Match Thread: Port Vale v Cambridge United

[Playa Amodores]

9 minutes ago, Davebrad said:

did they give a man of the match, or couldn;t name or find one...

Rollover

[Playa Amodores]

Calmed down a bit. I don’t mind losing, its a fact of life, however it’s the manner in which you lose.

[Warren]

2 minutes ago, Davebrad said:

did they give a man of the match, or couldn;t name or find one...

I was thinking about that and I couldn't remember one. If it had been given to Worrall, we'll fine, but .......

[valefan16]

Worrall Man of the Match, effort was there and had their 11 all ends up but wasn’t fed enough.

Conlon reaction was harsh, played a lovely through ball for Ojo and set up a with a lovely lofted pass Taylor for the chance Ojo missed before their first goal.

Pett was ok but below his standard of late, was him who got robbed edge of area and had to bring his man down to prevent a clear shot on goal.

Was Derek anywhere near as bad as Donnelly yesterday? Even when he tried to take their man out he missed him by a mile!

Forrester was miles off it.

Taylor couldn’t trap wind yesterday had a great chance to make it 2-1 when their lad let a pass back run past him and make a complete meal of it.

Even Ellis wasn’t great.

[vale victory]

Any other manager would be under increasing pressure now 2 wins in 15 is it ???
Boring unimaginative turgid rubbish football
It’s a chore going to watch games now

Clarke’s level at league 2 level is outstanding
Yesterday after the game he stated that maybe certain players have reached their ceiling .well maybe Clarke has reached his ceiling

Same system time after time that’s been found out in home games , no creativity no attacking threat every week

Carol has backed him and flitcroft to the hilt , maybe too much as it looks like we have been overspending

Something has to change and soon

[Bycarsbill]

1 hour ago, Playa Amodores said:

Calmed down a bit. I don’t mind losing, its a fact of life, however it’s the manner in which you lose.

I couldn't agree more, effort was negligible, defending woeful and, not for the first time this season, no sharp edge up front. Overall results recently unfortunately proves these points, with only 2 wins from the last 16 games we're well and truly in relegation form. Thank goodness for a relatively successful first half to the season, but we're still not definitely safe and I reckon we certainly need at least another couple of wins in our last seven fixtures to guarantee League One status next season!

[Warren]

I think we will be ok. We may not have the best mix but I think we do have a decent set of L1 players. 

However, I've said before, relegated teams are often that the second half of the previous season. That's where we are presently and therefore a fairly fundamental change is needed. 

The management team got promotion and don't become poor overnight. But we lacked everything everywhere yesterday. It even got worse after half time. 

In possession we only have one player who can carry the ball in the midfield area. That's Worrall. In the middle Butterworth needs to play. On the left solutions are harder, but Robinson needs to be more effective if he plays. So what I'm saying is the midfield including wingbacks should have 3 carriers and 2 passers. All should be able to tackle, track and block. We've got 4 passers, 1 carrier. This isn't even better defensively. 

Up front Wilson is our best player and should play if fit. 

[CambridgeSean]

On 26/03/2023 at 11:00, NellyTheValiant said:

Anyone know what caused the Cambridge collapse?  They were flying during the 1st part of the season but have been on an horrendous run.  Were they just in a false position initially?

Good afternoon all, Cambridge Utd fan here.  Sorry I'm posting late but I took a bit of time registering.  I thought I'd try to answer the above and then make a few comments on the match.

In terms of what's gone wrong it's lots of things.  A small squad which last year gave us real togetherness has been ravaged by continuous injuries.  We got a couple of good signings in the January transfer window only for one of them to suffer a serious facial injury on his debut and another one to injure himself in training.  No one was near him!   There's also an argument that a number of our players were playing beyond their ability last season.  Our two leading goalscorers from 21/22 (Smith & Ironside) are shadows of their former selves.  Confidence has obviously then shrunk. I know every football fan complains about bad luck but...we really have had bad luck!  Two examples:  When we played MK Dons at their place we went 1-0 up only for the goal to be ruled out offside even though it looked fine.  MK Dons then score and win 1-0.  The FA has recently apologised to the club for disallowing a perfectly good goal.  And back in December we were drawing 1-1 away to FGR when they were awarded a 90+3 minute penalty to make it 2-1. The FA have also officially apologised for that one too.  Oh one other thing that might ring a bell since I've been reading the comments about Clarke being linked to the Portsmouth job.  When the Rotherham vacancy occurred after Warne left for Derby, Bonner was more than just linked to it but went for interview and was offered the job.  Something then happened over the next 48 hours and he ended up staying at Cambridge.  Lots of our fans think that led to our downturn.  The thing is the downturn was happening way before the Rotherham link.

I would say I enjoyed yesterday's game but I'm not sure any game is enjoyable in  a relegation scrap.  I thought you were unlucky/we were lucky not to go 1-0 up/1-0 down after that lovely link up play and shot on goal.  If he's put it a little further to one side it's a goal.  And if you had scored then the 3 points are yours.  We don't do fightbacks.  Of course minutes later we score and it's a different story.  You all obviously know far more about Vale than me but in the second half I was trying to work out if there was a lack of confidence about a number of your players or if it was more a question of quality. Either way the team looked unhappy but I guess at 2-0 down that's an obvious thing to say.

Finally, there is no way you'll be in a relegation fight.  Trust me!  It will be 4 from the current bottom 6 (or rather 3 from 5 as I think FGR are gone). Enjoy the rest of the season and life in League One next year.  Now of that I'm envious as, despite yesterday's result, I think we've left it too late.

All the best. 

[rayzer]

Man of the match yesterday was Ojo>

[DazFred]

4 hours ago, Playa Amodores said:

Rollover

When did he come on?

[DazFred]

55 minutes ago, rayzer said:

Man of the match yesterday was Ojo>

For missing the best 2 chances of the match?

[Conrad]

1 hour ago, rayzer said:

Man of the match yesterday was Ojo>

I would have said Smith.

[werstayinup]

5 hours ago, vale victory said:

Any other manager would be under increasing pressure now 2 wins in 15 is it ???
Boring unimaginative turgid rubbish football
It’s a chore going to watch games now

Clarke’s level at league 2 level is outstanding
Yesterday after the game he stated that maybe certain players have reached their ceiling .well maybe Clarke has reached his ceiling

Same system time after time that’s been found out in home games , no creativity no attacking threat every week

Carol has backed him and flitcroft to the hilt , maybe too much as it looks like we have been overspending

Something has to change and soon

Personally I dont want to see DC go but who knows especially if all the rumours of an investor coming in are true. I would like to see other changes myself and let DC deal with things that managers usually deal with

[geoff1]

30 minutes ago, werstayinup said:

Personally I dont want to see DC go but who knows especially if all the rumours of an investor coming in are true. I would like to see other changes myself and let DC deal with things that managers usually deal with

hes on a five year contract and the dc book of excuses is long and varied.!😉

[Paul6754]

Fine lines in football, Ojo puts the chance away and Vale go one up and likely go on to win the game, as it turned out they go down the other end of the pitch and score and become a different team, goals change matches.

We didn't play well yesterday but they were as bad if not worse than us 'til the goal. Frustrating but no need for the "Grim Reaper" to show up.

Another 2 points and we're safe which is what this season was all about.

I'm relaxed about this season, the club is in a much better position than 2 years ago, the truth about the exit of Garelick and rumors of potential new investors will eventually come out. As long as the major "Players" behind the scenes  remain and pull together then there's every reason Vale can have an excellent summer transfer window and continue to move forward.