No Shrewsbury Town fitness concerns says boss Matt Taylor
Matt Taylor has no concerns about the fitness levels of his Shrewsbury players.
Town went through a period earlier in the season where they conceded a lot of goals in the second half of games.
Shrews started matches brightly but found themselves fading out of games – which has led to criticism from some fans, who suggested the players were not fit enough.
But the trend seems to have come to an end and Shrews actually scored a late second-half goal of their own at the weekend when Dan Udoh fired home in the 91st minute.
“I think it is nonsense, personally,” Taylor responded when asked if his players are fit enough. “If I look back at previous games in the season, there would be an argument to say the players need to improve their mental fitness, because of the times of the goals we were conceding.
“There is always going to be mental fatigue within in any sport because it is human nature.
“Do I think we are fit enough? Yes I do. Do the players work extremely hard? Yes they do.
“I do not have any concerns or qualms about that.”
Town got their first win in seven League One games at the weekend, beating Northampton Town at the Croud Meadow.
It has been a challenging start to the season for the Shropshire club, and Taylor says the short nature of their pre-season schedule has not helped that.
He said: “I won’t sit here and tell you anything more than the facts and the facts are we had a four-week pre-season.
“It is unheard of to have a four-week pre-season, I have never heard of anything like that in my life.
“When I say four weeks, the final week of pre-season is not pre-season it is prep for the first game which was Cheltenham. The least you should have is five, if not six.
“But do I believe the players are fit? Yes I do.”
Shrews have a whole range of support staff who work day in and day out to prepare the players, and they spend a lot of time analysing the data – something Taylor sees and is happy with. “The reason I think they are fit is because I see the data every day,” he continued. “I see how hard they are working. I get the data after every game and I see how hard we are working.
“If you speak to any manager they will want their players to be fitter, if you speak to any manager they would want their players to be better in front of goal. They would want to be better defensively too.
“So it is human nature to want to be better at everything.
“In terms of us not being fit enough, I completely disagree 100 per cent.
“While I will not get out our running stats for you I can guarantee you now we have some really good, qualified people who know far more about it than me.
“I use my eyes and my eyes are backed up by a lot of the statistics and the boys are running and the boys are trying.
“The only way I can think about why that question could be asked is because at the end of every game, you see that the players could look tired.
“They look tired because they have given everything they possibly have. The one thing I cannot question is the effort and application of the players and I never would – they have been excellent.”
