Micky Mellon discusses the fine margins so far this season
Shrewsbury Town manager Micky Mellon has told ShrewsWeb that his side are getting closer to where he wants them to be.Town have picked up 7 points so far this season and have been unlucky not to have more after some good performances so far this campaign.
The gaffer believes there are lots of things to be positive about.
“There is a lot that we’re getting right in terms of how I want us to play,” Micky told ShrewsWeb.
“But, probably at the minute it’s the consistency over the 90 minutes of how we want to defend, all the different types of defending, and also in the attack, that we have to get better at over the course of 90 minutes.
“At the minute I think we could go through pretty much all our performances, which for large patches have been very good and I could pinpoint the exact moment where we just haven’t done what we know we have to do, or we practice every day, and that’s the frustration of it.
“Of course it’s all about winning games, but for me as the manager I have to look at the performance over the whole 90 minutes and find something to work on that gives us a better chance of winning games, and at the minute it is quite clearly to me about the performance over 90 minutes.
“What I must say is, from last season I think the performances over the 90 minutes are consistently better for longer now.
“I don’t want to get too technical but, when I look at last season so I can compare to it, because I want to keep improving the group, I think over the course of 90 minutes we are now the better team, or at least running side by side with these teams for much longer than we were.
“Last season, I’d have to be honest and say that we weren’t able to run side by side with a lot of teams last season for as long as we would have liked to, but this season it’s getting much better. So, that’s the pleasing things, but like I say the bottom lines’ about getting results.”
Micky Mellon and his coaching team have been working hard on the training ground over the last few weeks as they look to instil the manager’s principles.
“We don’t react to the last game,” said Micky.
“We don’t say because we’ve lost a goal from long range that this week we are going to go in and practice defending shots from long range. We practice every principle of how we want to play all the time.
“If there’s something glaringly obvious that we need to get better at, if that’s dealing with counter attacks or counter attacking ourselves, then we might prioritise that, but it’s about practicing what you believe you need to do, keep the standards high in doing that, in everything we do in training, and I think if you ask the players, then that’s what we work very hard on.
“We are working hard on making sure we give 90 minute performances in everything we do because there is nothing more frustrating for anybody in football when you see a goal given away from something we can all put our finger on and say well that’s not a tactic, that’s being a human being and losing concentration in that minute, and losing that header, or not going to close down.
“If you ask the players they will be able to say to you ‘I know’ because we do that every day in training. It’s just about keeping working at it. There’s mangers that will tell you that at the top end of the Champions League.”
It’s been individual errors that have cost Town at times this season and Micky believes that if the team can cut those out they will be in a far better position.
“We’re not keeping enough clean sheets,” admitted Micky.
“But, when you pull apart the performance of the defending over the course of 90 minutes there is an awful lot they are doing right. Working as a unit, getting across the pitch, winning those first contacts on the 18 yard box, anticipating not reacting, the list is endless.
“But, if I go through all the goals, there will be a moment what will have let us down and if you asked the players they will tell you ‘I should have just done that, because that was what I was doing for the rest of the game’, and it’s just a little knock off in concentration that happens because we are human beings.
“So, we’ve just got keep working hard on it, but if I look at the personnel that are in there I’m very happy with them. I think the three centre halves that played at the weekend have all represented their countries, so I couldn’t really ask for much more than that at Shrewsbury.
“We just have to keep working hard, I have to keep drumming it into them, keep showing them and keep trying to improve things. My weekend’s spoiled when we lose games, ask the missus, but you have to just keep going,” added Micky.