Shrewsbury v Tranmere

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Matster

Matster

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Feb 2, 2011
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Well the first home game of the season is upon us and we have a completely transformed team and mood within the club and fans, one of optimism.

Tranmere joined us in the drop from league one despite beating us at the end of last season, although there is a little turmoil with regards backroom staff happening this week with McMahon leaving the club by mutual consent and the Palios family taking over control of the club.

Tranmere sold defender Aaron Cresswell, defenders Matt Hill Clayton McDonald and Danny Woodwards come in.

Tranmere drew 1-1 with a ninetieth minute volley from Rowe against York at home and lost midweek to Forest who only had ten men for the last forty mins.

Shrewsbury should hopefully have Lawrence fit again and we should assume Akpa-Akpro will be in contention too. Ellis was having a scan and hopefully he'll be okay as he was great on Tuesday night.

I'm guessing that Town will try to be all out attacking at the start and will play a variant of 442 with a similar team to the last two games, although Robinson might get on the bench so he can do the classic score against your old team unless Akpa-Akpro does it.

Oh, can we extend Clarks' contract please!!

Stick thoughts and predictions below, I won't keep records but I'll go for:

Shrews 3 v 1 tranmere
Vernon, Collins, Clark
 
Is Grandison ill! Why's he not playing?

Here's a very short comment on Burton 2-1 Wigan.......Shane CS was awesome, not a single error and read the game so well, Sharps was very solid and Grant Holt was Grant Holt, lots of pointing (whilst not scoring he still looks quite fast over a very short distance!). Burton have a great player called Akins, he's a Grandison look-alike in style as well as height plus a great loanee striker from PNE who has amazing ball control. They look a good team after just two games, we should be very careful when we meet them!
 
Is that Lucas Akins? Always a handful to play against.

If Lawrence does return, then he'll have a tough fight to force his way back into the team. Woods and Wesolowski were excellent on Tuesday.
 
Yes, Lucas! It was the two footed dribbles and passes with the wrong foot that reminded me of the big G.
Beavon is the PNE loanee and for a 30 year old he looked good; I think Burton have gelled early. The central defence (ex-Shrews) being the same as last season must help!!
 
AAB, got into Exeter despite them originally wanting 3 As. Considering how many people either completely missed out or didn't get their first choice I'm pretty chuffed, but at the same miffed at my B in history - my coursework mark cost me as the whole group from College had their marks moderated downwards after our teacher gave a big speech when giving us the preliminary marks about how the sixth form history department had never had their marking altered! As I say though, just chuffed to get in. Plus I got 100% on one of the maths papers! :huh:
 
Wow really great results Lenny. Glad to hear you got your first choice too. Had you already got accommodation sorted?
 
I suspect town have a game on their hands today. good luck lenny and thanks for your betting league league organisation over the last few seasons. I have enjoyed losing. good luck at Exeter Uni .i suspect Exeter City will have a job to stay in the league this season.
 
A tough and not entirely enjoyable game today. Town seem a far better team than last season and a similar squad started to the last two games with Demetriou getting a start by taking left back and Knight-Percival moving to CB due to Ellis' injury. Goldson kept the cptians armband due to Lawrence being on the bench.

Tranmere did their best to break up Towns play and we seemed to be struggling, not always helped by the ref. Although Tranmere's attacks were largely dealt with, they were still happening too frequently for my liking and town did not seem to be able to win the second ball consistently enough to form any decent pressure on the Tranmere defense. We had a few shots towards goal but the forwards seemed to be losing out to the linesman with offsides or neatly dealt with by the defense. Collins had a couple of close shots but din't hit the mark. Tranmere took the lead just before half time when a poorly cleared shot came back to haunt town with a scrambled effort that inevitably ended in the net.

Second half came and we did seem slightly better as we progressed, Tranmere slowly dropped back and gave us more space, they also brought on a huge (6'6"?) defender to deal with aerial attacks. Knight Percival was lucky to stay on the pitch getting a yellow after a messy late tackle on the wing. Mellon made changes and brought on Caton for Vincent and then a little later Mangan and Akpa-Akpro to replace Vernon and Collins. This definitely livened things up, Demetriou and Gayle almost seemed to be playing as wingers in a 2-1-5-2 formation with Woods sitting behind Wesowlowski to help cover the two central defenders, the full backs dropping back when needed. The blokes sat a few rows down from us were shouting angry comments at Mellon/the squad for the fact that they'd subbed the strikers and their voices were drowned out when Demetriou put the ball in from the wing for Mangan to score and equalise. The fourth official indicated 4 minutes of extra time which seemed a tad short considering the amount of timewasting Tranmere had done. But thankfully in a reverse fortune, Mangan put the ball in for Demetriou to score a minute or so before the final whistle.

Well done to town on turning around the game, looking fit throughout, and continually trying without dropping heads. We have a good range of choice on the bench and as long as Mellon can work out tactics for the squad to deal with league two tactics then we should do well this season.
 
This was a wake-up call for those predicting we will walk this league. Tranmere were hard-working and well organised (but not much more than that). I remember then as having only two serious attempts on our goal yet they came within a couple of minutes of beating us. I thought we generally defended well apart from Demetriou getting caught for the goal and Knight-Percival was particularly good (one rash challenge apart). However, midfield was not very creative with most passes telegraphed leading to our players often caught on the ball. There was much huffing and puffing down the wings but little quality ball into the front men. Akpro and Mangan asked their defence some different questions and we finally got the well deserved three points but it was a close-run thing. If playing not particularly well and winning is the sign of a good team then perhaps we will be OK this season. I think we need a bit more creativity from midfield on Tuesday so perhaps Robinson or Lawrence or Wildig could provide that but at least we have real options from the bench this season.
 
Collins and Vernon looked poor today having been impressive previously. Wesolowski has been a bit of a disappointment. Wins the ball often but his control has been not too hot and he lacks real creativity. Clark is the best footballer in the whole squad but is wasted played wide, although even here he was outstanding on Tuesday. Ellis has been dependable but I prefer the central defensive partnership of today. (It is about time Goldson improved with his heading in THEIR area. Missed 2 good chances today.) Gayle was another who had his worst game of the season so far. The keeper still looks like a flapper to me. Good as a shot stopper but started to come for the cross that eventually lead to Tranmere's goal today and was left nowhere.

I had previously been told that Vincent and Akpa Apro were not highly rated by my South West and North West contacts but the former has been consistent and the latter changed the game today. Caton has the pace to beat most but his crossing is abysmal. Finally, Demetriou looks as though he has real desire to make a go of it in the Football League and it was fitting he netted the winner.
 
KDS
I agree that Clark is wasted on the wing - we need to see his skill going at defences down the middle. I would like to see Mangan play wide from the start - he can cross a ball and knows where the goal is. There are so many options within the squad now it is giving the manager a selection headache but surely it will also keep the squad on its toes and that can only be a good thing.
 
I have said to my mates at footy for many a year that our central midfield is a problem. We now seem to have it sorted and boy is it a selection headache for Mellon.
 
Agree on Leutwiler, there was one second half cross that he really should have come and claimed under no pressure but stayed rooted to his line and forced Goldson to head behind for a corner. Also with Goldson's headers from set pieces; he's big, strong, has a good jump and could easily score 6/7 a season but has 1 career goal due to the erroneous aiming of his.

Vernon doesn't convince me really, he's very cumbersome and has a poor first touch, despite clearly being an intelligent player. Does have a knack of scoring, though. Collins put himself about but missed 2 sitters (although that's perhaps a little harsh for the one that was cleared off the line) and the two sub strikers changed the game, although it was hoofs all the way to Akpa Akpro. His power, pace and trickery will make him very popular if he keeps it up, very entertaining to watch.

Vincent is quick and tracks back well, but he's not been quite as threatening/creative as I expected. There were plenty of comparisons with Mark Wright early on, but in playing style they could hardly be further apart. Solid, hard-working but unspectacular so far. Caton is raw but tricky and creative, and I would personally prefer to see him in games like tonight's where we are expected to win. Clark has been impressive, but I'm not entirely sure he is going to do so much better centrally that it's worth leaving out Woods or Lawrence. If the latter isn't fit tonight, I'd like to see Wildig start - Wesolowski is entertaining but not brilliant in possession. I suspect he's a bit like Scott Parker - looks better in a team at the bottom of a division than the top. Wildig is capable of controlling a game and was sorely missed last year.

As for the defence - Goldson thrives off the responsibility of captaincy and is a brilliant organiser. Would love someone like Sharps to come back as a coach and mentor him, although sadly Connor may well leave before Sharps retires. NKP should have been off but is a tidy defender, and he and Connor worked well against the massive Bony lookalike. Also complement each other well with the right foot/left foot combo. Ellis really impressed me against Blackpool and Demetriou didn't v Tranny, but he grew into the game second half and deserves time as it's a big step up for him.

Overall I think it's evident that the team just haven't fully gelled yet, as expected. Lots of the players just aren't quite on the same wavelength, so we resorted to hoofball and everyone forward, although we got out of jail on this occasion. I said to my mate about 88 minutes in that "there's always one of these every season, when a team come for a point and stumble into three by virtue of a combination of our profligacy, misfortune and refereeing mistakes". How glad I was that this proved not to be that game!
 
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