Shrewsbury Town predicted XI: Will boss shake things up after midweek nightmare?

Shrewsbury Town’s EFL Cup defeat to Fleetwood Town was well below expectations.

So, you may think boss Gavin Cowan might be tempted to ring the changes and switch things up - but does he have the options available to do so?

Shrewsbury used a back four sometimes during pre-season, with Cowan stressing they would need to be ‘fluent’ in different systems this season. Perhaps Salop could explore a change of shape, having already used a five-man defence against Salford City earlier this season.

The midfield was changed for the Fleetwood hammering. Jay Turner-Cooke showed some promising moments, but otherwise you could see Cowan reverting to something closer to his previous midfield setup.

Isaac Fletcher was hooked at half-time in that defeat and has struggled to carry his impressive pre-season form into the competitive campaign so far. Tom Sang moved into the attacking midfield role and made a positive impact from the bench at Fleetwood, so he could now come into contention for that position.

Defensively, despite the mistakes at Fleetwood, Town have arguably used their strongest and most experienced options there, so you would expect that blueprint to remain largely unchanged.

Out wide, too, those players have provided the most consistent threat during what has been a testing start to the season.

Will Cowan stick with Josh Davison and Joe Gbode? The former failed to really test the Fleetwood goalkeeper, while the latter squandered chances but at least found himself in the right positions.

Then there is Sam Proctor, who is still waiting for his first start and appearance for Shrewsbury. After a difficult start, could Cowan be tempted to make a change between the sticks, too?

This one is difficult to call, but here is our predicted Shrewsbury Town XI…

Shrewsbury Town predicted XI vs Salford City

Starting XI (3-4-1-2): Brook; Hoole, Boyle, Ruffels; Jude-Boyd, Gray, Turner-Cooke, Berkoe; Sang; Davison, Gbode.

Subs: Proctor, Lee, Pendleton, England, Fletcher, Aiston, Lloyd.