Sam Ricketts previews a tough test for Town as they head to Adams Park.
EFL Manager of the week, Sam Ricketts spoke to Shrewsweb ahead of Town’s away fixture to Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday.
Sam was nominated as Manager Of The Week by the EFL after a succesful week on the pitch for Town.
“I didn’t know anything about it, someone passed it on to me earlier this week, so it’s recognition for what the players did, they go onto the pitch and do all the hard work so it’s more gratitude for them to be honest.”
Town were unbeaten throughout October. With three wins out of five games and two draws. “That's Something else I wasn’t really aware of; I don’t really worry about things like that but it’s a nice thing to accomplish. It means that we are on the right lines, and things are ticking over, we want to improve and get better, it shows that things that have been put in place are working and we want to keep adding to it as well.”
Sam like many others did not expect Wycombe to be 2nd in the table at this stage when the season started. “In all fairness I don’t think anyone expected them to do as well as they are. They’ve kept it up, they’ve had a solid start to the season and they’ve just kept that going and they’ve picked up some big wins against good sides and they’ve got that real momentum, confidence and belief. They’re deservedly up at the top of the table.”
“They’ve got a lot of players who were there last year, but maybe didn’t feature as much as they are this year. They’re just being very effective in how they play and getting the most out of the players they’ve got and everything you can see there with their belief and confidence and momentum where as if they go behind in games, they’ve scored late in games to get back into it or to get a draw or win games. They’ve just got that freedom that they’re playing with at the minute and because of their start, they feel nearly invincible and they can do no wrong. If they lose a game, then there’s no real worries on them or pressure on them so they’re just playing with that freedom and having a go.” Sam talked highly of Town’s opponents.
As Town travel to high-flying Wycombe, it will prove to be a difficult test being the away side to such an inform team who currently, are unbeaten at home. “It’s hard, they’re unbeaten at home this year, so it’s not easy and they have beaten some good sides along the way at home as well. if they’ve not won, they’ve had some good draws. It’s going be a tough game but one we’re looking forward to.”
“I think the league is that tight that teams in every game, fancy themselves as beating anyone and Wycombe have proved that because they have been on the winning side an awful lot this year. Likewise, we’ll go there knowing how hard it’s going be and also knowing we are capable of putting a performance in which gives us a chance of getting something from the game.”
Sam gives up a quick update on his injured players. “Dan Udoh is still out, Ethan is back in training, not quite at 100% but he’s not a million miles away from there so, no real big differences as last week. Nothing was picked up from the game at the weekend which is good. Ryan Giles is still out too. It’s more or less the same team going down again.”