Horses for courses for Gareth Ainsworth in Shrewsbury Town battle

The boss oversaw a brilliant victory against League One promotion favourites Birmingham City seven days ago in his first game as head coach in Shropshire.

Goals from Aaron Pierre, John Marquis and Tom Bloxham capped a stunning afternoon for the new boss. 

The victory came from inspiring his players and getting them to put in a tremendous shift, while Ainsworth also simplified the game for his team.

But there was also a tactical tweak, which saw him use a 4-3-1-2 formation against Chris Davies's side, and the League One high-flyers could not get their heads around it.

Previous boss Paul Hurst preferred a back four. He would openly say that on record, but he was not against changing if he felt that would get the best out of his team or if he felt they could exploit an opponent's weaknesses.

And with Ainsworth having 30 games now to turn Shrewsbury's fortunes around, the boss was asked by the Shropshire Star what can fans expect him to do with his playing system.

"If you check back you'll see that I've honestly managed between a five and a four at the back a lot," Ainsworth responded.

"I used to have a thing at Wycombe where if they were a two up front I'd go to a back five and do the plus one thing that (Marcelo) Bielsa used to do at Leeds.

"And if they were a one up front I'd do a four at the back, but I think that's for when you really know your squad and you are really comfortable with that.

"I have set formations that I work on and I also have moments where I'll change to something a little bit different just for a one-off and think, right, we can mess a team up by just playing this and work on it all week, but no, I'm quite fluid."

Ainsworth had huge success at Wycombe Wanderers during his more than 10 years with the Chairboys.

And he kept Queens Park Rangers in the Championship when he first took over in west London.

So the boss has a habit of winning, and he says it is not whether he has a four or a five at the back that will do that.

"I would say that formations don't win games, it's players that win games, it really is," he said.

"I will fluctuate between them, but it will be the style of play, the energy the boys bring.

"I'm not going to go into detail about what we're going to be, but you will see a certain style no matter what formation we play, there'll be a certain way that we play when we get the ball.

"When we have it in space, when it's a transition when we haven't got the ball, when they have the ball at the back, when the ball's in midfield, there'll be a certain style that we employ no matter what formation that is, so that's key for me."

Ainsworth has spent the week refining his message to the Shrewsbury players ahead of a massive week in the race for survival.

Shrewsbury welcome Steve Bruce’s 16th-placed Blackpool outfit to Croud Meadow on Wednesday night before making the trip to fellow strugglers Cambridge next Saturday to face a side who sit 22nd in the table, one place and two points above Town.