on paper this a game you would expect town to win,with Mansfield only managing four points in there last five games they are currently 12th in the league but 19th in the form table , however the form book can be thrown out of the window in a cup game. O'leary continues to be injuerd ,Pierre potenitiallty facing a three match ban for violent conduct. not to mention our shambolic defending against Bristol it will be intresting to see which defence turns up ,laurent has had a good couple of games and scored twice in the last game so you would hope he whould be supporting whalley in a high position behind cummings.
We need to put our best team out tomorrow and any rotation can come in the midweek game as most fans don't seem to care about that trophy. I would Iike to see Giles playing left midfield with Thompson or Whalley on the right. It would also be nice to start with two strikers but I can see Ricketts might be worried about injuries until Lang gets back. I love the cup and we should not underestimate Mansfield who will come to give it a right go. Let's go out with the right attitude and get into the hat with the big boys in round three.
https://www.shropshirestar.com/spor.../sam-ricketts-wary-of-a-mansfield-cup-charge/ "Sam Ricketts wants to see his Shrewsbury side back to their resolute best – but warns Mansfield rock up in the FA Cup with ‘nothing to lose’."
there are no easy games in the FA cup so lets hope town can be focused and avoid silly errors in defence , whilst somone for town finds there goal scoring boots.
town made heavy weather of the first half , the first touch and distribution was poor and they looked hesitant all of which created problems. i fail to understand the point of sending long balls to short forwards against four tall physical defenders . we improved in the second half a header forced there kepper to back peddle and save it, edwards, love, goss and norburn all had chances.laurent and dwards linked up well , laurent was trying to get some foward momentum. golbourne was lucky not to get red for scything tackle ,norburn was unhappy with the ref and was complaing about not getting a free kick, shortly afterwards he tackled a player who went down the ball hit there player in the face i dont know if the ref thought he had kicked the player in the head as he was writhing around on the floor but norburn had a yellow then red. mansfield players were falling down all over the place i fail to understand why he did not book any of them when i saw two players go down when there was no contact but the best was there number 19 who was challenged and had a delayed reaction who went down in slow motion holding his head. yet another poor ref we actally played better after norburn whent off in the last fifteen minutes town used the width of the pitch and started to stretch mansfield just as it looked to be heading for a draw laurent scores. then Udoh used his physicality to hold up the ball and good awarness to lay it off to walker to score, Ferjiri improved as the game progressed, Edwards,laurent and golbourne played well.Williams made a last ditch block that prevented a possible goal O'Leary looked comfertable .
Thought we were poor today with eleven men against an ordinary League 2 side - why is it we only seem to react to things going against us before we attempt to dominate the game. As soon as we were down to 10 men we dominated possession and played it on the floor and got runners in the box. Despite a couple of bad misses Laurent was Man of the Match again - that lad has a great engine. Sorry Zen, cannot agree with you about Edwards. I don't think he knows what position he is supposed to be playing in and for me he is an impact sub rather than a starter. Goss completely changed the game and knitted the midfield together - I don't think Norburn deserves to be captain as he spends most of the game berating the ref or getting suckered into yellow or red cards - for me Pierre is the real captain of this team. Ricketts has given us a very strange team this season - we don't know from one match or even one half to the next which team is going to turn up but the results at the moment say he is doing OK. We desperately need a decent physical centre forward come January so our smaller attackers can link with him.
i dont think Edwards is the only player who does not know what position he should play as Cummings seems to drift all over the park. over all i think Edwards has been disapointing , i am fine that you dont agree with me about Edwards as football is all about perspective and i value your opinions and insights in to the games. today i just felt laurent and edwards had moments when they clicked and looked to be starting to have some understanding. as for the team we are inconsistent we have too many games were we make a slow start or fade in the second half. we also look very disjointed and seem to very predictable Norburn was poor because they got under his skin and he could not let it go, other teams will take note of this and do the same.
www.shropshirestar.com/sport/football/shrewsbury-town-fc/2019/12/01/shrewsbury-town-consider-appealing-ollie-norburn-ban-after-red-card-reveals-sam-ricketts "Norburn was sent off by referee Andy Haines after an incident near the halfway line against the Stags. Replays show the captain appear to kick the ball in the direction of a prone Mansfield player's head from close range, barely fractions of a second after the official had blew his whistle for a foul. Asked about the ban Ricketts said: "I don't know, we'll have to check, but I'm led to believe it crosses all competitions for what he's been given a straight red for. "But first and foremost I need to look back to whether it should or shouldn't be"
Just seen the video of the Norburn sending-off. Only he will know whether he meant to do it or not but the initial tackle, the Mansfield player falling and Norburn kicking the ball all happen very close together so he could just be trying to clear the ball. It may be worth an appeal as it is far from clear cut and it is difficult to see how the ref knew for sure that he meant to do it. Funnily enough in the context of this game the ref did us a favour and we do have decent cover in midfield if the ban is upheld.
Agree Zen was- that tackle was very ill- judged from a player who usually keeps his cool. Going back to Norburn I wonder whether his constant verbal battles with the ref and opposition before the sending off swayed the ref's opinion when he had to make a quick decision.
Ricketts has supported his captain in public but I think the coaching staff need to have a quiet word with Norburn as playing with ten men won't work every week.
