Out muscled

I have to be honest and say I am finding it very difficult to write this report because although we have only just lost in the dying seconds to one of the best teams in the division and probably deserved a point there is a big worry that I have with the team Darrell is building and IMO it stands out like a sore thumb. I am not going to write off any of the new signings because they all look like they offer something and obviously need a settling in time but it is the wider picture of the make up of the team that worries me and that is we totally lack a physical presence in all areas of the pitch. If you look at the better teams they all have strong,big physical players then you look at us and we are the complete opposite. Craig has obvious quality but the way he was just out jumped on the first goal worries me because I look and think who is he going to play with? If it is Lockyer then we are going to find ourselves out muscled by most strikers in this division. I look at Partington and here we have a good footballer who is over 6ft tall but for me he plays like a 5ft 8 player in the air and loses out on balls he should be winning every time because physically he is very weak. We lack that presence in our defence and this shows more because whilst Smith is a good keeper he is not what I would call a dominant keeper in the air and whilst there is nothing wrong with having a good shot stopper you must then rely on your central defenders to win most aerial encounters. Midfield presents a similar problem - Ollie Clarke for me just isn't good enough full stop, Lines and Sercombe couldn't win a physical battle between them and Sinclair and now Bennett are both very short. For those who remember him we lack a "Brian Godfrey" type player in that midfield. The same problem is evident up front - Ellis for all his strong running is not physically a strong player and the fact that DC requires him to defend so much leaves us short in the attacking front. Ellis and Gaffers worked hard but how many shots did they have? How many times were they in Shrewsbury's penalty area? Ellis was probably in our penalty area more than the opponents! This brings me on to my biggest gripe -defending corners -if you pile everybody back for corners you are going to struggle to get out of your half too often. Just can't see the point of having everybody back for defending corners because it just invites all bar one opponent outfield player to come forward. Can somebody please tell me what use Sinclair and Bennett are back for corners? There has been plenty of evidence this season that the same goes for Chris Lines and Sercombe neither of whom are particularly strong on defending.

In that first paragraph I feel I have covered why we lost yesterday. Shrewsbury have built a team around a mean defence with two very physical centre halves and play as a team . They don't need to have their centre forward coming back to defend and whilst having no real "stars" they have a good unit who work for each other and are organised. I would say their winning goal really showed up our problem. The only players near Rodman were Mensah who had lost the ball (possibly illegally) and Harrison. There was no defender in sight!!

Smith 6  Not sure if he was blameless on the winning goal but overall he was again competent.
Partington 5,5  Where was he on the winning goal? Inconsistent performance with some good aspects and some bad. Gave too many poor passes but again scored the goal and was always looking to get forward. Needs to improve in the air because he loses out to often for a player of his height.
Craig 6.5  An OK debut. Completely out jumped on the opening goal but definitely is a leader and an organiser and should prove to be a very good signing.
Broadbent 7  MOM Excellent throughout and ridiculous that we are probably looking at him losing his place to Craig when Tom Lockyer is fit. He just oozed confidence when bringing the ball out of defence and rarely wasted a pass.
Bola 6  Did Ok. Sometimes gives almost an arrogant look but hard to criticise as we had few problems on that side of the pitch.
Lines 5  Needless foul for the first goal and too many Hollywood passes but did try to get us moving forward.
Clarke 3  Awful. Gave the ball away far too often
Sercombe 3  Just didn't get in the game at all
Sinclair 5  battled but not up to the standard of recent performances
Gaffney 5  Kept fighting for the ball but we need him in the penalty area more often
Harrison 5  Same as Gaffney,very poor challenge on the winning goal but what was he doing back there as he is supposed to be a striker.


Bennett 5  Looks skilful but surprised how small he is which is a shame because we look so small overall as a team now and lack physical strength to combat teams in this league however I see a good player in there
Mensah NOLE  Poor on the winning goal but no cover whatsoever and looked a little loss when he came on.
Nicholls NOLE


Crowd 5  Pretty quiet overall.
Ref 5  Overall there were aspects of his refereeing that were good but how he failed to give a penalty for the foul on Gaffney right under his and the linesmans nose I don't know and question marks on the winning goal for offside. The linesman was poor throughout
Shrewsbury 6 A good balanced side but paid far too much respect and allowed far too much of the pitch. Very physical side which we just couldn't combat.

DC Was in a difficult position because of the fact that he had two new signings and must have been tempted to start them both but after last weeks performance there was a strong case for keeping the same side. Substitutions didn't really work but there are so fine margins between winning and losing that it is easy to be harsh on the Manager. Personally I would like to see more emphasis on how we play rather than how the opposition play and set up as an attacking team rather than a team that allows the opposition to have the ball and come at us. I hope the added players is not going to result in constant changes.

So we move on to another tough game at Oxford but the problem is that defeat will see us looking towards the bottom again whereas victory will keep us towards the top edge of midtable. My problem at the moment is I can't really see what direction we are going in as regards tactics, set up and formation. For me we have a stronger squad now which is good but still lack the physical players in defence and midfield. Time will tell as to how this season will go  UTG