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Shrewsbury v Rovers

Ian

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They don’t look interested in this.
 

Ian

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Our defence looks very vunerable without M&M at the back.
 
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ADD

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Norwood
Franklyn is doing ok and Williams will I feel grow into it. DMH and Tolitt looking very very average. At this level their pace is not so special like it was in the VNL. Wharton made some good saves but did not do well on third goal but then Davies makes mistakes as well. Defence at sixes and sevens pretty understandably but good Sutton is back playing...
 
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Shrews have played a relatively strong team and understandably we have played like a bunch of strangers. A bit of a farce really.
 

Sparky

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Tollit off at half time for Gilmour. A shame for Ben - should have gone out on loan to get some match fitness
 

Boz

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Iain Hume
Finished 6-0. Feel sorry for those who made the effort to travel, any crumbs of comfort in what sounds pretty dismal fare?
 
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Mungy's Hairdresser
As RLC said, it was obviously a team of individuals on show tonight but I’d love to hear who was up for the fight against the odds? The subs seemed strange, maybe neccessary to conform with the bizarre rules? Disappointed about Ben. Is he that far away from first team action?
 
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aldo
fair enough . its good some got game time but in the comp we have played 2 scored 3 conceded 10 . and we only got citys multy million air kids to play
 
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I am not sure we learnt much from that tonight. The club clearly decided to give this competition a 'bye', and the throw-together side we put out was never going to be much competition for a League One side featuring more regulars than our own.

I missed the first goal, but defensively we were terrible in the first half, not just the back five but as a team. There was no communication or pressure on the ball whatsoever and we did not really have any midfield play at all until about thirty minutes in. The second half was a bit better. When Gilmour came on we had more possession and got higher up the pitch, without looking like scoring. Shrewsbury picked us off on the counter attack for the final three goals.

Individually, the game just confirmed what I thought already. Tollitt was pretty hopeless, his decision making consistently poor and it was no surprise he was subbed; DMH was completely anonymous, and I think he avoided the hook purely because he was the only player we had who could operate as an emergency left wing back. Sutton was very rusty and Williams barely moved in ninety minutes and was woefully short of match fitness. You can't judge him on that game. Akammadu worked hard up front but was too isolated. We played a 532 with Franklin supported by Cole, who had a few bright moments, but the forward line was too lightweight to make an impression. Gilmour did well when he came on, but gave the ball away for the fourth goal, and I thought Buxton was our best player.

I think tonight's game was the biggest Rovers defeat I have seen in a (supposedly) competitive fixture.

Hoping for much better on Friday.
 

Sparky

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Just saw some of the goals. Wharton should have done better for at least 2 of them. Albeit he didn’t have much protection.

After witness the performance of George against Crewe, god help us if Scottie gets injured.

The performance of Williams sounds disappointing. He’s been with us a while now and sounds very far from the first team. Why on earth did we sign him?

Poor Tollit - why on earth has he not gone out on loan
 
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I think Williams will be fine in the long term. He just is not ready to play football yet.

Tollitt is really struggling though, and DMH should not be here in my view.
 
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Mungy's Hairdresser
Thanks RLC for your in depth analysis!! Any thought on the subs? Rule obligation or merely give the guys a run out?
 
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Thanks RLC for your in depth analysis!! Any thought on the subs? Rule obligation or merely give the guys a run out?
Probably just shoring us up a bit before the seventh or eighth went in. Although I am sure most people at the club think it was 'mission accomplished' tonight, me included really. Just hope the players' confidence did not take a knock.
 
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Alan King, Barry Dyson
Yes, we rested most of our key players and gave the fringe players a chance to get match fit, but I really feel for any fan who travelled. They should get their fare and entry refunded. If it wasn't depressing and embarrassing, then surely it was a waste of an evening. Personally, I don't blame Rovers. MM said what he was doing and was only acting in the best interests of the club, whose main objective is finishing as high as possible in League Two. Even with a squad our size, where we have two senior pros for every position, we have too many players injured or not fully match fit. We can't risk more injuries by playing our full-strength team three times in seven days.
 
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One further thought - is Paddy Wharton now our number two keeper? He was on Saturday. I've heard nothing about Shamal George going back to Liverpool. Is Luke Pilling out on loan? It says so on the OS, but it also says George is still here and Wharton is out on loan. If Paddy is indeed being groomed to be on the bench every week, I hope he has enough character to put his debut behind him.
 

ONIGP

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Oh dear! like RLC I think this may be the first time I've seen us ship 6! To be honest, I was only hoping that we would be competitive and keep our shape tonight; we certainly failed on the first and there were too many changes to allow the second. I agree that Buxton was our best player - he looked quick and sharp. Otherwise we were poor as both a team and, in many cases, individually.

Interested in how strong their team was because Radio Shropshire was saying they were going to make a lot of changes and were expecting us to do the same. I think we only started Buxton from the starters against Morecambe and curious as to the equivalent for Shrews.

In terms of any other positives … it was only a fiver to get in (but a 200 mile round trip and a fiver to park didn't make it cheap), I can always say "I was at Shrewsbury" when people start moaning about poor performances and the 130 SWA maintained an impressive level of noise considering. In fact I was probably more focused on keeping my defiant clapping in time rather than following the match after it reached 4!

I really hope that this is just a reality check and doesn't lead to any loss of confidence for Friday. I'm hoping it will remove any complacency since it does demonstrate how fine margins can be in football.
 

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This was an accident waiting to happen. Yes the players had not played together but surely in training they had against the first team. I can forgive the lack of familiarity but on the other hand even if not familiar with the ways of your fellow players you should still be capable of marking the player you are assigned to.
Wharton made a couple of errors yes but on the other hand he was completely exposed. Not sure you can realistically judge him on that defence.
Franklyn looked fast and should develop well. Williams did ok but isn't fit and was clearly playing the safe ball. DMH wasteful as was Tolitt. DMH should be sent back if we can as otherwise we are playing him just to avoid paying more of his wages.
Overall difficult against a team that only dropped 2 fromSaturday.
 
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