United manager Steven Pressley spoke to us about tomorrow’s trip to face Port Vale at his weekly press conference.
“There’s something of an unknown because they changed the shape of their team at the weekend,” he said. “They played a little bit like Cheltenham in respect of the shape of their team.
“They went to a back three, having played in general with a back four, and they’ve obviously had a positive result off the back of that. That could mean that they’ve found a system which suits their personnel.
“The likelihood is that they might remain in a three, but we’ll prepare for both. It was a good win for them at Crawley, which will give them confidence, because they had been on a disappointing run.”
“It’s about us going there with a positive mindset and, for me, these are the games we have to win if we’re serious about what we’re challenging for,” he continued. “We’re under no illusion that it’s a difficult game but, and I keep stressing this, we will not be satisfied with a draw at Port Vale this weekend, we’re going there to win.
“That has to be our mindset because we want promotion, and to get promotion we need to be taking three points. We have a good away record this season and we have to maintain that.
“We’ll give Port Vale the utmost respect and we’ll do our background work, as we always do. But, for me, it’s very important what we do this weekend.”
With the Valiants having been through a tough run of home results recently, he commented: “There’s been a lot of speculation about the manager’s position, but I’ve watched the game from last weekend and there’s absolutely no evidence from the players that they aren’t fighting for that manager.
“One hundred percent they were playing for him and he must be very proud of that.”
And making no bones about the fact that the wants a victory from the encounter, he said: “A million percent, that is what I expect.
“If we’re serious about achieving what we want to achieve here, then Port Vale is a must-win game for us.
“They had that good result but there’s always a nervousness, especially at home, when you haven’t been getting results. If we start the game well we can make it uncomfortable for the players and the fans, and that’s something we’ll certainly be trying to do.
“The stories are that Pope is missing for another three or four weeks and when you watch them you see that he’s a pivotal and iconic player for them, so that’s a blow for them.
“But, with a new striker coming in and scoring and the other players looking to turn things round, there’s no way they’ll make this easy. We’ve done our homework so it’s over to us now to put on the type of performance which will keep our own momentum going.”
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