Vale of tiers: Port Vale (A), Division Three, Sat 30 Sep @ 3pm

[boltonboris]

I like what I saw on Saturday

Everything that has already been said about 1st half v 2nd Half. But they were apparently at their very best in that second half according to their fans and never really created any clear opportunities. They're probably disappointed with the header from the corner that went wide.

If we win on Tuesday, it's starting to look pretty rosy and I see no reason why we can't.

Tired legs is my concern. We put a massive shift on Saturday. And bar Thomason the same players will need to go again Tuesday. Charles and Dempsey carrying injuries.

That would be my worry. However, the positive is that we beat Port Vale which makes the effort a lot more rewarding than say a 1-1. And we are at home and if we can put in a performance I'm sure home crowd backing can help.

I'm not sure we put in that huge a shift. We didn't exactly press hard and counter hard. We sat in and soaked a lot up, cleared our lines and headed balls. Just because you defend a lot, doesn't mean you've huffed and puffed your way to lactic acid oblivion.

We're also at home and Port Vale, I'd wager will finish above Stevenage

[BWFC_Insane]

I like what I saw on Saturday

Everything that has already been said about 1st half v 2nd Half. But they were apparently at their very best in that second half according to their fans and never really created any clear opportunities. They're probably disappointed with the header from the corner that went wide.

If we win on Tuesday, it's starting to look pretty rosy and I see no reason why we can't.

Tired legs is my concern. We put a massive shift on Saturday. And bar Thomason the same players will need to go again Tuesday. Charles and Dempsey carrying injuries.

That would be my worry. However, the positive is that we beat Port Vale which makes the effort a lot more rewarding than say a 1-1. And we are at home and if we can put in a performance I'm sure home crowd backing can help.

I'm not sure we put in that huge a shift. We didn't exactly press hard and counter hard. We sat in and soaked a lot up, cleared our lines and headed balls. Just because you defend a lot, doesn't mean you've huffed and puffed your way to lactic acid oblivion.

We're also at home and Port Vale, I'd wager will finish above Stevenage

Yeah I guess a few looked pretty dead on their feet at the end though. I agree that we went more compact second half.

Its a Steve Evans side though and they always make our life difficult and I just wonder how much we've got in the tank for it. We haven't got people off the bench to change the game or even just a few pairs of fresh legs.

Though I really don't see why we won't use Matheson and Khumbeni in these circumstances for the last 20 minutes of games. Fresh legs and running would surely help?

[Prufrock]

Next two are just about getting through, points on the board waiting for the cavalry to arrive.

Early goal in Tuesday seems vital. If we can make them come out we should have the quality to win comfortably. The longer we give them to hang in there the harder it will be and the more energy used. Feels like a pivotal week.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I can see why we didn't bring on kids for the last 20 at Vale - that needed wise heads not fresh legs. Imagine how a mistake might make them crumble - think Mbete.

But if we're a couple of goals to the good tomorrow night, it wouldmake sense to give a breather wherever possible. Largely Ashworth and Matheson for the wingbacks. Khumbeni would presumably be replacing Tomo who's just had a day off; now he's back Sheehan and Morley can rotate. Problem is Dempsey has no direct replacement, but we may have to shuffle the cards in midfield to give him a breather.

It might seem like "only another 20/30 minutes" but in a three-game week some of these lads might be in the red zone – and muscular injuries picked up there could put them out for four to six weeks, even after the arrival of "the cavalry" (largely, in midfield, the current reserves).

[BWFC_Insane]

I can see why we didn't bring on kids for the last 20 at Vale - that needed wise heads not fresh legs. Imagine how a mistake might make them crumble - think Mbete.

But if we're a couple of goals to the good tomorrow night, it wouldmake sense to give a breather wherever possible. Largely Ashworth and Matheson for the wingbacks. Khumbeni would presumably be replacing Tomo who's just had a day off; now he's back Sheehan and Morley can rotate. Problem is Dempsey has no direct replacement, but we may have to shuffle the cards in midfield to give him a breather.

It might seem like "only another 20/30 minutes" but in a three-game week some of these lads might be in the red zone.

I felt there was a need for some fresher legs that would have got us up the pitch. I take your point about making a mistake and ultimately we saw it out - without too much incident but at the time it did feel like only one cross needed to drop favourably for Vale and that was it.

I'd also say the two lads in question (Mathson has played a lot of legaue football) and Khumbeni is not some wet behind the ears 17 year old. You'd expect both to be able to do a job of adding some legs.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

On Vale - yeah I see your point. But from what I can see, Khumbeni has
• a total of 130 minutes' senior football
• 22 of those were against Man U kids, so that's only 108 really; of the rest,
• 50 were in Norwich's 6-0 Pizza Cup defeat at MK Dons
• 50 were in Norwich's 5-0 Pizza Cup win at Newport
• 7 were for us in the League Cup beating Salford 5-1
• 1 was in Norwich's 2-1 Pizza Cup defeat at Oxford.

He's got potential, but his CV doesn't scream "bring me on in the positionally vital 6 role while battening down the hatches at 1-0 up away from home". Not yet. Had he come on, I'd've been worried for him. Had he made an error, I'd have been devastated for him. And if he isn't brought on if we're 2-0 or 3-0 up Tuesday, I'll be annoyed for him.

Matheson, I can perhaps see - wingback for us is a lot of running. But even then it's somewhat negated the realpolitik of events: by 75 minutes our wingbacks were basically acting as full-backs. Replacing Williams wih the more defensive Ashworth made sense, but Vale would have loved us to roll on a munchkin as they tried to wang in set-pieces.

Problem with Saturday was that squad thinness again - the only seniors we had were forwards - and they did the job we needed. I don't always agree with Evatt but I think on this occasion he got the calls right. As I say, he should hopefully be more willing to use them in the home games.

[BWFC_Insane]

On Vale - yeah I see your point. But from what I can see, Khumbeni has
• a total of 130 minutes' senior football
• 22 of those were against Man U kids, so that's only 108 really; of the rest,
• 50 were in Norwich's 6-0 Pizza Cup defeat at MK Dons
• 50 were in Norwich's 5-0 Pizza Cup win at Newport
• 7 were for us in the League Cup beating Salford 5-1
• 1 was in Norwich's 2-1 Pizza Cup defeat at Oxford.

He's got potential, but his CV doesn't scream "bring me on in the positionally vital 6 role while battening down the hatches at 1-0 up away from home". Not yet. Had he come on, I'd've been worried for him. Had he made an error, I'd have been devastated for him. And if he isn't brought on if we're 2-0 or 3-0 up Tuesday, I'll be annoyed for him.

Matheson, I can perhaps see - wingback for us is a lot of running. But even then it's somewhat negated the realpolitik of events: by 75 minutes our wingbacks were basically acting as full-backs. Replacing Williams wih the more defensive Ashworth made sense, but Vale would have loved us to roll on a munchkin as they tried to wang in set-pieces.

Problem with Saturday was that squad thinness again - the only seniors we had were forwards - and they did the job we needed. I don't always agree with Evatt but I think on this occasion he got the calls right. As I say, he should hopefully be more willing to use them in the home games.

I'd have brought Khumbeni on for Dempsey and Matheson on for Charles...personally.....on Saturday at least.

[Mar]

On Vale - yeah I see your point. But from what I can see, Khumbeni has
• a total of 130 minutes' senior football
• 22 of those were against Man U kids, so that's only 108 really; of the rest,
• 50 were in Norwich's 6-0 Pizza Cup defeat at MK Dons
• 50 were in Norwich's 5-0 Pizza Cup win at Newport
• 7 were for us in the League Cup beating Salford 5-1
• 1 was in Norwich's 2-1 Pizza Cup defeat at Oxford.

He's got potential, but his CV doesn't scream "bring me on in the positionally vital 6 role while battening down the hatches at 1-0 up away from home". Not yet. Had he come on, I'd've been worried for him. Had he made an error, I'd have been devastated for him. And if he isn't brought on if we're 2-0 or 3-0 up Tuesday, I'll be annoyed for him.

Matheson, I can perhaps see - wingback for us is a lot of running. But even then it's somewhat negated the realpolitik of events: by 75 minutes our wingbacks were basically acting as full-backs. Replacing Williams wih the more defensive Ashworth made sense, but Vale would have loved us to roll on a munchkin as they tried to wang in set-pieces.

Problem with Saturday was that squad thinness again - the only seniors we had were forwards - and they did the job we needed. I don't always agree with Evatt but I think on this occasion he got the calls right. As I say, he should hopefully be more willing to use them in the home games.

You could argue that the decision to bring Jerome, N'lundulu and Bodvarsson was a reasonable one against Reading too, if the idea was to completely shut up shop. We all know that we should be able to rely upon Jerome to do a decent job defensively, and for the most part he does, but it was essentially highlighting to Reading that we were planning on sitting deep and soaking up pressure.

Different story when we brought on Bodvarsson for N'lundulu, as we had a clear attacking threat with Bodvarsson and Charles. It didnt hand over the impetous to Port Vale. That way when we brought on Jerome, they still had to wonder whether or not the threat was still with Bodvarsson, so they wouldn't feel free to come at us. Unlike the audible sigh when Jerome and N'lundulu came on previously.

Khumbeni coming on, i'm happy with. He looks the part, and although thats likely to lead to some naivety, I think he's shown enough to warrant a decent inclusion off the bench. Matheson, i've got concerns with, mostly in terms of defensive capability, can he get back quickly enough, is his height going to be an issue. There's a few things there, but he's impressed too, so he warrants some time.

[The_Gun]

The issue with using Bodvarsson and Jerome as the 'finishers' when we're looking to protect a lead, is that neither is quick, so we put ourselves in a position where it becomes very difficult for us to counter. There's not much we can do about this at the moment, but I can see that using JDB alongside the likes of CMG and Maghoma late in games would give us much more of a threat on the break when we recover the ball.