Port Vale manager Darren Moore was questioned on a wide range of issues ahead of Vale’s away game against Newport County on Saturday.
The Valiants manager spoke to BBC Radio Stoke’s Phil Bowers and here’s what he had to say…
On the options on the left following the Sam Hart injury
On Sam Hart’s injury
“Harty’s picked up a muscle injury that’s going to keep him out for some time, to his hamstring, just by overstretching to make a last-ditch challenge. Hes going to be out for some time. We wish Harty a real speedy recovery. He covers a couple of positions and he’s an excellent player and to lose him is a blow. We have to move on as a group. It’s a bit of a blow for us…
On Jack Shorrock
“Young Jack Shorrock… he’s been given the green light to resume full training. He’ll be with us next week…”
On Dan Jones and Conor Grant’s availability
“Dan Jones is still with the medical team, still working himself back to full fitness. Conor Grant is a little bit ahead. He’s be handed over to the strength and conditioning coach getting his fitness levels, volume to where he should be…”
On the midweek Trophy clash with Wolves
“It was huge that game for us. There were players there which got sufficient match minutes. For us, it was a welcome game to play. We got real good minutes into the players…”
On the squad depth, formation and starting eleven…
On squad depth
“We’re a completely different squad from last season. There’s been a lot of business over the summer months. We’re going through that period where there’s competition within the squad and people are starting to get fit, bodies are coming back available and people are starting to excel and show more of themselves which is good…”
On switching to a back four from a back three in midweek
“We’re recruited for that. We have a team that is functional in a back four or in a back three or back five. You’re trying to nullify their (the opposition) strengths and expose their weaknesses. You have to have that (flexibility)…”
On his best starting eleven
“You have to be adaptable in this League. You go into games and you have got your eleven, your systems and formations but you have to be adaptable. That eleven can change at any point and we have a group that is able to do that…”
On the poor start to the season
“We’re disappointed as a group that we’ve not got more points on the board. We’ve lost games through lapses of concentration. We feel as a group we’ll score goals and they are getting fitter and stronger but it’s also about making sure we keep the back door shut. When we score goals we score as a team, when we concede goals we concede as a team…”
On the Newport game
“They’re in great form. Credit to them. We’ll be facing a team that’s full of confidence. We have to make sure that our game is ten out of ten. We’re getting punished for any slight mishaps. We have to make sure our game is a flawless ten out of ten. It’s a great challenge. It’s a game we look forward to…”
How Darren Moore is talking most of the squad is not fully fit what have they been doing for the last two months?
The injury list begins to look ominous again and some players have not even played what’s going on.
Same old,same old
I cannot understand why it has come about that we have players on loan who don’t seem to fit the managers systems. We have players of good ability who.the manager will not be allowed to express themselves. The most boring and defensive manager in the clubs history, Nationwide here we come.
When Mr Moore continues to talk about, flexibility, changing shapes and systems surely he can’t have a best starting eleven, because certain players will suit certain shapes and systems better than others and will need to be continuously changed. To me you can not play a back 3 with 3 centre half’s, because when we push forward there’s just no covering pace as against Doncaster. The same can be said with a back 5, once the wingbacks push forward we are left in a similar situation. Hall, Smith and Heneghan do not have the pace to play anything other than ( 2 of them ) a back 4 with covering fullbacks. In Chislett and Garrity we have 2 of the best attacking midfielders outside the championship but how does Mr Moore and his systems and shapes use them, one’s sat on the bench and the other is played as a holding midfielder. To me players have just been purchased with no set plan on how to play them, and no idea what his starting eleven should be, and if we continue to change shapes and systems because we are more concerned about the opposition than we have faith in our own players abilities, we will never see the best of our squad. While some may argue Mr Moore needs time to decide his best 11, and with 16 new signings they need time to gel. Mr Moore has already had 6 months at the helm, Mr Moore has had the backing to sign 16 new players who are better than league 2 standard, Mr Moore has had a full 6-8 weeks preseason to iron out any hiccups, yet we are still no nearer being the finished item. When one looks at the start Barrow have made, Stephen Clemence has walked into a new club, and has not only had to take over some one else’s players, but has also had to replace some of the better players who have moved on. No excuses “their not my players” or “ we need time to gel”. He’s just hit the ground running, and whether or not they stay the distance, they have shown it shows the usual twaddle clubs come out with does not need to be the norm if the club is being run properly.
His comments on the Newport game, how often has he said that? “We need to play the perfect game”, or words to that effect! It’s total b******s and I’m sick of hearing it!
What are him and his coaching team doing to make us more resilient, improve the players concentration, and out-think the opposition manager.
He’s had seven months to make some sort of impact at The Vale. He needs to stop talking and start delivering points, and fast!
20 shots at goal against wolves have the players got the boots on the right feet shameful all them mist chances
We’ll have a better idea after Saturday. Hopefully the jury will be 8 to 4 in favor of the Manager.