Port Vale v Luton Town

[Andy Proctor]

Vales record in December in the league is won 4 drawn 1 lost 0 and 2 of them wins are against Luton and Coventry so really he should win it but I hope he doesn't as it normally gives teams a jinx and they lose the next few games.

 

[valefan16]

Vales record in December in the league is won 4 drawn 1 lost 0 and 2 of them wins are against Luton and Coventry so really he should win it but I hope he doesn't as it normally gives teams a jinx and they lose the next few games.

Plus away at Carlisle winning after playing 70 minutes with 9 men at Yeovil four days before and drawing and outplaying Colchester who have been flying.

Said to the wife if we beat Luton today il actually start to believe Aspin could walk on water!

 

[Aberstone]

Impressive performance from Port Vale - full backs and midfield pressed high and that caused Luton to completely bypass the midfield. Anthony Kay in particular I thought was MoM, even when Luton did get space in the middle he was there to snuff it out and retrieve possession.

Whitfield’s cross field pass for Pope’s goal was something I’d have expected at a higher level.

As for Luton, it’s all been covered, Rea’s performance was abhorrent but I can safely assume that today just a blip.

 

[Soz]

“Let’s have a go at them”

Probably the worst gameplan against us.

Soz.

 

[valefan16]

That’s the problem, Whitfield’s loan runs out today... rumours he’s staying some suggesting it’s not a done deal... he’s massive for us, different gravy at this level. We haven’t lost a league game since Aspins first game two days into the job where Whitfield has featured. Our three defeats all during his injury spell.

If Mad Gav goes we can cover that but not sure we can Whitfield.

 

[Soz]

Pitch was crap but it's the dead of winter in League 2. We better get used to it and adapt. Got done fair and square. Dissapointing but no complaints.

Who do you think Luton Town are?

That’s the problem, Whitfield’s loan runs out today... rumours he’s staying some suggesting it’s not a done deal... he’s massive for us, different gravy at this level. We haven’t lost a league game since Aspins first game two days into the job where Whitfield has featured. Our three defeats all during his injury spell.

If Mad Gav goes we can cover that but not sure we can Whitfield.

I'd like Gav to stay but I think he is replaceable.

Whitfield would be much, much tougher to replace and we really could do with keeping him this season at least.

 

[TylerB]

Whitfield has got a fine lady to do it for him, but I'd actually happily give him a reach around every evening if it meant him staying with us at least until the end of the season. What a little player he is for this level.

Anyway, Luton had a bad day at the office which happens to us all. But we were at it from the first minute, and after recent performances I expected us to be. I've been saying for the last few weeks that we would tonk somebody soon enough, but I never thought it would be the best side in the league. When Pope plays well, we play well. Today Luton just couldn't handle him. But the attacking trio behind him of Montano, Whitfield and Harness were a constant threat, while Tonge and especially Kay controlled the game in the middle of the park.

Another very tough game on paper in a couple of days but we go their in high spirits and under Aspin it wouldn't surprise me whatsoever if we get something from the game. Under Brown only 4 months ago I'd have been wondering how many we're going to lose by. The difference a manager can make in such a short space of time is staggering.

 

[Maple Hatter]

Very lacklustre performance today. Easy to blame it on the changes to the team NJ made or the state of the pitch but in truth we just didn't perform. Reminded me a lot of our loss at Barnet. We let the oppositon dictate the play and found it difficult to get any kind of movement or flow to our game. As NJ said we're top of the league for a reason. During the course of the season we have played the best football and are deservedly top. Occasionally we are going to have games when we aren't at our best and today was one of them. Don't think I've seen our defence play so poorly this season, very uncertain and made a lot of errors. Rea and Potts, who are normally so reliable, had poor games. In fact I was raving about Rea and how much he's developed after the Swindon game. Just proof everyone has a bad day. Credit to Vale though. They were motivated, harassed us and adapted their game better to the pitch and therefore fully deserved their victory. There is no doubt they will cause a lot of teams problems the remainder of this season. We on the other hand need to bounce back. We've done it before after a heavy defeat. The fact that Lincoln is just a couple of days away helps. I'm sure we'll see a different XI on Monday. The 4 changes made today didn't quite work and a couple of those players may be disappointed with their own performance bearing in mind the competition for places.

 

[TylerB]

Impressive performance from Port Vale - full backs and midfield pressed high and that caused Luton to completely bypass the midfield. Anthony Kay in particular I thought was MoM, even when Luton did get space in the middle he was there to snuff it out and retrieve possession.

Whitfield’s cross field pass for Pope’s goal was something I’d have expected at a higher level.

As for Luton, it’s all been covered, Rea’s performance was abhorrent but I can safely assume that today just a blip.

Fair play. I like it when people are big enough to give credit to the opposition instead of making up all sorts of ridiculous excuses. I'm sure you'll bounce back, and the good thing about this time of year is that you'll get the chance to in less than 48 hours!

 

[darren gregory]

Can't believe how many times the pitch has been mentioned. Forgot it was doctored to counter the Barcelona esque carpet football from Luton. Disgraceful tactics Vale.

 

[leedsvaliant]

In hindsight I think Luton were being a little arrogant by making changes and removing two of their best players. This is League Two, not the Champions league. It smacked of expecting an easy win to me. Fair play to their fans and manager for recognising that they were outplayed today though as it doesn't happen very often. I feel our pitch is no worse than many pitches up and down the country but it does hold water and really needs completely relaying. It would have had no effect on today's result though.

It's one of those rare days where everything goes right.

 

[Maple Hatter]

Can't believe how many times the pitch has been mentioned. Forgot it was doctored to counter the Barcelona esque carpet football from Luton. Disgraceful tactics Vale.

Of course the pitch was a factor. We underhit our passes on far too many occassions and if affected our running with the ball. Didn't affect Vale at all as they adapted far better. We should be able to play on any surface yet we failed today. Our criticism isn't aimed at the pitch but instead our own inability to adapt to winter conditions. Thats something I hope our management staff can take from the game today.

 

[TylerB]

In hindsight I think Luton were being a little arrogant by making changes and removing two of their best players. This is League Two, not the Champions league. It smacked of expecting an easy win to me. Fair play to their fans and manager for recognising that they were outplayed today though as it doesn't happen very often. I feel our pitch is no worse than many pitches up and down the country but it does hold water and really needs completely relaying. It would have had no effect on today's result though.

It's one of those rare days where everything goes right.

Well they both came on after 50 something minutes and offered next to nothing. They had more than enough time to make a mark on the game.

No disrespect to Luton, they're a better side than we are as the table doesn't lie. But today really could have been 6 or 7-0. They clearly had an off day, but we'd have put the sword to any side in the league at Vale Park this afternoon.

 

[valefan16]

That was part of the issue we had last year signing all these Portuguese and Monaco based players! Looked half decent until the winter!

To be fair to us regardless of the changes Luton made and we had a couple enforced on us as we would all have wanted Worrall and Anderson to start but we’ve kept it going even when we feared the worst when Berry and Collins did come on.

Their number 2 looks to have had a mare which happens. Luton win the league they always get a crushing at Vale! Happened last time with Dave Hibbert on his debut in league one 12 years or so back!

Hopefully we can push on from December, ideally the Hugill sale will go through and we will pocket a couple of million in sell on clause that Smurf will let us invest in the side and we can emulate Luton next year.

 

[ValiantRob]

Luton reminded me of Crewe, neat in midfield, poor in defence and toothless up front and the keeper is tied to the goalposts seemingly. We are no pushover now and a playoff place is not quite out of the question but we will have much harder games than that .Ignore the pitch they were crap and if they dont play much better than that next Saturday it could be a Stoke score up at `Castle..
I hope we can do deals for both Whitfield and Gunter as both are consistently good performers for us

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Just watched the goals, looks like poor old Glen Rea has had nightmare there! Crazy how things can turn, only Boxing Day when he was getting rave reviews. I think the local paper gave him man of the match!

We have been so good recently it was bound to turn eventually, and think the team and Jones have stored up enough credit for this to be written off as just one of those days without too much need for further inquisition or hand wringing. Credit to Vale, looks like they have done what we normally do and punish mistakes with ruthless efficiency.

As an aside, Whitfield looked quite decent on those highlights, his loans coming up and we could seemingly do with some better back ups to Berry/Lee... cheeky bid NJ?

 

[TylerB]

Now that we don't have a clueless tosser in charge that I wouldn't put money on him being able to tie his own shoe laces correctly, is it that much of a surprise that we're doing well now? Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect Aspin to turn our form around this quickly or to such an extent. But we have some very good players for this level in the likes of Smith, Tonge, Whitfield, Worrall, Montano and Pope. Most the teams in the league would have three or four of them in their 11.

But of course we're all League Two sides currently, and even the better players have games where it doesn't come off. If we get beat on Monday then we don't suddenly become a bad side, the same as it's important that a superb win today doesn't get us too excited and expecting us to put in performances of such calibre every week.

 

[valefan16]

Now that we don't have a clueless tosser in charge that I wouldn't put money on him being able to tie his own shoe laces correctly, is it that much of a surprise that we're doing well now? Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect Aspin to turn our form around this quickly or to such an extent. But we have some very good players for this level in the likes of Smith, Tonge, Whitfield, Worrall, Montano and Pope. Most the teams in the league would have three or four of them in their 11.

But of course we're all League Two sides currently, and even the better players have games where it doesn't come off. If we get beat on Monday then we don't suddenly become a bad side, the same as it's important that a superb win today doesn't get us too excited and expecting us to put in performances of such calibre every week.

Think it is no secret that the players weren't playing for Brown. Coventry fans were stunned by what they heard coming from the Vale dug out for example and pretty sure some Luton fans mentioned the same in the reverse fixture.

A lot of fans wanted us to limp until January then have a huge overhaul but now its a case of keeping certain players and just tweaking the squad and shipping the deadwood out such as Middleton, Wilson, de Freitas, Stobbs and Pyke for example.

This is the same squad Aspo inherited but they will run through brick walls for him, you see that every game, lets be honest who wouldn't? He is down to earth and honest and speaks sense, compare that on P&G to listening to Brown blaming everything else, Bruno saying "appy or not Appy" Hughes droning on with excuses after excuses and Artell spouting arrogance usually whilst sounding like hes eating a Sandwich or sounding like hes about to cry.

Pope up until Aspin came was past it... now the Vale lad, playing for one of the idols he worshiped as a kid is back to his best from that crazy promotion year. Smurf is keeping out the limelight and the general PR is much better such as Season tickets released today for next year. We actually seem like we are finally getting this right for once!

 

[TylerB]

Think it is no secret that the players weren't playing for Brown. Coventry fans were stunned by what they heard coming from the Vale dug out for example and pretty sure some Luton fans mentioned the same in the reverse fixture.

A lot of fans wanted us to limp until January then have a huge overhaul but now its a case of keeping certain players and just tweaking the squad and shipping the deadwood out such as Middleton, Wilson, de Freitas, Stobbs and Pyke for example.

This is the same squad Aspo inherited but they will run through brick walls for him, you see that every game, lets be honest who wouldn't? He is down to earth and honest and speaks sense, compare that on P&G to listening to Brown blaming everything else, Bruno saying "appy or not Appy" Hughes droning on with excuses after excuses and Artell spouting arrogance usually whilst sounding like hes eating a Sandwich or sounding like hes about to cry.

Pope up until Aspin came was past it... now the Vale lad, playing for one of the idols he worshiped as a kid is back to his best from that crazy promotion year. Smurf is keeping out the limelight and the general PR is much better such as Season tickets released today for next year. We actually seem like we are finally getting this right for once!

I had such high hopes for Wilson and Pyke at the beginning of the season. Wilson seemed like an absolute gem of a signing as he's played much higher up, but he's been woeful, what bit we've actually seen of him. I also thought De Freitas would prove to be a decent player for us this season but it just hasn't happened for him, and I like his attitude and desire so it's a shame. I should imagine Wilson is on a good wedge and so he needs to be shipped out and replaced if possible.

You're right in that the players seem to be playing for the manager and the shirt. But that only gets you so far. You still need quality, and we have that now the players are actually playing with a bit of belief and confidence.

 

[kieran_vale]

Now that we don't have a clueless tosser in charge that I wouldn't put money on him being able to tie his own shoe laces correctly, is it that much of a surprise that we're doing well now? Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect Aspin to turn our form around this quickly or to such an extent. But we have some very good players for this level in the likes of Smith, Tonge, Whitfield, Worrall, Montano and Pope. Most the teams in the league would have three or four of them in their 11.

But of course we're all League Two sides currently, and even the better players have games where it doesn't come off. If we get beat on Monday then we don't suddenly become a bad side, the same as it's important that a superb win today doesn't get us too excited and expecting us to put in performances of such calibre every week.

Just personally speaking it was never about whether we had good players or not but Browns throw enough shit at the wall and hope it sticks recruitment policy made the squad look very unbalanced. It’s to Aspo’s great credit he has found a first choice eleven and a pattern of play that suits us.

 

[Dave-Vale]

It’s all well and good some Luton fans (not saying anybody on here is, few things on Twitter I’ve seen seem to be doing so) blaming the pitch but the pitch saved them from another goal conceded/a Tom Pope hat trick as he was through on goal at one point and the ball bobbled as he went to hit it.

It should have also been obvious enough to your manager that the pitch would start to cut up a bit and he should have told your keeper and back 4 to stop pissing about with it at the back. Not sure why your keeper kept playing short goal kicks to your full backs.

Also, unsure as to why your manager put your small number 44 as his marker when Pope towered over him and won everything (when he wasn’t having his shirt pulled or a player literally on his back/shoulders); sick to death of him getting zero protection from refs, although the ref yesterday wasn’t too bad.

That said, we were fantastic yesterday. Every player was on top of their game and we just oozed confidence especially going forward. Aspins style of football reminds me of the style we played under Micky Adams when we got out of this league a few years ago. High pressure, hard working, attacking football.

If we keep Whitfield then I wouldn’t be surprised to see us flirt with the play offs at least. There’s usually 1 side in this league every year that comes from being down at the bottom to having a go at the play offs. Would be fantastic if it was us.

 

[valefan16]

Can’t understand what their lad is doing on the third goal, he appears to try and make the back pass with his standing foot! Good communication from Pope and Whitfield as both originally went to go for the ball.

 

[BelizeHatter]

Cheered up..... I looked at the table

 

[Kenneth E End]

It’s all well and good some Luton fans (not saying anybody on here is, few things on Twitter I’ve seen seem to be doing so) blaming the pitch but the pitch saved them from another goal conceded/a Tom Pope hat trick as he was through on goal at one point and the ball bobbled as he went to hit it.

It should have also been obvious enough to your manager that the pitch would start to cut up a bit and he should have told your keeper and back 4 to stop pissing about with it at the back. Not sure why your keeper kept playing short goal kicks to your full backs.

Also, unsure as to why your manager put your small number 44 as his marker when Pope towered over him and won everything (when he wasn’t having his shirt pulled or a player literally on his back/shoulders); sick to death of him getting zero protection from refs, although the ref yesterday wasn’t too bad.

That said, we were fantastic yesterday. Every player was on top of their game and we just oozed confidence especially going forward. Aspins style of football reminds me of the style we played under Micky Adams when we got out of this league a few years ago. High pressure, hard working, attacking football.

If we keep Whitfield then I wouldn’t be surprised to see us flirt with the play offs at least. There’s usually 1 side in this league every year that comes from being down at the bottom to having a go at the play offs. Would be fantastic if it was us.

I don't like using it as an excuse, but some teams clearly have used it as a tactic this season - Barnet comes to mind. I've not seen any of the Port Vale game yesterday, so I can't really comment on that one.

 

[Judge Dredd]

The pitch was just cut up from being used, nothing tactical about it and indeed as Vale fans have noted bobbles cost them at opportune times too.

Jones said in his post-match presser that they were aware of the pitch and picked a team designed to essentially be more direct than usual and hit the front three earlier than we might do at home. That being the case, he should have spent the last 24 hours beating some common fucking sense into our back four and Stech, who insisted on passing it short amongst themselves every single time and forcing trouble on themselves. I thought at the time that it was completely brain-dead from us and it was only a matter of time before someone messed up big time like Rea eventually did.

 

[Soz]

The pitch didn't stop Whitfield dribbling round Luton's defence for the first goal. It didn't stop him footballing them to death and Pope finishing it off for the 2nd goal. The pitch isn't the reason the defender tried to play a first time back pass with the outside of his boot and woefully under hit it with 2 vale players pressing. It also isn't the reason that a Luton defender completely missed the ball for the 4th goal.

It did cause the odd bobble. Something that happens on every pitch every saturday barring about 25-30 carpets that are paid for by the premier league millions.

It's literally a bit of grass that has been rained on, snowed on and repeatedly frozen and thawed over the past 4 weeks.

If that was Man City playing and Kevin De Bruyne couldn't hit one his perfectly weighted 40 yard through balls because of the pitch then fine. But it was Luton Town, of the non league as little as 3 years ago with a team of lower league players.

Bradfords pitch about 3 years ago was terrible. Newports pitch last season was terrible. Port Vale's pitch yesterday was below our normal average. It certainly wasn't terrible and had no impact on the result.

 

[BelizeHatter]

Yawn