The_Green_Man
Slave to the NHS.
Much to our frustration we found ourselves with a forced international break at the weekend. As far as timing is concerned it came at a pretty shitty time for us after a decent run for us came to an abrupt end with a scrappy loss in the "piss pot micky mouse" cup against Walsall...In an ideal world it would have been useful to throw the first teamers back into the squad and to have gone back out four days later to turn it around!...
Instead we find ourselves with 10 or more days to stew before coming up against Port Vale and I can't say for certain how the players will be feeling however I can relate to how I felt many moons ago back in my footballing days.....Had we played poorly one particular game, I wanted the next game to come around thick and fast to put it right.....I would check the weather on a Thursday and if it was going to be a cold or unsettled few days then I knew the game would be called off due to a frozen or waterlogged pitch and it would frustrate the hell out of me.....Completely different I know however regardless of the level I am sure you can draw some sort of comparisons.
As for the opposition on Saturday, well they are in a similar situation to us all-be-it for different reasons....They are well and truly chomping at the bit to get back out on the pitch after a decent win at MK Dons yesterday. Vales form has been some what patchy however after going into yesterdays game as underdogs and coming away from the dodgy hockey stadium with 3 points....they feel like they have turned a corner and want to come to BDTBL and build on that win asap.
I will be interested to see "Roy's View from".......As I have been looking at a couple of media pieces from Vales local rag The Sentinel and the general view of fans on there is "bring on the blades".....They fancy their chances despite MK Dons manager Karl Robinson claiming that his side were the better team and that Vale didn't deserve anything from the game!
Vale's Squad...........
A unknown quantity to us to say the least!
When we play Port Vale on Saturday, we will come up against a completely different team to the one that we beat 1-0 at The Lane in February, in fact we will be lucky if we see 1 or 2 of those players based on the squad that Vale put out at MK Dons yesterday.
The arrival of former Blades midfielder Bruno Ribeiro as manager has brought with it a summer of recruitment that you wouldn't usually associate with League One.....Ribeiro has used his contacts and former scouting networks from his native Portugal to bring in players from all over the continent. A total of 12 players arrived in the summer from Portugal, Holland, France, Cyprus and Norway.....All of which were Free transfers.
He went on to compliment the arrival of European talent with a couple of experienced football league veterans in Jerome Thomas and Martin Paterson.
You could liken what Ribeiro has been doing with what Wilder has done upon arriving at BDTBL.....He walked into the club and had a wholesale clear out of dead wood and Journeymen. He then went on to build a team from scratch in his own mould.
Whilst the connection might be a pretty weak one, never the less I think we do have to note Vale's joint Captain Ben Purkiss.......To former Blades academy graduate is one of the few survivors at Port Vale after the massive clear out. Upon being released by The Blades it is said that Purkiss considered giving up football all together however he has made his way up from non league football, stopping off at every league along the way and he is now finishing out his career in League One.....Fair play to the bloke!
Vale's Form...........
Saturday's opponents are currently 4th in the league, mainly due to their very decent home form so far this season. The currently sit on 20 points and 18 of these has come at home having impressively won 6 out of 7 games at Vale park, including a notable 3-1 win against league leaders Scunthorpe.
Prior to picking up their first travelling win against MK Dons on Sunday, Vales away form has been quite the opposite to that at Vale Park having drawn 2 and lost 2 before the win.
Bizarrely prior to Sunday's win at MK Dons....Vale had the best home form in the league however they had the worse away form in the league! Crazy to say the least considering their current league position.
Last 5 games......
We meet Port Vale on the back of a morale boosting win at MK Dons, a game that as mentioned above finally broke an away duck.....That said we can still draw confidence from Vale's poor away record so far this season as well as take advantage of some pretty patchy recent form.
9/10/16 MK Dons 0 - 1 Port Vale
1/10/16 Port Vale 0 - 2 Coventry
27/9/16 Port Vale 3 - 1 Millwall
24/9/16 Bristol Rovers 2 - 1 Port Vale
17/9/16 Port Vale 2 - 1 Gillingham
Port Vale's cracking home form came to an end with a massive crash back down to earth, being beaten 0-2 at home against bottom of the league Coventry City last week. They also lost away to Bristol city which shows them to be very inconsistent and more than beatable.....especially on the road. Factor in one more game and Vale have won 3, lost 3.........
Key Man......
Alex Jones......The youngster on loan from Birmingham City has left Ribeiro purring on many occasion. The gaffer admittedly said that he didn't expected the lad to make such a fantastic impact at the club however at the present he sits on 7 goals which makes him the leagues 2nd top goalscorer....Jones has also been nominated for the League One player of the season for both August and September having banged in 6 goals in 8 games.
Betting..........
Blades 8/11 Draw 5/2 Port Vale 10/3
Considering out recent form and Vales away record, I don't suppose it is a surprise to see that we are favourites in the early betting for this one. That said all things considered, I would have thought the odds to be a little bit closer.....
Whilst I would expect us to win this one, stranger things happen in football and I don't suppose it is any surprise to see an early spread in the betting. A good few punters are taking advantage of odds of up to 4-1 on a Port Vale win as well as decent early odds of over 2/1 for a draw.
What do I fancy in the betting?.........Early doors but I think a bit of value can be found in a "Both teams to score and Blades to win" bet which pays up to 3/1. In combination with a couple of other bets of similar nature, this could be quite a lucrative bet.
Instead we find ourselves with 10 or more days to stew before coming up against Port Vale and I can't say for certain how the players will be feeling however I can relate to how I felt many moons ago back in my footballing days.....Had we played poorly one particular game, I wanted the next game to come around thick and fast to put it right.....I would check the weather on a Thursday and if it was going to be a cold or unsettled few days then I knew the game would be called off due to a frozen or waterlogged pitch and it would frustrate the hell out of me.....Completely different I know however regardless of the level I am sure you can draw some sort of comparisons.
As for the opposition on Saturday, well they are in a similar situation to us all-be-it for different reasons....They are well and truly chomping at the bit to get back out on the pitch after a decent win at MK Dons yesterday. Vales form has been some what patchy however after going into yesterdays game as underdogs and coming away from the dodgy hockey stadium with 3 points....they feel like they have turned a corner and want to come to BDTBL and build on that win asap.
I will be interested to see "Roy's View from".......As I have been looking at a couple of media pieces from Vales local rag The Sentinel and the general view of fans on there is "bring on the blades".....They fancy their chances despite MK Dons manager Karl Robinson claiming that his side were the better team and that Vale didn't deserve anything from the game!
Vale's Squad...........
A unknown quantity to us to say the least!
When we play Port Vale on Saturday, we will come up against a completely different team to the one that we beat 1-0 at The Lane in February, in fact we will be lucky if we see 1 or 2 of those players based on the squad that Vale put out at MK Dons yesterday.
The arrival of former Blades midfielder Bruno Ribeiro as manager has brought with it a summer of recruitment that you wouldn't usually associate with League One.....Ribeiro has used his contacts and former scouting networks from his native Portugal to bring in players from all over the continent. A total of 12 players arrived in the summer from Portugal, Holland, France, Cyprus and Norway.....All of which were Free transfers.
He went on to compliment the arrival of European talent with a couple of experienced football league veterans in Jerome Thomas and Martin Paterson.
You could liken what Ribeiro has been doing with what Wilder has done upon arriving at BDTBL.....He walked into the club and had a wholesale clear out of dead wood and Journeymen. He then went on to build a team from scratch in his own mould.
Whilst the connection might be a pretty weak one, never the less I think we do have to note Vale's joint Captain Ben Purkiss.......To former Blades academy graduate is one of the few survivors at Port Vale after the massive clear out. Upon being released by The Blades it is said that Purkiss considered giving up football all together however he has made his way up from non league football, stopping off at every league along the way and he is now finishing out his career in League One.....Fair play to the bloke!
Vale's Form...........
Saturday's opponents are currently 4th in the league, mainly due to their very decent home form so far this season. The currently sit on 20 points and 18 of these has come at home having impressively won 6 out of 7 games at Vale park, including a notable 3-1 win against league leaders Scunthorpe.
Prior to picking up their first travelling win against MK Dons on Sunday, Vales away form has been quite the opposite to that at Vale Park having drawn 2 and lost 2 before the win.
Bizarrely prior to Sunday's win at MK Dons....Vale had the best home form in the league however they had the worse away form in the league! Crazy to say the least considering their current league position.
Last 5 games......
We meet Port Vale on the back of a morale boosting win at MK Dons, a game that as mentioned above finally broke an away duck.....That said we can still draw confidence from Vale's poor away record so far this season as well as take advantage of some pretty patchy recent form.
9/10/16 MK Dons 0 - 1 Port Vale
1/10/16 Port Vale 0 - 2 Coventry
27/9/16 Port Vale 3 - 1 Millwall
24/9/16 Bristol Rovers 2 - 1 Port Vale
17/9/16 Port Vale 2 - 1 Gillingham
Port Vale's cracking home form came to an end with a massive crash back down to earth, being beaten 0-2 at home against bottom of the league Coventry City last week. They also lost away to Bristol city which shows them to be very inconsistent and more than beatable.....especially on the road. Factor in one more game and Vale have won 3, lost 3.........
Key Man......
Alex Jones......The youngster on loan from Birmingham City has left Ribeiro purring on many occasion. The gaffer admittedly said that he didn't expected the lad to make such a fantastic impact at the club however at the present he sits on 7 goals which makes him the leagues 2nd top goalscorer....Jones has also been nominated for the League One player of the season for both August and September having banged in 6 goals in 8 games.
Betting..........
Blades 8/11 Draw 5/2 Port Vale 10/3
Considering out recent form and Vales away record, I don't suppose it is a surprise to see that we are favourites in the early betting for this one. That said all things considered, I would have thought the odds to be a little bit closer.....
Whilst I would expect us to win this one, stranger things happen in football and I don't suppose it is any surprise to see an early spread in the betting. A good few punters are taking advantage of odds of up to 4-1 on a Port Vale win as well as decent early odds of over 2/1 for a draw.
What do I fancy in the betting?.........Early doors but I think a bit of value can be found in a "Both teams to score and Blades to win" bet which pays up to 3/1. In combination with a couple of other bets of similar nature, this could be quite a lucrative bet.
