Wrexham fans point out Sam Smith’s starting lineup absence as the biggest Phil Parkinson mistake from the 2-0 Millwall defeat.
From aiming for a Championship double over Millwall pre game, Wrexham ended on the receiving side of a 2-0 defeat this time. The Reds didn’t lose hold of the top 6 playoffs zone but the chance to go fifth is all but over for February. Tough games against Bristol City and Ipswich Town lie ahead in the coming weeks.
They both got back to winning ways on the weekend and let’s be honest, they are no pushovers as Millwall this season. Although Phil Parkinson’s men didn’t surrender to the Lions, the Reds were far from decent on the night. Starting from defence, Wrexham couldn’t contain Millwall star Femi Azeez on the right flank who had a hand in both goals.
In attack, the home side looked dull barring the final fifteen minutes. Before the starting lineups arrived, fans would have laughed if they were told that Wrexham’s all-round attack will end up goalless at full-time. But a big Phil Parkinson mistake ruined everything against Millwall.
Wrexham fans point Phil Parkinson mistake from 2-0 Millwall defeat
At Sheffield Wednesday, Parkinson went with Nathan Broadhead, Josh Windass and Sam Smith to get the job done. For Millwall, Broadhead was unavailable but Parkinson didn’t pick any of Windass and Smith as well. Instead, Ollie Rathbone, Lewis O’Brien and Kieffer Moore were given the nod.
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In the eyes of fans, the game was already half lost with this attacking unit. One fan lamented this decision saying: “Those 3 up top should never of started when they were awful against Leicester at home last time.”
Currently, Leicester City are on the brink of falling into the relegation zone due to their recent 6 point deduction. Still, it wasn’t long ago that Wrexham failed to create much meaningful chances against the same Foxes side. Apart from a Lewis O’Brien tap-in, of course.
Nothing against Ollie Rathbone, he has been Wrexham’s clutch player in the past month. O’Brien is good as a midfielder but taking on defenders is simply beyond his capacity. Even if one ignores these two calls, it’s hard to justify why Kieffer Moore was started over Sam Smith.
An annoyed Reds fan added on this: “Stop starting with Kieffer Moore Smith is scoring goals…and is a much better player.”
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It’s a different thing that Sam Smith skied a good 1v1 chance, but atleast he made the Wrexham attack appear more lively. On the other hand, it was a tough task to spot Moore near the ball all night. It was almost as if the Welshman resorted to challenging headers only and doing nothing else.
A third fan was fuming. He said: “Better team won got to stop playing the moore ball and start SMITH and DKD looked better when they come on this result down to parkinson and not doing homework on Millwall and team selection.”
The next Championship test is ten days away against Bristol City. Wrexham need to bounce back stronger, and a lot of that depends on whether boss Phil Parkinson has learned his lesson about sticking with Sam Smith as the striker for the time being.
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