League 2 Season Preview: Shrewsbury Town

Recap of last season

By rights Shrewsbury shouldn’t even be featured in this preview – a controversial equaliser awarded to Wycombe when the two sides met saw the Chairboys promoted at the Shrews’ expense. Graham Turner’s men failed to navigate a way through the playoffs and so have to do it all again.

Personnel in

• Controversial striker Marvin Morgan has a point to prove after starting last season strongly at Aldershot before his Twitter meltdown.
• There have been plenty of additions in defence, with Joe Jacobson, Carl Regan and Reuben Hazell all arriving
• Versatile left sided player Matt Richards looks set to join on a free transfer from Walsall

Personnel out

• Out-of-favour striker Jake Robinson has moved to Northampton, while fellow forward Matt Harrold has been tempted away by the Buckle revolution at Bristol Rovers.
• Veteran midfielder Kevin McIntyre has moved to Accrington.

Strengths

The Shrews are formidable opponents: they boasted the most resilient defence in League 2 last season, with opponents needing over 10 shots on average to breach their defence. They also kept an impressive 16 clean sheets and managing 5 in a row at one point, which coupled with one of the most efficient attacks and the best record of closing out victories in the division made them formidable opponents.

Weaknesses

Shrewsbury were the hardest of the teams I’ve previewed to identify an obvious weakness for. For all their class they sometimes went missing last season, particularly in crunch away games as evidenced in their 5-0 mauling by Torquay at Plainmoor. (The amount of times I’ve managed to crowbar a reference to this match into my posts has become something of a running gag, so please don’t be offended Shrews fans!)

Key man

Mark Wright is at the peak of his powers and was the team’s top scorer last season from the left wing, as well as chipping in with plenty of assists.

One to watch

Young midfielder Ryan Woods is garnering rave reviews and is being tipped by some to make the step up to the first team after a string of impressive performances. He could well offer a goal threat equal to that of Wright if he continues to develop.

Outlook

Unless something goes horribly, horribly wrong, the Shrews should be competing for automatic promotion once again. They have both the quality and experience required to beat any other team in the division and should have learned their lessons from last season.

Predictions

Ben: If there’s any justice in the world then the Shrews will be going up via the automatic promotion places.

Danny: Challengers for automatic promotion.

Maxi: Shrewsbury hate the play-offs but it’s where I put them again.

Links to other teams in this preview can be found here

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