Match Day Vale v Millwall

[leedsvaliant]

After another poor away display, it's back to fortress Vale Park, trying to win our 6th game on the bounce there and maintain our 100% start at home. We are reliant on our home form as we are quite frankly useless away from home.

Last season, Millwall played us off the park at Vale Park and were the best team to come to us. I'm therefore surprised that they have started fairly inconsistently as I thought they would be right up there. That being said, it's early days and I believe they've had a couple of key players out injured - you can still see them aiming towards the top of the table come the end of the season.

Play like we did against Scunthorpe and Gillingham and I'm confident we will win, but there are a few things that bother me:

1) The laws of football state that we're unlikely to continue a 100% record at home
2) Millwall have had a couple of poor results recently and so will want to turn that around
3) The less points we gain away from home, the more pressure it puts on our home games

We need to be at it from the start, as we always start slowly and give the other team a bit of confidence. We need to play with tempo otherwise we look ordinary. I'd swap Cecilia or Forrester (if he is back from injury) in place of Patterson and possibly drop Tavares (who has been poor for a few games) in favour of Amoros.

Sadly, I can only see a 0-2 defeat here, Millwall will be bang up for it and will want to quickly reverse their poor form.

 

[ColB]

Expect our lot to be right back at it tomorrow after a terrible 2nd half performance against Bristol Rovers in which we handed the game to them. I don't believe they are a better side than us for a moment. Millwall were excellent at our place last season, possibly the best opponent we faced, but haven't started this season too well.

I'd also bench Tavares to give him a bit of a break but don't see it happening. Would love Forrester to be back but after his goal at the weekend Patersen will keep his place in the starting 11. Let's continue winning our home games and hopefully things will fall into place away from home, even if it's much more by luck than judgement.

 

[valefan16]

Toughy "Wall" were the only side victorious at VP pre-mid March last season so want to avoid a repeat!

4 points from the 2 home games would be decent.

1-1 Draw though for us with Pato scoring again.

 

[darren gregory]

Couldn,t of asked foe a worse fixture IMO. Millwall have lost the last 2 very surprisingly to Sarfend and at home to Rochdale, so i expect they will have had the proverbial rocket up the backside.
That said we should also of had that after the feeble display on Saturday, highlight of the game was guttering being knocked down and Byron Moore using a portaloo so pretty much summed up my wasted journey.
The conundrum which is Port Vale home and away needs to be sorted, our next 3 aways are Mk , Sheff Utd and Bolton,, anyone see us getting more than a point from those 3 games ? i sure don,t . This puts added pressure on the home form much like last season, anything less than 4 points from Millwall and Coventry this week is not really good enough.
Despite his goal Paterson offers absolutely nowt to the cause and i'd give Cilla a full game just for physical presence in the box.
Take a point now and ' we go again ' on saturday.

 

[ColB]

Couldn,t of asked foe a worse fixture IMO. Millwall have lost the last 2 very surprisingly to Sarfend and at home to Rochdale, so i expect they will have had the proverbial rocket up the backside.
That said we should also of had that after the feeble display on Saturday, highlight of the game was guttering being knocked down and Byron Moore using a portaloo so pretty much summed up my wasted journey.
The conundrum which is Port Vale home and away needs to be sorted, our next 3 aways are Mk , Sheff Utd and Bolton,, anyone see us getting more than a point from those 3 games ? i sure don,t . This puts added pressure on the home form much like last season, anything less than 4 points from Millwall and Coventry this week is not really good enough.
Despite his goal Paterson offers absolutely nowt to the cause and i'd give Cilla a full game just for physical presence in the box.
Take a point now and ' we go again ' on saturday.

The pressure is somewhat off us in those three away games, so I would expect us to get at least one surprise result from the three. Many people unrealistically expected us to just turn up and roll Bristol Rovers over.

 

[valefan16]

Couldn,t of asked foe a worse fixture IMO. Millwall have lost the last 2 very surprisingly to Sarfend and at home to Rochdale, so i expect they will have had the proverbial rocket up the backside.
That said we should also of had that after the feeble display on Saturday, highlight of the game was guttering being knocked down and Byron Moore using a portaloo so pretty much summed up my wasted journey.
The conundrum which is Port Vale home and away needs to be sorted, our next 3 aways are Mk , Sheff Utd and Bolton,, anyone see us getting more than a point from those 3 games ? i sure don,t . This puts added pressure on the home form much like last season, anything less than 4 points from Millwall and Coventry this week is not really good enough.
Despite his goal Paterson offers absolutely nowt to the cause and i'd give Cilla a full game just for physical presence in the box.
Take a point now and ' we go again ' on saturday.

Does Regino actually have a physical presence? He is 200 foot tall yes but looks like a twig!

 

[ColB]

Does Regino actually have a physical presence? He is 200 foot tall yes but looks like a twig!

He's a bit like Crouch. Fine technically, but a defender could fart within his vicinity and knock him over.

 

[darren gregory]

i know what you mean, he doesn,t use it to the effect he ought to. Maybe i should of phrased it nuisance value presence.
He had a wriggling run on Sat which could of dropped easily for an open goal for someone and i am far from saying he changed the game versus Gills but we were 1-0 down when he came on.
Just feel he offers more than Paterson, he has no pace, physical or Height to offer, clearly the fact he scored keeps his place tomorrow, the winger from Swiss / Albania / Kosovo ,, take your pick ,looks cream crackered after about 10 minutes on the pitch and needs to get fit.
I don't see Mbamba or Kelly featuring whatsoever now this season.

 

[valefan16]

Mbamba actually looked ok on the occasion I saw him (Rochdale maybe?) but Kelly seems done for. Shame because on his day hes actually a capable player!

 

[Etienne Vermeer]

Not the same team as last year. 2-1 Vale.

 

[valefan16]

Foley back! Great news! Thomas out! Not so great!

 

[valefan16]

Not the same team as last year. 2-1 Vale.

Still more than enough quality for this level, you were pants form before playing us here last year!

 

[Etienne Vermeer]

Quality is there but is being misused. Pound for pound this team is simply not pulling its weight.

 

[valefan16]

Great start and relatively comfortable bar one great stop. My worry is the referee! Cards like confetti and can see someone getting sent off in the game.

Millwall being less than pretty! Stoping play when about to cross into the box for their injury and they boot the ball down to our corner flag for a throw rather than back to keeper.

Better side but need to stamp more attacking prowess!

 

[Etienne Vermeer]

Utter shite again. Usually we can at least score but... not good enough. Harris has to change how he sets the side out or stand aside.

 

[valefan16]

The home run powers on! Made harder work of that than needed when Reggie slotted wide for 4-0 but sort away and we will challenge

 

[markpvfc]

Great win and performance today, we really seem to have unearthed a gem in Jones. Good to see our centerbacks having a goalscoring competition between them, is that 3 each now?

 

[ColB]

Sam Hart was fire. I was worried with Thomas being out of the side but the young lad put in a great display. Millwall clearly have some good players, and they're front two are amongst the best in the division for me, but we were well worth the win and probably should have had a couple more to show for it.

Really pleased for Patersen, who I've been giving a bit of stick to. 2 from 2, you can't argue with that, and he does work his sack off. Fair play to the lad, hope he continues to make me look a right c***.

We're an absolute force at Vale Park and it's just a shame that we still have a lot of fat-arsed, toss-pot fans that stay away for ridiculous reasons.

 

[valefan16]

Great win and performance today, we really seem to have unearthed a gem in Jones. Good to see our centerbacks having a goalscoring competition between them, is that 3 each now?

Four for Smith, Three for Remie... more in ten games than our defence have scored in probably three years combined?

Great result and performance, Smith superb and enjoyed battling Morrison, Streete has been immense... where was this Remie last year!

Hart looked classy on his debut and his delivery was impressive... not a bad league debut!

Millwall were polar opposite to last season... hoofball that became so predictable and could not understand why the same manager with a similar set of players produced that after what we saw a year ago. The big blonde centre half was a right muppet! Got booked for kicking the ball away when losing, elbowed Pato... then when Pato dished a little back went down like he'd been clubbed second half trying to get him sent off... luckily the referee saw through it.

Paterson played well and deserves some credit... Cicilia needs a goal (should of had one) and Jones will be gone in January.

Onwards and upwards... if we could just sort the away form!

 

[IanPVFC]

We actually came out the blocks with intent and for the first few minutes Millwall were shellshocked. Good to see having not got going until later in the game most home games.

Great performance all round, pleased with the way we contained Millwall in the second half and had the capability to hit them with a sucker punch. From there it was only ever going one way.

 

[MJA]

Really good to see us make a positive start considering most of our home performances have happened in the 2nd half. Having good form at home can be the hallmark for a successful season and we have certainly started our home form in some style.

 

[valefan16]

Some of the football was superb that we played and Millwall couldn't deal with it at times, what I noticed was how much quicker we moved the ball around and when we do that we are so much better. Does make me nervous when we were pinging balls across our own area with Morrison and Gregory chasing but we seem capable of doing it so!

9 points from Scunny, Gills and Millwall at home 3 games which looked incredibly tough. We now have a game we will be expected to win on Saturday so the big test will be how do we perform with the expectation of winning.

 

[Buxton Vale]

Another good result at home that underlines our poor away form.

 

[valefan16]

Another good result at home that underlines our poor away form.

Its so frustrating to be honest! If we even an average away record so far we'd be top!

 

[MJA]

Another good result at home that underlines our poor away form.

Its so frustrating to be honest! If we even an average away record so far we'd be top!

What is the reasoning for the differing form and performances between our home and away matches?
Is it that Bruno is trying to play the same style/personnel away because it works at home?

 

[IanPVFC]

I think the legend Van Der Laan possibly summed it up well last night. At Vale Park teams allow us to play it out from the back as they are afraid to commit midfielders too far forward to close us down. However when we're the away side, teams press higher up the pitch.

 

[ColB]

When we have time and space on the ball we're as good as anyone in the league. When away from home, the home team generally plays with a bit more of a tempo and that includes closing down. Bury and Bristol Rovers (in the 2nd half) pressured us well and our passing game went to pot. Away from Vale Park we might be better off going a bit more direct, perhaps having Jones playing of Cicilia, who although not the best in the air or physically the strongest he has a decent touch and occupies defenders. Patersen has got 2 in 2 which you can't argue with but he's not a presence and wouldn't suit a more direct approach. We could go in looking something like this -

Alnwick

Purkiss
Streete
Smith
Knops

Thomas
Grant
Amoros
Foley

Cicilia
Jones

With that side you could easily play Thomas, an intelligent player, centrally as an attacking midfielder and put Jones where he's been playing out wide, to give us an extra body in midfield if neccessary., I think Amoros quite clearly has more legs than Tavares and generally moves the ball quicker too which helps when away from home.

 

[MJA]

Obviously I can only go off what I read on here and OVF (when I dare to venture on there) but from what I can gather do we not have the sort of players that could allow us to hit teams in a similar manner to Leicester last season (let the opposition have the bulk of possession but hit them quickly on the break) when we are away from home?

 

[darren gregory]

Thoroughly enjoyable game almost ruined by one of the most inept idiots to grace Vale Park , 8 yellows in the game, i would say of the 8 only Grant was a definite Yellow, the rest were pathetic, it was all about ' look at me ' by the ref.
As for the game a very good performance and i know Millwall in midst of a bad run but i,d be amazed if they not top 6 at end of season, our bizarre season continues, as bad as we were at Bristol we were equally as good last night.
Attendance was shocking, maybe touch 5500 against Coventry if they bring 700. A lot of people will expect a win as they are bottom but it will be far from an easy game.
When you think Gregory and Morison are as good a pair in this League our 21 and 20 year old centre back machines coped admirably at both ends of the pitch.
Loving the positivity of our manager instead of the boring Page dirge, why not aim high, if Burton can do it why not us.
Roll on Saturday now and i know it is early days for League tables but we are 10 games in and have played 6 of the top 10 including the top 3 sides, nothing to fear , as per last year it is there for someone unexpected to pop up, let's hope it is us.

 

[Topher]

We had 4 or 5 good moves but overall I thought we weren't good. Very slow in moving the ball forwards at times, especially Tavares. No one was really running at their defence when we had the chance to counter. Millwall had at least 3 really good chances but we probably deserved the win. It was my first home game but the people I was watching with said this wasn't the team they've seen tear it up so far at VP, which is a relief tbh.

Feels like Jak is trying to make a good pass instead of a traditional gk's clearance a bit too often and in kinda dangerous situations, he'll come unstuck soon if he keeps it up.