Match Thread: Port Vale v Cambridge United

[valiant steve]

Good win today. 2 1 would have been a fair result so 1 0 does the job just fine. 

I would have put Pope on after 60 minutes for Bennett. 

[werstayinup]

1 hour ago, RayWalkers40yarder said:

dull turgid affair. but amoo was threatening throughout. almost let them in with a free header at the end but i think justifiably won think we edged it for large parts of the game. but one question still needs answering. why 3 forwards on the bench if youre only playing 1 up top at home askey? why are we playing 1 up top all the time at home ITS BORING ZZZZZZZZZZ.

In our home games how many chances have we created in total and how many on target,its not always boring,under Aspin it was certainly boring but not under Askey imo,although today was dull tbf but chances were created

[toyahw]

10 minutes ago, werstayinup said:

Grimsby apart we have been the better team in most games imo which is a good sign,we certainly wont struggle.I don't get Crookes bashing I think he has been targeted in games yet has been decent apart from the odd one,i thought Taylor did well when he came on and COULD be the answer for when Manny is out.

I thought Montano was ok for a short while but then had a shocker,i wonder if Archer is capable of playing on the left of a 3..I also think Pope is going to struggle to start games under Askey now

Overall so far we've got about what we deserved. Manny was Manny. We looked a lot better with him back.  Hope he's not injured?

[Biddulph_PV]

Thought we started ok, Monty missed a good chance but then so did they from Hannant’s break. As my first game of the season, I was excited to see Amoo, but thought he was anonymous 1st half. They sussed out that the ref wasn’t one to dish out cards and in really got stuck in 2nd half, so it all got a bit scrappy. I think we just about deserved the win, but how their guy missed with that header 2 mins from time I’ll never know. 

In terms of the side, the one thing that was apparent was that we have a bit more intelligence with the ball i.e. trying to play our way out of situations rather than just hoofing it clear, and look more solid defensively as a result.

The midfield didn’t really work for me. Worrall looked much better when he went wide, though his corners 2nd half left a lot to be desired, three in succession straight into the keepers hands.  

Hard to pick a MoTM today, as the effort was there from all. Probably Amoo for his moment of magic which ultimately won us the game.

Finally, I thought Hannant actually did ok for them, but I couldn’t for the life of me work out why some of our fans booed him, when he always put a shift in and, lest we forget, provided us with a great memories from the Stoke game. 

[PV1973]

I don’t get the criticism today, we’re not going to have it our own way for every game and we’re not going to be playing free flowing beautiful football all the time. Sometimes you have to dig in and win ugly if you can and in the main that’s what we did today. Askey had already spoken in the week about keeping a clean sheet and you could tell that we were a bit more disciplined with the full backs not being as gung ho as normal, particularly in the first half. Cambridge didn’t have a sniff apart from that one header at the end and that’s credit to the full side for that. First half we were a bit slow to move it in midfield and we’re not as decisive with the ball. But having said that I think monty and Amoo had their full backs if they really wanted it and if they were at it all half, they weren’t and so we only saw them in brief glimpses.

Second half we upped the tempo, our right hand side got into the game a lot more and it’s still our most creative outlet in the team and indeed that’s where the goal came from starting with gibbons and out to Amoo. It has the potential to be a good partnership there. I agree with previous posters who said Pope should have come on earlier, as I think Bennett ran out of steam before he came off. I thought Legge and Smith did well today, as did Worrall. Amoo showed us what he can do and it’s a pity we don’t see those game changing moments more often. Same with Monty, he can beat a man easily, but his final delivery was way off today. Crookes even though being targeted all game stood up well to the challenge today. Gibbons did well and I like the passion he was showing second half to get us going too. Conlon and Joyce got a lot of the ball today, but needed to up the tempo a bit. I thought Taylor did well considering it was (I’m guessing) his first league game. Overall I’m happy to win anyway we can and seeing a different side to us is a good thing to have because it’s unrealistic to think we can dominate every game and create a load of chances all the time. We looked comfortable all game IMO. 

Special mention to the ref who was more bothered about killing the flow, nowhere near strong enough to handle the game, (which was quite tame), imagine if he got a tasty one to officiate. 

Interesting to compare Hannant to our wingers today, I’d take ours all day long based on today, says it all that he got the hook too. He offered little, he got in a couple of his tame floated crosses and seemed more interested in sitting deeper to me.

[onestepatatime]

Hannant imo was their best player. He was disgusted to be taken off and left down the tunnel shaking his head and refusing to acknowledge his manager.

Thought we started ok, Monty missed a good chance but then so did they from Hannant’s break. As my first game of the season, I was excited to see Amoo, but thought he was anonymous 1st half. They sussed out that the ref wasn’t one to dish out cards and in really got stuck in 2nd half, so it all got a bit scrappy. I think we just about deserved the win, but how their guy missed with that header 2 mins from time I’ll never know. 
In terms of the side, the one thing that was apparent was that we have a bit more intelligence with the ball i.e. trying to play our way out of situations rather than just hoofing it clear, and look more solid defensively as a result.
The midfield didn’t really work for me. Worrall looked much better when he went wide, though his corners 2nd half left a lot to be desired, three in succession straight into the keepers hands.  
Hard to pick a MoTM today, as the effort was there from all. Probably Amoo for his moment of magic which ultimately won us the game.
Finally, I thought Hannant actually did ok for them, but I couldn’t for the life of me work out why some of our fans booed him, when he always put a shift in and, lest we forget, provided us with a great memories from the Stoke game. 

[RayWalkers40yarder]

1 hour ago, Iron Curtain said:

Askey said on the Radio, the minute we went 442 against Grimsby we shipped 2 goals.

I will take boring wins all day long... take a look at the oatcake and Stoke fans will tell you they would kill for Pulis and his boring wins right now! 

I also don’t think our other performances so far have been boring at all. The xG stats have us as the 4th best chance creators (based on quality) in the league so far. 

As Popey said on the radio you can see against FGR that the 3 up front really is a 3 when the 2 wide men get around the pivot up front.

Granted today was dull (except for the first 10 mins) but it’s a long steady progress. Askey is improving this team, we are better than we were last year, he will hopefully continue to improve the team.

im sorry i dont agree with that. aspin had to do the same thing playing 1 up top simply because the players he had werent good enough and for the most part playing 1 up is papering over cracks. great win today though.

[PV1973]

8 minutes ago, RayWalkers40yarder said:

im sorry i dont agree with that. aspin had to do the same thing playing 1 up top simply because the players he had werent good enough and for the most part playing 1 up is papering over cracks. great win today though.

So you’re saying how we set up and play now is the same as we played under aspin when he played 1 up front? I don’t think so at all.

Difference is we’ve now got Worrall back on form, Amoo can change a game, we’ve got Gibbons offering more from full back areas, Monty hasn’t been that bad either, particularly in then Salford and Forest Green games. We’ve got another striker who’s scoring, which is something we struggled to do under Aspin as well. In the home games we’ve been dominating possession for long spells too. We also have more of a game plan than we ever had under Aspin. In addition to that we’ve got a settled side with no knee jerk panic team changes and crazy out of position selections either. 

[toyahw]

17 minutes ago, PV1973 said:

I don’t get the criticism today, we’re not going to have it our own way for every game and we’re not going to be playing free flowing beautiful football all the time. Sometimes you have to dig in and win ugly if you can and in the main that’s what we did today. Askey had already spoken in the week about keeping a clean sheet and you could tell that we were a bit more disciplined with the full backs not being as gung ho as normal, particularly in the first half. Cambridge didn’t have a sniff apart from that one header at the end and that’s credit to the full side for that. First half we were a bit slow to move it in midfield and we’re not as decisive with the ball. But having said that I think monty and Amoo had their full backs if they really wanted it and if they were at it all half, they weren’t and so we only saw them in brief glimpses.

Second half we upped the tempo, our right hand side got into the game a lot more and it’s still our most creative outlet in the team and indeed that’s where the goal came from starting with gibbons and out to Amoo. It has the potential to be a good partnership there. I agree with previous posters who said Pope should have come on earlier, as I think Bennett ran out of steam before he came off. I thought Legge and Smith did well today, as did Worrall. Amoo showed us what he can do and it’s a pity we don’t see those game changing moments more often. Same with Monty, he can beat a man easily, but his final delivery was way off today. Crookes even though being targeted all game stood up well to the challenge today. Gibbons did well and I like the passion he was showing second half to get us going too. Conlon and Joyce got a lot of the ball today, but needed to up the tempo a bit. I thought Taylor did well considering it was (I’m guessing) his first league game. Overall I’m happy to win anyway we can and seeing a different side to us is a good thing to have because it’s unrealistic to think we can dominate every game and create a load of chances all the time. We looked comfortable all game IMO. 

Special mention to the ref who was more bothered about killing the flow, nowhere near strong enough to handle the game, (which was quite tame), imagine if he got a tasty one to officiate. 

Interesting to compare Hannant to our wingers today, I’d take ours all day long based on today, says it all that he got the hook too. He offered little, he got in a couple of his tame floated crosses and seemed more interested in sitting deeper to me.

Not sure there is any criticism? We weren't great. But we deserved to win. Which we did. Job done. Not sure I could follow Askey's comments about the pitch though. Hannant is not a winger, he is more an inside right. Thought he did well and the bit of booing was a bit uncalled for when he went off.

Doesn't mean I'm that bothered whether we kept him of not. But we've had worse.

[pjg1876]

1 hour ago, toyahw said:

Overall so far we've got about what we deserved. Manny was Manny. We looked a lot better with him back.  Hope he's not injured?

Take it that you mean Monty not Manny

[toyahw]

1 minute ago, pjg1876 said:

Take it that you mean Monty not Manny

Yes, my mistake. Sorry,

[Iron Curtain]

25 minutes ago, RayWalkers40yarder said:

im sorry i dont agree with that. aspin had to do the same thing playing 1 up top simply because the players he had werent good enough and for the most part playing 1 up is papering over cracks. great win today though.

Football is a game of opinions...

In this case however, the facts of number and quality of chances shows we are playing that formation is a very different style.

Aspin used it defensively, Askey is using it to create significantly more opportunities.

 

[pjg1876]

35 minutes ago, PV1973 said:

Cambridge didn’t have a sniff apart from that one header at the end and that’s credit to the full side for that.

They did miss a sitter with a header in the first half, which from behind the goal looked easier to score than miss

[onestepatatime]

Anyone think the ref was atrocious, again? The officials we get at Vale truly are diabolical, week in, week out.

[PV1973]

4 minutes ago, pjg1876 said:

They did miss a sitter with a header in the first half, which from behind the goal looked easier to score than miss

I wouldn’t have called that a sitter, it was a harder chance IMO than the header Monty  missed in the first few minutes.