New striker???

[Regal Beagle]

Agree Yates not good enough said it all season. Dosent pass forwards and is getting caught out defensively. Vale fan though so fans will look past his weakensess.

 

Doesn't pass forward? You can't just make stuff up.

[valiant_593]

Doesn't pass forward? You can't just make stuff up.

 

When does he pass forwards other than to birchall which eventually ends up going back. Yates is so predictable he might as well point in the direction he is passing. He gets more opportunities to cross than most other players and eventually you get a half decent one. I'm sorry but I've said all season that he isn't good enough. If we want to battle to stay in league 1 or get a Lower mid table finish then he's ok but a team looking to move forward as the chairman says; Yates just simply isn't good enough, along with a fair few of them.

[tisdeano]

right back is not a priority, far from it

[oakesypvfc]

I'm not a Yates hater, he's a steady RB. However he gets more of the ball than anyone and in space most of the time, just makes me think if we had a really good attacking RB it would give us another string to our bow attacking wise. However I'd take Yates over Dicko any day of the week!

[bar1]

right back is not a priority, far from it

 

Based on current personal I'd say we should be looking at players in this order - CB, RB, then LB.

 

Yates is reliable but we wont progress with him in the side, as for Dicko. Also what cover do we have at RB? If Yates was to get injured we're back to Duffy or Veseli there, no thanks!

[Bald Eagle]

I'm not a Yates hater, he's a steady RB. However he gets more of the ball than anyone and in space most of the time, just makes me think if we had a really good attacking RB it would give us another string to our bow attacking wise. However I'd take Yates over Dicko any day of the week!

 

That's like saying I'd rather lose an arm than a leg!

[valiant_593]

right back is not a priority, far from it

 

I think your wrong. I do think it's a priority. That and a centre half, considering how bad our defence is of course it's a priority.

[tisdeano]

I think your wrong. I do think it's a priority. That and a centre half, considering how bad our defence is of course it's a priority.

 

all our defence is a priority

 

rb is the last of those priortities

[valiant_593]

all our defence is a priority

 

rb is the last of those priortities

 

Personally I'd say a CB is priority then a RB and finally a LB as I think McGivern looked decent there.

[SourceOfTheTrent]

Why do Vale fans always have to single out players who've done nothing to let the club down for special criticism? I can understand bleating and moaning about useless lumps like Craig James / Joe 'Mammoth Head' Anyon or even people like the (IMHO) misguided Jordan 'I'm better than Vale' Hugill but not players who give the best they've got for the team and who don't do a bad job. Or even players who give their best but are simply not good enough, like poor old Exodus.

 

Adam Yates may not be Cafu but he does a decent job and is the most improved player in his time at the club. Yes, we could identify right backs who are better than him but until we have a squad like Real Madrid or Chelsea that will always be the case - so that will always be the case.

 

Personally I think the team is a work in progress and needs improvements in many areas, which Smurf and Page are no doubt thinking of. However, it's a question of priorities and for me right back isn't top of the list. Our weakest area remains midfield. Brown is still a good player but let's not lose sight of the fact he's a veteran and O'Connor & Lines are inconsistent, plus they lack the ball winning skills someone in the centre has to display for any successful team. Just look how many goals we concede from sloppy midfield play or just the plain inability to stop the opposition running through us. Couple that with our weakness in the air in our own box and you can see why we concede every match. (For me that's Yates' weakest point, he gets done in the air at the back post, but he's not the only one across our defence).

 

So, any improvement by signing better players is welcome but PLEASE stop picking on players who do their best, they could all be improved on and let's be honest they're all better than any of us (unless some posters on here are Iniesta and team mates). Constructive criticism, yes, slagging off, no; save that for the opposition & Stoke.

[Badboybubba]

Why do Vale fans always have to single out players who've done nothing to let the club down for special criticism? I can understand bleating and moaning about useless lumps like Craig James / Joe 'Mammoth Head' Anyon or even people like the (IMHO) misguided Jordan 'I'm better than Vale' Hugill but not players who give the best they've got for the team and who don't do a bad job. Or even players who give their best but are simply not good enough, like poor old Exodus.

 

Adam Yates may not be Cafu but he does a decent job and is the most improved player in his time at the club. Yes, we could identify right backs who are better than him but until we have a squad like Real Madrid or Chelsea that will always be the case - so that will always be the case.

 

Personally I think the team is a work in progress and needs improvements in many areas, which Smurf and Page are no doubt thinking of. However, it's a question of priorities and for me right back isn't top of the list. Our weakest area remains midfield. Brown is still a good player but let's not lose sight of the fact he's a veteran and O'Connor & Lines are inconsistent, plus they lack the ball winning skills someone in the centre has to display for any successful team. Just look how many goals we concede from sloppy midfield play or just the plain inability to stop the opposition running through us. Couple that with our weakness in the air in our own box and you can see why we concede every match. (For me that's Yates' weakest point, he gets done in the air at the back post, but he's not the only one across our defence).

 

So, any improvement by signing better players is welcome but PLEASE stop picking on players who do their best, they could all be improved on and let's be honest they're all better than any of us (unless some posters on here are Iniesta and team mates). Constructive criticism, yes, slagging off, no; save that for the opposition & Stoke.

Excellent post, Squire! :rolleyes:

[valiant_593]

I'm not picking on Yates. I simply say that I don't believe he is good enough and constantly get swamped on here and it's blown out of proportion. For me he is extremely limited but as I say with the likes of pope and Yates and a few others to a certain extent you can't say anything negative. It's not picking on a player at all it's a simple fact that in my opinion Yates isn't good enough I've said this all season and yes he gives 100% but is that enough to be a league 1 footballer? In my opinion no. We need to strengthen the defence we have the worst defence in the league or near enough and it needs to be improved, Yates is part of a defence that has failed in the past and has continued to as is Dickinson and Robertson. All 3 need replacing for us too move forward. I'd love to see a decent right back down the vale because the amount of opportunities to cross that Yates had and wasted is criminal.

[mr.hobblesworth]

Uche Ikpeazu just signed for Donny,god help us when we host Donny in a few weeks time,we couldn't handle him last saturday thats for sure.

 

From the news report that was linked to in the original post...

 

Scunthorpe have ended all interest in Dutch striker Kevin van Keen, according to the club's chairman Peter Swann.

 

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/football-news/league-one-gossip-unnamed-club-8523389

[SMURF]

I'm happy that Smurf funds the deal but it seems that HE'S decided that we need a striker.

 

May I please qualify something for the benefit for all.

Rob comes to me with proposal/suggestions re Players

Both our aim is to improve on what we have if possible in all areas

Unfortunate moving Players out on Loan or permanent is a lot more difficult than it sounds so restricts us this season or the Squad and payroll would become unmanageable

Only during Rob's probation was I involved in introducing Players to the Squad based on some very reliable and experienced advice from some very successful people in L1 and Championship Clubs

[carl]

May I please qualify something for the benefit for all.

Rob comes to me with proposal/suggestions re Players

Both our aim is to improve on what we have if possible in all areas

Unfortunate moving Players out on Loan or permanent is a lot more difficult than it sounds so restricts us this season or the Squad and payroll would become unmanageable

Only during Rob's probation was I involved in introducing Players to the Squad based on some very reliable and experienced advice from some very successful people in L1 and Championship Clubs

 

Are you selling Popey Smurf. He is bound to receive offers in the summer, at a time when he is out of contract and Vale get nothing. Is it not best to sell him now? 100k is nothing to be sniffed at surely, as a minimum the value we are looking at?