Match Thread: Port Vale v Chesterfield

[onestepatatime]

Tonge and Barnett must be the two slowest players in professional football. Chesterfield allowed the fatal mistake of allowing the ball to bounce in their penalty area first half - TB simply walked away from it instead of running to intercept the bounce!!!!!

 

There’s a reason he got jeered by three sides of the ground when he finally got involved in play a few minutes later. Either horrendously unfit or totally disinterested. You choose, the result is the same.

 

In terms of next year I think our crucial Spine in the team would be Montaño, Smith, Kay, Worrall, Hannant and Pope.

 

I would love to extend Whitfield’s deal for another season.

 

It would be worth trying to get Howkins again.

 

I would take a risk and try for Harness again as long as Burton were paying him. He has slowly gotten better as the season has progressed. What he is currently lacking in experience and developed ability he tries to make up for in effort which stands out a mile when he’s playing alongside grandad Tonge. Three months in the summer of strength training and going through a behaviour correction programme by being zapped by Aspin with a cattle prod every time he takes a touch too many like he does at the moment and I think he has the raw potential to be useful next season.

 

 

 

Agree totally with your "spine " Doha but I have reservations about Harness. Perhaps Aspin can find a more consistent player we can actually buy to bolster the midfield area. We also ,sorry to say, need an experienced keeper PLEASE.

[Doha]

I'm also glad Pope stayed on. I was expecting changes at HT to be Whitfield for Barnett with Hannant going into midfield.

 

Even one up front and isolated, and absolutely knackered from a Hernia operation, his hold up play is excellent. I think his situational awareness and footballing intelligence is definitely underrated by the opposition as when he's got his back to goal, if another forward is making a dangerous run Popey usually spots it and plays through a great ball. Bags of strength and his passing range is also unexpectedly good. Even at his age he is one of the best players in L2 and we are fortunate he is a Vale fan and so will run himself into the ground that little bit harder.

 

I think it was more important to run him into the ground yesterday for 90 minutes to secure 3 points rather than take him off to save him for Crewe. Results wise, yesterday was more important.

 

I am similarly impressed by Kay. Who'd have thought a 35 year old centre half could be so effective in midfield? If he doesn't pack it in and retire this Summer he would well be worth a 1 year deal for next season, anchoring the midfield and sweeping pressure up alongside a younger Hannant or Doug Loft style new centre mid with 90 minute legs.

[davehartshill]

I’ve been critical of Boot but I feel like he might come good. He kept us in the game yesterday and kept us in it at Wycombe. His shot stopping is decent but his kicking and decision making when coming off his line is still a bit off. Granted, it was his kick that set up Whitfield’s winner.

 

Do we have a proper goalkeeping coach at the moment? If not, we need to get one in and if we have one then he needs replacing.

[Doha]

Agree totally with your "spine " Doha but I have reservations about Harness. Perhaps Aspin can find a more consistent player we can actually buy to bolster the midfield area. We also ,sorry to say, need an experienced keeper PLEASE.

 

 

As I say if we don't have to pay much him it might be worth the risk. He needs the upper body strength and situational awareness beaten into him over a full pre-season. He won't do anything for Burton in L1 next season as he doesn't have enough of a footballing brain yet.

 

And agree, we need two. Boot's kicking is awful and I am routinely absolutely terrified when he swings for a clearance when a back pass is played to him - most of the time it travels 50 yards at about two metres off the ground and finds the head/chest of an opposition forward.

 

Some of his theatrics yesterday like the header on the edge of the box and when he left an open goal for the Chesterfield forward to thankfully absolutely spoon his shot were outrageously unacceptable for a professional goalkeeper.

[Walka003]

Isn't it amazing, one win and every player is amazing. We need to keep this momentum and positive feeling going. At the end of the day none of these lads are awful and together they should be at least a top half team. Confidence and circumstances have worked against them thus far, come on Vale!

[valiant_593]

I’ve been critical of Boot but I feel like he might come good. He kept us in the game yesterday and kept us in it at Wycombe. His shot stopping is decent but his kicking and decision making when coming off his line is still a bit off. Granted, it was his kick that set up Whitfield’s winner.

 

Do we have a proper goalkeeping coach at the moment? If not, we need to get one in and if we have one then he needs replacing.

 

Got to disagree on this one. I thought he was hopeless yesterday the one negative in the performance. Made one decent save which a pro keeper should be making. But his kicking in general was pretty damn poor, either kicking goal kicks straight out or smashing it along the floor to the opposition. Not to mention that cross he came for and completely missed. For me he really stood out as a weak link in that defence. Big priority for me would be a decent keeper as we've seen first hand how many points a quality keeper like neal or Alnwick can save you. For me boot has had more than enough chances now and still makes the same errors and dosent communicate. I'd personally give hornby another go and look to get new keepers in the summer.

[SourceOfTheTrent]

Our goalkeeping situation has been a major problem since the day Alnwick left and we're hardly any closer to solving it than we were 12 months ago but at least Boot has brought some consistency to the position. As highlighted his biggest issues are his kicking - pretty basic skill for a professional footballer - and some of his decision making, like yesterday's prime of his collection when he ran to the edge of his area in injury time misjudging the situation totally and then tried some bizarre Zebedee impression to attempt a header at a strange angle. Luckily Ee-Aw from Chesterfield sailed the ball a mile over the empty net.

 

Surely Vale's coaching staff can work with him on these problems? Especially kicking, all it takes is an hour a day after training to spread some targets out on a pitch and have him put the ball in each one, say, ten times a day until he can hit them blindfold. If he wants to be a pro footballer he needs to do extra work like that, being a shot stopper isn't enough on its own.

[SFBT]

Is Kay on a two year contract?

[valiant_593]

Is Kay on a two year contract?

 

Yeah think so

[Doha]

[Doha]

No, this hasn't been sped up!

 

 

[SourceOfTheTrent]

Like Jack Lester said in his post match interview, a couple of years ago that was a yellow now it's a red, he doesn't particularly think it should be a red (?) but that's the rule now. Aspin said similar things in his interview, ie, he can see why the ref gave a red but he thought it was harsh.

 

Personally, I thought it was a red and would be annoyed if an opposition player did that against us and stayed on the pitch. Sitting in the Railway you could see how he jumped into the challenge like Kung Fu Panda which isn't acceptable.

[SourceOfTheTrent]

Doha, have you got one of the incident that led to the free kick they scored from? Looked like an air shot to me rather than him being fouled but obviously I could be wrong.

[valiant_593]

I still don't think that's a red. Was sat right in front of it and thought it was all yellow at the time and still do. The elbow early on was much more of a red.

[melv]

Doha, have you got one of the incident that led to the free kick they scored from? Looked like an air shot to me rather than him being fouled but obviously I could be wrong.

 

Would really like to see that again if possible.