Match Thread: Sutton United v Port Vale

[Joe B]

Just now, Breadwinner said:

Yes m8 i know where we are and it's a OK start just find it disturbing how a team full of confidence can self implode like that .
All the feel good factor they created the week before they took away with saturdays giveaway .
Never easy supporting Vale had years of false dawns the momentum was with us at 2-0 what happened to change the course of a routine victory ,did we get complacent or were Sutton like Barcelona ,wish I watched it but was out buying me daughter a sofa for her first owned brought house ,I can not truly understand what happened as I wasn't there but lets not pretend it didn't matter ,all games matter and if we are one point short of reaching play offs because of this game i will be going berserk come end of season .
Too many sloppy performances from Vale these past few years 9 recent goals given away were all dreadful 3 v Rochdale 2 v Leyton Orient and 4 v mighty Sutton .
Sort it out DC or midtable obscurity will be the outcome and all our excellent forward play be for nowt like sat 3 goals scored and not even a pozy point

It's better than an OK start, it's a great start.

You can't really draw many parallels between Saturday and last season's collapses as the team is completely different, the management setup is completely different, and it hasn't happened under Clarke before. We did it to someone else last week. It happens in football. Not a sign of anything.

Whilst those 9 goals you've mentioned aren't great (although 2 were deflected and 2 were own goals), in the other 8 games we've conceded 3. 

[Santa]

I can probably tell you what the first two subs will be against Barrow next week.

Do we struggle in the middle bit of games because we can’t change things tactically as we’d like (or respond to other teams’ tactical changes) because we know we’ve got to take off players who can’t manage a full 90?

[MBE]

On 10/10/2021 at 09:39, Biddulph_PV said:

Don’t really understand why you are chastising people for having a different opinion on the goalie situation.

I have no reason to prefer one over the other, simply want the best man for the job.

I’ve not been convinced by what I’ve seen so far from Covolan so would like to see what Stone can do given he’s not exactly inexperienced.

Nothing wrong in an opinion and I understand why you would mention Stone. He has done nothing wrong in the games he's played and looks a very good shot stopper.

For me Covolan had nightmare on Saturday and should have done much better with 3 goals. In the 10 games I have seen him play his I don't think his communication is up to standard yet and his positioning needs a lot of work too BUT he allows our defence to play 10-15 yards further upfield than last year. We have looked a really dangerous team for it, especially when you have Jones and Cass at CB who can go and join the play in midfield or on the wing.(This is why we look more dangerous and scored more goals since Smith moved to the centre of a back 3.) Also watch how we defend when we have our own corners, see how many players we leave on the halfway line to defend and how many we commit forward.Its very different to last year. This only happens because of the type of keeper Covolan is, which Stone he is definitely not. If Stone plays we will have to make other adjustments for it. 

Covolan brings so much more to the team than a traditional keeper and is a major reason why we are 4th. 

 

[MBE]

On 10/10/2021 at 10:07, onestepatatime said:

I've calmed down a little now. Fellow Valiants, this is Division 2! Vale can and do frequently, look very good footballing wise but we, like other teams , have a "soft" belly and a few wobbles. In the main, in a very open Division, we are capable of reaching the play offs but we do have to add a nasty and "hard" streak to our performances. 

To get out of this god forsaken horrid Division tenacity and some of the darker arts are required in addition to the footballing side. In my opinion we do not possess the former in sufficient terms, yet.

We can open teams up and look likely to score goals now but we still have this undercurrent of sitting back and being incapable of defending without panicking.

I would describe our need to "ruthless" rather than "hard". Generally we have been hard to beat, results show that however performances show when we play we can really carve teams apart but we miss too many good situations and guilt edge chances to finish teams off. 

[darren1810]

I'll just throw out Bolton 3 Vale 6 ( should of been 10 ) . 

It's a blip Clarke will sort it out. 

[Coyney Valiant]

Yes Saturday was a bad result from 2.0 and 3.2 up and yes we were shocking defensively but weren’t we saying a month ago we look solid at the back but can’t see where the goals are going come from how things change over a month 

[werstayinup]

On 09/10/2021 at 16:23, Beech said:

 

Bowers doesn't half spout some nonsense. The commentary is insufferable. 

Sooner have him over the stoke fans Blakeman and Sandoz or that lad who isn't even local

[werstayinup]

We were never going to lose only 2 games this season so these things will happen,its how we respond to them that matters...Barrow,Mansfield and Colchester to come

KTF onwards and upwards

[Iron Curtain]

One reflection having been there is the oven that was the metal shed behind the goal...

A huge advantage was gained at the coin toss.... Originally I thought the Vale had won the toss and turned them around. But on reflection, did they know just how hard it would be to pick out a high ball with the sun low in the sky in the 2nd half?

I lost count of how many times they hoofed it up into the glare of the sun and it must have been a nightmare for the defence and Cov to pick it out of the sky.

Small pitch, low sun, hoofball, up and under..... nightmare.

 

[werstayinup]

On 09/10/2021 at 16:56, Beech said:

 

Smith looks like a Sunday league player without Legge next to him. <ovf censored>!

Not being funny here but i dont think fans were saying this after the previous 5 games ?? players do have the odd bad game or they wouldn't be in league two. Smith has been outstanding in our unbeaten run imo but after this game he is now a sunday league player....

[darren1810]

15 minutes ago, werstayinup said:

Not being funny here but i dont think fans were saying this after the previous 5 games ?? players do have the odd bad game or they wouldn't be in league two. Smith has been outstanding in our unbeaten run imo but after this game he is now a sunday league player....

Sadly mate it's standard on here don't expect anything less .

It was a bad day at the office. We were 3 minutes from being 2 points off top and all would of been rosy.

All of a sudden Smith, Lloyd etc are crap .

Nothing like a defeat is there to get the keyboards going. 

[Beech]

55 minutes ago, werstayinup said:

Not being funny here but i dont think fans were saying this after the previous 5 games ?? players do have the odd bad game or they wouldn't be in league two. Smith has been outstanding in our unbeaten run imo but after this game he is now a sunday league player....

 

Well obviously my opinion in that moment was hyperbole. But I've always had the same opinion that he's nowhere near the defender some make him out to be, and certainly without Legge next to him. He's tenacious and puts his head where some people wouldn't put there feet, but he's been part of a side for years now that have gotten nowhere. Average at best, in my opinion. But I don't have too many qualms about a Legge/Smith partnership.

[Beech]

42 minutes ago, darren1810 said:

Sadly mate it's standard on here don't expect anything less .

It was a bad day at the office. We were 3 minutes from being 2 points off top and all would of been rosy.

All of a sudden Smith, Lloyd etc are crap .

Nothing like a defeat is there to get the keyboards going. 

 

Yeah, everybody must rate every single player at the club just as highly as yourself. Give your head a wobble. Even if we had won the game, my opinion on Smith wouldn't have changed one bit.

[PV1973]

13 minutes ago, Beech said:

 

Well obviously my opinion in that moment was hyperbole. But I've always had the same opinion that he's nowhere near the defender some make him out to be, and certainly without Legge next to him. He's tenacious and puts his head where some people wouldn't put there feet, but he's been part of a side for years now that have gotten nowhere. Average at best, in my opinion. But I don't have too many qualms about a Legge/Smith partnership.

Just out of interest did you think he was a non league defender  before Legge came to the club? 

[Beech]

9 minutes ago, PV1973 said:

Just out of interest did you think he was a non league defender  before Legge came to the club? 

I don't need to answer that seeing as I've already said that calling him a none league player was just a silly comment of out frustration.

But I don't think he's very good. Far from it. I don't think he's much if any better than Brisley was myself. Though for a defender he does get one or two goals which is always helpful. Without Legge next to him though I think he often looks considerably worse.