Barnsley (H) match thread - Boxing Day

[Vale Fan in Lanza]

Kind of torn. Kind of annoyed. Kind of fed up. Kind of bored. Kind of optimistic that another season in League One is ok.

Living in the Brighton area it’s easy to preach on how a well run club can achieve the unachievable but all things considered with catchment area and other clubs everything is relative. 

However, You don’t achieve anything playing 45 mins of a 90 min game.  Plenty of positives but far too many negatives, probably set up by the statistics that plan the game.

Hardly ever comment these days but things have to change on the pitch, and that has to come from the top.

im not seeing any evidence, in terms of data analysis and sports science that see anything positive. I am seeing glimpses of some top players that with the right coaching and fitness could real challenge in this division.

problem for me is partially off it, rather than on it.

James Wilson is the only striker sat the  club and I’m hoping he will be offered some sort of contract.  To run a club that doesn’t have a striker on the book like Willo is unforgivable.

 

points wise you think, ok, not too bad. We are where we are in a tough league. Performance wise with the players we have, you start to think we have a bigger problem with the DoF and below  - and that’s not acceptable.

Hope you had a merry Christmas New Year fellow vale fans.

Edited December 26, 2023 by Vale Fan in Lanza

[andy jones]

1 hour ago, Brian Johnson said:

Its like a slow tango

Thing is BJ whilst so many of us agree with that thought I think we all need to appreciate that it's all part of a project to make the club financially stable. Bringing Academy lads through playing that style makes them attractive propositions to transfer.

[Brian Johnson]

Just now, andy jones said:

Thing is BJ whilst so many of us agree with that thought I think we all need to appreciate that it's all part of a project to make the club financially stable. Bringing Academy lads through playing that style makes them attractive propositions to transfer.

So we need to praise Flickers for the youngsters coming through because he is in charge of everything football related and hes changed everything about the academy around so that we are seeing these youngsters coming through.

The other day, I stated that I have not seen a manager divide fans since the Brian Horton days, I'm actually going to change that statement. All my 45 years of supporting Vale, I have never seen anything this bad amongst the fans being so split when it comes to the manager.

The issue Carol is going to have is, if this keeps up, she is going to have to find investment from somewhere for next season because quite a number of fans have started to walk away and will walk away which will effect things like season tickets.

This amongst fans can not carry on and somethings got to give somewhere

[andy jones]

Thought our support was brilliant today.

Right from the start of the second half as soon as we could see the players were going to put a shift in, the crowd really got behind the team

 Begs the question ... why weren't they putting a shift in in the first half.

The difference when JW came on! Wow, all of a sudden the likes of Chislett and Devine sprang into life.

Should Ryan Loft have been left on to play with JW instead of Uche?

[JoeB2]

20 minutes ago, Vale Fan in Lanza said:

Kind of torn. Kind of annoyed. Kind of fed up. Kind of bored. Kind of optimistic that another season in League One is ok.

Living in the Brighton area it’s easy to preach on how a well run club can achieve the unachievable but all things considered with catchment area and other clubs everything is relative. 

However, You don’t achieve anything playing 45 mins of a 90 min game.  Plenty of positives but far too many negatives, probably set up by the statistics that plan the game.

Hardly ever comment these days but things have to change on the pitch, and that has to come from the top.

im not seeing any evidence, in terms of data analysis and sports science that see anything positive. I am seeing glimpses of some top players that with the right coaching and fitness could real challenge in this division.

problem for me is partially off it, rather than on it.

James Wilson is the only striker sat the  club and I’m hoping he will be offered some sort of contract.  To run a club that doesn’t have a striker on the book like Willo is unforgivable.

 

points wise you think, ok, not too bad. We are where we are in a tough league. Performance wise with the players we have, you start to think we have a bigger problem with the DoF and below  - and that’s not acceptable.

Hope you had a merry Christmas New Year fellow vale fans.

Brilliant post. It isn’t awful but there’s clearly problems and ignoring them will only cause more pain down the line.

Completely summed up my thoughts about being torn - wanting to be positive and patient but unable to ignore the nagging doubts and the quite obvious flaws.

Edited December 26, 2023 by JoeB2

[Wozza4England]

5 minutes ago, andy jones said:

Should Ryan Loft have been left on to play with JW instead of Uche?

No.

[andy jones]

BJ. Got to say you are totally right about fans walking and the arguments amongst Vale fans at the minute due to the frustration of the senior strikers we have signed being so <ovf censored>.

So whilst Flitcroft is doing great creating the conduit for the youngsters to come through (along with the money being made from talented schoolboys going to big clubs)  the senior striker signings for the last few seasons have been poor.

 

[darren1810]

What I'm finding odd about the current situation ( and I'm amongst the dissenters ) is that things were worse under Bruno and Brown yet I didn't feel this angry then as I do now.

Wasters like Sam Kelly, Michael Tonge, Ryan Taylor. Some utter dross particularly under Brown arguably the worst Vale manager ever . 

But I feel more angst and disaffection towards the club than back then yet we are in a higher division. 

Odd really considering but I'm so apathetic towards this bunch. 

[soothsayer]

12 minutes ago, andy jones said:

Thought our support was brilliant today.

Right from the start of the second half as soon as we could see the players were going to put a shift in, the crowd really got behind the team

The support was great from the ones who stayed but I’d say at least 10% of home fans left at HT however, from an atmosphere viewpoint, they weren’t missed. Perhaps they went home to prepare their latest posts for OVF?

In times of adversity fans need to support the team. I’m no happy clapper who’ll give applause to that first half performance but neither will I boo my team. 
The match stats are interesting that we had more possession, double the opposition’s shots and treble their corner count but Barnsley deserved their win as we were no near the levels required to win a match in the first half. Positives for me was the performances of the two youngsters who came on and Wilson’s performance.

[Smallthorne clampet]

1 hour ago, Raveninblack said:

I know WIlson can’t last a whole game and he is a class player but play him to half time and then substitute him and allow him to help get us in front and for once defend a lead but Friday isn’t going to be easy against Jordan Rhodes et al

Says it all really , that we have players who cant last 90 minutes .

[Hoppers]

30 minutes ago, andy jones said:

Should Ryan Loft have been left on to play with JW instead of Uche?

Yep - though I was just excited about having ANY two strikers on the pitch at the same time - might even of dribbled a little bit (me, not the strikers) 😁👍- NICE

Edited December 26, 2023 by Hoppers

[Mellor!]

29 minutes ago, andy jones said:

Should Ryan Loft have been left on to play with JW instead of Uche?

The only place Ryan Loft needs leaving is on a deserted island without a boat.

[Smallthorne clampet]

24 minutes ago, andy jones said:

BJ. Got to say you are totally right about fans walking and the arguments amongst Vale fans at the minute due to the frustration of the senior strikers we have signed being so <ovf censored>.

So whilst Flitcroft is doing great creating the conduit for the youngsters to come through (along with the money being made from talented schoolboys going to big clubs)  the senior striker signings for the last few seasons have been poor.

 

To state the obvious - you get what you pay for .

[Hoppers]

18 minutes ago, darren1810 said:

Odd really considering but I'm so apathetic towards this bunch. 

Perhaps deep, deep deep down, subconsciously, you know this bunch underneath it all are decent footballers 👍👍

[CambridgeDon]

4 hours ago, TJHValiant said:

January transfer budget? If it is anything like last year! 

Well, if anything, last year proved that January is a good time to save money