one of the worst substitutions

[Hedge Hoghouse]

I am sorry to make this contribution because I think Adams is basically a great manager but i fear his negative tactics could condemn us to relegation.When we went 1-0 up we should have forced home our advantage and gone for the throat,instead he makes a defensive substitution and invites the opposition on to us,most of the second half there was a gaping hole of some thirty to forty yards between our midfield and our lone striker,it's easy to read Adams game plan as when the opposition have a corner or free kick he doesn't even have one player on the halfway line,totally negative.

 

[Johndelve]

Needed to replace fletcher ( ran his socks off) with Blissett and keep the same formation / shape .
Poor decision and invited a confident team to play attack versus defence for 20 mins .

 

[samjones]

There was no need to change the formation and hand them the initiative. If Fletch was tired all it required was Blissett to replace him.
The defence were playing ok and we had momentum. There were 25 minutes to go and that's a long time to invite pressure on. If it was the last 5 minutes then fair enough

Ludicrous decision and COST us 2 valuable points with the gap to safety widening.
DA has definitely lost the plot once again we were all over the place and the players didn't know if they were coming or going. Little wonder we were camped on the 18 yard line

 

[philmeboots]

from the moment he took off the brilliant fletcher shrewsbury moved upfield and i agree with swendies the equaliser was inevitable.

The brilliant Fletcher? You’ve got to be joking. He was doing ok but too often lost the ball when he shouldn’t have. He’s still not quite good enough I’m afraid and should be eased into the team.

 

[plymade]

Does the man not learn? Really annoyed with negativity. On top, playing so well but we will change that, put on a defender and let them come on to us! Naive or what!

 

[swendies]

Thought Fletcher did really well, not suited to playing on his own up front but worked his socks off. Needed someone beside him , not a defender coming on!

 

[r4h4al]

Agreed.

 

[jimsing]

The substitution of Bradley for Fletcher was in response to their substitution to bring on an extra forward, and their change from 1 up front to 2 up front.

This did not in itself create their goal.

The fact that it was scored from outside the box shows that someone wasn't doing their job properly. The defence and midfield are drilled into defending in numbers for such a scenario as we had. It was planned. However we allowed the strike, and the fella struck it well enough to get a goal. It shows that the system fell down. I cannot recall the people involved, but it may have been the new guy that wasn't doing what the rest of the team had been trained in doing that allowed the guy to score the goal.

The substitution was not the deciding factor in the goal.

 

[Tony Flags]

The substitution of Bradley for Fletcher was in response to their substitution to bring on an extra forward, and their change from 1 up front to 2 up front.

This did not in itself create their goal.

The fact that it was scored from outside the box shows that someone wasn't doing their job properly. The defence and midfield are drilled into defending in numbers for such a scenario as we had. It was planned. However we allowed the strike, and the fella struck it well enough to get a goal. It shows that the system fell down. I cannot recall the people involved, but it may have been the new guy that wasn't doing what the rest of the team had been trained in doing that allowed the guy to score the goal.

The substitution was not the deciding factor in the goal.

The massive gap between the defence and the one up front wasn't there before the substitution. The players on the pitch could not play in the requested formation. The substitution was to blame, but in combination with the players on the pitch and the amount of time the change was hoping to shut out the opposition.

We may well have conceded in the same formation, we'll never know. The problem for me was the mindset of the change seems to unsettle a team that were performing on the day.

 

[BillyBobGreen]

The substitution was clearly not needed at the time it was made, surely it is the managers job to read the game and assess what is required regards substitutions. Now if we had fallen back and started defending deep and Shrewsbury were getting on top then maybe it would have been an idea to make the change but this was not the situation.
It clearly changed the pattern of the game and handed the initiative to the visitors, I could have maybe understood it if we were hanging on or there was only a few minutes remaining.
IMO, a poor decision.

 

[Tugboat]

Another one

 

[Ollieargyle9]

Why a forward for a defender? Why?

If you want another defender to counter their 2nd striker fair enough but to take off your one forward and replace him with a defender with 20-25 minutes to go is ludicrous.

Why not take off Grant who was offering next to nothing for large parts of the game? Switch to 5-3-2 with Jervis and Fletch up front; it offers the extra man in defence but doesn't have you camped in your own box. As we saw under Sheridan it can easily switch to 3-5-2 when you're in possession giving the defence some much needed relief rather than have them face wave after wave of attack.

As it happens we sat deep and after a couple of failed onslaughts their manager quickly worked us out. We weren't closing down until Shrewsbury reached the edge of our area so they started shooting from range with little pressure on them. Get one on target with some power behind it and Letheren stands no chance with the number of green bodies blocking his vision, easy.

You live and learn I suppose. Unless you're the ever stubborn Mr Adams that is, in which case "same again next week lads".

 

[Willis88]

The issue is the second we scored we went into defence mode and continually invited pressure on ourselves.

It's clear in this league that if you do that you'll get caught out; attack is the best form of defence in L1.

I still get annoyed with the 11 man defence of corners, I've not seen another team do it and it just guarantees the ball comes straight back in.

 

[EyeOpener]

Was an absolutely astounding decision which ultimately lost us the 2 points. To me this is a sign of how much Adams is starting to panic. We were managing Shrewsbury very well. They sacrificed a midfielder for a forward; Adams counters by bringing on a defender for a forward. The guy is panicking. He should have increased our numbers in midfield and instructed the midfield to press their midfield. Get their heads down looking at the ball rather than giving them as much time as they needed to get their heads up and pick a pass/take a shot. His set up/substitution with nigh on 25 mins still to go was an abysmal decision. Quite shocking really and as I said earlier stinking of panic.

 

[skynet]

Was an absolutely astounding decision which ultimately lost us the 2 points. To me this is a sign of how much Adams is starting to panic. We were managing Shrewsbury very well. They sacrificed a midfielder for a forward; Adams counters by bringing on a defender for a forward. The guy is panicking. He should have increased our numbers in midfield and instructed the midfield to press their midfield. Get their heads down looking at the ball rather than giving them as much time as they needed to get their heads up and pick a pass/take a shot. His set up/substitution with nigh on 25 mins still to go was an abysmal decision. Quite shocking really and as I said earlier stinking of panic.

I totally agree. However it was his third bad call of the game. He started Fletcher up front against 4 giant defenders who won't have an easier match all season, and he played Sawyer at right back who was hopelessly exposed for most of the game. However I thought Taylor-Sinclair was solid at left back.

Everybody knew Blissett for Fletcher was the sub to be made, why disrupt the central defenders again when they had both played well. As for Grant, what exactly does he offer? He is another example of wasted wages. Not impressed with Adams at all.