What are fans opinions now we are over 2/3's of the season in?

[DazFred]

Mine are...

I was as unhappy as any fan with the result yesterday which was made more galling by Gills offside goal and dodgy pen that took them back to the top.

I feel 85 points will defo take us up which means 25 points from the last 14 games.

The defence has tightened up-aside of Neals gaffe, with a little luck we could even have won yesterday.

However the goals have dried up, especially for Popey.

Before Hughes came he was the focal point of the attacks and came looking for the ball as well as linking play with wingers and midfielders.

Yesterday he appeared to be in the penalty are waiting for crosses to come and their defenders kept heading them away.

4-4-2 or 4-2-4 has got us where we are but I think we need to leave Vincent out and put another midfielder in to help Burge and Loft.

I can see where we have such a good away record as the home team will attack more leaving space for us to exploit.

For the last few games our wingers do not help the full backs and the middle 2 seem to be overrun.

If we go 4-3-3 Myrie can swop wings but the way Jones played yesterday he doesn't need anyone in front of him!

Duffy gave a good case for playing CB but I prefer him at RB to Yates.

Morsy would give us more bite, Birchall could sit in and Shuker passes the ball along the deck which I think would have been the best way to play yesterday so all midfielders have a case.

I didn't realise that Benji had only started 6 games all season and Dodds may have a chance of coming in on Saturday.

I don't see what Andrew offers at all I am afraid

To sum up we have done brilliantly to stay in the top 2 for so long but I am hoping for a win at Torquay on Saturday to set us up for the home game against Exeter-another team who seem to travel well.

[Heatwave]

Jones tends to get stranded going forward which might cost us against speedier forwards. Leave things as they are but change the personnel - say Dodds instead of Vincent?

[sandyford_valiant]

I think 80 points will be enough for promotion.

 

We're still in an brilliant position and things are going to happen like yesterday.

 

The key is we don't want another one like that for another 7/8 games and hopefully we can pick 5 wins up before our next bad game.

 

Others will close in if we stutter. Gillingham have had there bad spell, and are now back top.

 

Lets hope ours is over with a draw at barnet and defeat yesterday.

 

It's gonna be close and nervy but I'm pretty confident we will do it.

 

If we **** this up then ......

 

In not even going go there!!

[valerule4ever]

Nothing too drastic is needed there is no need for any mass panic, just 1 or 2 changes to freshen us up again are needed, we have got into the top 2 by playing this way so why change, for me I'd take Hughes out of the starting eleven and put either Williamson or Dodds back in, as Popey seems to work better with either of those 2, I also think it may be time to give Vincent a breather and keep him on his toes, I'd maybe consider putting Morsey back in and moving Loft onto the left of the midfield. Duffy I thought did well at centre back yesterday but I'm not keen on Yates who isn't good enough for me and I'm not 100% convinced with Chilvers either, I think I'd prefer McCombe back in there when possible.

Also don't see the point in bringing Andrew on when we are chasing a goal, we should be bringing on players with a track record of scoring goals!

 

It's been a great season so far, now we just need to cross that line and keep calm, yesterday we lacked composure and a plan b more than anything, this is far from over yet and I was a little suprised by the way some have been talking like it's a forgone conclusion there is still a lot of work to do, we are in a great position now we just need to finnish the job, but one things for sure if any team could mess this up then it would likely be us!

[davidatpreston]

I think 80 points will be enough for promotion.

 

We're still in an brilliant position and things are going to happen like yesterday.

 

The key is we don't want another one like that for another 7/8 games and hopefully we can pick 5 wins up before our next bad game.

 

Others will close in if we stutter. Gillingham have had there bad spell, and are now back top.

 

Lets hope ours is over with a draw at barnet and defeat yesterday.

 

It's gonna be close and nervy but I'm pretty confident we will do it.

 

If we **** this up then ......

 

In not even going go there!!

 

 

 

It will sound like hindsight, but the result and even the score v Morecambe could easily have been predicted. We lost to Gillingham, but other than that home defeats have been against similar sides in the league - strong, well-organised mid-table/top half sides who come and play to ensure they are not defeated and sometimes snatch a win. Fleetwood and Chesterfield did the same, we lost 0-2 but have a slightly better defence with Purse and Jones so only lost 0-1 this match.

We will sometimes lose home matches like this, unless a way can be found to comabt these teams tactically. No doubt a shedload of posters have their own ideas how this should be done, but I'm not going to join in and will leave it up to Micky Adams.

I rather fear Exeter and one or two others have the potential to do the same, so we must continue our unbelievable away form to cement promotion. Apart from a silly result in the first game at Accrington, and a bad sending-off that lost the game at Northampton. Vale have had magnificent away results. The support is certainly a factor, but there must be more as we have beaten teams away that we haven't been able to beat at Vale Park (Dagenham, Morecambe).

There is always an unfortunate over-reaction when we lose a home match which other clubs would only get if they lost 3 or 4 in a row.

 

We ususally put things right in the next away game, and there is no reason why we shouldn't do this again at Torquay. If, however, we are unlucky and lose to a silly decision, freak goal or just bad luck next game, then it is up to all of us as Vale fans to rally behind the team and not put them under pressure they dont need the folllowing tuesday in what is a very important game at home.

Every team in this division has had blips, and if you don't believe me just explore Gillingham's home results since November - hardly the stuff of champions, and only 10 days ago a Gills fan was calling Port Vale the 'champions-elect' on their fans site.

 

I'm more concerned with Rotherham, Exeter, Cheltenham and a couple of others than Gillingham right now but have every confidence that MA will use the next few days to regroup, revitalise and prepare us for the crucial 2-games-a-week period ahead that can seal promotion.

Let's all get behind Micky now and trust his judgement -after all, he hasn't exactly let us down this season so far, has he ?

[hold the line]

hopefully we should get enough points but any more performances like that against morecambe then we will struggle to get the points needed to get promotion and if mickey adams doesnt become a bit more tactically aware we will be still in this division next season and if he uses players like shuker and andrew then we have no chance

[andy jones]

We created more than enough chances to win yesterday - they created nothing - Neal gifted the goal.

 

So nothing needs changing, its got us here it will get us to the title never mind promotion.

[andy jones]

I reckon the 4th team will not exceed 78 pts and there's no chance, IMHO, that 2 teams (and Gillingham) will better us by 9 pts on the run in.

[DazFred]

Glad to see positive comments-thats the reason I started the thread.

I am a realist and would love to see us gain promotion.

I feel we have a strong squad-the defence is improving and we cant score 3 or 4 every game.

The squad have done fantastically to get us in the top 2 at Xmas and the new signings have improved that further.

I think a good run in the next 4 or 5 games(of which 3 are at home-Exeter, Bradford and Southend)picking up 9 or 10 points will put us on 69 with 9 to play.

Then we will be on countdown.

I am still confident we will be promoted and I love reading what others have to say.

[Vital Spark]

A few weeks ago it seemed impossible for us not to gain automatic promotion but after this weekend the reality is there is still much more work to do. We have seen our huge cushion dwindle away and the chasing pack seem to be hitting form. What really concerns me is if we do slip out of the automatic spots the chances of even a playoff spot is a lottery because the points are so tight down to 9-10th spots. This might seem negative but the reality is although we are top-scorers etc..we have also been extremely fortunate with other results always seeming to go in our favour when we have slipped up. This week these results around us haven't been favourable and everything has closed up around us very quickly. This season has been excellent so far but there is still a lot of points needed from very tricky fixtures before we can start chilling the bubbly and on recent performances those points may be harder to achieve than we think. Whatever happens in the next few months this season has already eclipsed all of our expectations in what has generally been a superb season both on and off the pitch, but the real work starts now.

[ELDERBEZZA]

Beyond my wildest dreams, as we were in such a mess in August:yes:

[sandyford_valiant]

It's in everyone's wildest dreams where we are right now, considering we may not have had a club to support etc.....

 

It still would be a massive failure though if we didn't manage promotion now.

 

I'm not even thinking about that anyway!!

[Alkie]

I Like the idea of trying Dodds in place of Vincent as he can support on the attack and bolster the midfield when needed. Moving loft to left side of the midfield should allow him and jones to help each other. Nothing major needed but could be time to tinker at the edges

[Alfred]

Promotion is ours........1st, 2nd or 3rd I will take any of them. We had a minor blip that's all. 3 points away on Saturday and its business as usual (but I would take a draw now)

[Spunk Trumpet]

6 wins from the last 14 games and a couple of draws will see us go up.

 

For us to not do that would be surprising considering the season we are having.

 

Im not going into how i feel after 2 thirds of the season other than im over the moon.

Back in August i would have got the men in white coats for anyone suggesting with 14 games to go we would be the countries top scorers and have a healthy gap over fourth place.

 

Just the final straight to accomplish now and i think we will do it pretty comfortably.

 

Just before xmas i predicted we would win the league with 88 points. Il stick by that.