Sproson: Today’s game is all about selection changes

PHIL Sproson understands why Port Vale fans are frustrated at constant team changes, but reckons “it’s all part of the modern game.”

- Clive Youlton

TOP TALENT: Port Vale striker Devante Cole has made an impressive start to life at the club.

The Valiants legend is also a believer of ‘if it ain't broke don’t fix it’ which Vale manager Darren Moore has often gone against.

Last Saturday against Northampton Town, Moore kept the same side for consecutive matches in a league match for the first time since Good Friday.

‘That was at Carlisle United in a 3-2 defeat in League Two - after a 5-0 success against Bromley.

‘The boss soon reverted to type for the 2-2 draw with Grimsby Town in the next match, making three changes.

This season has seen another high turnover of players making starts but having gone with the same team twice, a rare phenomenon, not many Vale fans will expect it to happen for a third league match as Vale travel to AFC Wimbledon on Saturday.

“T don’t think it will be his final XI [the team that played against Northampton],’ Sproson told BBC Radio Stoke.

“[ don’t think he [Darren Moore] works like that. I think Darren works on the basis of performances. He is a big one for working with his staff on the volume of the players. Fitness is of paramount importance to him, because he wants the ability for the players to go out and perform for 90-plus minutes”

That is often the case although there are exceptions, notably when Moore brought in Rhys Walters for the Arsenal game when he hadn't been involved.