Sam Ricketts: Injuries taking Shrewsbury to limit
Manager Sam Ricketts feels Shrewsbury Town have been left hampered by long-term injuries under new squad limit rules this season.
New regulations, brought in for this season to help league clubs cope in the wake of the pandemic, state a maximum of 22 players aged over 21 – including a minimum of eight ‘homegrown’ players – can be registered for league action this season.
Town duo Sean Goss and Donald Love were omitted and have played no part in league action since the registration deadline, though the duo did feature in EFL Trophy action at Crewe this week.
Ricketts has been without the likes of Rekeil Pyke and Matija Sarkic due to injury for an extended period and feels Town are restricted due to being unable to replace injury absentees in the league squad.
“We’re just really hampered – we’ve got players out injured for a long time and they take up spots in your squad which otherwise shouldn’t do so,” Ricketts said. “
That means we’ve had to bring others in. We’re restricted there, so minutes are hard to come by.”
Ricketts praised Goss’ professionalism as the out-of-favour midfielder came in from the cold to feature in the cups this week
. Ricketts added: “Gossy has been excellent. He’s been very, very professional and a credit to himself. I can’t fault the players, that’s the same as those on the pitch. I’m happy to be able to use and play them.”
