CITY V VALE

[finley]

I'm going for 0-2 Vale,just don't think we're quite ready to start the season yet.

 

[MJA]

Not many outsiders will go along with your view finley as we seem to be hot favourites for relegation amongst fellow 1FFers.

It will be difficult for Vale fans to predict anything in the early stages of the season until we get to see a lot of these players in competitive English football. Seems as though we have shown good things during pre-season but have struggled in the final third, although Cicilia's brace yesterday as given us a bit of hope.

As Bradford won't know anything about what Bruno is planning for this one Bradford's preparation will be difficult and I think that will do us a favour and allow us to get up and running with a draw in this one.

 

[finley]

I think we're sill 4 players short,hopefully we'll sign a couple before satdy

 

[MJA]

Users Viewing Thread (Users: 4, Guests: 6)

1. MJA,
2. LS Bantam,
3. Agombar stool, - now there is a surprise
4. markpvfc

 

[MJA]

I think we're sill 4 players short,hopefully we'll sign a couple before satdy

Not really seen much of you ins and outs this summer. What business have Bradford done?

 

[valefan16]

Hard to say... We should have a solid spine but have no idea what to expect from us.

Should be in control of possession based on pre season but have played Championship opposition so will Bradford be able to handle our strikers as well?

On the plus side we've not lost on opening day in 12 years and in the main have a decent recent past against Bradford so I will go with a solid 1-1 draw. Cicilla for us.

 

[LS Bantam]

Happy to be playing Vale and their Euro randoms early on. Can't say I'm shocked to see so many tip them to struggle, throwing the dice on anyone named Juan and being happy to go down just so you can look exotic rather than progressing with steady away L1 pro's isn't something I'd like to see us doing.
For the game itself, I think we'll win, 2-1, we've struggled to score a bit preseason and we're still short on numbers but we have a decent starting 11 and they'll be a good crowd in although annoyingly I'm having to miss this one

 

[MJA]

Happy to be playing Vale and their Euro randoms early on. Can't say I'm shocked to see so many tip them to struggle, throwing the dice on anyone named Juan and being happy to go down just so you can look exotic rather than progressing with steady away L1 pro's isn't something I'd like to see us doing.

Your budget might allow you to progress with 'steady away L1 pro's' but ours doesn't. Ours allows us to take on L1 pro's that the bigger L1 clubs don't want or L2 pro's that no-one else in L1 wants or even worse the opportunity to take on some non-league players in the hope that we find the next Jamie Vardy. All in all the best this approach is ever going to do for a club with 5000 average attendances is to keep us in mid-table with our seasons practically ending in February and playing out nothing games at the end of the season.

It is not about 'looking exotic', it is about actually changing our approach to see if doing something different works for us. You could liken it to Bradford playing a standard 4-4-2 formation and drawing 10 straight games 0-0 and then changing that to a 4-3-3 or 4-2-4 to try and change the outcomes to something more positive and exciting

 

[FiRTHYY]

Not really seen much of you ins and outs this summer. What business have Bradford done?

Signed a keeper who played for Bayern Munich three years ago. Signed a first choice keeper for £1. Signed Shrewsbury's key defender from last season. Signed Coventry's best midfielder (defensive) for £80k. Signed McCall's bumboy on a free from Rangers. Signed a very promising French, defensive, midfielder from Oldham. Signed a young striker with a plausible record when recently plying trade with Walsall and Wigan last season.

Very much a mass overhaul. We've lost absolute quality players in Cullen, Burke and Evans.

Our squad is nowhere finished, currently. We have a very compeitive starting XI, but zero strength in depth.

Looks like the diamond will be McCalls starting XI!

We're also missing Darby and McArdle in defence for at least the first month.

We're rumoured to be signing Matt Kilgallon, which would be a decent addition IMO.

Our starting XI against Vale will arguably be our weekest of the season, given these 'marquee' players are due to be signing at the back end of Aug - that coinciding with our injuries, it's looking like a bleak start.

Starting XI against Vale:

GK: Colin Doyle

RB: Tony McMahon
CB: Nathan Clarke/Matt Kilgallon
CB: Nat Knight-Percival
LB: James Meredith

DCM: Romain Vincelot/Timothee Dieng

LCM: Nicky Law/Paul Anderson
RCM: Felipe Morais/Mark Marshall

CAM: Billy Clarke

ST: James Hanson
ST: Jordy Hiwula

1-1 - Hanson

18,450 (973 Vale).

 

[valefan16]

As I've said in the transfer thread we actually have a solid spine of British players and arguably our best four players last year will start along with (if fit) Jerome Thomas (English ex Prem winger) Hooper (English) and possibly our big youth hope for the coming season Nathan Smith (English).

So will possibly only start with about three or four foreign players anyway.

I'd go with

Alnwick

Purkiss
Mac-Intosch
Smith
Klopps

Thomas
Grant
Tavares
Foley

De Freitas

Cicilla

Play Cicilla up top for his height against Bradford as usually very physical and being a monster should ask questions of their defence at least.

 

[JoeJoeJoeJoe]

Signed a keeper who played for Bayern Munich three years ago. Signed a first choice keeper for £1. Signed Shrewsbury's key defender from last season. Signed Coventry's best midfielder (defensive) for £80k. Signed McCall's bumboy on a free from Rangers. Signed a very promising French, defensive, midfielder from Oldham. Signed a young striker with a plausible record when recently plying trade with Walsall and Wigan last season.

Very much a mass overhaul. We've lost absolute quality players in Cullen, Burke and Evans.

Our squad is nowhere finished, currently. We have a very compeitive starting XI, but zero strength in depth.

Looks like the diamond will be McCalls starting XI!

We're also missing Darby and McArdle in defence for at least the first month.

We're rumoured to be signing Matt Kilgallon, which would be a decent addition IMO.

Our starting XI against Vale will arguably be our weekest of the season, given these 'marquee' players are due to be signing at the back end of Aug - that coinciding with our injuries, it's looking like a bleak start.

Starting XI against Vale:

GK: Colin Doyle

RB: Tony McMahon
CB: Nathan Clarke/Matt Kilgallon
CB: Nat Knight-Percival
LB: James Meredith

DCM: Romain Vincelot/Timothee Dieng

LCM: Nicky Law/Paul Anderson
RCM: Felipe Morais/Mark Marshall

CAM: Billy Clarke

ST: James Hanson
ST: Jordy Hiwula

1-1 - Hanson

18,450 (973 Vale).

 

[Mighty_Bantam]

Agree with OP. Don't think City are quite ready to start the season yet.

Still need a few additions but they're not going to be fit until half way through August at this point now.

 

[Topher]

feels like a 1-1 that leaves no one any the wiser

 

[IanPVFC]

Not seen any friendlies but hopefully heading up to this one. I have no idea what to expect to be honest, so bracing myself for the worst and anything else will be a positive!

 

[Steven Simcock]

From what i've seen in preseason i'm not feeling optimistic about winning Bradford or surviving the season. Too many foreign players from lower league clubs with no experience in english football.

1-0 Bradford

 

[Freakyteeth]

Racist

 

[Buxton Vale]

Hard to predict this one. I'm not sure any Vale fan knows what to expect at this stage, so I'll be happy with a point

1-1 Smith

 

[Shrimpurh]

2-0

 

[valefan16]

First batch of 660 tickets sold apparently so might be a decent following there for once.

 

[Spike]

Talk about a baptism of fire for the 'euro randoms'.

 

[valefan16]

Talk about a baptism of fire for the 'euro randoms'.

Im sure playing away at Porto/Benfica/Ajax will help them cope with Valley Parade.

 

[Spike]

Im sure playing away at Porto/Benfica/Ajax will help them cope with Valley Parade.

Yer, that worked really well for Arsenal. Not that vales players are of that standard.

 

[valefan16]

Yer, that worked really well for Arsenal. Not that vales players are of that standard.

I doubt Arsenal were intimidated considering where they've played in the past more expected to turn up and win.

 

[Cas]

3-1 Bradford.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Happy to be playing Vale and their Euro randoms early on. Can't say I'm shocked to see so many tip them to struggle, throwing the dice on anyone named Juan and being happy to go down just so you can look exotic rather than progressing with steady away L1 pro's isn't something I'd like to see us doing.
For the game itself, I think we'll win, 2-1, we've struggled to score a bit preseason and we're still short on numbers but we have a decent starting 11 and they'll be a good crowd in although annoyingly I'm having to miss this one

This guy's clearly done some research.
We've tried signing steady league one players before or retaining their services and it ends in us meandering for 3 months at the end of the season with nothing to play for. you seem to forget that Bradford have a big budget and can afford to buy this league's better players. Some of our foreign signings will work and some won't, just like some of your signings will work and some will flop. In the grand scheme of things we'll probably have 3 or 4 foreigners starting, with the rest of the team being made up of the better players from last season, so not a massive overhaul. do some research before posting drivel

 

[leedsvaliant]

Talk about a baptism of fire for the 'euro randoms'.

It's Valley parade, not the bernabeu.

 

[LS Bantam]

This guy's clearly done some research.
We've tried signing steady league one players before or retaining their services and it ends in us meandering for 3 months at the end of the season with nothing to play for. you seem to forget that Bradford have a big budget and can afford to buy this league's better players. Some of our foreign signings will work and some won't, just like some of your signings will work and some will flop. In the grand scheme of things we'll probably have 3 or 4 foreigners starting, with the rest of the team being made up of the better players from last season, so not a massive overhaul. do some research before posting drivel

13 new signings? How many of which are young foreigners who never knew Port Vale even existed until a few weeks ago? I get the idea of it, I can't say I buy the poor little penniless act though - Vale are solid midtable L1 side who'll fluctuate a few positions either side year on year like a dozen other teams in this league, there'll always be teams who spend bigger but likewise Vale will spend more than others too. But when did lower league English third tier football become a breeding ground for developing unheard of foreign kids? Fair enough there's a first for everything and talk of an English core is a must but with so few examples of this working I don't see the odds being in favour of gaining success from it. From the outside there's a look of vanity project about it, getting excited because the new boss is mates with Jose, pinning hopes on ex-Monaco kids or whoever as if none of us have ever signed dross previously of a big named team when they were younger. We'll see.

 

[FiRTHYY]

I have a feeling we'll see Mezza sit this one out - he's barely played this pre-season.

NKP at LB and Kilgallon to partner Nathan Clarke, perhaps?

No idea what team he'll field, or formation for that matter.

 

[loz]

I have a feeling we'll see Mezza sit this one out - he's barely played this pre-season.

NKP at LB and Kilgallon to partner Nathan Clarke, perhaps?

No idea what team he'll field, or formation for that matter.

Think Mezza will play and Kilgallon to sit this one out. Can someone tell me when City last won the first game of the season? I remember us not being able to win a home game against Macclesfield. As for Vale, I'm sure they will finish either 1st or 24th (or perhaps somewhere in between).

 

[LS Bantam]

There's a fair number of first choice pics with little preseason, still I think he'll go with -

...................Doyle.................
McMahon NKP Kilgallon Meredith
Morias Law Dieng Anderson
...........Hiwula Hanson..........