Sam Northwood previews tomorrow’s League 1 home game against Rochdale.
Venue: Montgomery Waters Meadow
Competition: League One
Time: 15:00
Head to Head record: Played 52, Shrewsbury Town wins 16, Rochdale wins 25, draws 11
Shrewsbury will hope to improve on their recent form when Rochdale visit on Saturday. On paper Shrews have one of the best best squads in the league which has been improved further with the addition of experienced left back Charlie Daniels
Rochdale sit 17th, one place above Shrews. 2 ex Shrews players are part of the Rochdale squad. Midfielder Jimmy Ryan and ex loanee Stephen Humphrys
We asked the Salopian super fan, Bizzy for his thoughts on our League 1 home loss to Bristol Rovers.
“Shes got a tongue like an electric eel and loves the texture of Bizzylads venison like love rod.”
“This is where the lack of going to football is getting tough, the dreary autumn/winter months are bad enough at the best of times but when one of your major sources of pleasure has been ripped away from you its bloody torture, missing meeting my friends for a pint and talking nonsense before 2 hours of acting like a lunatic at the Meddah! The whole thing is really starting to get me down, the empty feeling of having to settle for an online stream of the match makes the whole episode even more depressing, will football ever be the same after this ??”
“To last nights game and some bizarre team selecting to start off with in which Scott High was deployed at right back despite having three right backs in our squad, assume there’s some disciplinary issue with Love?? But how are Fossey and Millar both injured at the same time?? What on earth goes on in training??Just all seems very fishy to me and I’m not talking about the contents of Mr Wycherley’s apple crumble.”
“The squad looks so unbalanced, overloaded in some areas but short in others. Golbourne’s injury throwing a spanner into the works with no recognised cover, I’m just open mouthed at our recruitment in certain positions.”
“To the game itself I’ve got to give Salop their dues and I thought we were superb in patches, despite the bizarreness of High and Vela at full back as both did very well to be fair, Vela got forward when he could and High’s use of the ball was very sound. It was also a game where the midfield were not bypassed for once, proof again we look a better unit centrally with Brad Walker present.”
“We created a wave of chances, big Leon being a part of most of it, the use of three out and out strikers up top worked too, all interchanging with each other. Dan Udoh’s energy and pace a major plus point, how on earth the ball didnt go in the back of the net is anyones guess???”
“Bristol Rovers are a bloody decent team and we made them look bang average at times, they will never score an easier goal mind. Leon’s marking for the header was utterly lazy, one small criticism of Deyan in goal is that he looks indecisive at crosses, maybe he could have come out more commandingly for the goal.”
“Town continued to play some nice flowing footy in the second half, balls rained in across the six yard box but as the stats show in-front of goal there was no one there to finish them. With the introduction of the Turkish wonder Oztumer for the Gas, Salop seemed to run out of ideas a bit. Taking off Udoh was a bit of a strange sub for me because he looked capable of doing something.”
“Time ran out and Salop’s miserable home form continued but for the majority of the game we were far the superior side, the final product sadly missing yet again.”
“Nine competitive games into the season and there’s not one match in which you can say Salop have been outplayed, yes i agree the balance of the squad doesn’t look right but there’s been lots of plus points too. Overall this season I’ve been pleased with some aspects of play but we need to start converting chances to goals. I still feel long term I’m still unconvinced if Sam’s the man for the job but he needs to be given until Christmas to prove me wrong, as said there’s alot of pleasing aspects it was great to see the ball being played on the floor last night.”
“Keep smiling everyone, I know how bloody hard it is for everyone at the moment, especially the players who it must be so demoralising playing at an empty meadow. Get behind Sam for the time being please as it’s far too early to make drastic changes, if by christmas the doom and gloom is still about then we can think about making a change if needed.”
“Love and jollops Biz”
Be sure to follow our resident Shrewsbury Town super fan on Twitter @Bizzylad
Daz Carding previews tonight’s League 1 home game against Bristol Rovers.
Venue: Montgomery Waters Meadow
Time: 1800
Competition: League One
Head to Head record: Played: 67, 15 Shrewsbury Town wins, 17 Bristol Rovers wins, 18 draws
Shrewsbury will be looking to improve on Saturdays game, even though we came away with a win we played pretty poor with only two shots all game. We come into the game having not lost since we played Northampton on 19th September so this is an unbeaten run Sam Ricketts’ side would love to continue on.
Bristol Rovers manages a draw against Burton at the weekend and will be looking to push on tonight against Salop and could be a tricky team to break down. Rovers will bring former Salop loanee Luke McCormick with them, let’s hope we make it a bad return for him.
Key Players:
Shrewsbury Town – Leon Clarke
Bristol Rovers – James Daly
Predicted XI’s
Shrewsbury Town
Iliev
High
Pierre
Ebanks-Landell
Golbourne
Norburn
Walker
Vela
Cummings
Clarke
Udoh
Bristol Rovers
Jaakkola
Ehmer
Baldwin
Harries
Hare
Westbrooke
Grant
McCormick
Tutonda
Daly
Hanlan
Score prediction: Shrewsbury Town 2 V 1 Bristol Rovers
We asked the Salopian super fan, Bizzy for his thoughts on our League 1 away win against AFC Wimbledon.
“Thats bloody typical of you owd lad, I’m talking about comradeship not turdburgling…”
“As said so many times before ‘a wins a win, it dont matter how you get it’. Yesterday was fine proof of that on a day where entertainment onfield was at a utter premium.”
“To give Salop there dues we started brightly enough with lots of posession of the ball without actually doing anything of any note with it. I’ve been a fan of Ricketts having the guts to change how Town play this season but we looked very unbalanced yesterday, not the formation as such but the personnel in them, not helped by players unavailable again.”
“Man of the match was easy to pick yesterday Deyan Iliev had a very steady debut in goal, utterly gutted for Harry to be dropped again but justified in the end. The only other real positive from yesterday was Ro Shaun filling in at right back again, I assume covid issues for Fossey, Love and Millar’s absence???”
“After a bright start the game just drifted along without anything of real note happening, any goalmouth action was at the Dons attacking end. Midfield totally bypassed us yesterday, Norbs playing far too deep. Until a Ricketts masterclass sub brought on Brad Walker for a struggling Zamburek, it wasn’t the young Czech’s fault to be fair but it just wasnt his type of game. Dons were as average as us, space was at a premium in the middle and he had no way of expressing himself. Walkers presense definitely bolstered Salop and allowed a frustrating looking Norbs to get forward more, we did look a tad better in the last 20 minutes.”
“No hiding the fact it was a bloody dull game to watch, not helped by some missing faces and Fossey’s forwards runs were missed. Whalley can also be a game changer on his day but the players who were on show need to show a bit more. Cummings looked like lost and he was almost invisible most of the game, as said in my previous reports he’s more comfortable in a central striking position. I don’t see much of a future for him in a Salop shirt in his current position.”
“A classic poachers goal from Leon, again he showed little flashes of quality in laying the ball off at times but we need to use him more.
I’m bloody struggling to write these reports, not being able to watch Salop live is doing the owd mental health no good and my interest in Town is slipping a bit. Watching online is tedious to be fair, if i was in the west end of the smoke after a bellyfull of libatory induced jollop I’d be revelling in a cracking away win but watching from home just isnt the same.”
“Hopefully can use this win as a springboard and to expect a more entertaining game against a more freeflowing Rovers side.”
“Love and jollops Biz”
Be sure to follow our resident Shrewsbury Town super fan on Twitter @Bizzylad
So the League One Nickname Predictions have returned but with a difference this season, this season my wife has been replaced with my 8 year old godson Noah who plays for Dawley Wanderers as a centre back. All he was provided with were the teams nicknames to decide who will win, his picks are below.
Last week he managed four out of ten predictions, let’s see how he gets on this week.
Dons V Gills – Gillingham
Wombles V Shrews – Shrewsbury Town
Pirates V Brewers – Bristol Rovers
Addicks V Latics – Charlton Athletic
Railwaymen V Seasiders – Blackpool
Fishermen V Imps – Lincoln City
Tractor Boys V Stanley – Accrington Stanley
Posh V U’s – Peterborough United
Pilgrims V Cobblers – Northampton Town
Pompey V Donny – Doncaster Rovers
Dale V Tigers – Hull City
Robins V Black Cats – Sunderland
ODDS – (William Hill) 18474/1
Massive thanks to Noah for taking the time out of his day to do. Can he beat the bookies?
Daz Carding previews today’s League 1 away game against AFC Wimbledon.
Venue: Loftus Road
Competition: League One
Time: 1500
Head to Head record: Played: 11, 5 Shrewsbury wins, 1 Wimbledon win, 5 draws
After a weekend off last week Shrewsbury Town had extra time to prepare for today’s game, which is being played on something of a neutral ground as Wimbledon’s new stadium is not ready yet so the game is taking place at QPR’s Loftus Road. The break gave Shaun Whalley a bit more time to regain fitness so hopefully he will play a part in today’s game, also looking likely to return are Daniel Udoh and Ro-Shaun Williams. Today could see league debuts for Iliev, Miller and Zamburek.
Salop are still yet to register a League One win and face a Wimbledon side who have only managed 1 point at Loftus Road but will look to build on momentum built with their 1-0 away win against Swindon last weekend.
Key Players:
AFC Wimbledon – Joe Pigott
Shrewsbury Town – Brad Walker
Predicted XI’s
AFC Wimbledon
Trueman
O’Neill
Thomas
Csoka
McLoughlin
Woodyard
Oksanen
Chislet
Seddon
Longman
Pigott
Shrewsbury Town
Iliev
Fossey
Williams
Pierre
Golbourne
Zamburek
Walker
Vela
Cummings
Udoh
Clarke
Score prediction: AFC Wimbledon 0 V 2 Shrewsbury Town
So the League One Nickname Predictions have returned but with a difference this season, this season my wife has been replaced with my 8 year old godson Noah who plays for Dawley Wanderers as a centre back. All he was provided with were the teams nicknames to decide who will win, his picks are below. Let’s see how he gets on…
Gillingham V Oxford United – Gillingham
Accrington Stanley V Rochdale – Rochdale
Blackpool V Ipswich Town – Ipswich Town
Crewe Alexandra V Wigan Athletic – Wigan Athletic
Lincoln City V Bristol Rovers – Lincoln City
Northampton Town V Peterborough United – Peterborough United
Plymouth Argyle V Burton Albion – Burton Albion
Portsmouth V MK Dons – MK Dons
Swindon Town V AFC Wimbledon – Swindon Town
Fleetwood Town V Hull City – Fleetwood Town
ODDS – 29349/1 (William Hill)
Massive thanks to Noah for taking the time out of his day to do this. Can he beat the bookies?
We asked the Salopian super fan, Bizzy for his thoughts on our EFL Trophy home game against Bolton Wanderers.
“To the utter ringsausage who put a magnet in the urinals of the Cross Foxes knowing I have a metallic love length. I will get my revenge, two bloody hours i was stuck there.”
“EFL Trophy time again, mostly irrelevant to most but it’s a chance for some squad members and newbies to get some game time. Not a fan at all of this competition but its much needed prize money for winning games and a chance of Wembley i suppose but the thought of going there again is about as tempting as stapleing my foreskin to a chopping board.”
“Bolton made 9 changes, coupled with the fact they are a league below us should have made this fixture a comfortable win. But in typical Salop style it was far from that, overall though it was a suprisingly entertaining encounter. I keep saying we’ve got to learn to kill teams off.”
“There was mixture of pleasing and negative aspects of the game, plus point was a Man Of The Match display from Harry Burgoyne the lad was class. An unreal save to stop a certain goal from the ghost himself Arthur Gnahoua, then after getting the slightest of fingertips to save a penalty to which Salop sloppily gave away again, his handling was top notch , great bounce back from his shaky display at Boro and will have no worries in him being a mainstay between the sticks.”
“Jan Zamburek is a very exciting signing, he started off quietly but grew as the game went on, lovely close control of the ball, decent size too which is very important in the more aggresive nature of lower league football. He’s a fully fledged box to box player in the making, it’s something we have defintley been lacking, honestly feel he could be an utter gem.”
“Another stand out was Marlon Fossey, I’ve said before about his strengths, loving to get forward again , could there be a way we could accommodate Fossey and Millar in the same eleven as they could really compliment each other I feel.”
“Great to see Cumdog starting in a central striking role as he looked far more comfortable there, laying some decent balls out wide, always seemed to be in space and took his goal really well. He has so much obvious ability when he wants to show it, he showcased it with a 45 yard deft chip which nearly caught the Trotters keeper napping.
“I really hope Ryan Barnett can become a regular for Salop, loves to run at players, happy cutting in and his distribution from crosses improving. All this no suprise to me after seeing him at reserve and youth level, he’s 21 now so maturing into a top player, a big well done to Sam for keeping hold of him as he’s another who easily could have gone on the wayside.”
“Slightly concerning again last night was our ability to kill teams off and we seem to fade in the closing stages as if we almost run out of ideas. The normally dependable Aaron Pierre looked a bit shaky at times and was far too predictable at times with his cross field punts. Teams of a better quality will suss our style out, precious little evidence especially in the second half of this exciting attacking football that we are supposed to play. In fact the Trotters youngsters after pulling one back looked brighter than us and were very unlucky not to get anything out of it.”
“But a wins a win and its something to build on. Still unsure on where Salop are heading but glimmers of hope last night that its heading in the right direction I hope.”
“Love and jollops Biz”
Be sure to follow our resident Shrewsbury Town super fan on Twitter @Bizzylad
We asked the Salopian super fan, Bizzy for his thoughts on our League 1 home game against Gillingham.
“Watch out sprouts the Bizzy love truncheon is here, who’s up for some good owd fashioned Salopian jiggery pokery?”
“Bloody rotten weather wise outside put paid to a planned visit to Market Drayton Town FC, so another afternoon of Ifollow awaited, the sheer excitment of it all was enough to fill my gordily stained love blob containers with freshly digested whiff juice.”
“First home league game I’ve missed in god knows how many years, I’m really starting to fear for the lower leagues in the EFL. Some suspected covid issues in the Salop camp a possible explaination for Udoh and Ro Shaun’s absence, I do wonder if things don’t continue to improve will the government in there infinite wisdom make testing compulsory for all EFL clubs. Financially that would be disastrous, but there’s an obvious issue as seen with the Crewe shambles yesterday, also playing with no crowds is having an obvious effect on the players and the standard of football on offer. You can see the intensity is lacking in games, not just in Salop but all the way up to the Premier League too. The matches as a spectacle are less entertaining in my opinion, there’s almost a pause when a goal is scored due to no fan reaction, must be so demoralising for players to perform in empty stadiums, if its going to be like this for the next six months then the games had it sadly. Ppeople will simply turn away and find other ways to fill there leisure time, the game and the pyramid structure as we know it are in grave danger and its going to take a lot of recovery time once this pandemic is over.”
“For the game itself it was the classic tale of two halves that I’ve wrote about non stop in the past.”
“Expected a lot more from the Gills but they were woeful for the majority of the game, they looked tired and woefuĺly short of ideas. Harry Burgoyne had a very quiet afternoon as did the Gills keeper to be fair, but give Salop their dues we were the side who were pressing and looking to go forward in the first half. It was brilliant to see homegrown academy lad Ryan Barnett get his first league start and he was one of the bright spots on a largely misreable days entertainment. Marlon Fossey continues to impress me still quite raw obviously and a tad defensively naive at times but there’s a great footballer in there, loves to go forward and pretty decent in the air too. Also in the first half Leon Clarke showed little moments of class which we all have seen over the years, some great lay offs to the wide men, strong and physical too just a shame there wasn’t a Cummings or Udoh beside him. I’m unsure still if this lone striker role will suit Leon, a case of waiting and seeing because Sam has definitely made his mind up on the formation.”
“Walkers goal gave Salop a deserved lead at half time and it was time for Salop to kill the game off, we almost got the second when a header was cleared off the line but after that the standard of football lowered to almost schoolboy levels as it was utterly painful to watch. Yet another injury to Shaun Whalley didnt help matters, how many more knocks and niggles are we going to have? But despite that Sam tactically was quite inept, it was obvious to everyone that after a hour that Leon Clarke was knackered, doesn’t he trust Cummings in the same role then? Any pattern in our play disintegrated, with aimless balls aplenty going out of touch. Is it me or has the narrowing of the pitch made things worse than better? Lot of balls were over hit and going out of play.”
“Midfield in large yesterday were largely anonomous, missed the guile of Scotty High a bit. We looked very workmanlike which was understandable maybe due to Gills physical nature but they were there for the taking, the inevitable equaliser happened and we had only ourselves to blame.”
“No way I’m calling for Sams head but theres calls for his removal again from a minority of the disgruntled faithful, for a start theres no way thats going to happen during these corona times, secondly its too early yet to gauge on how things are going to go. With injuries and other issues meaning we can’t play a settled eleven, but its time for Ricketts to set a marker and give the fans something to bloody shout about. I’m pleased Samuel has tried to change things but going by what I’ve seen so far, the same things are still happening as we are unable to kill teams off and entertainment at times is at a premium. The magical year of 2017/18 may haunt us in years to come because it became the expected normal, should we face facts and accept we are a run of the mill lower league side? I personally dont think we should, the potential of the club is there and we are in a better state finance wise than others in the division. We should be looking to challenge the top half and beyond, the infrastructure of the club is there to support championship football. If Wycombe, Burton and others can do it why can’t Salop?”
“Recruiment wise under Sam has been good on the whole but its time to show it on the pitch.”
“Man Of The Match for me was Marlon Fossey, he looks a top player. What Matt Millars arrival does to him and Donald Love’s chances of being in the first eleven is anyones guess though. Millar was present at the Meddah yesterday apparently so expect an announcement in due course , left back cover is badly needed though.”
“Love and jollops Biz”
Be sure to follow our resident Shrewsbury Town super fan on Twitter @Bizzylad
Going Down The Oteley Road 