“Two up front might have worked” – Port Vale manager open to tactical changes
John Askey told the Sentinel newspaper that with hindsight playing two up front may have worked against Morecambe as he explained his decisions on Saturday.
Had we gone with two up top it might have worked, it might not. It is hindsight, we don’t know…
The Port Vale manager told the newspaper that sometimes changes work and sometimes they don’t as at Morecambe. He used the example of switching Devante Rodney to a central position at Exeter, a move that almost immediately resulted in a goal commenting: “Every week you make a decision. It is like when I put Devante (Rodney) up front (at Exeter) and he scores. It worked that week. You just never know. That’s football.”
As for his choice of subs on Saturday, Askey was not prepared to risk targetman Tom Pope as he pointed out that the “the season is 46 games” and that “Tom hasn’t played for eight months. We put Theo on. We have moved it about a bit. Because they were sitting back, we thought we could get on the ball in midfield, work the ball wide and create chances by doing that.”
The tactic didn’t work on the day and some fans felt that Vale should have switched tactics to counter Morecambe’s defensive tactics. Some fans felt that Mark Cullen works best with another central striker alongside him and Askey conceded: “Had we gone with two up top it might have worked, it might not. It is hindsight, we don’t know.”