Tom Pope believes the Vale squad panic when they get into a match setting

Vale’s top scorer Tom Pope has admitted that confidence is low in the changing room, but he has explained that they are working hard on it.

Although, he thinks that as soon as they get into a match situation they start panicking which is proving to be costly..

Talking to the press after the 3-0 defeat against Bristol City, Pope said: “The spirits are low at the minute in there, we’ve just lost another game of football and when you go on runs like this it’s never a nice changing room to be in.

“It’s not like we’re not working on it, we’re spending all the time in the world on the training ground trying to get it right.

“It’s easier with no one watching to get the ball down in training, than during a match where you get put under a little bit of pressure. When we do, all of a sudden it’s panic stations and we start lumping the ball.

“It’s difficult to get a foothold on the game, I don’t think we’ve played too badly again tonight, it’s just set pieces, crosses in the box again and they’ve put them away.”

Pope believes that now is not the time to start making rash decisions when talking about changing managers.

He feels Micky Adams is the right man to get the team out of the recent slump in form, especially if he wants to keep playing like he has since joining Vale to work under Micky Adams.

He rationalised: “Micky Adams has certainly transformed my career and I’ sure there’s a few lads in there that would say the same.

“He’s always been great with me, he’s completely honest and I think sometimes in football you have managers that are never quite truthful, but the Gaffer is one of those people that tells you how it is, fires you up and gets you going.

“That’s certainly someone I need around the place, I hope he will still be around. You don’t become a bad manager over night, the same way we haven’t become bad players overnight.”

He believes that it is the players that have got into this situation and must get themselves out of it, not the manager.

He said: “We’ve got ourselves in this mess, it’s pointless the Gaffer going through shapes in training and getting the ball down and passing it when we go out there on the pitch in front of a few fans and we don’t seem to transform it.

“We’ll keep working on it, trying different formulas. I don’t think it’s down to a lack of effort or through not putting the effort in because I think we’re certainly doing that.”

“It’s just becoming frustrating. When you go on a run like this you become a bit downbeat and don’t believe in your own ability as much.

“We’ve got a few fans on our case and all of a sudden it’s easier just to get rid of the ball than to start playing from the back.

“Having said that, when we do that and give the ball away, the fans are on your back as well, so you’re at a bit of a crossroads sometimes.

“The fans have got every right to be disappointed, it’s six defeats on a bounce, but we need to get out of it.”