Wholesale changes? I wouldnt have thought so. Rest a couple only if they really need it. Messing about too much with the team could bite us on the backside. Ferguson and Barlaser are the two who seem to be a bit flat at the moment. I wouldnt be surprised to see Lindsay or Odoffin (or both) start in midfield and to see either Tutu or Mattock start at left wing back. Putting twelve points between us and MKDons at this stage would be massive, then deal with Saturday when it arrives. As we have seen many times this season, you cant take any game for granted.
It's a tough task for Warney - does he mess with a winning formula? With the frequency of games at the moment, he's really forced into changes. Woody will be available tomorrow and I imagine he will play - so does he leave Icky out - he's had a couple of dodgy moments in the last two games so might be worth resting? Whoever he selects, I trust the man who has taken us 9 points clear to do the right thing!
By the way Smiler, since I started putting up the opening thread for the next match, we've won 7 and drawn 1. Now that pattern has been broken, there's a great responsibility resting on your shoulders!! I trust you'll have your mitigation ready?!
If I'd known I wouldnt have gone near it! Can we agree that I am talking about selection policy in general and that you will start a separate match thread? That feels like an acceptable fudge.
I'm so confident this season Smiler that I don't consider superstition will play any part in our fate. As a sign of my confidence, I won't start another thread and, I promise, I won't hold you responsible if we lose!
In that case, and with that disclaimer safely filed away, I'm predicting a 2-0 win for the Millers. I'm making the trip over to Salop for this one with my eldest so I hope we turn up and get the job done. We generally do.
A draw is better than a defeat. Disappointing, although we won't win every game and clubs lower down the league are not going to roll over and let us win, on the contrary, they'll be up for putting one over the top team. Definitely not up to standard tonight, perhaps fatigue setting in. I trust Warne has it all in hand in preparation for Saturday. A point worth having away from home.
We were really poor. We just about shaded a nothing first half but were overrun in the second. Too many players either not up to speed or not at their best. The only positive is that we kept another clean sheet and scraped a point. Angus looked off the pace a bit (understandably). Lindsay was largely anonymous. Tutu I'm afraid isnt filling me with confidence. I thought Odoffin did alright - covered a lot of ground and made some vital interventions. One to forget really - bank the point and move on.
A poor performance and pretty much stole a point. Very reminiscent of some of the papa john's games in which the second string scraped through. Understandable that we struggled though, given that we replaced 4 of the 5 man midfield. Also the half time substitutions - replacing 2 first teamers - left us with 4 players for the second half that are not used to playing the full 90.
I think we have a good squad and have the ability to swap players around but that was perhaps too many at once and putting our eggs all in the MK Dons basket. win that one and it was a wise move, lose it and we may regret not fielding a stronger team and winning last night. Though i still have no doubt we go up regardless.
Lindsey was a big disappointment for me. i think he's a player who is better in an underdog, closing down players with the ball, so better in the Championship than League 1 where we don't usually have a call for that. But the second half last night should been right up his street and he went missing. Good to see Angus back, looked class with the ball at his feet but suspect defensively, hopefully that's just rustiness and he'll get more chances to sharpen up.
I think over the last few games we've benefitted from our outstanding defensive record, that its perhaps getting into our opponents heads and they are not confident in front of goal as there have been some good chances missed. Of course we have chances ourselves not taken and as i said last week we shouldn't be shocked that the opposition have a shot at goal, its only a shock because we've excelled so much.
Hard game to watch but another point ahead of MK and Oxford and another week closer to success.
Balance not right at all last night, Vickers was the reason we got an undeserved draw. We were really poor yet got a point. Massive improvement needed v MK.
You're right about the balance Brad. The only left footed player we had on the pitch to start with was Woody. If Bola was ever going to start a league game it was last night. I think Warne rolled the dice a bit last night to rest a few key players at once and the lads who came in were collectively found a bit wanting and perhaps werent up to speed. As DKNY says perhaps it was too many changes at once. I thought Joe Mattock really improved us when he came on. He gave us a bit more balance and used the ball really well. He has got a very good left foot. He was actually at the heart of the better things we did towards the end of the game with a bit of composure and some good set piece delivery. If he is fit I have no problem with Joe being on the left side of a three in our toughest fixtures. Inexplicably Shrewsbury seemed to start time wasting and settled for the draw with ten minutes or so to go and we could have snatched the win ourselves with Wood's header, which would have been robbery. The number eleven for them caused us problems all night with his movement and pace. The sort of player that can stretch a defence and that in my opinion we have been crying out for for a few seasons to partner Smith.
On top of the balance being incorrect, we also suffered from our deadball specialists being absent. Neither Harding nor Tu-Tu can put in a decent cross - in my opinion we should have either Barlaser, Fergusson or Mattock (or Miller when fit) on the pitch at any one time to look after this important element of our game.
With all the changes last night, I think we looked like an early season team who did not quite understand how to play together. Although the first half was reasonable, Shrewsbury soon came to realise that they had nothing to fear and I'm sure their half time talk was along those lines. As a result, they really put us under the pump in the second half.
