Who to sign for next season?

[dantheman]

Shouldn’t be in this division wozza. One of the loyal few for me. Great player for us and goes about his business with no fuss. 

[Portvale4]

2 hours ago, 1 said:

My POTY. Or Rodney, or Legge. Or Conlon. All to play for

Legge? 

I want to know which Legge you’ve been watching this season? We’ve got one called Leon, and for 70% of the games he’s been poor.

[darren1810]

11 hours ago, Doha said:

 

Yes but remember he doesn't score enough !!! 

[TJHValiant]

9 hours ago, Portvale4 said:

Legge? 

I want to know which Legge you’ve been watching this season? We’ve got one called Leon, and for 70% of the games he’s been poor.

Indeed. His performance against Kings Lynn in particular was awful. He is a great pro and yes still has great ability based on the past but he is going backwards and that’s been our biggest problem, standards declining. 

[dishydave]

If Legge is still here next year I'd imagine it would be for back up we need 2 big younger centre halves especially if he's going to play 3 at the back.

[Joe B]

Legge works well in limited space. Problem was, earlier on in the season, he was being asked to patrol a much larger area of the field, partly due to the incompetence of fullbacks who left space in behind, and partly due to a breakdown in the pressing that served us well las season.

Since Clarke has come in, he's re-established some organisation, made us more compact, and therefore Legge has been asked to defend a much smaller area of space. As a result, he's been our most consistent player since Clarke reintroduced him.

[Joe B]

For all of our grumbles about the forwards,our main issue is that we've conceded the 4th most in the league.

Things have drastically improved under Clarke but the entire backline warrants questions being asked about; can the likes of Brown, Legge, Smith, and Joyce really be regular starters next year with such an abysmal record?

I understand it's a team effort, defending, and our pressing has been much less effective this season, but the aforementioned quartet will be on good money and have significantly underperformed.

I think primary focus should be on sorting the backline out.

[Doha]

17 minutes ago, Joe B said:

Legge works well in limited space. Problem was, earlier on in the season, he was being asked to patrol a much larger area of the field, partly due to the incompetence of fullbacks who left space in behind, and partly due to a breakdown in the pressing that served us well las season.

Since Clarke has come in, he's re-established some organisation, made us more compact, and therefore Legge has been asked to defend a much smaller area of space. As a result, he's been our most consistent player since Clarke reintroduced him.

Spot on. Unfortunately there’s still too many mistakes and vulnerabilities in him regardless due to his age and decreasing pace.
 

An ideal scenario is hopefully Ian Donaldson offers him more to sign for Kidsgrove or summat and we can get out of this additional year clause conundrum 😅

[darren1810]

39 minutes ago, Joe B said:

For all of our grumbles about the forwards,our main issue is that we've conceded the 4th most in the league.

Things have drastically improved under Clarke but the entire backline warrants questions being asked about; can the likes of Brown, Legge, Smith, and Joyce really be regular starters next year with such an abysmal record?

I understand it's a team effort, defending, and our pressing has been much less effective this season, but the aforementioned quartet will be on good money and have significantly underperformed.

I think primary focus should be on sorting the backline out.

Precisely .

I know we hit 6 at Bolton which skews the stats slightly but for all our Port Vale nils we have actually scored more than Cheltenham, Bolton and Newport and scored the same as FGR . So we are on parity with 4 of the top 7 for goals scored. 

As i say granted 11 were in 2 games.

[Joe B]

5 minutes ago, darren1810 said:

Precisely .

I know we hit 6 at Bolton which skews the stats slightly but for all our Port Vale nils we have actually scored more than Cheltenham, Bolton and Newport and scored the same as FGR . So we are on parity with 4 of the top 7 for goals scored. 

As i say granted 11 were in 2 games.

We've got the top assister in the league. Conlon could get double figures goals and assists with a good run now. Rodney is on double figures in his first full season in the EFL. Amoo has barely played and has been a decent League 2 winger for years. We're not far off at that end.

Defensively we've been diabolical and were the worst in England before Clarke whipped us into competency.

This is why I advocate moving on from Brown, Monty, and Joyce. I really like all three but it's an abject defensive record. Same goes for Crookes. If he hasn't been good enough to start regularly in this circus, will he ever be good enough? I don't rate a marginal improvement into 'not a shambles' as evidence enough he warrants another contract.

[Portvale4]

2 hours ago, Joe B said:

Legge works well in limited space. Problem was, earlier on in the season, he was being asked to patrol a much larger area of the field, partly due to the incompetence of fullbacks who left space in behind, and partly due to a breakdown in the pressing that served us well las season.

Since Clarke has come in, he's re-established some organisation, made us more compact, and therefore Legge has been asked to defend a much smaller area of space. As a result, he's been our most consistent player since Clarke reintroduced him.

Despite my comments about Legge, I wouldn’t be against him staying on next season. He’s a capable back up and he adds much needed experience to the squad. 

[valeparklife]

35 minutes ago, Portvale4 said:

Despite my comments about Legge, I wouldn’t be against him staying on next season. He’s a capable back up and he adds much needed experience to the squad. 

I like Legge. He's a model pro and you can tell he's a winner who cares about the club.

The problem was that Askey decided he was again going to rely on him as a 1st choice 46+ games a season CB. At his age that's madness. He would have been fine this season if we'd signed a proper 1st team CB then rotated Legge in and out to look after his fitness levels/condition.

Look at Cambridge with Wes Hoolahan. He's a bit older at 38, but he doesn't play any Tuesday games so that his body can recover, and he can be 100% on Saturdays.

[Fosse69]

9 minutes ago, valeparklife said:

I like Legge. He's a model pro and you can tell he's a winner who cares about the club.

The problem was that Askey decided he was again going to rely on him as a 1st choice 46+ games a season CB. At his age that's madness. He would have been fine this season if we'd signed a proper 1st team CB then rotated Legge in and out to look after his fitness levels/condition.

Look at Cambridge with Wes Hoolahan. He's a bit older at 38, but he doesn't play any Tuesday games so that his body can recover, and he can be 100% on Saturdays.

Matter of squad balance,  experience, new heads to freshen it up,  players already being developed, additional development players. Hopefully next season there will more scope to rotate and more substitutions to spread the load and vary the tactics.

[EricHamesis]

3 minutes ago, Fosse69 said:

Matter of squad balance,  experience, new heads to freshen it up,  players already being developed, additional development players. Hopefully next season there will more scope to rotate and more substitutions to spread the load and vary the tactics.

Smaller squad, so less scope to rotate.

Hopefully the overall quality is raised so we're not fearing those brought in will just go through the motions or drop a clanger.

[Fosse69]

11 minutes ago, EricHamesis said:

Smaller squad, so less scope to rotate.

Hopefully the overall quality is raised so we're not fearing those brought in will just go through the motions or drop a clanger.

I assume that   one aspect of the system  is to bring more youngsters on,  hopefully we will have more  of the  Rodney potential. The odd loan player of a high standard may be of benefit  to our results, but I see no point in developing other clubs players unless the is the option to sign.