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Scunthorpe (away 24/09)

Reports and reaction from the 2005-06 season as Walsall finished 24th (R) in League 1
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Sun Sep 25, 2005 6:39 am

Got these stats and player ratings from the Scunthorpe site, just wondered how fair a reflection people who went to the match consider them to be

10 Goal Attempts 11
4 On Target 4
6 Off Target 7
0 Hit Woodwork 0
5 Offsides 5
5 Corners 9
7 Fouls 22

Starting Line-ups
32 Ruddy 7
4 Gerrard 7
3 Fox 7
5 Westwood 8
8 Osborn 8
2 Pead 7
28 Smith 7
15 Taylor (Husbands 61) 6
12 Fryatt 7
9 Leitao (Wright 21) 6
10 Merson 7
Substitutes
31 Gilmartin
25 Staunton
14 Wright (Leitao 21) 5
16 Kinsella
30 Husbands (Taylor 61) 6

Guest
 

Sun Sep 25, 2005 6:44 am

I thought guests weren't allowed on this site :?:

Guest
 

Sun Sep 25, 2005 6:47 am

I'm sure the moderators are going to have their work cut out with posts like that :!: :(

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Geordiesaddler
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Sun Sep 25, 2005 9:25 am

Nice of all the Happy Clappers who didn't go to the game to come on with their "I told you so's". As Stu says if they'd bothered their sad backsides to actually go and support the team they might have an opinion worth reading.

Positives yesterday were Smith - at last looks fit enough to be on a football pitch and really put himself about. Osborn - wonderful performance, quite simply won the match singlehandedly IMO.

Husbands, looked a real handful, we have to find a spot in the team for this young fella, either on the wing or up front, because he has great pace and the ability to turn defenders. Quite simply has what we have been lacking.

Negatives, for an hour we were very poor. At 11 v 10 they were chasing the game so it was never the case of them putting 10 behind the ball as someone mentioned, yet they had more possession than us and seemed to find space at will despite their man disadantage.

Merson was complete garbage, why oh why he continues to embarass the memory of the Paul Merson that was by pullling on a shirt I just do not know. For pity's sake Paul give it up, get yoursef a nice suit and sit in the dug-out like you are paid to do.

Once again we were undone by a simple cross into the box for their goal, atrocious defending.

All in all a welcome win and a good day out, but we need to be much better than this if we are to be anything other than mid-table. We arn't going to play 10 men every week, and Ossie isn't going to bail us out with wonder goals. Merson needs to
1) sort the defence out, we simply cannot defend crosses as has been proved time and time again this season.
2) He needs to get his backside off the pitch (literally)
3) We need to be able to accommodate Husbands in some capacity, for me this would work best in a 4-5-1 with him in the Surman role. THis would allow us to play Smith and Ozzy, and is also the only formation in which we have looked defensively solid under Merson.

If Paul Merson ever "rests" Osborn again, he should be sacked on the spot. He is quite simply the best player at the club, and gives a wonderful example to the rest of the team.

Wyrleysadler
 

Sun Sep 25, 2005 9:32 am

Wyrley Saddler wrote:3-1 Scunny :(

Got it the wrong way round :D

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Sun Sep 25, 2005 9:57 am

MERSON 7 :roll:

Whoever wrote those must have been at the Grimsby game. Mind you, i wish Merson had been at Grimsby as well :lol:

Up the Saddlers

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Geordiesaddler
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Sun Sep 25, 2005 10:24 am

Ozzy 8!!!!!!! What does he have to do to get 8.5?

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sid swifty
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Location: Walsall

Sun Sep 25, 2005 11:21 am

Geordiesaddler wrote:Nice of all the Happy Clappers who didn't go to the game to come on with their "I told you so's". As Stu says if they'd bothered their sad backsides to actually go and support the team they might have an opinion worth reading.

Positives yesterday were Smith - at last looks fit enough to be on a football pitch and really put himself about. Osborn - wonderful performance, quite simply won the match singlehandedly IMO.

Husbands, looked a real handful, we have to find a spot in the team for this young fella, either on the wing or up front, because he has great pace and the ability to turn defenders. Quite simply has what we have been lacking.

Negatives, for an hour we were very poor. At 11 v 10 they were chasing the game so it was never the case of them putting 10 behind the ball as someone mentioned, yet they had more possession than us and seemed to find space at will despite their man disadantage.

Merson was complete garbage, why oh why he continues to embarass the memory of the Paul Merson that was by pullling on a shirt I just do not know. For pity's sake Paul give it up, get yoursef a nice suit and sit in the dug-out like you are paid to do.

Once again we were undone by a simple cross into the box for their goal, atrocious defending.

All in all a welcome win and a good day out, but we need to be much better than this if we are to be anything other than mid-table. We arn't going to play 10 men every week, and Ossie isn't going to bail us out with wonder goals. Merson needs to
1) sort the defence out, we simply cannot defend crosses as has been proved time and time again this season.
2) He needs to get his backside off the pitch (literally)
3) We need to be able to accommodate Husbands in some capacity, for me this would work best in a 4-5-1 with him in the Surman role. THis would allow us to play Smith and Ozzy, and is also the only formation in which we have looked defensively solid under Merson.

If Paul Merson ever "rests" Osborn again, he should be sacked on the spot. He is quite simply the best player at the club, and gives a wonderful example to the rest of the team.
Who is this husbands geezer been on holiday for 2 weeks had'nt heard of him before i went :lol:

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Evo Boozy Saddler
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Sun Sep 25, 2005 11:54 am

Husbands, is a former Villa kid, who's been at Southend and Hereford. More recently at Bristol Rovers but they couldn't afford him, so we got him, initially on trial, now on non contract. Has never scored a senior goal, but got an impressive hat trick for the reserves last week. Badly wanted him to score yesterday, but he snapped at a chance and the he looked gutted. Hope the lack of senior goal isn't eating away at him, because he looks a great signing. Southend fans on another forum praised him up.

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Sun Sep 25, 2005 12:16 pm

Player ratings from New of the World:-

Merson 8
Fox 8
Westwood 8
Osborne 9
Fryatt 9
Pead 4

& others ...

.... I wasn't at the game, but is this a fair reflection ?

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Sun Sep 25, 2005 12:18 pm

As others have said, it wasn't a good performance, but a win's a win.

Osborn was magnificent and, as Geordie says, clearly the best player at the club (I did think he was lucky not to get a red card though - either a straight red for the challenge that ended up with their chap going off, or a second yellow for his challenge a few minutes later). Smith played very well, Fryatt did too, and Leitao made a couple of brilliant runs before going off injured.

The problems haven't gone away though. We were still poor defensively. I'm not at all convinced by Westwood, he just doesn't look particularly good to me. Merson was awful (despite suffering the indignity of actually warming up with his players before the game - not sure I can remember seeing that before), and Taylor simply can't play wide on the left (he just keeps moving infield, leaving Fox exposed).

Keeper didn't have much to do. Certainly pleased to see him and not Gilmartin playing though.

A win's a win. A sterner test will come on Tuesday, especially if Pead is missing, since presumably that will mean either Wright or Gerrard playing at right back, and neither of them can.

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sid swifty
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Sun Sep 25, 2005 2:31 pm

EVO wrote:Husbands, is a former Villa kid, who's been at Southend and Hereford. More recently at Bristol Rovers but they couldn't afford him, so we got him, initially on trial, now on non contract. Has never scored a senior goal, but got an impressive hat trick for the reserves last week. Badly wanted him to score yesterday, but he snapped at a chance and the he looked gutted. Hope the lack of senior goal isn't eating away at him, because he looks a great signing. Southend fans on another forum praised him up.
CHEERS EVO, LOOKS LIKE HE'S JUST WHAT WE NEED.

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Stu
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Sun Sep 25, 2005 2:38 pm

The News of the World ratings were a pile of tosh, the usual story.

My view;

Ruddy - 6, had nothing to do in terms of shot stopping but looked very edgy on crossess.
Pead - 7, good game, Rushden & Pompey fan with me spoke highly of him.
Westwood - 7, solid, did what he had to, don't know where he was on their equaliser.
Gerrard - 6, he let Keogh turn off him and cross for their equaliser.
Fox - 7, got forward well, again, thought he should have been helping Gerrard pick up Keogh on the goal
Leitao - 7, did well whilst he was on the pitch
Smith - 7, best game to date.
Osborn - 8, had better games this season but scored two good goals
Merson - 5, gave the ball away constantly, didn't really create anything.
Taylor - 6, okay but didn't stand out
Fryatt - 8, really good performance, hold up and movement was superb.
Wright - 6, okay game
Husbands - 7, looked lively, very quick, has something about him.

That was my view.

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derbysaddler
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Sun Sep 25, 2005 3:20 pm

chuffed for Osborn to get himself a couple of goals, Interesting to see how this Husbands geezer gets on, sounds like a tidy player.

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Purple Toucan Saddler
 
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Tue Sep 27, 2005 10:11 am

geoffwhiting wrote:
Up the Walsall wrote:
r_a_perks wrote:2-0 loss.

If we are laughable agaist Chesterfield at home, God knows what the guys at the top of the table will do on their own turf.


As much as Merson must be responsible for playing both Smith and himself against Chesterfield, I still feel that the main problem on Saturday was the sudden drafting in of an inexperienced goalkeeper due to Oakes's injury.

Rene looked suspect in the first half with him not coming for anything, and this obviously led to Chesterfield bombarding the box with high balls.

With the new keeper, and as he has 2 days to gel with the team, I sense there will be a far better defensive performance (can't be much worse than the 2nd half against Chesterfield), and am going for a 3-1 victory to the Saddlers (Jorge, Husbands, and Westwood to score).


I think I've heard it all now. Blame last week on an 18 year old keeper, nothing to do with the twerp picking the team and making the substitutions.

Yeah, OK, whatever, I'll go for it, with loony ideas like this, what's the point in arguing ? !! :shock:


Just got back from Rome. Time to respond.

I did not blame the 18 year old keeper. I said that he did not come for anything. They bombarded the box after half time. Tell me this was also not the case. Surely, their manager saw something in the first half which he felt he could exploit. Tell me that this was not the case, or shut the f**k up.

This would not be just the keepers fault, and would be due to the keeper not playing with the defence before, and not knowing when to come for a ball and when to hold so the defence can deal with it.

Just because it does not match your opinion, does not give you the right to call other peoples opinions 'loony ideas'.

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geoffwhiting
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Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:06 am

Look. it was YOU who said the main problem was the change of keeper, and that is frankly as I described!

The problem was team selection, tactics, and bizarre substitutions. Rene Gilmartin was given no chance with two of the goals, he was totally exposed by the defence that gave him no cover from crosses, the third - well he was slow to react - but Wayne Allison had no right to win that ball, we had a defender on him and between him and the goal - the header was probably a touch lucky to drop inside the post, but with his height and reach, the keeper should probably have reached it.

Incidentally, I NEVER "shut the f**k up, this board should really know that by now, so don't waste your time telling me that.

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