Sad news:Phil Parkinson died after training today because of… full details below

Sad news:Phil Parkinson died after training today because of… full details below👇👇

Phil Parkinson has a clear issue that only he can fix if Wrexham can achieve a history-making third promotion in a row.

Starting the season with a home clash against Wycombe Wanderers, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds have outlined their ambitions of reaching the Championship.

Despite handing Phil Parkinson a healthy transfer budget, that looks like a tall order given Tom Brady’s Birmingham City have a reported £20 million budget and other sides, including Rotherham, Peterborough and Bolton are all battle-tested in the third tier.

For Wrexham to propel themselves into the mix for promotion, they’ll need to recruit wisely in the window – starting that off with a bang by signing Arthur Okonkwo – while Parkinson must alter one issue that plagued them last term.

Phil Parkinson must improve Wrexham’s away form

Wrexham’s home and away form in League Two was chalk and cheese.

Whilst at the Racecourse Ground they accumulated the most points of any side (54), away from home was a completely different story as the Reds lost seven of their 23 matches and scored just 27 times.

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The fluid and entertaining football seen on home turf was often not translated on their travels as Parkinson’s men struggled to break down the opposition at times.

Wrexham are now entering a division where the quality is much higher and many teams have found that it’s less forgiving. You only have to look at the likes of Portsmouth, Sunderland and Ipswich – who were stuck in the third tier for years – before escaping.

Now Parkinson’s side has the small task of dislodging several big hitters, including Birmingham, Huddersfield and Bolton to earn promotion, either through the play-offs or automatically.

That will require an improvement to their away form, with only Parkinson holding the power in that regard.

How Phil Parkinson can improve Wrexham’s away form

Wrexham are a team that enjoys counter-attacking in numbers, streaming forward through the likes of Andy Cannon, Elliot Lee, James McClean and Paul Mullin.

In Parkinson’s 5-3-2 system that accommodates wing backs, the Reds are a difficult entity to stop at home however, on their travels, it’s a completely different narrative.

Wrexham are overly reliant on their wing-backs, namely Jacob Mendy and Ryan Barnett, providing quality ammunition into the box.

This is a tactic that works a treat at home as Mullin gobbles up most chances that fall to his feet, though when playing away, sometimes the wing-backs can get pegged back, preventing them from streaming forward.

To resolve this problem, Parkinson would ideally switch to a 4-3-3 formation, which would allow his wingers to exploit the space. But since he doesn’t have the players to do so, the Wrexham boss must encourage a more attacking mentality away from home.

That would require controlling the game in midfield and pushing the wing-backs high, two attributes that Wrexham see a lot of at home but not necessarily away.