This week, we’re incredibly lucky to have spoken to Mike Baggalley, Port Vale reporter for The Valiant newsletter.
Mike is a proper local journalist, the type of which we have lost at Lincoln (officially, of course), and he was kind enough to answer some questions about our opponents this weekend, Port Vale.
The Valiants are managed by Darren Moore, but they slipped to the bottom of the table after their recent defeat against fellow strugglers Plymouth.
As Mike explains, the bottom half was certainly the expectation, but the bottom four? Perhaps not.
How has the season been so far? Is it as challenging as expected pre-season?
“More challenging. I reckon expectations were for Vale to be in the bottom half of the table, in line with the budget, but not bottom four.
“Instead, we are rock bottom. But the club said at the start of the season they knew the team would lose games, and it would be a case of making judgments over the long term.
“It didn’t look like the step up to League One would be huge when Vale played well in having the better of a goalless draw at home to Cardiff at the start of the season, but more recently they did look a long way behind leading teams in heavy defeats to Bolton and Stockport.
“What hurt more is losing a tight game 1-0 at home to Plymouth last week to replace them at the bottom.”
How did the loss of Tolaj affect the side, and who has stepped up in his place?
“At first, we didn’t seem too badly affected when Plymouth met the £1.2m release clause in Tolaj’s contract in mid-August.
“Devante Cole was recruited on a free from West Brom and scored in each of his first three games.
“But Vale haven’t scored in their last five league games, equalling the club record.
“Tolaj top scored with 15 last season, could get a goal from nowhere and get supporters on their feet. He’s proving hard to replace and there was an inevitability about him scoring the winner for Plymouth at Vale Park last week even though Vale created more chances.”
Darren Moore is a nice guy, but is he the right man for Port Vale at this level, both from your point of view, and a more general supporter view?
“I think he has credit in the bank after leading the club to automatic promotion at the first attempt last season, but that’s the minority view judging by supporters’ comments in our newsletter.
“The club are backing him though, the chief executive made that clear this week.
“Vale’s big problem has not been converting decent spells into goals. Hopefully that will change on Saturday.
“And you are right, he is a nice guy. He’s clearly a decent man who has always conducted himself well at Vale, win or lose.”
What is your expected formation, line up and style?
“Vale have played three at the back for the last year. There are variations, though; they have played 3-5-2, 3-4-3 and, away at Birmingham and Bolton, 5-4-1.
“Injuries to wing backs Mitch Clark, Jordan Gabriel, Marvin Johnson and Liam Gordon aren’t helping but there aren’t obvious options to switch to a back four.
“I wouldn’t say Vale are direct but quite often opposition managers describe them as physical and a threat from set pieces.
“This is a guess, but I’ll go for 3-5-2. Gauci; Humphreys, Heneghan, Hall; John, Garrity, Byers, Walters; Headley; Cole, Paton.”