Saturday 3rd September 2022

[nelsonpfc]

Cracking result against Peterborough. Scarlett the difference between the two sides getting a brace. What a cracking loan signing he's turned out to be so far. To be fair apart from a shocking mistake by Morrison at the back that led to their goal, we kept their attack pretty quiet all in all.

 

[Gassy]

Probably add in Bristol Rovers too. It's certainly been an eye opener how one mistake can cost you. We've largely been competitive with one exception (and that was a team who came up with us) but you just can't afford to switch off or especially in our case be slack in possession.

Think I said this in the L2 forum last year that the finishing at this level is another world. In L2 we'd have beaten Morecambe today 4-1. We drew 2-2 after being by far the better team, but they had 2 chances and scored 2 goals.

We have to go through this lesson every time we get promoted to L1, it's really annoying when you know whats coming, but somehow the players/management don't.

Barton has been talking big recently about playing a good, attractive game of football. That's all well and nice, but when you play Shrewsbury & Morecambe at home you have to win those games. They both came with a game plan, executed it and got that they wanted.

We can't be going to teams like Barnsley, Pompey etc away and be so open because we want to win every game. We need to be smarter. Otherwise, we'll get relegated.

 

[Stroud]

We're shit and we're going down

Looks like its going to be a Gloucestershire double

 

[denzel ecfc]

Looks like its going to be a Gloucestershire double

Bit harsh on Bristol Rovers

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Bit harsh on Bristol Rovers

Nothings harsh on us, we have been poor all season bar Burton who played all game with 10 men.
I think we will improve as the season progresses though as we have quality to come back from injury/suspension

 

[kieran_vale]

Think I said this in the L2 forum last year that the finishing at this level is another world. In L2 we'd have beaten Morecambe today 4-1. We drew 2-2 after being by far the better team, but they had 2 chances and scored 2 goals.

We have to go through this lesson every time we get promoted to L1, it's really annoying when you know whats coming, but somehow the players/management don't.

Barton has been talking big recently about playing a good, attractive game of football. That's all well and nice, but when you play Shrewsbury & Morecambe at home you have to win those games. They both came with a game plan, executed it and got that they wanted.

We can't be going to teams like Barnsley, Pompey etc away and be so open because we want to win every game. We need to be smarter. Otherwise, we'll get relegated.

Key phrase there is ‘be smarter’. Would apply that very much to us also. Cheltenhams first goal today was the exact carbon copy of the goal Portsmouth scored against us. Given away cheaply in the middle of the park, quick through ball and the forward scoring one on one with the keeper. The fact we’ve done the same thing two weeks in a row doesn’t reflect well to be honest.

Ditto for us the end result if we don’t smarten up and quickly. Got a series of games coming up with various promotion favourites and there’s only one thing that will happen if we don’t.

 

[Chris FGR]

Nothings harsh on us, we have been poor all season bar Burton who played all game with 10 men.
I think we will improve as the season progresses though as we have quality to come back from injury/suspension

The more I see of us the more I think how the fuck did you manage to make us look good?

 

[valefan16]

Key phrase there is ‘be smarter’. Would apply that very much to us also. Cheltenhams first goal today was the exact carbon copy of the goal Portsmouth scored against us. Given away cheaply in the middle of the park, quick through ball and the forward scoring one on one with the keeper. The fact we’ve done the same thing two weeks in a row doesn’t reflect well to be honest.

Ditto for us the end result if we don’t smarten up and quickly. Got a series of games coming up with various promotion favourites and there’s only one thing that will happen if we don’t.

We’ve not been done by quality that’s the really annoying thing, Portsmouth played bang average, MK were awful as were Cheltenham and Bolton were meh. Only Exeter have looked decent but we just seem to get punished for every mistake or lapse. As I say 5 chances we’ve conceded in four games and we’ve conceded them all.

In league two we’ve picked up 10 points from the last four. We have to learn quickly or we will be in for a struggle and all the positivity will go. We’ve got the fans coming through the turnstiles in decent numbers and it’s crucial now at home especially we keep them.

We’ve been competitive in all but one game and haven’t looked at all out of place but seem 95% there and that 5% is critical at the minute.

Hopefully with the forwards becoming available we can start to put it in as we at least looked dangerous today but it’s just been a massive frustration so far. After last season and Wembley so far it’s felt a bit flat, a bit “after the Lord Mayors show”

 

[BRFC_Gas]

The more I see of us the more I think how the fuck did you manage to make us look good?

haha, yeah its been mentioned on our forum that your only win was against us in our own backyard.
We are playing better than we did this time last season though and that didn't end up too badly.

 

[Moomin]

A really good win for us today. I wasn’t there but I gather we fully deserved it In the second half, albeit MK did also create some decent chances earlier on.

Big Diabate with the goal from a set piece is pleasing too and it’s becoming a real strength of ours. Also, we showed how decent we are at relentlessly pressing teams and I think it suits us playing teams who like to have the ball.

I understand the moment that Jay Stansfield came on was really special and hopefully now he can use this spell to show what he can do and start building his career.

Three wins at home show we will hopefully still be strong on home turf and if we can start to nick the odd away win too, all the better.

On to Charlton next week in another tough test. Up the City.

 

[GeneralLee]

We made Burton look competent which is quite a feat.

Once we get some of our injured players back we should be fine. Marcus Browne looked a cut above when he played the final 30. But he’s as injury prone as they come and sadly these injuries will shorten his career eventually.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Plymouth tomorrow, bringing roughly 2.5k is absolutely exceptional. I remember the FA Cup game where I spent 12 hours on a bus in a single day and said that I would never do that again. They do it every week. Unbelievable support.

I hope we only beat them by the one goal now.

Our coach left Home Park at 6.30am this morning and we got back at 11pm. And you are not Oop North. The Yorkshire/ManChester conurbation teams add a couple of hours to the day. I believe the coach for Fleetwood left at 3.30am.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Think I said this in the L2 forum last year that the finishing at this level is another world. In L2 we'd have beaten Morecambe today 4-1. We drew 2-2 after being by far the better team, but they had 2 chances and scored 2 goals.

We have to go through this lesson every time we get promoted to L1, it's really annoying when you know whats coming, but somehow the players/management don't.

Barton has been talking big recently about playing a good, attractive game of football. That's all well and nice, but when you play Shrewsbury & Morecambe at home you have to win those games. They both came with a game plan, executed it and got that they wanted.

We can't be going to teams like Barnsley, Pompey etc away and be so open because we want to win every game. We need to be smarter. Otherwise, we'll get relegated.

I'm with you. The standard isn't actually that great, but you get punished for every mistake. Cheltenham were a poor side today and one we would beat 4-1 last year. It's the finishing that improves in this league....one chance and you're behind.

 

[thewwfc]

I'm with you. The standard isn't actually that great, but you get punished for every mistake. Cheltenham were a poor side today and one we would beat 4-1 last year. It's the finishing that improves in this league....one chance and you're behind.

Sounds like you had a harder game of it than we did - lots of wayward finishing today from Fleetwood (thankfully), they certainly could have beaten us had a few more of their shots been on target.

In our lone season in the Championship I definitely thought the standard of finishing was noticeably higher (and the defensive anticipation and blocking likewise), but I think you can still see a fair few examples of comedy shooting at this level.

 

[Si Robin]

I'm with you. The standard isn't actually that great, but you get punished for every mistake. Cheltenham were a poor side today and one we would beat 4-1 last year. It's the finishing that improves in this league....one chance and you're behind.

We've been saying that since promotion last season. This season in the League we can't think of many times our goalkeeper has had to make many saves, even though we've been absolutely dominated in games, but when a chance does come for the opposition it usually leads to a goal.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Needless to say I enjoyed my day out. Pride Park is a very nice stadium, i especially liked the integral business units like the coffee shop on the outside. Great action packed game. We started well, and had the push from behind as he was about the shoot that sent Hardie into orbit been correctly given as a penalty we could have been 1 up. However, Galloway made a huge mistake and Derby scored and then a great individual goal and we were 2-0 down at half time despite probably being the better side. They took their chances we did not - which is the exact reverse of last week’s game against Bolton. First fifteen minutes of the second half we were poor, and then ex Ram Whittaker scored one where the rub of the green was with us. Then it was just one team in it, I believed the second would come, and when it did I felt we could go on and win. I think I may like Cos play. The sense of oneness with the players at the end was incredible. My teenager will remember this for years.

Have to say I was disappointed with ex-Green Hourihane. Could not believe he was signed, but frankly yesterday he was bang average, and seemed like many of the whites to run out of steam.

I scoured Derby fans forums and the like and have to say they were class. Their analysis was nearly all objective and fair, and the vast majority said the best team won. Not sure the same would happen if the tables were reversed.

 

[Stroud]

 

[leedsvaliant]

After reflecting on yesterday, the start to this season has been very bitty from us. We just don't seem to have got going yet. We don't seem to have established our best team and the squad changes completely from week to week. I think it all harks back to the fact that we've essentially treated 5 or 6 games as preseason, and we still feel like preseason now, testing out different teams etc. If we had been properly prepared for this season, we would have won easily yesterday and we certainly should be 5 or 6 points better off.

Frustratingly we've now played a mix of top and bottom sides and the only team that gave us a lesson was Exeter, who came up with us. I don't feel like there's much in this division, certainly not the 'great divide ' that was talked about before the season started.

I think we need to get a bit more street smart to progress. Look at Portsmouth...they literally offered nothing apart from a goal but they were savvy in preventing us from building up any momentum. There's been no teams where I have thought that the opposition was just too good for us. Unfortunately though, if we don't get a settled team pretty sharpish I can see us sleepwalking into trouble.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Just heard the Cheltenham manager moaning about timewasting, and saying that refs need to clamp down on it.

My irony meter has just exploded.

 

[kieran_vale]

Just heard the Cheltenham manager moaning about timewasting, and saying that refs need to clamp down on it.

My irony meter has just exploded.

I’m not sure what specific ones he was referring to as not heard the interview. I will say this though, we have developed a really annoying habit of around 25 minutes now where we get Stevens in goal to fake an injury so the others can go for a team talk. I wouldn’t even mind if it actually fucking worked but all that’s happened in the last two league games is an opponent scored a couple of minutes after the restart and on Saturday broke up the momentum we had built.

 

[valefan16]

I’m not sure what specific ones he was referring to as not heard the interview. I will say this though, we have developed a really annoying habit of around 25 minutes now where we get Stevens in goal to fake an injury so the others can go for a team talk. I wouldn’t even mind if it actually fucking worked but all that’s happened in the last two league games is an opponent scored a couple of minutes after the restart and on Saturday broke up the momentum we had built.

He was happy for his side to timewaste at 0-0 and 0-1…

I didn’t think we did it enough to be honest with you and do lack that streetwise side to us at times.

The keeper thing is annoying though, we do it both halves and is something Westley started with Stevenage!

 

[masi51]

After reflecting on yesterday, the start to this season has been very bitty from us. We just don't seem to have got going yet. We don't seem to have established our best team and the squad changes completely from week to week. I think it all harks back to the fact that we've essentially treated 5 or 6 games as preseason, and we still feel like preseason now, testing out different teams etc. If we had been properly prepared for this season, we would have won easily yesterday and we certainly should be 5 or 6 points better off.

Frustratingly we've now played a mix of top and bottom sides and the only team that gave us a lesson was Exeter, who came up with us. I don't feel like there's much in this division, certainly not the 'great divide ' that was talked about before the season started.

I think we need to get a bit more street smart to progress. Look at Portsmouth...they literally offered nothing apart from a goal but they were savvy in preventing us from building up any momentum. There's been no teams where I have thought that the opposition was just too good for us. Unfortunately though, if we don't get a settled team pretty sharpish I can see us sleepwalking into trouble.

but theres nothing in this league apart from teams who came up with you????????????

 

[leedsvaliant]

but theres nothing in this league apart from teams who came up with you????????????

We were just absolutely dreadful on the day against Exeter and got rightly punished. It was just one of those games where everything seemed to go wrong.

As I said before, there's not this huge quality gap that I was promised before the season. The only differences as far as I can tell is that the defences are slightly better I.e. you can't scab too many cheap goals. There's also less chances missed per goal. General play is very similar to league 2.

On Saturday, there were certain periods of the game where we looked far superior to Cheltenham and our manager was absolutely fuming after the game as he knows it was still nowhere near good enough. It's frustrating more than anything....with a more settled side and fully fit and up to speed we should be easily 5 to 6 points better off now.

 

[SVH]

All Port Vale fans need is VAR so they can blame something else on their poor start to the season.

Injuries, decisions, more street wise. It’s getting fucking boring and we’re only 7 games in. You’re 17th, suck it up and just get on with it.

There isn’t much difference between the leagues apart from more solid defences and more clinical strikers from mistakes? Just listen to yourself. That’s the difference between winning and losing.

 

[kieran_vale]

All Port Vale fans need is VAR so they can blame something else on their poor start to the season.

Injuries, decisions, more street wise. It’s getting fucking boring and we’re only 7 games in. You’re 17th, suck it up and just get on with it.

There isn’t much difference between the leagues apart from more solid defences and more clinical strikers from mistakes? Just listen to yourself. That’s the difference between winning and losing.

Easy solution just put all Vale fans on ignore. That way you don’t have to get so triggered by us on a daily basis. It’s very weird!

 

[valefan16]

All Port Vale fans need is VAR so they can blame something else on their poor start to the season.

Injuries, decisions, more street wise. It’s getting fucking boring and we’re only 7 games in. You’re 17th, suck it up and just get on with it.

There isn’t much difference between the leagues apart from more solid defences and more clinical strikers from mistakes? Just listen to yourself. That’s the difference between winning and losing.

Why would you need VAR we are blaming ourselves! If our players aren’t streetwise that’s our fault…

You do seem to have a bit of an anti Vale agenda for some reason in fairness.

There’s a fair few Valiants on here so we will debate our performances etc.

 

[kieran_vale]

Why would you need VAR we are blaming ourselves! If our players aren’t streetwise that’s our fault…

You do seem to have a bit of an anti Vale agenda for some reason in fairness.

There’s a fair few Valiants on here so we will debate our performances etc.

Wait a second Vale fans discussing thoughts from our match on a match thread??? Vale fans also suggesting our team need to smarten up to reach the level required in this league???

What SHOCKING examples of arrogance from all Vale fans who clearly think we should be winning the league by 20 points…

 

[HutchECFC]

Decent 1-0 win against MK… came here for the point, and got even less. That’ll do.


PS, the Cheltenham manager’s interview is a delight. Complains about time wasting. Pot. Kettle. Black. Springs to mind.

 

[leedsvaliant]

My take was more in response to the fact that many teams were saying that league 1 was a massive step up in quality. It isn't as I knew it wouldn't be. We do, however, need to get up to speed pretty quickly otherwise we'll be in trouble when we really shouldn't. Weird response from SVH.

 

[stevowanderer]

My take was more in response to the fact that many teams were saying that league 1 was a massive step up in quality. It isn't as I knew it wouldn't be. We do, however, need to get up to speed pretty quickly otherwise we'll be in trouble when we really shouldn't. Weird response from SVH.

To be fair you are talking about getting up to speed etc to deal with what you think isn’t a big step up in quality … but in my opinion the majority of the other clubs in the division aren’t fully up to speed yet either. We certainly aren’t. Derby are pretty much a whole new side and will get better. Ipswich and Wednesday are already levels above most in this league. Pompey have made a great start and Barnsley are starting to improve under a good new manager. Plymouth and Peterborough are good sides and haven’t even mentioned the likes of Wycombe, Oxford or Mk Dons who have decent budgets but are bound to improve. Better to judge it after 15-20 games but when everyone is up to speed I think we will see the gap widen between the top 10-12 teams and the bottom half like it did last season. That’s not to say there may be a surprise team in there too like an Exeter but I don’t think you’ve seen every one ‘on it’ yet.