Match Thread - Port Vale v Colchester United

[TheSage]

Without Pope up front this season we'd have been relegated.

We are toothless without him and have no focal point.

He doesn't need dropping but a lot more support. Someone close to him to help him, wingers who can get to the byline and put crosses in for him and a midfielder or two to make forward runs and feed off his hold up play.

He isn't the problem. It's the other 9 outfield players.

[man in the pub]

At least they replaced the hand dryers in the Lorne Street.

 

Ha Ha yes noticed that. Oh well having covered such a huge expense no chance of Norm spending 400k on transfers.

[Inny]

Aspin did the same again, one up front. The result was the same yet again. The definition of insanity springs to mind.

NS will come to the rescue by signing a Spanish 4th division player.

Enough is enough. Get out of our club.

He didn't play one up front in the first half. It was Whitfield and Pope. He moved Whitfield into midfield second half because we were being murdered down the left as Manny is definitely not a wide player.

[Upfromnowhere]

Said all year that Pope is not our problem, I don't think it's been a problem with any of our forwards, even though we rarely play any of them, it is all down to our tactics and the way Neil wants them to play. The only time it changed was when he played three up front I think it was against Yeovil and Stevenage, but as soon as we lost, back to one up front.

If you were Pope wouldn't you be disillusioned, in fact if you were any offensive player in this team wouldn't you be disillusioned.......

 

Hold up, maybe they are all?

[MBE]

Anyone thinking what Smurf or Aspin say is worthwhile listening to , need to get real. Both are totally and completely out of their depths. SMURF is and has always been laughing at the fan base. He is an utter disgrace as an owner of a great Football Club. We have had enough. I've supported Vale for well over 30 years at home and away. I buy 2 season tickets. I buy shirts, coats, all kinds of Vale merchandise. I am at the end of my tether and will no longer give that vile, poor excuse of a human being big blue blob anymore of my hard earned money. I will stay home and suffer my inner heartache of not supporting my Club as I honestly will NOT wish to see Smurfs face ever again in my life. I 100% love Vale but this is not Port Vale F C as I want to remember it.

 

Welcome to the club my friend but I must warn you its as equally painful and frustrating however its a lot cheaper!

[Valiant62]

A couplr of bits ofbad luck with deflections and some periods of decent pass and move from Vale but the overall picture was an incredibly fragile defence and not nearly enough troubling of their keeper. I’ve never seen Leon have that bad a game and I have to say Clark is no better than Vassell at left back. Manny was poor once again to a point where I’d question his effort. Bad day for all concerned, I’m not a happy bunny tonight.

[fraggle]

He didn't play one up front in the first half. It was Whitfield and Pope. He moved Whitfield into midfield second half because we were being murdered down the left as Manny is definitely not a wide player.

 

That only happened after we went 2 down, he played 5 in the middle 1 up top to start that changed it around when he (Aspin) saw us been battered....

[Port Vale Paul]

We actually played to there strengths today with no tactical nounce whatsoever.

[mbycars]

We actually played to there strengths today with no tactical nounce whatsoever.

 

We play to every teams strengths week after week.

[fraggle]

We actually played to there strengths today with no tactical nounce whatsoever.

 

Same as always, has 1 way of playing 4-5-1 and hoof ball

[Beza]

A couplr of bits ofbad luck with deflectons and some periods of decent pass and move from Vale but the overall picture was an incredibly fragile defence and not nearly enough troubling of their keeper. I’ve never seen Leon have that bad a game and I have to say Clark is no better than Vassell at left back. Manny was poor once again to a point where I’d question his effort. Bad day for all concerned, I’m not a happy bunny tonight.

mate we are just a poor team with a manager that is trying his best to get players in at Poundland prices. If you want quality at any level you have to pay for it. With Smurf you have no chance. We are fooking doomed.

[paulvaliant]

Pay peanuts and you get monkeys which is why we’ve ended up with Bruno, Brown and then Aspin.

 

What I would give to have players like Lines, O’Connor, Grant, Loft and Foley etc again. God, even Calvin Andrew and Colin Daniel.

[DIV3SOUTH]

No creativity, no vision, no pace, no class.Not one player fills you with "at least with him there's a chance". No one who can take full on chances never mind half chances.

 

The tactics and method of play is dull, uninspiring and predictable football.

[paulvaliant]

Money is clearly being taken out of the club. You only have to look at Aspin’s backroom staff. He’s gone from having Brabin and McCarthy (two qualified coaches) to Danny Pugh who will still be being paid from the playing staff budget.

[MBE]

Money is clearly being taken out of the club. You only have to look at Aspin’s backroom staff. He’s gone from having Brabin and McCarthy (two qualified coaches) to Danny Pugh who will still be being paid from the playing staff budget.

 

And that is exactly why as mentioned in another thread real questions need to start to be imposed by the local media, who appear to be just local cheerleaders rather than investigating . There are many unanswered questions about our current situation, where we deserve to know the truth as fans.Just some very simple questions. For all of Apso's faults how much of it is because of directives from Smurf? One minute we 400k to invest the next minute the manager says we will only look at loans, then we have a lad who has been picked up having a kick around on a beach in the Costa Del Sol? It doesn't make sense.

 

1/ Who is managing the club?

2/ Who is making the decision on the coaches team how many etc.?

3/ Who is scouting our players?

4/ Who is scouting the opposition?

5/ Where is the money from previous transfer windows?

6/ Why do we only take players from non league clubs OR loans from higher?

7/ Is this due to the lack of budget or out of choice?

8/ How does our playing budget compare to the division?

9/ Are we still paying for contracts of past mistakes i.e Bruno era?

10/ Is the club up for sale(including the ground) and how much is it advertised for?

 

Smurf please feel free to answer