Saturday's 'diamond' formation suited midfielder
Chris Lines knows Vale deserved to get something out of Saturday’s game for their overall performance, but says they can’t put the blame on somebody else if they fail to keep their concentration for ninety minutes.
The Vale midfielder said: “We’ve only got ourselves to blame really, switching off for that one moment against a team with two lads up front who can score goals.
that we can play against one of the better teams in the league. “I was on the pitch thinking it was looking like it was going to finish nil-nil then all of a sudden, bang, that happens and it was a bit of a shock, but we proved again
“You have got to take the positives out of it, there’s no point in being negative, we have had a good start to the season but we just switched off for a couple of seconds and they stuck the ball in the net.
“I spoke to my mate, Mark Little, who plays for them as we walked off the pitch and he said to me ‘How lucky were we?’ and it’s not the first time they have done that, but that’s why they are the top end of the league.
“It’s not all about playing well – if they have got people who can score goals like that then they will get them wind and that is important .
“They have won five games away from home already and won ten out of twelve I think I was reading earlier, so that is why they are at the top.”
Vale decided to go with a diamond shape to counter that played by the visitors and but for that error late on the game it would have paid off.
Lines continued: “A few people were surprised when they looked at the shape we were going to play, but it worked very well, we totally cancelled them out player for player in midfield and all four of us were better than them.
“It obviously worked and I am sure the gaffer was buzzing with his decision to do that but was obviously disappointed to get the result, but it is something maybe we can use in the future.
“It gave me a lot more space and every time I had the ball I had a lot of space to run into and it suited Griff down to the ground, sat in front of the back four.
“I think they would have been more than happy with a nil-nil – there weren’t a lot of chances at all to be honest, in terms of clear-cut chances there wasn’t really anything.
“We knew the ball was going to be in the midfield a lot and that is what we put out that formation and it worked but we were obviously gutted to lose in the end.”