Today brings a game we could win, Oxford have secured safety and might take their foot off of the accelerator and if town chooses to play one of their brilliant games then we might walk away with a secure three points... However Oxford are playing well too and momentum might well continue today. Anyway it's shorts weather and everyone has had a good weekend unless you worked it and thoughts go out to those people. Hopefully the sunshine brings us three points and Mitchell a cap to wear in goal!
Squad News Steve Arnold - hamstring Dave Edwards - surgery on ankle Oxford; Eastwood (GK) - suspended Baptiste - knee
whilst Oxford are safe they are on a winning run with 13 points out a possible 15. in the league 1 form table they are second and town are 11th. this will be another tough game , we need to replicate the performance against Barnsley with more clinical finishing, i think who scores first could be crucial. the heat may be a factor on which team is the fittest something that has been an issue for town.you would hope the keeper would have the sense to wear a cap but many dont and that Rickeets gets the players working on better finishing with one to one chances with a keeper. i think we will do well to get a point another loss would put more pressure on the team. whilst a win would be a relief . i really dont wont it to go down to the walsall game with town not mathematically safe. Sears deserves to retain his place he linked up well with Docherty and Whalley.
we saw two half's with different performances all three goals were down to poor defending, people round me thought there first was handball but he should have not got there in the first place,Waterfall and Beckles got caught out by the ball. considering we had plenty of examples that Oxford had two pacey players leaving waterfall back on his own was stupid. the keeper should have done better with the last goal. first half we did well to get back in the game, we were creating chances ,Norburn struck the penalty well and Docherty was clinical. i was disappointed to Sears dropped as he had a very good game a linked up well with attack. 2-1 i have no idea what happened in the second half, we failed to use the width to exploit the extra man. we created no chances and looked content to run the game down,Campbell looked very unhappy to go off and whilst i am a fan of Ferjiri he really did not get in the game, Norburn looked to be limping when he went off. some dreadful defending 2-3 and then town belatedly wake up. we threw three points away and are four points clear of Scunthorpe who play Braford next and five points clear of Wimbledon who play luton on Tuesday and have a game in hand, they then play Wycombe on Saturday . so we must get something from Coventry. somehow we managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. we only have ourselves to blame we failed to mange the second half. Oxford deserve credit for sticking at it but dreadfull defending and in one case poor from the keeper made it easier.
An absolutely diabolical second half performance from the team today and the manager and players should take a good hard look at themselves and ask are they really putting everything in for the team. We came out for the second half like dead men and were completely dominated by ten men. Robinson made a tactical switch at half time and the clueless Ricketts did not respond despite the one-man advantage. Ricketts has managed to find a team that is playing decent stuff away but our home performances have been woeful lately and I for one do not trust this side to get anything from the Walsall game if push comes to shove. We cannot hold the ball up the field, Whalley looks like he wants to take on the whole opposition by himself (though he is one of the few who looks as if he cares) and the shooting from everyone was terrible today. I thought the jury was out on Ricketts but if we put in two more performances like that we should seriously think about cutting our losses and getting a more experienced manager in straight away so he can have the pre-season.
we took our foot off the gas in the second half ,that combined with dire defending and poor goal keeping threw away the lead, three points and safety
I have calmed down a bit now Zen but that must still go down as one of our worst performances of the season, especially as you say that safety was at stake (even a point would have done it given our goal difference). This has been a problem all season - we just do not know which Shrewsbury team is going to turn up from one game to the next. Ricketts also needs to look at why the home displays have been consistently poor for some time now - most fans do not go to away games and I heard some pretty uncomplimentary things shouted at him from the West Stand when he came over to applaud the fans
"we just do not know which Shrewsbury team is going to turn up from one game to the next." so many times this season we dont know which team will turn up for the next half. we have had numerous dire games , or the team dont turn up for 45 minutes. we then get a bit of hope , were they have a good game or win back to back games . then inconsistency , stupidity ,poor discipline ,not doing the basics right or a combination of poor tactics/ poor substitutions. we now must get something from Coventry which wont be easy and hope other teams mess up .Wimbledon have a game in hand but play Luton. what is so frustrating was we were in touching distance of safety and they blew it.
Worrying second half on top of a dire goal in the first. Beckles and Waterfall both too slow for our defense. Campbell was peed off to be subbed and Okenabirhie barely touched the ball when he came on. Why take not leave Cambell on and bring Okenabirhie over to the wing? Oddly we'll probably play well against Cov now (i doubt it though), but we need to be safe before the Walsall game.
playing Ferjiri in the lone forward role does not work but saying whilst i am a fan of Ferjiri he brought very little to the game.
I think the problem is the balance in the forward line Zen. We only really have AAH upfront at the club who has any strength on the ball and we know finishing is his weakness. We have got away with playing Tyrese or Fejiri as lone striker away at times because we are basically playing on the break. This does not work at home because, though both have talent, they are not physical enough for that role. Morris did that job superbly for us last year and Payne was good at the start but tailed off (and does not seem to have recovered). We desperately need a striker who can do that job next year or one who can link with Fejiri in a front two.
