Places up for grabs as reserves take on Shreswbury Town
Assistant Manager Mark Grew was today critical of the players following the 1-0 defeat at Colchester on Saturday and refuses to blame it solely on the system adopted when the game kicked off.He said: “We have gone down there and changed the system a little bit, but we only continued that for about twenty minutes before they scored.
“Although people say that we went there defensively, we changed that and went to a back four, but we still didn’t get a lot better.
“We didn’t get enough retention of the ball and too many players had off days on the day and if it wasn’t for Chris Neal we would probably have got beaten three or four nil.
“The Gaffer thrives on enthusiasm and we didn’t get that at all. Too many people had days off and we under-performed.
“Maybe you can get away with that with two or three players, but when you have got seven or eight it is a big task to ask.
“But at the end of the day, if you give the ball away cheaply, you don’t defend right and you don’t work as a unit, you will get punished, and that’s what happened on Saturday.”
All of the backroom staff were disappointed in the lack of quality balls into the box and Grew has challenged players who turn out against Shrewsbury Town Reserves on Tuesday afternoon to earn themselves a starting place on Saturday against Bradford City.
He said: “On Saturday we got into good positions and almost every time we hit the first man and we were disappointed with that, so although we did get in good areas, we didn’t produce.
“The reserves play Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday afternoon and it must be in the back of the players’ minds that if they put in a performance they are going to throw themselves forward for a place on Saturday.
“The people who play tomorrow have got to put their case to the manager. They have got to get crosses in, get the ball into the box and put their case forward.”