Romared Match Thoughts Barnsley v Port Vale

[EthelRed]

That’s as I remember it animal. Made my Christmas. That’s was just a long lost memory.

[Young_Nudger]

Or


------------- Roberts -------------

Williams - Lopata - Kitching --

--------------- Connell ------------

O'Keeffe ----------------------------- Cadden

------------------- Styles ------------------


Cole ------ Watters ----- Norwood

Yep - I’m expecting summert like that - except a flat midfield.
Be interesting to see if Collins is confident enough to sub any of the front 3 with Shaw and / or Dallas.

[EthelRed]

45 years ago, where’s it gone.

[animallittle3]

I would put Port Vale to finish just below half way but all clubs will be buzzing to get a result on the opening day.

The intensity may come as a shock to Collins being used to the second tier in the USA with no worries about promotion or relegation.

I hear this "the Third Division is weaker this year" argument being expressed but there are several similar clubs, any of whom could make the top six--in alphabetical order,

Barnsley (possible points deduction)
Blackpool
Bolton
Charlton
Derby
Oxford
Peterborough
Portsmouth
Reading
Wycombe
A Surprise Team
Even Wigan on minus 8

Still over a month to go in the transfer window so anything could happen as regards line up and key players.

i think our defence and Collins will still be finding their feet and Vale could take advantage. Much less confident about keeping clean sheets this season.

I'll give it ten games before taking a firmer view.

#In Collins We Trust

My own view is that's it's weaker in the sense I reckon you won't need to gain over 100 points to finish top two , the pace Plymouth , Ipswich and Wednesday set at various times last season was insane , Wednesday finished 3rd on 96 points which is ridiculous .

I think they'll be more teams challenging and the teams more equally matched with teams taking more points of each other .

[SBRed48]

My own view is that's it's weaker in the sense I reckon you won't need to gain over 100 points to finish top two , the pace Plymouth , Ipswich and Wednesday set at various times last season was insane , Wednesday finished 3rd on 96 points which is ridiculous .

I think they'll be more teams challenging and the teams more equally matched with teams taking more points of each other .

That last sentence to me is why I think it is a stronger league ie more difficult to get out of. Last season the league was very weak apart from a few clubs. It was a case of who dropped points against the poor sides. The top three dropped very few points. To me that is a sign of a weak league but it depends how you look at it. My view is--

Weak league--easy for two or three clubs to dominate against a load of sh1te

Strong league -- difficult to get out of as half the league could beat each other making it tight

Three clubs dominated last year with huge points totals. To me that says the general level of the league was weak. Just a different way of interpreting a strong league and a weak league. For example I would consider The Scottish Premiership a weak league.

[Shadrack the Red]

That last sentence to me is why I think it is a stronger league ie more difficult to get out of. Last season the league was very weak apart from a few clubs. It was a case of who dropped points against the poor sides. The top three dropped very few points. To me that is a sign of a weak league but it depends how you look at it. My view is--

Weak league--easy for two or three clubs to dominate against a load of sh1te

Strong league -- difficult to get out of as half the league could beat each other making it tight

Three clubs dominated last year with huge points totals. To me that says the general level of the league was weak. Just a different way of interpreting a strong league and a weak league. For example I would consider The Scottish Premiership a weak league.

To be fair I think you could make that 4 teams last season, we had 86 points & packed in for the last 4 games knowing we could not get auto or drop to 5th but I agree with you & I think the best way to describe it is that the league next season will be more competitive, with possibly a good dozen teams or even more that will fancy their chances & be capable of beating anyone on any given day.

[Acido]

We rarely beat Port Vale at home, and I'll be surprised if we do on this occasion.
And the last time we played them at home in this appalling starry shirt in '89, they thrashed us in our navy blue away shirts. 😲

[SBRed48]

To be fair I think you could make that 4 teams last season, we had 86 points & packed in for the last 4 games knowing we could not get auto or drop to 5th but I agree with you & I think the best way to describe it is that the league next season will be more competitive, with possibly a good dozen teams or even more that will fancy their chances & be capable of beating anyone on any given day.

Thaz nailed it Shads.

"Competitive" is the word I was searching for to describe a strong league.

I think the Third Division will be more competitive this season and harder to get promoted--to me that not a weaker league this season.

[SBRed48]

Bumping this back up past the FootyMad "stuff".

[Young_Nudger]

More likely to be something like this now ….

------------- Roberts -------------

….. Williams - Lopata - Kitching --

…. O'Keeffe --Russell ---Styles----- Cadden

…….. Cole ------ Watters ----- Dallas