Team for port vale

Quoted from RoboCod

Disagree a little about Vernon. For me he's one of those who's suffered most from Slade tactics, he's never going to grab a bucket load of goals but I do honestly think Vernon could be a part of a more successful goal scoring attack. MJ will soon sort these issues and we'll get a better picture.

Matt can have his loan cancelled for me, he looks a beaten man after 15 minutes and seems to have actually developed his clumsiness further in recent months, rather than getting better. Woolford just looks half-ar$ed.
I regretfully feel the situation is beyond just shuffling the pack, a mini player cull is required.

That's a fair point to be honest he looks better when it comes in to feet so hoof it in the air to the hold up man will never work for him. Also you would hope he feels he has a point to prove after Cambridge.

Regardless of where we play next season I don't expect to see many of these players again. The only one I would keep of the lads who's deals are up is Macca, and possibly Summers. The problem is that we have a bot of dead wood who have another year, good look with that one!  

Quoted from Abdul19

McKeown

Hall-Johnson
Suliman
Collins
Mills

McAllister
Summerfield
Clifton

Jaiyesimi
Vernam
Dembele

(Assuming Jackson and Wilks aren't fit)

That's the starting 11  I would go with if all fit. Would be great to see no Dixon,hooper, Berrett and Matt anywhere near the starting 11.

couple of points is there a reserve game this week or would be able to arrange enclosed doors friendly in that short a time?
Also if he is able to motivate players I wonder if we might see hooper playing against his old club .he's obviously got some ability and with a point to prove and a new manager to impress we might even get to see the real hooper

For me we need to change it big time on Saturday..

Macca
Mills
Suliman
Collins
Davies
McAllister
Rose
Dembele
Jayisemi
Clifton
Vernam

A 4231 with rose and McAllister sitting , dembele Clifton  Jayisemi behind vernam.

I'm not sure he will go for this but I hope to god he makes big changes.

Quoted from Maringer

Jaiyesimi and Dembele aren't quick, so the plan for quick wingers falls at the first hurdle. I reckon Kelly is our quickest winger (not saying a great deal) but I don't imagine he'll be near the team.

If he's going to play 4-3-3, the front 3 will probably have to be Matt or Cardwell (or Vernon?) as the leading man with Jaiyesimi and Vernam as the other two forwards.

I wouldn't play Dembele as he's been awful every time he's appeared over the past few months. Might be down to his reported back problem, but he doesn't deserve to be in the team at present.

I think sticking Mills at left-back and Hall-Johnson at right-back is a good idea to make the team a bit quicker. Not sure about the lad on loan from Aston Villa - some are saying put him in, but we've never seen him play and he may not be up to the job at present.

I'm sorry but if Dembele is fit he needs to come back. For me it's no coincidence that losing Dembele has almost directly fallen alongside our streak without a win.

I don’t think you will see massive changes in selection, but there will be a change in the approach. They will try to press by closing up from the back to get the midfield in front of the ball in the attacking third. How successful it can be is debatable because players seem to have muscle memory that makes them sink back into old ways at the first sign of trouble.

Strikers? Perm any 2 from 7. I don’t think any of them is a proper goal scorer, just journeymen runners of the channels. No side can afford to have more than one of those in the team, you must have someone who scuffs in the chances other strikers don’t see.

I am sure that Wilki as an ex-striker of quality will have coached them, cajoled them, cosseted them and cursed them but you can’t make a silk purse out of ......

The one thing we really do need is a giant dollop of the luck that deserts teams when they go on the slide. We haven’t had any and it’s time we did get the run of the ball and the referee as well.

It might have been Cloughie who said successful managers fell into 3 groups - the good, the lucky and the lucky and good. I’ll settle for Jolley being lucky to start with, he can get good later.

Well we were given a very dubious penalty last week against Exeter and missed it. Luton were down to 10 men for over an hour and still couldn’t create anything. Basically we aren’t good enough which ever way you cut it.

Quoted from forza ivano

Also if he is able to motivate players I wonder if we might see hooper playing against his old club .he's obviously got some ability and with a point to prove and a new manager to impress we might even get to see the real hooper

Do you remember Conlon v Bradford?

                                     McKeown

             Suliman             Clarke              Collins

      RHJ                                                            Davies/Mills
                      Summerfield         Rose

                                      Vernam

                       Dembele               DJ


I like the idea of three at the back to free up the wing backs of RHJ and one of Davies or Mills (but certainly not Dixon), which is our only chance of some genuine width going forward.  I always find that Dembele and DJ prefer to drift inside and are much better at occupying pockets of space in-between the opposition's centre halves, so why not deploy them as out and out forwards?  It would give us some much needed movement when we pick up the ball in the centre circle.  

Vernam is definitely our most technical player and should play as an advanced midfielder (no 10).  This will allow us to press from the front and provide creativity in the gap between their defence and midfield.  Summerfield and Rose would act as 'spoilers', breaking up the play and covering the space vacated by our wing backs when they go forwards.

If Dembele isn't fit enough to last the full 90 then we could introduce Vernon to attempt to hold the ball in the opposition half.  

The only two players i have seen recently that look like they can play a bit of football are Vernam and RHJ. We have them both on the bench and stick with the old lags like Berrett and Dixon. I often wonder what goes through the mind of management. Is Suliman here as a last resort centre back in case of injuries, or is he capable of doing a job? What was the point of bringing him in?

I really hope Davies is fit for the run in and Dembele can get a bit of his spark back. We also need Jackson and Wilks back sharpish to give us a bit of pace and nous up top. I still believe Vernon could do a better job than Matt. Think i could do a better job than Matt to be honest. He looked fairly good for a while, but now looks completely shot. Cardwell isn't affecting games at all and has been fairly anonymous, so i think his time may be up for this season too. Doesn't leave much scope for the forward line does it?

I'm interested to see what MJ comes up with.