Matchday Thread : Port Vale v Oxford United

[keeled56]

Can't see there being 3000 for this one!!

 

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[CambridgeDon]

I'm 99% sure it will be the same formation and personnel but I wonder if trying 3.5.2 would be a better way to go, particularly if we're still missing Forrester & Thomas, though hopefully Foley will be back.

Steete, Smith and Knops looks balanced in the centre

Purkiss and Hart as wing backs. Both could do that job. Purkiss' attacking ability edges out MacIntosch although the latter was good last night.

A midfield three of Grant, Foley + DeFreitas/Amoros I'd go for, before Tavares.

And then two up top. My choice would be Cecilia and Jones but two bodies of whatever description would surely help us to look a bit more potent and not toothless.

On paper I would argue that this formation better suits our current players.

 

I think there's a lot to be said for 3-5-2 though I think it would work better away from home rather than at Vale Park where the size of the pitch means we would be vulnerable on the flanks.

 

The point that would win a lot of support is that we would be much better, with the players we've got, if we played two up front. I can't really understand Bruno's reluctance to play with two as it seems to have worked so much better when we've gone for it in the later stages of the game. Playing 4-3-3 takes some getting used to and needs players that we don't have at the moment, whether that's because of injury or players not yet ready.

 

Bruno said he would consider changing it at some point and, after the poor performances of recent weeks (except for MK), I think now would be a good time to do it. Jones, in particular would thrive playing up front, through the middle, alongside another forward. A few goals on on Saturday would do wonders for morale.

[For Us All]

You and Ramant Zebra must of really hated the start we had to the season

 

With Michael they make up the '3 WUMS'.Always good for a laugh though. 😁

[Guest]

There isnt a lot of players we can choose from but if somehow foley and Thomas r fit id go with this as iwas alarmed at our defending as a team first half v Charlton .

Alnwick

Purkiss Mcintosh Smith Knopps

foley Grant Amoros Thomas

Cecilia Jones

High line defend when needs be from the front ,if grant doesnt move the ball quickly replace with Mbamba or streete even try Purkiss in central midfield as he can pass the ball .

If foley and thomas dont make it id go .

Alnwick

Purkiss Streete Smith Hart

Mbamba Grant Amoros Tavares Kelly

Cecilia

the 5 in midfield allows the wingers to get up with Cecilia and hopefully like guppy and Mccarthy used to do so supply the lad with good quality balls in .

Tbh the energy level has got to be better than what ive witnessed lately ,and the tempo defo needs to be upped ten fold .

[Rampant Zebra]

With Michael they make up the '3 WUMS'.Always good for a laugh though. 😁

 

I am not a WUM, I am just really disappointed with the direction the club is heading in though. I have never been one to say "that was the worst performance I have ever seen at Vale" but let's face it we were not very good on Tuesday night and were unbelievably lucky to get the draw. The keeper almost saved the penalty and I don't think Charlton could have come any closer to scoring than the effort which hit the bar and looked like it had gone over the line. If we had gone 2 nil down that would have finished us. I have nothing against foreign players at all but being foreign doesn't make them somehow better than British players. Players are either good enough or not, regardless of their background, status and ethnic origin but most of our new signings are not good enough to compete regularly at league 1 level. I am hoping for an emphatic win against Oxford as we need another 29 points to be safe from relegation. Easy to say we can have a plan B in January but it is not that easy to just buy another team. Clubs will only want to sell players who are surplus to their requirements. We might get lucky with some players who are just not settled at the their current club but usually prices are high in January to allow for the panic buying by desperate clubs who are not doing well. If we sell Smith and Grant leaves I don't know how we will do. I would really like to see all this work out and us make ot to the Championship but I don't have any confidence based on results so far.

[Tenement Funster]

Not a clue what our best side going into this game is. I'd be tempted to go (if fit):

 

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

 

Mac-Intosch.....Streete..Smith...........Knops

 

Foley..........Tavares.....Grant.........Pereira

 

...............Cicilia...Jones.................

 

Hart was poor Tuesday and so was Pato. Reggie may not have been incredible in games but he's changed the dynamics of the side coming off the bench so would be nice to see him start with a support striker. As for the wingers we ain't got no decent ones fit really so we'd probably end up quite narrow but if Thomas and De Freitas are on the bench it's another option.

[Santa]

Referee announced: Ben Toner

 

It will be the first Vale game he's refereed, but he did run the line a couple of seasons ago at Fleetwood away, awarding a penalty against Ryan McGivern. At the time he was a teacher at the local school in Fleetwood.

[markpvfc]

Referee announced: Ben Toner

 

It will be the first Vale game he's refereed, but he did run the line a couple of seasons ago at Fleetwood away, awarding a penalty against Ryan McGivern. At the time he was a teacher at the local school in Fleetwood.

 

He was the ref for our defeat at Scunthorpe at the end of last season. He was also 4th official on Tuesday night.

[For Us All]

Referee announced: Ben Toner

 

It will be the first Vale game he's refereed, but he did run the line a couple of seasons ago at Fleetwood away, awarding a penalty against Ryan McGivern. At the time he was a teacher at the local school in Fleetwood.

 

Never mind,I suppose it could have been worse,it might have been Ben Dover? 😰

[TheSage]

Hart had a bit of a mixed game the other night but to be fair most of them did.

I'm beginning to have a few doubts about Tavares who looks increasingly one-paced and one dimensional, but my main point was about Hart. I think I'm right in saying that he took a lot of the free kicks from the right wing, swinging them in with his left foot. The two he put over in the second half were Premiership quality, as good as you'll see, right on the edge of the six yard box, out of the keeper's reach. I'm prepared to cut him a little bit of slack because he's only 19 and has started, what, about 4 league games in his whole career. He's also a left back, not a winger. It must be very hard for him but I wish he was our player. I think he's got bags of potential with the right players around him. He works very hard and covers a lot of ground, but if you had played in the Vale's last four games you'd be running around a lot because we've been so poor and have struggled to hold on to the ball. For young lads like him, and Jones, it really is a huge learning curve.

[davidatpreston]

Never mind,I suppose it could have been worse,it might have been Ben Dover?

 

There really was a Ben Dover who was a Tory MP (had to be, really) for the picturesque hamlet of Chorley (twinned with Aleppo) in my younger days. He progressed to be a Tory MEP and changed his name to DEN Dover, but then bent a little too far, and was disgraced according to this Telegraph report:-

-------------------------------------------

Disgraced Tory MEP faces criminal charges

 

A disgraced former Tory MEP faces criminal charges unless he pays back over £345,000 in "misused" staffing expenses paid to a family company in a European Union case that has dwarfed similar Westminster scandals.

 

 

By Bruno Waterfield, Luxembourg

 

2:11PM GMT 24 Mar 2011

 

Den Dover was the Conservative European whip until a scandal over his use of expenses emerged from an investigation in The Daily Telegraph three years ago.

He was expelled from the Tories in Nov 2008 after the European Parliament attempted to recover money that should have funded staff salaries but instead had been put towards family expenses.

Mr Dover, 72, stepped down as an MEP in May 2009 and remains entitled to two publicly funded pensions worth over £35,000 a year for a decade of service in the EU assembly.

 

After refusing to pay back the money and a two year legal battle, EU judges on Thursday ruled that the European Parliament was right to act over Mr Dover's "significant and serious misuse" of expenses. ---------------------------------------

 

[ Chorley is just down the road from me, a place to be avoided, though I did know someone from there whose oft repeated pub story was of the time he invited the aforementioned lovable Mr D to a function, then persuaded him to eat a sandwich of Kit-E-Kat cat food which he had also spat in, telling him it was tuna mayonnaise. Brings a tear to the eye, doesn't it?

[Santa]

There really was a Ben Dover who was a Tory MP (had to be, really) for the picturesque hamlet of Chorley (twinned with Aleppo) in my younger days. He progressed to be a Tory MEP and changed his name to DEN Dover, but then bent a little too far, and was disgraced according to this Telegraph report:-

To be fair I don't think that's the Ben Dover that FUA was referring to.

 

I bet you had fun googling him.

[SFBT]

Formations: there is much talk about this.

I'm no expert, but I do know what I see.

Our current of 4-2-3-1 involves a diamond 'front four' who are miles away from each other.

The personnel are not well suited.

A lone striker has to either hold the ball up or stretch the defence.

The 'no 10' role requires movement in the space behind the striker.

What seems to happen is that Foley has been a third midfielder i.e. played too deep.

There is little room for error with such a set up.

For me, Foley is better suited to an up and down role, which I think he has been doing all season anyway!

So we need a no. 10, who sits in the space.

Tavares and Grant are good ball players; could one of them do it?

Let Foley play his natural game.

So, I'm not sure the current system is at fault, more the way it is being utilised.

[fuzzyvalefan]

Paterson might be better in a front two but he is useless as a lone striker. He cannot hold the ball up long enough for the other attackers. We looked much more of a threat when Cecilia came on- not the first time I've said that this season. Don't see Cecilia scoring too many goals but i think he could be useful as a centre forward. Would like to see him and Jones played together. Without Thomas, i don't think the 3 forwards system works because it lacks the dynamism and pace required. Hart might be a reasonable full back but he is not a winger- can't beat a man for toffee. Assuming Thomas is out, i think we should go 4-4-2.

 

Maybe:

 

 

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

 

Purkiss........Street.....Smith.........Knops

 

De Freitas.....Tavares....Grant......Foley

 

...............Cecilia....Jones.............

[Heatwave]

We looked much more of a threat when Cecilia came on- not the first time I've said that this season.

 

I'd like to see Reg given a run in the side on the evidence of Tuesday night. If he could get a couple of goals and his confidence improves, he could yet be the first name on the team sheet.