Swindon Town v Shrewsbury Town Official Matchday Thread

[Frigby Daser]

I think it became clear yesterday that we should be prepared for a finish outside the play offs - shame as I had thought that despite the dreadful away form we might just about sneak in due to the competition being less skilful than our present batch. Well done Smith for his goals but his control was way off the beat, looks a handy League 2 striker - Byrne what was he doing.....? Cooper makes it so obvious that he doesn`t want Ranger in the team it`s becoming really annoying especially as he is the most talented player we have....any chance of swapping the Mason and Harley for another couple of Tottenham youths...? Is Barker injured - I presume so as he wasn`t around yesterday -

Yesterday was a bit of a depressing reality check for me -  found it all a bit depressing.....

So your assessment of Smith being a League 2 striker is based on his 2 goal debut (in League 1) and "off the beat" control (which I didn't see was any worse than anybody elses) in some of the worst conditions we've seen at the County Ground in years.

Glad you're not scouting for us!

[sonicyouth]

any chance of swapping the Mason and Harley for another couple of Tottenham youths...?

I doubt it.

[Frigby Daser]

Hang on...we're in 8th place and 5 points off the play offs with less than 20 games to go.  Have to admit, I don't really understand the doom & gloom.  We're not world beaters, but we never have been.  We're Swindon.  And by Swindon standards, what we're doing this season is OK.

We also appear not to be in imminent danger of going out of business, which is another plus.  My glass is half full anyway.

Agreed. We may have been poor yesterday, but isn't one of the signs of a good team managing to win when playing poorly?

The squad is small and a few players may need a break and a kick up the behind (Luongo, Kasim....)...but what are our expectations really? If it is to flirt with the play-offs, that is exactly what we're doing. Reading this thread you'd think we were in Shrewsbury's position.

[kerry red]

The thing is we have seen how we can play and people are, quite righty, comparing that to what we have to put up with now.

It is obvious that the style Cooper wants to play - and what most of us want to watch - just isn't working at the moment and hasn't done so for a while now.

We've got ourselves a big lump up front who looks half decent who needs crosses into the box. Tapping it around between midfield and the 18 yard box isn't achieving anything - especially away.

Could do worse than a couple of games with 2 up front and going direct - starting at Walsall, hopefully.

[aroundthefur]

Hang on...we're in 8th place and 5 points off the play offs with less than 20 games to go.  Have to admit, I don't really understand the doom & gloom.  We're not world beaters, but we never have been.  We're Swindon.  And by Swindon standards, what we're doing this season is OK.

We also appear not to be in imminent danger of going out of business, which is another plus.  My glass is half full anyway.

We have some really exciting and talented individual midfielders but we generally play in a slow and ponderous manner. The worst part is it also appears to be the game plan. It's a waste. I simply don't understand why don't want to get the most out of the players but having a real go and trying to bombard teams by any means possible. Short passes, long passes, crosses, shots. Whatever. Let's play with a bit of excitement because the players we have are capable of doing something out of nothing. Right now, we are stifled.

[RobertT]

Our form, in terms of results, has been pretty consistent really, so don't get how some are mentioning things that suggest we are going backwards.  We win at home and lose away.  The trick for us this season was whether or not we could pinch a few more results away, and it seems evident that won't happen.  The other trick was to try and hang on to most of our players in this window to ensure we didn't lose a few more at home, and it seems we are on course to achieve that right now, if not slightly adding.

Given we are on half the budget we were last season, to not be far off where we were that season is pretty good going and while in defence we look like schoolboys at times, when we have spells of possession in games it is far more enjoyable to watch than the past 18 years (all of them).

[Bewster]

We need a player the other players can gravitate to when its going Pete Tong. We haven't got it. They could be a midfielder or a defender. We haven't got one and nobody looks as though they can do it. Luongo would be the natural for me but he's been pretty shit since he signed full time.

This should be Luongo, he is good enough but his effectiveness seems to be based on who else is in the team . when he gets forward he is a much better player, but when Mason plays, or Pritchard isn't out wide he doesn't seem so effective.

[herthab]

Fucking hell. What a depressing thread. If this is what's it's becoming after a win I dread to think what it would've looked liked had we lost.
How anyone can dismiss Smith's potential after seeing him once and in conditions that were fucking awful, is bizarre. Especially as he scored 2 goals, tracked back countless times and ran his nuts off. Nothing like giving a player a chance, is there? As for Reckord, he met his team mates yesterday just before the game! I would imagine it's a bit difficult to look like a unit at the back when one of you is a complete stranger.
Sure there are concerns, Ward looks ponderous both in mind and action and the constant ball back to him every fucking minute is frustrating. Branco is still learning and I believe he'll come good. More concern to me is our 'talented' midfield. how Pritchard escapes criticism baffles me. He's arguably the most skilled player on the ball but his decision making a lot of the time is shite; too many touches, too long holding the ball, too many dead end runs.
Not a great performance yesterday sure, but getting 3 points is name of the game and we did that.

[Reg Smeeton]

We need a player the other players can gravitate to when its going Pete Tong. We haven't got it. They could be a midfielder or a defender. We haven't got one and nobody looks as though they can do it. Luongo would be the natural for me but he's been pretty shit since he signed full time.

If you could pick a midfield hub for this league, you might go Jon Douglas/Alan McCormack so it's not exactly surprising to see Brentford top.

These players cost though and we don't have the money, so have to develop our own...I think the strategy atm is right however, Ward is the man tasked to provide leadership on the pitch, and he's doing OK in a difficult role.

All our young players will be better next season for the experiences of this season, and if we can pick up the dozen points needed next season could be interesting.

Given our Brighton link, I wonder what Gordon Greer is up to next season? DV do you think he could do us a job?

[@mwooly63]

All our young players will be better next season for the experiences of this season, and if we can pick up the dozen points needed next season could be interesting.

OUR young players yes
Doubt we will see the 3 spurs players back here next season and barring anytime injured those 3 have featured heavily.

If you could pick a midfield hub for this league, you might go Jon Douglas/Alan McCormack so it's not exactly surprising to see Brentford top.

Pity we couldnt have kept one of them
One thing we are deffo missing is a midfielder with a bit of bite

IF Brentford go up this year not sure either of those will feature for them next season

[@mwooly63]

2 mins of highlights are up



After Wes saves Wards bacon nobody says a thing to each other - would have expected Wes or someone to berate him at least

[horlock07]

2 mins of highlights are up



After Wes saves Wards bacon nobody says a thing to each other - would have expected Wes or someone to berate him at least

The fact that Ward appears to make no effort to apologise to or thank Wes for saving him from his balls up is a little odd.

[blinkpip]

That free kick must've been way over 90 mph with the wind behind it, totally smashed it.

[No Longer Posh Red]

Ignoring the moment where he fell asleep and their bloke nicked the ball off him, I thought Ward looked quite solid defensively yesterday, but was let down by Branco and Reckords complete lack of positioning and awareness.

So you have ignored completely the point early on where he tackled Luongo & then passed it neatly to a Shrewsbury player or In fact the several other occasions where everyone else appeared to see him giving the ball away.

There was also a point late on where Branco had closed down their centre forward wide on the right & Ward ambled back completely ignoring the other Shrewsbury player totally unmarked in the middle of our box. At times I wondered if he was concussed as he seemed to be wandering around aimlessly.

He had a very poor game & if his name was Hall you would have slaughtered him.

[ronnie21]

Sitting in the DRS there appeared to be a certain amount of dissent each time Ward touched the ball for a few minutes after the complete cock-up, were people actually booing?