Players put through the mill in training
Following the defeat to Colchester United last weekend, Micky Adams criticised his players for their ‘lack of enthusiasm’, so will they be in the right frame of mind for the match against Bradford City on Saturday afternoon?
The Vale manager certainly believes they will after putting his players through the mill during training for most of this week.
He said: "They have certainly got their mojo back and a little bit of enthusiasm. It has been a physical week for them but it’s their choice.
“They either put the effort and enthusiasm into games or we have to do other things that they don’t particularly like, to bring their enthusiasm back to the levels that they should be, but to be fair it has been a good response.
“Everybody will have their thoughts about what went wrong on Saturday and start blaming me and the team, probably me more than anybody else, but that’s football.
“But we are not going to win every game of football and we are not going to play to our maximum at all times. There is going to be a time where don’t win and players lose a little bit of confidence and a little bit of form.
“But as a manager I understand that and it is up to me to get them back to where they were. We let ourselves down last Saturday, I am hoping see a bit more enthusiasm and endeavour and a willingness to work, even if things don’t go well for us.
“As a manager you know you are not going to win every game of football, but it is how you lose the game, and last Saturday we lost a game of football, but I didn’t like how we did it.
“The important thing on Saturday is that we get back to our old self, we show an enthusiasm for the game and a willingness to work hard for each other, and you have got to do that against a Bradford side.
“We know what they are all about, they have not changed dramatically since the end of last season, so while we would respect them, there’s nothing there to fear.
“Phil Parkinson has done a fantastic job there, you have to say that. They got promotion and to a major cup final and I respect each and every one of them, like I did at Colchester last weekend, I respected Colchester United and their manager and will do the same with Bradford City.
The manager said he was likely to make changes for this match, but kept his cards closely to his chest, other than to say: “I am settled in what I want to do this week.
“We are not facing a team with a formation that is there to stifle to make things difficult for the opposition, though they do make things really difficult.
“They basically play a four-four-two, get the ball up to their front men and work off there, so there’s nothing they are going to do that would surprise us, that’s the way Phil is.”