Port Vale: Strongest Side Breeds Strongest Performance

Fans and management were in agreement at full time in Saturdays 2-0 victory over Northampton, saying the win was one of Port Vale’s best performance of the season thus far.

Ben Whitfield cut in from the right wing midway through the first half to give the home side the lead, and Manny Oyeleke made sure of the three points after Aaron Pierre had been sent off for two bookable offences.

The sending off on 60 minutes made the game more comfortable for the Valiants, but it did nothing to change the nature of a game in which the home side asked most of the questions – Northampton only looking a threat on the counter attack.

And the performance owed much to the team selection and formation from Vale manager Neil Aspin.

Fans have questioned the decision making of the management team in previous weeks. Aspin had switched formations regularly in pre-season – a trend that seemed to continue into the new season, suggesting that the former defender didn’t know what his best eleven was.

The Vale have perhaps paid the price somewhat for this inconsistency at the start of the season, with some players moved out of position to compensate, although injuries to key players haven’t helped in this regard.

However Saturday’s first team showed all the signs of what will probably be Aspin’s preferred line-up – the 4-4-2 formation favouring the players much more than playing three at the back with wing backs as they had done in previous matches.

Tom Conlon partnered Manny Oyeleke in the middle for the first time this season, with both players missing much of the opening stages due to injury, and the pair showed a good amount of work rate and skill which had been sorely lacking last season.

Whitfield looked like he did whilst on loan last season, whilst Ricky Miller – who had been dropped in recent weeks – showed what a thorn he could potentially be playing up front alongside Tom Pope.

Connell Rawlinson at right-back was perhaps the only questionable decision from the XI that took to the field at the start of play, but the central defender did well and added height to match a rather tall looking Northampton side.

That being said, Rawlinson will more than likely move back to his preferred position once Cristian Montano returns from injury – allowing on-loan Mitchell Clark to move back to right-back from the left.

Aside from that, Aspin has now probably found his best team – the bench looking equally strong with the likes of Luke Joyce and David Worrall offering options, among others.

This should see the end of the ‘square pegs in round holes’ formations, and hopefully the team can improve from a run of consecutive games together, so long as Aspin resists the urge to make his customary 2-3 changes.

It is understandable what Aspin was trying to achieve in pre-season – having a team that can adapt to different systems is always going to benefit in-game management.

However this is a side that finished 21st in the league last season, and has had 16 new faces through the door. In order to gel, it is perhaps important to perfect one system first – walk before you can run as the saying goes.

Port Vale is currently still rebuilding – do the basics right and consolidate, and then push on from there.

words Alex Bettany, D3D4 Port Vale correspondent