Skip to content

The Opposition View - Port Vale

24

Comments

  • Paris did not leave the bench when he made his 3rd sub, he went to the toilet I presume and returned shortly afterwards as I was thinking the same or maybe he did sulk and changed his mind ...... I can sort of understand it but I prefer CMS to PCH anyway of the week. I don't think Adam El Abd would be a problem in league 1 but would need pace alongside him for sure.

  • I’m not saying that Bayo should never be substituted-no player is above that-but I’ll wager that if GA were to take him off and we didn’t go on to win, the cry would soon go up: ‘why did he take our leading scorer off?’ No doubt followed by ‘He’s (GA) clueless’ or that other old chestnut: ‘He’s tactically naive’.
    As I said earlier, I’m happy to trust the manager’s judgement. He knows a lot more about the game and in particular his own players than any of us.

  • I'd go as far as saying if we had Pierre back instead of El Abd, we'd be leading the table.

    He was an absolute colossus, and far superior in the air and pace wise. El Abd has more ball playing, but that's not my first want in a league 2 centre back personally.

  • Certainly if we had Pierre and Stewart fit and playing together all season we'd be doing even better than we are now.

  • It shows how ridiculously good our attack is when we've had quite a lot of defensive issues, be it injuries, spells of dodgy keeping, and nursing El Abd in for a couple of months, and are still 3rd!

  • I totally disagree, Pierre with Scarr or McGinley would have been a disaster. Pierre and Stewart all season and maybe we would be slightly better off points wise yes but I prefer somebody who can pass the ball and Pierre will be in league 2 next season by looks of it.

  • @Malone said:
    I'd go as far as saying if we had Pierre back instead of El Abd, we'd be leading the table.

    He was an absolute colossus, and far superior in the air and pace wise. El Abd has more ball playing, but that's not my first want in a league 2 centre back personally.

    I disagree on three points. Firstly Pierre has been injured for a large part of this season so without El Abd our central defenders would have been a selection of Jombati, Scarr, WDH and McKinley.

    Secondly, we would not be playing the ball out from the back as we are now. His hoofing style would not suit our current strikers.

    Thirdly, when he was playing for Northampton earlier in the season they were letting in more goals than we do. After his injury their defensive form picked up.

    I am not saying Pierre isn't a quality defender at our level. However he had the benefit of having the likes of Mawson and Stewart alongside him which made him look a better player. Stewart is the bigger miss in terms of our current style of play.

  • Pierre has gone, we've had an exciting season and still in with a shout of automatic promotion. No doubt if Stewart had been fit we might have conceded fewer goals, but I've been reasonably happy with the team and the football this term. Everyone has played their part in different games, but it's great to have such a strong team spirit evident amongst the squad.

  • Stewart is a better player than Pierre thats why. I would have been more upset to see Antony leave than Aaron.

  • Clearly Pierre may not have got injured if he'd stayed. And clearly not every player fits every team, and Northampton are clearly a team in a right mess.

    It'd be like saying we wouldn't take Ingram back over Brown for similar reasons (I bet there are some fans who genuinely wouldn't)

    We're no ball players from the back. We still knock it long at almost every opportunity, to Bayo, so i'd refute that long ball wouldn't suit him.

    The benefit of Pierre's brute strength could certainly be used when the ball is being crossed in. El Abd is solid, but lacks that height. He's improved, as early season it seemed like we'd brought a wrestler in.

    Stewart back will be very welcome, but I'd always argue Pierre is the better player. But I have seem a bit of a counter argument. I suspect it is partially formed by Pierre leaving, and also the incident before leaving. Who can forget when the drone army wanted WDH to play in stead of him! I think a 4-1 obliteration at Luton stopped that mad call!

  • Totally agree @mooneyman.

  • its nothing to do with his smacking that twat in tesco, shame he didn't do it harder. its purely football and stewart is the better player.

  • I'd have both Pierre and Ingram back (though I fear the former would not be interested for reasons above and the latter might see it as a retrograde step).

  • Adam El-Abd has excellent positional sense borne of years of experience, organises his defence very well, can pick a pass and for someone slightly below 6’ he wins plenty of headers. He and Anthony Stewart had become a really good central defensive pair and if Stewart hadn’t been out for more than three months I think it is reasonable to suppose that we might be half a dozen points better off than we are.
    That said and one characteristic error aside, Sido Jombati has been an able deputy and, as well as defending well, he brings his own brand of unpredictability to the party.

  • Pierre would be our best centre back.

  • No hesitation there @Chris.

  • no hesitation to talk shite as per @Chris !! Stewart is the best defender at the club now and since Mawson left, I would even put him above McCarthy for sheer defensive quality.

  • @rmjlondon said:
    no hesitation to talk shite as per Chris !! Stewart is the best defender at the club now and since Mawson left, I would even put him above McCarthy for sheer defensive quality.

    I feel very strange tonight, having to admit (probably for the first time) that I agree with a Richie post!

  • Stewart is our best centre back.

  • I think it’s a futile argument as they are different types of player. Pierre is strong and quick, Stewart has a better technique and is calmer on the ball. As a duo they were superb, choosing one over the other would very much depend on who plays alongside them.

  • Stewart is probably quicker.

  • But to be fair I would have Stewart and Pierre why choose. It's all hypothetical anyway.

  • It's all about opinions.

    I'm fairly comfortable on disagreeing with Richie on most things. A chap who spends most of his time trolling, and pretending to be ITK, so is most hard to take seriously on occasions when he's trying to be serious.

  • go away malone u keep drowning on when my football knowledge is clearly far superior to most on here.

  • edited March 2018

    Finally time to utilise the "Ignore" button methinks.

  • Clearly.

  • To be fair your knowledge of referees is far superior to most.

  • I want to know just how long @Malone can keep drowning on. How long can you hold your breath, old chap?

  • droaning

  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
Sign In or Register to comment.