Match Thread - Port Vale v Crawley Town

[JRC]

Nor did Quigley wonder if Aspin told them to defend the lead second half and try to catch them on the break.

 

Once Oyeleke came off and Kay came on it was by default the way we were going to play. Aspin could maybe have got Joyce to play a little further forward than Kay as Kay tended to be the one attempting to get forward (very slowly) to support forward play. But then Joyce's mobility allowed him tò get through a lot of the dirty work in front of the back 4. The only other option to play in central midfield was Dodds or I guess Hannatt, although he was doing well on the left.

[TylerB]

I suppose at the end of the day 6 from 9 represents a good start, albeit two of those three games were at home where you're expected to win. But performances have been bang average on the whole at best. We deserved to beat Cambridge but 3-0 flattered us. We were shocking against an albeit decent Colchester side, defended like a bunch of numtpies against Lincoln and were also very luck to get 3 points today against what looked a pretty poor side. Kane hasn't kicked a ball in anger for us really yet which means Aspin doesn't like what he sees in training, and Quigley looks about as useful as a chocolate tea pot in front of goal. There's a reason he hasn't scored a goal in league football yet despite being 25. So outside of our best 11 we've got next to nothing which is extremely worrying as injuries and suspensions will always happen.

[Fosse69]

We lost this game 2-1 last season, mainly due to a penalty con, so we are 3 pts better off, progress in my mind. Manny injury weakened us, but the defence ground out the result seemingly better for the changes. Work required on off-side positioning, took my mind back to Luke Rogers who as I remember it had a problem too. Would be pleased if a fast tricky winger arrived in the week.

[werstayinup]

I have not read any other views but I can honestly say that was the worst Vale victory in my 47 years.

 

Really?????

[Class personified]

I am staggered by the negativity on here. We won. The opposition didn’t have a clear chance and we are what 6th in the league. After the quality of the past couple of years this is Premier League stuff.

[t.punchard]

first half was not a bad performance 2nd half was like watching the midfield from last season kay and joyce haven't got the the legs and speed to dominate matches kay did nothing. dodds or even smith would have done a better job than him but our defence was brilliant the new lad Clarke had a great game and legg and Rawlinson we superb. gibbons did well except for 2 very dodgey passes. 2 wins out of 3 isn't a bad

[WalterJ]

We've been hanging on for the whole 2nd half. Crawley have had 16 shots in this game to our 5. It's been one way traffic. I don't know how Crawley haven't scored, we've got away with one today for sure.

 

I would question any manager that takes their main goal threat off for an inferior player if not injured. Would Spurs take Harry Kane off to replace with Llorente if he wasn't injured? My opinion is it was a strange substitution. Isn't stating opinions what this forum is for?

 

Great defending was why we won! This is how you can weld a defence together clean sheet well deserved.

[Jacko51]

The Rudge Mantra was 20 clean sheets gets you promotion. Only 18 more to go!!😄

[yoblet]

Clean sheet 3 points performance could have been better but we will take it and move on to Tuesday,UTV.

[Bald Eagle]

So it was because of Dodds we did so well till he came on? I had no idea he was so influential that he can control a game while not actually playing. Actually, it would be better if he did - that way he could be invisible in reality rather than just on the pitch.

 

So on that basis I assume you are saying we were better at Colchester with Dodds as we drew 0 - 0 with him for 50 minutes and lost 2- 0 in 40 minutes with Popey on!

 

Louis does some good and some bad, yet for many any contributions are conveniently ignored

[darren1810]

Pretty awful, however we won a game that 4 months ago we would of lost.

Not going to dissect the whole shebang but well done Aspo on removing Smith from the firing line.

Can I ask a reasonable question ?

I realise Colchester and Lincoln would of put people off but we have pretty much lost 800 to 1000 home fans after just one game. Why ?!!!!

[pjg1876]

I have not read any other views but I can honestly say that was the worst Vale victory in my 47 years.

 

I don’t ever remember us, in my 54 years, winning such a one sided game as that second half was. The defence were superb but quite honestly the Vale, as the home team, were awful. It is usually the away team who park the bus and waste time.

[Biddulph_PV]

Firstly I don’t think anybody would dispute the fact that we were fortunate to come away with three points.

 

Lost the midfield battle as soon as Manny went off. They played a high line because they knew we had no pace to get behind them. We had no outlet resorting to just booting the ball upfield, and couldn’t make it stick.

 

I thought the defence was superb, Legge won everything and Clark looks a really good player. I am worried about Worrall though after another very ineffectual performance.

 

Today does also expose the frailties in the squad. God help us if we lost Pope, Miller or Manny for any prolonged period.

[Inny]

A game of two halves!! We had opportunities in the first half but poor passing and poor decision making (especially Miller when Hannant was free)meant we did capitalise.

My frustration today was the lack of attacking intent. Our two central midfielders rarely broke forward and this was even more noticeable once Manny went off. It's not a problem having 2 holding midfielder providing the full backs have more attacking intent. Today they didn't back up Hannant or Worrall and as such our attacks tended to be on the break without really depth of support. This just invited more and more pressure.

Saying that the defenders did a fantastic job of defending today. Legge was justifiably MOM. Him and Rawlinson seem to have the making of solid central defence.

[SourceOfTheTrent]

first half was not a bad performance 2nd half was like watching the midfield from last season kay and joyce haven't got the the legs and speed to dominate matches kay did nothing. dodds or even smith would have done a better job than him but our defence was brilliant the new lad Clarke had a great game and legg and Rawlinson we superb. gibbons did well except for 2 very dodgey passes. 2 wins out of 3 isn't a bad

 

Pretty decent assessment. I thought the big turning point was Manny going off, after that we had no ability to play a good forward pass. Bit worrying really.