Match Thread: Accrington Stanley v Port Vale

[philpvfc]

11 minutes ago, Warren said:

I think everything that happened subsequently stems from the goalkeeping error. No matter how harsh it is to say this, Stevens has had a lot of opportunities and the only game I thought he played well in is Derby at home. It was gross over thinking to play him yesterday and going behind cost us the game overall as confidence drained from the team. 

I think the forwards can get a win against Oxford if we can keep the door shut at the back. I'm conscious Stones made a mistake for the first goal away at Oxford. We were so bad there many supporters left early. So a bigger than ever effort is needed on Monday. 

The thing is, at Oxford we weren’t that bad until the third went in, I was sat there thinking at 2-0 down we could still get a result and were unlucky to be behind bar an error by Stone, hopeless play by Harrison and some shocking finishing by Massey. The. The third went in and the fourth shortly after, then I gave up. Because we played alright for 50 minutes at Oxford and still lost 4-0 I have very little hope for Monday.

[Warren]

13 minutes ago, philpvfc said:

We miss Jones and Garrity plus we could do with Walker back now Ojo is suspended. Politic needs to come back in to the team to give us a bit of fight, this team currently do not look like they want to be playing,  the idiotic reason to tell players about their contracts already has obviously had an effect plus Clarke looking like he isn’t bothered since the Portsmouth job became available is culminating into a farce on the pitch.

The traditional and correct approach with contracts is to wait until the end of the season. I know from experience that there are two ways to handle redundancy. Firstly employees are let go immediately. Secondly they are given gardening leave. The risk of resentment leading to actions that damage the business is otherwise too great. One of the actions is down tools or go through the motions restricting effort. 

Of course I'm not really aware of what has or has not taken place. Also I'm conscious what a hard place to earn your living football is in the lower leagues. 

[philpvfc]

16 minutes ago, Warren said:

The traditional and correct approach with contracts is to wait until the end of the season. I know from experience that there are two ways to handle redundancy. Firstly employees are let go immediately. Secondly they are given gardening leave. The risk of resentment leading to actions that damage the business is otherwise too great. One of the actions is down tools or go through the motions restricting effort. 

Of course I'm not really aware of what has or has not taken place. Also I'm conscious what a hard place to earn your living football is in the lower leagues. 

Not 100% sure the players have been told those fate yet, only going off a lot of comments on here, if true then totally stupid if you ask me, whether that is part of the problem or not but it’s like switching a light switch in January, we have been awful and players don’t look like they want to be at the club anymore and although it was a very poor transfer window in January that is not the entire issue on the pitch.

[The man in the pub]

Hope the players are in Saturday and Sunday. Not to train but to watch the match replay. Then I would have the team take turns in reading out every single post on this thread. Feel our pain and hopefully shame them into a decent home performance on Monday. One is long, long overdue.

[Warren]

I had reasonable expectations of 9 points from Cambridge, Accrington and Oxford. The ability of the team is sufficient for that, but the application hasn't been there so far. In particular, against a big side the tackling has to be in their half as much as possible. As soon as the ball is lost. 

[Alfie1962]

Not missed a home game other than holidays since early 70s. Visited 85 grounds watching Vale, not going  Monday, going walking with wife which I should have done yesterday.

[valeparklife]

I had reasonable expectations of 9 points from Cambridge, Accrington and Oxford. The ability of the team is sufficient for that, but the application hasn't been there so far. In particular, against a big side the tackling has to be in their half as much as possible. As soon as the ball is lost. 

I'm probably a bit more pessimistic than you, but playing those 3, I'd have liked to have thought 4 points was a real possibility, not 0.

Oxford are winless in 13 I believe. So that's another defeat incoming.

[Howjy04]

2 hours ago, philpvfc said:

Just watched the highlights. Was Ojo sent off for something other than pushing the player to the ground?. What was filmed was never a straight red!

Sproson said he nutted their player.I thought he put his hand in the bloke’s face.That was after the initial scuffle.

[Sam Kelly's Left Boot]

Just 1 more win (hopefully Monday) to be sure of safety, then just get to the end of this season and have a massive overhaul.

Out of the whole squad I'd only keep 4 players, and that may be being generous.

[Sam Kelly's Left Boot]

26 minutes ago, Alfie1962 said:

Not missed a home game other than holidays since early 70s. Visited 85 grounds watching Vale, not going  Monday, going walking with wife which I should have done yesterday.

How big is your house? Surely the kitchen can't be that far away.

Seriously though, don't blame you.

[werstayinup]

8 hours ago, Guitar Ray said:

That’s mostly down to recruitment and partly availability but it’s not the only factor, it’s not just when the ball is in the air, we don’t compete on the deck.  We miss Garrity big time for his running, heading and battling qualities, sadly still injured.  We could’ve played with one of Harrison and/or Proc today considering the compact pitch and tall opposition, not that it matters when your keeper gets 2 hands on the ball and drops it into his own net and the team don’t have the collective will to raise their game to at least match the opposition.

I do think that if we had Garrity,Cass and Jones available then we would of got that 1 win needed by now BUT they haven't been and it's now very concerning if we can actually get that win now

[werstayinup]

22 minutes ago, Howjy04 said:

Sproson said he nutted their player.I thought he put his hand in the bloke’s face.That was after the initial scuffle.

He lunged forward to nut Mitch Clark who then went down as though he had been shot but it was a clear red

[smithie]

2 hours ago, philpvfc said:

Just watched the highlights. Was Ojo sent off for something other than pushing the player to the ground?. What was filmed was never a straight red!

I know it's irrelevant now but is there a freeze frame for the first goal? The liner must have been ultra-alert to be certain the ball had crossed the line.

[PV1973]

8 hours ago, ValeForever. said:

I find that footage of our fans a joke. Absolutely embarrassing.

I don't care if they've paid money, it doesn't give people the right to hurl any abuse they feel necessary at a group of players already rock bottom on form & confidence.

Bunch of monkeys at the front of the stand. Dishing it out & then crying when one of the players tells them to **** off.

Robinson is young & naive. I'm sure he'll learn his lesson. But I don't blame the lad. He was the best thing since sliced bread when he was on the cusp of the first team a couple of months back. Now people want him sacked off for having the balls to stand up for himself.

Not having it.

 

Couldn’t tell what was going on in the terrace other than fans giving abuse to the players as they went off. Is there footage of it somewhere? 
 

If Robinson did that then he’s an idiot. Fans don’t forget stuff like that. 

[Wrex]

Clarke didn't get a victory in his first seven games at the club, then won the next six on the trot! That was an absolutely bizarre sequence, and I don't think it was ever adequately explained.

I still think he's the man for the job, but obviously if this run continues until the summer then his position needs looking at (seen as it seems Flitcroft is here until hell or highwater and Carol wouldn't even consider holding the man who is in charge of "anything that touches a ball" accountable for poor results on the pitch).