Taming by the Shrews
Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2019 2:22 pm
Not the greatest performance, perhaps hampered by the present injury list.
Shrewsbury had done their homework and defended from the front, closing us down very quickly all over the park. Result rushed and cramped passing. There was a distinct lack of movement in midfield, especially centrally, which meant few outlets whilst playing from the back.
We played Henry in the Branagan role, as distributor from just in front of the back line. It didn't really work, not because of anything Henry did wrong, but because he is generally our central attacking midfield outlet and he can't be in two places at once. We improved when Mous was moved forwards into midfield, again not because he did anything wrong in defence, but because he could then play in front of the back four and allow Henry further forward.
We miss CamBran big time, and that is of course entirely understandable as he is arguably the best player in the side.
New keeper had a good game, bar one kick that went awry.
Hindsight is easy, but I would have started with the line up we had when Mous moved into midfield.
Shrewsbury were a horrible team to watch, although Edwards is a class act. Loads of deliberate niggly fouls, all just enough to disrupt play, but not quite enough for bookings unless accumulated. And the time wasting was dreadful too. The ref never really got control of those tactics and was weak with loads of chats and little punishment.
Had we won this game, we would be third in the table today.
Shrewsbury had done their homework and defended from the front, closing us down very quickly all over the park. Result rushed and cramped passing. There was a distinct lack of movement in midfield, especially centrally, which meant few outlets whilst playing from the back.
We played Henry in the Branagan role, as distributor from just in front of the back line. It didn't really work, not because of anything Henry did wrong, but because he is generally our central attacking midfield outlet and he can't be in two places at once. We improved when Mous was moved forwards into midfield, again not because he did anything wrong in defence, but because he could then play in front of the back four and allow Henry further forward.
We miss CamBran big time, and that is of course entirely understandable as he is arguably the best player in the side.
New keeper had a good game, bar one kick that went awry.
Hindsight is easy, but I would have started with the line up we had when Mous moved into midfield.
Shrewsbury were a horrible team to watch, although Edwards is a class act. Loads of deliberate niggly fouls, all just enough to disrupt play, but not quite enough for bookings unless accumulated. And the time wasting was dreadful too. The ref never really got control of those tactics and was weak with loads of chats and little punishment.
Had we won this game, we would be third in the table today.