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

[Walt Flanagan's Dog]

I actually felt a bit for the Boston supporters, and understood why there were so few of them, despite the 90-minute-on-a-good-day travelling distance- I'd hate to be forcefed that crap every week. Four lumbering lummoxes in defence, two up front, and to a man their ethos was "kick owt that moves".

I'm struggling to recall a more horrific side I've seen at Bescot, which is why I'm so despondant right now- they really were there for the taking. Even non league part-timers such as Gresley had more ideas, guile, better movement etc. Obviously, the incompetent referee allowed them to get away with their ugly tactics.

A word on the Keates issue (although it's nothing new)- he's a liability on the left. Point in focus- around the hour mark, Fox had a decent amount of space but no options around halfway into their half. Where was Dean Keates, our supposed left hand outlet? Edge of the "D", dead centre. Infuriating.

[Cully]

Well I am devastated. This is lowest point of the season so far for me.
To not be able to be a team who had the worst defensive record in league, at home, having gone 1-0 up is abysmal to be honest.
I feel the cracks are beginning to appear in all honesty.
Lets not get into the old Walsall ways, lets go out and get a CREATIVE MIDFIELD player NOW! or 2 I feel!
You build and push forward when you are established, this is the time to show we mean business.
Get out there and do something before its too late.

I'll go along with those sentiments, a truly depressing performance described by Dickie as 'tremendous'. After replacing Taylor with Keates in the hope of some midfield creativity all we got confirmed was the evidence that the midget that played R2D2 is in fact Dean Keats, I was rather dissapointed that C3PO [Wright] didn't quite live up to Metfans billing as the team scapegoat despite one or two promising moves.
At the start of the season, I thought that Dobson would be our trump card in midfield but as the season has unfolded it is clear that his limited ability, one trick[turn around in a circle] and his two passes, the first a curling scuffed pass played with the inside of his boot to no one in particular and his second and favourite, the right wing 40 yard boot aimed in the general direction of the opposition full back, is the reason he was released from Brentford.
A mention about our forwards, how Martin Butler gets the motivation to play like he does week in week out is amazing considering the lack of support both he and Hector Sam get, I thought that Sam did not deserve to get substituted in favour of our new great hope Per who despite some good press has failed to live upto the hype and looks as raw as Constable.
It appears that in Dickies interview on WM he over cooked his support for his players, his system of play, the opposition and his substitutions instead of telling us all what is blatently wrong; we have a one dimensional style and attitude towards every game regardless of the opposition which was exposed once again by the worst team I have seen this season [and I've only missed 3 games this season] a team whose single aim was to go the entire game without passing the ball along the ground.

I suppose I'll be at Macclesfield if I can be bothered.

[latviancheese]

Boston are Tripe, there not even a conference team. We have a creative player in the team, But DD just wont use him. For me thats the most frustrating thing.

[geoffwhiting]

Yes but they offered no support for there team - were dreadful, then went crazy as if they were european champions - i found it sad to watch.

Plus I thought their celebrations were misplaced. If we were in there position, I would certainly not celebrate a perfomance like that, i would be sighing with relief. They had virtually no attack and there tactic was 'hoof it up the field'. If they celebrate this tactic... well, their position in the league says it all really

The only tactic most teams have in this division is hoof it up the pitch.

Yes, but I think in this case he was referring to hoofing OUR PLAYERS.

This is not a case of "sour-grapes", but that was a disgusting performance by Boston, disgraceful performance by the referee who only encouraged them to get worse and worse with their cynical methods, knowing there was absolutely no sign of any punishment to face from the ref.

How Boston finished that game with 11 players on the pitch, I shall never understand, 8 or 9 might have been nearer the mark.

Absolutely without a shadow of a doubt the very worst and filthiest team I can EVER remember us playing against at home in my entire life, and the referee falls into the same category, utterly and completely inept, unless he was blind of course - one has to wonder !

Having said that, we should be good enough to rise above it and blow a team like that where they deserve to be, at the bottom of the table or preferably into the Conference.

Disgusted today, utterly gutted, and not at all encouraged on hearing DD saying after the game that he was proud of his players and thought they played some great stuff. Sorry DD, today just emphasised for the umpteenth time this season the very very urgent need for a creative midfielder. If he doesn't get one in, I can see us stuttering in the face of the pressure from the four clubs below us, and ending up facing the lottery of the play-offs. This was far off a top-of-the-league performance, and it worries me if he can't see that for himself.

Tuesday has now become a vital match to win, but I don't expect us to get it on this sort of feeble showing.

Someone on WM today commented that we are missing Kinsella - not so much as a player but as DD's number two and coach. Hadn't thought of it that way before, but I think he makes a valid point, especially when you think where this stutter began, back in December ! :?

[philthesaddler]

Without having seen any body elses thoughts, ill post my own.

Well...

We started brightly, wasn't surprised to see keates back, in fact I predicted Dicky would do that, nor was I surprised to see Sam return to the lineup.

We started like we have done lots of time recently, like a steam train, Boston didn't see any of the ball, we harried, pressed, and pushed, and got our reward from a totally route 1 goal, lucky in itself, but we'd created enough oppurtunities by then to deserve a goal.

However, just like last week at Mansfield, we fell asleep as soon as we took the lead, and started to play like school kids. The goal we conceded was school boy stuff, there was no pressure outside the box giving their wing backs the time to cross successfully, and after a couple of attempts a ball came in that Dann struggled to deal with, bang 1-1.

After that, we struggled to get our rythm going. We were not at all helped by the referee, who has to be the poorest ive ever seen. There were 3 or 4 nailed on yellow cards for Boston in the first half, yet he failed to get his cards out, there was even the elbow on Gerrard, which he obviously missed and therefore couldn't give any cards for.

The ref spoilt the game, and allowed Boston to play their game, which, at the back, was one of brut ignorance over footballing rules, and upfront was one of sheer 'lump-it-forward-ness'. However, we failed to see the corralation between the times when we were causing them trouble, and the times when we weren't. When we got the ball down on the floor and passed it around quickly, we caused them problems, and they resorted to bringing our players down illegally, loads of times, not only in the first half, but also in the second. However, when we decided to lump the ball forward we just played in to their hands, their centre backs were happy to mop that stuff up all day, except when we got in behind them, in which case Wright and Keates were too slow to take any advantage of being in behind them.

We really have to get out of this habit of lazyness our midfield seems to have got in to. We just give the ball to Westwood, Dann, (Gerrard), Fox (Taylor) and the whole of the midfield turns their back on the play, waits for the ball to be lumped up to the forwards, and then, SHOCK HORROR, they even fail to get to the second ball (by second ball I mean the knock downs, and misplaced headers/clearances) which you would think they'd be able to do, having completed discarded any responsibility for the forward passing.

I'm afraid today was another perfect example of why our midfield is so weak. Wright had another average game (but average for Wright is piss poor compared to normal players), Keates looked lost on the left, and got beaten time and time again because he so diminuitive, Dobson does the clear-up duty, but fails spectacularly to find any other walsall players feet, I lost count of the times he booted the ball in the air, when putting his foot on it and finding another red shirt was a better option.

Pead struggled to get in to the game today, he got stuck between tracking back and getting forward, and is, I believe indicative of our whole midfield problem - LEGS.

We do not have the legs in midfield to be an excellent side.

We are just about good enough to be 'good', but we dont have the legs to be excellent. Time and time again, our midfield is behind the play, second to the ball, misplacing passes, mistiming challenges, and end up chasing back.

When we do defend, our midfield defend far too deep. Every saturday on MOTD you hear the experts talk about 2 banks of four, we don't have that. Our wingers, Wright and usually Fox, fold back, and we become a flat back 6, thus stretching our central midfield 2, and giving acres of space to the opposition left and right backs. We've been doing this all season, and it still works to a certain extent, its just our attacking that is now becoming tired and predictable.

Not wishing to pick on Wright, but Ishmel Demontagnac did more in 15 minutes on the pitch than Wright did in 90, thats not hyperbole, thats FACT. Wright managed 2 decent crosses I think in the whole match, whereas Ish managed 3 at least, and got fouled in a very good position after that excellent run.

Thats not a Dig at Wright, because his below par performances have become the norm, but, our attacking seems to have become stale, we can't keep the ball, because our players just want to get rid of it to Wright, and let him try something, or just lump it up to Butler in the hope that he manages to create something, even still, the likes of Pead, Wright, Keates and Dobson still haven't got the 'running' in them to get up there and provide support.

It has been said numerous times in the past couple of months, but the need for fresh legs in midfield has never been more evident than today, there was a question mark hanging over every single midfielder today, and that isn't good. Dobson, Keates, Pead and Wright could easily be dropped and replaced because their performances of late haven't been good enough to sustain our form. And when all four midfielders are questioned like that, it says something. With teams around us strengthening, and starting to motor to the end of the season, and our ominously difficult run-in, I'm starting to worry that we'll give this away.

Macc this tuesday is enourmously important, not just in terms of points on the board, but in terms of confidence, todays results will have dented our confidence big time, and not getting beaten at Macc is tremendously important if we are to win this league

[philthesaddler]

Well then, well then , well then.

I shall lay out why we dropped two points in the following metaphor. A computer. For a computer to function perfectly and to be entertaining and also useful, everything needs to work together in harmony. If one thing, stops working, you can have a small problem, but still can use it, if four things do not work or fail, you have a major problem. The result is that the computer is completely ineffective.

Issues and problems:

1. Anthony Gerrard - Absolutely shockingly bad today. One of the worst defensive performances I have seen in a long while, as soon as he come on, it all went to put. His positioning is dreadful. result: crash.

2. Keates on left - He tried his best bless him, but when you have a Digital camera that is trying to be a printer, you have a hardwar problem. Hasnt got a clue how to play on the left, No threat at all on that side.

3. Mark Wright - when you have an intel pentium latest model, that is fast, but you dont have any software, HARDware or any backbone. The result is shockingly bad and ineffective, I shall now be calling him (instead of Mark Wright) - Mollusc Wright - because he has no backbone. Bottled an immense number of thigns today. but one incident really summed it up, last mibute of the game, when you have time and your team NEEDS you to put a good cross in, and you canty even clear the lenalty area and screw the ball into the stands it says it all. Appaling. Result : system overflow.

4. Lack of Creative midfield option and Plan B - Pead can play that role, but if the defence cannot feed him the ball to use it, or if the two wings are as useles as they were today, we could have ronaldinho in midfield and he would not be able to do anything. What can be done ?

5. Needs to start Ishmel - If you have a new webcam and your old one isnt working, put the new model in and give it a go. Needs to start at macclesfield for me.

Thoughts ? Id be interested to see what people thought as well as me.

Please explain why Gerrard was shockingly bad, he was a VAST improvement on Roper

as for Ishy we would have ended up with 10 men there's no way he would have kept his temper with the awful ref we had today, Boston were really psychical and the ref should have stepped in a lot sooner than he did, I'm surprised there were no serious injuries today. The thing is how can you say the computer don't work when these are the same players that got us to the top of the league?

Sorry kiansmom, but you're way off with both points there.

Firstly, Gerrard was pretty poor today, he struggled all afternoon with that lanky broughton fella, in terms of strength, pace and height. He really did struggle. I wouldnt go as far as saying it was a dreadful defensive performance like metfan said, but it certain was way below par.

As for ishy, what are you on about?

How the hell was he going to get sent off? A axe-wielding maniac could have come on for Boston, decapitated Butler, maimed Keates and castrated Wright (if he hasn't already been castrated :P ) without being booked.

This silly assumption that Ishmel is an idiotic, violent football is far, far from the truth. Yes, he's hungry, yes, he's young and energetic, it certainly doesn't mean he will get sent off if he spends more than 10 minutes on the field. He hasn't shown any kind of bad behaviour (on the field) since September, and his performances in recent games, and the non performances of others on the left wing of late, more tha merit a start for him.

A negative attitude like you have is similar to that of DD's, and thats why he never gets a start, whereas, I am sure, give him a start and he'll not only prove to be much more mature, but also scare the opposition defence half to death.

[Duke]

Very dissapointing ,perfomance better than last week just.
I can fully understand DD saying that points are harder to get at this stage of the season, but it you don't create chances you aint going to score and if you don't score you won't win matches . We need some ceativity in midfield today and at Mansfield we created nothing hence 1 point from 2 games we should have won . On the plus Fox looked much better at full back , Butler was simply outstanding .


Linda for the first time i must dissagree , Gerrard is not and will never be half the player Roper is , we missed the big man went he went off , hopefully it was just a precaution because he did'nt appear to be limping as he walked off.

[tinned]

a truly depressing performance described by Dickie as 'tremendous'

Is that true ? :shock: That is unbelievable :roll:

In the past I tended to think DD was saying positive things in public and telling it like it is behind closed doors, now I'm starting to worry that he really does think that kind of performance is acceptable.

Untrue, really untrue :?

[Cheesebag]

Yes but they offered no support for there team - were dreadful, then went crazy as if they were european champions - i found it sad to watch.

Plus I thought their celebrations were misplaced. If we were in there position, I would certainly not celebrate a perfomance like that, i would be sighing with relief. They had virtually no attack and there tactic was 'hoof it up the field'. If they celebrate this tactic... well, their position in the league says it all really

The only tactic most teams have in this division is hoof it up the pitch.

It appears that we are also going down this route.

[whatdoiknow]

on ishy

We have only seen him on as a sub playing against defenders who are knackered. When he did play from the start last season he wasnt as impressiveept the debut match where he was really out to make an impression). Yes he has ability and isnt scared to attack people which is great but if DD still thinks he has a teprement problem then I for one will trust his judgment. Yes I do believe that he would have got sent off today, because part of his problem is he is so lippy towards refs and gets so wound up by them. He would have been going balistic today with that incompetent ref.

Wrighty I watched him most of the second half Isolated down the right no back up from westwood today and i think that made a lot of difference. Im not defending him to the hilt he is a lazy sod at times. but the service and backup for him today was terrible.

On the Left I ask only one question. where was Keates? again Fox drifted forwards so manytimes to empty space. no support. the only ball he could play was over the top for butler or sam to run onto.

Dobson Defensive midfielder Poor slow distribution today
Pead got the ball and ran in a straight line into crowds of there playerrs on 3 occations in the second half.

Gerrard Struggled as did roper against a big centre forward. but we can count the chances they had on the fingers of one hand.

For me the most worrying aspect of the whole afternoon was................ Richard Moneys interview on the radio. Was he watching the same midfield as me? we struggled to string passes together today, yet i was listening to him sing the midfields praises!!! Never has a side been so desperate for a creative midfielder, which inturn I think will free dobson up to play the defensive role, which might free up the full backs to support the midfield wide men. Which will mean we dont have to play hoof football and will give some service to the players upfront, who are actually playing very well in extreme circumstances at the moment.

[Duke]

the last 2 games our defence has let us down, for the vast majority of this saeson they have been fantastic Roper espeically. It's not just me that thinks it's largely due to our defence that we are in the position we now.DD has also remarked on this.

Roper wasn't really with it at Mansfiield and a couple of times today he was caught out. I don't like Gerrard because of who is cousin is why should I? I like him because he never gives less than 100% effort.I sorry if my opinion doesn't suit you all, but that's what it is my opinion :lol:

You stick with you're opinion Linda. I don't agree with it (well not most of it anyway) but you'rs is a valid as the rest of us.

In my opinion Gerrard isn't half the player Roper is and isn't half the player Dann will be.

The defence has been shoking recently but I stick to my opinion that it is the lack of a midfield that is costing us.

could'nt not agree more Dave ,we created nothing at Mansfield and nothing today . A lot as been said about Ishmel's off the pitch behaviour but i feel its time DD should seriously think about starting the kid . most if not all of our attacks come through Wright its to predictable .

[Pedagogue]

a truly depressing performance described by Dickie as 'tremendous'

Is that true ? :shock: That is unbelievable :roll:

In the past I tended to think DD was saying positive things in public and telling it like it is behind closed doors, now I'm starting to worry that he really does think that kind of performance is acceptable.

Untrue, really untrue :?

That worries me, as well, Dave. While I fully endorse DD's refusal to criticise his players in public (good man-management - unlike that of the useless, fat p*sshead), I do wish he would not insult the intelligence of supporters by telling blatant lies! :evil:

Myth One:- "we were tremendous" (said after nearly every game) - no we weren't, today - we were CRAP!

Myth Two:- "the controlled, constructive game that we like to play" (also said frequently) - bullsh*t. All season, we have been a "big boot, route one" team, based on a good, packed defence and, until now, we have done it better than the other teams in this awful division (the league table shows that). Apart from two or three good half-matches, we have NOT played controlled, constructive football, on the ground. That, in itself, does not bother me as long as we get out of this division but it is clear that the other teams have now "clocked" us and our unimaginative, one-dimensional tactics have been countered. To fail to beat a team as poor as Boston says it all.

[fensaddler]

A certain Mr Kinsella was there today - or at least there was a board out reserving his car parking space at about 1.30. That intrigued me - did anyone actually see him?

[moaning saddler]

The onset of our recent pathetic run of form can be traced directly to the idiotic poster who, following the victory at Bury, trumpeted that his bet on the Saddlers to win the league should be paid out immediately by the bookies.

Plonker. FACT.

If DD cannot see that we have a huge problem in midfield, then he needs some strong advice from somewhere (Bonser maybe).
The defensive brilliance that papered over the cracks so completely until late November has inevitably been worn down. In fact, we have suddenly become very brittle at the back. The defence at Mansfield was shambolic against a spirited but limited attack, and then somehow contrived to concede a goal against a non-existent Boston forward line.
With a stuttering defence, the midfield weaknesses have been completely exposed.

[geoffwhiting]

A certain Mr Kinsella was there today - or at least there was a board out reserving his car parking space at about 1.30. That intrigued me - did anyone actually see him?

Yes Chris, Daz sat next to me first half and he found out (via mobile phone) that his dad was sitting near/next to Kinsella.

Stuart Watkiss was also there today, I guess Grimsby didn't have a game.

[Old Timer]

Can one of the problems be that teams are now playing us for the second time know what the strengths and weaknesses are and are changing their tactics but Walsalls team continues to play the same way? They have learned and Walsall haven't.

On another thread I said that we need more goals and a number of posters quoted statistics to show that wasn't the problem.Stats can show many things.45 league goals have been scored 9 or 20% of them came in two games.In all league and cup games one or no goals have been scored in 59% of them.

Defenders and midfielders have scored over half of the goals.

When you are more likely to score one than two and half the time that goal is going to come from a midfielder then outmuscling,outplaying or kicking the crap out of the midfielders will give poorer teams more than a chance.

If the midfield isnt shaken up with a new face or two the rest of the season will be a struggle BUT they are for now still top and will go up.

[canadiansaddler]

reading through all the posts it clear we did not play well today , but the other point that comes through loud and clear is that the ref was crap - question, if the ref had been half decent would the result of been different.

[sj]

Well I dont agree with much that has been said on here. Boston played well in stopping us playing. They are the sort of side that will give us trouble but in saying that Clayton had very little to do today.


The boys were always going to have a bad period and this is it. Come on suck a little harder on those dummies.

We are going up.

[McSaddler]

playing devil's advocate on the ref i think quite a few would have disallowed our goal for a foul on the keeper. That was the way marriot saw it anyway. Very poor game.

[Redordead]

For everybody harping on about Wright could you tell me who you are comparing him with when you claim he is Lazy?????? I dont seem to recall Darren Wrack charging around the pitch tackling back and pressuring the ball but nobody complains then.....
every chance Wright got yesterday to get the ball into the box there was only 2 crosses the keeper got anywhere near (1 punch, 1 claim). Our downfall yesterday was playing 4 at the back when boston came out second half and played 7-2-1, surely we could have gone 3-5-2 and got ishy on a bit earlier and played with 2 wingers and an attacking midfielder

[philthesaddler]

For everybody harping on about Wright could you tell me who you are comparing him with when you claim he is Lazy?????? I dont seem to recall Darren Wrack charging around the pitch tackling back and pressuring the ball but nobody complains then.....
every chance Wright got yesterday to get the ball into the box there was only 2 crosses the keeper got anywhere near (1 punch, 1 claim). Our downfall yesterday was playing 4 at the back when boston came out second half and played 7-2-1, surely we could have gone 3-5-2 and got ishy on a bit earlier and played with 2 wingers and an attacking midfielder

Not to mention the 6 times he hit the first man [even from 12 yards at one point just after half time] :roll:

[Redordead]

that resulted in the corners???

[Kiansmom]

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).

[Redordead]

Must admit to holding my breath when he went all Kung-fu five minutes after coming on but the way the ref was yesterday he must have known he would get away with a talking to even if he took the other blokes leg off!

[BEACON SADDLER]

dave roe and leamore are spot on,we are no better than anyother hoofball team in this league,it would be great to see butler playing in the penalty area instead of chasing long punts into the corners. we are boring to watch and becoming easy to play against,
as well as a two midfielders that we have needed since august we desperately need an assistant manager as we do not have a plan b and do not look as though there is now any idea on changing our method of play,yesterday westwood should have gone into the centre with pead to fullback ,keats to centre midfield and kris taylor bought on in a more forward role.
i really dont think we will go up automatically,the last two games have been tests of character and management and weve failed dismally!

[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?

[Duke]

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

[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.

[Kiansmom]

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

there were several chants of come on you reds and thats it, got to the stage me and Rach were singing "one song, we've only...."

Totally agree Dave the away games support has been excellent, I've only been able to really start going away again this season and to be honest I love it! look forward to the away games much more than the home games :roll:

[Duke]

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 .