Port Vale: John McCombe determined to help plug Valiants' defensive leaks
JOHN McCombe is bracing himself for a tough couple of days "at the office" as Vale bid to tighten up their leaky defence.
Their 2-0 weekend defeat to League Two leaders Gillingham meant Vale have now gone eight games since they last kept a clean sheet.
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Port Vale's John McCombe says he is determined to help his side improve their defensive performances.
And defender McCombe knows that statistic must improve if they are to build on their encouraging start to the new season.
The 27-year-old said: "We didn't perform like we have in recent weeks against Gillingham and obviously weren't happy to concede two goals.
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"But we've got another big game at Bradford City on Saturday, and we'll no doubt be working hard on a few things in training in the build-up to the game.
"You don't really want a week without a midweek fixture when you've just lost because you'd rather get back into it, but it does give you time to get things right on the training ground."
And McCombe is expecting the Vale back four, who have shipped 11 goals in eight league games, to come under most scrutiny as boss Micky Adams prepares his team to take on the fourth-placed Bantams.
McCombe added: "We've conceded a lot of goals and we need to do a lot better.
"It's something we'll work hard on, but it's not just the back four.
"You defend as a team and so we'll be working on our team shape too."
However, McCombe insists defeat to Gillingham, which ended a run of four league wins, is far from a disaster.
"If someone had offered us a points tally of 16 at this stage, we would have taken it without a doubt," he said.
"We missed a chance to go top of the table, but it's better to be there at the end, rather than now.
"It's been a good start overall, but there are obviously aspects of the game we need to improve and we now need to kick on."
Comments
by algy7
Thursday, September 27 2012, 8:41PM
“Prior to last Saturdays game I was quite happy to say that we hadn't missed either Marc Richards, Anthony Griffiths, or Sean Rigg. But, in hind-sight, one thing we have missed, and we won't improve until we have one, is a defensive mid-fielder that protected the defence. Griff will never be world beater, but I always maintained that he was at his best, for the Vale, when the opposition had the ball. His job was to break-up the opposition's play then lay the ball off to someone else. There his job ended until the next time, but he was never the same player after Gary Roberts self destructed. Of the three, in my humble opinion, we miss Griff the most in that position. I think the lack of clean sheets bears testament to this.
It's all very well scoring more goals than the opposition, but when your goals dry up and the oppositions doesn't, then you have trouble.
What Is the position with Darren Murphy, he was to be Griff's replacement after all, is he injured ?, It's a worry that he hasn't featured yet this season.
But the season is young, nothing is either won, or lost, in September, all is not lost. If we are still 2nd, or even 3rd, in the league come next May, I'll settle for that. KEEP TE FAITH.”
by yoblet
Thursday, September 27 2012, 7:17PM
“two attacking backs(duffy and loft)is sure to leave the two centre half exposed,at times it magnifies there lack of pace,havin said that i wouldnt swap the start weve made its been brilliant.”
by P_Swan
Thursday, September 27 2012, 12:10PM
“Sorry to post off subject but i just read this:
"And I'd certainly be disappointed if we haven't sold the club by the end of the year, as we don't want to be going into the January transfer window with any uncertainty." quotes Bob Young!! (BBC).......why plant that seed of doubt you doofus?!!
You can't say that you are confident of a sale late October and in the next breath say the previous, bloody hell man quit it with the mind games!!”
by Dave_Eccy
Thursday, September 27 2012, 11:48AM
“When teams push up and pressurise our defence in our half we tend to go for the long ball which usually gives the other team a 50/50 with our attacker. We need to have confidence to play the ball through the midfield and keep possession moving forward.
Well done so far this season, Let's hope Doddsy can come up with another cracker at Bradford on Saturday.
PS like the happy smiling ball :0)”