Shrewsbury Town v Cambridge United: Substance over style for Steve Cotterill's men

The Town boss had planned during the summer to evolve his Shrewsbury side after leading a successful fight against League One relegation last season following his appointment in November.

But, ahead of tomorrow’s home league clash with newly-promoted Cambridge United, Cotterill has revealed he has been ‘unable to get where he wants to’ regarding a developed philosophy.

The Shrews manager wanted to lead a more possession-based side and to hurt opposition through playing good football, in a shift from last season’s deep defensive shape and effective counter-attack. Town started the campaign showing positive signs of a developing profile, but wins proved few and far between and the focus now has needed to turn to results.

In recent fixtures, against ball-playing opponents MK Dons and Oxford as well as tough away days at Ipswich and Bolton, Town have been forced deep against opposition looking to pass.

“We haven’t been able to get to where I want to get with that,” Cotterill said, when asked about Town’s style.

“There isn’t a lot for me to say, at the minute. We need to do what we need to do to be able to pick up some more wins.

“I don’t know, it depends who we come up against, the games we’ve played recently, Bolton away, Ipswich away, MK Dons at home and Oxford away, they are always going to be games where – certainly for us at this moment in time – we’re not going to have as much of the ball as we’d like.

“But then sometimes it’s needs must a little bit, you don’t want lads to be – not uncomfortable at what they’re doing – but playing well like we were doing with more possession earlier in the season and not getting any results.”

Cotterill insisted it is possible to be successful without dominating the ball. He added: “If you were to look at Plymouth’s stats this year to last, Plymouth had far more possession last year but kept getting beat and now they can’t stop winning with less possession. It’s nice to have it because you can be more relaxed on the touchline.

“I’d certainly like us to have more possession but I’m not quite sure we’ve got everybody in the right areas to be totally focused on possession and win games at the same time.”

Town switched to a 4-3-3 from a three-man defence for Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat at Oxford but the return of Luke Leahy back from suspension means Cotterill has options against 16th-placed Cambridge, with Tom Bloxham pushing for another run out as part of the forward line.

“It’s good to be able to flip it, and I wanted that flexibility in us,” he added. “But I’d prefer us to be dominant in one formation and stay with it. Then it gives you something to build on top of, working on what we didn’t do so well (in that formation), then take it into the game.”

“Then when you do well you know the final bit to add to our phases of play. We’ve played a 4-3-3 a couple of times, I don’t think there’s too much difference in it.

“The good thing is we know Matthew Pennington, who is having a super season, if we put him at right-back now he’s far more comfortable at it now that when he first came to the club.”

Mark Bonner’s Cambridge arrive in Shropshire on the back of three league draws on the spin, including against big-hitters Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday.

The Yellows have lost just three of their opening 12 games back in the third tier for the first time in a couple of decades. Six of their first dozen games have been draws, suggesting a side difficult to beat, while they have only lost three games, the same as fourth-placed Wigan, and only won three games, the same as Town, down in 21st.

The visitors feature two former Shrewsbury loan men. Forward Sam Smith, who had a short spell under Sam Ricketts from Reading, and winger Shilow Tracey who spent time under Cotterill from Tottenham last term.