Sat 23rd Jan 2016, Port Vale v Bradford City, pre-match comments, the match itself

[Fosse69]

Weather permitting, we have a chance of playing at home this Saturday for the first time this year, otherwise it will be a wait for February to see our heroes at Vale Park. Maybe the chance of a new face, at least our prospects for points are usually better at home, as is our performance.

[Tenement Funster]

This is a tough game for a team selection. I'm pretty confident Page won't change too much as his excuse will be Millwall was a one off with bad defending. For me though I'd change it tremendously as I haven't been convinced by any performance we've put in for a bit now.

 

..............................Alnwick...........................

 

Purkiss..............Duffy.........Inniss.............Dickinson

 

Dodds..............O'Connor.....Brown.............Foley

 

.........................Hooper......Ajay............................

 

 

Now that isn't a formation or selection I'd usually pick but Moore, Daniel and Kelly all do not deserve starts for me. Generally all been rubbish bar Moore's cross at Blackpool and Kelly's goal versus Bury. Two moments of quality don't excuse 89 minutes of averageness or less. It also means Dodds and Foley aren't really proper wingers supplying two forwards but it would mean that although we're only playing four in midfield it could help keep us a little more solid in there. If we do sign Banton then that could be an option longer term but there's no chance he'll start.

 

It's also incredibly harsh on McGivern but dropping the skipper to move him to left back wouldn't sit too comfortably with me as one thing I have against McGivern is his distribution. I wouldn't be against it though.

 

Finally it's a flexible formation as Foley could push inside and Dodds move up front into a 4-3-3 to perhaps make us a bit more unpredictable.

[valiant_593]

Alnwick

 

Purkiss

Inniss

Streete

Mcgivern

 

Dodds

O'connor

Grant

Foley

 

Jj

Aj

[rsb]

Neil

 

Purkiss

Duffy

Streete

Mcgivern

 

O'Conner

Grant

brown

Foley

 

Jjh

Ajls

[valeblue]

A must win me thinks if we want to keep up with the play off places and hard away games coming up , TBH though every away game is hard!

[ginge]

Neil

 

Purkiss

Duffy

Streete

Mcgivern

 

O'Conner

Grant

brown

Foley

 

Jjh

Ajls

Not sure playing 4 central midfielders will work. Will give us minimal width apart from Foley. Harsh dropping alnwick too

[colin]

ALNWICK

 

Purkiss

Duffy

Inniss

McGivern

 

Dodds

O Connor

Grant

Foley/Banton if signs

 

JJ

Ajay

[ginge]

I think JJ needs to start for this one. He's actually had enough time from the bench to make an impact and he can't do much more than score a goal. So he deserves a start to show what he can do. I think him and ajay should partner upfront because Ajay has been too isolated up front on his own and is chasing shadows. Campion came on against Bradford last season and scored and we all got excited thinking he could be our next regular goalscorer but that didn't happen so I hope with JJ that there is some potential. We'll have to wait and see.

[Fosse69]

Sunny in Burslem at present? Some rain on Friday is forecast, but fair chance of a game?

[Guppy 4 England]

This is a tough game for a team selection. I'm pretty confident Page won't change too much as his excuse will be Millwall was a one off with bad defending. For me though I'd change it tremendously as I haven't been convinced by any performance we've put in for a bit now.

 

..............................Alnwick...........................

 

Purkiss..............Duffy.........Inniss.............Dickinson

 

Dodds..............O'Connor.....Brown.............Foley

 

.........................Hooper......Ajay............................

 

 

Now that isn't a formation or selection I'd usually pick but Moore, Daniel and Kelly all do not deserve starts for me. Generally all been rubbish bar Moore's cross at Blackpool and Kelly's goal versus Bury. Two moments of quality don't excuse 89 minutes of averageness or less. It also means Dodds and Foley aren't really proper wingers supplying two forwards but it would mean that although we're only playing four in midfield it could help keep us a little more solid in there. If we do sign Banton then that could be an option longer term but there's no chance he'll start.

 

It's also incredibly harsh on McGivern but dropping the skipper to move him to left back wouldn't sit too comfortably with me as one thing I have against McGivern is his distribution. I wouldn't be against it though.

 

Finally it's a flexible formation as Foley could push inside and Dodds move up front into a 4-3-3 to perhaps make us a bit more unpredictable.

 

I would go with that. Its worrying though that at the start of the season we had a great first choice 11 , now were scraping the barrel looking for players.

[Paul6754]

Sunny in Burslem at present? Some rain on Friday is forecast, but fair chance of a game?

 

Hope so, will be my first in the flesh (so to speak) in nearly 12 months.

[Bucknall Rob]

I don't think this will be the team but mine would be;

 

Alnwick

Purkiss

Innis

McGivern

Dickinson

Moore

Grant

Foley

Banton (Kelly if Banton not signed)

AJ

JJ

 

The start of the season produced our best performances with Grant and Foley in the centre of midfield, lets try this again, for me O'Connor has not been at last season's level.

 

Duffy was excellent at the start of the season, however for me in the last month McGivern has been our best defender and would keep him in the side.

 

The left side is a worry, Dickinson was awful at Millwall but had very little help from Daniel and Kelly, it is a real worry about the wingers we have when people are suggesting we play Dodds on the wing.

[TheSage]

We're almost in agreement Rob but I might put Dodds in before Kelly because the latter is still too lightweight for me, despite a cracking goal recently.

Bradford are usually a big, strong, hard working outfit and if Hanson plays we'll need Inniss.

I can't argue with your logic regarding McGivern and the midfield lads.

[Santa]

Bradford have been taken to extra time tonight against ten man Bury.

[rsb]

Not sure playing 4 central midfielders will work. Will give us minimal width apart from Foley. Harsh dropping alnwick too

 

I dare say playing four central midfielders but what have our wide men done no service to ajls not helping fulbacks and why not give neil a go freshen the team up a bit the system could be 1 4 1 3 2