Boston United (H) League Saturday 27/1/07

[philthesaddler]

Phil please tell where I said Ishy is a idiotic Violent footballer? I don't think that, but i do think he gets a bit carried away at times.Maybe be a bit to passionate?if he was so fantstic DD would put him in the team every week, maybe there's something I don't know about but I don't he's the wonder player everyone seems to think (or he wouldn't still be at Walsall).

You didnt say that, but that is what people think of Ish, in my opinion wrongly.

Jermamie Defoe was very hotheaded when he was younger, didn't mean he shouldn't have been playing.

Yesterdays game was crying out for a bit of pace on the flanks, they couldnt handle us when we got it down and played with it. That ref yesterday was terrible, and ish wouldnt have got booked, let alone sent off, and besides, we haven't seen any hotheaded behaviour from him on the pitch for ages, so why not give him a chance in such an underperforming midfield??

DD doesnt start him because DD is a very defensive manager, take our starting line up at Mansfield for example; 3 centre backs, 2 left backs and a right back made up 6 of the outfield 10. Says it all to me.

[philthesaddler]

DD was more animated than ever yesterday, the chap behind me put it down to the Cov flag in the away end! I was disappointed to hear DD on WM partly blame the fans. Apparently we should 'give us more' at critical times. Will we ever attack the home end 2nd half again?

To be honest I could tell yesterday wasn't going to have much atmosphere for a number of reasons.

1. They bought a small number of fans who made no noise whatsoever, meaning no banter

2. In the build up to the game the deafening music and lame "lets hear a cheer" requests from staffler don't improve the atmosphere, it only serves to stifle it. Coupled with the continued loud music for the 3 or 4 minutes between when the players come out and kick off, it just isn't conjusive to singing, because you just can't make your self heard over flipping Hard Fi.

3. The way Boston played, didn't help matters, no did the way our midfield seems to be very lazy. I think you could count the amount of successful passes Dobson made on the floor, on one hand, yes he clears up, but every time he gets the ball he just launches it for Butler to run the channels, and then we are far far to slow getting up to support Butler... this lethargic play doesn't serve to whip up the crowd.

[Greg WP]

DD was more animated than ever yesterday, the chap behind me put it down to the Cov flag in the away end! I was disappointed to hear DD on WM partly blame the fans. Apparently we should 'give us more' at critical times. Will we ever attack the home end 2nd half again?

DD spot on about the fans imo . we should be more vocal at home , not one song was sang before kick off , in fact i can't remember a song untill Butler scored . our away support is much better

It does make a diff kicking towards us 2nd half though.

It should'nt matter which way we are kicking , we're at the stage now where every goal every point is vital , we should sing our hearts out .

I agree it 'shouldn't matter' but it does. Always has.

[Saddler4Life]

DD was more animated than ever yesterday, the chap behind me put it down to the Cov flag in the away end! I was disappointed to hear DD on WM partly blame the fans. Apparently we should 'give us more' at critical times. Will we ever attack the home end 2nd half again?

To be honest I could tell yesterday wasn't going to have much atmosphere for a number of reasons.

1. They bought a small number of fans who made no noise whatsoever, meaning no banter

2. In the build up to the game the deafening music and lame "lets hear a cheer" requests from staffler don't improve the atmosphere, it only serves to stifle it. Coupled with the continued loud music for the 3 or 4 minutes between when the players come out and kick off, it just isn't conjusive to singing, because you just can't make your self heard over flipping Hard Fi.
3. The way Boston played, didn't help matters, no did the way our midfield seems to be very lazy. I think you could count the amount of successful passes Dobson made on the floor, on one hand, yes he clears up, but every time he gets the ball he just launches it for Butler to run the channels, and then we are far far to slow getting up to support Butler... this lethargic play doesn't serve to whip up the crowd.

i agree there phil, how are we meant to sing and be heard when they play the music so loud, they should turn it off once the players have come out onto the pitch IMHO, then maybe the atmosphere we all want to be there will come out and will spur on the players that little bit more!!

[KJC]

DD was more animated than ever yesterday, the chap behind me put it down to the Cov flag in the away end! I was disappointed to hear DD on WM partly blame the fans. Apparently we should 'give us more' at critical times. Will we ever attack the home end 2nd half again?

To be honest I could tell yesterday wasn't going to have much atmosphere for a number of reasons.

1. They bought a small number of fans who made no noise whatsoever, meaning no banter

2. In the build up to the game the deafening music and lame "lets hear a cheer" requests from staffler don't improve the atmosphere, it only serves to stifle it. Coupled with the continued loud music for the 3 or 4 minutes between when the players come out and kick off, it just isn't conjusive to singing, because you just can't make your self heard over flipping Hard Fi.
3. The way Boston played, didn't help matters, no did the way our midfield seems to be very lazy. I think you could count the amount of successful passes Dobson made on the floor, on one hand, yes he clears up, but every time he gets the ball he just launches it for Butler to run the channels, and then we are far far to slow getting up to support Butler... this lethargic play doesn't serve to whip up the crowd.

i agree there phil, how are we meant to sing and be heard when they play the music so loud, they should turn it off once the players have come out onto the pitch IMHO, then maybe the atmosphere we all want to be there will come out and will spur on the players that little bit more!!

Totally agree... I used to love how we used to chant the names of all the players while waiting for kick-off, you can't even hear yourself think nowadays.

[Saddler4Life]

DD was more animated than ever yesterday, the chap behind me put it down to the Cov flag in the away end! I was disappointed to hear DD on WM partly blame the fans. Apparently we should 'give us more' at critical times. Will we ever attack the home end 2nd half again?

To be honest I could tell yesterday wasn't going to have much atmosphere for a number of reasons.

1. They bought a small number of fans who made no noise whatsoever, meaning no banter

2. In the build up to the game the deafening music and lame "lets hear a cheer" requests from staffler don't improve the atmosphere, it only serves to stifle it. Coupled with the continued loud music for the 3 or 4 minutes between when the players come out and kick off, it just isn't conjusive to singing, because you just can't make your self heard over flipping Hard Fi.
3. The way Boston played, didn't help matters, no did the way our midfield seems to be very lazy. I think you could count the amount of successful passes Dobson made on the floor, on one hand, yes he clears up, but every time he gets the ball he just launches it for Butler to run the channels, and then we are far far to slow getting up to support Butler... this lethargic play doesn't serve to whip up the crowd.

i agree there phil, how are we meant to sing and be heard when they play the music so loud, they should turn it off once the players have come out onto the pitch IMHO, then maybe the atmosphere we all want to be there will come out and will spur on the players that little bit more!!

Totally agree... I used to love how we used to chant the names of all the players while waiting for kick-off, you can't even hear yourself think nowadays.

we do chant players names still, but cant hear it 'cos of the loud music! i love it when we chant the names of the players too!

[Pedro]

Everytime Ismel has come on this season he has changed the game . The lad needs to start on Tuesday and get running at their full backs. who ever norm plays on the left normaly drifts into the centre or never gets down the line. Keates need to be put back in the centre for Dobson, ok we run the risk of having to small centre midfielders but it gives us more options.

Maybe JC will be on the bench on Tuesday night , the lad is bang in form and scoring goals for fun, so maybe leave Par out the squad and see what JC can do.

Next few matches are vital we have some hard away games coming up and we need to pick up points from teams down the bottom

[ShropsSaddler]

Keates need to be put back in the centre for Dobson, ok we run the risk of having to small centre midfielders but it gives us more options.

Oh please!! I thought Dobson-baiting season had finally finished (thank goodness!). On balance, I thought he and Butler were our best two players yesterday. Why can't some people see what Dobson is there to do? He's there to win the ball off the opposition and then feed it to the playmakers in the team. He was THE main player competing with Boston's thuggish tactics yesterday. If people complain that he "plays long balls down the channels", ask yourselves this question - do you really think he would launch a long ball if those around him were moving into space and asking for the more simple pass?!?!? Dobson had a lot of possession yesterday...and almost every time he had it, NOBODY offered themselves for the pass, least of all Pead and Keates, who I really felt weren't in the game.

What we need is a midfielder with the movement of Samways, the passing and vision of Osborn or Samways....but let's be realistic, we're in Div 4!! We're not going to get that. So in the meantime, I'd settle for a central midfielder who moves and asks for the ball, to compliment Dobson.

As for Demontagnac, some excellent pieces of skill when he came on and he looked dangerous....but then he also stood there a few yards away from a bouncing ball and watched a Boston player run 10 yards past him to pick it up and nearly score the winner!! As a manager who thinks strength is in defence and not conceding, you can see why he doesn't want to risk Demontagnac. As fans who want to see attacking football, and possibly all out attack to get the winner, we understandably want him on the pitch.

[SaigonSaddler]

Keates need to be put back in the centre for Dobson, ok we run the risk of having to small centre midfielders but it gives us more options.

Oh please!! I thought Dobson-baiting season had finally finished (thank goodness!). On balance, I thought he and Butler were our best two players yesterday. Why can't some people see what Dobson is there to do? He's there to win the ball off the opposition and then feed it to the playmakers in the team. He was THE main player competing with Boston's thuggish tactics yesterday. If people complain that he "plays long balls down the channels", ask yourselves this question - do you really think he would launch a long ball if those around him were moving into space and asking for the more simple pass?!?!? Dobson had a lot of possession yesterday...and almost every time he had it, NOBODY offered themselves for the pass, least of all Pead and Keates, who I really felt weren't in the game.
What we need is a midfielder with the movement of Samways, the passing and vision of Osborn or Samways....but let's be realistic, we're in Div 4!! We're not going to get that. So in the meantime, I'd settle for a central midfielder who moves and asks for the ball, to compliment Dobson.

As for Demontagnac, some excellent pieces of skill when he came on and he looked dangerous....but then he also stood there a few yards away from a bouncing ball and watched a Boston player run 10 yards past him to pick it up and nearly score the winner!! As a manager who thinks strength is in defence and not conceding, you can see why he doesn't want to risk Demontagnac. As fans who want to see attacking football, and possibly all out attack to get the winner, we understandably want him on the pitch.

I'm glad you posted this, I thought Dobson was one of our best players too. :wink:

[YGA Saddler]

This is the first home game I will miss this season!! :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

Anyway.... I can see us stumbling again tomorrow, 1-1. Butler to score.

If only I was a betting man!!!

We didnt play too bad, ref was dire, we couldnt put away our chances, drop 2 points and the gap is down to 1. End of... bring on Macclesfield.

[Saddler4Life]

This is the first home game I will miss this season!! :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

Anyway.... I can see us stumbling again tomorrow, 1-1. Butler to score.

If only I was a betting man!!!

We didnt play too bad, ref was dire, we couldnt put away our chances, drop 2 points and the gap is down to 1. End of... bring on Macclesfield.

yes but if you look back up the thread, you did change your prediction to a 2-1 win! so no you wre wrong :lol: :P :wink:

[Bristol Fan]

Very hard game yesterday, but Boston were extremely poor and we should have win. For all our posession, we couldn't create clear-cut chances - Wright was not very good, and surprise surprise there was no other attacking outlet. Telling that our goal was as "route one" as is possible because that's all we did. Boston made it very hard for us to break them down, but in his twelve seconds on the pitch (or whatever it was), everyone in the ground must have been amazed that Demontagnac - our paciest player - was able to beat their full-back - who has about as much pace as a one-legged hedgehog with a bad case of gout - on several occasions and put crosses in. Isn't it just possible that if he'd been on earlier in the game, that he would have caused complete havoc in their defence and we'd have won, given we had strikers who are strong in the air?

Once again Sam played very well, and again Cederqvist doesn't even look as good as Constable to me, let alone the goal machine people were oddly expecting.

Dosh's comments after the game irritated me - we were not magnificent, we were below-par and failed to win a game we should have won with ease. Criticise the fans for not doing more, OK, but as everyone knows it's a chicken-and-egg situation and if they'd seen the players busting a gut to win the game then they would have been right behind them. Since what they actually saw was a procession of massive hoofs up the field, and incidents like Fox not being bothered to move six inches to cut out a pass when he had time to not just make the interception but have a five-course meal beforehand, and the crowd isn't likely to get behind them, is it?

Still - it's a point - and it IS January after all, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised we seem to have lost some form.

Tough game coming up on Tuesday.

[YGA Saddler]

This is the first home game I will miss this season!! :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

Anyway.... I can see us stumbling again tomorrow, 1-1. Butler to score.

If only I was a betting man!!!

We didnt play too bad, ref was dire, we couldnt put away our chances, drop 2 points and the gap is down to 1. End of... bring on Macclesfield.

yes but if you look back up the thread, you did change your prediction to a 2-1 win! so no you wre wrong :lol: :P :wink:

Thanks for being a spoil sport Rach!! :evil: :wink:

[YGA Saddler]

This is the first home game I will miss this season!! :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

Anyway.... I can see us stumbling again tomorrow, 1-1. Butler to score.

If only I was a betting man!!!

We didnt play too bad, ref was dire, we couldnt put away our chances, drop 2 points and the gap is down to 1. End of... bring on Macclesfield.

yes but if you look back up the thread, you did change your prediction to a 2-1 win! so no you wre wrong :lol: :P :wink:

Thanks for being a spoil sport Rach!! :evil: :wink:

[sid swifty]

well i think we should just shut up...get behind the team...and trust in our god like manager DD.... :?

[Pedro]

Keates need to be put back in the centre for Dobson, ok we run the risk of having to small centre midfielders but it gives us more options.

Oh please!! I thought Dobson-baiting season had finally finished (thank goodness!). On balance, I thought he and Butler were our best two players yesterday. Why can't some people see what Dobson is there to do? He's there to win the ball off the opposition and then feed it to the playmakers in the team. He was THE main player competing with Boston's thuggish tactics yesterday. If people complain that he "plays long balls down the channels", ask yourselves this question - do you really think he would launch a long ball if those around him were moving into space and asking for the more simple pass?!?!? Dobson had a lot of possession yesterday...and almost every time he had it, NOBODY offered themselves for the pass, least of all Pead and Keates, who I really felt weren't in the game.

What we need is a midfielder with the movement of Samways, the passing and vision of Osborn or Samways....but let's be realistic, we're in Div 4!! We're not going to get that. So in the meantime, I'd settle for a central midfielder who moves and asks for the ball, to compliment Dobson.

As for Demontagnac, some excellent pieces of skill when he came on and he looked dangerous....but then he also stood there a few yards away from a bouncing ball and watched a Boston player run 10 yards past him to pick it up and nearly score the winner!! As a manager who thinks strength is in defence and not conceding, you can see why he doesn't want to risk Demontagnac. As fans who want to see attacking football, and possibly all out attack to get the winner, we understandably want him on the pitch.

Ive not slagged Dobson of at all this season .Just feel we should give Keates and Pead a chance together in the centre. We need goals Dobson does not score Keates has this season and is more likely to score. We need Ish on the left a real winger and it will take the presure of Wrighty

[coxy_saddler]

DD was more animated than ever yesterday, the chap behind me put it down to the Cov flag in the away end! I was disappointed to hear DD on WM partly blame the fans. Apparently we should 'give us more' at critical times. Will we ever attack the home end 2nd half again?

To be honest I could tell yesterday wasn't going to have much atmosphere for a number of reasons.

1. They bought a small number of fans who made no noise whatsoever, meaning no banter

2. In the build up to the game the deafening music and lame "lets hear a cheer" requests from staffler don't improve the atmosphere, it only serves to stifle it. Coupled with the continued loud music for the 3 or 4 minutes between when the players come out and kick off, it just isn't conjusive to singing, because you just can't make your self heard over flipping Hard Fi.

3. The way Boston played, didn't help matters, no did the way our midfield seems to be very lazy. I think you could count the amount of successful passes Dobson made on the floor, on one hand, yes he clears up, but every time he gets the ball he just launches it for Butler to run the channels, and then we are far far to slow getting up to support Butler... this lethargic play doesn't serve to whip up the crowd.

Very true. Can't wait to get back in league one where team's actually bring more than 100 most weeks!

Lincoln should be good though soon on a friday night.

[sid swifty]

what was the attendance yesterday?

[Mike T.]

Well cant disagree with much of what has been said. It did seem to me we had nobody out there who could raise their game and as such get the crowd going until Ishy came on. Most of them, perhaps with the exceptionof Martin seemed to be waiting for the second goal from a Boston mistake rather than making something happen.

It was extremely disappointing that it will seem the Boston "tactics" won the day in that they went home with their point. How the referee only booked one player was a mystery. The only positives for me were Martin's 10th goal, Dobson continuing to battle in midfield and the fact we didn't contrive to lose the actual match in the last minute.

Oh and enjoyed chatting to Marshy and Don Goodman before the match. Never realised Marshy had such a problem with the evil drink.

[Stu]

Ive not slagged Dobson of at all this season .Just feel we should give Keates and Pead a chance together in the centre. We need goals Dobson does not score Keates has this season and is more likely to score. We need Ish on the left a real winger and it will take the presure of Wrighty

Sorry, Pedro, but a lack of goals isn't Dobson's fault.

Your defensive midfielder isn't there to score goals, he is there to help stop them.

The lack of goals is as it has been all season, because we're predictable and teams have now figured out how to play against us. We're quite easy and obvious. If I was an opposition manager I'd love to play against us "If the right winger turns up, kick him hard, if that doesn't work, double mark him out of the game. Don't worry about the left flank, there is no threat there as they'll play a full back or central midfielder there. Full backs drop deep as they'll then try to launch countless long balls into the channels for the strikers to chase. After that, just defend deep and win balls in the air, we should get at least a draw that way."

It really is that simple to play against us, it was obvious after about 25 minutes that we'd got no left hand side. Keates was as good as a 3rd central midfielder at times yesterday.

I know we're top and all that, but our general tactics and lack of dimension in the last few weeks are of growing concern.

[Pedro]

Ive not slagged Dobson of at all this season .Just feel we should give Keates and Pead a chance together in the centre. We need goals Dobson does not score Keates has this season and is more likely to score. We need Ish on the left a real winger and it will take the presure of Wrighty

Sorry, Pedro, but a lack of goals isn't Dobson's fault.

Your defensive midfielder isn't there to score goals, he is there to help stop them.

The lack of goals is as it has been all season, because we're predictable and teams have now figured out how to play against us. We're quite easy and obvious. If I was an opposition manager I'd love to play against us "If the right winger turns up, kick him hard, if that doesn't work, double mark him out of the game. Don't worry about the left flank, there is no threat there as they'll play a full back or central midfielder there. Full backs drop deep as they'll then try to launch countless long balls into the channels for the strikers to chase. After that, just defend deep and win balls in the air, we should get at least a draw that way."

It really is that simple to play against us, it was obvious after about 25 minutes that we'd got no left hand side. Keates was as good as a 3rd central midfielder at times yesterday.

I know we're top and all that, but our general tactics and lack of dimension in the last few weeks are of growing concern.

Everything is Dobson's fault :wink: . I just feel Keates can do a better role in the middle than Dobson at the moment

Maybe Wrack is the answer in the middle, he can pass a ball and he scores goals. Maybe this is what Dicky is waiting for

As for the wings right side is no problem, as Westwood supports Wright well and will over lap for him , as for the left thats the problem on the left wing , to many times Keates or Fox will drift in field instead on hugging the touch line or making a run down. Then play has to slow down and start all over again

[Magic Man Fan]

Too many long posts I haven't got time to read now but here's my views.

Boston were the same side they were at their place a month ago. Did DD forget what they were like and why we struggled last time?

They are big and physical and we played right into their hands by playing a one dimensional game that was a tactic of floating, skying, hoofing a ball into their box for their big defenders to easily mop up.

The only time we looked good is when we got behind them on the flanks and put some low crosses across the box in the first 20 mins and when Ishy came on. When he did we suddenly had the outlet we needed to run at defenders with the ball at his FEET which troubled them. I understand DD's reasons sometimes for not playing him but he should have been on with at least 20-25 mins to go. It seems DD didn't recognise this at all and for the second week on the trot his decisions have cost us points (this has rarely applied all season.)

The problem with the midfield is, if Wright doesn't perform (and he hasn't done well enough for a few weeks now) then we have no creativity.

Some individuals: most were below par, however:

I much preferred Fox at left back, if only Ishy had been on earlier to give him options.

Dobson had his best game for ages in my opinion (no surprise against typical Division 4 cloggers ;))

Gerrard isn't a patch on Roper.

Butler despite carrying us and his workrate, he annoys me by silly niggly fouls after the ball has gone, which he will pick up needless bookings for. By all means go in hard and be aggressive in the tackle but there's too many times when he fouls after the ball has gone.

I don't care if the ref was atrocious or about Boston's tactics (they need points and will do what they need to, they've done well to prevent us winning twice) we only have ourselves to blame for not winning.

However it's not all doom and gloom, it's another point towards our automatic promotion target. If we were on a losing streak it would be more worrying, but we're not.

We must start winning to increase the gap between us and 4th place though.

[tinned]

I've had 24 hours to mull it over and to be honest I'm more concerned about our short-term potential than I was yesterday. Pure and simply we've been found out. I can see 75% of the teams we play easily snuffing out our game plan.

I know it's not the current in thing to say, but, unless DD turns to chapter 2 of The Tactics of Football then we can loom forward to the lottery of the play-off's.

[Stu]

Everything is Dobson's fault :wink: . I just feel Keates can do a better role in the middle than Dobson at the moment

Maybe Wrack is the answer in the middle, he can pass a ball and he scores goals. Maybe this is what Dicky is waiting for

As for the wings right side is no problem, as Westwood supports Wright well and will over lap for him , as for the left thats the problem on the left wing , to many times Keates or Fox will drift in field instead on hugging the touch line or making a run down. Then play has to slow down and start all over again

Not the Keates that I saw yesterday... I don't think Wrack is the answer either, the answer is obvious, as you said, its the left hand side.

Is it worth someone asking Dicky if he has a left hand, maybe he think he has two right hands?

I feel guilty for moaning and questioning tactics when we're top of the table, but I can't help but feel that another 3 months of the same and we'll be fighting for the last automatic spot, let alone the title.

[ShropsSaddler]

Keates or Wrack for Dobson?!?!? Other teams would go through our midfield with barely a challenge!! It would be disastrous.

Actually Pedro, I am partly inclined to agree with you about Dobson's lack of goals. Most championship-winning teams have several players who score goals and all the midfield tend to contribute. In that respect, Dobson doesn't offer much (apart from nearly scoring the winner from a free-kick!). However, he is the only one of the midfield four that doesn't allow the opposition player to breeze past him as though he was not there. Watch Keates most of the time - the opposing player hardly has to break sweat to go past him!!

Actually, more I think about yesterday's game, I certainly don't think we were "magnificent" but I do think that, generally, the players battled against some rough tactics and very few of them hid. Perhaps that's what Mr Money meant? I thought Wright battled much more than he has done of late and, yes, Fox is probably a better left back than Taylor although he offers far less going forward (and I still don't like him! :D )

Noticed the "last 6" table this morning...for all you doom and gloom merchants :wink: We're certainly below Swindon and Hartlepool but ahead of both Lincoln and MK Dons...despite a general perception taht we've been poor in the last 6 games!! If we continue to get points at the same rate as the last 6, we'll be around the 90 mark for the season!

Just thought it was worth mentioning.... :wink:

[Stu]

If folk want to point at individuals for our lack of goals, they should look no further than whoever partners Butler, the two wide men and whoever plays alongside Dobson in the slightly more attacking midfield role.

When we got out of this division under Chris Nicholl, we had 5 players in double figures... Both strikers, Lightbourne & Wilson, both wingers (Houghton and Marsh) and O'Connor in the middle of the park.

This year, Butler and possibly Sam will hit double figures, nobody else looks like it. The lack of goals from midfield and in particular the two wide men is the problem, it wouldn't be as bad if we had a 25 goal striker, but we don't.

Whilst Craig Pead is looking alright in a central midfield role, his place MUST be in doubt he if doesn't start contributing goals. As an attacking minded player who carries the ball and makes good late runs, he must start scoring goals in my opinion.

[cal wfc fan]

I cant believe no one has mentioned the fact that we lost the game due to an home goal by Dann!

Every other player has been criticized one way or another by someone or other (with the exception of Ishy).

Yes it was an unfortunate goal, but it happened, Boston didnt tequnically score in yesterdays game.

We really missed Roper when he went off, but hes been played constantly, hes begining to get worn out, and I dont think any of the other defenders are up to his standard.

The ref was cr@p, and that also fell to our disadvantage.

Yes I have seen Walsall play better than they did yesterday, but I think the disappointing result was due to a lot of unfortunate contributing factors.

We are still top of the league, just, and things can only get better!

Come on Lads
UP THE SADDLERS

[Bristol Fan]

Whilst Craig Pead is looking alright in a central midfield role, his place MUST be in doubt he if doesn't start contributing goals. As an attacking minded player who carries the ball and makes good late runs, he must start scoring goals in my opinion.

Pead's been OK in flashes, for me. No more. He was Mr Anonymous (not for the first time) for the majority of yesterday's game. With all the criticism of Wright (quite fairly, in this instance, since he was poor yesterday - but wholly unfairly at other times), he has so much of the ball and tries his best. He squandered the opportunities yesterday, but at least he was in the right place to have the opportunities in the first place. Just what did Pead do?

We desperately need a decent partner for Dobson in the middle of the park. It's so obvious to so many people, except (seemingly) the one person that matters.

[geoffwhiting]

I cant believe no one has mentioned the fact that we lost the game due to an home goal by Dann!

Every other player has been criticized one way or another by someone or other (with the exception of Ishy).

Yes it was an unfortunate goal, but it happened, Boston didnt tequnically score in yesterdays game.

We really missed Roper when he went off, but hes been played constantly, hes begining to get worn out, and I dont think any of the other defenders are up to his standard.

The ref was cr@p, and that also fell to our disadvantage.

Yes I have seen Walsall play better than they did yesterday, but I think the disappointing result was due to a lot of unfortunate contributing factors.

We are still top of the league, just, and things can only get better!

Come on Lads
UP THE SADDLERS

Actually it's not true that things can only get better, they are getting worse and could easily get worse still, unless something is done about our midfield (to create opportunites) and left side (to broaden our game and use both flanks).

I'd also add that we didn't lose the game, it just felt like we did ! Dann's own goal looked like a real schoolboy error, though I haven't seen it on TV as yet, so I'll reserve final judgement until I have.

[latviancheese]

Hey has no one realised, it could be worse! WE COULD BE MKDONS, tonked by rochdale, lovin it.