Match thoughts - Barnsley v Port Vale

[perkytyke]

After 2 defeats to Blackpool and Brighton without registering a shot on target in both games, I’m expecting a reaction from the reds in this one!
I will be making my 3rd trip to Oakwell for this one with the grandkids and I’m hoping to see a 3rd victory?
I watched Vale on Wednesday against Arsenal and to be fair they looked a very decent side losing 2-0 to a very strong gunners team and if they repeat that showing, we are in for a very tough afternoon!
We welcome back Big Daz, Disco, Cole and they have Joe Gauchi in goal, so some ex reds to contend with on and off the pitch.
I hope we are at them from the start having rested Didzy, not been able to play Vickers and rotated Earl, Connell, Phillips, DKD, Shepard and Bland during the Brighton game, as well as having an extra days rest/training than Vale who had a first team out in a hard game on Wednesday.
I can see us winning this but we will need to be on it and I’m hoping they run out of steam towards the end? It certainly won?t be another 7-0 thrashing!
I think a 1-0 or 2-1 win, with my prediction of 3-0 in the prediction league being optimistic a couple of weeks ago before I watched their game on Wednesday!

[Shadrack the Red]

I believe that this will be a very tight affair , Darren Moore in my opinion is a very good manager especially at this level and will provide tough opposition , Cole will be chomping at the bit and I sincerely hope our fans do not get on his case and motivate him even further , it annoys me big time when we boo our ex players , Mcatee was a prime example the other week and of course he had the last laugh lets hope Cole does not . I would like to see Cleary get some game time after his performance against Brighton but I think if he does it will be from the bench , I expect him to give the side that dipped at Blackpool the chance to redeem themselves and start with the same side but the key might be how we use the bench , it will be tight but hopefully we can edge it, we will see !!!

[animallittle3]

Good luck from the Costa Del Sol and let's get back to winning ways

[animallittle3]

FFS , end of post .

[perkytyke]

That was grim to say the least! Waste of money, energy and time to travel all that way to watch that!
That was in my top 10 of worst BFC performances in 55 years of supporting them!
It was worse than last seasons performances, no endeavour, no energy, no plan and not able to switch things up.
Tippy Tappy football at the back, play to midfield, play back to the defence for more Tippy Tappy sideways football ALL GAME!
Every single one of them were poor, with 15 minutes to go at 1-0 down, there was no urgency at all, Cooper placing the ball for a goal kick, then moving it around 2 or 3 times as if we were wasting time? WTF? 3 times in attacking overload and playing the ball back to the defence for more Tippy Tappy? Hundreds left when the first goal went in, it was that bad.
Conor takes off DKD and leaves a tired McGoldrick on, he takes off the only player doing anything Vickers and puts Farugia on, when Vickers didn't even play during the week?
That's 3 games with not one shot on target in ALL 3..........
There is no plan B when plan A doesn't work, and believe me other teams now know this and Vale exploited it brilliantly.
Also for some reason the fans were flat, we didn't manage 1 song the whole game, was it the 6-0 hammering and the last minute Blackpool defeat? Poor all round today, Fans, Manager and players!

[Shadrack the Red]

That was grim to say the least! Waste of money, energy and time to travel all that way to watch that!
That was in my top 10 of worst BFC performances in 55 years of supporting them!
It was worse than last seasons performances, no endeavour, no energy, no plan and not able to switch things up.
Tippy Tappy football at the back, play to midfield, play back to the defence for more Tippy Tappy sideways football ALL GAME!
Every single one of them were poor, with 15 minutes to go at 1-0 down, there was no urgency at all, Cooper placing the ball for a goal kick, then moving it around 2 or 3 times as if we were wasting time? WTF? 3 times in attacking overload and playing the ball back to the defence for more Tippy Tappy? Hundreds left when the first goal went in, it was that bad.
Conor takes off DKD and leaves a tired McGoldrick on, he takes off the only player doing anything Vickers and puts Farugia on, when Vickers didn't even play during the week?
That's 3 games with not one shot on target in ALL 3..........
There is no plan B when plan A doesn't work, and believe me other teams now know this and Vale exploited it brilliantly.
Also for some reason the fans were flat, we didn't manage 1 song the whole game, was it the 6-0 hammering and the last minute Blackpool defeat? Poor all round today, Fans, Manager and players!

I agree with more or less everything you say apart from I am not sure how you can say the fans were poor, there was absolutely nothing to lift the fans at all , it was awful , what really annoyed me was the movement off the ball , there was none !!! it was as if Vale had got 3 men more than us , they obviously didn"t they just worked harder than us both on and off the ball , in front of us in the west stand during the first half both Vickers and Phillips were like statues , Vickers did pick his game up in the last 10 minutes of the half but in the second half he got no supply of the ball, the substitutions made no difference and whilst MKD was having a mare I was still puzzled when he got hooked with no striker on the bench and needing a goal surely you need your leading scorer on the pitch but at the end of the day we got what we deserved , nothing !!! we were awful and credit to Vale who fully deserved the points. The in balance of the squad is beginning to bite , Conor has limited options at his disposal and when his so called better players are not doing it then it is scratch your head time , we move on !!

[perkytyke]

The fans were poor mate! They gave no backing to the team before kick off, at the start of the game or when they could see them struggling! It's not like us at all, I was baffled? A rendition of come on you reds, red army, or the the best team the world has seen? Nothing, just silence!

[NerfHerder]

I would agree that the fans were a bit flat yesterday. I always think it’s a two way street though. We get fast, exciting football with players working their nuts off and our fans are some of the loudest around. However, getting something like we got yesterday and we go quiet. Probably like most teams in fairness.

Yesterday was very poor. Many (many) backwards passes, absolutely no movement off the ball and the Port Vale players simply worked harder than us. Attacking wise we struggled to get players into the box but they always seemed to have 3 or 4 in there. Defending we got caught a few times whereas they always seemed to get back in a very good shape. Pressing wise they were way in front of us. It seemed like they always had 2 men on our attacking players. For all the talk of our high press in the summer, I’m yet to see that.

I’ve been to every home league game (and the Brighton one) and watched every other game on a steam and yesterday was the first time I have had my doubts about us. We were shocking at Blackpool in the second half but first half I thought we looked good were awful for the full 90 yesterday. We lost at Wimbledon but I saw some positive signs in that game. Today the only positive that could possibly be taken was Murphy Cooper.

When was our last shot on target? Phillips’ goal against Reading?

I’d expect a much changed side for Tuesday night and I’m fine with that with it being the pizza cup (or whatever it’s sponsored by now) but next Saturday at Wycombe we need a real kick up the arse.