[01
JUN 00] COVENTRY CITY NEWS
Shaw Sees Positives From Season
Coventry
City defender Richard Shaw has told Sky Blues fans that the team will
not return for next season groggy from last season's away sickness.
The
former Crystal Palace man believes his team mates will wipe the slate
clean and approach matches away from Highfield Road with a fresh
prospective.
Despite
failing to win a single match on their travels last year Shaw insists
that it was not until the last few fixtures that the problem started
to become a mental one.
He
said:
"To
be perfectly honest, I don't know if it just me, but I didn't really
think anything of the away record until February or March time.
"All
of sudden people started saying 'your away form has been terrible',
but up to the West Ham game it wasn't really too bad - we had drawn
a lot of matches but we weren't getting beaten.
"It
was only the second half of the season when the press and the media
started talking about it that it really got to the players and even
the management I think.
"However,
we did manage to get 44 points without an away win so that is a very
good thing.
"As
far as next season goes it is just a case of wipe the slate clean
and go from there, not dwell too much on the problems."
And
although the honest defender does not like to blame injuries for
City's 14th place finish he admits he has never known such a busy
treatment room.
He
said:
"This
is the worse I've ever known in all my career. A lot of clubs can
talk about injury but we have had such a long list with Edworthy,
Aloisi, Froggatt, Whelan and myself all out for months at a time -
not just a few weeks.
"In
Aloisi's and Edworthy's case it is getting to six months now and
they are players from key positions."
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