Match Thread - Port Vale v Oldham Athletic

[KEV.WILLIE]

I'm defiantly along side!!!!!

[TJHValiant]

Not sure why the thread on popes Twitter debacle has been closed. He's made a complete **** of himself. Essentially called fans ******* and told them to eat ****. We also shouldnt expect to beat Oldham or Macclesfield and this is just a bad spell. 9 in 46 a bad spell. **** OFF.

 

I think his tweets sum up the issue we have with the club. Players, managers and owners who cannot take responsibility.

 

Fine in non league.

 

Not fine at any professional level.

[Erniemossrules]

I may be criticised for this but up to half time I thought we played well.Aspin played an attacking team with Whitfield and Monty up front with Pope and if Whitfield had tucked away his chance with just the keeper to beat I think it would have been a better result.Even after they mugged us with their goal from one chance they had we managed to find an equaliser to get back in.Unfortunately the bizarre substitutions and

attempts to get forward was undone by silly individual mistakes and turned into a shambles.Oldham lost 6 nil the game before but had been playing well up to a couple of weeks before and had a point to prove to their new manager.Same happened at Macclesfield when Sol Campbell was appointed a week before we played them.Just hope Aspin can learn something from this.We have a lot of young inexperienced players who are fragile and need confidence to improve.Its really how we move on from this game and hopefully get a reaction from the players to turn it round.I honestly think we have better players than last season like Legge and Brown but need to consolidate our position in the league by grinding out results and cutting out individual mistakes.

Aspin needs to play players in their correct positions bringing back Gibbons to right back and playing Clark at left back where he plays best.We have all seen better performances from most of the players but back to the basics and try to encourage them to play better.

It’s not Armageddon and we still have half the season to turn it round.

[smithie]

I may be criticised for this but up to half time I thought we played well.Aspin played an attacking team with Whitfield and Monty up front with Pope and if Whitfield had tucked away his chance with just the keeper to beat I think it would have been a better result.

 

This is true, we were impressive in the first half but their second goal took the wind out of our sails.

 

I couldn't understand putting Monty at left back as Vassell hadn't done much wrong. Monty then wanted to be a dribbling left back and that left us in trouble.

 

Worrall was ineffective although heavily marked and Whitfield tired.

 

I'm still pro-Aspo but 1 point from 9 over Christmas is a really poor return.

[For Us All]

This is true, we were impressive in the first half but their second goal took the wind out of our sails.

 

I couldn't understand putting Monty at left back as Vassell hadn't done much wrong. Monty then wanted to be a dribbling left back and that left us in trouble.

 

Worrall was ineffective although heavily marked and Whitfield tired.

 

I'm still pro-Aspo but 1 point from 9 over Christmas is a really poor return.

 

Every team we play targets our left-back no matter who it is,it's been our achilles-heel for the last three seasons.

[smithie]

Every team we play targets our left-back no matter who it is,it's been our achilles-heel for the last three seasons.

 

And yet we never played Achille Campion there.

[pete vale]

Not sure why the thread on popes Twitter debacle has been closed. He's made a complete **** of himself. Essentially called fans ******* and told them to eat ****. We also shouldnt expect to beat Oldham or Macclesfield and this is just a bad spell. 9 in 46 a bad spell. **** OFF.

 

Saw the stuff on twitter. I thought Tom was a Vale fan?

I expected better from him. We're all frustrated.

[Upfromnowhere]

Like many, so angry was I yesterday, though it best to comment only after measured reflection, something overnight that perhaps our skipper would have been advised to do.

We can all blame the chairman for many things, and he certainly makes it easy to do so, and for the fans perspective, pointing the finger of blame in his direction on many issues, has become expediently fashionable, and in many instances rightly so. But am sorry, as much as we would all want to see a new owner, he can't be blamed for this turgid dross being served up on the pitch week after week. Yes, he did appoint Aspin, but at the time, was it not an appointment that met with nearly universal approval?

 

We were all to happy to ignore the numerous warnings and prophecies of footballing doom aired from our friends at Gateshead, because frankly, in Aspin, the player, Aspin the legend, we trusted. On reflection, how foolish were we to do so, because in truth, what we are now being subjected to, and I choose that word very carefully, is not football, not as I know it, and even the most sycophantic and happy clapping Aspin supporter, even if they refuse to do so publicly, will agree, and enough is enough.

 

Putting aside, square pegs in round holes, continuing with the same players even when so many are playing so poorly, lack of any creativity, offensive desire and or lack of any chances made,apparent fall out with players, continuing run of dire results and worse, the performances that contribute to those results. Let's even ignore how many times Aspin stands in front of a microphone telling us all that the performances are unacceptable, but simultaneously never doing anything about it, and or worse, simultaneously never taking responsibility for any of it.

 

The fact is, if he doesn't walk away now, which seems unlikely, and or if Smurf doesn't immediately force his hand, we are now in genuine danger of playing the likes of Maidstone and Borehamwood next year and if at all possible, that can't be allowed to happen, we have to get in a new manager and we have to get him in now. Will by doing so, it guarantee our safety, will it inject some new excitement or positivity into the club and team?

No of course it won't, but the flip side of that, is that there is certainly more chance of that being the case than it would be if Neil continues.

 

Some are insisting we need stability (one, though surely a wind up, suggested we should wait five years before judging him!!!)but what in 15 months, rhetorically asked what has changed?

We were promised entertaining football, but given the opposite, we were told when he's made his mark squad wise it will lead to consistency and improved results, but guess what, it hasn't. Performances are getting demonstrably worse not better, and the stats during his tenure, normally the yard stick for the longevity of any manager makes for quite humiliating reading. Mourinho was sacked with a winning match ratio of 57%, yet Neil with what, 18%/19% is still clinging onto his job, no wonder we are so utterly frustrated.

 

His post match comments yesterday, suggest he knows he is a dead man walking, and for such a legend, the lack of fire, or even enthusiasm was extremely hard to listen to. However, as a pragmatist and for the good of the club, we (and Smurf) have to ignore that, have to take out the emotion and sadness we must surely all feel listening to such a proud man almost broken by the disappointment of it all, and do whats best for the club, especially as the clear lack of passion and fire demonstrated has clearly affected not just by the body language of the players but their performances.

How on earth players of the ability of Manny, Monty, Pope, Clarke and the like, so badly, and now so consistently, under perform to the level we now witness. What is, or has, Aspin done to them, to make them play so badly?

 

Some supporters are even suggesting they are doing so purposely, in some kind of contrived attempt to hasten his exit, what a load of old tosh. No professional footballer, even at our level would do that surely. However it is sadly incontestable, individually and collectively that the majority (Brown apart)are playing way beneath their capabilities, and am afraid, that is down, as a recent thread suggested, to the manager and the apparent lack of his man management and or motivation abilities, and the sooner he goes the better it will hopefully be. This can't continue.

[dantheman]

I think his tweets sum up the issue we have with the club. Players, managers and owners who cannot take responsibility.

 

Fine in non league.

 

Not fine at any professional level.

 

How can you say pope doesn’t take responsibility!

 

We are a non league outfit and we would already be non league if it wasn’t for pope!

 

Not condoning pope reaction but I will say it agian no one deserves abuse, end of.

 

Think people are forgetting that Tom is a vale fan as well as player. He will be hurting just as much as we all are. Doesn’t mean he is above criticism and doesn’t mean that he can speak to people the way he wants. But I would say that who ever posted the message to pope in the first place was looking for a reaction and got one.

 

What good is it having numerous threads on it everywhere and making things 10 times worse and causing more division amongst fans?

[dantheman]

It’s a similar situation to mourinho, if the players have downed tools he’s got no chance. I would imagine the lads have certain friends at the club and if there not selected would be pissed off to the point of not trying. I’m sure some lads don’t like miller, Kay, Joyce,whitefield not playing ( childish I know but that’s footballers)Yes he is the boss, and responsible,the players are what Smurthwaite would pay for, so that’s why we have these players, also who wants to play for port vale if there is another option, usually on more money? He has tried to bring players to this club, but for the above reasons most won’t come!!

 

Hear what you are saying mate and it’s all about opinions but who wants to play for any lower league club then based on that? Wycombe,Accrington, macc,morcambe, Cheltenham, Grimsby, Oldham. Can you prove that all these clubs have bigger budgets than us?

 

The issue here is that the core team isn’t actually to bad but the organisation of the players is abysmal! In my opinion that’s the most frustrating thing.

[philmpv]

Yesterday was certainly a game of 2 halves.

 

First half, we played relatively well, with both Whits and Manny looking threatening. We deserved to go in at least level, which we did.

 

Second half, we were disgraceful across the board. Putting Monty at LB was simply wrong, and then moving Whits out to the left took him out of the game completely. Neither of the subs worked at all.

 

Pope had another very poor game. He won nothing in the air, and did his usual berating of his team mates throughout the game. He's a lucky man, a very lucky man, to get a 2 year deal at his age on his level of ability now.

 

The irony, for me (and this is just my opinion), is that Pope's presence is actually the reason why we don't score many goals, and rarely look threatening going forward. He has zero pace, zero mobility, and is unable to purposely direct any header that he wins outside of the box. Therefore, any ball (lumped or not) that is even a yard away from him he is unable to get to. When he does actually get the ball, it either bounces off his bonce with no direction at all or, if he magically does manage to control it and lay it off to a team mate, the ball has to be held up further up the pitch to give Pope time to get into the box, since he cannot run! This cancels any positive momentum created by him winning the ball in the first place. You look at most other teams that we play against and they also tend to lump the ball forward, the difference being that their front man/men are able to run the channels, win the ball further up the pitch, lay it off and then make a short run into the box. Pope can't do any of this. Whist got in behind so many times in the first half yesterday, only to have no option in the middle owing to Pope still ambling towards the penalty area.

 

For me, Pope has to be dropped and something different tried. A front 3 of Whits, Kanu and Miller has the potential to create havoc for opposition defenders and take certainly the central defenders out of their comfort zone (which Pope certainly fits into) with their pace and movement.

 

People will no doubt cry and scream about how Pope has done in the past. So what? 'He scored x amount 5 years ago' etc? Do they count now? No, they don't. He has been poor this season, very poor, and I honestly believe that he is the reason why we have no threat going forward for 89 minutes of every game.

[Jacob_123]

Yesterday was certainly a game of 2 halves.

 

First half, we played relatively well, with both Whits and Manny looking threatening. We deserved to go in at least level, which we did.

 

Second half, we were disgraceful across the board. Putting Monty at LB was simply wrong, and then moving Whits out to the left took him out of the game completely. Neither of the subs worked at all.

 

Pope had another very poor game. He won nothing in the air, and did his usual berating of his team mates throughout the game. He's a lucky man, a very lucky man, to get a 2 year deal at his age on his level of ability now.

 

The irony, for me (and this is just my opinion), is that Pope's presence is actually the reason why we don't score many goals, and rarely look threatening going forward. He has zero pace, zero mobility, and is unable to purposely direct any header that he wins outside of the box. Therefore, any ball (lumped or not) that is even a yard away from him he is unable to get to. When he does actually get the ball, it either bounces off his bonce with no direction at all or, if he magically does manage to control it and lay it off to a team mate, the ball has to be held up further up the pitch to give Pope time to get into the box, since he cannot run! This cancels any positive momentum created by him winning the ball in the first place. You look at most other teams that we play against and they also tend to lump the ball forward, the difference being that their front man/men are able to run the channels, win the ball further up the pitch, lay it off and then make a short run into the box. Pope can't do any of this. Whist got in behind so many times in the first half yesterday, only to have no option in the middle owing to Pope still ambling towards the penalty area.

 

For me, Pope has to be dropped and something different tried. A front 3 of Whits, Kanu and Miller has the potential to create havoc for opposition defenders and take certainly the central defenders out of their comfort zone (which Pope certainly fits into) with their pace and movement.

 

People will no doubt cry and scream about how Pope has done in the past. So what? 'He scored x amount 5 years ago' etc? Do they count now? No, they don't. He has been poor this season, very poor, and I honestly believe that he is the reason why we have no threat going forward for 89 minutes of every game.

 

He has already scored 10 in a poor team in fairness

[pjg1876]

How on earth players of the ability of Manny, Monty, Pope, Clarke and the like, so badly, and now so consistently, under perform to the level we now witness. What is, or has, Aspin done to them, to make them play so badly?

 

Some supporters are even suggesting they are doing so purposely, in some kind of contrived attempt to hasten his exit, what a load of old tosh. No professional footballer, even at our level would do that surely.

I was with you all the way until these two sentences which, in a way, contradict each other. Regarding professional footballers deliberately playing poorly to get rid of managers, ask Paul Pogba or some of the Leicester City squad when Ranieri was near the end of his tenure.

[PV1973]

Some good points being made about the first half, Whitfield and Monty were having a lot of joy. Whitfield especially in behind had the beating of their defence, whilst Monty definitely had the legs on their left back. So I bet their left back couldn’t believe his luck when we go and move Monty to be our left back and bring on Worrall who hasn’t played for weeks in his position. It was the right thing to do in substituting Vassell, because he was awful yet again and kept getting caught out, but it was madness to break up what was working for us in the first half. It just shows how bad our management are, because Monty like Vassell is not a left back and I’ll go so far as to say that his performances in defence earlier this season (or as a left wing back) scream “I don’t want to play in this position”.

[Valiant!]

Like many, so angry was I yesterday, though it best to comment only after measured reflection, something overnight that perhaps our skipper would have been advised to do.

We can all blame the chairman for many things, and he certainly makes it easy to do so, and for the fans perspective, pointing the finger of blame in his direction on many issues, has become expediently fashionable, and in many instances rightly so. But am sorry, as much as we would all want to see a new owner, he can't be blamed for this turgid dross being served up on the pitch week after week. Yes, he did appoint Aspin, but at the time, was it not an appointment that met with nearly universal approval?

 

We were all to happy to ignore the numerous warnings and prophecies of footballing doom aired from our friends at Gateshead, because frankly, in Aspin, the player, Aspin the legend, we trusted. On reflection, how foolish were we to do so, because in truth, what we are now being subjected to, and I choose that word very carefully, is not football, not as I know it, and even the most sycophantic and happy clapping Aspin supporter, even if they refuse to do so publicly, will agree, and enough is enough.

 

Putting aside, square pegs in round holes, continuing with the same players even when so many are playing so poorly, lack of any creativity, offensive desire and or lack of any chances made,apparent fall out with players, continuing run of dire results and worse, the performances that contribute to those results. Let's even ignore how many times Aspin stands in front of a microphone telling us all that the performances are unacceptable, but simultaneously never doing anything about it, and or worse, simultaneously never taking responsibility for any of it.

 

The fact is, if he doesn't walk away now, which seems unlikely, and or if Smurf doesn't immediately force his hand, we are now in genuine danger of playing the likes of Maidstone and Borehamwood next year and if at all possible, that can't be allowed to happen, we have to get in a new manager and we have to get him in now. Will by doing so, it guarantee our safety, will it inject some new excitement or positivity into the club and team?

No of course it won't, but the flip side of that, is that there is certainly more chance of that being the case than it would be if Neil continues.

 

Some are insisting we need stability (one, though surely a wind up, suggested we should wait five years before judging him!!!)but what in 15 months, rhetorically asked what has changed?

We were promised entertaining football, but given the opposite, we were told when he's made his mark squad wise it will lead to consistency and improved results, but guess what, it hasn't. Performances are getting demonstrably worse not better, and the stats during his tenure, normally the yard stick for the longevity of any manager makes for quite humiliating reading. Mourinho was sacked with a winning match ratio of 57%, yet Neil with what, 18%/19% is still clinging onto his job, no wonder we are so utterly frustrated.

 

His post match comments yesterday, suggest he knows he is a dead man walking, and for such a legend, the lack of fire, or even enthusiasm was extremely hard to listen to. However, as a pragmatist and for the good of the club, we (and Smurf) have to ignore that, have to take out the emotion and sadness we must surely all feel listening to such a proud man almost broken by the disappointment of it all, and do whats best for the club, especially as the clear lack of passion and fire demonstrated has clearly affected not just by the body language of the players but their performances.

How on earth players of the ability of Manny, Monty, Pope, Clarke and the like, so badly, and now so consistently, under perform to the level we now witness. What is, or has, Aspin done to them, to make them play so badly?

 

Some supporters are even suggesting they are doing so purposely, in some kind of contrived attempt to hasten his exit, what a load of old tosh. No professional footballer, even at our level would do that surely. However it is sadly incontestable, individually and collectively that the majority (Brown apart)are playing way beneath their capabilities, and am afraid, that is down, as a recent thread suggested, to the manager and the apparent lack of his man management and or motivation abilities, and the sooner he goes the better it will hopefully be. This can't continue.

 

You want him gone, why wouldn’t the players?