Crewe A 0 Port Vale 0, post match comments

[cpade]

Did any of you moaners actually go the game ?? We played some great stuff, much improved on last couple of seasons

[CAVALIER]

Not after today Andy. Page is on the tight rope as far as I'm concerned. He went for nils after 75 mins.

[cpade]

Not after today Andy. Page is on the tight rope as far as I'm concerned. He went for nils after 75 mins.

 

By bring Enoch on ?

[Howjy04]

I'm not happy with today's performance looks like we're gonna struggle for goals which is no supprise really, it's a flip side of last season but at least it justifies my decision not waste money on a season ticket this year but not the end of the world today we'll see.

 

Stop at home.

[Howjy04]

By bring Enoch on ?

 

Their right back's head must be still spinning.

[Twitters]

A million times better than last season. Bar for one scramble late in the first half, Crewe never looked like threatening us. Purkiss was excellent at right back, a really good find. Grant was superb in midfield and Crewe missed him badly.

 

Moore had a really good game on the right, but I have no idea who was on the left, we had no width there. Not sure about Foley and Kelly yet. Uche looked isolated a lot of the time. Dodds was playing too deep and was slow to join in attacks.

 

Special word for the referee who was awful. We were denied a stonewall penalty in the first half and how he missed Ray constantly pulling Uche to the floor I will never know. The linesman in front of us couldn't keep up with play either.

 

If it wasn't for our poor finishing and Ben Garrett we would have won 3 or 4 nil easily.

 

A big transformation but still a long way to go.

 

Oh and we need to work on our set pieces when O'Connor is out!

[Warren]

Not lost and kept a clean sheet. Points like this instead of nothing will make quite a difference at the end of the season. Although Crewe are a relegation threatened club the derby makes it a more difficult fixture for us.

[tommytunstall]

We will see how Crewe perform in the next few weeks. Methinks teams will do better against them than we did.

Not lost and kept a clean sheet. Points like this instead of nothing will make quite a difference at the end of the season. Although Crewe are a relegation threatened club the derby makes it a more difficult fixture for us.

[DaneValiant]

We just need to stop kicking the ball at the ****** keeper while he is lying on the ground! At least we were creating chances for people to pass it straight into the beached goalkeeper I suppose

[mbycars]

I'm not happy with today's performance looks like we're gonna struggle for goals which is no supprise really, it's a flip side of last season but at least it justifies my decision not waste money on a season ticket this year but not the end of the world today we'll see.

 

Did you go today? There was nothing wrong with the performance, we outplayed Crewe all game and with a bit of luck would have won. Our keeper never had a save to make. The back four looked strong and the midfield held the ball up and moved it around well. The Crewe fans and management were greatly relieved at the end. There's definitely more movement around the opposition box and give this side a few more games together and I think the goals will come.

[Tenement Funster]

A lot of overreactions on here and on the radio. To start with Crewe defended better than I've seen them do for a long time. Garratt, Nugent and Rae as a trio in the spine of their defence stood firm against our forward line and completely mistake free meant we didn't have much of a sniff. As for ourselves our back line and keeper were almost perfect. Alnwick didn't have much to do but what he did he did well and the four in front were assured and played it out well. The midfield controlled 80% of the game and were calm on the ball and tough in the defensive side of the game. Up top we looked a little toothless and it is obvious Dodds and Ikpeazu are probably not going to get goals as we probably need an out and out goalscorer to play alongside Uche and not play a number 10 in behind him. If we can sort this out (and I am lead to believe it is a possibility of another signing) then we should be a strong side this year and comfortably in midtable if not much higher up.

 

Alnwich - 7 - Assured, confident and did what he had to do well.

Purkiss - 8 - Excellent debut and looks a class above anything we've had there for a long time. Defended superbly, got forward well and looks a strong addition to the side.

Dickinson - 7 - A couple of misplaced passes aside he had a faultless game. Got forward well and was very strong defensively.

Streete - 8 - A composed, strong and intelligent performance from a very good footballer. Some excellent passing work first half too.

Duffy - 8 - One of his best performances in a Vale shirt, particularly in the air as for a smaller defender he was up against some big strikers.

Moore - 8 - First half would have been a 9/10, second half he did fade a little but he was so dangerous with the ball and looked a threat.

Kelly - 6 - Some good snippets from the young lad but he did seem to struggle to get into the game consistently. Promising.

Grant - 9 - Class act. Not seen a Vale midfielder so comfortable on the ball under pressure in a long time.

Foley - 7 - Worked hard, used the ball well although not as creative as we'd probably have liked.

Dodds - 6 - Unfortunately missed two very good chances and his link up play was very hit and miss. Must do better if he has any chance of retaining the shirt.

Ikpeazu - 7 - Bullied, hassled, made of a nuisance of himself but rarely looked like troubling the goal too much. Needs a partner.

 

Andoh - 7 - Not on for too long but definitely had an impact against a tiring defence. Lots of potential here.

Brown - 7 - Added some much needed legs mid way through the second half and did some good things on the ball.

Leitch-Smith - 6 - Won a good flick on to nearly set up Dodds but otherwise I think we made life a bit too easy for the Alex in the final moments by taking Uche off for him. Not convinced he's the answer to our problems from today and pre-season but we shall see.

[ollyandpatch]

Sat in the main stand listening to the Crewe fans moaning about being outplayed. Guy at half time said if they get a point out of this it will be a miracle !

Summed the day up for me, better in every department.

[rayzer]

I also that that Page closed shop instead of going for it. He brought Brown on alongside Grant, so effectively two ball winners in front of the back four so the link between defence and the forward line was cut off. In my opinion he should have replaced Foley with Daniel. I am sure we could then have actually won the game with Andoh on his own frightening the life out of Crewe's back line.

[Tenement Funster]

Birchall

Yates

Lloyd

Johnson

 

out

 

Poaching fwd in

 

 

Dodds is NOT a striker and relying on him to score goals is suicide.

 

It shouldn't be Dodds getting stick on RS, it should be Page for his mental illness inspired retained list.

 

I agree with a chunk of that. The retention of Birchall in particular is looking silly now with Andoh, Moore, Daniel, Kelly and possibly even Foley ahead of him. Had we not signed Birchall we may have had a little more in the budget so that shipping out say Johnson, Lloyd and Campion on loan may have free up what we needed.

[ValeMadrid87]

I agree with a chunk of that. The retention of Birchall in particular is looking silly now with Andoh, Moore, Daniel, Kelly and possibly even Foley ahead of him. Had we not signed Birchall we may have had a little more in the budget so that shipping out say Johnson, Lloyd and Campion on loan may have free up what we needed.

 

two more strikers and we will be fine in all areas?

 

didn't attend as i couldnt get a ticket but bbc seem to think we dominated in all areas apart from up front...