Manager Darrell Clarke is anticipating a tough match on Saturday as the Valiants make the trip to Lancashire to face Morecambe.
- Darrell Clarke: "It's important to bounce back after Monday's defeat"
- Clarke On Transfers: "“Work is ongoing to get the right players, in the right positions to make us better, and that’s the key"
- The Valiants trip to Morecambe is going to be a "Tough Task"
We are past the halfway point of the season and Vale will go into the Saturday’s game 11th in the League One table.
Reflecting on the season so far, Clarke said:
“If we look at the last three years, the team’s that have gone up through the play offs, two of them have gone back down and one finished 19th so the competitiveness of the league is there to see.
“If we look at the league table there are some fantastic teams above us but there’s some below us as well, we’re having a fantastic season so far but we don’t want to sit on the laurels and we always want more.
“We (Clarke and his back room staff) set a lot of expectations for our players, we put a lot on them, but we also have to be realistic and look at where we are after 25 games of the season, but we also want to perform better than we did the other night.”
Continuing about Monday Night’s defeat the manager said:
“It is important to bounce back, it always is, especially when it’s disappointing performance, the second half their front three showed their qualities, they’ve invested a lot of money and they produced the goods in a game where we didn’t get the flow that we wanted to have.
“Our lads are a close nit group and they’re honest, that’s all you can ask for as a manager, they assess their own performance, the good and the bad and then we try and respond.”
When asked by BBC Radio Stoke’s Lucas Yeomans if there’s any update on the transfer window, Darrell said:
“This is my fourth window, there’s only three players remaining at the club from when I first started and we’re evolving every time.
“I have massive belief in the recruitment team and the work that they do, I think you can see that in performance in the squad and the league position.
“Work is ongoing to get the right players, in the right positions to make us better, and that’s the key.
“It’s not a time to panic, the team is doing very well in our first season back in League One and it’s about getting the right personnel that improves us as a group and that’s what the recruitment team are working hard with.”
Saturday’s opponents Morecambe are in good form and come into the match with 9 points from their last three games with nine goals scored.
“It’s not long ago since we played them and beat them 1-0, everybody was wondering why we didn’t win three or four nil and they win their next three football matches, that just shows you what the game of football is and how momentum can swing.
“Derek is a talented manager that is doing his best and has got some good results, it’s going to be a tough ask, Morecambe away always but we’re looking forward to it.”
You can watch the full interview on our YouTube channel.