Match Thread : Barnet v Port Vale

[PV1973]

You don't even go to the games. All the players have had a drop off in form to varying degress. Some more so than others. But then again these are league 2 players after all, if they were world beaters every week they wouldn't be playing for Port Vale.

 

The only reason Smith and Gibbons have been noticed is because of what they were doing in an attacking sense, when that side of their game hasn't come off then people have jumped on their backs, but for me they've been defensively sound still with very few mistakes between them. Thats a big thing for such inexperienced players at this level.

 

But of all the players I'd be more concerned about how Whitfield has fallen off the face of the earth with his form. Hes been awful. Also the experienced players like Worrall have been up and down, but again thats probably why they're in league two because they can't do it consistently.

 

For me my only criticism of Aspin would be some of the team selections and the chopping and changing, which sometimes I feel has been unnecessary.

[smithie]

You don't even go to the games. All the players have had a drop off in form to varying degress. Some more so than others. But then again these are league 2 players after all, if they were world beaters every week they wouldn't be playing for Port Vale.

 

The only reason Smith and Gibbons have been noticed is because of what they were doing in an attacking sense, when that side of their game hasn't come off then people have jumped on their backs, but for me they've been defensively sound still with very few mistakes between them. Thats a big thing for such inexperienced players at this level.

 

But of all the players I'd be more concerned about how Whitfield has fallen off the face of the earth with his form. Hes been awful. Also the experienced players like Worrall have been up and down, but again thats probably why they're in league two because they can't do it consistently.

 

For me my only criticism of Aspin would be some of the team selections and the chopping and changing, which sometimes I feel has been unnecessary.

 

That's pretty much bang-on. Good to see some reasoned observations rather than the mad black or white/ good or

bad spot judgements that seem to proliferate football forums!

[Portvale4]

Personally I was pleased with a draw last night. The spirt to come back and get a draw is promising. Two draws in two games we couldn’t lose is also very promising. I think we will just stay up because I think Barnet and Chesterfield are worse than us and I can’t see them picking up many more points between now and the end of the season. If we beat Stevenage, and don’t lose to Crewe and Chesterfield I really do believe we will stay up. Also, everyone slating Aspin needs a reality check. If the man keeps us up then he’s a hero in my eyes. He inherited a truly awful squad, wasn’t backed in January and lost key players to other clubs. Oh and don’t forget we have Pope who is out injured. We don’t have a commanding keeper, we don’t have a left back and our central midfielders are truly awful except from Kay but once again he is another key player who is injured. They aren’t Aspins fault, that is all down to the lack of backing from Smurf and Browns recruitment. I don’t blame Aspin one bit for playing one up front because if we played two up front we’d get over run and we don’t have the legs in midfield to cope with that. Like I said if this man keeps us up he will be even more of a hero in my eyes and he should be in all of yours. In Aspin we trust! SMURF OUT!

[SFBT]

It is difficult to maintain decent performances in a struggling side.

Every game is extra hard.

I believe that you cannot separate individuals from the whole team.

All are affected by each other.

For me, I'm so pleased that Monty has found a role.

He looks a decent player, but in a poor side wasn't able to show his worth.

Sadly, we need battlers, flair players are not useful in a poor side.

[Hagrid]

I am 100% blaming Smurf for this shambles, but I struggle to absolve Aspo of literally any blame as others do on here.

 

We haven't won in 11 and have taken 2 points from the 2 worst sides in the league, one of them gifted.

 

I really like the bloke and I think he is a decent manager, just his handling of Whitfield's form (who's confidence seems in tatters), playing Hannant wide left, persevering with Tonge and Pugh, are all quite strange decisions.

 

I'm not forgetting what he did in December with a settled side, and I'm not calling for him to be sacked (I 100% want him to stay on), just that people blindly shouting "he's done no wrong" are being slightly black and white about it.

 

He clearly wasn't backed in the window but for only 1 of his 7 signings to feature regularly in the worst squad of Port Vale's history is slightly worrying.

 

I expect people to fire back with "short memory", "Luton", and "Smurf", as I have done many many times in the past. I'm just saying Aspo is making some strange decisions at the moment and we are on a truly abject run.

 

Still trust him and back him, but stop absolving him of some poor decisions. Hope he learns from this run and we rebuild in the summer. UTV

[SFBT]

Personally I was pleased with a draw last night. The spirt to come back and get a draw is promising. Two draws in two games we couldn’t lose is also very promising. I think we will just stay up because I think Barnet and Chesterfield are worse than us and I can’t see them picking up many more points between now and the end of the season. If we beat Stevenage, and don’t lose to Crewe and Chesterfield I really do believe we will stay up. Also, everyone slating Aspin needs a reality check. If the man keeps us up then he’s a hero in my eyes. He inherited a truly awful squad, wasn’t backed in January and lost key players to other clubs. Oh and don’t forget we have Pope who is out injured. We don’t have a commanding keeper, we don’t have a left back and our central midfielders are truly awful except from Kay but once again he is another key player who is injured. They aren’t Aspins fault, that is all down to the lack of backing from Smurf and Browns recruitment. I don’t blame Aspin one bit for playing one up front because if we played two up front we’d get over run and we don’t have the legs in midfield to cope with that. Like I said if this man keeps us up he will be even more of a hero in my eyes and he should be in all of yours. In Aspin we trust! SMURF OUT!

 

I entered the weekend expecting two defeats.

Grimsby with their new manager and Barnet with their horrible manager.

I thought both would be too much for Vale.

So, two points and one and a half decent performances is very good news for me.

Sure, I would have preferred 4, or even 6 points.

I would actually prefer us to be mid table league one.

But we're not, so we have to take what morsels are available.

[VantaaVale]

Replacement coach just turned up

 

I hope it's not Glover.

[onestepatatime]

Aspin is keeping us out of the bottom 2. OK, we have a disjointed, technically poor Team but most said when Aspin joined us that it would be a miracle if he kept us in League Football and the vast majority off us only wanted that at that stage.

 

I have queried his decisions and tactics and set ups along with all other die hards, but reality suggest that he is working within a very disjointed Club , under the ownership of a non-interested, inadequate, self professed "out of his depth" Smurthwaite.

 

I do not believe anyone other manager would have had an easy ride here at Circus Vale. We have to let Aspin do what he honestly feels best in these harrowing circumstances and IF he does succeed in keeping us within League status then and only then can we give an educated opinion of his managerial know how.

 

If we have to scrap and grind out poor games but get the necessary points, then we have to. What's the alternative with this seriously lacking squad?

 

Experienced, proficient players would not be in Division 2 if they were that good. We need to understand that by our very nature of playing in Division 2 then we are hardly going to watch world beaters or even players that can continually turn out good performances week in, week out.

 

Aspin is the manager. He was wanted by a massive majority of Valiants. He desperately wanted a chance to prove himself in League Football management. At this moment in time, although we are playing absolutely garbage most of the time, we are still better placed than quite a few other poor teams and that is with the knowledge we have the worst playing squad here for many a year.

 

I, for one, am prepared to give Aspin EVERY chance to come good, after he has done what we asked of him in the first place.....keep us in League Football.

[tommytunstall]

How many of us in November would have settled for our current position, we looked dead and buried when Aspo came, but had an unbelievable December.

 

The catalyst for me was another disastrous January window, as always seems the case with Smurthwaite, no need to go into losing half the defence, and not signing players for key positions. Also a loss of form from two of our best players Gibbo and Whitfield. If we are in this position this time next year then questions could be asked of Aspo, but we need stability with a management team, look what it has done for Accrington.

 

What we need next season is a Chairman who is committed to the cause, and the team gets strengthened. The problem we have is Norman Smurthwaite is not that Chairman.

[mr.hobblesworth]

Aspin is one of the reasons the squad is seriously lacking. A good manager would not have seen us flirting with the bottom two. We only got a point at ******* Barnet because their keeper ****** up. The squad that Aspin inherited, with a decent manager, was definitely not a million miles away from mid table or even the play offs. His win % is worse than Ribeiro's.

 

I never said that he would have succeeded by keeping us up as I think a good manager would have easily surpassed that. I think a good manager would have also used the resources at his command - existing players, the budget used for new and loan players in January - far better than Aspin has. BUT... I am hoping he's learning on the job and just wants to get to the end of the season before overhauling the squad (again).

[Santa]

Aspin is one of the reasons the squad is seriously lacking. A good manager would not have seen us flirting with the bottom two. We only got a point at ******* Barnet because their keeper ****** up. The squad that Aspin inherited, with a decent manager, was definitely not a million miles away from mid table or even the play offs. His win % is worse than Ribeiro's.

 

I never said that he would have succeeded by keeping us up as I think a good manager would have easily surpassed that. I think a good manager would have also used the resources at his command - existing players, the budget used for new and loan players in January - far better than Aspin has. BUT... I am hoping he's learning on the job and just wants to get to the end of the season before overhauling the squad (again).

Were all these other good managers knocking down Norman Smurthwaite's door and sending him their CVs in September?

[mr.hobblesworth]

Probably not, presumably because Smurthwaite's a ******** who has made the club toxic. I'm sure we could have got someone who didn't insist on playing Tonge and Pugh together in midfield behind a lone striker though.

[Jacko51]

Probably not, presumably because Smurthwaite's a ******** who has made the club toxic. I'm sure we could have got someone who didn't insist on playing Tonge and Pugh together in midfield behind a lone striker though.

 

Which other manager would have come on minimum wage?

[PV1973]

The point about Tonge and Pugh is that we are playing 2 holding midfielders in front of the back 4 whilst also playing 3 centre halfs (with one of those at right back), thats quite a defensive (some may say negative) formation.

 

Even when we played well back in Aspins early games we had Kay holding with Pugh alongside him. I can't see Aspin changing that philosophy this late in the season either.

 

So I agree to a degree on the downside of playing 2 aging holding midfielders, but who is going to play there if we drop one or both? I haven't seen enough of Middleton and Regis to form an opinion on them, whilst Reeves didn't do much to make an impact in the games he played in earlier on. For all we know we may have tried to get someone in on loan and they wouldn't come. So we'll have to struggle through til the end of the season and reassess it then.

 

FWIW I thought Pugh and Tonge (penalty miss aside) have overall had a decent couple of away games at Grimsby and last night at Barnet.

[mr.hobblesworth]

Which other manager would have come on minimum wage?

 

I have no idea. That's not the point we were discussing though, is it? Unless people want to start defending Aspin because he's cheap...

 

Are you happy with Aspin's managerial career at the Vale so far?