Port Vale v Wolves Post Match

[Jinkin John Jeffers]

I'm saving that oprediction to the end of the season, hope you'll be big enough to come on here and admit how foolish it is when the time comes. He may not get 30 or even 20, but will contribute well over the season and to say he will get less than five is an extremely insulting prediction in my opinion.

 

Hope pope proves me wrong, but he needs to get fitter, sharper, cleverer, stronger and hungrier before he will start to score regularly

[waynes62]

Nothing in central in midfield.

Nothing at all 2nd half could have drove a bus through cm and they did more than once

[Warren]

This was my first match of the season and I have to admit that Wolves just about deserved it. Their passing and ability on the ball was slicker and all of their players looked comfortable in possession.

Saying that, I was pleasantly surprised with the Vale and I think we have enough ability in the side to comfortably finish in mid-table. However, I could not understand what Griffith's role was supposed to be today, if it was to do a holding role it didn't work and he was clearly the poorest midfielder on the pitch. He is a decent League 2 player but I think he's out of his depth at this level. We have far better midfield options on the bench and I do hope Adams doesn't continue to overlook them.

 

When you play a team that has overall better players you can't stand toe to toe and trade on skill. Adams idea was to create a fractious game and Griffiths gives tackling strength and tenacity in midfield. I thought this went well first half but I also thought Jones going off was a major loss and so it proved to be. Griff is a good player of his type and i think if we had played two wingers today we might have been in big trouble fairly quickly.

[Warren]

Nothing at all 2nd half could have drove a bus through cm and they did more than once

 

They increased the tempo of play because they are good enough to play more quickly. When that happened they started to play round our midfield.

[Conrad]

Can someone please explain why we are consistently worse in the second half when we are supposed to be one of the fittest teams in the league?

 

I've thought that myself, imo the players could be doing to much hard fitness work so come the second half of games they are running out of steam, knackered.

[andy jones]

In llangollen getin ****d but adams was scared stiff of wolves and picked a team for 0 0 he promised us we would attack teams but he got it wrong at colchester and today. I agree with vital spark wolves were the worst team to visit VP this season. Defeat was nothing to do with bad luck and everything to do with a negative team selection.

[manuel]

Basically i thought Wolves were very disappointing but marginally better than us. The softness of a couple of the goals was very concerning and I thought the service into the box was shocking. It was like a catching crosses drill for Ikeme. I dont think you can play Griff in a midfield 4, i think at this level you could only play him in a 5 man midfield. The problem is that he offers so very little when we have the ball leaving Linesy to try and make something happen on his own. Griffiths looks a decent little player, I thought Doyle was poor, and the lad in midfield Mcdonald is a decent player in this division. Other than that i thought the wolves were very ordinary.

 

Our subs baffled me, why take off Hughes? he's one of the few that can make something happen. Pope looked very isolated and pumping long balls into him against a centre half who has been playing in the premier league in recent seasons was ridiculous.

 

Wolves were better but not much better.

 

Surprised to see some criticism of Lines, i thought he was certainly one of our better performers

[ArtyTheValiant]

I've thought that myself, imo the players could be doing to much hard fitness work so come the second half of games they are running out of steam, knackered.

 

The same happened when we started using the training facilities in Burton. Definitely coincided with the poor results towards the from March onwards, and i thought the players looked tired quite often. You can "burn out" players by doing too much!!

[waynes62]

They increased the tempo of play because they are good enough to play more quickly. When that happened they started to play round our midfield.

They strolled through our middle as it was wide open

[Angel of Burslem]

Decent overall performance. If we play like that against most sides in this league we will be fine.

Strange substitutions though. Jeno had the beating of their fullback first half then moved him to the middle then took him off.

[soothsayer]

In llangollen getin ****d but adams was scared stiff of wolves and picked a team for 0 0 he promised us we would attack teams but he got it wrong at colchester and today. I agree with vital spark wolves were the worst team to visit VP this season. Defeat was nothing to do with bad luck and everything to do with a negative team selection.

 

I think you've had too much ale, the difference - as it was last week - is finishing. They took their chances we hit the post (twice) and had a good effort saved with ours. I think Adams team selection was ok & it didn't help loosing Jones early on.

[saintvaliant]

Not too disheartened tonight as the game has hinged on bounces of the ball really. Otherwise there wasn't a huge deal between the sides despite a massive disparity in budget and individual player quality.

 

A couple of things stick out for me.

 

1. Plan A is to outrun teams but we seem to run out of puff after 70 minutes ourselves.

 

Adams doesn't have a plan B and his changes often seem to make us worse rather than better. The change of shape at the outset of the 2nd half today handed Wolves the momentum and they took full advantage. Just like his change of shape set up the defeat at Colchester.

 

I know I'll get stick for this view but IMHO Adams did a magnificent job in awful circumstances last year but has taken us as far as his managerial style ever will.

 

2. We don't have enough up front. Hughes can't last a game, Wlliamson isn't good enough and Pope has been found out by the step up in class in the division (albeit not being helped by tactics). Tomlin already appears to have fallen out of favour.

 

I think we will stay up but it will be a real struggle.

[Shoney]

Not too disheartened tonight as the game has hinged on bounces of the ball really. Otherwise there wasn't a huge deal between the sides despite a massive disparity in budget and individual player quality.

 

A couple of things stick out for me.

 

1. Plan A is to outrun teams but we seem to run out of puff after 70 minutes ourselves.

 

Adams doesn't have a plan B and his changes often seem to make us worse rather than better. The change of shape at the outset of the 2nd half today handed Wolves the momentum and they took full advantage. Just like his change of shape set up the defeat at Colchester.

 

I know I'll get stick for this view but IMHO Adams did a magnificent job in awful circumstances last year but has taken us as far as his managerial style ever will.

 

2. We don't have enough up front. Hughes can't last a game, Wlliamson isn't good enough and Pope has been found out by the step up in class in the division (albeit not being helped by tactics). Tomlin already appears to have fallen out of favour.

 

I think we will stay up but it will be a real struggle.

 

Completely agree. The major problem on top of this is that Adams simply doesn't know his strongest side.

 

I think he will get it right eventually, I just hope it's not too late that we find ourselves in a relegation battle.

 

They took their chances today, we didn't.

 

UTV

[Conrad]

The same happened when we started using the training facilities in Burton. Definitely coincided with the poor results towards the from March onwards, and i thought the players looked tired quite often. You can "burn out" players by doing too much!!

You are correct, in my younger days I was a above average long distance runner, so I know the dangers of over doing it. IMO the players are hitting the wall.

[Nottingham Valiant]

First game of the season for me due to family reasons but thought we did OK and we were unlucky not to get something out of it:

 

Team - Yates was excellent, Lines quiet and often out of position, Loft MOM. The turning point of the game for me was Jones going off, we looked shakey down the left thereafter.

 

Adams - don't think he did too much wrong to be honest. If we'd played with 2 wingers they would have ripped us apart in the middle, Lofty had a good game. Taking JMW off wasn't obvious but Hughes can't play 90 mins unfortunately, no choice but to take him off in my opinion.

 

Pope - either isn't fit or isn't motivated. Wasn't attacking balls in the box like he was last season. Seems exactly like the Tom Pope of 2011-12, not 2012-23.

 

Trouble - The police tactics and behaviour were bizarre and very poor despite big numbers, but there's no escaping it, we have a certain pond scum element to the fan base and there wouldn't be the need for so many police and a big wall if there wasn't always the risk of trouble. Looking round the paddock today was like being in a particularly chavvy edition of Jeremy Kyle. I hope there's some knocks on doors tomorrow morning.