ICF Report - Shrewsbury

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

Return of the ICF match report after extreme lack of cash restricted my away trips after Christmas last year...a blessing in disguise in hindsight.

Quite a few new squad players I was seeing in the flesh for the first time. First trip to Shrewsbury for me and a neat little stadium if lacking in character. After a sunny day it turned to drizzly rain as I approached. Capacity under 10000 and unfortunately plenty of empty seats but a good turnout of City fans.

Our team was Rudd in goal, then back 4 of Garrido Cuellar Miquel and Whittaker. Midfielders were O''Neill, Odjidja, Howson and E Bennett

Two up front - Lafferty and Hooper back from injury

It opened with City controlling possession but no end product and Shrews came back to make an even game. As the half wore on we started to dominate but the only end product was some inviting crosses that Jerome would have fancied but either went untouched or Laffs or Miquel put over the bar.

From about 30 mins City slacked off and Shrews got some good chances including one attack into the box down the left side parallel to the goal line , hit straight at Rudd from a very narrow angle at short range, he stood tall to save with his chest , then a thru ball down the channel, again hit directly at Rudd and well parried.

So as the half ended they''d definitely had the better chances mainly IMO because City weren''t exerting themselves enough. Could Neil wake up the team again for the second half?

Unfortunately there was little improvement and the second half opened on a low key note. Things livened up when a through ball (from Howson I think) was run onto by Hooper on the right side of the box. As he slowed to control the ball he was flattened by the big defender behind running into him. A stupid foul as Hooper was at a narrow angle so a limited threat but as clear a penalty as you could imagine. But the ref who was well behind the play waved away the appeals from hooper on the floor.

Soon after Shrews took the lead from a high ball into our box which was headed on - Rudd hesitated and another looping header in front of him dropped the ball over him into the corner. Poor defending by the CBs primarily but also Rudd could have done better.

Hooper by now was flagging so no surprise when Murphy and Loza soon came on for him and Odjidja. Trouble was it made us very lightweight and Shrews worked out they could out-muscle most of our front line. The ref was dreadful and if in doubt (ie often) would give the decision to the defending team which allowed shrews to get away with a physical approach- Murphy especially was often blocked off making it hard for him to get into the game, often trying to get around a defender who was impeding him would lead to the ref giving a free kick against Murphy which must have been frustrating.

Things got a bit tasty when there was a foul on one of our wingers (IMO) on the right - not sure if it was Benno or Murphy, the ref gave a foul to Shrewsbury and there were some afters which led to Lafferty getting a yellow. You could see the red mist descend on him and NA had to sub him or we''d have been down to 10 men in short order, so Cam Mcgeehan came on. He put in a decent shift but it made us look even more lightweight.

A decent passing move got the ball to Loza in the box and he buried it left of the keeper but our joy was cut short as the flag was up - couldn''t tell if it was right from behind the goal.

As the clock ran down we finally exerted some sustained pressure but created few chances, most notably a shot pulled just wide by Whitts.

So a disappointing trip and another early cup exit.

Two main things occur to me ;

1 we looked like last year''s team without a dominant striker. Which meant we struggled to convert possession around the box into chances. Laffs was disappointing and never really linked up with Hooper.

2 too many of our players were basically coasting, relying on our superior quality to get us home. It didn''t- you have to work hard as well.

I suspect a few of our starting lineup will rest a bit easier as many of the understudies didn''t impress.

[BroadstairsR 2,138]

Thanks for that and very useful info. in the aftermaft of a bit of a surprising blip.

 

You neglected to answer the question on most of our lips though ............. How did Odjidja play

 

Surprised that Hooper was so unfit ... suggestions that he was still a bit weighty from another source. True?

 

At least Howson might be nearly ready? 

[Dubai Mark 0]

Many thanks for your report, really appreciated and helps build a picture.

The one thing concerning me to date this season is, the "coasting" you mention, it keeps happening and will certainly cost us we we don''t cut it out soon.

[Move Klose 303]

I cant help but think someone like Elliott Bennett needs to up his game. Done nothing in the cup games, been pretty quiet when coming on as a sub. Just cant see him forcing his way into the 1st team any time soon, unlike someone like Odjidja, or Howson. Some of these players need to give Adams a selection headache but performances like that just aint causing that. Redmond is so far ahead of E.Bennett now.

[im spartacus canary 0]

i can''t help thinking elliott bennett has turned into our resident nice bloke a bit like simon lappin did without much hope of troubling the starting 11 any time soon...

[Muffles 8]

Decent report, thanks. Seeing the line up my hopes for a result weren''t very high.

True, on paper, man for man, the team should have been enough to beat Shrewsbury, however eleven changes from Saturday essentially meant a brand new team, who won''t have played competitively together previously - possibly in training, but not as a ''first team'' - which possibly explains the lack of fluidity and coherence between the players.

Adams saying he (was) taking the cup seriously, certainly didn''t show it with this line up - chances are, we''re never gonna win it (Chelsea next round), but maybe keep ''the spine'' of the team together to keep momentum.

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

Odjijda to me looked unfit. A decent contribution at the start but when shrews got on top from 30 mins or so I didn''t really notice him and same after the break

No surprise when he was subbed

So can''t really assess him on this game