Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury Town boss Steve Cotterill not concerned about lack of possession

Steve Cotterill is not concerned about his side's lack of possession in recent games – and he thinks it will improve as his new additions continue to bed in.

Published
Salop boss Steve Cotterill during the Carabao Cup defeat to Burnley

Shrewsbury have not seen much of the ball in their last few fixtures against high-quality opposition.

In their midweek Carabao Cup game against Burnley, the visitors had 81% of the ball during the 90 minutes.

The Clarets completed 698 passes to Shrewsbury's 95.

However, regardless of possession statistics, Shrewsbury had double the amount of shots at goal having 10 to Burnley's five. And Salop also had double the amount of shots on target having two to Burnley's one.

And the boss said possession is not everything and sometimes you have to adapt your game depending on your opponents.

"It is nice to have it," said Cotterill when asked about possession.

"I have been at clubs where I have had it.

"It would be nice, but it certainly isn't the be-all and end-all.

"The reason our possession was low the other night is that we dropped into a low block.

"That was the game plan, and as the game wore on and with the changes we made, we were going to go up the pitch.

"This would have given us more possession, more chances and more effort on goal.

"What we can't do, is go out there and run around and around.

"If I ask you to run around out there for 90 minutes on that big pitch. You won't last.

"But if we keep it tight and then in the last half an hour go and run around you will be able to do it, and that is why we did it.

"Otherwise, Charlie and Tom would have been off after 30 minutes the other night. There is a method to it.

"It would be nice to have it, but I don't get hung up on it."

Town have seen a lot of change to their squad over the summer, seeing six new signings coming into the team.

And in their last three league fixtures, Salop have come up against Wycombe, Derby and Ipswich all of who like to play possession-based football – and have ambitions of automatic promotion.

Cotterill is confident his side will get better with the ball in time.

He continued: "We will have more possession as we go along because we won't always come up against the opposition that we have come up against, and also the lads will get to know a little bit more of the movements.

"Sometimes, when you are in a transitional period of putting another load of new lads into the team, it doesn't fit straight away.

"We are still in August, and we are talking about it, we have only just kicked off."