Promotion Thread

[Deepcut Cobbler]

Three points off third if we win on Tuesday.

This league is there for the taking.

The team in 9th are already only 3pts off 3rd, it's not a big deal in January.
Swindon and Exeter, who are starting to open a bit of a gap is the concern to the rest of us.

 

[LeonTheGreen]

We need to win our two games in hand - that would put us just 3 points behind Swindon currently. Also think we need to push the boat out and try get another forward in.

 

[valefan16]

If we win Tuesday that 8 point gap to 11th is big so then it’s a mini league. We’ve got Morecambe A and Orient H so two huge but winnable games. Win those and with teams likely to drop points, for eg Crewe play Cheltenham so one of them or both will lose points there and having got within three points of FGR we can put pressure on.

Big ask though as we’ve generally cruised past the top sides and struggled against the strugglers.

Nice to be as much as 1000/1 to get relegated though after the last three seasons!

Some fans feel it’s a season too soon to go up if we did somehow pull it off but this league is so open we have to give it a go. Fall short we fall short but the foundations from this season mean next season nothing less than top 7 will be seen as acceptable at least.

 

[valefan16]

The team in 9th are already only 3pts off 3rd, it's not a big deal in January.
Swindon and Exeter, who are starting to open a bit of a gap is the concern to the rest of us.

Interestingly we play Swindon and Exeter within three days at the end of the month... beating Swindon a few weeks ago and with a great record against the top sides (our defeat at Exeter was with about 5 or 6 key players injured).

Could be interesting if we can get right into the mixer those two games.

Our main worry is tiredness. Askey barely ever makes subs and has barely changed the team bar for the Salford tie and even then 4 or 5 have played every game in this run including the huge efforts to keep Man City from pounding us.

We need to get through this week intact and sit in ice baths for a week before Swindon and Exeter in quick succession. No idea if we had a say in it but playing the Morecambe game this Tuesday making it 9 games in 24 days I think it is was not ideal.

 

[ProfessorGreen]

We’ve got 7 games in February including consecutive Tuesday trips to Macclesfield and Salford. Huge month!

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Yesterday was a free hit on a bogey ground for us. We lost, after Cheltenham (H) on Saturday we have a lovely run of fixtures that sees us play 10 of our next 12 games after that against sides languishing in mid-table or below. That's the run that will define our season. Our end is tough but if we can win a lot of those games in that run it'll set us up confidently and nicely to finish strongly.

 

[Si Robin]

Our home form will be crucial for us this half of the season. We play a lot of mid-table and lower teams at home and a lot of the top teams away.

 

[E10rifle]

Our late bid for the title should be coming along in no time.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Just waiting for Graham Westley's playoff bid to kick in

 

[Devon_Lad]

Interestingly we play Swindon and Exeter within three days at the end of the month... beating Swindon a few weeks ago and with a great record against the top sides (our defeat at Exeter was with about 5 or 6 key players injured).

Could be interesting if we can get right into the mixer those two games.

Our main worry is tiredness. Askey barely ever makes subs and has barely changed the team bar for the Salford tie and even then 4 or 5 have played every game in this run including the huge efforts to keep Man City from pounding us.

We need to get through this week intact and sit in ice baths for a week before Swindon and Exeter in quick succession. No idea if we had a say in it but playing the Morecambe game this Tuesday making it 9 games in 24 days I think it is was not ideal.

Fuck me, you're deluded. Do you genuinely think you have a chance of play offs this season? I'm going to dismiss your autos talk as blatant trolling.

 

[Indian Dan]

There’s every chance Vale can make the POs. Even Exeter!

You starting all this bollocks again like last season?

 

[Agombar stool]

Fuck me, you're deluded. Do you genuinely think you have a chance of play offs this season? I'm going to dismiss your autos talk as blatant trolling.

Ironic you talking about trolling when you are the biggest troll on this site. You were wittering the same bollocks last season. Give it a rest you dullard.

Vale are 6 points behind FGR in 7th with a game in hand. But with a total of 60 points up for grabs its hardly time to hoist the play-off white flag is it!

 

[PlymouthCasual]

Fuck me, you're deluded. Do you genuinely think you have a chance of play offs this season? I'm going to dismiss your autos talk as blatant trolling.

Fair chance you may be facing them in the play offs after you bottle the autos AGAIN

 

[Indian Dan]

L2’s perennial bridesmaid.

 

[valefan16]

Fuck me, you're deluded. Do you genuinely think you have a chance of play offs this season? I'm going to dismiss your autos talk as blatant trolling.

Thats us up then based on your Tranmere prediction last season!

In answer to your actual question within your trolling...

It depends on this month... a) winning the next two against bottom sides which will have us within 3 points maximum... but possibly less... and more importantly what we do this window... do we spend the cup money or wait until the summer and if so what is available...

Our best player who has been injured for all but 1 and a half games (plus 9 minutes at Orient) has had an operation and is back training with the squad next week (Manny)

I think however we will give it a real go but probably fall just short, you cant throw away the points we have (23 so far from winning positions) and expect to do it, but I do think with the money we now have, the management and set up post Smurf that this will provide a great base to push on for next year and be one of the favourites. We are probably 6-12 months behind the journey on the turnaround that the likes of Crewe, Cheltenham and Swindon are on.

Losing only 6 league games though means we have a chance and should at least go for it whilst it is there for the taking for the top 10.

 

[The Jovial Forester]

Getting called deluded by Devon_Lad counts as a testament to your insight.

 

[Chris FGR]

Devon Lad chatting shit? I can't believe that. He normally talks so much sense.

If Vale beat Morecambe tomorrow they'll be 3 points off the playoffs and 3 points behind 3rd. And then they've got another very winnable looking game at home to Orient on Saturday. Plus all that money from their cup run if they want to add one or two. They're in with a good chance imo.

 

[valefan16]

Devon Lad chatting shit? I can't believe that. He normally talks so much sense.

If Vale beat Morecambe tomorrow they'll be 3 points off the playoffs and 3 points behind 3rd. And then they've got another very winnable looking game at home to Orient on Saturday. Plus all that money from their cup run if they want to add one or two. They're in with a good chance imo.

Problem is Chris we can't beat the bottom sides! We've beaten 5 and drew 1 and lost 1 against the top 7... but the bottom sides is a different story (1 loss but mainly draws!

 

[kieran_vale]

There's a fighting chance of it but personally feel its a year too soon. As VF16 points out we just can't find a way to beat the struggling teams and that will cost us. That said with Manny Oyeleke to return soon and also if we get Jake Taylor back on loan then that will be a big boost to our hopes. Does feel this season regardless what result we get each week we have just locked down that 10th spot (seem to have been in that position for ages now).

Can't help thinking Salford are going to go on a mass spending spree and then go on a run and win the playoffs. Hope it doesn't happen but seems like they are priming themselves for it.

 

[GTFCfish]

Seriously everybody needs to just stop replying to Devon Lad and then the boring prick will fuck off for months again just like last time.

 

[Indian Dan]

There's a fighting chance of it but personally feel its a year too soon. As VF16 points out we just can't find a way to beat the struggling teams and that will cost us. That said with Manny Oyeleke to return soon and also if we get Jake Taylor back on loan then that will be a big boost to our hopes. Does feel this season regardless what result we get each week we have just locked down that 10th spot (seem to have been in that position for ages now).

Can't help thinking Salford are going to go on a mass spending spree and then go on a run and win the playoffs. Hope it doesn't happen but seems like they are priming themselves for it.

So it seems strange they did so little in the summer.

 

[jbet]

We'll fall short because we lack a killer instinct to kill off games, and lack firepower.

Lovely to keep in the hunt for as long as possible though. Some juicy looking fixtures in the final two months. Would be nice for both sides to still be playing for something when we meet Crewe on March 28th.

As an aside, we haven't competed in the playoffs since 92/93. We just don't do playoffs.

 

[Vanni]

One needn't be a Vale fan to see what their achilles heal is, a look at their match results tells you all you need to know. They often beat the top dogs but they struggle when facing the struggling sides aka the 'let's park the bus and pray for nil nil' teams.

They did manage to beat Boro though last time out (a win that was appreciated by all ) and the question is whether that win over a struggling side was a one off or not.

 

[valefan16]

I think most fans went into the season with the new owners and mess to be sorted from the Smurf era hoping for a boring 12-16th place foundation for a push next season.

The way it’s planned out there is a bit of frustration as we’ve taken 16 points from 21 against the current top 7 yet despite our great home record we’ve drawn with Macclesfield, Oldham, Stevenage, Mansfield... away we threw away last minute equalisers at Salford, Mansfield and Orient and of the 6 defeats we actually led in 3 of those games...

But that’s a sign of the great progress made that from accepting that we are a bit frustrated in the end we haven’t been right up there. 23 points lost or whatever it is now from winning positions is absolutely nuts!

The view seems fairly universal now we’ve taken stock after the Man City game and losing to Salford in the Leasing that keeping it going in the league as long as possible would be a great season and if we can maybe sort out left back, a striker and get Manny fit this month we might push into the top 7, if we can’t it’s been a damn sight better right than the last three years and we should head into next season as a club with a positive outlook and hopes!

 

[valefan16]

One needn't be a Vale fan to see what their achilles heal is, a look at their match results tells you all you need to know. They often beat the top dogs but they struggle when facing the struggling sides aka the 'let's park the bus and pray for nil nil' teams.

They did manage to beat Boro though last time out (a win that was appreciated by all ) and the question is whether that win over a struggling side was a one off or not.

We were shit against them and had their guy not totally made a mess of the clearance and tackle on Conlon we wouldn’t have scored.

The way we play best is with the high press and are fantastic at it with one man up top and the two wingers pushing back which means we can push teams into trouble in their own half and not make it easy to get out, teams like Crewe, FGR we can do that against.

Problem is the poorer sides boot it 60 yards from the back and playing one up front means teams
either mark Pope out the game or if it’s Bennett well it’s Bennett he can’t trap wind in terms of holding the ball up! So we generally are solid enough but can’t put them to the sword and draw!

 

[Semi-skimmed Silk]

Absolutely no reason why Vale can't make the play-offs. However, (and i'm not agreeing with Devon Lad in any way) we did suffer a second-half of the season slump and fade from play-off contenders to lower top half under Askey for 2 or 3 years before it all came together. Not saying that's going to happen and there's not really any reason to believe it; we always had tiny squads and JA doesn't like subs/keeps unchanged teams when doing well, which (as alluded to by others) may have contributed.

 

[kieran_vale]

Absolutely no reason why Vale can't make the play-offs. However, (and i'm not agreeing with Devon Lad in any way) we did suffer a second-half of the season slump and fade from play-off contenders to lower top half under Askey for 2 or 3 years before it all came together. Not saying that's going to happen and there's not really any reason to believe it; we always had tiny squads and JA doesn't like subs/keeps unchanged teams when doing well, which (as alluded to by others) may have contributed.

Interesting to see that JA didn’t like making subs at Macc as well. Suppose you can say he has faith in his plan A and have to respect that at least (even having a plan A was something most previous Vale managers have struggled with). There were a number of Vale fans at Stevenage who were starting to get a little frustrated with his lack of subs though on Saturday while we were toiling away not doing much most of the game. Myself included I must admit.

 

[valefan16]

Interesting to see that JA didn’t like making subs at Macc as well. Suppose you can say he has faith in his plan A and have to respect that at least (even having a plan A was something most previous Vale managers have struggled with). There were a number of Vale fans at Stevenage who were starting to get a little frustrated with his lack of subs though on Saturday while we were toiling away not doing much most of the game. Myself included I must admit.

Askey hates subs... wasn’t it Crawley which we were toiling late on and clinging on and he didn’t change it?

This is the issue with 5 games in 14 days and another two in the next four days.... he doesn’t change it! Even Salford he played 5 of them that had played most games.

This maybe why we struggle against poorer sides as he won’t change to two up top and go for it.

 

[Semi-skimmed Silk]

Interesting to see that JA didn’t like making subs at Macc as well. Suppose you can say he has faith in his plan A and have to respect that at least (even having a plan A was something most previous Vale managers have struggled with). There were a number of Vale fans at Stevenage who were starting to get a little frustrated with his lack of subs though on Saturday while we were toiling away not doing much most of the game. Myself included I must admit.

To be fair several times we only had 2 outfield players on the bench, which didn't help.

He is fiercely loyal to a team that wins. Even if someone has to play hideously out of position to cover for injury/suspension - and you win - he'll stick with it for the next game regardless. Also problems when its a lineup/formation that won but is clearly going to struggle against a different type of opposition coming up next.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Inspired by Devon Lads post, I've just put a pound on Vale to be promoted. Looking forward to spending my £15 in May