Wrexham slumped to a sloppy defeat to rivals Shrewsbury on Thursday night, and it had one expert feeling sorely disappointed.
Many had expected Wrexham to deliver a comprehensive win against League One strugglers Shrewsbury last week, despite the game being away from home.
But, a lethargic display from Phil Parkinson’s men saw them fall to a 2-1 defeat at the Croud Meadow, and the Wrexham manager was not happy with the performance.
The result and performance not only put a dent in Wrexham’s promotion hopes, but it has left everyone around the club feeling flat.
- READ MORE: Jack Marriott shares the feeling inside the Wrexham dressing room after losing to Shrewsbury Town
Wrexham players criticised for complacency, they let fans down vs Shrewsbury
There are a number of criticisms one could throw at the Wrexham squad after that game, but the folks on the Fearless in Devotion podcast attribute a lot of the issues to a sense of complacency among the players.
It was so frustrating, in fact, that Tim Edwards cited this game as one of the very few moments since Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds took over that he has felt let down by the players.
When asked what the big problem was, Edwards said: “The bottom line is complacency. They were very, very complacent. They knew what was going to be coming at them, and Parkinson talked a good game beforehand about how he had drilled it into the players what this meant. But that wasn’t there.
“There’s probably only a handful of times since the takeover that I can genuinely say that I feel like they let us down, and that was definitely one of them. Forget the fact it was Shrewsbury, you put in that performance against anyone else and it’s still a very disappointing, flat display.”
On a potentially wider issue, Edwards added: “They could hardly string two passes together. We can have all the individual skill, but you have to put in the grit and the effort, 100% effort as a bare minimum.”
- READ MORE: Wrexham fans send clear demand to Phil Parkinson after Shrewsbury Town – it’s hard to argue now
All will be forgiven if Wrexham can beat Birmingham this week
Simply put, that kind of performance cannot happen again. At least, not if Wrexham seriously want to get promoted this season.
Up next is the biggest test of the campaign against Birmingham City, and Parkinson will need to ring the changes when it comes to the Wrexham lineup for the game.
Whichever players he does select, they need to make a real statement. Wrexham fans would be disappointed to lose that game, obviously, with the repercussions it would have on the rest of the season, but the main thing is the performance — if any of that complacency creeps in again, fans will turn on the team very quickly.
The League One promotion race is incredibly tight, but defeat against Birmingham would not only be the end of Wrexham’s title hopes, it would also leave them vulnerable to being overtaken by Huddersfield by the weekend.