Sheff Wed (a) - League - 26th December 2004

[Andy]

How we gonna do in this one?

[ws4saddler]

With Bennett out for the Wednesday game what will the defensive line up be? Is Scot Dann a suitable replacement for Bennett or could Aranalde be switched to the centre and move Darren Wrack to left back?
Was Jimmy Walker at the game last Saturday. On the carpark where the players park was a black BMW 4x4 with the registration of W8CKA .

[Pedagogue]

Yes, Wacka was at the game.

Can any-one confirm which game Bennett will miss? Is Sheffield Wendy or Tranmere? Bear in mind that the suspension is for five cautions not a single red card.

[Neil Ravenscroft]

I thought it was the next game automatically, ie, Wednesday. I do have to say, is the lad a complete idiot, getting a ban like that, or did he just want Christmas off?

[concretehippo]

If the suspension is for 5 bookings then it's the first game after 7 days from the fifth booking.

(He got booked on 18th December so his suspension starts for the first game from 25th December which in this case is the Boxing day game)

If we were playing a midweek game this week then he would have been able to play.

[Neil Ravenscroft]

So, unless he gets reinforcements, which we need anyway, we've got either:

Wright Emblen Dann Aranalde

or

Wright Emblen Aranalde Wrack

against a team which won 4 - 0 away yesterday. Let's hope he gets reinforcements in! (I'd prefer to see Dann in, if it's those two choices, as Wrack to left back would mean disrupting the midfeild to.

[Stu]

I'm with you there Neil... The least disruption the better in my book. Shifting Aranalde over, bringing Wrack to LB and Osborn into the midfield is 3 changes.

However, I'm wary of the fact that we'd be giving an 18 year old centre half his debut in front of what is likely to be a big Boxing Day crowd, in front of 20,000+ against a team which is very capable, albeit inconsistent at home.

I'd hope we can get someone in for a month, but I can't see it this close to Xmas unless its a local player.

[PerStener]

I have a bad feeling about this game.
Think we will lose this match 3-1 due to our lack of defenders right now.

I'm open for suprises anyway.

[Magic Man Fan]

If we don't get anyone in on loan, which is likely then Zigor will play in the middle and Wrack as left back which won't worry me in the slightest apart from the fact it will probably mean Osborn comes into midfield.

Wendy have been poor at home and I don't think they're anything to fear. We have to beat teams like this if we're to get into the play offs. We at least need to keep our unbeaten run going and get a point.

[Exile]

Spot on, MMF - their home record is not that good, but you've got to balance that with our away record! Agree we need to get the draw at least if we're to prove we're really better than our league position.

[PerStener]

The signing of Herivelto is open up a whole new look..

If Merse are unable to get a central defender in on loan we might be looking at this linup.

Murphy

Wright, Emblen, Aranalde, Wrack

Kinsella, standing, herivelto

merson

Robinson, leitao

[YGA Saddler]

even being all the way over in sweden you talk more sense than the people within an hop skip and jump of bescot per. That will be the team on sunday guaranteed.

4-1 to wednesday though

[Stu]

I really hope that is not the team on Sunday...

Playing both Harry and Merson away from home, not even Arsenal could get away with that.

It'd be tantamount to suicide unless Harry has discovered how to stay fit for 90 minutes and how to defend.

[Neil Ravenscroft]

He'd only play in a 4 4 2, or 4 4 1 1, surely?

[WarsawPact]

What's Wednesday's right winger like?

Any possibility we might leave Wrack in midfield and bring Broad in at left back?
That way, there's only the defence being disrupted.



Looks like we might be in line for some more injuries. :(

http://www.sheffieldtoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=59&ArticleID=909384

[Neil Ravenscroft]

Dont' know - It's Jon-Paul McGovern isn't it? Wasn't he injured when we played them at Bescot and they had Adam Proudlock filling in?

[WSOne]

Sheff Wed 1-2 Walsall

Wednesday to take the lead but Robinson levels before half-time.
Merson comes off for Herivelto who scores the winner in the last few minutes.

Murphy
Wright McShane Emblen Aranalde
Standing Kinsella Wrack
Merson
Robinson Leitao

Paston Osborn Broad Taylor Herivelto

Come on you Saddlers!

[Ace]

It's poor home record vs. poor away record, but we may and i stress, may have turned the corner.

[Welsh_Saddler]

Well, you've got the first part right, W_S_One....... Sheffield Wendy take the lead after 30 minutes - thirty minutes in which we've had four corners to their none, and according to the BBC text report we've had 56% of the play !!!!! Still, like someone with a sense of humour said, we've come from behind more times than Ron Jeremy.......

[concretehippo]

Sheff Wed 1-2 Walsall

Wednesday to take the lead but Robinson levels before half-time.
Merson comes off for Herivelto who scores the winner in the last few minutes.

Murphy
Wright McShane Emblen Aranalde
Standing Kinsella Wrack
Merson
Robinson Leitao

Paston Osborn Broad Taylor Herivelto

Come on you Saddlers!

spooky!!!

here's to you marvin robinson, walsall loves you more than you could know!!!! :D

[Welsh_Saddler]

And as a little afterthought to Walsall's equaliser, scored by marvellous Marvin on 42 minutes (header from penalty area) - let's have a cheer for Zigor who, contrary to many fans' beliefs, CAN cross a ball accurately........ Zigor, you're a star !!!

[Guest]

Hello Coxy here. Firstly happy Xmas to all you Rimmers. Poor result today when you consider all 3 goals were yet again defensive errors. I think you can safely say that Walsall are going nowhere while they make these schoolboy errors in defence.

Obviously today Emblem had to play at the back due to our lack of defenders available but i say it time and time again he is not a natural centre half. He can get away with it at times due to his tenacity and grit but time and time again he gets caught out.

I think when all defenders are available Emblem has to be moved to the anchor role in midfield to replace Kinsella who i have never rated. I think this system that Merson seems obsessed with is made for Embo to play as anchor man.

The find of Robinson is a positive one but he can score all he wants, untill we get our defensive problems sorted it won't make a difference. Get Kinsella and Osborn out the club, they are useless and finished.

[SuperDon]

Feck off Coxy if it is really you.

[Pedagogue]

For the second time, this season, I came away from Hillsborough frustrated at seeing us lose a match we could have won. Let's make no bones about it - Wendy are NOT a good side yet we have failed to beat them in 3 meetings. It was very much a case of us throwing away at least one point, if not all three, although, in our defence, I have to bemoan the 3 Wendy goals - a total fluke, an own-goal and a debatable penalty. I hope Paul Sturrock remembered to put his Lottery numbers on as, with his luck today, he is on a winner! :)

We were clearly the better side in the first half but we failed to "go for the jugular" against a surprisingly nervous and inept Wendy side. Their on-loan (from Southampton) beanpole of a striker, Kenwyne Jones, tries a speculative lob from about 30 yards out and it drops just inside our post. He could try that 20 more times and never get another goal. Excellent equaliser - a perfect cross from Aranalde (I can't believe that I've just typed that - but it WAS his only one of the afternoon!) and Robinson finishes with the perfect header. McShane, who looks a real threat at corner-kicks, heads narrowly wide and then has another header cleared off the line with the 'keeper beaten.

Wendy came ouit strongly at the second half and took control (presumably after a deserved bollocking by Sturrock). We were clearly second best and we needed an inspired substitution but none came. They regained the lead when McShane and Emblen got in each other's way and put the ball in our net instead of clearing it. Emblen conceded a penalty which I thought was a little harsh as the Wendy player went down as if shot by a sniper although we would have been shouting for it at the other end! Nevertheless, I wouldn't have awarded it. With time running out we piled on the pressure but the damage was done and we could only scramble one back through McShane.

Any positives? Well, yes. Our first half performance as well as the last quarter of an hour. Wright had a very good first half but looked uncomfortable when Wendy put on the pressure. I am also impressed by McShane. Apart from a first half burst of temper (he IS red-headed and Irish!) which earned him a yellow card he performed well and, as I said above, he looks like scoring every time he goes up for a corner. How many years is it since we have been able to say that about a Walsall player?

Negatives - our failure to turn control into goals. Individually, - the usual suspects such as the ineffective Leitao, Kinsella and Osborn contributed little and, away from home, Standing MAY be a luxury player (I think the jury's out on this one), Apart from laying on our first goal, Aranalde gives me heart failure every time he goes near the ball.

Bring on Tranmere and three points in the bag! :lol:

[Jorge14]

Leamore, more or less spot on there...

Unlucky in spells not to get anything from the game, I thought for the first 20 minutes we played some of our best football of the season, but as a mate said to me today, there is no point in having the play if you can't put in the net.
It was a cracking, but total fluke, of a first goal from Jones who looks nothing short of an old-fashioned front man. His entire game is more or less muscling his marker off the ball, and the elbows were up all the time.

So disapointed in Wright once again. Two of their goals could be attributed in part to him. Their first was baffling, as he had already been in the same situation two or three times before that, and the ball had always gone back to Murphy. Whether having Kinsella in close attendance confused him or whatever, it was a shocking decision to make. It would be unfair to single him out once again, and unfortunately it seems that he will become the new "Birch" figure to our most vocal fans, but he just isn't up to the standard as a right back. He looks exposed and tentative, and it is unbelievable for a right back to be so weak in the challenge.

Emblen and McShane aquited themselves very well. Its hard to believe that it was McShane's league debut. Aranalde also had a more solid game. Obviously there were the numerous occasions when the passing is less than convincing, but it was a crunching tackle that started the move for our first, and he whipped in a great cross.

I didn't think that Leitao contributed much at all, he runs his socks off, but I thought that the game was crying out after the hour mark for the introduction of Herivelto alongside Marvin Robinson, who was very good in attack. The only concern with Robinson is his tendency to get caught offside so often, he must have been off 4 or 5 times this afternoon. However, if he continutes at his current ratio, he's an exciting player to have.

Thoughts on Osborn being booed again when he comes on? Anyone that went to Slough can understand why he is being booed, but it seems to be causing a split amongst fans, some strong language from both sides of the fences this afternoon.

[Ace]

Absolutely p*sspotical in the second half, we didn't win a single header and all of our passes were either intercepted or useless through-balls that just went out of play. What made today worse is that Wednesday are hardly heavyweights, but we made them look it. :evil:

Osborn was suprisingly decent, if he puts in the sort of effort next match people may think about cutting him some slack.

[hullsaddler]

Agree with a lot of comments above.We seemed to have several chances to clear before that flukey goal .That cracking equaliser was the least that we deserved from the first half,how long before Marvin becomes leading scorer?.Thought we were definitely less effective in second half, but still should have got something.Could not uderstand why Hereivelto did not come on for jorge once we went 3-1 down.
Teletext has OG down to Wright,thought it was Mcshane. It would make a good trivial pursuit question in years to come- which man U player scored at both ends on his Walsall debut?

[Guest]

Agree with most of the above comments, cannot believe the fluke 1st goal, whilst it might seem a little harsh to apportion any blame to Mark Wright. Couldn't believe my eyes when Aranadle in the space of 30 seconds tackled and won the ball, played a marvellous one two and then delivered the most perfect 1st time cross for Marvin to score! I thought Darren Wrack had a poor game but once again Leitao failed to provide any real attacking threat, he seems to have a problem with his co-ordination, I think that Merson should ban him from chewing gum and playing at the same time, its probably why he falls over so often. Liked the look of McShane in defence, hope we can keep him for longer than a month.
Most dissapointing, and I'm being polite, are the bunch of mutants that allude to being Walsall supporters booing Osborn when he came on. Regardless of his contributions to the team there is no valid excuse for such cowardly behaviour. I can only assume that these dregs had no social and moral role models when they were mutating from young children, hang on a second, it sounds like I am making excuses for them or do they have their own brain? I look forward to any of their replies.

[Cully]

Looks like I'm setting a bad example by not logging on you mutants, I am that guest at 9.52pm :lol:

[Ace]

As i said in a previous post, regardless of wether it's right or wrong to boo (Any player) there's no obligation to reserve it, and until the European court of human rights bans booing at football matches it'll still happen. Plus it's all fine telling people not to boo here, but would you have the balls to tell a group of drunken blokes to stop? Not making a fight or anything, i just think it's a point :)