Port Vale 0 - Barnsley - Post Match Comments

[smithie]

Song for Theo, to the tune of Mrs Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel

 

"God help us please Theo Robinson, why you're on the pitch

I'll never know, whoa whoa whoa"

[Guest]

My ratings .

Alnwick 3 nowt do how does a free kick go straight in it was a abject goal.

Purkiss 6

Duffy 6

Innis 6

Dicko 7

Foley 7

O'connor 5 Is free kick summed his performance up .

Grant 7

Dodds 7

Hooper 3 I'm sorry lad that wasn't good enough ,u ain't won a header in fact u won nowt .

AJLS 5 Rusty goalie made a fine save from him and another situation when all he had to do was lob the ball over the goalie but somehow mimicked into the ground.

Subs

Robinson 4

Kelly 7

Brown 8 took over the midfield was brilliant and on one occasion when there goalie rolled the ball there full back won the ball superbly .

Attendance from a Vale point of view ,shocking but it's unfortunately the reward for the no show v Burton .

The seasons work was ruined that afternoon not this afternoon where lady luck has deserted the Vale .

[ginge]

Song for Theo, to the tune of Mrs Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel

 

"God help us please Theo Robinson, why you're on the pitch

I'll never know, whoa whoa whoa"

 

Totally agree. Robinson has made zero impact other than one soft goal and although Uche isnt perfect he was a much better option. I don't know why page bothered bringing him on over kennedy, or Kelly sooner.

[Birches Head Fred]

Could have easily won today and things would be looking quite different but the inability to actually get shots on target showed us up for what we are.

 

Those last 30 minutes it seemed like we had some kind of competition going on to see who could get closest to the goal without actually being on target!

 

Close but no cigar but that seems to be the story of our season and we can all see just where we have fallen short. Hopefully the Chairman and Manager (assuming they are both still here at the end of the season) will have learnt a great deal from this year and act accordingly for next years attempt at promotion.

 

We really haven't been too far short of a team capable of the play-offs but sadly both off-field, on-field and even on the terraces we are just short of our goal. How we go forward will really depend on the next 2/3 months.

 

There was plenty of effort today and I really thought we were a better side than Barnsley - we were the only team interested in trying to win the game but unfortunately there's no justice in football and at the end of the day a combination of poor refereeing and quality in the final third left us pointless for only the 3rd time at home.

 

Not all doom and gloom and hopefully we can now finally give up on this deluded idea of promotion this season and instead look to build for next year in the few remaining games left.

[bookworm]

The season has been a catalogue of off field errors from start to finish and they have got their just desserts. The resources were there to have done so much better, which is what is so infuriating.

 

couldn't have put it better myself.

[bookworm]

Totally agree with that.

 

That retained list bites regularly which is such a shame as Page has proven he has an eye for a decent player. Hopefully he will learn from these mistakes next season, quality over quantity please!

 

well the penny hasn't dropped yet me ewd tater.

[bookworm]

Can't fault the lads efforts today, should have got something from the game but bad goalkeeping again cost us and some awful referring as well. I don't know why the free was made to be retaken again but regardless of that there is no way the ball should have ended up in the goal, 3 games running Jak has been at fault for a goal.

 

I still don't know why their defender wasn't red carded when AJ was through, I couldn't see the other defender getting across in time, should have gone for that. Second half there was only one team in it, had enough chance to win 3 games let alone 1.

 

There were so many good balls going in as well today and no one to get on the end of them. It makes what the manager said a few weeks back look even more foolish when he said we don't need a striker. If he came out with we haven't got money then fair enough but 4000 Vale fans could see a decent striker out there today, we would have ended with a win.

 

unfortunately page talks through his ****.

[bookworm]

What really confuses me is that there was 3 wingers in the squad today (Moore, Kennedy and Kelly) and not one of them started. Instead we had Dodds and Foley on either side who aren't wingers, they are more central players. From the first minute I thought we were crying out for someone who could actually run at their defence and let's be honest Dodds isn't going to do that. Then it was something like the 75th minute when he brought Kelly on which was way too late. I'm actually still confused as to why he didn't start at least one of these wingers?

 

I think he's just clueless.

[Portvale4]

I think he's just clueless.

I don't particulary think he's clueless! I believe if we added 3/4 more away wins he would be a very sought-after manager, as the home record is tremendous! However, sometimes he does let himself down with the team selection, substitutes and the away record! But, I firmly think he's a very talented manager who we should keep for the future (I know a lot who will disagree).

[Bucknall Rob]

I don't particulary think he's clueless! I believe if we added 3/4 more away wins he would be a very sought-after manager, as the home record is tremendous! However, sometimes he does let himself down with the team selection, substitutes and the away record! But, I firmly think he's a very talented manager who we should keep for the future (I know a lot who will disagree).

 

The manager still has a lot to learn for me and I am still undecided about him, I know we are mid table but have results this season under him improved that much compared to last season. He got us 49 points from 38 games, averages 1.29 points a game, this year 56 points from 40 games, averages 1.40 points a game, not a massive difference and last year we had that run of 1 win in 11 towards the end of the season. The league is poorer compared to last year, Millwall and Wigan aside still I haven't been impressed having witnessed all 40 games.

[The_godfather]

Of course Page has a lot to learn, but he's only 18 months into his managerial career, so you would expect that. The team has improved since last year, so progress has been made. The problem is that the nature of turnover in the lower leagues means that generally you can't build over 2-3 seasons unless you can keep the core of a side together, which is difficult for a club like us. Which means rebuilding half a side every season from odds and ends available, and trying to be competitive. It can be done, but is clearly the exception, rather than the rule, so people need to be realistic.

 

I only listened to the game, certainly there was a lack of a 'natural' winger in the first half, but given that we also didn't have a striker/s in the box attacking the balls that were coming in, that is only 1 of the problems. We've got enough wingers in the squad, with Kelly, Kennedy, Moore & Andoh, which should be the 'bums off seats' players that people want to see. When people say that we miss Pope, they are probably right. Not necessarily Pope himself, but someone physical who can occupy the big bruising centre backs you get in this league, in order to allow space around for your quicker players, like AJ, to exploit. You need a balanced squad with a variety of physicality, pace, goals from midfield and defence to be successful. We don't have that at the moment, which is why we are not quite there.

 

For those that say that the retained list was a problem, or moan about individual players (like Kelly earlier in the season), you need role players, guys like Kelly, or Hooper, or like Williamson or Rob Taylor in the past that could come on after 70 mins and do something to impact the game - our problem is that perhaps we have too many players like that, and that they aren't used in the right way anyway. That being said - over the past 3-4 season we've done pretty much everything that people on here that we should have done to look at players - get bolters in from nonleague, take youngsters on loan, get ex Prem academy players - not all of them will work out. Personally I would definitely gave Page another year to shape the team how he wants to, & see how we go. I don't expect promotion any season in League 1; if we get it, it's because we've hit upon the right formula at the right time to succeed; I think Page deserves another crack at finding it, although I don't fancy his chances given the constraints he will probably be under.

[old sage]

Why can't we do a Burton?

No we will be just gone for a Burton.

[carpetman123]

If we had got an extra 2-3 away wins this year that would have made the difference the miss by AJ at Oldham, the two missed Pens at home V peterborough, the domination without the second goal at Shrewsbury, all come down to what we all know is that we haven't had a decent 20 goal seasoned striker, hopefully that will be put right next season and Page really needs to get his retained list right at the end of the season.

 

As we all know though his thinking is nothing like what the fans are thinking and i.m sure he will astound us all in the coming weeks!!

[smithie]

unfortunately page talks through his ****.

 

Really? In what way? Can you give me some examples?

 

I'm all ears for constructive comments.

[Ben]

If we had got an extra 2-3 away wins this year that would have made the difference the miss by AJ at Oldham, the two missed Pens at home V peterborough, the domination without the second goal at Shrewsbury, all come down to what we all know is that we haven't had a decent 20 goal seasoned striker, hopefully that will be put right next season and Page really needs to get his retained list right at the end of the season.

 

As we all know though his thinking is nothing like what the fans are thinking and i.m sure he will astound us all in the coming weeks!!

 

I am looking now for Norman to astound us in a positive way not Rob Page when he is given his budget for next season then we can judge him but if he is given a reasonable one I have no worries with RP