Not read the whole thread but my thoughts are the opinion said about Headley seem to be true. He we poor today and sent off for going with the wrong leg.
Tolaj 2nd half was amazing we'll be lucky to keep him. Marosi is not a patch on our normal recent goalkeepers.
Enjoyed the match after the first half.
UTV

1 hour ago, ValiantHan said:

So, Ruari picked up an injury in training yesterday hence why he wasn't in the squad which must have been so frustrating for him as I imagine he might have started today. 

Hopefully he's not out for too long and is raring to go when he comes back as I want to see him do really well for us. 

Edited August 2, 2025Aug 2 by ValiantHan

Both an encouraging and frustrating afternoon.

Moore’s selection is pretty indefensible. 352 with Tolaj and Stockley was our best system and there’s no reason to change from it. Moore spoke of us losing battles in the first half but it seemed to me we were overrun. Headley and Debrah were poor and the keeper didn’t look comfortable. The second goal was a disgrace in markings

I know that there is analysis and weeks of training to build off, but it’s concerning when thousands of layman fans can see problems before kickoff which the coaching team didn’t. Really poor. Tolaj was predictably wasted and the midfield were in disarray. We lacked a runner. Maybe our player of the season?

However.

Second half excellent, to a man. Aggressive, front footed, and deserving of a point. There were a few snatched opportunities and a couple of times when we couldn’t sort our feet out, but we looked the better team. If we play that system (with 11 men) we’ll be absolutely fine this season. Ojo looked quite tidy and Tolaj was an absolute menace as usual. 

Moore needs to learn his lesson, and I have faith he will. Today was a weird overthought experiment that predictably went wrong. Stick to what works, play your best players in positions where they can do good things, and we won’t have many issues this year. He’s done weird stuff before and then figured it out so I know he’ll get it right.

Weird one. I’m sort of glad we’ve had this nonsense done with by half time of game 1 and get back to how we play football.

Fans brilliant at 2-0 down. We’ll possibly lose on Thursday but we can’t lose our heads. It’ll come.

1 hour ago, Powerline said:

On the way back. Haven’t read the thread yet so just some initial thoughts. I’ll preface this by saying I’ve not seen any pre season games bar Newcastle town, so it was my first time seeing most of the new players.

I said when we extended Debrah’s deal that if he’s one of our starters we are asking to be relegated, since he was diabolical last time we were in league 1, and also struggled in multiple games last year. Most disagreed with me. Today just further supported my thoughts. He was dogshit first half. Dreadful for the first goal. He cannot be a starter.

Humphries looks decent on the ball but I don’t think he’s good enough in the air to play in the middle. I’d move him into debrah’s spot and play someone else in the middle. Personally I think Heneghan in the centre is better than Debrah, so I’d do this, but it shows to me we need another good centre half.

I saw most people complaining before the game that we were playing 3-4-3, with Tolaj on the wing, and I was also not happy. And surprise surprise, it was <ovf censored> awful. Tolaj completely wasted, midfield overrun, Stockley isolated. Play 3-5-2 for the love of god.

Wasn’t overly impressed with Shipley either. Croasdale was far better when came on.

Same applies to Waine. Curtis was miles clear.

The blame today for me ultimately lies on moore. He got it totally wrong and we started with what in my opinion, is clearly not our best team. Cardiff we have to play 3-5-2, with Tolaj up front. Midfield of Walters, Byers, croasdale. 

We were unlucky not to come away with a point, and we showed good fight to almost come back having played so long with 10 men. If we’d started with the right team we could’ve won that for me.

 

He said after the game he learned a lot. Hopefully he learned that 3 in midfield is a must, and you don't play your best forward/player out of position.

What we did see is that we have a very strong 11 if the right team is picked. There's no doubt in my mind what our strongest 11 is and which formation (3-5-2) suits those players best.

Marosi

John

Humphreys

Heneghan

Hall

Clark

Croasdale 

Byers

Garrity/Curtis

Tolaj

Stockley

 

Hopefully we can bring in a couple of promising youngsters on loan. I still think the forward and back line can be improved.

16 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

Both an encouraging and frustrating afternoon.

Moore’s selection is pretty indefensible. 352 with Tolaj and Stockley was our best system and there’s no reason to change from it. Moore spoke of us losing battles in the first half but it seemed to me we were overrun. Headley and Debrah were poor and the keeper didn’t look comfortable. The second goal was a disgrace in markings

I know that there is analysis and weeks of training to build off, but it’s concerning when thousands of layman fans can see problems before kickoff which the coaching team didn’t. Really poor. Tolaj was predictably wasted and the midfield were in disarray. We lacked a runner. Maybe our player of the season?

However.

Second half excellent, to a man. Aggressive, front footed, and deserving of a point. There were a few snatched opportunities and a couple of times when we couldn’t sort our feet out, but we looked the better team. If we play that system (with 11 men) we’ll be absolutely fine this season. Ojo looked quite tidy and Tolaj was an absolute menace as usual. 

Moore needs to learn his lesson, and I have faith he will. Today was a weird overthought experiment that predictably went wrong. Stick to what works, play your best players in positions where they can do good things, and we won’t have many issues this year. He’s done weird stuff before and then figured it out so I know he’ll get it right.

Weird one. I’m sort of glad we’ve had this nonsense done with by half time of game 1 and get back to how we play football.

Fans brilliant at 2-0 down. We’ll possibly lose on Thursday but we can’t lose our heads. It’ll come.

Agree with every word of that. Top summary.

And please don’t write players off after one game.

If this game happened in February there wouldn’t be silly cries of DEBRAH SIMPLY MUST GO and MAROSI IS A FRAUD.

Game one always gets overanalysed. Mistake from Darren, deserve a point, don’t overthink it.

The manager tried something. I will not berate him for that. Not all of his experiments will work. I suspect we will see him try and use it again this season. The thing that impressed me the most was our reaction from half time. We got after them with ten men and they couldnt handle us. I dont think ive come away from a defeat as upbeat as play like we played with ten men and we will be more than fine. Today was a learning curve and i suspect a few will stuggle to get there starting place back for a few weeks

And please don’t write players off after one game.
If this game happened in February there wouldn’t be silly cries of DEBRAH SIMPLY MUST GO and MAROSI IS A FRAUD.
Game one always gets overanalysed. Mistake from Darren, deserve a point, don’t overthink it.

I thought Debrah did really well second half. It helped him (and all of the back line) that they had more industry and cover in front. You could argue he could have done better for their first but being completely fair it was a hell of a ball that wouldn't have looked out of place at the top level

Just now, philmpv said:

17 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

And please don’t write players off after one game.
If this game happened in February there wouldn’t be silly cries of DEBRAH SIMPLY MUST GO and MAROSI IS A FRAUD.
Game one always gets overanalysed. Mistake from Darren, deserve a point, don’t overthink it.

I thought Debrah did really well second half. It helped him (and all of the back line) that they had more industry and cover in front. You could argue he could have done better for their first but being completely fair it was a hell of a ball that wouldn't have looked out of place at the top level

He was exposed! Nothing in front of him. Clarke was playing high and wide and the midfield was non existent. Nervous as hell. Poor lad. He’ll be rayt.

The thing that worries me is after listening to Moore's interview on RS he doesn't think the starting formation was the problem and thinks the red card forced us into playing 3 in midfield. He thought we started very attacking playing "three number 9s". What's the point if two of them are on the wing and the middle one is isolated? 

Our midfield is our best asset. We have genuine league 1 quality players in there. Get them on the pitch and stop getting overrun.

I was hoping it would be a quick harsh lesson, but I can see us going 343 again Thursday after hearing that interview.

Just got home. Good day out, result aside. 
Performance promising second half. We’ll be fine. 
Not to time to drop heads, we will lose games on the road. 
Tactical error from Moore in setting the side up today and he admitted as much, very diplomatically in his post match comments. 
 

We will beat them at home if we play like that second half at home. On to Cardiff Thursday now. We need to play more games with these new players for a while before judging them.
 

Absolute joke people writing them off after an away game and their first competitive game in the side. 
 

Season is a marathon, not a sprint. 

4 minutes ago, Mellor! said:

The thing that worries me is after listening to Moore's interview on RS he doesn't think the starting formation was the problem and thinks the red card forced us into playing 3 in midfield. He thought we started very attacking playing "three number 9s". What's the point if two of them are on the wing and the middle one is isolated? 

Our midfield is our best asset. We have genuine league 1 quality players in there. Get them on the pitch and stop getting overrun.

I was hoping it would be a quick harsh lesson, but I can see us going 343 again Thursday after hearing that interview.

He can’t do it again. Surely to Christ. I am being super positive these days but I’d despair if it’s two in midfield and Tolaj out wide again.

Edited August 2, 2025Aug 2 by JoeB2

Special shout out to the 5 or 6 bellends in the home end in the corner who went the whole 90 + minutes and didn't look at the pitch once, only at the Vale fans trying to wind us up.  New levels of cringe-worthy.  Suspect they are tucked up in bed now, well past their bedtime.

Just now, fuzzyvalefan said:

Special shout out to the 5 or 6 bellends in the home end in the corner who went the whole 90 + minutes and didn't look at the pitch once, only at the Vale fans trying to wind us up.  New levels of cringe-worthy.  Suspect they are tucked up in bed now, well past their bedtime.

Just sitting in a section all by themselves as well. Embarrassing. 

4 minutes ago, Mellor! said:

The thing that worries me is after listening to Moore's interview on RS he doesn't think the starting formation was the problem and thinks the red card forced us into playing 3 in midfield. He thought we started very attacking playing "three number 9s". What's the point if two of them are on the wing and the middle one is isolated? 

Our midfield is our best asset. We have genuine league 1 quality players in there. Get them on the pitch and stop getting overrun.

I was hoping it would be a quick harsh lesson, but I can see us going 343 again Thursday after hearing that interview.

That is concerning.

3-4-3 as a formation can work BUT the two supporting the main striker have to be attacking midfielders. If Garrity and Shipley flanked Tolaj with two of Byers/Walters/Croasdale/Ojo in the behind, it would be fine because out of possession the midfield is more of a four.

Having three number 9s on looks atta king but it’s rookie FM/fifa tactics that just don’t work in real life.

That being said, I hope we revert to 3-5-2 or 4-3-3 and make sure we have three in the middle. Going down to 10 men shows we can play with four at the back, and have an extra man elsewhere.

Also, just a quick word on Connor Hall because I haven’t seen his name mentioned. Thought he was exceptional when forced to play left back, really did his job well.