Tues 11th February 2014, Port Vale v Colchester, Pre Match, Match itself.

[SourceOfTheTrent]

Personally I think Robertson is a bit of a liability in the centre and he needs to be dropped for this one. I'd go with Yates, Grimmer, Davis and Dicko at the back,or, if Adams is worried about lack of experience with both Grimmer & Davis, go with Grimmer, Davis, Dicko & Jones.

 

At Gillingham Pope was given the job of marking Fattyfenwa and got out jumped / muscled twice; why wasn't our centre half on that side, Robertson, tasked with marking Fatty? Can you imagine Aspo or Glover not taking on the opposition centre forward? Also, yesterday, Robertson let Nile Ranger lose him completely and ghost in at the far post to nod home unchallenged, 5 minutes into the second half which set them up nicely for a comeback. After half a season it's not difficult to see why Preston let him go, so far he's struck me as the ultimate average player and he makes too many basic errors for my liking.

 

However, as we know, it isn't just the back four who are responsible for defending. Midfield is an area Adams has always struggled with and he doesn't seem to be able to recruit the right blend of players in that area, plus he doesn't go for a style of play where we keep the ball and move & pass it through the middle very much. Quite often our movement off the ball is woeful. Teams who can keep possession and pass it through midfield often have a field day against us, eg, Exeter last season, Rochdale this season, plus L1 teams such as Swindon. Funnily enough I thought yesterday's conditions suited Swindon's passing far more than our 'have it' style. Anyway, given we have a certain set of players to choose from I'd go for a midfield of Loft, Knott, Lines (off day yesterday but hopefully a one-off) and Birchall. I'd drop JMW based on a number of factors but the main one being his utterly hopeless 'efforts' yesterday. Apart from setting up the first goal he did absolutely nothing and, as Adams pointed out, he allowed his opposing full back to scramble one in from less than a yard out. He shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near that close to our goal.

 

Up front Popey is getting heavily criticised by quite a few folk on here but I disagree and I actually think his general contribution is very good. He hasn't scored loads because the service to him has been pretty hopeless all season. Yesterday I would have swapped Tomlin for Hugill and played him and Pope together because of the conditions and our inability to get decent crosses in. The conditions on Tuesday could be similar? If not then I'd go for Pope & Williamson to start.

 

Overall though what we really need on Tuesday is renewed vigour. At half time yesterday I thought we were in a good position in difficult conditions through hard work; really the swirling wind favoured no-one. It was obvious Swindon were going to get roasted at being 2 down after having loads of wayward efforts and lots of corners so it was obvious what we needed to do was be really strong and make sure we didn't concede for the first 20 minutes or so of the second half but what we saw was a Vale side who came out looking like they thought they'd got the game won - always a recipe for disaster. So, let's see a more professional attitude and work towards bagging three points on Tuesday.

[Lady_Vale]

Personally I think Robertson is a bit of a liability in the centre and he needs to be dropped for this one. I'd go with Yates, Grimmer, Davis and Dicko at the back,or, if Adams is worried about lack of experience with both Grimmer & Davis, go with Grimmer, Davis, Dicko & Jones.

 

At Gillingham Pope was given the job of marking Fattyfenwa and got out jumped / muscled twice; why wasn't our centre half on that side, Robertson, tasked with marking Fatty? Can you imagine Aspo or Glover not taking on the opposition centre forward? Also, yesterday, Robertson let Nile Ranger lose him completely and ghost in at the far post to nod home unchallenged, 5 minutes into the second half which set them up nicely for a comeback. After half a season it's not difficult to see why Preston let him go, so far he's struck me as the ultimate average player and he makes too many basic errors for my liking.

 

However, as we know, it isn't just the back four who are responsible for defending. Midfield is an area Adams has always struggled with and he doesn't seem to be able to recruit the right blend of players in that area, plus he doesn't go for a style of play where we keep the ball and move & pass it through the middle very much. Quite often our movement off the ball is woeful. Teams who can keep possession and pass it through midfield often have a field day against us, eg, Exeter last season, Rochdale this season, plus L1 teams such as Swindon. Funnily enough I thought yesterday's conditions suited Swindon's passing far more than our 'have it' style. Anyway, given we have a certain set of players to choose from I'd go for a midfield of Loft, Knott, Lines (off day yesterday but hopefully a one-off) and Birchall. I'd drop JMW based on a number of factors but the main one being his utterly hopeless 'efforts' yesterday. Apart from setting up the first goal he did absolutely nothing and, as Adams pointed out, he allowed his opposing full back to scramble one in from less than a yard out. He shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near that close to our goal.

 

Up front Popey is getting heavily criticised by quite a few folk on here but I disagree and I actually think his general contribution is very good. He hasn't scored loads because the service to him has been pretty hopeless all season. Yesterday I would have swapped Tomlin for Hugill and played him and Pope together because of the conditions and our inability to get decent crosses in. The conditions on Tuesday could be similar? If not then I'd go for Pope & Williamson to start.

 

Overall though what we really need on Tuesday is renewed vigour. At half time yesterday I thought we were in a good position in difficult conditions through hard work; really the swirling wind favoured no-one. It was obvious Swindon were going to get roasted at being 2 down after having loads of wayward efforts and lots of corners so it was obvious what we needed to do was be really strong and make sure we didn't concede for the first 20 minutes or so of the second half but what we saw was a Vale side who came out looking like they thought they'd got the game won - always a recipe for disaster. So, let's see a more professional attitude and work towards bagging three points on Tuesday.

 

He'll go with this - it's a combination we haven't used yet so worth a go.

 

I think we really need Tuesday's game to go ahead so that we can get Saturday out of our system and set us up for Shrewsbury.

[Phil]

We have a habit of coming up against teams on a good run.

 

Apart from Swindon - 8 without a win away from home and lost their last home game to Oldham!

[Bogie Boogie]

Lonely and cold :sleeping:

[valiant_593]

Dont know what team i would go for here, the majority arent trying so I wouldnt really be arsed if most didnt play, these are on a good run and will probably beat us with the way we are performing.

 

Neal

Grimmer Duffy Davis Dickinson

RM? Lines Knott Loft

Pope Hugill

 

I wouldnt pick JMW as he didnt look interested yesterday, neither do I want dodds to play, Shuker maybe if fit?

[kevin]

I would bring in yeates at full back and put grimmer at center half and leave out davis only a thought

swindon are certainly a better side than these and i would be very disappointed if we don't at least get a point.

 

Team for me:

 

Neal

 

grimmer robertson davis dickinson

 

jmw lines knott loft

 

hugill williamson

 

yes i know it wasn't the strikers fault we lost the game but i thought they were both poor yesterday and these two certainly deserve another chance together and no one can dispute that! That defence and midfield is the strongest we have got at the moment and until duffy is back fit who can then replace robertson, we have got to go with that.

 

Prediction - a hard fought 2-1 win. Hugill and jmw.

[werstayinup]

I would bring in yeates at full back and put grimmer at center half and leave out davis only a thought

 

I actually think Davis has been one of our better players

[SourceOfTheTrent]

I actually think Davis has been one of our better players

 

I'd wholeheartedly agree with that, I've been impressed with him since his return from Luton. Him and Grimmer did an excellent job as centre halves at Brentford, which is why I'd give them a go there on Tuesday.

 

Also, I've seen one or two suggestions Duffy should return to the side - I thought he was still injured? He was playing well at centre half before he got crocked.

[raymo37]

Micky you say you have to find a solution for Tuesday, yes you are right, your first solution is the defence they were crap again, and your second solution is to drop Pope is goal on Saturday was a fluke the keeper saved it the wind took it over the line. Why do you keep playing Pope is beyond me and the goal scorers are sitting on the bench. I am losing faith in you Micky.

[Lady_Vale]

Micky you say you have to find a solution for Tuesday, yes you are right, your first solution is the defence they were crap again, and your second solution is to drop Pope is goal on Saturday was a fluke the keeper saved it the wind took it over the line. Why do you keep playing Pope is beyond me and the goal scorers are sitting on the bench. I am losing faith in you Micky.

 

I wish the likes of Ben Williamson would get more wind-assisted, crap goals then!

[werstayinup]

One thing that does concern me is that when Adams says he will change things then that normally means Dodds will be back in the team.

[SourceOfTheTrent]

There's a fair bit of chuntering going on in this thread about our goalscorers; can I just remind some people that we scored two at at home and were leading two - nil at half time. You should not lose a game where you score two at home, especially when those goals put you two up. Goalscoring is far less of an issue than defending, although defending does start with the front players.

[cheeky]

I wish the likes of Ben Williamson would get more wind-assisted, crap goals then!

 

Brilliant :D

[DazFred]

I was disappointed with the performance yesterday & feel that we have overachieved this season.

We have lost 4 out of the last 5 in the league but 2 of those were Brentford & Preston away.

Our home results have put us where we are in the league so we need to pick up as many points as we can at home starting with Colchester.

We can't keep scoring 4 to win games so it is clear that the Robbo/Davis combo is not working.

Choices are Yates, Grimmer, Robbo, Davis, Dicko & Jones.

I would go Yates, Davis, Grimmer & Dicko.

Midfield-Griff does not deserve a place on Sat's showing IMO.

Choices are JMW, Griff, Lines, Loft, Dodds, Birchall, Knott.

I would go Birchall, Knott, Lines, Loft.

Up front-Tomlin was awful on Sat.

Choices are Pope, Benji, Hugill, Tomlin.

I would go for Pope & Hugill.

So my team would be Neal, Yates, Grimmer, Davis, Dicko, Birchall, Lines, Knott, Loft, Pope, Hugill.

Subs: Johnson, Robbo, Dodds, Benji, JMW, Tomlin & Jones.

Not much width but both Birchall & Loft can cross a ball & can tuck in to protect the back 4.

Hugill & Pope need to work Colchesters back line & based on Sat's performance a clean sheet would be a start.

Colchester have only played 3 games this year & haven't played for 3 weeks.

A clean sheet would give us something to build on when we go to Shrewsbury who are on a worse run than us-won 1 drawn 1 lost 9.

Then onto Bradford, no wins in 12.

Being positive I can see us stopping the rot in at least 1 of the next 3 games but that won't happen leaking 3 goals a game.

I am hopeful this will be on Tuesday & then we can continue by trying to get as many points as we can out of Shrewsbury, Bradford & then.... Crewe!

Onwards & upwards.....

[Lady_Vale]

One thing that does concern me is that when Adams says he will change things then that normally means Dodds will be back in the team.

 

I don't think he was even in the squad on sat