Phil Parkinson has dropped his verdict on Wrexham’s 1-0 defeat against Tranmere Rovers this afternoon.
Wrexham were coming up against a Tranmere side who were fresh from beating Mansfield Town but had only won three games on their travel all season, which placed them second bottom for away wins in League Two.
With Phil Parkinson’s men aiming to get back on track following their goalless draw against Harrogate Town on Tuesday night, Tranmere ripped up the script by producing a 1-0 victory thanks to Luke Norris’ eighth-minute winner.
The Reds continued their theme of being wasteful in the final third and the most alarming statistic to come from the match was registering a whopping 25 shots on goal but only four on target.
It means they’ve now landed 41 shots on their opponent’s goal across their last two games without finding the net, and that is an issue the manager must resolve.
Despite falling to a disappointing loss, which kept them third in the table, Parkinson felt his side dominated in the first half but used one keyword to describe their overall performance.
Phil Parkinson describes Wrexham’s performance as ‘frantic’
Speaking to Wrexham’s official YouTube channel after the game, Parkinson said: “We were probably at times a bit frantic with our decision making and the clarity with those decisions in the final third wasn’t where it needed to be to make the most of our dominance. We practically penned them in for the whole 45 minutes, but couldn’t get the goal back in the first half.”
Wrexham have found it difficult to supply quality into their forward line.
Ryan Barnett skewed 13 of his crosses in today’s loss while a midfield without the instrumental James McClean looked devoid of any ideas or creativity.
As highlighted by his goal record since arriving at the Racecourse Ground, Paul Mullin will score goals if given the chance, though he’s failed to register a single shot on target in his last two outings and that is down to the poor service into him.
Wrexham supporters know they have the class and quality in abundance to put teams to the sword.
After all, they have scored more goals at home across England’s top four leagues than any other side, they’ve just not shown those levels against Harrogate or Tranmere.
Whether that is down to Parkinson’s 3-5-2 system, which relies heavily on the wing-backs providing service, or just a result of the players themselves, today’s “frantic” performance can’t become a regular habit.
Wrexham need to get back to their ruthless best in the final third, like we know they can, to remain in the automatic promotion places.
Luckily, promotion is in their own hands as they’re level on points with fourth-place MK Dons, but if they are to remain in the top three, their decision-making must improve.