League 2 General Chat Thread

[kieran_vale]

Been watching this Morecambe Vs Vale game, and I can't actually put it into words how bad Vale have been. They just look like they don't want to be there at all and not even bothered. Feel for the fans that have paid money and travelled to watch that.

Aye too many clearly don’t fancy it. Amoo may as well not be on the pitch and less said about Conlon in midfield the better.

Although we are much improved on previous years we just lack any ability to string results together and that is why we won’t make the playoffs in all honesty.

 

[Dave-Vale]

Surprise, surprise no changes and there won’t be before 65 minutes.

Bloody hell a sub!

 

[kieran_vale]

Bloody hell a sub!

Not sure what the point was in giving it five minutes after half time. Was obviously not working before. Either way it’s a start.

 

[kieran_vale]

Ah well normal service resumed for Vale against the struggling sides. Be nice to get a home game after what seems a while against Orient next up.

 

[valefan16]

Can’t turn up for the last thirty minutes and expect results, embarrassing result really as they are awful but we’ve made them look decent the first half with such a half arsed performance.

Huge rocket needed for Saturday as you can’t turn up at Man City then not do your bread and butter.

Amoo was fucking dire tonight...

Zero positives to take from that.

 

[valefan16]

Ah well normal service resumed for Vale against the struggling sides. Be nice to get a home game after what seems a while against Orient next up.

With the ticket offer on they best put more effort in for that one!

 

[Vale on Trent]

Attacking wise we are so poor and predictable. Pope just isn’t the same Tom Pope as years gone by anymore, he is so immobile. Plus we don’t play to his strengths enough and get decent balls in on his head. Whilst our back up Bennett is simply not good enough even if he is a lot more mobile. His hold up play and first touch is terrible. As for Cullen, he has something about him but he will never get enough game time under Askey as he doesn’t fit his system.

In terms of our wingers, Worrall is clearly one of our better players and is having a good season, his lack of pace just let’s him down. As for Amoo, I’ve yet to see him look interested and he clearly has no confidence as he will not try and beat his man. Also, we have no one on the bench to influence the game out wide so Askey will just persist with the lack of creativity.

I’m really frustrated tonight as a win would of put us in a really good position. It just proves we are still some way off a promotion contender.

 

[kieran_vale]

With the ticket offer on they best put more effort in for that one!

You’d hope so. This is Vale we are talking about so can well imagine we lose again in that game then go to Swindon and complete the double over them.

 

[valefan16]

Amoo is one of those real L2 wingers. He is so inconsistent, he was happy to burst forward and put a stupendous cross onto Toms noggin at the Etihad yet doesn’t go at his man tonight!

Not sure the answer really, we just don’t perform against the dross sides, probably draw against Orient then as said double Swindon and beat Exeter knowing us this season but it’s so frustrating. Said we needed six points from these two to get into the play off mix and they’ve blown it tonight.

Season over but it’s been a decent ride and hopefully start building to the original plan and have a real go at it next season. Least it will only be tweaks needed rather than overhauls like the last four years.

 

[darren gregory]

With the ticket offer on they best put more effort in for that one!

A fiver off will make fook all difference mate, lucky if 100 people extra turn up

 

[valefan16]

A fiver off will make fook all difference mate, lucky if 100 people extra turn up

Lucky if any turn up after tonight!

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Can’t turn up for the last thirty minutes and expect results, embarrassing result really as they are awful but we’ve made them look decent the first half with such a half arsed performance.

Huge rocket needed for Saturday as you can’t turn up at Man City then not do your bread and butter.

Amoo was fucking dire tonight...

Zero positives to take from that.

You are surprised that the Vale side turned up and put a shift in away to Man City but not a Morecambe on a cold, windy and rainy on a Tuesday night.

Why?

 

[darren gregory]

You are surprised that the Vale side turned up and put a shift in away to Man City but not a Morecambe on a cold, windy and rainy on a Tuesday night.

Why?

Because that's their bread and butter and what they get paid for.
And despite the fact that I don't for a minute think we are anywhere near good enough , bizarrely a win would of taken us 3 points off automatic somehow .
Can't keep using Man City as a yardstick. They didn't get out of first gear luckily for us.
The manner of defeat last night was the worrying thing because our manager only trusts 11 players and refuses to change the side however knackered players appear to be

 

[valefan16]

Because that's their bread and butter and what they get paid for.
And despite the fact that I don't for a minute think we are anywhere near good enough , bizarrely a win would of taken us 3 points off automatic somehow .
Can't keep using Man City as a yardstick. They didn't get out of first gear luckily for us.
The manner of defeat last night was the worrying thing because our manager only trusts 11 players and refuses to change the side however knackered players appear to be

He has a couple of options to rest some players through this spell though and hasn't... Reece Browne would be no worse than Amoo last night despite his shocker at Salford, Atkinson has been decent enough to cover for someone in the middle and Bennett has scored in more games than Pope who's stats are skewed by the hat-rick at Cheltenham and brace against Morecambe at home.

If a team is poor they just slap two centre halves on Tom and we have no outlet so need to mix it up, go maybe two up front to occupy their back line as once that change was made we actually somehow ended up with more shots than they'd managed all game despite their first half dominance.

One big issue is the lack of a reserve side this season too, at Salford the fringe players just didn't look on it so are not playing any football at all and then being expected to be match ready... Askey said we'd have friendlies instead but that hasn't transpired.

This wasn't too bad when we had the group and first knock out round in the Leasing as we could game time them every 2-3 weeks but now we don't have that.

 

[darren gregory]

I'd be interested in how many of the 24 don't have a reserve side. It isn't good to have players getting splinters in their arse and not getting game time.
Then when they do get 20 minutes we are shocked that they are crap

 

[Chris FGR]

I'd be interested in how many of the 24 don't have a reserve side. It isn't good to have players getting splinters in their arse and not getting game time.
Then when they do get 20 minutes we are shocked that they are crap

We have a team in the central league, but there are hardly any teams in that so think we've played 2 games all season.

 

[Big Bird]

Think most of ours just turn out for under 18 games and local cups occasionally. Don't have a reserve team as such.

 

[valefan16]

I'd be interested in how many of the 24 don't have a reserve side. It isn't good to have players getting splinters in their arse and not getting game time.
Then when they do get 20 minutes we are shocked that they are crap

If we changed the squad like most teams do every now and again I guess the reserve team isn't too much of a problem but when Askey sticks with the same 11 players every week unless forced to change its a problem certainly.

 

[Casey]

Crawley don't have a reserve side as such but we are meant to have a team instead of an academy/ youth side (a la Brentford) but I've never heard of them playing and I've not seen any results or adverts for games.

It seems an odd thing to make up so I believe it probably does exist but who knows.

Casey

 

[Boletus Edulis]

That’s a really interesting point, and must affect the match fitness of the squad. We have a reserve team in The Central league, playing five games so far (3 of those in the cup) and another five scheduled. The Academy team play more regularly. We do have a number of friendlies too.

 

[Chris FGR]

That’s a really interesting point, and must affect the match fitness of the squad. We have a reserve team in The Central league, playing five games so far (3 of those in the cup) and another five scheduled.

We're in the same division, just had a look and there are only 6 teams in it. Given it seems to cover all of the South inc Southend, Peterborough etc it makes you wonder where everyone else is. Surely would be better to have more regular games.

That being said we don't have a big squad and our reserve results are normally horrendous, even got battered 6-0 at Southend who can't have much quality in depth. So maybe better we don't play more often....

 

[Si Robin]

We had a team in it last season, but pulled out for this season because it was seen as quite pointless.

We now have reserve friendlies when we want to get a couple of players fit.

 

[Crewelad87]

I'd be interested in how many of the 24 don't have a reserve side. It isn't good to have players getting splinters in their arse and not getting game time.
Then when they do get 20 minutes we are shocked that they are crap

For us if anything it's the opposite. Being cat 2 academy we have to enter the u23 and 18 leagues playing teams like Leeds, Burnley, Sheff Utd ect who have far bigger squads. We often have to use members of the first team squad to make the numbers up. We've had u23 away games down south before vs the likes of QPR on a Friday night, before having a league game on the Saturday with players involved in both.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Because that's their bread and butter and what they get paid for.
And despite the fact that I don't for a minute think we are anywhere near good enough , bizarrely a win would of taken us 3 points off automatic somehow .
Can't keep using Man City as a yardstick. They didn't get out of first gear luckily for us.
The manner of defeat last night was the worrying thing because our manager only trusts 11 players and refuses to change the side however knackered players appear to be

I hear ya Darren but that's pretty much what all lower league clubs do when it comes to playing Prem clubs Vs L2 clubs.

Just when all things seemed to blowing in the right direction for Vale, with plenty of positive pat on the back type posts on here. It seemed to all gone a bit Pete Tong in recent times , just a blip? Or typical Vale.

 

[valefan16]

I hear ya Darren but that's pretty much what all lower league clubs do when it comes to playing Prem clubs Vs L2 clubs.

Just when all things seemed to blowing in the right direction for Vale, with plenty of positive pat on the back type posts on here. It seemed to all gone a bit Pete Tong in recent times , just a blip? Or typical Vale.

Prior to our loss we were on our longest unbeaten league run since 2013... all be it 4 draws...

We have played a lot of games with the City cup tie, Morecambe re-arranged and the Salford cup tie and haven't really rotated the squad... we are just upper mid table, some decent performances (usually against the top sides), a few less so... last night was bad, really bad but we've had these odd shockers once every 6 weeks or so.. Grimsby, Walsall and Macclesfield the other three notable ones and usually gone on a decent run after... hopefully the same again, finally have a free week after Orient at least to allow us to regroup and get bodies in.

 

[LordJord]

Why does Askey not choose to utilise his subs? Lack of squad depth or just a stubbornness to keep things the way they are? Vale has used the least subs of any team in the league (56), 22 less than Cambridge who have used the most. Just seems like a missed opportunity on a consistent basis to change things up.

 

[valefan16]

Why does Askey not choose to utilise his subs? Lack of squad depth or just a stubbornness to keep things the way they are? Vale has used the least subs of any team in the league (56), 22 less than Cambridge who have used the most. Just seems like a missed opportunity on a consistent basis to change things up.

He just doesn't do it, even when clinging to a lead in injury time, last week was the first time i'd seen him bring Brisley on apart from at Bradford to kill the game.

His ideal XI is:

4-3-3

Brown

Gibbons
Legge
Smith
Montano

Joyce
Burgess
Taylor

Amoo
Pope
Worrall

and seems to only deviate if injury enforced... Manny coming back may shake the midfield up a bit but may lost Taylor anyway.

Players haven't exactly grabbed opportunities to break into that XI but as mentioned if they dont play for 4-5 weeks without reserve team football they are not exactly match ready when we play 6 or 7 of them together in a leasing tie.

Bennett despite being slated has scored a few but Pope gets favoured despite scoring in only 3 league games (2 of those pens) and Cullen who is decent for this level doesn't fit into our system really with one up top.

Conlon has come in for Taylor and done ok, Brisley, Browne are capable and Atkinson has been decent when called on so I dont think it is too bad depth wise in area's that we couldnt mix it up now and again to keep players fresh and on the flip side match ready.

I am not going to bash Askey as such because he has done a decent job, turning us around and built a team thats a million miles better than it was a year ago but he needs to be more flexible. He signed most of the fringe players we have! 8 of that favoured XI was here last season before he arrived.

 

[Gladders]

We have a reserve team again, didn't for a few seasons, not sure what league and how many games but they did play last week against Rotherham.

Looking at their fixtures/results they also play/played Donny, Walsall, Scunny and for some reason Mansfield U21

 

[The_Boss]

Askey never used subs much with us either. Would never really make changes from game to game either, and when he did it was usually due to a formation change. It was these formation changes that kept things fresh for us, more than the players used.

 

[Chris FGR]

We had a team in it last season, but pulled out for this season because it was seen as quite pointless.

We now have reserve friendlies when we want to get a couple of players fit.

Can see why you saw it as pointless tbh. I mean is there really any point in the likes of us or even worse Plymouth travelling all the way to Southend in midweek for a pretty meaningless training ground match.

Could just as easily organise a game much closer to home to get players minutes.