Micky talks to the press about the new signings and the trip to Oldham
Micky Mellon was delighted to welcome two new signings to the club on transfer deadline day. Striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake signed on loan from Chesterfield and defender Jack Grimmer joined Shrewsbury for the third time on loan from Fulham. Mellon feels the club has done well in the transfer window and is hoping the squad will now start getting results as soon as possible:“I am very happy with what he have got now. We are working very hard to gel them together. There are things that we are finding all the time to improve on and sometimes it takes a lot of patience because I want to try and have the finished article as quickly as possible. They have to get to know how we want to play and defend but it is moving ahead so we need to get some wins now.”
“We are up to 21-22 players but with the way that the transfer window is now we needed to make sure we were covered for any eventuality. We have two wingers injured at the minute so that is a bit of a blow for us because you can’t magic up a winger from somewhere when two are injured but for now I think we are covered until January. If anything goes wrong you hope within your group you can plug that gap.”
“Football is all about winning games and there is no getting away from that. We have to work on the process of trying to make that happen more and more consistently. We are training to give ourselves a better chance of winning games. It is a bottom line that we have to win games of football and I am very aware of that. We are working hard to try and do that and we are bringing more quality into the group which will hopefully give us a chance of getting wins more consistently because that is what it is all about.”
“You want to keep the fans happy because that is the lifeblood of the football club. We have to win games to do that. I will never hide away from that fact. There is a process you have to work hard on to get a group integrated to each other and know each other. But it is all about winning.”
The 44-year-old feels the trip to Oldham on Saturday will be a difficult test, but one that Shrewsbury can win:
“It is another tough game. They all are in this division. You only have to look at some of the fees that people are paying in transfer deadline in our league to see what the challenge is. Oldham have got a whole new group similar to what we have done so it will be a tough game. It is one that we have to go up there and try and win because I keep saying it is about winning games of football.”
“Oldham have had to recruit quickly and in big numbers and I think they have managed to do that now so fair play for that. We have had them watched and gone over the DVD’s so we know we are in for a tough game. We will go up there well prepared and ready to go and try and win.”
Shrewsbury have only managed one win in their opening five games and the Scotsman believes Shrewsbury need to improve going forward and in defence at times to change their current form:
“Football is all about both eighteen yard boxes. What goes on in between that is just to get you into the eighteen yard box or stop the opponent getting into yours because that is where the goals are scored. So we at times haven’t been good enough consistently enough in games but at times we have been very good. At the other end we have been good at times but have been punished for some individual mistakes or slack marking. It is something you have to just keep working on and encourage the lads to get better. They need to play with freedom and imagination when going forward. That is what we want to do, we are playing okay in between the boxes at times but we have to be better in the final third.”
The manager is looking forward to not having a midweek game after the Oldham match as it gives the side a chance to work in training:
“It will be a welcome relief because we can get onto the training pitch. Even today some of the players are recovering from the Cambridge game so you can’t do much because some of them are recovering and have knocks. Next week we will be able to get more time with them and get them together and work for longer with them. It is game after game at the minute instead of training sessions so it will be nice to get some work done.”
Mellon was up late finalising the deals last night and he is glad that it is now all completed and back to normal:
“I was on the phone an awful lot. I was making calls late into the evening doing a lot of sorting out but we managed to get the two guys over the line and we are delighted with that. It’s a 24/7 job at times so you just have to get on with it because that is how it goes.”
James Eley