Much better

[Yukon]

I'm glad this had been raised as it has crossed my mind to, Brown may have failed as a manager, but he certainly had an eye for a good player, Worral would be my player of season so far...

 

Oh come on! Brown threw a handful of darts at a board and some went in. He had an eye for nothing and just signed who he could, hence the oversized, unbalanced squad.

[Erniemossrules]

I'm glad this had been raised as it has crossed my mind to, Brown may have failed as a manager, but he certainly had an eye for a good player, Worral would be my player of season so far...

 

Brown was obsessed with centre backs and wingers.With a squad of 35 players he picked his team out of a hat and still couldnt get a win because of his negative tactics to make us hard to beat but couldn't score.With so many players he must have been lucky enough to sign the odd nugget that Aspin has polished and organised into a winning team.The amazing thing is how much more Aspin has done with the same players and improved them beyond recognition.Only a couple of signings needed in January as I am sure Aspin won't want to rock the boat by upsetting his settled team by bringing too many new players in.

The available good players will be small and he needs to rid out the dead wood first.One player I would love to see in Vale colours is Danny Rowe from Fylde as he would definitely improve the team and has an eye for goal.

[Another shropshire valiant]

That is the beauty of opinions, we all have a different one.... but ultimately we all want Vale to do well.... UTV

[valiant steve]

Since Aspo took charge we rarely lose and we win over half the time. Long may it continue. Barmy Army. PVFC.

[Shropshire_Valiant]

Tend to agree with the majority, Brown was a shocking manager and there certainly isn't much credit in putting together a squad of 35 and being in the bottom 3 even if some of them may turn out (half)decent players for us in the long run. I can't bring myself to have much regard for the bloke as his teams and selections were taking us on a one way ticket to non league!

As Andy says it's a bit of a hit and hope approach where law of averages suggests at least some are going to be ok even if the some aren't up to it. Having said that I do see what ASV is saying, a little like with Sinnott he may have been a crap manager but he did sign quite a few players who Adams ultimately made a good team out of.

Aspin may yet do the same but that's football and shows there are 2 sides at least to management!

[geosname]

The skill of a manager doesnt rest with the "good" players he signs but with what he can do with them when he has signed them.

When brown made his signings he couldnt construct a team of any worth no matter how he tried [and he did try] so the signings were not the best.

Along comes aspin and with the players that had "failed to impress" constructs a "team" that has unity and spirit.

The players have not changed, the way they play/think/react has... thats what makes a player good... or not

[nightmare in a damaged bra]

It’s quite simple really.Its basic football.Its called....roll up your sleeves,run the extra yard,first to the ball,early ball and work hard for one another.As most in other vocations it’s simply called graft.

[ollyandpatch]

The thing that stuck in my head is that Aspin said after his first game against Grimsby that he wanted all the players to work as hard off the ball as on it. I believe that's the big improvement.

[ollyandpatch]

For the record we are currently 5th in the 'form' table. Luton are clear top.

[TylerB]

We have had a few good players at this level all season. But they, along with the rest of the squad, were being managed by someone that was in way over his head and should never have been offered the job under any circumstances whatsoever in the first place. Some of us saw this much sooner than others, but that is somewhat irrelevant now. I don't see Aspin performing miracles as some are, but he's a proper football man and a proper footballing manager that has learned the game by managing teams much lower down and doing it the right way. He's done a terrific job so for, with one or two expected slip ups here and there, and if Smurf (who despite his past SHOULD be given credit for bringing in Aspin and Rudge) gets it right in regards to what players Neil can bring in this January and especially next summer then we'll be back in League One before long, of that there can be little doubt.

 

Which brings me to January. If we can sign a couple of players who will actually add something to the first-team, a late play-off push may not be completely out of the question. It's happened before on a number of occasions and will happen again. Why can't it be us? The way things have gone in the league under Aspin we're currently set for a very comfortable mid-table finish. With a bit more quality in the final third we can win plenty of games between now and May. I always thought we have a very competitive starting 11 if everyone is available for this league, as shown below. But our issue is and has been that we're an unbalanced side that is week in certain areas, particularly in the middle of the park which is arguably the most important area of the pitch, being the engine room.

 

Lainton

 

Gibbons

Anderson

Smith

Gunning

 

Harness

Kay

Pugh

Worrall

 

Whitfield

 

Pope

 

That looks like a very decent 11 to me. But injuries and suspensions will always happen, like they are right now, and if we're missing Whitfield, or God forbid Pope, then it can make such a huge difference to the team. I think another energetic, box-to-box midfielder should be on the list for January, and perhaps another forward (hopefully another Alex Jones!) as I'm not sold on Barnett and you can never put too much faith in Forrester despite him having a bit of ability. Turner is still very much learning the game, although promising.

 

Luton will be a very tough test and are the best team in the league by a distance. But I expect us to give them a game, even if we don't take the 3 points. And that's testament to the fantastic job that Aaspin has done in his few months at the club.

[valefan16]

If we can get a point out the next two which wouldn’t be the end of the world considering we then have two huge games against FGR and Yeovil... win those and we should be comfortable and can eye up the top seven.

 

Six or Seven more wins should keep us up so get those chalked off quickly and we will see what time is left to push on for the top 7.

 

Bookies now offering 33/1 on us going down.

[Shropshire_Valiant]

Agree with Tyler. If Aspin can add 2 or 3 in January to give us that cutting edge you never know. It's also important we hold on to Whitfield and if Harness keeps improving they are both positive players with energy which you need to do well in this league who knows? You'd like to think Regis will be like a new signing in the engine room too and based on his debut at least he seems to have something.

I think it might be key who can be shipped out. It seems two of the long term loanees will be on the way back, will De Freitas be moved on and the pointless signings of Middleton and Wilson must be candidates. We shall see.

 

Sent from my [device_name] using the http://onevalefan mobile app

[CambridgeDon]

For the record we are currently 5th in the 'form' table. Luton are clear top.

 

Yes, a fantastic position to be in given our start to the season.

 

If you take it all the way back to the beginning of October, when Aspo took over, then I think we're in 4th spot and that includes the defeat by Grimsby when he had hardly any chance to influence the team.

 

https://www.twtd.co.uk/league-tables/competition:league-two/form/matches:13/type:home-and-away/

 

Looking at that table, Luton's away form is formidable:

 

P7 W5 D2 L0 GF17 GA4 Points 17 (out of 21)

 

I don't think though that Aspo will be phased by that, he will be relishing the challenge. We may not win but, by goodness, we'll make their eyes water