11 hours ago, NW9Valiant said:

People don’t rate Croasdale now? One of our more dependable midfielders. Would be mad to let him go. 
 

Also don’t think we flog Brown AND Paton in the same window, probably just Brown. 
 

Goalkeepers I’m not sure if Marosi can play for another club yet due to the 2 in 12 month rule? 
 

Agree Debrah probably goes, maybe Harrogate will have him or something. 

The rule is max 2 teams in 1 season not a calendar year.

34 minutes ago, Griffalo said:

The rule is max 2 teams in 1 season not a calendar year.

Hm. I should know that 😄 

16 hours ago, NW9Valiant said:

Interesting, considering you could say that Marvin or Headley could also play further forward on the left. 

When does Marvin's contract end, anyway? 

Negotiations for him to sign permanently are underway but I understand he's a haggler. 

19 hours ago, JRC said:

Realistically this is going to be a tough window and would be regardless of the manager. 11 points adrift isn't attractive to any player. We could throw a lot of money at not improving the squad and be left with unwanted players in league 2.

Defensively we are 11th worst in the league. Almost every goal is preventable but 10 teams have prevented less than us. 18 goals for is shocking and over a quarter were scored in our last game. Cole has scored a third of our goals. The problem is only one player scores in the league and to have any chance the manager needs to find someone to either create or score more. Our general play has been OK for much of the season and I'm sure none of the bottom 5 are better than us in any aspect apart from kicking a ball into the goal. However,  where are we going to find someone better than Hall, Johnson,  Byers or Stockley? A fit Garrity may provide an answer if played further forward. He's probably the second best player we have at converting chances and a pretty average holding midfield player, in many ways he has the strongest claim to having wasted 18 months. Unusually for a relegation side at Vale we aren't lacking experience. There will certainly be recruitment but I hope any permanent deals are also done with an eye to next season, whichever league that is. Ultimately,  though, you attack and defend as a team. We have a lot of big name players who are all partly responsible for our lack of goals. Its shocking that our second leading scorer is Ryan Croasdale with 2. The one positive as a spectator is that draws are no longer any use to us and I would guess it will be more exciting trying to watch us score a few and losing than trying not to concede.

I am confident that our lack of goals was 80% due to our defensive mindset and team selection we had players with goals in them but they were mainly either on the bench, out of the squad altogether or playing a defensive role. Im not sure what our plan was to get the ball into the opposition net but if there was a plan it seemed to hinge on the wing backs and as soon as the opposition pushed up and pushed our wing backs back that was the end of our offensive game. Paton, hall, cole, stockley, croasdale, shipley, byers, possibly faal if he can stay on his feet and even waine ,which was a shock to me, are all capable of scoring goals at this level and I am confident they will show that now we have a manager who likes to attack.

 

I'm pleased with the loan recalls and I was hoping Brady would do something like this. He's still got time left to assess the squad and make some ins and outs before the window closes so bringing back Plant and Shorrock to have a look at them (and potentially play them tonight) makes sense to me.

Looking back at recent posts on here I'd agree with several of the points. I feel Brown will probably return to Derby, especially since Stockley's return has increased the options upfront while Faal seems to be ahead of Brown in the queue. Sending Brown back would still leave us with Cole, Stockley, Paton, Waine, Faal and perhaps G.Hall (if not played elsewhere) as forward options. If Rico returns there's one more too - so Brown I don't feel, is needed. 

I would hope one of the keepers is transferred. It's madness to have three especially when goalkeeping is one of the only positions you can strengthen via an emergency loan outside of the window (if someone got injured). I'd agree that Gauci looks by far the strongest of the three so I would keep him on loan (can't imagine Villa will be looking to recall him anyhow).

I wonder if apart from that, there won't actually be that many outgoings this window. It may be worth keeping a large squad if we're going all out to stay up and then look at trimming it in the summer. There's a lot out of contract at the end of the season -  Amos, Croasdale, Heneghan, C.Hall, Stockley, Ojo, Clark, Johnson to name eight - so the retained list could be interesting and a way of trimming the squad down for the next season.

In the meantime, I would love us to get another experienced centre-back in at the very least. I suspect it could be on loan (because a club bottom of the table may not be that enticing for a permanent move). Then it's up to the manager as to where else he wants to strengthen.

9 minutes ago, robf said:

I would hope one of the keepers is transferred. It's madness to have three especially when goalkeeping is one of the only positions you can strengthen via an emergency loan outside of the window (if someone got injured). I'd agree that Gauci looks by far the strongest of the three so I would keep him on loan (can't imagine Villa will be looking to recall him anyhow).

 

I see James Belshaw has left Harrogate - hopefully they are in the market for an experienced No1  - we could certainly look to offload in this area.

4 minutes ago, Bald Eagle said:

I see James Belshaw has left Harrogate - hopefully they are in the market for an experienced No1  - we could certainly look to offload in this area.

He has gone Notts County and the backup keeper has only played a few times this season so I imagine they will definitely be in the market for an experienced No1. 

IMO this game has come at a perfect time. It’s a free roll of the dice for JB to play whoever he wants, see what they offer and if they are in his plans. Still needing fast decisions but at least you’ve got something to base them on with a dead rubber here. I’m expecting anyone IN his plans not to be figuring tonight and then wholesale changes at halftime. 

38 minutes ago, ValiantHan said:

He has gone Notts County and the backup keeper has only played a few times this season so I imagine they will definitely be in the market for an experienced No1. 

Agree. Belshaw 24 games this season according to soccer base - may well take over from the unreliable Kelle Roos I expect

Edited January 13Jan 13 by Bald Eagle

5 minutes ago, Bald Eagle said:

Agree. Belshaw 24 games this season according to soccer base - may well take over from the unreliable Kelle Roos I expect

Belshaw had played almost every league game for Harrogate this season and the only games he didn't play were the Cup ones. He will definitely push Kelle Roos for the No1 jersey but I noticed that like McGoldrick he was born in Nottingham and started his youth career at Notts County so I suspect he might want to finish his footballing career at the club that he first started his footballing journey at which IMO McGoldrick would have done had Notts County got promoted last season, but because they didn't he rejected the contract offer and decided to join his former teammate Conor Hourihane at Barnsley. 

15 hours ago, MBE said:

Same rumour as earlier but looks like it’s going to be a bit of scramble if he’s any good and on a free. Maybe our man from a land down under will be a selling point?

He must have something about him if O'Rourke says Championship are sniffing around him

7 hours ago, Swanny-pvfc said:

I better  start shutting the blinds… 

Please dont ........................................................................... ermmmmmm I mean ..... oh poo

I agree with the ale and vale podcast re Gauci. The difference between him and Amos is imo not big enough to justify the wage, so I’d rather us send him back and use that money on a first team centre half or winger.

Gauci’s starting position, command of his area, and starting position to sweep up are all better than Amos. But he’s been guilty of letting in a few soft goals that he should’ve saved such as Plymouth at home and Lincoln away.
His kicking is also atrocious and was putting us under severe pressure against Fleetwood, so Amos has him beat in that department.

Edited January 13Jan 13 by Powerline

22 minutes ago, Powerline said:

I agree with the ale and vale podcast re Gauci. The difference between him and Amos is imo not big enough to justify the wage, so I’d rather us send him back and use that money on a first team centre half or winger.

Gauci’s starting position, command of his area, and starting position to sweep up are all better than Amos. But he’s been guilty of letting in a few soft goals that he should’ve saved such as Plymouth at home and Lincoln away.
His kicking is also atrocious and was putting us under severe pressure against Fleetwood, so Amos has him beat in that department.

I respectfully think they're wide of the mark with that opinion. 

One is a 35 year old who looks like an accident waiting to happen, and was bought in to be a backup in L2. The other is a 25 year old who was signed for £1.25m less than 2 years ago by a Premier League club and regularly gets called up into a national team squad going to the World Cup. I can't see Brady sending back his compatriot in a hurry.