Salford City vs Bristol Rovers 23/11/21

by Danny Shepherd

First of all, I have to point out I had to leave early in the second half, so I missed the equalizer and a good portion of the game before it.

Going back to what I did see, right from the start of the game Salford massively lacked intensity in the press.

To be fair, it didn’t just seem down to Salford’s reluctance to close down the opposition. When the ball was on the floor, Rovers looked almost telepathic in their shared understanding during build-up play.

I noticed several times that Bristol players would receive the ball while not directly facing a teammate, and then make a blind crossfield pass to a late arriving runner.

As the saying goes nothing moves quicker than the ball. So, with Salford not pressing effectively this was further highlighted by how Rovers’ changed the angle of attack during counter-attacks.

My friend Mark came to the game with me and, for once, we both agreed on something. The pair of us felt that (especially during the first half) it looked like Bristol were playing around static cones rather than a live set of Salford players.

This links to the fact that I’ve been confused in previous games by Salford’s strategy when pressing the opposition. What puzzles me is I can’t see a consistent pattern of when the team decide to trigger the press.

It’s possible that Gary Bowyer felt the best approach for Salford was to stand off their man a little and not get drawn out of position by quick passes or sweeping set moves. As a fan, seeing our players standing off the opposition doesn’t sit well with me as it feels too passive and doesn’t do anything to ignite the crowd. Teams who try this approach against a quality attacking outfit usually lose the match anyway as a passive press only delays, rather than prevents, the inevitable.

Until Tom Elliott charged through a Bristol player from the second half kick off I did-offn’t feel there was anything physical of note (bar Willock’s sending off) for the whole of the first half.

As always, sport is a game of opinions but my view on Willock’s sending off has two parts.

Firstly, I thought at the time, and confirmed on replay ,that it was a horrible decision by Willock to try and turn in the centre of the pitch within such a crowded area.

My initial take on the tackle, — tainted by my view that Willock is a player I already feel lacks bravery — was that the tackle gave him the cowards way out of a game Salford seemed to have no hope of competing in.

I would say this felt almost like a Granit Xhaka of Arsenal moment where an act of physical effort is instead a sign the player doesn’t want to put in the hard yards when times are tough. A lack of bottle hidden behind a mask of aggression.

Looking at the replay, Willocks’s tackle isn’t a true two footed challenge. However, it turns into a reckless lunging stamp on the Bristol player which is likely worthy of a red card.

Putting the sending off aside for a second then I just can’t get my head around why Willock is unable to show his footballing pedigree on the pitch.

Although he’s not the only Salford player guilty of this, he is the one making the least impact during the games i’ve seen so far.

A question I often ask myself is “does this player consistently add anything that a bog-standard average player can’t do”.

The answer to this as far as Matty Willock’s concerned is a definite no. He adds very little, and as with the red card in this game, his contribution was essentially a negative all around.

Quick detour to a player I thought was totally undeserving of his years in an Arsenal shirt was the fullback Carl Jenkinson. He somehow managed several years in Wenger’s first team squad while being petrified of taking any risks with the ball in case he made a mistake. Instead, he limited himself to making simple 5 to 10 yard passes to teammates as soon he was challenged, which added nothing that countless other academy players couldn’t have contributed.

With Willock’s schooling at the Arsenal and Man Utd academies, I’d imagine he should have a massive arsenal (no pun intended) of footballing tools to fall back on. I'm afraid if he does possess them he just doesn’t apply them on pitch when he’s in a Salford shirt. Running around around the pitch with a well-known surname the back of your shirt does the club no good at all.

Linked to this, in American Sport when they are recruiting players in the annual draft there is often talk of “the best available player” and that this is the recruit you should aim to select for your team. Sounds straightforward, at least on the surface.

But ultimately what does “best available” mean?

Is it that they have received the most media coverage and hype? Do their stats look really good on a spreadsheet or maybe the player come from a family that has already produced lots of professional players? Matty has at least two other brothers who are pro footballers so I can see the logic behind assuming he would also some level of talent due to his family genes.

In my view, the best available player has nothing to do with any of those factors. Instead it should be about which player is going to be most useful to our team at this moment in time.

Linked to this, I’ve read a lot on this message board previously about Salford’s recruitment policy being to look for the castoffs from teams in higher division. Again, this goes back to chasing this idea of the “best available player”. On the face of it, these signings from League One and above sound like they should increase the overall quality of the team. But do they? The evidence suggests not.

Questions I’d ask would begin with, has the player bounced around a lot of clubs in recent years, and if so then why?

If there has been a drop through the divisions previously then have the other teams used the player much or have they been a permenant benchwarmer? If so, why?

What is the players motivation for joining Salford in a lower division and what are the long-term aims for their career?

Most importantly, does the players skillset allow the role they naturally perform to suit Salford’s overall tactical plan.

All this and plenty more must be just the basics that Salford’s recruitment team consider. I’d hate to think they simply look at a spreadsheet of players from higher league teams who had a decent reputation way back when.

Last thing on this point, Jamie Vardy’s climb through the leagues is worthy of note as the hunger he has shown in virtually every game i’ve seen him play is currently lacking from a lot of those in the attacking part of the Salford team. I might excuse Brandon as his work ethic can’t be faulted, but he does himself no favours with his diving that’s becoming a major frustration to many fans around me.

Psychologically it makes perfect sense that a player from a higher league joining Salford is looking at the opportunity differently to a success hungry player signed from below League Two. Willock and Oteh are two examples of what I feel is a flawed recruitment strategy. With both players I see a mindset of tolerating their spell at Salford City rather than desperately wanting to play for the club.

Keeping with the mindset theme, I also read a deeper layer into Salford’s direct play in the first half last night. It was clear that despite only having Brandon to aim for that there was a “clear your lines” no nonesense mentality for Salford in the game. This directness seemed to spread throughout the team as no one wanted to take responsibility for being in possession for any length of time.

You’d hope that any footballer worth his salt would actually want the ball, especially those in forward positions. However, our build-up play looked to be more about moving a hot potato to a teammate to minimise the chance of being blamed for making a mistake. If I’m reading this right, it comes across as flat-out fear which is showing itself in Salford’s play. Despite getting a draw last night against Bristol Rovers, a team playing with this mindset is headed to a seriously unhappy place in the near future.

The only contrasts to this in the first 45 minutes were the run down the wing by Tyreik Wright, and also Brandon’s shooting wide after a nice channel ball into his path from Liam Shepherd

Talking of Shep, where I was sat in the ground I noticed something unusual happen on Bristol’s bench after they’d just scored their goal. Their coaches were congratulating each other on the bench as if they had some special credit for the goal. As Bristol had regularly targeted space down our right between Shep and Eastman I felt this back-slapping credit was for using this plan of attack down Salford’s right-hand side. Fair play to them, it worked.

I’ve really enjoyed putting this piece together to review my thoughts about the match so I’m hoping it’s onwards and upwards for Saturday’s game against Oldham.

Who knows what the future might bring.