Port Vale v Oxford United

[valefan16]

Vale host Oxford having won 8 of the last 9 home ties against Oxford without conceding in 7 of those games.

Huge blow with Alex Jones missing and possibly out for a while but the overall injury front eases with Jerome Thomas, Sam Foley both returning and new signing Ryan Taylor starts the ex Newcastle star signing yesterday.

Vale start with a five across the middle with Thomas Foley Grant Tavares and Taylor showcasing a superb midfield for the Valiants but the problems have lied up front. Big Reg starts alone up top and will be hoping to finally get on the score sheet!

Vale will be looking to cement a top six position ahead of Bolton Away and I fancy us to nick this against a very up and down Oxford side 2-1 Foley and Reg for Vale

 

[valefan16]

Getting worse each week at the moment. Made it so easy for Oxford

 

[IanPVFC]

That was awful. We're very lucky it's only 2

 

[valefan16]

Relegation level performances at the moment let's make no bones about it. One up front at 2-0 down. Oxford modest at best but we've just been so so bad again. Mac looked a rare decent light against Charlton but had a mare and right off. Bolton will hit us for 7 or 8 if we are this bad next week. Worrying indeed.

 

[Monkey]

Bruno has had a very lucky start to the season and now his luck has run out.

Lucky if we stay up this season

 

[IanPVFC]

Big Reg!

 

[valefan16]

Finally turned up for the first time in weeks! Battered them from the off second half and disappointed not to win it. Taylor's dead ball delivery is class! A goal for big reg too. Soon as we put pressure on Oxford they crumbled and resorted to hacking us down and to be 2 down and awful at half time and be annoyed to not win it shows the improvement.

 

[markpvfc]

That's why they call it a game of two halves! First half we would've lost to a pub team we were that bad. Second half we switched to 442 and were superb. Great to see Reg score, although I still can't see him scoring more than about 5 in the season. What was Oxfords keeper doing at the end when he ran off to virtually the half way line but we couldn't quite lob the ball over their defenders into the goal.

 

[valefan16]

That's why they call it a game of two halves! First half we would've lost to a pub team we were that bad. Second half we switched to 442 and were superb. Great to see Reg score, although I still can't see him scoring more than about 5 in the season. What was Oxfords keeper doing at the end when he ran off to virtually the half way line but we couldn't quite lob the ball over their defenders into the goal.

Season summed up in one game! Diabolical first half, superb second.

Their keeper was nuts like he was going to out run Jerome! Gutted Taylor had gone off with that free kick right at the death!

 

[Randolph Haggerty]

Very entertaining second half , I'd echo the thoughts about reg, he may have scored, and won the pen but he's as bad as I've seen at the vale. How many times did Oxford have a free man at the the back post?
Considering they lost their 2 best players in the summer they were a tidy outfit I thought.
Made us look like like mugs at times especially first half.
Tavares is shit.
Two teams fighting it out for the mediocrity cup.

 

[valefan16]

Where do we start with Big Reg! Delighted he scored! He's a trier even if like a baby deer on ice.

He's getting big cult status for being bad... similar to the likes of Willock and Calvin Andrew etc.

Hopefully now he's scored he will be more confident... need him until Anton is fit and Taylor is dropping those crosses on his head.

Don't think Tavares is shit to be fair he's got no one making any forward movement, used to playing in a similar system but with far more intelligent players.

 

[leedsvaliant]

First half was as bad as I've seen in 10 years. I think we had one shot and let a mediocre team play round us like traffic cones. We looked slow to everything and didn't win any challenges. Second half we actually pressed and played a bit more direct and for 20 minutes Oxford lost the plot and were all over the place. It's frustrating because if we'd have gone at them from the off they were easy pickings and a couple of their players (particularly the no 10) looked overweight, bordering on fat.
Macintosh was having a mare and was rightly dragged off, cicilia wouldn't look out of place at the 5aside I play on a Thursday night, however second half his mere presence really worried them, so he's worth persisting with, mbamba genuinely looks terrible and like an amateur footballer but got in some good positions. Thomas is a magnificent footballer and rarely loses it, he has premier league class, Taylor looks a good player too. Tavares is a good technical footballer but is used to playing with a higher grade of footballer. Grant was superb second half. We'd have taken a point at half time, but when you see how Oxford capitulated, you can't help but think they were there for the taking. I'm not sure how we are still 7th as we seem to be on a shit run, but this league is toss this year, so even wildly inconsistent teams like us are still in with a shout.
We've got Bolton next and that looks like an absolute banker home win, but then Fleetwood and a run of a few easier fixtures. We've had a tough opening set to be fair.

 

[valefan16]

My frustration exactly. Had we gone at Oxford 4-4-2 and more direct we'd have run out comfortable winners. We need to start with 2 up top at home! One Pagism Bruno has got! Bolton will paste us if we play how we have been. We need to find a settled XI which isn't helping but we constantly have six or seven injured or unfit.

 

[Viv Aldi]

Two mediocre teams but a pretty entertaining game of football. We got completely overrun in midfield (Again) second half
Don't want to sound like I'm taking the piss here but Burslem was a bit of an eye opener, something needs to be done to help these towns who's traditional industries have all but died

 

[mozzavale]

We were terrible first half. The worst I can remember seeing for a long time. Oxford didn't create much other than the 2 goals, (the first was never a free kick, the ref had a shocker with that one) but looked a different class to us. However I couldn't make out how good they really were, as we just didn't compete. The second half was a different story, and we could easily have won it in the end. Saying that I'd say Oxford created more second half than they did first (probably because our change in approach left us more open) and so it could have gone either way really. Cecilia is shocking, truly horrendous. You have no confidence in him winning the ball, even when he's clear favourite. At one point he was the only one challenging for a header and he lost it. The second half summed him up, and caused me a bit of concern about Bruno's ability as a Manager. He can't play up front on his own. He needs service and support to be effective. He's that shit it makes him a handful. Defenders don't know what he's going to do next (probably because he doesn't either). Need Forrester back asap, and Jones hopefully. Thomas was the best player on the pitch by a mile yesterday and put a right shift in.

 

[valefan16]

Jones looks like missing months rather than weeks by sounds of Brown on radio after the game. Monster blow that is as easily one of the best strikers at this level which he's reflected in the scoring charts.

We miss Forrester as he's actually a decent striker. Can head the ball. Hold it up well, something none of our others can do.

Jerome Thomas is class and he did well behind Reg second half. Can see the quality that got him playing in the Premier League.

 

[mozzavale]

Two mediocre teams but a pretty entertaining game of football. We got completely overrun in midfield (Again) second half
Don't want to sound like I'm taking the piss here but Burslem was a bit of an eye opener, something needs to be done to help these towns who's traditional industries have all but died

Burslem isn't a priority for our Council, all funding is pumped into Hanley. Burslem is still 100% better than Longton, good God that town is shocking. There's a few gems in Burslem though, and if you do your homework beforehand you can make it a decent away day, especially if you like real ale and go the Bulls Head. To be fair though, I can imagine most towns and cities don't compare well to Oxford.

 

[MJA]

Two mediocre teams but a pretty entertaining game of football. We got completely overrun in midfield (Again) second half
Don't want to sound like I'm taking the piss here but Burslem was a bit of an eye opener, something needs to be done to help these towns who's traditional industries have all but died

The local councils know where they make the money to line their own pockets and it is not by rebuilding derelict run-down towns that have rotted since the local industry was sent abroad. It has been quite clear for years (even decades) now that the towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent are just going to be left to rot with no real intentions of trying to revitalise them, even the hub of the city centre is pretty shit when compared to other big cities

 

[MJA]

As for Vale, we really need to sort out these slow starts. We can't keep relying on chasing games in the 2nd half otherwise we will quickly find ourselves in difficulty.

 

[Viv Aldi]

Burslem isn't a priority for our Council, all funding is pumped into Hanley. Burslem is still 100% better than Longton, good God that town is shocking. There's a few gems in Burslem though, and if you do your homework beforehand you can make it a decent away day, especially if you like real ale and go the Bulls Head. To be fair though, I can imagine most towns and cities don't compare well to Oxford.

The local councils know where they make the money to line their own pockets and it is not by rebuilding derelict run-down towns that have rotted since the local industry was sent abroad. It has been quite clear for years (even decades) now that the towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent are just going to be left to rot with no real intentions of trying to revitalise them, even the hub of the city centre is pretty shit when compared to other big cities

I walked from Longport station to the ground. A mixture of car washes, boarded up houses and decaying potteries. The council should be doing more to help but the central government needs to do more for these places and not just allow them to rot with KFC's and betting shops. On an unrelated not Stoke's got one of the strangest accent's I have ever come across, sounds like a Brummie/Scouse kind of mix.
I thought Grant was your best player by a distance by the way

 

[MJA]

I walked from Longport station to the ground. A mixture of car washes, boarded up houses and decaying potteries. The council should be doing more to help but the central government needs to do more for these places and not just allow them to rot with KFC's and betting shops. On an unrelated not Stoke's got one of the strangest accent's I have ever come across, sounds like a Brummie/Scouse kind of mix.
I thought Grant was your best player by a distance by the way

I've been told that I sound scouse on many occasions but the guys at work tell me I sound like I'm from Yorkshire.

Grant is our best player by a distance. We will do well to keep hold of him beyond this season (maybe even beyond January)

 

[iWomble]

The local councils know where they make the money to line their own pockets and it is not by rebuilding derelict run-down towns that have rotted since the local industry was sent abroad. It has been quite clear for years (even decades) now that the towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent are just going to be left to rot with no real intentions of trying to revitalise them, even the hub of the city centre is pretty shit when compared to other big cities

Decades is right. My dad's from Stoke and we used to go and watch Vale every time we visited my granny who lived in a two-up two-down on Price St in Burslem. This was back in the very late 60s and 70s and it was very poor and neglected then. As an outsider who has been back to the area on and off for football since then bits and pieces of work have been done, and like anywhere there are very decent parts if you know where they are, but overall nothing seems to have changed for the better in 50 years. It's absolutely criminal that in a rich country places like this can just be left permanently on the scrapheap.

 

[ThisTinpotLeague]

I'm not sure how we are still 7th as we seem to be on a shit run, but this league is toss this year

Ding ding ding favourite cliché alert!!

 

[valefan16]

Ding ding ding favourite cliché alert!!

We've been inconsistent but so has everyone else so not particularly a poor league more a very even league. Aside from Scunny running away with it and the bottom two or three it's so evenly matched that everyone can beat everyone else.

 

[ThisTinpotLeague]

We've been inconsistent but so has everyone else so not particularly a poor league more a very even league. Aside from Scunny running away with it and the bottom two or three it's so evenly matched that everyone can beat everyone else.

True enough. Makes it a lot better to watch.