Match Thread: Leyton Orient v Port Vale

[osprey]

Crookes defended reasonably well but his distribution is awful meaning we have no outlet down the left.
Many of his passes today went out of play

[PV1973]

3 minutes ago, CambridgeDon said:

I think Crookes showed his limitations today. Generally he defended well, apart from one incident in the first half when he gave away a completely avoidable free kick in a dangerous position, but he lacks any sort of creative play. His distribution in particular is very poor and you could never expect him to overlap in the way, for example, that Gibbo does. Therein lies the difference of course - but he's only one of a long list of players in the squad whose quality wouldn't stand a great deal of scrutiny. 

And one of many that I dare say won't be around next season. We haven't had a good left back since Tankard or Hughes and it has definitely been a problem position for us. I would have preferred to see Monty there today but it would have been a serious risk and I can understand why DC selected Crookes. In the circumstances, it was the right decision.

Anyway, really, really looking forward to a close season of proper recruitment. 

I think today that Clarke set up with a defensive left back on purpose. Notice that Crookes didn’t go over the half way line or support the left winger once. He must have been under orders to do that. 

[grand prix pants]

1 minute ago, osprey said:

Crookes defended reasonably well but his distribution is awful meaning we have no outlet down the left.
Many of his passes today went out of play

Listening to Clarke post match, he was there to defend today. And did a job apparently.

[1]

I’ve got a good feeling about Clarke. Start of an unbeaten run?.......

[Santa]

I thought we were OK. But not much more than that.

Not too long ago you could have thrown a couple of individual errors into the mix and we might have found a way to lose that game. So in a way it's progress. 

 

[1]

I like how Clarke didn’t pussy foot around hoping the new CB wouldn’t cock up again. He was proactive and sured it up. Askey would not have changed it at all.

[PV1973]

2 minutes ago, 1 said:

I like how Clarke didn’t pussy foot around hoping the new CB wouldn’t cock up again. He was proactive and sured it up. Askey would not have changed it at all.

I liked that too. With that in mind I can see Legge still having a big part to play in this last part of the season. 

[Biddulph_PV]

2 hours ago, werstayinup said:

Thats the one,i was trying remember if it was the bar or post,yes if i remember it was more or less an open goal as the cross took the keeper out... i was to busy celebrating the errrrmmmmm goal tbh

Didn’t John Jeffers skin Peter Fox who came racing out of his goal and cross it for Jepson to head against the bar?? We were 1-0 up I think at the time. 

[leggythevaliant]

Do you remember what jeff stelling used to say about wallsall,the draw specialists plenty of 0-0 s or 1-1s,now seems like the new boss will be more fixated on defence than up front scoring goals,but lets see what the next few games say.

[Jacob_123]

Do you remember what jeff stelling used to say about wallsall,the draw specialists plenty of 0-0 s or 1-1s,now seems like the new boss will be more fixated on defence than up front scoring goals,but lets see what the next few games say.

Is that a bad thing given how bad our defence has been this season?

[leggythevaliant]

5 minutes ago, Jacob_123 said:

Is that a bad thing given how bad our defence has been this season?

Yeah yer right pal but id like see a few goals goin in as well,i hope 

[The Kalamazoo Kid]

1 hour ago, PV1973 said:

I liked that too. With that in mind I can see Legge still having a big part to play in this last part of the season. 

Wonder if that has triggered a new contract for Legge, after the rumours that one more appearance would do so?

Doubt we will find out any time soon, judging by Walsall fans comments that Clarke refuses to give details about stuff like injuries and player contracts.

Clarke just said after today's game -

Quote

“Everybody knows what it is. I don’t really want to talk about personal contracts. Leggey has been fantastic since I have been in the building, he is a model pro, I have come up against him loads of times and he will play his part as necessary. He is a great lad so we will keep working away with him.”

Maybe we'll only find out when the players report back for pre-season training in July?! 😆

[toyahw]

Say what you want about Legge. But  I was bloody relieved when he came on.

He marshalled that back four in a rear guard action.

[CambridgeDon]

Crikey, just seen DC's comment on Wozza:

“I said, ‘Wozzer just give me 10-15 minutes for this second half. Get me a cross, or a bit of magic and a goal’ – and he scores the goal.

“He struggled a little bit so the change was always going to happen because his whole ankle had swollen right up. But fair play to him, he wanted to go back out – and he scored a cracking goal for us.”

Doesn't look too good for Tuesday 🙁

[toyahw]

2 minutes ago, CambridgeDon said:

Crikey, just seen DC's comment on Wozza:

“I said, ‘Wozzer just give me 10-15 minutes for this second half. Get me a cross, or a bit of magic and a goal’ – and he scores the goal.

“He struggled a little bit so the change was always going to happen because his whole ankle had swollen right up. But fair play to him, he wanted to go back out – and he scored a cracking goal for us.”

Doesn't look too good for Tuesday 🙁

I think Wozza has been struggling with an ankle injury all season. Will be a massive miss.