Gaffer says he will tinker with the team for trip to Colchester
Despite being relatively happy with his team’s performances in their opening two fixtures of the season, Micky Adams is contemplating making a couple of changes for the match at Colchester on Saturday.
The Vale boss said: “I think we will make one or two changes on Saturday, I think we have got one or two players who have managed to get through the first five days of the season.
“That third game might be slightly too much for them - we won’t be making wholesale changes, but we will maybe tinker with it just a little bit.”
Colchester United got off to the prefect start with a 1-0 victory away to Gillingham on the opening day of the season, but will be disappointed after a heavy midweek cup defeat on home soil.
“But when you have been beaten 5-1 at home you expect a response, so I would expect Joe Dunne to get a response from his players.
“He’ll be hurting, his players will be a little bit embarrassed and their supporters will want a response from everybody.
“It’s never easy going there, it certainly wasn’t easy in the old days when I was Assistant Manager there and they were at Layer Road.
“It’s slightly different now with the new stadium there, but it will be a difficult game nonetheless.”
Vale had a fantastic away record last season, but there’s no guarantee they can carry on where they left off. The step up can make a huge difference and the lads will have to find their feet over the next few games.
Micky said: “Last season we adopted a system that suited us away from home. The onus on the home team is always to attack and with the players that we have got, sometimes it left teams a little bit vulnerable to our counter-attacking style of play.
“Whether that will be the same this year I don’t know, but we can’t worry too much about what the opposition are doing.
“We have got to get our own game plan working and functioning and making sure that we all do the correct things at the correct time.
“Because if you are going to get results away from home you need everybody to work and be diligent in their work and make sure they are switched on at all times because a lot of teams will try and play the game at a tempo that catches you out.
“I think we have seen two decent sides so far this season so we know what to expect, and Colchester are no different, they have got decent players.”
Don’t forget, if you can’t make it to the game this weekend you can get FULL match commentary, courtesy of Radio Stoke, on Valiant Player.
There will be a full match report on the official website moments after the final whistle, with player and manager interviews to come later, PLUS much more on Valiant Player.