The Gaffer looks ahead to Tuesday Night's game
Shrewsbury Town Manager Micky Mellon is looking for some home comforts when his side face Peterborough United on Tuesday night.Town go into the game on the back of a 1-1 draw with AFC Wimbledon last weekend, whilst Peterborough also drew on Saturday.
The Posh currently sit 10th in League One and will provide difficult opposition, but Micky believes it’s important his players concentrate on their own game.
“They are a good team,” admitted Micky.
“They try and play all over the pitch, I think that is demanded from up above. So, you know that you are going to be in for a football match that’s for sure. Other teams in the league have a different style.
“We probably know from what they’ve done in the previous games what they are going to do, with the personnel that they have, so, we know what their threats are.
“But, we’ve got to think a lot about ourselves as well, because we think that we’ve got a group of players that can go and cause other teams problems, so we will be working very hard on that.
“And, we believe if we get that right and we keep getting better at that, they will have to worry about us.
Shaun Whalley impressed when he came on, on Saturday and he is very much in the manager’s plans.
“We have a place that we would like Shaun to do well in,” said Mellon.
“What we are trying to do at the minute is, with the three centre backs, we are trying to work an overload there.
“We are trying to gain some sort of control of the game in order to get one of the centre backs out with the ball at his feet, with time, and he’s able to play the ball into forward areas for people like Shaun Whalley or whoever.
“Who should, by the time we’ve gained control of the ball, find space for them to hit, or get it into their feat, or get them turned and in between the lines.
“We are trying to work the overloads. We believe that we have players in certain positions that are good enough, so if they get on the ball they can make those little slide passes through, because that’s what we want to do.”
Micky went on to give an insight into his footballing philosophy.
“We want to play passing football, developing through the thirds and gaining ground towards their goal,” Micky continued.
“It’s coming off, we are working hard at it. You have to encourage players to do it because they might not have been asked to do it before, but that’s the way we want to play and we think it brings us success, but they’ve got to be good with the ball.
“We pass the ball well, keep the ball, work the overload, get it into good areas, go and score some goals, get in the box and be brave, nothing revolutionary, but that is what they are encouraged to do.”
There was good news for Micky as the injury situation begins to ease.
“Abu Ogogo is still on the treatment bench this morning, so he will probably be struggling,” said Micky.
“Apart from that, I think everybody travelled to Wimbledon who was available. Gary Deegan will now be available after his suspension, so we look a strong squad with a lot of decent decisions to make for the manager.”
“At this stage of the season things start to catch up with people and as a manager you will always know that decisions will get made for you and lads have to come in and take those chances.
“The squad is good for a team at our level, so people know that there is a lot of people challenging for their positions. So, if they come in and they do well then they will continue to be in the team and that’s the way it’s got to be, it’s healthy for the group.”