Wellens alters his plans for Salford
RICHIE Wellens says he’s had to adapt to suit his Salford City players.
On Tuesday night, the Ammies surrendered another lead – the club have now dropped a whopping 19 points from winning positions in League Two this season – as Morecambe twice scored in stoppage time to inflict a 2-1 defeat.
In their last six league outings, Salford have conceded four goals after the 90-minute mark and so have missed the chance to re-enter the automatic promotion spots for the first time since October.
Within recent weeks, Wellens has switched system from a 4-2-3-1 formation to a more fluid 3-4-2-1, and the Ammies boss admitted he’s made sacrifices to benefit the players at his disposal.
He told M.E.N. Sport: “I don’t like three at the back. I think I coach a team better to play 4-3-3.
“But a manager would be very naïve if he sticks to his system that he wants if he doesn’t believe it’s the best for the personnel.
“Sometimes a manager has to adapt. With the centre-backs we’ve got and the threats that this division gives you – balls in your box and long throws – you need that stability and a midfield structure to give us the ball.
“If you have 70 percent possession, you only have to defend for 30 percent so there’s less chance of conceding. If we’ve got that moving forward, then we’ve definitely got goals in us.”
Fan favourite Ash Hunter, who has dropped deeper from an attacking position to the right wing-back berth as a result of the system tweak, is optimistic Salford can react with this afternoon’s trip to Southend United.
He said: “We’ve been unlucky a few times this season where we haven’t scored the important goal to put the game to bed and it’s cost us. Learning from that this season, there’s still a long way to go and we’ll definitely improve.
“We just need to keep playing how we have been, and we need to put a couple of wins on the spin and get the points going.”
Despite their midweek shock and consequent slip to eighth in the League Two standings, the Ammies are only seven points behind table-toppers Cambridge United with two games in hand.
Hunter added: “I think three or four wins on the spin will really get us going; you’ve seen how the likes of Bolton, Bradford and Tranmere have jumped up the table in recent weeks.
“If we can stop conceding late goals and pick up three points, by the end of the season, we should be up there.
“There are 17 games left so 51 points to play for, so I’d like to think automatic promotion is still a realistic goal.”