Southend - Sat 13h August (h)

[Whitti Steve]

I would settle for a win from this game and us to be top of the league! I think if we win this the bookies will be re-working their odds. I just hope Merse keeps a winning team and especially doesn't mess with the defence. Also hope the crowd can do their bit again! I know I will!

[Guest]

2-0 to us Fryat and Leitao

[PerStener]

will be a thight match.... they are promoted and those teams are allways dangerous..
2-1 to Saddlers, Staunton and Fryatt.

Some facts from Soccerbase:
All time results between Walsall and Southend United

Code: Select all

          WFC wins  draws  Southend United wins
League      18      13       35
FA Cup      1       1        0
Total       19      14       35

[Ace]

2-2

[YGA Saddler]

1-1, fryatt for us. eastwood for them.

[jeffsmate]

3-0 to saddlers.

[geoffwhiting]

With home advantage and us in good form, I don't see us failing to win this one - I'll go for 3-1 to the Saddlers, but I'd love a clean sheet.

Football, however, is notoriously unpredictable, so I won't be putting any money on it, that's for sure ! :D

[toffo]

tight game 1-0 to us. Wracky to have a blinder and nick a second half goal.

[sj]

4-2 to Walsall :D

[Magic Man Fan]

I think if we win this the bookies will be re-working their odds.

They already have. I dallied with my bet and now find that Skybet have gone from having us at 25-1 last week to now being quoted at 14-1.

Interest stats Per, all in the past now though. :lol:

It will be odd watching Southend wearing our away kit...we can't lose! :lol:

2-1 Fryatt and Standing. Eastwood to get off the mark for them.

[TheSaddlers]

3-0 (Fryatt, Fryatt and er......... Fryatt)

[ucow]

3-2 to the saddlers again as its worked in the last two matched so i aint changing me prediction till we lose or draw a league game!

[We-ARE-Walsall]

tight game 1-0 to us. Wracky to have a blinder and nick a second half goal.

If you don't have a dream..... :lol:


Im fully expecting us to mess this one up, usually the way at Walsall once we get our hopes up.

Having said that, if we keep defending in the manner we have been, a clean sheet must come soon. Ill go for a 1-0. Don't care who scores, be nice for Matty to get off the mark in open play.
His general play has been good first two games, need the goals to start flowing now.

Looked more of a goal threat with Jorge along side him second half tues.

[Neil Ravenscroft]

Preview now on line, front page

[Jorge14]

2-0 win or a 1-1 draw in my book.

[BOLDMERE SADDLER]

Sounds like the perfect oportunity for a classic Walsall cock-up.
This is Merson's (our new manager this season not of last) biggest test yet.Favorites to win and set a club record.Can he handle it by keeping the players focussed?
My current new found faith say's a win 2-0 (Fryatt & George),although 30 years of supporting this club tells me otherwise.

[PerStener]

Skysports website thinks 2-0 to Walsall..

And they also have picked Fryatt to be the player to watch this League One round.

Click to read about it on skysports website

[Guest]

I think it'll be 2-1. However, I reckon it'll take us a while to get going and we'll come from behind!

[Dr David Kelly]

A whopping 6-0 with Larrossa getting 4.

[PerStener]

I had a dream tonight that we won 8-2..
Maybe put some money on that...

[Stu]

I had a dream tonight that we won 8-2..
Maybe put some money on that...

Gimme the first scorer, I'll stick a £1 on it and we'll split the profits and buy the club between us, as the odds will be massive, lol.

[TofDover]

FT 2-2 but top of the league

[Evo Boozy Saddler]

2-2

Top pick AC. Whats tonights lottery numbers?

Bit disappointed with 2-2, but I'd have settled for 7 points from 3 at the start of the Rotherscum match.

[Reading Saddler]

currently im loving the fact that on the bbc website one of the game scores is recorded as Yeovil town 1 - 1 John Murphy!!! bit risky aint it bbc!
2-2 would of preferred a win however top of the table till at least monday is definitley something. Up the saddlers.

[philthesaddler]

Another game, another two goals conceded.

I regard today as two points lost, simply because we only bothered to play when we needed to. This is a habit we had last year, and it caused us trouble last year. I think we probably missed osborne in the first half today, as there seemed to be nobody driving the team on to attack southend.

Finally we conceded the goal that had looked like coming for most of the first half, and we start playing with some urgency. This is so frustrating. When we did play, we tore them apart. They couldn't handle us whilst we had urgency and drive about us, but once again, once we'd done just enough, we take the foot off the gas so much that southend come back and get a draw.

Both of their goals, i'd like to see again, but initial reaction would suggest that westwood was at fault for both, or at least one. I'm not convinced about him, and I said this after the forest game. How he got man of the match I don't know.

We could have finished southend off today had we kept the momentum going, but that slight hesitation after our second goal caused us to slowly sit further and further back. How many corners did they have in the last 10 mins?

There are areas of the way we play that have improved. We now have an idea of what to do with the ball when we get in to the final third, and we create some good chances. Wright is improving, Fox is good, so is pead, but we simply have to beat teams like southend, without conceding two sloppy goals. We had the advantage of being at home, and having a much better team on paper, but we still managed to only get one point. Shame, because thats the difference between a team that finishes in the top 4, and a team that doesn't.

The priority is our defence. We rarely won games last year with a clean sheet, and we're doing that again this year.

[Guest]

2-0 to us Fryat and Leitao

i got our scorers right :)

[King Crimson]

Very disappointed. In my opinion, we lost the two points in the first half, with a midfield that was quite simply poor. If we had played the first half in the manner we played the second, after the substitutions, we could have been a few goals to the good by half time. Instead, Southend were able to grow in confidence as we failed to secure any quality possession.

Smith didn't look fit for purpose today.
Wright saw plenty of the game, but with little end product.
Taylor looks better as part of a midfield five.
We missed someone who could run at their defence today i.e. Michael Standing

On the positives, thought Jorge and Matty looked sharp, Fox and Pead did well.
Once again, I would argue that (if fit) we HAVE to play Simon Osborn in midfield. He gave us possession and we finally looked like we would score goals. The team tinkering has cost us today.

I'd have taken 7 points from our first three games, but I feel we need to be more clinical if we are to make a real impact on this division. Hartlepool and Swansea will be a stern test. :(

[Bernie]

Amazing really. We are top of the league, but have still to put in one really good performance in our first three matches. I am delighted with our league position, but I think that there is better to come from us.

Let's not knock the team but be optimistic that when we play to our potential we will do even better.

[We-ARE-Walsall]

Agree with most of what you guys said, Phil picked up on some good points. No doubting we have improved on last season, but we had to didn't we ? After all we where almost relegated. Yes we have improved, but still a little feeling of de ja vu, from last season.

Sloppy defending, from set peices to. Thats basics, two goals conceeded from unmarked men. We didn't start playing till we where losing. Ringing any bells, should be.

Fox was my man of the match, thought he was superb, nice cross for the first goal too.

Westwood was shocking imo, Looked clumsy, and nervous. Almost going through the motions i think.

I thought Taylor struggled, but tried hard, i actually thought wrack did ok today, nothing spectacular, but he was trying today. Smith, i just hope it was because he wasn't fit.

Specail mention for Ozzie, cos i have had a moan in the past, but he made a huge difference when he came on, Did everything Smith didn't. Wrighty was ok, looked a threat at times, im sure he can make it.

Thought the strikers did pretty well, Matty missed one golden chance to wrap it up, free header from a lovely worked short corner, but thats not complaining, it came at him quite quickly.
Jorge broke his neck to get that header at the end, and it was a world class save to deny him.

Feeling mighty depressed at the moment, but there are postives to take, it's just hard to take when you throw away two points in the last minute.

Final thing, i thought southend weren't a bad side, played some neat stuff at times, still should have buried them though

[Jorge14]

Southend came with a game plan and they stuck to it - which meant that we ended playing some very poor football in the first half.
I thought Westwood looked poor today - though Eastwood was hardly involved in the game at all. So some credit there.
Fox and Leitao were our brightest performers in my opinon. Pead did okay, but he is too quick to launch a long ball forward for my liking.

Was very disapointed with Smith - he clearly wasn't in match fitness and it showed. Why was Osborn rested? I can appreciate a rest when it gets to December time - but after two games, it is ludicrous. We missed him big time, and our game stepped up a notch when he came on.

Staunton looked better when he was launching attacks than at the back. He knocked a beautiful ball for Wrack to set up our second, but I don't think dropping Gerrard from the squad was warranted at all. Let Staunton get some fitness first. Same with Smith.

We should have done better with both goals as we defended like Statues. Can't look any further than Westwood, Bennett and Staunton for the blame there. With so many 'skippers' on the pitch, we should really be better organised defensively. Don't forget, Smith has 5 seasons of captaincy behind him at Gillingham, Staunton has captained Ireland, and Westwood is our captain at the minute.

Still, we are top of the league and there is clearly so much more to come. Lets hope Brentford drop all 3 points on Monday night now.