Port Vale (a)-League 19th March 2005

[Dave Gittins]

Agree Geoff, how much longer will we have to suffer this absolute shambles of a team being (mis)guided by Paul 'messiah' Merson? I was planning to go to the match today before I finished up with my leg in plaster. If being plastered means I miss the worst of the fiasco that is our season then it hasn't all been bad. Having said that though, I have to admit that last week against Bournemouth we were absolutely awesome for the first nine seconds!

Geoff very kindly offered me a lift to next weeks match, I am going to have to think long and hard whether to inflict such a godawful disorganised team on myself or save my money instead. In the 29 years I have been following the Saddlers I honestly can't remember such a bad Walsall team under such a clueless manager - cold winter nights at Fellows Park in the late 70's ring some bells but I honestly don't think they were this bad.

Rant over!

[Giza]

Bad Bad result once again. I am quickly believing that Merson is not the man for the job. Do we honestly think that he is capable of getting us promotion?

Fantastic player, nice bloke but i think he has honestly lost the dressing room and ever since the 5 - 1 mauling at Norwich we have led a slippery slope downhill, i can;t see him turning it around. I give him him till the end of the season to see some sort of improvements.

[geoffwhiting]

Well the offer is still open Dave, because for some reason that I find hard to understand, I shall still be there next Saturday to watch this shower that we laughingly call a football team.

Like you, I find it difficult to remember a worse time than this - yes it has been worse, but the memories of that have faded and I had hoped they would never have to return.

I can honestly say that I can't remember any time in the past, even when things have been pretty bad, when I didn't look forward to match-days, especially home match-days. But now I just dread them, I don't look forward to them even one little bit, probably because I can't see where we can even buy a victory.

Off out soon for a night at Fan's Cantonese, at least this Saturday holds something good to look forward to and to lift the depression ! :D

[Phil_G]

Geoff,

Emblen came on because Bennett went off injured.

Well that was my first away game for a while, now I remember why!

On the right side, Wright and Taylor were a shambles. Aranalde was fortunate that Bennett played well and covered him when he went walkabout.

Fryatt was so lightweight up front.

Oakes played well and can't be blamed for either of the goals. Surely Murphy will be sent back to the bagladies.

We looked the best of two poor teams in the first half, but as soon as their first goal went in (from some shocking defending) we just fell apart, and I wouldn't have been surprised if we'd lost 4 or 5 nill.

I can't believe Mersons rant on WM. If he feels he can still go and get a better club, then I suggest he does just that.

[geoffwhiting]

Well Phil, you've just about confirmed what was said about the game on WM, so thanks for that and for the info. about Emblen.

But even given the Bennett injury, at that stage could we not have put another attacker on the pitch to try and pull the game round? Or was Atieno not even on the bench today after his fine efforts last week, having been (along with Coleman) one of the few players to come out of the Bournemouth game with any credit.

Agree about Merson's rant on WM, it was really amazing and did absolutely nothing to motivate the players that he has at his disposal, quite the opposite in fact unless I'm badly mistaken! Can't see 'em being up for it from now on after that outburst.

[YGA Saddler]

2-0 vale.

Anyone going to start Ian Brightwell, ian ian brightwell chant? He deserves it for what he did here.

Told you,
Now my report

No Passion, no pride, no idea.

How many of you happy clappers were still singing "paul mersons barmy army" ?

[MrC]

At least it wasn't far home...

Absolute sh!t...

[Saddler Jim]

This for me will be the last away I go to this season,we were awfull,to lose to a decent team I can take,but wene we lose to a very poor team as Port Vale are is shoking,and believe me we deserved to lose,defencevly we were normal I'v seen parks teams better in defence.Oakes played well and must be wandering what he's let himself in for.Mid-field and up front they'v either lost the plot, or as it seemed lost interest.there keeper had one good save in the first half then had nothing to do after,we never created anything from mid-field and never looked liked scoring up front,(the exception being the one that hit the post in the second half).But the thing that really upset me was the response after going one down,there was'nt one except roll-over and die,never again this season,I can find better things to do with my time and money.I'll go to try and drown my sorrow later on in the local,most likely have the piss taken out of me by my Albion mates,all for the sake of a bunch of w#####s who think they pro footballers.
Signed Disgusted

[philthesaddler]

Didnt go today, like stu i gave up on away games after blackpool. I made a vow not to attent another away game until we are some sort of team. I fully expected this result, so it has not come as a surprise, the way we are playing at the moment is a disgrace to the club. The way forward now, god only knows. I hope we don't go down, but i simply cannot see where the hell our next goal is coming from letalone our next win.

Bonser should have let Merson go when he had the chance, now the egg is well and truly on JB's face. I've just renewed my season ticket as well, god knows why, because if Merson is in charge, it will be dreadful.

Merson hasn't proved himself to be even half the manager Graydon or Lee were/are, and i will be disgusted if the man gets a new contract with us. Not only will i be disgusted, but i will also be majorly worried that such an underperforming integral part of the club is allowed to continue.

[YGA Saddler]

the performance was annoying but the most annoying thiing of the afternoon was fans singing Bonser Out and when someone started a merson out chant everyone else sang paul mersons barmy army. This man could take us down and down but theres alot of people that think too much of him.

[Phil_G]

...and when someone started a merson out chant everyone else sang paul mersons barmy army. This man could take us down and down but theres alot of people that think too much of him.

I think the 'barmy' bit is spot on...

[Saddler Jim]

wfc 2uk,the Barmy were right its skin flint Bonser who,s taking us down not Merse.

[philthesaddler]

Well this is the problem, at WFC, there are too many people willing to put up with a clearly incompetant manager. When i started speaking out about how crap a manager i thought merson was, i got slaugthered by pro-merson fans. Now, people are starting to see the result of months of rubbish training, rubbish motivation, rubbish tactics.

I mean we hear the rubbish he comes out with on the radio, what must the players think. He's deluded. He's incompetant.

It's very easy to support merson blindly, but like i said before, blind optimism and support is sometimes a bad thing.

You could go back to december's posts, and see what i was saying about merson then. You'll find it aint changed much.

[Guest]

Can't believe how negative so many of you are but in truth more fans were supporting Merson today than calling for his head..thank God they can still see that we are making progress.
Why such a panic after an away loss? But for the cross bar we would have got the point deserved.
I thought Merson's comments were inspirational. He cares and we know he will be decisive at then end of the season. Look how quickly he dealt with Iffy, McKinney, Paton, Dhakinar, Birch, Brewers and Herivelto. The rest of the dead wood will soon be on their way.
Today's best players - Taylor (a real threat untill he picked up a strain), Bennett (back to his immaculate best) andWrighty have all been transformed by PM. And remember Broad, K. Taylor and Robinson weren't playing. These 6 players + Oakes and some summer signings will see PM delivering this pledge to the club he loves.
Keep the faith. Keep Paul Merson.

[Surrey Saddler]

Gloom.gloom,gloom

[Dave Gittins]

Not surprised Guest decided to remain anonymous. What a happy clapper

[Guest]

you deserved nothing and even if the effort went in rather than hits the bar it would have made no difference.. we may not be great but it should of been four or five today. your keeper was outstanding. read any neutral view and you will see that we battered you.

[Phil_G]

But for the cross bar we would have got the point deserved.

WTF?

The first 'effort', a cross from Wright(?), glanced the top of the crossbar. Wrack's header would have probably been saved by the keeper if it had been lower.

If it hadn't been for Oakes, we'd have lost 4 or 5.

[Phil_G]

you deserved nothing and even if the effort went in rather than hits the bar it would have made no difference.. we may not be great but it should of been four or five today. your keeper was outstanding. read any neutral view and you will see that we battered you.

Well you're obviously a Fail fan.

You are right in saying that the result would have been worse (better) if not for our keeper.

We played very poorly after the first goal.

But don't fool yourself mate, you're a pi$$ poor team as well.

Up till half time we had much more possesion and looked far more likely to score.

We're both currently where we deserve to be in the table.

Are you lot EVER gonna get round to finishing that stand? Jeez, the Cathedral in Barcelona will be finished before that pile of breeze blocks.

[Magic Man Fan]

Can't believe how negative so many of you are but in truth more fans were supporting Merson today than calling for his head..thank God they can still see that we are making progress.
Why such a panic after an away loss? But for the cross bar we would have got the point deserved.
I thought Merson's comments were inspirational. He cares and we know he will be decisive at then end of the season. Look how quickly he dealt with Iffy, McKinney, Paton, Dhakinar, Birch, Brewers and Herivelto. The rest of the dead wood will soon be on their way.
Today's best players - Taylor (a real threat untill he picked up a strain), Bennett (back to his immaculate best) andWrighty have all been transformed by PM. And remember Broad, K. Taylor and Robinson weren't playing. These 6 players + Oakes and some summer signings will see PM delivering this pledge to the club he loves.
Keep the faith. Keep Paul Merson.

Its people like you Mr Guest that are taking our club down with their insistence on supporting Merson. F****** wake up and look at the cack on the pitch. All you kids singing Paul Mersons' Barmy Army while drinking your sneaked in bottle of Carling - You haven't got a clue.

"Some supporters yow am singing Merson Out" one said. Its because we support our team that we want the clueless idiot gone because we want 11 players giving their all on the pitch not 11 individuals with no cohesion, skill or passion amongst them.

Sorry Geoff and others, don't count your chickens when you say teams are worse than us so we'll be safe. We can't buy a win at the moment and we still have these teams to play. We couldn't beat Wrexham or MK Dons at home and we never even looked like scoring let alone winning today, all teams that have been poor all season. Its a good job Torquay lost today, just look at the table, if they'd won we'd be right in the mire. At least the other teams are getting the occasional result and have some fight in them, we're like a lame horse at the moment limping to the finish.

I tell you, there is a REAL possibility of going down because I can't see us winning at this rate. Confidence is shot across the whole team.

I didn't hear Merson but someone told me what he said on WM. Our best player he may be but while he's got 10 others around him that he's picked that either aren't good enough or don't care enough (or in most cases both) then it doesn't matter what he does.

I'd rather have 11 far inferior players managed by someone who has a clue about tactics and motivation because they would be far more effective.

MERSON OUT before its too late.

PS - Well done Oakes, some superb saves (did anyone notice his right arm looks about 6in longer than his left?!) added to that Roper and Bennett well done. The rest of you can hang your heads in shame though I doubt you will because you really don't care whether we win or not.

[Mike T.]

Geoff - I know you are eating your cantonese right now but if you read this tomorrow we had already made 2 substitutions (Jorge and Standing) leaving only Kris Taylor and Emblen as outfield players available. I suppose he could have brought Kris on (who should have been playing anyaway) but the game was over - in fact it was over once the second goal went in.

We had no drive, determination or presence anywhere bar the keeper and perhaps Bennett. Zigor gave away a stupid free kick which led to the first goal with their scorer having the freedom of the penalty area to pick his spot with the header. I couldn't really see what happened with the second - whether someone fell over or we were trying to play offside?

My second away trip with Liam (first 0-1 Chesterfield) so he still hasn't seen us score away. I cant see any point in getting Dyer on loan as there is no centre forward/striker to cross to. I did actually think Matty Fryatt worked hard and held the ball up reasonably well. But where was the "pace" from the midfield 5 to support him?

I didn't here the rant on the radio but I thought Merse was our worst player on the pitch today. The miskick just before half time putting their player through was probably his best pass of the match. Just embarrassing and cant wait for the season to end.

[Magic Man Fan]

I said exactly the same myself Mike, we were putting lots of crosses over in the first half but its a waste of time when there's no target man to aim at. The only player we have with aerial ability is Bennett. Luke Beckett would have been ideal.

[Walsall Supporter]

All I can say is thank god I haven't brought a season ticket for next season, I umm and arrrred about it, but now after another half hearted match I have made the right decision.

[Magic Man Fan]

I'll still get a season ticket I think and thats what pisses me off because all those kids singing "Paul Mersons barmy army" are happy to support him now but they won't be there next season if we're playing Shrewsbury and Barnet.

[geoffwhiting]

Thanks Mike T - you've confirmed for me that Atieno wasn't even on the bench (although Jorge obviously was), which frankly I find unbelievable.

As I've already said, last week Atieno did far more in 15 minutes than Leitao & Fryatt did between them in the whole game, so I think that to leave him out today was (a) a disgrace and (b) clear proof that Merson does not observe what his players are doing, or recognise what they're capable of contributing to the team.

After Bournemouth, Atieno would have been my first forward on the team sheet. Jorge would have been out completely, as would the useless Mark Wright, along with the bloke who helps him so successfully to ruin our right side, Daryl (selfish headless chicken) Taylor.

I said on here yesterday that we wouldn't want this win as much as Vale, we weren't up for it - we rarely ever are these days - we have no pride, no passion, no motivation, no commitment, no willingness whatsoever to fight for the cause, and clearly that has manifested itself today - AGAIN!

MMF, I still think we shall escape (just) but I've not been counting any chickens for several weeks now - that's why I said we shall escape (probably) in my earlier post - but if we do escape it will be more down to the cr@p below us than to our own efforts/capabilities.

Three poor to average sides, three straight defeats, what the hell is around the corner for us? It's like a horror story, and IMHO even worse than last season given that we're a division lower now.

[redalways]

To say Merson is clueless is wrong. He is like a kid in a sweet shop, trying everything and not having an idea which is his favorite.

Perhaps by chance, he got it right at Bristol with 451. Trouble then was he tried the same system at home - no chance.

He found someone with pace and no little skill in Kris Taylor, but took him off last week leaving donkey Leitao in midfield. Why did KT not start today?

Surman is patchy at best - might be OK wide left, but I guess he played centre midfield today. Too lightweight for that role.

Wrack - has lost his appetite for the game, far too cautious - should be rested.

D Taylor and M Wright - the worst right sided pair in the world, by some distance. OK, I exaggerate a little.

Atieno - showed far too much promise last week - likely to put the half a dozen players who are first names on the team sheet in the shade! He should at the very least have been on the bench.

Fryatt - alone up front, with only Merson crawling around somewhere behind him - no chance. He needs a big striker to feed off. What's the betting Robinson is not really injured, but does not want to play because we will not pay him what he proved he is worth. After those first few games, he does not want to know - who can blame him.

On the basis that we are getting about a point a game on average and we are several points clear we will probably just survive. At the end of the day it may well be down to the fact that Wrexham were docked 10 points that will save us. Add those back and we would now be only 4 points clear of the drop zone,

Looking at the team sheet today before kickoff, with Wrack, D Taylor and Surman in midfield, with clowns at full back and a lone , lightweight striker, the outcome was obvious.

A total shambles.

[BathSaddler]

I have tried to find the words to describe about how I feel tonight. But it comes down to the fact that Paul Merson cannot do this job. Period. I think that deep down even the 'happy clappers' know this. The reasons have been well documented, but above all for me is the fact that he puts his own needs before that of the team: "I want to play" seems to overide everything else. This is irrespective of what is good for the team, particularly away from home.

PM needs to remember that he is the manager of WFC and that he serves us. The club does not serve him and 'his needs' to be a good player in the twilight of his career who revolves a whole playing system around himself to make him look good. PM has taken our team away from us.

[Exile]

wfc 2uk,the Barmy were right its skin flint Bonser who,s taking us down not Merse.

Are you on drugs?

Exactly whose money do you want him to spend, and who do want him to give it to?

[MrC]

I hope the bloke singing 'Bonsor Out' reads these message boards...

You are an IDIOT

[geoffwhiting]

thank God they can still see that we are making progress
.

Just had a quick re-read of this thread - don't normally do that but after yesterday I am still feeling so angry and so dejected this morning that I wanted to go over all your comments again. Unfortunately I find I get no re-assurance whatsoever from doing this.

But I can't help but pick up on the above quote from the nameless "Guest". So come on Guest, please let's hear it so I can get some comfort, just define this progress that you say we are making - apart from Coleman and Oakes improving the goal-keeping situation, and Kris Taylor's emergence in midfield, I really don't see any progress whatsoever. And in KT's case, despite his contribution Merson still drops him to the bench. Priceless!