Match Thread: Leyton Orient v Port Vale

[Guitar Ray]

8 hours ago, toyahw said:

They never looked "there for the taking". They always looked more likely to score. We defended pretty well. Dull game, we didn't lose.  We  move on.

Totally agree.  Ok chances were at a premium but it was a battle throughout.  I felt we were better in midfield but you fancied their strikers to have the edge on ours if a chance arose.  Quite simply it was a game where both defences were on top.

Apart from our play in the final third we played well.  The problem being our better forward thinking players are unavailable.  We’re hoping one of the strikers creates something out of nothing as it stands.

Fans need to be realistic, arguably we have half the first team missing.  Among those missing are our best players.  Top 7 is achievable but we still need a bit of luck, as do all teams.

[RayWalkers40yarder]

as ive said before im not hitting the panic button. were doing okay certainly not as bad as people would say. the phone call on grumble and grumble regarding wanting pope back was an absolute joke. that time has been and gone. tom has been an excellent servant but hes moved on now and we need to be looking at better. we were flying until injuries struck all in the same position. something ive never seen happen before. we will be ok. maybe the automatics are out of reach but certainly not the play offs and we seem to have stopped the rot. keep the faith.

[valiant_593]

8 hours ago, toyahw said:

They never looked "there for the taking". They always looked more likely to score. We defended pretty well. Dull game, we didn't lose.  We  move on.

Both teams were there to be taken. They looked knackered second half. Sadly we never attempted to win the match. 

[darren1810]

Well a complete non event , both keepers could of lit a big Cuban and sat on a deckchair. 

In the grand scheme of things it was a very good point against a team who are good at home. I did think they were poor but our second string didn't have the guile to beat them unfortunately.

5 of the team that lined up at home v Orient were missing and only 3 of the 7 subs from that day were in yesterdays squad. so in effect 9 of the 18 from the home game were missing for various reasons.

We've been absolutely decimated and it's on the verge of killing any hopes. Anything now for me is a bonus because i don't see in current circumstances how we get back on the horse and turn this around.

Plus points were a gritty display where everybody gave their all. Hall was outstanding and Martin and Smith also played admirably. 

We just lacked a final ball or any semblance of a cutting edge.

Our away support was fantastic 644 on the back of 4 succesive defeats is nearly 300 more than they brought to us when they were top 3.

Surely 5.00 pm Saturday things will look slightly better after a Calvin Andrew style goal off someone's butt beats Scunthorpe. 

[werstayinup]

19 minutes ago, Joe B said:

If our wage structure prohibits us from sign Loft or Hemmings I'd be a bit concerned.

How much do you think those 2 players are on? all guess work of course

[Warren]

Dug a good result out. Looked secure at the back. Played direct and not a pretty game. In the final third need better decision making and sometimes pass quality. Finally shoooooooooot!

[Joe B]

Excuses being made on the basis of injuries but our two good forwards got injured over 2 months ago and we didn't replace them with any experience. That was a strategic choice made by the club, and we're paying for it by having no attacking threat.

The injuries have been a disaster but we've played the entire month of January with an unfit Wilson (who we all knew was a slow starter) and a couple of loanees. It's no wonder we can't score.

[werstayinup]

10 minutes ago, Joe B said:

Excuses being made on the basis of injuries but our two good forwards got injured over 2 months ago and we didn't replace them with any experience. That was a strategic choice made by the club, and we're paying for it by having no attacking threat.

The injuries have been a disaster but we've played the entire month of January with an unfit Wilson (who we all knew was a slow starter) and a couple of loanees. It's no wonder we can't score.

Although one of those loanees scored 2 in his first 2 games and both good goals

What i do agree with is we should of got one experienced striker in to try and get us over the line

[werstayinup]

Just to add though,i will wait and see what the rest of the window has in store for us before i moan.....so far for me Hall and Hussey and for a young lad Harratt all look very decent signings

[Vale1995]

Its really not a good point tho if we had beaten salford it would of been. All teams around us win weve lost more ground with this result. Any promotion worthy team would of put them to the sword yesterday they were below average and we didnt create a single noteworthy chance. Did there keeper have a save to make. I honestly cant remember the last time we played well. Atleast weve got a week between games now so hopefully give us a chance to get some bodies back because we need something to give us a spark as the last months worth of performances have been mid table at best showings 

[Hoppers]

12 hours ago, smithie said:

It definitely looked like avoiding defeat was more important than trying to win today. I'd understand that stance against a strong side but Leyton were abysmal and there for the taking. 

Sorry, but any notion that being the 7th best team in Division Four will be an achievement merely underlines how far we've fallen. 

 

Out of curiosity Smithie, how are you determining how far weve Fallen? from this time last year, or 3 months ago?

[darren1810]

22 minutes ago, Hoppers said:

Out of curiosity Smithie, how are you determining how far weve Fallen? from this time last year, or 3 months ago?

Spot on.

We are all frustrated. I now think we have to be patient. There's no doubt we are on an upward curve. We may have to wait until August with a clean slate now. What has happened has been freakish, disastrous and unprecedented. Nobody could of forseen the horrendous luck we have had.

Get the feeling if we don't make the top 7 the Clarke out brigade and Flitcroft is a fraud merchants will be pretty high profile on here.

Nobody can be certain of anything in football, but even with Proctor out up to early November it looked to me like a very good chance of top 3 . Now it's a huge effort to keep in touch with the top 7.

I'll be very disappointed of course but won't be pointing fingers at anyone, it's just been unbelievable. Somebody has ran over a Black cat or stirred a gypsy curse. 

[Guitar Ray]

3 hours ago, Joe B said:

Excuses being made on the basis of injuries but our two good forwards got injured over 2 months ago and we didn't replace them with any experience. That was a strategic choice made by the club, and we're paying for it by having no attacking threat.

The injuries have been a disaster but we've played the entire month of January with an unfit Wilson (who we all knew was a slow starter) and a couple of loanees. It's no wonder we can't score.

Excuses?  Valid reasons?  Choice of words.  We’ve been damned unlucky in my view.  It’s not just losing our 2 good forwards, it’s, at various times, losing ALL our forwards, best attacking wingbacks/wide players, most creative midfielder, and high impact super sub, even Dan Jones was having some effect in an attacking sense, sorry if I missed anyone else out.  The balance is to get someone half decent to join in January, in the knowledge that our injured players will ultimately return and then need to play minutes to gain fitness.  Not an easy task.  Add to this every team in every league will be looking to strengthen in this window so we could easily end up in a bidding war.  At the end of the day finances do play a part.

I think we’ve recruited well.  Get Wilson up to speed, add a couple more players, as DC suggests, get the injured/ suspended players back, and, most of all, have a bit more luck, and the playoffs should be on.  If we can turn things round quickly the automatic places are still achievable.

Cup half full.

[Bycarsbill]

4 hours ago, werstayinup said:

We were riding high in the table either 2nd or 3rd right on the tails of Forest Green,then injuries struck to our 2 experienced strikers and then the rest went,we seem to have been cursed ever since.

I read yesterday that Matt and Stevens had scored 30 out of 50 league goals for FG(or something like that) now take those 2 out of their team and imo they wouldn't be top and the same with others at the top,take a few of their best players out and they would struggle like we have. So as you say we have been depleted,now lets try and get players in and stock up and then see where we go over the next couple of months

How have FG managed to keep those two fit enough to score all these goals?  Good luck or good management?

[darren1810]

8 minutes ago, Bycarsbill said:

How have FG managed to keep those two fit enough to score all these goals?  Good luck or good management?

luck.