Plenty To Ponder

Having missed the Wycombe game, I had a keen sense of anticipation in the build-up to the visit to Shrewsbury. Two wins and a draw in the last three, up against a team which had lost four of the last five and had only managed four goals in eight games (to be fair only conceded nine), plus signs that the much greater attacking options now available to us might be accompanied by a tougher attitude in defence (ie that we might be putting an end to giving away soft goals). Basically would the game reinforce the view that there are good grounds for believing we are steadily improving and capable of progressing to around the top of the league?

In that context, I’d have to conclude that yesterday was a small step backwards. Of course there are positives: extending an unbeaten run to four, another point in the bag, a clean sheet, and Isted and Jones standing out. Against these have to be set yet another lame first-half display, which might easily have seen us one or two down at the break; a clean sheet but not the sort of one to be proud of, with some lamentable defending at times and Isted required to make a string of good saves; a number of players looking like fish out of water in the positions they were asked to play; and a lack of clinical finishing (although the fact that we didn’t score was also down to a fine display from their keeper). So plenty to be worked on – and for Appleton and his team to think about.

The team was not surprisingly little changed from the one which had beaten Wycombe. In defence Watson(T) started in place of Abankwah, who didn’t make the squad, and in midfield Taylor came in for Watson(L), who did. Otherwise it was as you were with the same 4-3-3, with up front May flanked by Blackett-Taylor and Leaburn and Campbell(T). On the bench Asiimwe and the available again Fraser came in, with Anderson and Campbell(C) missing out.

After a reasonably even start, marked by a free header apiece from a set piece (ours, which fell to Jones, was easily gathered but their one – the first piece of poor defending as their centre-back was allowed to run into space unchallenged - required a smart save from Isted, with the rebound not converted), we increasingly slipped into a ‘play it safe, keep it tight, slow it down’ mode, which handed Shrewsbury the initiative. They were committed, tough opponents happy to get everyone behind the ball when out of possession. The result was no service at all to an increasingly isolated from three, with Blackett-Taylor identified as the main threat and crowded out, while we were unable to work space elsewhere as Leaburn seemed out of sorts and Campbell just wasn’t in the game in his floating/number 10 role. The set-up clearly thrives on space but we were too slow and Shrewsbury too determined to enable any to be created.

It didn’t seem to matter that much as half-time approached since Shrewsbury were also creating nothing. We had long injury breaks for Jones and Taylor, with the latter ultimately unable to continue and replaced by Watson(L), and were anticipating a few choice words from Appleton in the dressing-room to get them to liven things up (as proved the case against Stevenage, who like Oxford and Fleetwood before them had made us look poor in the first 45), when out of the blue Shrewsbury fashioned two late efforts which might have seen them take the lead.

The first was routine in that from a set piece their guy got off a curling shot from the edge of the area, one which required Isted to dive to his left to turn around for another corner. The second was rightly highlighted by Steve Brown on Charlton TV, as the sort of mindless defending which has so often cost us this season. The corner was headed out and our packed defence to a man simply ran out in the direction of the ball. They chipped it back in towards the far post, just over the head of an advancing Hector, and dropping invitingly for one of theirs who had simply peeled away from the pack. If the header had been placed a yard either side of Isted it would have been a goal, but fortunately it wasn’t and the effort was smothered.

That ending surely would have added to the pressure to ensure that we went into the second half with a more positive attitude and a greater work rate. And to be fair that was the case, although the game really only caught fire when around the hour mark – after a Jones header was well saved and Thomas had seen yellow for a foul on the edge of our area- Aneke and Tedic came on for Leaburn and Campbell, with May dropping into the position behind the front three. The game changed as we were able to play the ball to a physical central forward able to hold it and cause mayhem, in turn pulling their defence apart.

And the rest of the game saw a litany of near misses at both ends. Aneke jabbed a shot through a crowd which their keeper saw late and only just kept out, then Tadic set up Aneke, who should have done better from the edge of the area than shoot over. Then an Aneke move forward saw the ball break for May, whose fierce shot was turned around for a corner. From that corner Shrewsbury broke and their guy, in his own half, saw Isted off his line. He sent in a near perfect effort, hit and directed well enough to see it sail into an empty net. But Isted backpeddling managed somehow to get a hand on the ball and knock it down, after which it bounced back up and around the bar and post, with Isted himself ending up injured in the net.

Aneke had a close-range header saved (another which if directed either side of the keeper would surely have been a goal). But after Fraser and Asiimwe had replaced Blackett-Taylor and Watson(T) we almost gifted Shrewsbury the lead, with Isted turning to the villain. We had a shout for a penalty as an Aneke shot on the turn appeared to be blocked by the defender’s arm, although there seemed no movement towards the ball, but from that a routine Hector back-pass saw Isted try to knock the ball to the side of their advancing forward, only to be hopelessly caught out with their guy getting between him and the ball, albeit with his back to goal. Isted bundled him over and the only question was whether the card would be yellow or red. Probably a close call but it was the former. And Isted managed to turn around the shot from the free-kick.

In the final minutes we had moments, with shots blocked or saved, but the two best chances fell to Shrewsbury. Watson lost the ball in midfield and as their guy advanced with it our defenders backed off, and backed off, enabling him to reach the edge of the area, look up, but then put the shot over the bar. Finally, almost at the end of the eight extra minutes, they fashioned a one-one-one, but Isted was out quickly and managed to smother the effort.

Any review of the highlights would leave people wondering how that game ended goalless, especially given the second-half chances. At the break the stats showed that Shrewsbury had had seven attempts on goal, four on target, against two and one respectively for us. The final tally was 15 attempts for them (eight on target), 14 for us (six). That’s 29 attempts on goal, almost one every three minutes, and 20 in the second 53 minutes. Good goalkeeping and poor finishing, at both ends.

There is a lot to dwell on. Teams that work hard to deny us space (Stevenage, Shrewsbury) are capable of smothering us and neutering our forward threat, with May in the team to score goals, not to try to outmuscle two central defenders. Having Leaburn play on the right side of a front three didn’t work yesterday, and with Campbell ineffective that enabled Shrewsbury to ensure CBT never received the ball in space and quickly found himself up against two or three. Aneke, and Tedic, changed that, but we know Aneke can’t last a full game. In stark contrast to earlier in the season, we now have three centre-forwards (Leaburn, Aneke, Tedic) and a goalscorer (May). But if we want to have a forward pairing we have to lose the 4-3-3, either shifting to a 3-5-2 (which tends to neuter Blackett-Taylor, our most potent weapon) or a 4-4-2 (possible but risky, would require two battlers in the central positions). With Fraser returning, presumably gradually, we do have a more natural No.10 than Campbell(T), with hopefully Camara also returning before too long. And although I’ve no idea if he’s not showing up in training, I’m surprised that Campbell(C) hasn’t been featuring more, not coming off the bench against Wycombe and not in the squad yesterday.

All for Appleton to be pondering no doubt. But I’d be emphasising a few factors. First, the opposition and how they will set up. If you expect to be in a war of attrition in the first half, don’t necessarily look to start with your most creative line-up. If Aneke can only put in 30/40 minutes, they don’t have to be the last 30/40. You can have enough substitutes these days to bring him on and take him off later. Leaburn is still feeling his way into the season after the injury lay-off, so at the moment surely starting with one of the two Campbells in the widish right slot – if we stick to 4-3-3 - makes more sense. And although May did well enough dropping deeper, his job is to stick the ball in the net, let’s not start tampering with that. He plays in the front line, or comes off the bench to slot in there, whether or not we change formation to provide him with a partner.