Our best striker

[TheSage]

Naylor did and with some success. But not in league two when the ball is in the air for the most part and it's a physical battle because most players at our level can't keep possession of the ball and pass it to feet. It gets hoofed forwards mostly and that's where we need a physical presence up front. Pope is still by some distance the best we've got at winning headers and holding up the ball but to be effective he probably needs a player (like Cullen) alongside him instead of two wingers who never get within ten yards of him.

I thought we were the better footballing team today but they were stronger and taller and after making their subs they looked more likely to win the game. We struggled to cope with their height and strength and have a few too many lightweight powder puff players in our team when the going gets rough.

[vale victory]

Naylor did and with some success. But not in league two when the ball is in the air for the most part and it's a physical battle because most players at our level can't keep possession of the ball and pass it to feet. It gets hoofed forwards mostly and that's where we need a physical presence up front. Pope is still by some distance the best we've got at winning headers and holding up the ball but to be effective he probably needs a player (like Cullen) alongside him instead of two wingers who never get within ten yards of him.

I thought we were the better footballing team today but they were stronger and taller and after making their subs they looked more likely to win the game. We struggled to cope with their height and strength and have a few too many lightweight powder puff players in our team when the going gets rough.

I actually thought pope was terrible when he came on offered absolutely nothing today .His mobility is a big problem , he’s ultimately a legend but we have to find a way forward without him

[Iron Curtain]

34 minutes ago, Jacko51 said:

He had one very good shot on the turn which went quite close.

Mine was more of a comment of how people react to Bennett and his endeavours... he gets a very rough ride.

[TreacleValiant]

Our best strikers are:-

1. Tom Pope

2. Tom Pope

3. Tom Pope

[Heatwave]

2 hours ago, Old fort said:

Totally depends on who the opposition is,  but Pope should always be 60-70 minute sub, if required  Today his introduction  changed very little apart from he wasn't castigated for losing the ball or not winning his headers in the same way that Bennett was. 

Their no. 15 had both him and Bennett in his pocket all match. Then again, there aren't many central defenders in L2 like him.

[Aguar61]

Is it too old fashioned to play big man small man up front a la Naylor / Mills,Pope/Williamson. In which case we already have 3 players who could provide the answer. Keeping 2 wingers, a forward midfielder and 3 or 4 in defence or 2/3 midfield we would surely scare the living daylights out of this league? With Taylor and Manny  due back we are spoilt for riches in the middle. One man up front is not enough for the strength in midfield that we have,we need to feed a partnership. btw,wasn't Clark bloody fantastic this afternoon.

 

 

 

[Guest Vale at home]

Man in the pub . Well said . You Talk a Lot of  common sense . 

[Mario]

2 hours ago, The man in the pub said:

If you play one up front he needs to score you 20 goals. Dont think either of our current 3  will do that  so that's the priority for next season. As was mentioned above Cullen will probably be the one who loses out. 

Agreed ,the main problem is they are the guys that cost money....Big money; perhaps thats why Askey has kept his hand in his pocket this transfer window. 

How you drop on a 20 goal plus striker in the summer I don't know

[TylerB]

2 hours ago, Mario said:

Agreed ,the main problem is they are the guys that cost money....Big money; perhaps thats why Askey has kept his hand in his pocket this transfer window. 

How you drop on a 20 goal plus striker in the summer I don't know

You have to aim for someone who has perhaps hit 15 in League Two and then try to get that little bit more out of him. When we signed the likes of McPhee and Constantine I never thought they would score the amount of goals they did. I'm not sure Askey even knows who should start up top every week when fit and available. If you could take Pope's intelligence and hold up play, Bennett's mobility and Cullen's finishing and morph those attributes into one player we would be going up this season!

[Howjy04]

10 hours ago, Old fort said:

Totally depends on who the opposition is,  but Pope should always be 60-70 minute sub, if required  Today his introduction  changed very little apart from he wasn't castigated for losing the ball or not winning his headers in the same way that Bennett was. 

Bennett was getting the better of their centre half mainly in the second half  and some of his knockoffs ,with. his foot,in the first half were excellent.Tom had probably the worst 25 mins in his career in a Vale shirt.He would 2/10 headers against the same centre half.Out of the  3 ,Cullen is the best footballer.

[Joe B]

14 hours ago, Old fort said:

Totally depends on who the opposition is,  but Pope should always be 60-70 minute sub, if required  Today his introduction  changed very little apart from he wasn't castigated for losing the ball or not winning his headers in the same way that Bennett was. 

I mentioned the same. If Bennett had come on on 70 and given the ball away + got beaten in the air as much as Pope there would be audible groans in the stand. Its difficult coming into a game late on but Bennett would have been lambasted. Someone made the point that Pope's lack of mobility allowed the Salford back-line to push further up as they had no concerns about him getting in behind, allowing them to play much higher up the pitch.

I understand that we give Pope some slack due to his achievements but we can't hide from the fact that one, the system that serves the team so well doesn't suit him, and two, at 34 he is understandably losing his physical edge in aerial battles. Neither of these claims are a slant on Pope.

[Joe B]

11 hours ago, Aguar61 said:

Is it too old fashioned to play big man small man up front a la Naylor / Mills,Pope/Williamson. In which case we already have 3 players who could provide the answer. Keeping 2 wingers, a forward midfielder and 3 or 4 in defence or 2/3 midfield we would surely scare the living daylights out of this league? With Taylor and Manny  due back we are spoilt for riches in the middle. One man up front is not enough for the strength in midfield that we have,we need to feed a partnership. btw,wasn't Clark bloody fantastic this afternoon.

 

 

 

Askey has played 433/451 (whatever you want to label it) his entire career and has basically refused to deviate from it at Vale, and to be fair to him that system has transformed largely the same squad of players from 20th to 10th in half a season.

We all know we need that mobile, big striker; Guthrie would be one (although I don't rate him half as much as other Vale fans; he has 5 goals this season), or someone akin to Elliot yesterday, though he'd be out of our price range.

All the pieces of the jigsaw weren't going to be found in one season. The job now is to make sure in the summer we find this elusive forward.

[TylerB]

4 hours ago, Joe B said:

I mentioned the same. If Bennett had come on on 70 and given the ball away + got beaten in the air as much as Pope there would be audible groans in the stand. Its difficult coming into a game late on but Bennett would have been lambasted. Someone made the point that Pope's lack of mobility allowed the Salford back-line to push further up as they had no concerns about him getting in behind, allowing them to play much higher up the pitch.

I understand that we give Pope some slack due to his achievements but we can't hide from the fact that one, the system that serves the team so well doesn't suit him, and two, at 34 he is understandably losing his physical edge in aerial battles. Neither of these claims are a slant on Pope.

Pope is a better option when we're chasing a game and might play the last 20 minutes or so with two up top. He's the best finisher at the club without question, but his lack of mobility is a big negative with the style Askey likes to implement. One thing Bennett does do well is he gets about.

[Old fort]

Who makes way to play two out and out strikers?  Just asking

[Iron Curtain]

I always think Askey tries to play like a very very very poor man’s Liverpool.

Attacking wingback.

A front three where the wide men contribute goals.

Those wide men drop the ball back to TAA and Robertson who look to get the ball in the box if the wide men don’t have an opportunity.

Different is they have players whose quality is from a different planet.

If that is the case then they certainly don’t rely on Firmino to score 20 season. Their goals come from all over the park.