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Pope


geosname

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Also to add to the "not enough service" rubbish, we now also have a centre half who throws it in the box which pope thrives on balls into the box according to the man himself

 

There is a bit of a difference between slinging it into the box and providing a good ball as a scoring opportunity. One is a hopeful punt that comes straight back - one is a ball that pope scored lots and lots of goals from last season!!!

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In our first two games we had 11 corners which were all excellent deliveries from Chris Lines, add to this the number of other deadball deliveries and crosses from Yates and Jones. There is plenty of service there for a forward on top of his game.

 

There has been no service to Tom (or others) so far this season. It's ok to say we have had 11 corners but there were not many in Toms direction.

We should play to our strengths....it's no good going to Colchester in search of a point....we want goals and we want wins

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Having just watched the VP highlights of this seasons 3 games I'd say Tom Pope has been involved in ca 80% of Vale's chances/significant action in and around the penalty area, he hit the post against Brentford with a header and several chances came from his know downs and lay-offs.

 

Pope's game is not all about goals, his contribution defending in his own penalty area is underestimated as is his play holding the ball up outside the penalty area.

 

Talk of leaving him out and playing Williamson and Hughes would be a mistake, give Pope time he will come good and score goals.

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What lots of people on here are forgetting is that two years ago, when our strike force was mainly Pope and Richards together, Pope hardly scored any goals. It was at the start of last season when Pope was up front on his own and we had two flying wingers when he was in his most prolific goalscoring form. Then when we signed Hughes, people started moaning that Pope's goals had dried up (though thankfully Hughes was scoring). The conclusion I gather from that is, Pope won't score goals if he's playing second fiddle to another striker (be it Hughes or Tomlin) and trying to create chances for them (that's not to say that he does it badly, because he doesn't. It's just he won't score goals doing it) but if Pope plays up front on his own, it gives us an extra man in the middle of the park, meaning the wingers have more licence to neglect their defensive duties and continually provide service for Pope to get on the end of. He's a proven goalscorer with the right system, which I would think is something resembling 4-5-1/4-3-3.

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Im starting to feel a bit sorry for Tom. He seems to be getting a bit of stick from some for not doing what he did last season.

From what I have read he seems to be doing quite a bit more defending than attacking and when he is in a position to attack one of two things happens... He either gets marked out or he doesnt get fed with productive passes.

So here is one for Tom....

Many posters have referred to adams as "getting us up" last season... what would have happened if Pope hadnt been playing?... would we have got promotion?... would we have managed to get past half way?

 

At the start of the season many people commented about the positional palyers we needed to survive in this league, I dont think many mentioned strikers or front men but thats what seemed to be the priority... the positions most mentioned seemed more like an afterthought... it doesnt matter how many front men you have if the ball doesnt get past the halfway line.

 

Tom Pope... the right man in the right place at the right time for the right team... last season... he hasnt changed so what has?

 

Its a nobrainer - Tom Pope is a marked man after his major acheivments last season - we need a shrewd tactical formula from the coaching staff to deal with the man marking Pope is ineviatably attracting this season and exploit that to our advantage. Over to you Mickey:yes:

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Dodds is only used as the comedian of the squad so i dont think Adams will play him and Pope anytime soon. The main thing that concerns me is Tomlin and Mohammed, who have proved me right that Adams has wasted good money on two ***** players. We should have signed Mark Yeates , He his a quality player shown yesterday with a screamer for Bradford.

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Simple for me, I would play Tom and Hughesy from the start and sub Hughes when he starts tiring on the hour or so.

I just think the two of them playing together would cause defences even in this league lots of problems.

At this level that first goal is critical and with this pairing I see early goals in the first half your.

Don't get me wrong I like Tomlinson and Mohamed but I think getting that first goal is massive and I think that if we can defend a lead and add Tomlin or ( and) Mo for the last 30 mins or so will give more that half the teams in Div2 plenty to think about.

Don't let's forger Hugheys experience at this level where he has scored goals for years!

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Against Brentford I thought we struggled to create chances for Pope and their central defenders generally did a good job. I don't think Pope missed chances nor did he not try to get in to the right positions. The team is work in progress in terms of who the best players are and how they play together. But I feel we have a good squad and it will come together to get us to mid table which is the main objective for now.

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This excuse of 'he's man marked out the game' is balls.

 

All strikers are marked. Pope's no different. He needs to up his game, because he shouldn't get in the team on 'loyalty' or previous acheivements.

 

Isnt that what all players do? Isnt that why players are signed by clubs? Previous achievements and possible future achievements?

Im not suggesting he should get into the team every game, just that he shouldnt be made the scapegoat for the teams failure to create or perform, they should all up their game just as adams should up his.

I didnt offer the "Man marked" reason as the only "excuse" but part of the problem why he isnt scoring freely, the other part is service or do you expect him to do it all alone?

I suggest adams selects a team to play to our strengths, last year that was attacking football, this year who knows.

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What I don't get about the comments saying the oppo are nullifying Pope with two big hairy defenders is - who is exploiting the gap that this must leave? If it takes two players to mark Popey out of the game, someone somewhere is unmarked and we ought to be making the most of that. Seems like Hughes is our best man at finding gaps, and our best chance of a goal at present. He is experienced at this level, and knows where to be in the box. And if Micky was worried about Colchester fielding 3 centre forwards before they played us, should we go with 3 as well in our next game? That will occupy at least 4 of their defenders, leaving Dodds to get a hat trick....

 

I'm just off to take my tablets.....

 

Bang on the money. This is what happened second half of last season with jwm and vinny ( when he played). We were double marked to stop the service and as a result ended up playing long ball crap as apposeded to the fast flowing football we had been playing. And I'm sorry boys but those of you that love griff are going have to eke up to the fact that it is partly down to his in ability to press teams along with who ever else is in the middle. We just haven't got anyone clever enough to move and find space that is left if people are double marked. Loft could do it but I think at times his ball control and passing skills are as bad if not worse than griff. I'm not slating players here just pointing out the fact that we have no midfielder who is good enough on the ball to help playes expose the space. Burge morsy and shucs did this brilliantly but Adams returned to the drivel that just about saw us over the line and is no where near good enough for league 1.

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