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Doncaster (a) - League - 4th September 2004

Reports and reaction from the 2004-05 season as Walsall finished 14th in League 1
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Doncaster (a) - League - 4th September 2004

Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:51 am

By SheffieldSaddler (172.185.32.114) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 06:58 pm: Edit

Losing at Doncaster Rovers! Who would have thought. Except for a 15 minute spell we were awful, a shambles in defence all match and basically looking a team who would be lucky to finish in top 15.
Paston - 8, some great saves and commanded the area well.
Bazeley - 4, terrible again.
Zigor - 5, out of position too many times.
Bennett - 9, if it wasnt for him we would have conceeded a lot more. Excellent display.
Emblen - 0, useless. Not a centre half and cannot read the game, out of position too many times.
Broad - 4, not good.
Wrack - 5, a few good runs but mainly useless.
Osborn - 6, got stuck in but not a good game.
Merson - 1, useless.
Birch - 1, useless, should not pull on a Walsall shirt again. I have seen a snail move faster.
Jorge - 7, tried as he always does.
Fryatt - 8, made some good runs and got stuck in, turning into a good player.
Taylor - 7 1/2, as per Fryatt.

By D.Mick (81.76.52.95) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 07:10 pm: Edit

A mid table finish is the best we can look forward to. Defensively poor with no help from covering midfield players. Too many players not interested in the shirt only thier pay packet (Emblem, Bazerly, Corica, Aranalde, Birch). Get rid of all the hangers on and play all the kids every week, at least they will show some passion. Merse it is not good enough, we expect better.

By Markw (217.43.233.198) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 07:24 pm: Edit

I agree with most of the above point scoring except Osborn 6.In league with Emblen today as he nearly always is.
First half absolutely terrible.We looked almost disinterested.Rovers are not a great team but they showed passion and 100% comittment unlike us.We gave the ball back to them every time .No width ,no pace ,no idea--A Sunday afternoon stroll for far too many of our players.
It's a bad idea telling them their the best players in the league Merse.Surely they must earn this right.
For 15-20 mins at 2-0 down we outplayed them ,but only after Taylor and Fryatt came on.Learn from this Merson.They need to play every game.
Why did Kinsella not appear today? Why bother signing him? A few Albion fans I know are amazed that he's been dropped.Maybe he was busy listening to the radio commentary of the Ireland game in the dug-out.
As mentioned on another post --unless we bring in somebody like say Chris Nichol to coach the defence then we are stuffed.

By dler (82.152.45.15) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 07:24 pm: Edit

Doncaster 3 Walsall 1
Says it all really. We are going backwards, managed by someone who gives every impression of being totally clueless. Either he improves beyond recognition, or we are heading down. Lee must be laughing his socks off.

By Geoff Whiting (84.66.112.109) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 07:27 pm: Edit

What are you talking about D.Mick? Did Corica play today then? If he did, I certainly never heard his name mentioned. If not, give him a break.

Fact is, he probably SHOULD have played today instead of Merson, judging by Radio WM and other comments on Merse's performance today.



By Jorge14 (195.93.34.9) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 08:03 pm: Edit

What has happened to Emblen?
What has happened to Bazeley?
Why does Birch only have one good match at a time?
What has happened to Osborn?
What has happened to the great support that Walsall used to have?

Now it is full of small minded fools who only go there to moan. There was no support, not even consistency from the crowd! "Taxi for Paston" was one song in the first half. Talk about getting behind a player. I don't care if it is terrace banter or not, it was embarrassing for the player, and for the majority of the fans. Of course, Paston came through with an outstanding performance and a penalty save.

Praise for Julian Bennett who to often had to cover for an awful Neil Emblen. Emblen looks fat, slower than ever, and he plays like he is injured. I'm just wondering if Emblen would be injured if we had another centre back?

There are positives though. Matt Fryatt is fast establishing himself as a "Fox in the box". He can finish with the best of them, and most importantly, he has the crowd on his side, something that some members of the squad don't have.

By hullsaddler (212.50.170.74) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 08:15 pm: Edit

I cannot believe we have lost 3-1 at Bellevue today.I would agree with most of Sheff's ratings,thought Bennett was outstanding, especially with some of his interceptions.
I am really pleased that Paston saved that penalty & made those second half saves,as I hope it will boost his confidence.I had thought he'd looked a bit uncertain & shaky for some of the first half.Thought Darryl Taylor really added something (first time I've seen him) in the 2nd half but how he missed that chance that came back off the post I'll never know. I really thought we were going to come back & win it during that 20 minute purple patch.I am sure 99% of strikers would have done what Jorge did,but such a shame at that stage of the game.
Is Merson playing that short corner routine at most corners, as it does not seem very effective .
Still on the bright side I really enjoyed standing on a terrace again,even if not the world's greatest ground!!!!

By Steve Sheldon (213.78.59.132) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 09:17 pm: Edit

Why can't you believe it Hull? I wasn't aware that the football authorities had been handing out 'divine right' cards to teams.

We got done, and even allowing for the fact that we performed below par, we could, and perhaps should, have salvaged something.

Next game please.

By Jorge14 (195.93.34.9) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 09:20 pm: Edit

The tune from Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned...

"It'll never work...It'll never work..."

I'm sure if it is more aplicable to Merson's short corners or Gary Birch's career.

"...and neither will Lee again..."

Sorry Sheff.



By sj (195.93.34.9) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 09:25 pm: Edit

Jorge-14 Doncaster was nice and at 16 on a Saturday night you should be out on the pull, my lad.

By SheffieldSaddler (172.190.137.164) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 09:30 pm: Edit

It really does make you come back down to earth. Losing at Doncaster. God, the place is the pits, the ground even worse and the Park Hotel even worse then the ground. How on earth this place can be classed as a "hotel" I will never know.
Just imagine staying there god forbid!

By Jorge14 (195.93.34.9) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 09:32 pm: Edit

...At any age (within reason) you should be out on the pull on a Saturday night, SJ.

However, England came calling, and then David James decides to dive like a Silver Medalist in Synchronised Diving.

By sj (195.93.34.9) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 09:39 pm: Edit

Is your Mom married Jorge?

By Jorge14 (195.93.34.9) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 09:54 pm: Edit

Only to my dad SJ.

By cheese bag (81.131.81.48) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 10:50 pm: Edit

Best thing about today was getting a nice half price coat fron Next clearance at the Lakeside outlet shopping village in Doncaster after the match.

By Magic Man Fan (81.156.107.240) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 10:50 pm: Edit

Paston - Excellent. Great saves and seems to be taking crosses more cleanly than before. Not a great pen but he still had to save it. If it wasn't for him we'd have let in 4 or 5. The save towards the end when their player was one on one and his shot was heading for the top corner was Jimmyesque. My man of the match.

Bazeley - Not brilliant but not too bad either. Still prefer someone with more pace but the system isn't helping him especially away from home.

Zigor - See Bazeley. Despite him not being brilliant I'd still rather have him in the team than someone else I just can't put my finger on it and give you a good reason!

Bennett - Excellent. Only just pipped to man of the match by Paston. Doing the work of 2 centre halfs on many occasions. Strong, decisive and hard in the tackle.

Emblen - I can't believe this is the same player that I voted for player of the season last year. Unlike others who disagree, he can play well at centre half, we saw it on many occasions last season against better strikers. Perhaps the burden of captaincy is hindering him like it did with Viveash. Looks unfit and low on confidence. Needs dropping.

Broad - Don't think he was that bad. He was prepared to chase, close down and throw himself in the way of things more than once when the team was poor in the first half.

Wrack - Once again drifting in and out of the game too often. Far too often in the first half was caught napping when he should have been helping Zigor out on the left. Improved in the second half but another player that doesn't look fit to me.

Osborn - Back to the level of performance I expect from him. Available but nowhere near as effective as on Monday. Still think he should be in the middle with Kinsella in a 4-4-2 away from home though.

Merson - Terrible. Shouldn't start away from home. Too many, passes, flicks and efforts with the outside of his foot going astray to warrant his place in the team. Keep it simple!!! The fancy stuff is for when you're 3 goals up. Because he won't track back or tackle to regain possession after he's lost it he shouldn't play away. Not from the start anyway.

Jorge - As Sheff says, tried but it was always going to be difficult to live up to Mondays performance. Silly of him to knock Wracks shot over the line like he did last season at Stoke but I guess its just strikers instinct so we shouldn't be too hard on him. Wrack was though! As for the fools having a go at the ref for that incident, what was your problem? Jorge was offside and I don't see how you can argue with the decision.

Birch - I defend him often when I can but he can't have a game like he did on Monday then follow it up with a poor performance like today. He'll never win the fans over like that. Considering his confidence should have been up he didn't look or play like it was. Missed a free header with no one near him or no keeper in front of him from all of....2 yards.

Fryatt - Even when he came on I thought he still had a knock but got involved and was eager. Took his goal superbly. The pass was hard and wasn't meant for him but with his strikers instinct he controlled excellently then fired a shot high into the net. Won't be with us by the end of the season. I predict he'll be gone for a million soon even though he doesn't do much more than score goals!

Taylor - Made a difference when he came on. Seemed to bring out better play in Merse. Should a 19 year old need to do this? Got a couple of shots in but I felt he should have done better when he went through one on one but fired wide. If he'd got it on target I think we'd have won the game from there on.

All in all disappointing. We played for 20 minutes and expected to win which we can't afford to do against anyone. The annoying thing is despite only playing for 20 minutes we could still have taken all 3 points. A couple of refereeing decisions went against us at crucial times when we were on top but we still had enough chances to win even though once again our unorganised defence means we didn't. The thing that annoyed me most is that until midway through the second half we didn't test the keeper. As soon as we did, he was awful and was dropping most crosses aimed at him, even when not under pressure. So what does Merse do from two corners which could have tested him? Plays them short so they get floated over slowly by Bazeley.

By DonnyRedFlag (82.38.100.187) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 10:58 pm: Edit

So you came to the footballing back water that is donny and got done by a pub team. Really the mighty walsall got turned over? Incredible!!

By WSOne (81.178.235.172) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 11:20 pm: Edit

I know Souness was at the game today. Perhaps he was taking a look at Fryatt because he could be the next Stead!

By Magic Man Fan (81.156.107.240) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 11:37 pm: Edit

Blackburn were watching him last season also so it wouldn't surprise me if it was Fryatt he was watching.

By Zorb (82.37.194.197) on Sunday, September 05, 2004 - 10:06 am: Edit

According to the radio, Souness was watching Paul Green

By Geordiesaddler (195.92.168.176) on Sunday, September 05, 2004 - 12:19 pm: Edit

No need for any over analysis here, I'll leave that to the expert Steve Madeley of the Express and Star who reckons we should just "sit back and enjoy the ride". Might as well just cut and paste the entire thread from Oldham and Sheff Wed, because apart from two outstanding performances by Paston and Bennett it was just the same rubbish all over again. Some of us have proper jobs, pay to travel all over the country and pay to get in to watch this crap, and some of us arn't enjoying the ride. Like MMF says we can do enough to win a game in 20 minutes such is the talent in the squad, which is why ocassionally we will win one 3-2, but this is like watching pub football. I'll say it once more for the record, we need to start with our best team. If Matty Fryatt and Daryl Taylor arn't better than Birch and Merson they should be on the dole, or worse still working for the Express and Star.

By Neil Ravenscroft (82.37.185.68) on Sunday, September 05, 2004 - 01:31 pm: Edit

I saw Madeley's column on Friday and treated it with the contempt it deserved by promptly forgetting it, so why have you reminded me? Back to "litle Walsall" back where they belong and "playing bravely" are we? Boll*cks.

By Geoff Whiting (81.77.252.76) on Sunday, September 05, 2004 - 06:16 pm: Edit

I'm sure these reporters get their kicks out of patronising us with this kind of boll*cks !

By Magic Man Fan (81.156.107.240) on Sunday, September 05, 2004 - 08:01 pm: Edit

Apparently Madeley is from Walsall and a Saddlers fan. Nick Elwell was the best reported we had and he was from Blackburn. I even rated him better than Marston who comes out with some right cr@p at times.

By Geordiesaddler (195.92.67.71) on Sunday, September 05, 2004 - 11:45 pm: Edit

You get a different perspective as a reporter compared to being a supporter. I've worked as a football reporter in non-league and never fell shy of telling it how it was. Many a time I've nearly been lynched because in non-league you travel on the team bus. I'm five foot seven but I've gone toe to toe with knuckle scraping Blyth Spartans centre-halves who have had one to many at the pub stop off on the way home from Accrington. The like of Madeley wouldn't last five minutes with the travelling regulars who follow the Saddlers. Like so many modern reporters he just curries favour with the powers that be and takes the p out of fans, its pathetic to be honest and brings the whole thing into disrepute. By the way when I was 11 years old I beat Rob Hawthorne in a (then) radio Birmingham reporters competition. But that's another story.

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