Swindon (a) - League - 9th April 2005

[Walsall Supporter]

2-1 oMG to us

[McNugget]

who???

[derbysaddler]

nose bleed time. :D

[Walsall Supporter]

makes a change for us to score at the death!

[Zippy]

No offence Zippyzip, i was very disappointed with equaliser, all credit to you. UTS :lol: (theres still time left lmao)

It's alright none taken.

Come on the lads.

[Walsall Supporter]

wow hoo we have won!

[Neuromantic]

yesssssss!!!!!!!!!!!! I BET TORQUAY ARE GUTTED

[Walsall Supporter]

would of been better if Torquay would of drew!

[Guest]

Good win. Looks like that could make us safe now, thank God. See no reason why Merson shouldn't depart now. There is no reason for him to be here.

Very happy though that we look safe now. The next 48 hours now are crucial for the future of Walsall football club. I just hope Bonser makes the correct decision and rids Merson from this disaster of a season.

[Neil Ravenscroft]

Almost got it spot on!

"Walsall have, of course, the worst away record in the Division and one of the worst in the entire football league. We are low on confidence, short of defenders and unsure of our best tactics and formation. We leak bad goals and have stopped scoring them at the other end. We should get well and truly stuffed. Which means, of course, a fighting 1 – 0 to the Saddlers".

Pity about Torquay winning, as we still aren't mathematically safe. It does, however, prove that all this team needs is proper organisation and that it doesn't need (and never has needed) Merson on the pitch in order to get results - away from home, at least.

[Shad]

A good result- that will see us safe- even if not mathmatically. Another penalty given away- how many is that now this season?

Mark Wright Scoring aswell, I think I'm dreaming!

[Magic Man Fan]

cum on walsall 2-1
but how the hell did wright score, think he must have tripped into the ball lol

No surprise about Wright. He was excellent when played in his favoured position for the first time this season at Barnsley. He plays there again today and sets one up and scores one. No surprise which is why its p1ssed me off people slagging him off all season even though he's been playing out of position.

Well done the Saddlers. Pity that Torquay won but at least it was against MK who are also down there. It would be even better if us and Torquay stop up and MK scum go down.

F****** typical though that I miss my first away game for months and we win. I've only missed a handful of away games this season and have missed this and the Stockport wins.

Up the Saddlers.

MERSON OUT. One win won't change my opinion especially after what I've learned today.

[Magic Man Fan]

EDIT - Bloody double posts!

[Tony Obi]

What a massive win.

One win and one draw should definitely do it now- that would mean Torquay would need to win all 4 to overtake us ( as our GD is so much better) and Wrexham would need 5 wins out of 6 - not likely with Brentford and Luton to play .

MMF - what did you "learn" today - you mean that Merse is back on the Tony Stella?
I agree with you , he has to go , at least he wont ( hopefully ) have totally ruined us and taken us to the depths , and we have hope of youngsters coming through with Bennet , Fryatt K and D Taylor a year older and wiser- with some organisation next year hopefully we wont have a relegation battle ......

[andy__vh]

just got back from the game, relieved to have won. couldnt believe the penalty first i thought free kick for us (foul on oakes), then thought drop ball (as there was a free for all) then hmm penalty to swindon. but apparently on BBC radio swindon it said there was a two handed 'save' by gerrard or ropes on the line. Both teams were pretty poor to be honest. Special mention however goes to Julian Joachim. He is a class above and has terrific work rate.

Darren wrack very poor today i think i would release him if his contract is up in the summer.

Pead still not convinced by him but better than Torquay.

Just like to say! we must be awful because if swindon are that bad and going for the play offs! what does that say for the other 12 teams in league 1!!!!!

merson today managed from the dug out. kept coming out shouting orders. But a few more wins are still needed to make sure i think. Minimum 4 points - draw next week, win stockport


UTS

[Bristol Fan]

YES!!! About time.

Let's get one thing straight though: we did not play well, not at all. Fortunately Swindon played like we did last week and we undoubtedly did deserve the points. For the first half we were just as bad as them, second half we certainly played a lot better but it was still pretty desperate stuff. But we finally showed some passion and really fought for it, playing a similar system and with similar fight as we did against Bristol City (though Swindon were dire, almost unbelievably bad in fact).

Oakes - awful. They barely had a shot on target which is fortunate. His kicking was dire, he must have changed his mind on about 15 crosses but got away with it. Just what is it with us and goalkeepers? He was well behind Paston and Murphy on this performance.
Pead - could well be a long term answer to our right back problem. Played really well.
Roper - typical stuff, no-nonsense, but some awful passing and the usual quota of needless fouls which could have put us in real trouble. Was far too far away to see whether it was a penalty but the Swindon player interviewed on local radio said it wasn't. But considering it was given for him handling the ball on the line, how he didn't get a red card is anyone's guess.
Gerrard - a bit like Roper but without the fouls.
Perpetuini - weak. Worse than Aranalde. All their danger came from their right.
Wrack - poor first half, better in the second, but there's still something missing
Standing - very poor
Osborn - not one of his better displays but once again he was having to play their midfield by himself because of the scarce resources around him
Surman - apparently he played for 90 minutes but I didn't notice him
Wright - if everyone played with the passion he did we'd be top of the league; good to see him score, and he had a pretty good game all round
Joachim - simply outstanding. Won the game for us by scoring one stupendous goal and setting up our winner. Worked tirelessly throughout the 90 minutes and was the best player on the pitch by an embarrassingly wide margin
Leitao - worked hard when he came on for Standing; missed a good chance but in fairness he hit it well and the keeper had to make a good save, but he worked very hard the whole time and almost looked like the old Jorge

We didn't play that well but, by some miracle Merson out-thought his opposite number by playing the system we did which completely stifled Swindon as an attacking threat, and Joachim's outstanding play kept forcing them to pass the ball back time after time and not get anywhere

One more win and we're surely safe.

Lots of "There's only one Paul Merson" and "Paul Merson's barmy army" chanting going on today. No sign of any Merson Out banner.

[simcity47]

Just got back myself...really thought we were going to get dicked today.

Delighted to come away with 3 points!!

I too agree that Joachims pace, and workrate were excellent.

Wrack was very poor i agree.

Overall, i just shaded it, but i thought Swindon were poor.

Thank god we won, as Torquay did.

one more win, and a draw should see us ok. (send Peterborough down next week)

i can go to Lanzarote tomorrow morning now with a smile on my face!! Ive packed my home shirt too.. :D

Hopefully by the time im back (a week tomorrow), we are safe and can look forward to a trip to Nottingham Forest next year.

[Surrey Saddler]

Just back from the game. In contrast to some reports I thought we were very competent today. In the first half it was obvious our plan was to stop them scoring and play for a draw or hope for something on the break. It was not a bad tactic. Joachim's work rate was excellent and we defended well. Then we went one up and I was hoping in the second half we would try and keep more of the ball. Not so, we let them come at us. I have no idea why the pen was given- too far away, but there was a massive goal mouth scramble. Very encouragingly, after they scored we did not give up but then went for them instead and got the deserved winner. UP THE SADDLERS. Does this mean Merse's job is safe? He was very animated from the touchline throughout.

[Cheesebag]

We looked more like a team today, not overrun in midfield, no bloke with arms on hips in sight. full credit to Merson for having the bottle (no pun intended :roll: ) to drop himself for the good of the team.

Jorge came on and we reverted to a more solid 4-4-2 and thus created more chances. Jorge also made their keeper pull off a great save.

JJ was outstanding but also, I thought was Ropes.

Wrack and Wright (until the last minute) were the only weak links today, with Wrack being particulaly poor.

Osborne to his credit was sound in midfield, even showboated a couple of times.

One more win and we are safe.

[Guest]

I thought we did really well today. Shows what you can do when you play a proper formation - I don't think Merson is ever going to be a great manager but he would have done himself a lot of favours this season had he not decided to try and play 90 minutes vitually every game. Work rate was a lot better than normal, with us much quicker to close down players.

Wright has got a future at this club, as a winger not a full-back, but a hint to Merse - don't play him on the left, the clue's in his name. Put Surman on the left wing as he is a bit lost in centre mid. I thought Pead was superb, especially as he played behind Wrack who just wasn't interested yet again. Pead is our most tenacious player since Keates. Gerrard is a class above and Ropes did well considering he was up against Parkin. Joachim is beginning to have the same effect as Goodman did when he joined on deadline day.

I would be glad to hear from anyone who knew what the penalty was for. If it was handball, why didn't we have someone sent off? It also appeared as if the linesman gave it, but the ref didn't seem to consult with the linesman at all. Curious, and could have been costly.

Nice to hear Andy King as gracious as ever after the game. He twice described us as "a very, very poor team" and said we had played for a point. Sounds like sour grapes after we completed our first double of the season. He also blamed the pitch and laid into his players, hinting several of them wouldn't be offered new contracts. That sounds kinda familiar.

[Stonnall_Saddler]

came back from the game today, ive got to say you people who missed it today missed something special, best atmosphere in the saddler part of the ground for a long time, a couple of questions who was the guy on the pitch with the glasses during a warm up before the game????????? and secondly who did any1 see the punch up between the swindons fans after the match.

Come on you reds

[Cheesebag]

Funniest thing, Rockin Robins dance before the match, met by raptuous.....SILENCE.

[Bristol Fan]

Nice to hear Andy King as gracious as ever after the game. He twice described us as "a very, very poor team" and said we had played for a point. Sounds like sour grapes after we completed our first double of the season. He also blamed the pitch and laid into his players, hinting several of them wouldn't be offered new contracts. That sounds kinda familiar.

I heard that. If Merson's boozing causes his silly comments to the media then god knows what King is on because I don't think I've ever heard anything like it from a football manager. Laying into specific players, saying the same as Merson, that they won't be around next season, he really had a go at us and how poor we are, and... guess what... he blamed the pitch! It was like a Merson interview only ten times more ridiculous.

I also listened to his pre-match interview on the local radio in which he again said how poor we are and that Merson is our only player, but he has no discipline in his play and they were looking forward to exploiting that.

[YGA Saddler]

get in there!!!

Ozzie was outstanding today, and i didnt think id ever say that.

anyway off to enjoy my first saturday away win for ages.

[Bristol Fan]

We looked more like a team today, not overrun in midfield, no bloke with arms on hips in sight.

In contrast to this - Wrack, Surman and Standing all gave "hands on hips" performances (not literally, but you know what I mean) and it was only because of Osborn that we weren't overrun in midfield. Wrack did run around a lot to give him credit, but how many times he managed to pass the ball to one of our players could be counted on the fingers of one, erm, finger. Standing did little of anything and Surman played like Merson has been recently, only without the skill, ie just standing around waiting for the ball, never tracking back or making us difficult to play against, but unlike Merson not being able to create anything when he does get it.

Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely thrilled we won and we certainly deserved to - but who'd have thought before the season started that a narrow victory over a pitifully bad team (on the day) which moved us to 48 points with only four games left would be seen as a triumph. We should have been beating teams like Swindon all season, we really should. It can't be said often enough that this division is truly abysmal. Only the top three teams would stand a chance of not being annihilated in the Championship and relegated before Christmas (but I suspect they all would get relegated without big squad improvements) - every other team is very weak. We should be fourth with the players we've got, not 19th. It wasn't good enough before the game and it isn't good enough after it. If and when we pick up the points which will make us safe, it isn't time for Bonser, Merson and the players to reflect on a job well done, it's time for them to hold an inquest and, frankly, be ashamed that they got us into this mess in the first place.

[Magic Man Fan]

came back from the game today, ive got to say you people who missed it today missed something special, best atmosphere in the saddler part of the ground for a long time

Don't rub it in! Only the third game I've missed all season! Did you go to Bristol City? How was the atmosphere compared to that night? It was great at Ashton Gate.

Back then I thought after that performance we could still go on to do something this season but then as quickly as it appeared the 4-5-1 formation without Merson was gone. It reappears today and unsurprisingly we have won. Merson take a hint, we don't need you playing, especially away from home.

[andy__vh]

i too was suprised with andy kings comments? we are poor? he wants to have a look at their team. To be in with a chance of play offs they must be in a false position.

ROCKIN ROBIN! ha very funny it was!

nice to see merson manage for a change, very animated, changed things around a bit and amazing how much better a team looks with 10 mobile outfield players!

[Exile]

Very very pleased with that win. Made me feel much happier about our ability to survive this season and build for next year.

[ShropsSaddler]

I find it truly amazing that so many people seem to suddenly be "so much happier" about the prospects for next season on the back of one away win that gives us a BETTER chance of avoiding relegation!!

The fact is that we are now 4 games from the end of the season, Merson has got rid of alot of players who he did not consider to be "his", brought in alot who he must consider to be his (?) and yet still chops and changes the team without any apparent idea as to the best formation. Great hope for next season!!

It is NO coincidence that two of the best managers in recent history, Mr Graydon and Chris Nichol both believed in playing 4-4-2 keeping a balanced, settled side and asking every player to do a job and work for the team. Why can Merson not learn this? Time and time again we have formation changes, changes of personnel and players in the team who only "work" when the ball is played to their feet.

I sincerely hope that we can have a manager installed for next season who brings back some of those qualities. Merson is the proverbial cat who's used up his nine lives and then some. Time to go Merson.

[Neil Ravenscroft]

Guess which are the only two teams in the Division in a worse run of form than us? I'll give you a clue, Stockport is one and the other starts with the same letter. We've turned so many corners this season, it's no wonder we resemble the fabled oozlelum bird (look it up if you don't know). We are still a very long way away.