Crosby In

[andy jones]

27 minutes ago, lydiatevaliant said:

More quality Flitcroft additions like Loft you mean?

Fail to beat Blackpool and lose to Carlisle and how won't our league position be under threat? We've indisputably been in relegation form for the past three and a half months. Now isn't the time for sticking our heads in the sand and hoping for the best. 

I don't think any fans think Loft is playing well.

But your potential forecast of the next two games would, of course, put us nearer the bottom 4 but similarly win them and we will be top half.

We live in hope.

[Alfie1962]

1 hour ago, andy jones said:

As someone who, like many on here, is finding the 'Vale Way' of messing around with it at the back with tippy tappy football hard work to watch, it may seem strange I am calling Crosby in.

The reason I am is ...

Carol has stated the club must become self-supporting financially.

So our whole playing structure from Academy to first team is being taught to play to the playing style befitting the modern day Championship and higher.

It is also proving to be a very successful conduit with probably the best set of Academy lads breaking through to the first team since the Stan Mathew's years. 

Crosby is seen by the club as an excellent coach who is unafraid of putting youngsters into the first team.

We are one win off being mid-table which would be in most fans eyes ... progress. Particularly with the number of youngsters coming through from the Academy.

As the club say ... we are not the finished article. But I think we have started along the road of becoming a successful club that not only finances itself but whose league position improves year on year.

That's why I think Carol will stand firm and not be moved by current results at Vale Park. 

The academy lads were here prior to Flitcroft etc. The pathway is better but the talent was already there.

[Powerline]

It’s all well and good bringing through academy lads if we get relegated at the end of the season. Which is where we are heading. He is clueless. Clearly a decent man manager as I don’t think he’s lost the players. But tactically he has no idea. Who can tell me what our philosophy is with regards to our attacking play? All of our past managers had something. Clarke was get the ball to the wing backs with the two wide centre halves overlapping. Askey was get the ball out to the wingers in his 4-3-3. I genuinely have no clue on what our current plan A is.

[Santa]

I suppose if Crosby stays it will free up a few more Saturdays for me during 2024. I can stay in and watch the game on Ceefax.

[NellyTheValiant]

22 minutes ago, Santa said:

I suppose if Crosby stays it will free up a few more Saturdays for me during 2024. I can stay in and watch the game on Ceefax.

Maybe you and Bri could get together, get a large popcorn and watch games together legally on iFollow😀

Edited December 26, 2023 by NellyTheValiant

[JoeB2]

Quite the change from the chat we had in the Bulls Head before Wigan, Dave!

Edited December 26, 2023 by JoeB2

[Valiiant]

2 hours ago, andy jones said:

As someone who, like many on here, is finding the 'Vale Way' of messing around with it at the back with tippy tappy football hard work to watch, it may seem strange I am calling Crosby in.

 

Is your surname Spencer and your forename starts with an F?

[ValeForever.]

Agree Crosby in. I just do not understand the logic in getting rid of him at the moment. He's basically just not a very fashionable manager & ppl don't like it. He doesn't have the zest of DC. Darrell is doing a great job at Cheltenham as we all knew he would, but he's gone in there to fight fires & keep them up at all costs. Crosby's brief is very different. We are attempting to build something to give us a shot at competing towards the top end of this league in years to come.

Do I like some of the stuff we do? No absolutely not.

Are some of our tactics questionable? Yes, definitely.

One thing I will never ever get my head around for instance, is when we have a throw mid way in the opposition half, & we go back to the wide CB & then to the keeper & try & switch the play. I definitely think we need to be playing more percentages in those kinds of areas. There were a few occasions today 1st half where big Jesse has gone up to take a long throw, Alfie is screaming for him to give him the ball short. It was a 2v1 opportunity every single time, but Jesse was clearly under strict orders to launch it into the box.

We're far from perfect & we can be bloody awful to watch at times, but when we up the tempo & play on the front foot we look as good as any side I've seen in this league. The next step is to play like that for 90+ mins or atleast on a consistent basis. Fast forward passing, playing between the lines & quicker movement is key. We'd also do well to spend some time focusing on our set pieces, that's throw ins as well; we're tactically inept in that department. 

As I've said before, we're one of a cluster of teams in mid table, all of which are a couple of wins from top 10 or a few losses from dropping close to the bottom 4. I'm not sure I was expecting much else this season, we're kind of where I thought. I don't think anybody else would have us much higher up & for me he's doing okay. 

Reality check required. We're in our 2nd season in League 1. We were never going to waltz our way through the leagues like a Luton or a Bournemouth. We don't have the financial clout. We have to build slowly, which I believe we are doing. We've changed the style of play & we've introduced more technical players alongside youth. That's the brief!

 

[Valiiant]

6 minutes ago, ValeForever. said:

We were never going to waltz our way through the leagues like a Luton or a Bournemouth. We don't have the financial clout

 

 

Literally neither of those teams had "financial clout". Luton's ground holds less than Vale Park and they or Bournemouth were hardly throwing millions at it while climbing the leagues.

80% of your long post was negatives, yet your happy to go along with Crosby in the hope that he suddenly starts getting it right. Let's see where we in 4 or 5 games time now that we don't have Arblaster, and if Ojo is missing for a period. Maybe it will take being in the bottom four for a few people to come to terms with where we are heading.

Edited December 26, 2023 by Valiiant

[Jacko51]

2 hours ago, lydiatevaliant said:

More quality Flitcroft additions like Loft you mean?

Fail to beat Blackpool and lose to Carlisle and how won't our league position be under threat? We've indisputably been in relegation form for the past three and a half months. Now isn't the time for sticking our heads in the sand and hoping for the best. 

It could be argued that but for a good few games at the start of this season, we've been in relegation form for much of 2023.  

[Doha]

17 minutes ago, ValeForever. said:

Agree Crosby in. I just do not understand the logic in getting rid of him at the moment. He's basically just not a very fashionable manager & ppl don't like it.

Personally for me, I don't like the fact that we keep frigging losing and went 17 weeks between seeing a striker score a league goal for us. P15 W2. Maybe I'm asking too much. 

[Mellor!]

15 minutes ago, Doha said:

Personally for me, I don't like the fact that we keep frigging losing and went 17 weeks between seeing a striker score a league goal for us. P15 W2. Maybe I'm asking too much. 

This is Vale mate. We're <ovf censored>, accept it. Stop thinking things can be better. Stop thinking we can win a few games. Everyone is doing their bestest. If the fans stopped moaning, we might win a game. If you dunna like it, go down the Brit.

[blackdog]

I understand that the club needs to be sustainable and one way to go about that is to bring your own players through or pick up young players like Debra and sell them on, I get it.

What I'm struggling with is this, we have to play in a certain way to attract Premiership loans, I'm sorry but that should not be at the cost of our results, at the end of the day it must and should be a mixture of the two, our own identity and the way we are trying to play (Unsuccessfully) at home.

The core business is winning football games and it has been pointed out 2023 has been a disaster, questions quite rightly are being asked. P15 W2 is not acceptable and Crosby has to find a way to win games of football at home especially and maybe tell the hierarchy it's my job on the line and I will play the way I want.

Or maybe his job is safe regardless as long as the "Culture" is preserved and relegation might be a price Carol is prepared to pay.

[Emile]

I might be unrealistic but I just can't see why we can't attract a new manager who will focus on developing young talent. Just because he plays some lads from the youth team and we are terrible and lose the match, isn't enough reason to stick with him for me. 

[JoeB2]

11 hours ago, Jacko51 said:

It could be argued that but for a good few games at the start of this season, we've been in relegation form for much of 2023.  

Our record in 2023 played 44, won 10, drawn 10, lost 24.

40 points. 42 goals.