onevalefan.co.uk Present Past Specials About Forum
Jump to content
onevalefan.co.uk forum

Advert


Advert


Wycombe (A) match thread - 23rd Dec

robf

By robf
in Port Vale present

 Share

Recommended Posts

Advert

JoeB2 Veteran

JoeB2

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

Alright, I'll try and be balanced with this.

7 points from 9, 15th, the QF of the League Cup, and more youth-teamers than ever playing and contributing. This season is nowhere near the disaster we can often make out. Crosby is doing just about enough to keep his head above water and hasn't been helped by some patchy recruitment over the last 2 years. Today, we didn't play well against a poor team but have nicked a point without two of our best players this season. We're probably likely to finish 14th-18th, playing the same style of football, and never really be threatened by anything remotely exciting. We've moved to self-sufficiency after losing circa £1m a year, and it'll take a fair while to get things moving upwards again. Sign a LWB and (god forbid) competent and fit striker, and maybe we'll finish top half. We can probably give up on the 23/24 season now - and after the turbulent 5-6 years we've had, is that such a disaster?

However.

We're not a particularly good football team. We've won 2 of 14 league games, against poor sides in the bottom 6 of the table by virtue of an offside set-piece goal and a widely deflected effort. We were utter garbage today until Wilson came on. On current trends, we're going to be getting quite nervous come March/April time. Crosby doesn't seem to be improving - we conceded from another deep cross today, and we didn't create much on goal. He has a very rigid style and doesn't want to alter. The recruitment has, once again, completed cacked up the strikers, and we're now reliant on the notoriously unreliable fitness of James Wilson. Blaster might go back in January, and replacing him of similar quality for similar outlay is going to require an incredible effort. We have two teams in the top 8 in the space of 3 days, and an 8 point gap can easily become a far less comfortable 4-5 points by New Year.

Crosby isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and Flitcroft will go when he decides to. We have to make peace with that. I'm still unconvinced that Crosby is much more than an uninspiring stopgap, doing just enough to avoid the sack whilst rarely making the team greater than the sum of its parts. He was here to avoid rocking the ship as we cut costs, and as he was a known quantity at a time when a poorly chosen unknown quantity would have been disastrous. We're not really going anywhere, and the inevitability is that he'll probably be sacked in about a years' time without much progress to us or his career. He'll struggle to get another EFL job, and will probably wind up as assistant again.

I guess it comes down to who we are as a football club, and what the plan is. If the plan is to stay afloat in League 1 with minimal financial outlay, change to possession football, and hope Category 1 academies trust us with excellent players, then job done for this season. There's a good chunk of pretty sensible fans who are accepting of this. There's another chunk, like me, of daft ones who think things could be better. The question is - where do we go from here?

To be very clear, I'd sack him tomorrow and appoint Pete Wild or Michael Duff.

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites
LancyTony Veteran

LancyTony

Posted
Posted

Sorry for this mini-rant being off-topic! I've paid for 4 Vale games on iFollow and each time I've had to listen to somebody prattling on about "will Stoke find something...let's see how Stoke are doing?" I don't care!!! - I paid to listen to the vale game and don't give a toss how Sjoke are doing - Why does Radio Stoke get in on the act?

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Doha Veteran

Doha

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

 We're not really going anywhere, and the inevitability is that he'll probably be sacked in about a years' time without much progress to us or his career. He'll struggle to get another EFL job, and will probably wind up as assistant again.

Great plan from the club that'll do wonders for matchday and ticket sales revenue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hoppers Veteran

Hoppers

Posted
Posted
Just now, Doha said:

One is at a non-league sized club with a very definitive ceiling and the other is unemployed.

Yep good points here mate - Im a Crosby in kind of guy still unfortunately, but if we were to get someone like Wild/Duff, how long before he is poached?? 

At least we have got a manager no-one else would want - silver linings and all that 😍😍😍😍

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Doha Veteran

Doha

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, ValeForever. said:

I love the Vale players reaction when it goes in, rushing to get the ball back to see if we can nick a winner. Great mentality.

I misread this at first and thought you meant his reaction to the keepers save in following it in to score. Both were Wilson and both are true. He has the strikers instinct that many many many donkeys at VP down the years could only dream of. Same for his header against Mansfield at Wembley, same for Carlisle away that season, same for many of his goals, he's a predator in the box and knows where to be and when. He is a proper striker and his injury record starting with the blown up knee when he was at Derby is massively unfair.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Reporting Posts and other information

    Rules - This forum is moderated but the admin team don't read everything. Don't assume we'll spot rule breaking and alert us by reporting content. Logged in users can hover over the post and click the orange button. Guests can contact us here. If you don't get on with another user you can "ignore" them. Click this link, type in their username and click save. Please check with the admin team if you wish to sell/auction any items. We're happy to support good causes but check first.

    Use - This forum may not be suitable for all as it may contain words or phrases not considered appropriate for some. You are personally responsible and potentially liable for the contents of your posting and could face legal action should it contain content of a defamatory or other illegal nature. Every message posted leaves a traceable IP number. Please do not reveal any personal information about yourself or anyone else (for example: phone number, address or email address). This forum is not in any way affiliated with Port Vale FC. OVF reserve the right to edit, delete, move or close any thread for any reason. If you spot an offensive post please report it to the admin team (instructions are above).

    Adverts - This site occasionally a) has adverts and sponsored features about gambling b) accepts sponsored posts from third parties. If you require help and advice on gambling read these links: Information on protecting young people | Addiction help from gambleaware.co.uk

  • Friends of OVF

Advert



×
×
  • Create New...