Bristol Fan wrote:Exile wrote:Also agree with Bernie, that there's a place for all opinions.
This is of course the case, and anybody suggesting that there isn't room for improvement is mistaken, but when you're top of the league after a reasonable number of games, that's the one occasion when saying "stop moaning and get behind the lads" actually has some merit.
I'm a bit surprised we haven't seen more of Ishy - but the Taylor/Fox partnership has worked well. It was a shame that it was interrupted to make room for Wrack, when such accommodation had never been made for the far more potent-seeming threat of Ishy - and parity was restored when the same became true of that partnership in the second half yesterday.
The central midfield and partner-for-Butler issues are the places where I would like to see a change. Keates hasn't been bad individually, but Dobson is clearly the better player and needs a partner who will allow him to get on with things. A creative midfielder should be top of the shopping list, I think. Second top would be a striker because Sam just isn't doing it any more (having been excellent at the start of the season) and maybe thinks he doesn't have any competition, since Constable is obviously very out-of-favour and Bedeau is desperately poor.
Agree absolutely BF.
And for once, and hopefully not the last time, futuresobright has come out with some comments I actually agree with.
NOT the statement that we have a weaker squad this season, clearly we are STRONGER as a unit, by far. And NOT that we are playing worse football, it could hardly get worse than the stuff we endured last season.
His comments about Ince interest me, as they are diametrically opposed to what he was saying about Ince just 2-3 weeks ago, yet Ince is playing the same as then, consistently excellent, dominating his box and making difficult saves look relatively easy, which his height and reach allow him to do.
Where I do agree (as I think most of us do) is that we certainly are falling short in midfield and attack, not producing enough going forward through midfield to link up with Butler and Sam, so we are too often found lumping the ball direct from back to front, and losing out on possession to the bigger more rugged defenders of the likes of Accrington (at times), MK Dons (more-or-less throughout) and indeed Torquay (especially in the first half).
I also agree that Ishmel should be appearing more, his pace is electrifying, although it sometimes leads to him beating himself and losing the ball, but I'll put up with more of that for the sake of the pure entertainment value, the excitement, and the potential to set-up situations that Butler (especially) will exploit.
I think that would also improve the entertainment value for Sid and certain others who are dis-satisfied with the stuff that's being served up. I don't happen to agree with him about that because personally I'm happy that we're doing well results-wise, and look on course to get out of this horrible basement division that sits worryingly close to that trapdoor to the Conference. But Sid's paying his money and therefore entitled to demand what he wants in return, or to tell the club and us that he's keeping his cash in his pocket. And I'd like to add that I admire his patience and self-control in arguing his case on here without getting heated at some of the responses he's had.
Finally, other than Ishy I think that DD is generally making the most of what he's got, although I'd drop Keates to the bench and use Kinsella more as he and Dobbo seemed to combine well earlier in the season. Other than that, DD is limited by the squad he has at his disposal, and I think we need to have patience until the transfer window opens and see how he goes about strengthening the areas that we perceive to be weak. He can't do anything about that right now, so why criticise, let's see what he and JB are made of in January, and if things don't improve then, maybe we should start questioning the direction we're going in.
Until then, the present direction will do me fine thank you very much, onwards and upwards seems to be the way, it's lovely to have our Walsall back, our self-respect back, and top of the league when a promotion place just means staying in the top three, and that's looking a pretty safe bet right now.
