Exeter and Port Vale

They are both better than us, they've got more points. The league table isn't an opinion it's black and white facts. Ten games in it really comes into its own as a judge of how good teams are and every team that has more points than us is better than us.
 
Spoke to Friend who is a Port Vale fan today. He reckoned that they deserved to win most of their games albeit by the odd goal, which it seems is what they’ve done.
 
I think generally the teams are gelled and a pulling in the same direction for each other. There are 'larger' clubs in the league who have a better standard of player, but lack chemistry. I guess we'll see how it scales of 46 games - do they have the depth when suspensions and injuries occur?

We've got Exeter this weekend, so intrigued to see what their standard is actually like, especially post Nombe...
 
neyo said:
I think generally the teams are gelled and a pulling in the same direction for each other. There are 'larger' clubs in the league who have a better standard of player, but lack chemistry. I guess we'll see how it scales of 46 games - do they have the depth when suspensions and injuries occur?

We've got Exeter this weekend, so intrigued to see what their standard is actually like, especially post Nombe...
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We have the players, who have the chemistry. Unfortunately we also have a manager, who I didn’t want, who thinks he knows it all and is so stubbornly stupid he will stick by his ridiculous selections even though we and probably he, know it isn’t, and won’t, work.
 
Albert Ross said:
We have the players, who have the chemistry. Unfortunately we also have a manager, who I didn’t want, who thinks he knows it all and is so stubbornly stupid he will stick by his ridiculous selections even though we and probably he, know it isn’t, and won’t, work.
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Genuinely though, what's different between Critchley now to a couple of years ago? Why is it so few of you have faith when he took you up not too long ago?
 
neyo said:
Genuinely though, what's different between Critchley now to a couple of years ago? Why is it so few of you have faith when he took you up not too long ago?
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He got away with tinkering last time because he had a spine of better player. Bowler, Madine, Stewart, who was fit, Yates etc. the players we now have,whilst league one are not as good, nor adaptable. Yet he cotinues to play them in unfamiliar roles when it is patently obvious they are not able to fulfill them. Then as I said he continues to try and make them do things they are not capable of doing. Madness. Because of the way he left last time, he is not being given, by the fans, the leeway he was given last time. It was pretty obvious if he didn't hit the ground running, this would happen.
 
@neyo

Yep the gripe now is the system not seeming to fit the players, only 4 goals scored and a lack of creativity.

Some players played in positions they aren't best suited to, mainly the wing backs.

The system can be effective if you have the players, maybe we do but whatever we're doing it's just not working.

When teams sit back rather than come at us we've struggled to break them down.

It's just been very poor and one reason I didn't want him back was the fact that some would be on him quicker if things didn't go as well, because he left for a number 2 role without even a message to fans after just signing a new long term deal.

I still like him personally, I think he can do it, but often tries to be a bit too clever.

Some people remember his terrible start last time, when he tried to implement a passing style, we were near the bottom.

It turned when we got Colin Calderwood in and we went 442 and went on a mad run and were pretty much the best side in the league from there on. His spells at Villa and QPR haven't exactly gone well for him either.

It's one thing losing games if you can see the performances and style coming together. We've looked toothless in many games and so far it hasn't really improved at all.

One of the benefits of going back is surely to hit the ground running with a manager who knows most the players and their strengths and weaknesses.

We've started pretty poorly and if you play people who aren't wing backs as wing backs, inverted wingers etc and it doesn't work, people will rightly question that.

People love exciting attacking football here ever since Ian Holloway. It's what we get promised but rarely delivered under Sadler, with his manager choices.

After a terrible season, the board eventually gave it to Stephen Dobbie, who many fans love, ex player. We actually looked a better side under him, played the right way. Many wanted him in at the end of last season, if we had got him in sooner we might have stayed up.

Of course, he wasn't selected and we went back to an old manager, again. Mr Dobbie went back to the kids development team...

Anyway, he's got enough quality, if used right, to be doing far better than he's doing.
 
I doubt Exeter and Port Vale will be top 2 at Christmas, let alone at the end of the season but I feel the main difference between them and us is momentum and fanbase psychology.

Both clubs are at a high point in their recent history with a lot of momentum and good feeling between the fans and the club hierarchy, players often play with more confidence and freedom in that environment.

Compare that with us dropping rapidly in both league placement and atmosphere in the last 18 months, there's definitely not a gulf in quality/budget between us but there's definitely a gulf in mentality.
 
I thought the Vale number 10 was excellent against us and the centre midfielder Ojo was decent as well
 
TonyParrsDodgyMic said:
This is a thread which didn't last very long .. Vale losing 3-2 .. Exeter losing 9-0 .. it's that sort of league.
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Exeter made 9 changes from Saturday though, so I don't think that's a fair reflection. Port Vale game sounds like it could of gone either way
 
It’s a long season, every team have to play each other home and away. When that’s happened we’ll see where Exeter & Port Vale are. I bet much lower down the league than they are now and I would hope below us.
Hope this doesn’t come back to bite me in the arse😚
 
gjr said:
They are both better than us, they've got more points. The league table isn't an opinion it's black and white facts. Ten games in it really comes into its own as a judge of how good teams are and every team that has more points than us is better than us.
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But the season isn't over after 10 games. Let's see if they're the top two after 46 games.

Plus Stevenage are nowhere near us in standard.
 
Wizaard said:
But the season isn't over after 10 games. Let's see if they're the top two after 46 games.

Plus Stevenage are nowhere near us in standard.
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I agree that the only table that really matters is the final one, but up to now anybody that is above us has been better at getting points than us, which is what it's about.
We were much better than Stevenage and in 10 games from now I'm fairly confident we will be above them.
As we know early league tables can be deceptive, a lot depends on who you've played, look at Preston!!
 
gjr said:
I agree that the only table that really matters is the final one, but up to now anybody that is above us has been better at getting points than us, which is what it's about.
We were much better than Stevenage and in 10 games from now I'm fairly confident we will be above them.
As we know early league tables can be deceptive, a lot depends on who you've played, look at Preston!!
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Good call on the fixtures. Preston played three teams of a slightly better standard in a week and lost them all. Our upcoming games against Oxford and Posh will give a good indication of where we are. 4 or 6 points from them and we'll be pushing the top two.
 
Wizaard said:
Good call on the fixtures. Preston played three teams of a slightly better standard in a week and lost them all. Our upcoming games against Oxford and Posh will give a good indication of where we are. 4 or 6 points from them and we'll be pushing the top two.
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I'd be happy with 2 points from those two games, anymore than that would be very positive and have me thinking top 2 is possible. As things stand I see us as a play off contender but that might change, hopefully in an upward direction!
 
gjr said:
I'd be happy with 2 points from those two games, anymore than that would be very positive and have me thinking top 2 is possible. As things stand I see us as a play off contender but that might change, hopefully in an upward direction!
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We always beat Peterborough at home 😉

Never seen us win at the Kassam, but the covid year saw us do it twice with none of us there. Hope that form continues.
 
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Wizaard said:
We always beat Peterborough at home 😉

Never seen us win at the Kassam, but the covid year saw us do it twice with none of us there. Hope that form continues.
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I just can't bring myself to write things like your first sentence, superstitious nonsense but I just can't!
 
Now we are in 7th, the only 2 teams we've played that are still above us in the league, we've beaten both. Bodes well. We used to beat the top teams last time we were in this league under Critch.
 
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