Just now, Dol Boy said:

It's not after just two games, though, is it?  It happened on a number of occasions last season as well.

We got promoted mate, not sure what more we could have done last season. 
 

It’s a squad game, there are 46 league games plus cups. There are going to be questionable lineups and formations from time to time. The days of a first XI constantly playing does not happen. 
 

On paper I disagree with what started yesterday but then I’m not on the coaching team. On Moore to fix it in games going forward. But to suggest we’ll turn on him because it happen last season in a successful season is bloody crackers, to use a @JoeB2ism. 

23 minutes ago, Dol Boy said:

It's not after just two games, though, is it?  It happened on a number of occasions last season as well.

We only lost 10,and 2 of those were in the first 4 and 2 in the last 4. That's 6 defeats out of 38

2 hours ago, JoeB2 said:

Moore said that Walters just didn’t make the squad and there was no fitness issue?

Christ. That is concerning.

Or very clever man management, making the young man realise that he's not already the finished article and still has a lot to prove in his development, in response to which Rhys redoubles his efforts.

1 hour ago, NW9Valiant said:

We got promoted mate, not sure what more we could have done last season. 
 

 

Oh dear - you have left yourself open on that one .  We old Ones have seen Vale be Champions and there was a perfect opportunity to have seen another Championship season . Yes promotion was great , but with a bit more effort against the likes of Carlisle etc it could have been another memorable season that would have lived in memory for another sixty odd years .  Yes it was good but there was more that could have been done . 

31 minutes ago, Alan Vit said:

Or very clever man management, making the young man realise that he's not already the finished article and still has a lot to prove in his development, in response to which Rhys redoubles his efforts.

Putting very clever in connection with Moore?...not so likely for me.

Not too down after yesterday’s performance. Moore got it wrong in the first half with the 5-2-3 – it didn’t work last season, so I’m not sure why he thought it’d work now against better teams. And we didn’t sign anyone to fit that system, so trying to play Waine and our best player in Tolaj out of position just didn’t make sense. No surprise we played much better when Croasdale and Ojo came on and we switched to a 3-man midfield. Both played well, but I thought Croasdale really impressed – didn’t look out of place at this level. We were unlucky not to get a point, but giving away two first-half goals away from home is always going to be tough to recover from.

On the plus side, Tolaj was a nightmare for the defenders when played up top, and I thought Clark, Byers, and Humphreys all had solid games. A bit concerned about Debrah and Marosi, but I guess it’s still early days to judge them properly. Let’s just hope Moore learns from that first-half mistake and bins the 5-2-3. We’ve got the players to make a 5-3-2 work, so fingers crossed he sticks with that. Overall, Moore’s been more right than wrong at Vale, so I’m sure we’ll be fine this season.

37 minutes ago, Alan Vit said:

Or very clever man management, making the young man realise that he's not already the finished article and still has a lot to prove in his development, in response to which Rhys redoubles his efforts.

Your ability to imagine convoluted reasons for what is just Moore bad decisions is quite impressive. 

He ballsed up. We all do. Let’s not do mental gymnastics.

Edited August 3, 2025Aug 3 by JoeB2

6 minutes ago, pensioner said:

Oh dear - you have left yourself open on that one .  We old Ones have seen Vale be Champions and there was a perfect opportunity to have seen another Championship season . Yes promotion was great , but with a bit more effort against the likes of Carlisle etc it could have been another memorable season that would have lived in memory for another sixty odd years .  Yes it was good but there was more that could have been done . 

We got promoted but more could have been done?? Strewth 

The outcome of the first game of the season is always more  interesting when you have been promoted or relegated as it can be a bench mark.  

At half time yesterday 2-0 down with 10 men, if they had scored early in the 2nd half, then we would all have been worried of another Barnsley which could have resulted in severe damage to our season after just 90 minutes.  However winning the second half with 10 against 11 at the start and being unlucky not to get a point nearly restored the awful first half.

So in the end I think we can put the first down to everyone having a stinker including the manager. Let's hope the positive 2nd half performance is one the players will take forward in future games because it would give us a very good chance of avoiding a relegation fight in League 1

 

 

2 hours ago, JoeB2 said:

As others have said I’m not sure why he needs to work out things he’s already worked out. I can understand him figuring out how to use Waine, what Shipley brings etc. 

It’s been established Tolaj is best centrally, Croasdale is quite good, and Walters is excellent. Did he have a bump on the head over the summer and forget? 

I think it’s completely fair to have valid criticisms. Some of the decisions yesterday are absolutely mind-boggling. Classic example of over-analysis when keeping it simple would have been significantly better.

Walters not being in the 18 is absolutely crackers. I can’t be convinced otherwise.

The only thing I would say is that you can’t play Walters, Byers and Croasdale in the same team - two out of the three need to be in every 11 though with Ojo as back up to them. Baffling how Rhys missed out completely if it wasn’t fitness.

1 minute ago, JoeB2 said:

Your ability to imagine convoluted reasons for what is just Moore bad decisions is quite impressive. 

He ballsed up. We all do. Let’s not do mental gymnastics.

What? You dont think leaving one of our best players out and making decisions that lost us the game was clever man management?

32 minutes ago, Aguar61 said:

Putting very clever in connection with Moore?...not so likely for me.

m8 - he's the manager that got us promoted last season.  Give your head a wobble.

Byers looked fitter yesterday and IMO had his best game in a Vale shirt.
Great game 2nd half.
Stockley off injured already means we need a target man or we play with a false 9.
Keeper in for Thursday please

Is there a new version of FIFA Manager out or something...??

Some of the pant-pi$$ing comments on here, after just ONE match is staggering.

8 minutes ago, Osh said:

m8 - he's the manager that got us promoted last season.  Give your head a wobble.

Sure M8, just doesn't come across as the brightest lamp on the street is what I feel.