It's a numbers game for Shrewsbury Town
Manager Micky Mellon reckons Shrewsbury Town won't know they're a force in League One until teams start changing formation to accommodate them.
And the Town boss admits he might always have to tinker with how they line up with the current squad.
Last season Town found a winning formula in their 3-5-2 system and stuck to it as they won automatic promotion.
This time, often against bigger clubs with bigger resources, they have had to change to tailor the opposition.
In Shrewsbury's last away game, they led 1-0 through Larnell Cole and Millwall felt forced to switch their 4-4-2 formation, before running out 3-1 winners.
Tuesday's opponents Sheffield United have settled into a 3-5-2 that brought them three consecutive clean sheets, before they played Town and they've picked up 10 points out of 12.
But it seems unlikely that Gillingham will spend too much time worrying over Town's formation before they meet tomorrow.
Boss Mellon said: "Last season we didn't have to change at all because everyone had to change for us.
"This season, how many teams have changed to accommodate us? Not many. How strong your system is can be gauged on how many teams have to adapt to play you, and that probably isn't enough.
"When teams have to start changing to play against us, we'll know we're getting somewhere. But every credit to the boys because when we've adapted our system, we've had a lot of success with it.
"That might be what we have to do with this group."
Mellon wants it to be the opposition that is forced into a switch, continuing: "We have to get to that stage where our system is causing that much trouble to the opposition they're having to change.
"If that happens, I'll know we're getting somewhere towards gaining the success we want at this club. At the minute, you think 'we're bending here.'
"When Millwall changed their manager (Neil Harris) told us it was the first time they had switched from a 4-4-2 because of the system we were playing.
"So we made them bend because we were getting good success – we were a goal up.
"But that hasn't happened enough and we have to get a team to get to that point where teams change – that's when we know we're moving forward."
Town's next two games are away to play-off challengers, with Walsall on Tuesday. Mellon believes it's better to play teams with something at stake.
He said: "You want to go into a game where both teams have something to play for because the game will change when one of them is in the ascendency.
"Both teams will be under pressure to get results and we hope we can use that to our benefit."
