Welcome. This site is an archived version of the previous UpTheSaddlers forum (December 2004 to May 2018). To visit the new UTS website, please click here.

Tranmere (a) - League - 22nd January 2005

Reports and reaction from the 2004-05 season as Walsall finished 14th in League 1
User avatar
Magic Man Fan
Site Addict
 
Posts: 10977
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 6:30 pm
Location: Warning. Some posts may cause offence...to the over sensitive or slow.

Sun Jan 23, 2005 7:00 pm

To be honest I'd forgotten about the cricket club at Luton so I'll probably go there.

In fact when someone asks me to go to Bristol City with them I won't be able to say no. :lol:

User avatar
Neil Ravenscroft
Site Admin
 
Posts: 5605
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:19 am
Location: Replacement Baby Is Here!

Sun Jan 23, 2005 7:40 pm

Cully wrote:I suppose we'll hear the same old rubbish from PM about how we were the better team, we were unlucky, we've got the best squad of players in the division, drone, drone, cockney drone etc. etc.


Cully is psychic, according to Team Talk:-

Merson was left to rue the Saddlers' eighth away reverse of the season after some bad luck at Prenton Park.
He said: "It seems to be the same old story for us away from home. I thought we deserved a point at least and it's very frustrating.
"We played some good football but I don't think the referee gave us anything all day. I thought there was a foul leading up to the first Tranmere goal."

User avatar
Zippy
Glitterati
 
Posts: 1196
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 2:31 pm
Location: Reality: Good honest support.

Sun Jan 23, 2005 7:49 pm

What do you expect him to say.

Every manager gives a press conference after a match.

Why do you have to disect every word he says????????

User avatar
Magic Man Fan
Site Addict
 
Posts: 10977
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 6:30 pm
Location: Warning. Some posts may cause offence...to the over sensitive or slow.

Sun Jan 23, 2005 8:09 pm

Why doesn't he try being honest and actually say that we weren't good enough for 70 minutes instead of blaming everyone else but himself.

He should have said something like "We didn't get the rub of the green today but to be honest we didn't deserve it. We didn't start playing until we were two goals down and its becoming a bad habit. We tried one up front and to be honest it didn't work especially as I was the one up front. When we switched to two we had more of the game and I should have started like that from the start"

What gets me is there was no reason to play 4-5-1. All week Merson was going to go for it until Fryatt got injured, so why change the plan. We had Robinson on the bench who could have played with Leitao up front. When Robinson came on, he won a few headers and held the ball up well, laying off simple balls and getting on the end of crosses he had set up. It was the first time we had kept the ball around their box all game.

User avatar
Neil Ravenscroft
Site Admin
 
Posts: 5605
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:19 am
Location: Replacement Baby Is Here!

Sun Jan 23, 2005 9:47 pm

It would be nice if, just for once, he was as honest as people seem to be deluded into thinking he is and said "We went one up and it didn't work - my mistake" or "we went with one up and I made a mistake by doing it myself as we'd have been better with Robinson doing that job - so I got the team selection and tactics wrong". No, he just deludes himself by saying it's all the refs fault and (on WM last night) Bennett's fault for making mistakes while he's trying to learn. Always someone else, never Paul.

LancsSaddler
UTS Regular
 
Posts: 173
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:55 pm
Location: Pelsall/Lancaster

Mon Jan 24, 2005 1:13 am

you can say that merson should come out after the game and say that it was all his fault. but since when has any other manager come out and said ' im sorry i totaly messed up the tactics, its all my fault' ?

User avatar
Neil Ravenscroft
Site Admin
 
Posts: 5605
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:19 am
Location: Replacement Baby Is Here!

Mon Jan 24, 2005 9:19 am

It might eb better than this delusional nonsense:-

http://www.saddlers.premiumtv.co.uk/pag ... 04,00.html

User avatar
Geordiesaddler
UTS Legend
 
Posts: 1568
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 11:02 am
Location: Whitley Bay.

Mon Jan 24, 2005 9:57 am

When we signed Marvin Robinson he scored 4 goals in 3 matches and looked like he had the attributes to be a good signing. His stregths were, pace, physical strength, reasonable finishing ability, ariel ability etc.
His weaknesess were poor positional play, poor first touch. Over the coming weeks I expected Merson a former England forward, and Barlow, and experienced coach to work with him to mould him into a useful player.
That's what managing us is all about, taking risks on players that for whatever reason have fallen by the wayside and trying to get something out of them. Now Robinson can't even get in the team when there are only two fit strikers at the club.
Where does he go from there Paul? the same way as Dakinah, Bewers, Birch et al?

philthesaddler
Site Addict
 
Posts: 5371
Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:13 pm
Location: Bescot Stadium, 'the stadium that never closes'. Opening hours Mon-Fri 10am-4pm

Mon Jan 24, 2005 11:13 am

Right, before i read anyone else's comments on the game, i shall post my views. I went to the game, paid £12, and i really expected a little more effort.

Firstly, tactics. We've gone their and put 5 in midfield. OK, a good plan maybe, but not a good plan when that 5 includes osborne, and leitao. Merson as a lone striker? Whats going on.

From the very first minute, even though we had 5 in midfield we were standing off and allowing players like hume plenty of time, and we were punished for exactly that.

Kinsella was having an ok game, but osborne was once again rubbish. Leitao did his bit running his socks off, like he does most matches, but for me, all his effort in chasing down etc. is negated by the fact he once again missed an easy one-on-one.

I think from a tactical point of view, we started poorly. Im not sure whether mers intended to, or whether it happened naturally, but after we conceded we started to play more like a 4-4-1-1. This improved us, and started to give us some outlet.

However, our midfield was offering little or no protection to our defence, who had to scramble the ball away on half a dozen occasions. Wright was struggling ["premiership right back"] arranalde was being his usual headless chicken self. Emblem and Bennett played well except for the one huge mistake they both made in the second half.

We didn't deserve anything from the match IMHO, and i think its another illustration of how deluded merson is to claim that "you wouldn't have known who was at the top of the table"

Second half we improved, but gave a silly goal away, they had one disallowed, so we could have easily been dead and buried before the come back attempt even began. Once we're 2-0 down, why does it take half an hour for them to realise a change is needed?

We were playing balls over the top all day, yet we've got the pace of Leroy on the bench, and dont use him?

All in all, for me, it was another spineless performance. Too many players happy to pick up the pay check without putting half the effort in that the fans do singing their hearts out. I and several others were dead right to see right through Merson's "premiership right back" comments last week, because against TRFC he struggled at both ends of the pitch, although it wasn't his worst game.

My dad told me Merson said osborne had a good game on wm? is this true. The man is truely deluded. He gives the ball away, shuns tackles, stands off. He's a nothing player. He might aswell not be there. You should have heard the cries of "four" when the board went up for walsall's substitution.

Once again we failed to use subs to our advantage. Whats the point of having leroy on the bench, if we refuse to use him? Do we not want to pay out match fees for him or something? He may not be the finished article, far from it, but he's the kind of player we should be bringing on every single match, because with his pace, and youthful enthusiasm, things will happen. At 2-0 down with 30 to play, id have had Leitao off, and Marv and Leroy on, or maybe even left Leitao on, and played 3 up there. We simply have to use him, he's raw talent that we;re letting go to waste.

Another Merson dillusional comment was about if you were foreign, you wouldnt have known who was challenging for the play offs and who wasnt!?! Well im sorry mr paul, getting one scruffy goal from one of our three poor attempts on goal, wouldn't make anyone think we're higher up the league than a team that ran rings round us all day!

Thank god we had those 5 unbeaten games before xmas, otherwise we'd be in big trouble. The team is spineless, clueluss and effortless. We've got a management team who clear have no tactical nous, refuse to use substitutesm, and whats more we've wasted a month of time, effort and money on trying to sign a non-eu striker who hasn't player 75% of his nations internationals over the last 2 years. Typical walsall.

User avatar
Stu
UTS Legend
 
Posts: 1227
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 7:07 pm
Location: Bexleyheath, Kent.

Mon Jan 24, 2005 12:12 pm

Got to dis-agree on your opinion of Williams.

I think he was only on the bench because we had no other options. He really isn't ready and bar 1 sub appearance on the opening day of the season, he was looked way out of his depth in every other appearance he has made.

Evening Mail also said Osborn had a good game, or more to the point, a particularly good 2nd half.

User avatar
Neil Ravenscroft
Site Admin
 
Posts: 5605
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:19 am
Location: Replacement Baby Is Here!

Mon Jan 24, 2005 12:19 pm

Strangely enough, they picked out Aranalde as having had a good game as well!

User avatar
Magic Man Fan
Site Addict
 
Posts: 10977
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 6:30 pm
Location: Warning. Some posts may cause offence...to the over sensitive or slow.

Tue Jan 25, 2005 12:22 am

Don't understand why you're so critical of Wright phil when there were much worse players on the day.

philthesaddler
Site Addict
 
Posts: 5371
Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:13 pm
Location: Bescot Stadium, 'the stadium that never closes'. Opening hours Mon-Fri 10am-4pm

Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:32 am

mainly because wright is the most consistently poor player. He and osborne have a half decent game in every 6/7. Whereas people like Aranalde and Leitao, althought poor against Tranmere, have decent games every 3/4 games.

User avatar
Stu
UTS Legend
 
Posts: 1227
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 7:07 pm
Location: Bexleyheath, Kent.

Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:40 am

That's a matter of opinion, as I rarely find much difference between either Wright or Aranalde. And, up until recently, I struggled to see any difference between Osborn and Kinsella (who has only recently picked up his performances in my view).

User avatar
Magic Man Fan
Site Addict
 
Posts: 10977
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 6:30 pm
Location: Warning. Some posts may cause offence...to the over sensitive or slow.

Tue Jan 25, 2005 8:44 pm

Nor Wright or Leitao

Previous
Return to 2004-05 Season

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests