The second half brought more injury misery; Ted Bishop was also off with a concussion. I know people say we have signed injury-prone players, etc, but that collision wasn’t pleasant and there’s little you can do to legislate for that. Our shape shifted, we had to adjust and change and I think it had a huge impact on our performance. I’m going to sound harsh here, but Adelakun just isn’t up to speed yet and he had another largely underwhelming performance. I didn’t think TJ did badly after coming on, but either him or Montsma need a bigger, uglier, experienced centre half next to them. With Jackson concussed and Joe Walsh unsurprisingly injured again, we don’t have that. By the way, I don’t call that bad planning, one would imagine with all four fit, we’d have some great selection headaches. When your luck is out, it is out.
That said, the goal we conceded was weak, and after Jackson went off defending simple balls into the box became a real problem. Every long throw, every corner, every free-kick, it felt threatening. If Shrewsbury had a bit more in attack, they’d have won that game, simple as that. We did look naive after Jackson went off, but don’t forget this is the same back four that didn’t look bad at all against Wigan. It’s also alright saying ‘we should keep a settled back four’, but Michael adjusts the team to suit the opponent. Rightly, he knew we’d be bombarded yesterday, and I think if Jackson stayed on the field, we’d probably win the game. That’s not an excuse by the way, all footballers should be able to defend a simple throw-in into the box, but we are light on those who throw themselves on that moment; Hopper, Bridcutt, Jackson and Walsh. Certainly, for the opening 20 minutes or so of the second half, we struggled.
Remember, we’d lost two key players in 45 minutes and had to quickly adjust. There’s no doubt we have had bad luck with in-play injuries; remember Plymouth where we got through two captains? Injuries in training, people will question, I get that, but on the field it’s not as clear cut. We looked like yet another makeshift side, yet another team consisting of first-team regulars and some out-of-sorts fringe players. When you are forced to cobble together a team, you will find some prove themselves, and others do not. Adelkaun did not. Max Sanders did.
I praised Sanders this week, and since then he’s had two run-outs and is looking very comfortable. I think Lewis Fiorini has struggled in recent weeks, he’s a player who I think fears making the wrong pass, so instead sometimes makes one backward balls instead. Adelakun looked the same, but Fiorini has been better. Still, when he went off, Max Sanders looked strong, positive and potentially a secret weapon. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him start next weekend, and that might just be the catalyst for a first-team start in our next league game.
By the way, I’m told on social media crowds are dwindling; there were marginally more home fans this week than against Plymouth and Rotherham; but please, don’t let facts get in the way of perception.
I can’t say the second half was scintillating, but we did create a handful of chances, as did they, and for a neutral, it was a decent game. However, when you make five changes, and have a couple of players out of sorts, it is hard to get going. What I really don’t like is people getting on the players backs for playing the style they’re asked to play. We have possession with no purpose, apparently, and yet we’re 12th in League One playing the same style as last season. If our possession isn’t purposefully, what would people prefer? Long balls up front? It baffles me, it really does. I liken it to you having a skilled tradesman round to do your floor, then you standing over him all afternoon saying ‘they don’t do it like that on my YouTube tutorial’. Who is the expert? You, who watches football as a layman for 90 minutes or so each week, or Michael Appleton, who guided us to the play-offs last season, has us 12th in League One and manages an injury-ravaged squad? Look, it’s your right to comment how you see fit, it’s a world of free speech and opinion, but we’re not a bad side. The perception (there we go again), is that we’re negative, but as I said in the week, we were going to come up against a side that were strong, played three at the back, kept space behind to a minimum and hurried us in possession. It happened last season and we lost at home to Rochdale, Fleetwood etc, and yet now, with hindsight, people look back and hold that team up as a, example of a superbly creative force. There is a big difference between last season and this, a significant one, and it isn’t the lad now at Peterborough, or the jewel in Forest’s crown. It’s you and I, this year we’re in the stadium watching, rather than either watching on iFollow, or in many instances, listening on the radio.
I thought some players had very good performances; Lasse Sorensen is looking more settled now, whilst both Maguire and N’Lundulu are a threat going forward. Max Sanders came on and did really well, and McGrandles is hopefully getting back to where he was last season. Lewis Montsma put in another good display as well, but outside of that, others might have made better choices. Ted Bishop played well when he was on the field, as did Adam Jackson. I just think the fear grips some players at home; they don’t want to play the killer pass, because if it goes wrong 7,000 people groan and moan. Last season, there was none of that, and we saw some wonderful football. Certainly, some of the younger players, and some out of form, look a little afraid of making an error and the only difference between last season and this, is us. We’re there judging and a couple of players need to shrug that off and be more positive. However, our general player will not change; we have a style that has worked in the past and with a couple of additions to the squad, it will work again.
I left the game with thirty seconds to go, heading off to my Scarefest event, but the whistle went as I hit the bottom of the stairs. I didn’t feel the desperate anger that I did as we left the Bolton or Ipswich games, I didn’t feel the joy as I did after Charlton and Fleetwood. I just felt a calmness, an acceptance of where we are, and what we need to do. I’m not going to roll out the same old rhetoric about January, you, me, Michael, we all know what we have and what we don’t. Personally, I didn’t think we were bad yesterday, we lacked what we lack, but we’re good in possession, we clearly do have a purpose otherwise we wouldn’t be in the top half of the table and we’re heading in the right direction, albeit by a little backstreet that looks a lot like regression, but isn’t.
I just wish the ‘I tell it like it is’ brigade would see that because guess what? You don’t tell it like it is, you tell it how it looks at first glance, a cursory, one-second glance at a few moments and nothing more. You’re doing yourself a disservice trying to tell it like it is, when all you’re doing is telling it like you see it which is 100% not how it is, at all.
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