Match Day Thread Burton v Shrewsbury

[Matster]

Nothing fancy as I'm still suffering with a v.nasty cold.

An important match for Town playing against a promotion rival in Burton.

We have a fairly fit squad with Mangan likely to be on the bench along with Grandison. Will Vernon get to start again or will JLAA get the nod instead? I assume Mellon will stick with the normal formation too.

Stick thoughts below on what you think before, during or after the match. I assume Metashrew, kds and GHMM at least are making the journey to the game.

 

[greenhousmeadowman]

A disappointing performance. We looked very comfortable in defence first half but offered little threat upfront. Burton came flying out of the blocks at the start of the second half and our much vaunted midfield had no answer and it was no surprise when Burton nicked a goal from a series of corners. That livened us up a little bit and Weso and Mangan added some much needed pace but chances were few and far between until Demetriou blazed the clearest chance in the game over the bar. We look the classiest team in this league when on the ball but we are not scoring enough goals. We keep playing pretty well exactly the same way whatever the situation and when our wing-backs are putting more crosses into the crowd than the six -yard box as they were today then Collins and partner have virtually nothing to attack. I cannot see how Passley is any improvement on Gayle and Demetriou looks like a non-league player at crucial moments. How Vincent is not even on the bench is beyond me when we are crying out for some quality delivery from the wings. Vernon shows some experienced touches but his lack of pace and movement is in direct contrast to Akpro who I prefer for all his faults in front of goal. It will be an interesting few days for MM to see whether he can tweak a few things to make us more of a goal threat against the better teams in this league but we need some sort of result at Luton to keep us in touching distance of the top.

 

[Hounded Out By Morons]

Thanks for the report GMM. I was forced to view it second hand through the eyes of Matt Le Tissier who evidently knew very little about the teams. Spent much of the first half deciding how to pronounce Shrewsbury, Leutweiler and later Wesolowski. He did say at the end that a draw would have been a fairer result.

 

[Metashrew]

GHMM good report and I agree. I'll add a few points.....
Passley clearly had a 'talking to' at half time, improved but not to be a game changer , clearly not a class act, why won't he take on more people?
Ellis looked good and I saw him put his hand up before coming off; is he injured or was just flagging?
Agree they came out fast in second half but wouldn't most home teams? Thought we coped well and would have slowly got back into it. Goals like that will happen a few times in a season.....lots of times you get one back.....we should have.
Woods seems to play a bit deep but maybe that's either his instructions or his natural style.
Captain Courageous seems to be a few pounds too heavy for regular runs......because when he does he looks v.good....Maybe short on game time but needs more involvement.
Demetriou's miss was amazing, I was stood right behind him.....composure was needed but missing.....compare that with Taft, it was his first senior goal!
Off to AJ territory soon so not much good football for a while.

 

[greenhousmeadowman]

Metashrew,
I agree with your points - of the games we have lost there are few if any we have not dominated in terms of possession, chances and looking good on the ball. We are just missing that killer instinct in front of goal. I believe Mangan is our best finisher and if he cannot play more than 15 minutes a game we may well struggle to stay in the top three. With him fit (or a decent replacement in the transfer window) we could well win this league. Burton are well organised and defend stoutly and no doubt will be in contention at the end of the season but they did not seem to have much class up front. The depth in our squad will only be a factor if we actually use it and I would have liked Griffith in front of the back three - he is much better at the role than Woods who needs to be further up the pitch so his classy passing and link-up play can be more of a threat to the opposition.

 

[Hounded Out By Morons]

The only time Griffith has started in the league was away at York. He was arguably MOM by winning the ball consistently in the air. He was paired with Woods and Grant (making his debut) on that occasion.

 

[greenhousmeadowman]

KDS,
I agree - I thought Griffith was excellent that day - a real team performer keeping it simple and solid and allowing others from midfield to bomb forward. I would start him in every away game.