[Jud]

spirefan1, on 19 August 2017 - 05:02 PM, said:

I'd give it a 7, might be being kind though,first 20 minutes we looked dire but after that we were fairly good.

Defenders look a bit wobbly, messing around with it too much at the back will cost us against better teams and should have cost us to day.

Midfield was fairly good, Reed and the new lad Flores were both very VERY good, Flores MOTM.

Up top is a bit of a mess still, Kristian Dennis does the running of 2 players and was some would consider him MOTM. O'Grady needs to improve his reactions and awareness, he wasn't particularly bad but he's just a bit slow off the block sometimes, better in the air today though.

Tommy Lee back was very nice to see, commanding of his area, vocal to the team.

Very fair summary, this. Probably more rational than mine but come on...TWO YEARS! Please excuse me whilst I enjoy these weird endorphins...

[trickytrevsfanclub]

Jud, on 19 August 2017 - 05:01 PM, said:

For what it's worth, my view on today is thus -

I'll get the negatives out the way first because I'm feeling pretty buoyant after that. The 352...against a decent opposition it's far too risky. The demands on the full backs are huge and it leaves us open as flip to anyone good enough to run at us. That and the lack of scoreboard (as I thought the 8 minute applause could've been echoed on there in someway) are my only gripes.

Now for some much needed positivity...
Tommy! So good to see him back and kind of Evo to give him a much needed test by almost producing a contender for own goal of the season. He looked like the Tommy of old to me and after a shaky start all round, it seemed to me that confidence was higher having him between the sticks. I was suitably impressed all round today after the aforementioned nervous first 15/20 minutes but special mention for...wait for it...our midfield. The new lad was impressive but Sinnott, Weir and Reid looked really up for it today and whoever on here had confidence down as a troublesome factor were spot on...we needed a goal and after that, backwards passes looked intentional and calculated rather than a side effect of nerves.

Our problems aren't over, but today proved to me that our signings this summer haven't been the disaster they'd been made out to be. As long as GC is prepared to be flexible tactically, and he was today, there are some good players in that squad.

On a sidenote, due to numerous commitments and the like, i hadn't actually seen us win at The Proact in 2 years until today. My gawd did I enjoy that!!!

What do you mean about the scoreboard? There was a great big picture of Ernie on it throughout the minutes applause and the time was always right and the score.

[turrhall]

The problem with Flores looking v good in midfield is that we still don't have a proper LB until Binnom-Williams is back.

[Jud]

trickytrevsfanclub, on 19 August 2017 - 05:06 PM, said:

What do you mean about the scoreboard? There was a great big picture of Ernie on it throughout the minutes applause and the time was always right and the score.

...tha what? Was I looking at the old one? Sh*t me.

[Spire-Heights]

Jud, on 19 August 2017 - 05:08 PM, said:

...tha what? Was I looking at the old one? Sh*t me.

You must have been!

[trickytrevsfanclub]

Jud, on 19 August 2017 - 05:08 PM, said:

...tha what? Was I looking at the old one? Sh*t me.

Where were you sat??

This post has been edited by trickytrevsfanclub: 19 August 2017 - 05:10 PM

[Jud]

trickytrevsfanclub, on 19 August 2017 - 05:10 PM, said:

Where we're you sat :-)

East stand...dont even acknowledge me here, folks. Sometimes I amaze even myself. True what they say, get your eyes tested at LEAST once every ten years...

[Paragon of Virtue]

Imo the players we have are mostly quality individually, the system needs work though.

[AllTownArentWe]

Jud, on 19 August 2017 - 05:01 PM, said:

I'll get the negatives out the way first because I'm feeling pretty buoyant after that. The 352...against a decent opposition it's far too risky. The demands on the full backs are huge and it leaves us open as flip to anyone good enough to run at us.

Agreed.

[trickytrevsfanclub]

Jud, on 19 August 2017 - 05:11 PM, said:

East stand...dont even acknowledge me here, folks. Sometimes I amaze even myself. True what they say, get your eyes tested at LEAST once every ten years...

lol at least you'll know where to look next time.

[Westbars Spireite]

Flores.

Talk to me.

[SpireRam]

3-5-2 can only work with JBW currently imo. It will not work without some powerful pacey lad that's gonna get up and down and throwing a make shift in there just will not work.
Fair play to Caldwell for changing it, apart from the header that Tommy saved on the line, we were comfortable all game after the change.
Solid performance and thoroughly deserved 3 points.
Agree with a post above in that I believe individually we have a lot of very good players in this side. Once/if they gel properly there won't be many better teams than us.

Few more gears to go up yet but 7/10 from me today. Flores my MOTM.

[whittman]

After a shaky start when Tommy got away with one error of judgement when he came out only for Evatt to head the ball back as though he was on his line we did not need the halftime interval

This was because for the last 20 minutes of the first half we played Vale off the park with one and two touch football that they could not cope with and we scored 2 deserved


goals

The second half was a bit more scappy but after Tommy made a fine reaction save from a Popo header we saw the matvh out for 3 much needed points

Lets hope this win gives the team much needed confidence and we start on a run of victories to move up the table

[spirefan1]

Westbars Spireite, on 19 August 2017 - 05:19 PM, said:

Flores.

Talk to me.

9/10 today in midfield, wasted at LWB if we decide to play him there. Is a tidy player, very energetic and always looks to get the ball forward, misplaced 1 maybe 2 passes in the second half but apart from that not a foot wrong.

[dtp]

spirefan1, on 19 August 2017 - 04:25 PM, said:

Just a quick note about the referee, was alright all game until the end, gave a yellow card purely on what the Port Vale players told him, what a plum.

Thought the ref got most things right today but there was a similar lunge on O'Grady near the halfway line, East Stand, not carded and the deliberate trip on Wiseman just outside the penalty area was a nailed on yellow for a professional foul with most refs.

[dtp]

Angel Was A Spireite, on 19 August 2017 - 04:37 PM, said:

The players all played well today which is refreshing, but I have to say Caldwells tactics are absolutely woeful.

You do talk some utter tripe - congratulations for coming up with such a statement.

[Bonnyman]

dtp, on 19 August 2017 - 06:14 PM, said:

You do talk some utter tripe - congratulations for coming up with such a statement.

not a bad performance after a poor hesitant start,is mccourt a complete idiot,that missed tackle was a disgrace

[moondog]

Highlights

http://www.skysports...d-2-0-port-vale

[dim view]

Bonnyman, on 19 August 2017 - 06:36 PM, said:

not a bad performance after a poor hesitant start,is mccourt a complete idiot,that missed tackle was a disgrace

It was nowhere near being a tackle. It was an attempt at a flying block, at least a yard from their player.

[dtp]

Bonnyman, on 19 August 2017 - 06:36 PM, said:

not a bad performance after a poor hesitant start,is mccourt a complete idiot,that missed tackle was a disgrace

For what it's worth I thought we took whatever they'd got to throw at us in the first 20 minutes, or so, as they knew if they scored first our crowd would turn and any confidence we had would be shattered. Even then, Dennis should have done better with the chance Sinnott played him in on. We had to earn the right to play the way we did in the last 20 minutes of the half when we put them to the sword.

The second half was more about making sure we didn't throw the win away as it was increasing our lead. As such, quite a professional performance mixed with phases of sloppy passing which, logically, should be reduced as confidence builds and the team gels.

Lee - organised and fielded very well
Barry - looked better at RB than RWB
Hird - had a spell of sloppy passing and gave away a few unnecessary fouls but anticipation was quite good
Evatt - solid but missed their best chance in the first half
Wiseman - looked better at LB and an improvement on his Grimsby performance
Weir - did the unspectacular stuff well
Reed - worked hard but a number of his defence splitting passes didn't
Sinnott - had a big say in the first half creating 2 excellent chances for Dennis and scoring himself but seemed to run out of steam after 70 minutes
Flores - shaky start but once moved inside started to influence the game until he tired
Dennis - worked hard and another day might have scored more than one
O'Grady - some excellent hold up play, gives our defenders options, and as the team gels can see him gaining a fair few assists

It will be interesting to see what other business we do before the end of the month - for me, I think we need a proper LB and cover for Evatt.