood Home and Away, Stevenage, Orient, Lincoln Home, Reading Away, Cheltenham Away) so 4 games v current bottom 4, 1 against Lincoln who are massively out of form, Stevenage who we should of beaten a few weeks back, Orient are in form but newly promoted and a tough trip to Peterborough. We will know a lot more come Feb 27th of where we are heading I would think. 3 wins minimum would be the requirement. 4 ideally.

I think Fleetwood and Carlisle will go, they literally need play off form to survive. Cheltenham still have a big task but the other spot is anyones from 12th down really. Charlton in free fall, Shrewsbury just dont score goals, Reading will stay up if they don't fire sale but that will probably be decided this week, if Azeez and Smith go then you'd think that would be curtains, but otherwise they are in good form. We have the games in hand and the form is good (3 wins 2 draws in 7) keep that up we will cruise to safety but we can't afford a poor second half season like last season or we'd be the ones to go. Long as we win 2 in every 7 games with the odd draw we would stay up so it isn't a huge ask but can't take the foot off the gas or be complacent.

I dont think we are in the same boat as last January at this stage, we've not lost any key players who were permanents at this stage and replacing the 4 loanees with 5 more assuming 2 more come in. Last year we signed a half fit Matty Taylor on deadline day and Aaron Donnelly on loan who ended up playing out of position every week to replace Connor Hall. Brad Walker and Harry Charsley. We've lost Conlon who wasnt playing, Arblaster and replaced by Weir who was outstanding last season for Morecambe, Devine for Gore who is as highly rated, Kofi Balmer has been replaced by Rhys Williams who has played EPL and Champions League football and you'd expect Thomas to be replaced but he didn't really get much look in anyway. Obviously if we lose a couple of big players this coming few days and dont replace then we will be in a different situation though.

Since settled in the team our goals for have rapidly improved... he has given Wilson space to play and allows Chislett more space by purely occupying defenders. Would rather have him than not.