Bradford City 1 Port Vale 0, post match comments

[Magicman]

I think we need a reality check here. We knew this day would come sooner or later. Ok would have preferred it to be later, but the key is how we recover from this, and learn from our mistakes. VTID

[the_tench]

this was always going to happen with a woefully imbalanced squad,gonna be a long season despite the pretty football

[saintvaliant]

Bit of a reality check.

 

The subs smacked of settling for a point and it backfired. Page has to learn those lessons.

 

Birchall shouldn't be anywhere near the bench let alone the pitch and Kelly looks way short on the basis of his competitive appearances.

 

The decision to bring a midfielder in yesterday, and then not use him, when we are crying out for another forward threat looks an odd one.

[Regal Beagle]

I'm sorry but we are Port Vale not Chelsea or Man City.

 

We can't afford 2 first team quality players for every position. We took a premier league team 120 minutes 4 days ago and we were always going to be affect by that.

[carl]

Maybe not offering Pope enough money was a bad mistake after all??

[jeffers]

If we had taken our chances there would not be the over reaction. Not singling any one player as goals should come from all departments. I do agree however the biggest disappointment was the subs, I keep reading about subs being impact players....really!

[TylerB]

Maybe not offering Pope enough money was a bad mistake after all??

 

Let's not pretend that Pope is prolific at League One level.

[keeled56]

Typical Vale,build us all up only to knock us back down again we shouldnt be surprised should we,never mind we go again on Tuesday.

[butt lane vale fan]

Maybe not offering Pope enough money was a bad mistake after all??

 

No thanks.

[CambridgeDon]

Too true and early in the season, I am sure Norman and Page know that goals are in short supply. Options in the club have to be tried, if not successful a goal scorer will have to be brought in or we settle for mid-table.

 

I hope they do know that. It was only a few weeks ago that Page said we had plenty of goals in the side, a serious misjudgement in my view. This week we've signed yet another midfield player (and don't get me wrong, he looks very promising) yet we are crying out for a goalscorer. My worry is that Page will stubbornly stick to what he has in the hope that it will eventually work.

 

However, if we don't address it soon, the risk is that the team will simply become demoralised by playing opponents off the park, keeping clean sheets or conceding a single goal and having nothing to show for it. It's early days but it's pretty obvious that we need strengthening up front. The sooner the better in my view.

[Jinkin John Jeffers]

Maybe not offering Pope enough money was a bad mistake after all??

 

I wondered how long it would be until somebody came up with that ludicrous comment

[Shropshire_Valiant]

Reality check me thinks!

Unfortunately this is where Page lets himself down as a manager, he clearly has his favourites in the substitute department whether they are likely to make an impact or not. That is poor and bad management(last season was largely the same!) He brings on a combination of Leitch-Smith, Birchall, Kelly, Brown or Daniel(instead of either of the former 2) in every match. The others rarely get a look in. What is the point in having a squad of players if you don't at least rotate the bench and/or your subs a little? You're not going to tell me the likes of Hooper, Campion don't at least deserve a spot on the bench ahead of the likes of Birchall, when we are short of recognise strikers, do me a favour!! And one may make an impact in a close game. At worst he could have thrown Colin Daniel up top, who knows?

I agree with sv above McCourt takes Brown's place on the bench yet doesn't get on the pitch, a strange move as I'd say Brown offers more than Birchall again despite his age!

[For Us All]

We just can't seem to get it right can we,we've finally sorted the defence out at the expense of our attack.

[melv]

Maybe not offering Pope enough money was a bad mistake after all??

 

….. and maybe it was.

[CAVALIER]

It's over, now for the next game.

Poor subs are due to the awful retained list and when we need a striker we sign a midfielder.