Port Vale (away) 1st October 05

[ucow]

agree with what you say sj its all down to a lack of an organiser on and off the pitch if we had someone like a chris nichol on the side as a manager then we would see a marked improvment in the theam! but at teh moment we are a rudderless ship without any direction!

i saw enough of the team on saturday to beleve that with the right disapline in the side then we could be right up there in the league i have yet to see a decent side in this divison thats the annoying thing about this season!

[Locks_the_saddler]

totally agre ucow, the players we have are some of the best i have ever seen at the club in my relatively short time of watchin the saddlers. shame the manager has no idea how to handle his squad....

[Magic Man Fan]

I’ll just copy most of what I’ve put on NMFE, most of which echoes what is written above. The positives about Saturday: At last some pace and width! Good debuts from Gillett and especially Demonta…Ishmel who made a great run the byline and cut a perfect ball back which their defender put in because he was under pressure because Jorge was right behind him ready to tap in.

The second goal was brilliant from Demontagnac. He ran at their defence so they were on the back foot, cut inside and curled a great shot in from the edge of the box.

They played some good stuff but our defence gifted them the game. However poor the defence was I still fully blame Merson who gave the game to Vale for several reasons.

1. Merson probably doesn’t even realise but Vale were putting crosses in at will and our full backs seemingly didn’t seem to even try to stop them. Isn’t it their job to at least try and block crosses? Even if the odd cross gets over you have to have central defenders able to cope with clearing the high balls, which our current defence can’t. The defence are making the same mistakes each week, individually and collectively. If the errors were occasional or one-offs you could blame the player, but they’re every week which has to be down to a lack of organisation from the manager and coaching staff. Graydon and Nicholl took over unorganised teams and got them defending well as a unit within a matter of weeks. I can’t help feeling that they, or someone similar could do the same with this team. Surely our defensive faults are down to poor training methods? Merson said on WM on Saturday something like “its frustrating because we work so hard in training then we defend like 10 year olds to gift them goals like that”. Work hard in training??? Are you sure Merse? I live near to the training ground and have watched them occasionally. Every time I have been they have been playing a game. Presumably so Merson can still show off to the other players his silky touches. The last time I saw them do any fitness work was when Jim Walker was here last season.

2. Substitutions and tactics. For the first time this season we had a different option up front with real pace. I’m glad we had an injury (maybe not after reading above) because it forced Merson into making a change. Demontagnac would be an excellent partner for Fryatt and gives us a different dimension. Gillett played well also and at last we had some width. So why did Merson take them both off while at 2-2? Before some defend him saying Ishmel was injured…he wasn’t, he had cramp, another sign of poor fitness levels at the club. Merson had already decided to take him off by then anyway because Jon Whitney our physio hadn’t even got onto the pitch to see what was wrong with him and already the sign was going up to take him off. He was fine afterwards because he was running up and down the touchline warming down. Even if he was injured why take Gillett off at the same time, our only other chance of scoring? So that left us with a midfield of Taylor, Smith Osborn and Standing who are all central midfielders! Clueless. They all hovered around the centre circle giving us no width, which had served us well in the first half. Added to that we now had Jorge and Larossa up front who have no pace and we weren’t getting balls through to them so how are we supposed to score. These subs were made at 2-2. Does that suggest Merson was happy with a point when the game was winnable? The only way we looked like scoring was when we forced a few corners and planted two good ones directly onto Westwood’s head but he couldn’t even get that right. It seems he’s picked to try and get the odd goal (it certainly can’t be for his defensive ability) so if he’s going to waste chances like this I don’t see the point in him playing.

3. I read somewhere that of the 20 goals we have conceded 16 of them have been in the second half. I haven’t checked the stats but this sounds about right. What does this tell us? It tells me our players aren’t fit enough and while we take a lead into the half time break we come out for the second half our players run out of puff while the other team keeps going and we end up losing. This again comes down to poor/non existent fitness work in training. It also brings me onto my next point.

4. Ian Roper and his weight. When taking the lead you need a good defence to hold onto it. Last season while all were raving about Joachim as the key to our success we conceded only 1 goal from open play in six games. Who was playing? Roper and Gerrard. While Joachim was banging goals in for fun if you’re keeping clean sheets you only need to score one goal to win, which we are doing in every game. It is ironic that Roper isn’t playing because Merson says he is overweight (I don’t really believe he had a hamstring injury he just wouldn’t start Roper early on because he had to justify the signing of Staunton). How can Merson not play Roper because he thinks he is overweight? Merson plays himself because he thinks he has something to offer the team yet he is overweight. I think Roper offers a lot more to the team than Merson so why should his weight matter? Merson might use his age as an excuse for his shape but players like Beagrie and Windass and in better shape (yes, Windass) and much better form. Merson’s shape is all down to his lifestyle, which is why he has no right to slate players for being overweight. Like any other business staff take the lead of their manager and Merson is the worst possible example to the players. Roper has done more for this club than Merson ever has or ever will and is the best “defender” we have. It was good to hear his name sung at Vale and I hope these songs become more vocal on Saturday.

5. Demotivating players. Merson still hasn’t learned his lesson from last season on this one. How is humilitating a young player like Julian Bennett on live radio going to make him want to play well for us? Yes he should have done better for their goal but you tell him in training and tell him what he should be doing to improve. You don’t say in an interview that he was awful and defended like a 10 year old. I still don’t know the full story with Husbands but presumably he’s walked out with because of lack of professionalism with the club or after a bust up with Merson because he questioned why he was replaced on the wing at half time on Tuesday by a centre half. He seems to be falling out with players all the time, probably because they question his decisions because they know he isn’t right. How is he supposed to get the best out of a limited budget by doing this. Husbands looked a real prospect yet we’ve lost him according to reports.

What will it take for Bonser to realise what is going on? For the first time in ages I agreed with Paul Franks on Saturday when he said we’ve gone backwards since last season. We’re making the same mistakes week in week out and its costing us wins and points in what is an awful division. A manager with discipline and organisation would have this team right up the league and it needs to be done soon before another season is wasted and crowds drop even lower. I can’t believe that Bonser wants crowds to drop closer to 4,000 which will happen if we continue. Those fans will be hard to win back if changes aren’t made soon.

One Vale fans on NMFE said it was nice that we went to play football and it made for good entertainment and made his day enjoyable but I’d rather I enjoy my day watching Walsall rather than the opposition fans which is why Merson needs to go.

So Merson/Bonser do the right thing, either resign or sack him…NOW!

[tinned]

And so say all of us.

Just a point, Husbands was playing for the reserves tonight.

[Magic Man Fan]

And so say all of us.

Just a point, Husbands was playing for the reserves tonight.

Well all the sane minded of us who want the best for WFC anyway Dave. :wink:

Excellent news about Husbands we can't afford to lose players like that who offer something different. Gillett on the left, Husbands on the right with Ishmel and Fryatt up front would give us great attacking options.

[Ian Gittins]

Excellent post MMF. It's clear to every rational fan what needs to be done - and sooner rather than later.

[Neuromantic]

Absolutely brill post mark, its clear the sane minded all have the same opinion

[tinned]

I can't see how anyone can argue for Merson's continued employment. Actually, if you look closely, neither Zippy or Ernie are actually putting forward any constructive reasons anymore. They realise the time is nearly up but just continue to post the same old "give him time" posts just so they don't have to admit defeat. Apart from the same old mantras they've run out of arguments.

[Exile]

And so say all of us.

Just a point, Husbands was playing for the reserves tonight.

The whole Husbands / Merson thing has been blown out of all proportion by the look of it - Sounds like a basic one-off Merse / player disagreement rather than Husbands walking out of the club "according to reports", doesn't it?

Let's have a bit of a reality check, please. There's no need to embellish the facts here.

[Percie]

Absolutely brill post mark, its clear the sane minded all have the same opinion

So your callin' me insane? 8)

[Magic Man Fan]

And so say all of us.

Just a point, Husbands was playing for the reserves tonight.

The whole Husbands / Merson thing has been blown out of all proportion by the look of it - Sounds like a basic one-off Merse / player disagreement rather than Husbands walking out of the club "according to reports", doesn't it?

Let's have a bit of a reality check, please. There's no need to embellish the facts here.

Yes Sir, No Sir, three bags full Sir. When I wrote that Exile I hadn't read other threads about him playing in the reserves etc. As far as I knew I'd heard that WM had reported he'd gone. Hence, "according to reports".