Matt Taylor urges Shrewsbury Town to take more risks in goal hunt
Matt Taylor wants his Shrewsbury Town side to take more risks in the final third, as they look to get back to winning ways at Leyton Orient.
Salop are currently sitting 15th in League One – after three wins in their first seven games.
However, they have lost the last two league outings and have only netted on four occasions this season.
Taylor insisted he and his players are well aware of the build-up of pressure a lack of goals brings, and explained they’ve been working hard in training this to rectify the issue.
And the Salop chief wants his side to do that is by taking more risks in the final third of the field.
He said: “We have been putting the ball in the right areas in training and trying to stress the players mentally. We are making the right runs and balls into areas, but we are not finishing them off.
“You saw on Tuesday we were denied by some good saves, but can we do anything different?
“Yes, and we are doing that.
“It is not just about the strikers though, it is about players who go up for set-pieces, it is about shooting more from around the box and taking more risks when one does fall for you.
“When it does go in there will be a natural release and a release of pressure. We have not scored enough, we are fully aware we need to be more creative in the final third.”
Despite Salop’s lack of goals in the opening seven league outings of the season – Taylor has taken positives from performances, including how well his side have done out of possession in the majority of games.
But he knows that now has to marry up with how they are in possession at the top end of the pitch. He added: “If you flip it on its head, we have been excellent out of possession in the majority of games.
“The metrics we look at we have been really good out of possession which is a positive. Now we need to be better in possession in the final third and make better decisions.
“That might be an opportunity to cross but shooting instead, or a shot when we should be passing, and the players have to take responsibility for that on the pitch.”
Taylor is sweating on the fitness of Taylor Perry and Carl Winchester, who missed the midweek EFL Trophy, and late calls will be made on the pair.
