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Rotherham (H) - League 26th November 2005

Reports and reaction from the 2005-06 season as Walsall finished 24th (R) in League 1
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King Crimson
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Sun Nov 27, 2005 11:07 am

Can't decide whether they made us look good or whether we made them look awful. Good all-round performance. Honourable mentions to Fryatt (whose work-rate and persistence matched Jorge's yesterday - I'd have made him MOTM), Staunton, and Fox (wherever he was supposed to be playing :? ). Good result and great atmosphere (even if only 4500 there).

Now, let's see if the elusive string of wins has begun! I really hope so. :)

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toffo
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Sun Nov 27, 2005 11:38 am

Thought that we were awful in the first half, no one seemed to know where they were playing, ishmel had to move sides after 15 mins, fox looked out of place in midfield, skora did not have his best game as he seemed to be trying to play in an advanced role behind the strikers.

Normally at 3-0 you expect a side to be dominating but we did not. That said a 3-1 result is a good win, but rotherham were crap and are going down.

Matt took his first goal well and Ishmel skinned their full back for the third.
Staunton was steady and roper snuffed out most of the danger.

3 points without playing well, we just seem to be over complicating things again with players playing out of position, we just need a settled side where they all know what their jobs are.

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Sun Nov 27, 2005 12:02 pm

Great result, but not a great performance. I didn't think it was a case of us making Rotherham look bad, or them making us look good. They WERE bad, and we were not quite so bad! Fryatt got us out of jail with two very well-taken goals and Leitao played well again, shifting all over the park (again)

At the start of the match we lined up

Murphy
Pead Roper Staunton Bennett
Demontagnac Osborn Skora Fox
Leitao Fryatt

With Ishmel not being able to do anything at all, he and Fox swapped round after about ten minutes. With Fox then not being able to do anything at all, there was another (painfully communicated) reshuffle and we became

Murphy
Pead Roper Staunton Bennett
Osborn Fox
Leitao Skora Demontagnac
Fryatt

It was a bizarre formation which didn't seem to work very well, but we scored three goals playing it, so what do I know? At least it showed Merson was willing to see when things weren't coming off and make the change early enough in the game to make a difference. He spent a long time discussing what to do with Mick Halsall.

We were very ordinary yesterday. Osborn was pretty anonymous (and I'd been waiting very eagerly for him to return to the team), Fox is wasted in midfield, and Bennett is wasted at left back. Yet again we seemed to line up in a formation especially designed to accommodate Staunton. In fairness, he played very well (he was the pick of our defenders), but if he's going to play, we can't play two other players out of position just to accommodate him.

On the plus side, Fryatt is in great shape again, Leitao continues to impress wherever he's asked to play, and Skora is running the show like no midfielder we've had since Samways.

Hopefully next week we'll see a proper formation, though, with players actually playing in their proper positions (even if - shock horror - this means dropping some of the manager's pals). Yeovil are better than Rotherham (though probably not much) and we will need to play better.

Very stange atmosphere at the game, most of which was accompanied by virtual silence. Even at the end of a comfortable victory, there was a smattering of applause and that was it.

However we played, we're on a very good run of form at home at the moment, which will certainly see us continue to climb up the table should we be able to maintain it. To become serious challengers though, we need to sort out the away form; let's hope that with players continuing to reappear after injuries, we'll be able to do that soon.

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Cheesebag
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Sun Nov 27, 2005 1:15 pm

EVO wrote:It was just nice to able to relax for a change, and not spend the second half chewing the finger nails.
Good to see some of the UTS community wandering about as well.
:wink:

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Sun Nov 27, 2005 4:43 pm

Agree with most of the above. They were poor and we weren't brilliant but we always looked in control although was it just me that thought at 3-0 if they pulled one back we might be nervous for a while?!

I'd take an under par performance and 3 points every week though thank you very much. Some good individual performances from Jorge, Fryatt, Staunton and Fox in particular. Osborn struggled a bit but I'm sure he'll be back to his early season form when he's had another couple of games.

The formation was all over the place again. It doesn't matter while we're winning but as soon as we play a decent team again they'll take advantage. Unless there's one or two injuries there should be no need to change formation during a game. Merson has this fixation with tinkering for the sake of it. If you have your best team out and they all play well then it doesn't matter what formation you play.

It was another match I enjoyed after Tuesday and exactly as us moaners predicted, the atmosphere returned a bit as soon as the fans have something to cheer about.

Another home win but forget the play offs unless we start winning away. Hopefully this string of results will help confidence and help us pick up points away.

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Saddler Jim
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Sun Nov 27, 2005 9:10 pm

It has to be remembered that we played a very poor team today,I thought Gillingham were bad enough but these were the pits,but a win is a win no matter who they'r playing,we were always in control and 3-1 was a fair reflection on the game.the first half was boring to say the least but it ended with us scoring 2 goals in the last 3 minutes this effectivly killed the game of,because Rotherham would'nt have scored twice if they had still been playing now.the best player well Staunton had a good one for a change,and Skorra was again outstanding,it took a good save from there keeper to stop him scoring again,he really has become the engine room of the team.if we can get our away form going,it still may not be to late.I really felt sorry for Cheesebag today wene me and EVO saw him he really had is hands and arms full as well. :wink: :wink:

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Sun Nov 27, 2005 9:23 pm

Not a bad performance, although Fryatt's goals came from defensive mistakes by Rotherham. It'd be nice to see us actually put away chances that we create, but at least he's moved away from scoring only penalties 8)

Positives : Skora seems hungry to score whenever he gets the ball, I admire that.
Ishmel got stuck in, attacking and sometimes defensively.
Staunton actually looked like the professional defender he's meant to be! :P

Negatives : Attacking could've been more direct... instead of pissing around with the ball get it in the bloody box!
An unsolved problem for a couple of seasons now, nobody in midfield to pick up when the ball gets cleared.

Thanks to everyone who bought a 50/50 ticket from me! :D

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Saddler Jim
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Sun Nov 27, 2005 9:29 pm

Were the any winners begining with 151 AC,I missed the announcement at H/T again.

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Sun Nov 27, 2005 9:30 pm

Saddler Jim wrote:Were the any winners begining with 151 AC,I missed the announcement at H/T again.


Keep hold of your tickets, yesterday's winning tickets will be printed in next Saturday's programme.

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Sun Nov 27, 2005 9:34 pm

AC_Loyalist wrote:Not a bad performance, although Fryatt's goals came from defensive mistakes by Rotherham. It'd be nice to see us actually put away chances that we create, but at least he's moved away from scoring only penalties 8)

Positives : Skora seems hungry to score whenever he gets the ball, I admire that.
Ishmel got stuck in, attacking and sometimes defensively.
Staunton actually looked like the professional defender he's meant to be! :P

Negatives : Attacking could've been more direct... instead of pissing around with the ball get it in the bloody box!
An unsolved problem for a couple of seasons now, nobody in midfield to pick up when the ball gets cleared.

Thanks to everyone who bought a 50/50 ticket from me! :D


i never checked my ticket, what was the winning numbers, ac im a superstisious footy fan!! i bought a ticket off you and we won 3-1!! see you next week!!

Ace
 

Sun Nov 27, 2005 9:36 pm

andy__vh wrote:i bought a ticket off you


Where was that mate?

andy__vh
 

Sun Nov 27, 2005 9:37 pm

andy__vh wrote:
AC_Loyalist wrote:Not a bad performance, although Fryatt's goals came from defensive mistakes by Rotherham. It'd be nice to see us actually put away chances that we create, but at least he's moved away from scoring only penalties 8)

Positives : Skora seems hungry to score whenever he gets the ball, I admire that.
Ishmel got stuck in, attacking and sometimes defensively.
Staunton actually looked like the professional defender he's meant to be! :P

Negatives : Attacking could've been more direct... instead of pissing around with the ball get it in the bloody box!
An unsolved problem for a couple of seasons now, nobody in midfield to pick up when the ball gets cleared.

Thanks to everyone who bought a 50/50 ticket from me! :D


i never checked my ticket, what was the winning numbers, ac im a superstisious footy fan!! i bought a ticket off you and we won 3-1!! see you next week!!


question answered as i asked it!! :)

andy__vh
 

Sun Nov 27, 2005 9:42 pm

AC_Loyalist wrote:
andy__vh wrote:i bought a ticket off you


Where was that mate?


in the saddlers club mate, never been in there before, i had a coulple of rotherham fans with me and i hadnt seen them in ageees, next time i will introduce myself mate!!

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Pedro
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Sun Nov 27, 2005 9:44 pm

I always buy my tickets from Mel and her pretty friend in the Bonser Suite before the game

Only won once but thats was £323 a few years back :D

Ace
 

Sun Nov 27, 2005 9:50 pm

andy__vh wrote:
AC_Loyalist wrote:
andy__vh wrote:i bought a ticket off you


Where was that mate?


in the saddlers club mate, never been in there before, i had a coulple of rotherham fans with me and i hadnt seen them in ageees, next time i will introduce myself mate!!


I remember you now! Wish you'd have said something...

Pedro, I urge you to ignore these caveman desires and go for common sense... buy from AC! 8)

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Stu
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Sun Nov 27, 2005 10:04 pm

I'm going to slate them for something this week...

That useless bunch of wasters cost me £65 by conceding a goal. I stuck £1 on Fryatt to score first in a 3-0 win at 50/1 and a separate £1 on a 3-0 win at 14/1. Bloody gutted.

Re: the match. I'll ditto Bristol, good result, mediocre performance at best. I'd still like to see us play with a good tempo for once, as we just don't seem to do it.

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Mon Nov 28, 2005 8:22 am

AC_Loyalist wrote:Negatives : Attacking could've been more direct... instead of pissing around with the ball get it in the bloody box!
An unsolved problem for a couple of seasons now, nobody in midfield to pick up when the ball gets cleared.


Indeed, this has been a problem for us. It was solved temporarily when Surman did it (and he also allowed us to play with the much higher tempo that Stu mentioned). I think he'd be a massive player for us if we can get him back, but I can't see it happening.

Osborn did it at Scunthorpe (and scored two goals in the process!) but especially with a teenager and a striker playing on the wings, he can't afford to venture too far forward at the moment, unfortunately.

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Magic Man Fan
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Mon Nov 28, 2005 8:54 am

It's nearly always been a problem under Merson and even under Lee. YOu could look at it and say you're trying to keep possession but why not be a bit more direct which is when we're at our best get a couple of goals lead then worry about possession.

Fryatt showed that if he gets behind defences he doesn't miss many chances. We too often try to scpre the perfect goal but that just gives their defence time to get loads of players back.

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Geordiesaddler
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Mon Nov 28, 2005 9:25 am

Stu wrote:I'm going to slate them for something this week...

That useless bunch of wasters cost me £65 by conceding a goal. I stuck £1 on Fryatt to score first in a 3-0 win at 50/1 and a separate £1 on a 3-0 win at 14/1. Bloody gutted.

Re: the match. I'll ditto Bristol, good result, mediocre performance at best. I'd still like to see us play with a good tempo for once, as we just don't seem to do it.


Excellent point Stu, and I think a major reason as to why we fail to get a decent tempo going is because of the number of players who are basically trying to find their feet in unfamiliar positions, and because of the number of positional changes during games. I really do think Merson, along with many other modern managers has a tendancy to over-complicate what is a simple game. Surely the simplist thing of all is selecting players to play in their rightful positions unless circumstances prohibit.

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Mon Nov 28, 2005 9:32 am

You probably have a point there, as Mick Harford commented how we had to change our system twice in the first half to try and get to grips with how Rotherham had lined up.

I presume by two changes, he means switching Fox and Ishmel, and then the 2nd change was to 'apparently' scrap a right midfielder and move Fox into the middle as a 3rd central player.

Probably just as important though is that the tempo affects the atmosphere at the game. I don't really find it very exciting to watch us to be honest, if we had a bit more tempo and a bit more gusto, were a bit more direct, then you'd get the fans going as well and the atmosphere would be better. That in turn would spur the players on that bit more as well.

There is a time for possession football for me, and thats when your winning and trying to close the game out, not from the 1st minute.

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Mon Nov 28, 2005 9:46 am

Geordiesaddler wrote:I really do think Merson, along with many other modern managers has a tendancy to over-complicate what is a simple game.


Bang on Geordie. You need look no further than Arsenal on top form to see that and Henry's goal on Saturday and many other of his goals.

Great simple pass from just over the half way line from Pires, Henry times his run and with one touch it's in the back of the net.

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Mon Nov 28, 2005 10:11 am

Magic Man Fan wrote:Henry times his run...


Only problem is, Jorge would have to set off at about half ten in the morning to get to the same place as Henry... :wink:

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Mon Nov 28, 2005 10:36 am

very funny that one. :D

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Geordiesaddler
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Mon Nov 28, 2005 10:52 am

Stu wrote:You probably have a point there, as Mick Harford commented how we had to change our system twice in the first half to try and get to grips with how Rotherham had lined up.

I presume by two changes, he means switching Fox and Ishmel, and then the 2nd change was to 'apparently' scrap a right midfielder and move Fox into the middle as a 3rd central player.

Probably just as important though is that the tempo affects the atmosphere at the game. I don't really find it very exciting to watch us to be honest, if we had a bit more tempo and a bit more gusto, were a bit more direct, then you'd get the fans going as well and the atmosphere would be better. That in turn would spur the players on that bit more as well.

There is a time for possession football for me, and thats when your winning and trying to close the game out, not from the 1st minute.


I think that in essence is what people want to see and experience, expecially at home. THese young players we have are going to have their off days, and fair enough there are times they are going to need changing. But it would be nice to see them "let loose" to express themselves against the poorer teams. I get the impression there's a lot of personnel juggling not because its good for the team, but because certain players need to be kept happy, eg, Staunton and now Fox - following his contract extension.

That said I just can't see why we couldn't have Bennett on the bench anyhow, he isn't a left-back IMO. To me its no surprise we fail to get any consistency when we change things so much. Merson seems to want to play 4-4-2 more often than not, and I really don't see why he can't just pick the best players in every position to do so. From what we have available I think that would give most teams in thise league plenty to think about.

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Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:26 pm

My first opportunity to post my match reaction, so here goes......

It was a very welcome three points and a decent performance in my view.

The extra competition for places that has come about since Constable's arrival seems to have perked up Matty's performances. I thought he was excellent.

Jorge seems to be getting used to his wide role... I like his work rate and his natural willingness to join up with the striker(s).

Talking of work rate, that Skora has got some energy hasnt he? Full pelt for the total 90mins! ... the drive that he brings, through the middle is a breath of fresh air! ... His passing game is quality, too!

For me, Steve Staunton had a superb game. The leadership and communication that he bought to our back line is something that we have been missing all season.

Fox did well in an unfamiliar role, his inclusion alongside Osborn meant that Skora could be given the freedom to keep driving forward.

It was great to have Osborn back aswell... he looked a bit rusty at first but soon came into the game.

Well done lads... lets hope we can go on from here!!!


:)

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tinned
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Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:33 pm

Of course the result was fantastic, nobody is complaining about that. However, let's not get carried away with our performance. Average at best in all honesty. Our midfield still manages to go missing on many occasions, we never seem to pick up the loose ball in midfield. A team with a bit more about them would have dominated the middle of the park on Saturday, which could have caused us all sorts of problems.

Much improved yes, but let's not get carried away.

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Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:43 pm

Dave Roe wrote:Of course the result was fantastic, nobody is complaining about that. However, let's not get carried away with our performance. Average at best in all honesty. Our midfield still manages to go missing on many occasions, we never seem to pick up the loose ball in midfield. A team with a bit more about them would have dominated the middle of the park on Saturday, which could have caused us all sorts of problems.

Much improved yes, but let's not get carried away.


Yes Dave, I cant argue with any of that.

I'd also like to see a bit more fluidity in our passing. We seem to give possession away a little to freely at the moment, and as you say, a better team would've exploited that a little better than Rotherscum were able to!

Encouraging non the less, though.

Our performance and confidence picked up quite a bit once we went ahead, I thought.

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