22/7/08 - Aston Villa (h)

[WFC_Rob]

Oh, and Villa's Nathan Baker was superb. If he's available for loan, I'd take him like a shot just on the basis of that appearance.

The guy at the game said the same on SkySports News. Surely a loanee would be decent for cover to our centre halves, especially as he's only 17.
Any thoughts on the 'England youth international' Villa had up front? He looked pretty handy too from what I saw of the game - had an involvement in 2, possibly 3 of the goals.

Glad to hear we had some solid performers tonight, particularly across the middle of the park. That elusive striker is still a bit of a concern as I'm not convinced we'll have enough even if we sign Suffo permanently. I also still think we must need someone to play wide on the right. Nicholls could be the answer eventually, but he's not the man to start the season there.

It sounds almost a bit of a shame to me that Palmer sounds like a decent player because the right back berth is one of the few positions I really don't think we need to strengthen. Makes you wonder why we took him on trial really.

[latviancheese]

Palmer is either footed i think, strong right but a not too bad left.

I think it was Delfouneso the young striker, he looked very pacey but lacked anything real cutting edge.


Theres certainly a few young ones in that villa team id take on loan no questions asked.

[Sean p]

I thought we gave a very good overall performance. We played well against a team that last year were pushing for Europe. It may just be my beer goggles but im sure the game attendance was higher than the figure 5031 announced at the game.

Did anyone get caught up in the trouble after the match at the station? High police response with riot vans and countless police cars!

[Sadders]

Ince motm..looked good...Ba is better than Ibehere altough both wont score adequate goals at this level...Suffo looked composed..tough,pacy..and had a touch that you could had graced higher levels...sign him up. Zaaboub's set piece taking was good..however on occasion he was a little frutrating ( will no doubt be a very good winger at this level though)....thought bradley and matthis were good but didnt provide much creativity...sign palmer up....if not as a right back, a right winger...looked very good going forward...pacy also. Roberts looked decent,but something about him wasnt quite right..gerrard was the usual standard...however i thought sansara did he his job well...but never overlaps like boertien or a higher class left back would & simply has the hoof ball in his armoury. Alex nicholls, was simply fantastic...pacy,never gives up, creative,some awesome crossing, a good goal...fantastic the lads coming of age...definetely a big part to play on the wing or upfront next season...Ishy played he part well ,especially with his pull back for the second goal..which was slotted away beautifully into the corner by the controlled suffo....troy deeney ohhh...the lad is simply awful..and has little or no hope of ever having anything of the sort of a prolific season infront of goal..get rid now..didn't notice the new lad although im sure he was good..an overall very pleasing performance,although if we are to mount any sort of a challenge next season we simply have to get 2 more strikers in..some of tonights build up & other friendlies build up has been absolutely fantastic however we have two very inept ,classless..goal drought ridden idiots upfront.. ..despite playing a team undoubtly being short of there best...they were probably off a standard that will surpass most oppositon to visit the bescot next season...Props to shaun maloney..who from the oap stand ( where i was sitting) had a fantastic game, real pace, a big talent. Ohh and a mention to the villa fans..who booed barry...he has given you 10 years of fantastic service..he stated he wanted to go..that's his decision at then end of the day...he's given blood ,sweat and tears for the villa.. he has the class to play in the champions league and he deserves...& quite frankly from im sitting aston villa wont be playing champions league football for a consdierable time yet..fair enough comments in the paper..but maybe O'neil "not offering" barry anything ...is a reason to his departure...& perhaps that was his explanation to the villa fans...although the standing ovation for ince & then sign him up chants were amusing and pleasing to see.

[King Crimson]

In total agreement with latviancheese re: the players and the match yesterday. Enjoyable game, but I didn't see the need to take Clayton off. He'd made a couple of first-class saves which, despite our supremacy in terms of possession, had been necessary to keep us ahead. Gilmartin's inability to hold the powerful shot led to the equaliser and whilst he had no chance for the winner from the shot, he stood and watched the ball as it was crossed in.

Overall though, some encouraging stuff. Fullbacks both looked good (Sansara is in danger of me liking him now), Mattis and Nicholls were the pick of midfield, and I'll agree with Metfan that of Ba and Ibehre (very similar), I thought Ba was the superior player.

Nice evening out with my Dad, who enjoyed his first Walsall game.

[cyclothymic]

I have baby-sitting tonight or I would have gone along

Can't see us beating the midlands second worst underachievers - but that is not the real point.

Of more interest is how tight our defence is and whether we really have any attacking options up front.

A 3 - 2 loss would give me confidence for the season

You should try the lottery this weekend mate :)

:wink: I'll let you know how I do :)

[cyclothymic]

I have baby-sitting tonight or I would have gone along

Can't see us beating the midlands second worst underachievers - but that is not the real point.

Of more interest is how tight our defence is and whether we really have any attacking options up front.

[b]A 3 - 2 loss would give me confidence for the season

Feeling confident, Cyclothymic?

From the reports - somewhat more confident than before kick off :)

[leics_saddler]

Sounds encouraging so far, but that depends on us signing the more impressive trailists.
However, as we've blown half our stack on Ibhere, I wouldn't bank on it.

[Brum]

Oh, and Villa's Nathan Baker was superb. If he's available for loan, I'd take him like a shot just on the basis of that appearance.

The guy at the game said the same on SkySports News. Surely a loanee would be decent for cover to our centre halves, especially as he's only 17.
Any thoughts on the 'England youth international' Villa had up front? He looked pretty handy too from what I saw of the game - had an involvement in 2, possibly 3 of the goals.

Glad to hear we had some solid performers tonight, particularly across the middle of the park. That elusive striker is still a bit of a concern as I'm not convinced we'll have enough even if we sign Suffo permanently. I also still think we must need someone to play wide on the right. Nicholls could be the answer eventually, but he's not the man to start the season there.

It sounds almost a bit of a shame to me that Palmer sounds like a decent player because the right back berth is one of the few positions I really don't think we need to strengthen. Makes you wonder why we took him on trial really.

He played right back last night but I think he's left footed. He took a 25yard free kick last night with his left foot, and played at left back vs worcester. He's ideal, cover for both full back positions and with his pace, he could cover on the wing too. I'd sign him straight away.

Ayre looked good, keeps everything simple, but he's similar to Grant. I'd sign both if expenses allowed it but they are both very similar.

If it was a choice of Ibehre and Ba, i'd pick Ba..

Suffo's got 3 goals in 90mins of action, i'd sign him up too.

I'd also like to know where Reich was and why Boertien/Weston aren't getting a run out?

[King Crimson]

He played right back last night but I think he's left footed. He took a 25yard free kick last night with his left foot, and played at left back vs worcester. He's ideal, cover for both full back positions and with his pace, he could cover on the wing too. I'd sign him straight away.

Ayre looked good, keeps everything simple, but he's similar to Grant. I'd sign both if expenses allowed it but they are both very similar.

If it was a choice of Ibehre and Ba, i'd pick Ba..

Suffo's got 3 goals in 90mins of action, i'd sign him up too.

I'd also like to know where Reich was and why Boertien/Weston aren't getting a run out?

I agree with all that. We've signed Ibehre though. Is Ba too samey?

[ShropsSaddler]

I'd always trust Pedagogue's opinion on players and their performances....but it was interesting to note, listening to the commentary on WM last night, that Ibehre seemed to be very involved in the game and, indeed, the commentators thought he was a real handful for the Villa defence and commented upon how effective he could be this season several times.

Interesting to see the "sign all of them up" opinions on here. It's just NOT going to happen. For three main reasons, I'd suggest;

i) Mr Mullen won't want to use up all the budget just now, I suspect he'll be looking to save some for both the January transfer window and the loan market
ii) We have some very promising youngsters coming through who NEED a chance at some stage this season. People are raving about Sansara after last night. Assuming Boertien gets fit and IF we signed Palmer, this would effectively mean that Sansara was 3rd choice left-back and would be most unlikely to feature this season. Same for right-back if Weston and Palmer are considered the best 2 options there - when will Taundry get a chance to establish himself?
iii) The calibre of players we've got on trial is such that they are not going to be willing to be benchwarmers this season. They'll want "guaranteed" first team football and we obviously can't give them that.

So, out of the players on trial, I would suggest that the "important" signings are Suffo (who seems to have a real eye for goal, just what we need), possibly Ba (as competition for Ibehre and to allow Deeney to go out on loan), Grant (as the extra midfielder) and possibly Palmer or Reich as the right-sided option (although, again, everyone is saying Nicholls was superb last night).

We not only have to face the fact that we're not one of the bigger spending clubs in the division, but I also think we have to look at the club we want for the future. I really don't want a return to the STM days when we dragged players in from here, there and everywhere and some potentially promising youngsters never got a chance to really make an impression (Hawley, Bishop, Birch etc). The last couple of seasons have been particularly "exciting" because of the youngsters who have established themselves and, as much as some enjoy dragging up the old arguments, the sales of Dann and Fox have gone some way to paying off the loans from Mr Bonser which can only be a good thing. Several of the youngsters NEED to establish themselves this year or be on their way - Nicholls, Demontagnac and Deeney spring to mind. Bradley needs to cement his reputation and push on. Taundry needs the chance to establish himself. And Smith and Sansara are at the stage where they need to be playing at least SOME of the games. All that means that we have 7 players there of whom only Bradley could be classed as a "regular" on the teamsheet but all of whom need to be on the subs bench, not being squeezed out by older players.

[Duke]

In total agreement with latviancheese re: the players and the match yesterday. Enjoyable game, but I didn't see the need to take Clayton off. He'd made a couple of first-class saves which, despite our supremacy in terms of possession, had been necessary to keep us ahead. Gilmartin's inability to hold the powerful shot led to the equaliser and whilst he had no chance for the winner from the shot, he stood and watched the ball as it was crossed in.

Overall though, some encouraging stuff. Fullbacks both looked good (Sansara is in danger of me liking him now), Mattis and Nicholls were the pick of midfield, and I'll agree with Metfan that of Ba and Ibehre (very similar), I thought Ba was the superior player.

Nice evening out with my Dad, who enjoyed his first Walsall game.

thats good to here KC , Listening to WM and Sky sports news last night both saying exactly that .
although Sky did annoy me with updates from The Bescot Stadium :twisted:

[Blackcountry Villa]

Ohh and a mention to the villa fans..who booed barry...he has given you 10 years of fantastic service..he stated he wanted to go..that's his decision at then end of the day...he's given blood ,sweat and tears for the villa.. he has the class to play in the champions league and he deserves...& quite frankly from im sitting aston villa wont be playing champions league football for a consdierable time yet..fair enough comments in the paper..but maybe O'neil "not offering" barry anything ...is a reason to his departure...& perhaps that was his explanation to the villa fans....

A lot of our fans were already annoyed with him when he decided he wanted to leave at the first real opportunity. Yes he's given us 10 years of good service but we've payed his wages, it's not as though he played for 10 years out of the kindess of his heart. A few of those years he was average at best aswell but we still stuck by him when he was rubbish and overweight. Then MON takes over and completely revitalises his career and helps get him back into the England frame and how does Barry repay him? By demanding a move and then coming out in a national newspaper slagging him off. The newspaper interview was the thing that turned even more of our fans against him, there was no need for him to do it. He also said 'It's about Champions League football, not about money' then in the next breath he said 'Why hasn't O'Neill or the club offered me a better deal to stay?' Firstly why should we? He's got 2 years left on his contract, we don't need to offer him a new improved deal. Secondly if he wants to go and play Champions League football so bad what would be the point in O'Neill offering him a new improved contract, surely he would just reject it?! Our fans are behind O'Neill 100% on this.
If you watch one game live on Sky next season make sure it's the Villa v Liverpool game 3rd week of the season, if he leaves and returns with them he is going to get vilified and even if he doesn't Benitez and Barry's lover Gerrard will be the ones that cop the abuse

[Brum]

So, out of the players on trial, I would suggest that the "important" signings are Suffo (who seems to have a real eye for goal, just what we need), possibly Ba (as competition for Ibehre and to allow Deeney to go out on loan), Grant (as the extra midfielder) and possibly Palmer or Reich as the right-sided option (although, again, everyone is saying Nicholls was superb last night).

So basically all of our triallists then? you've just contradicted yourself.

If they're all good enough, why not sign all of them now. Why not get them in and get them playing with the rest of the squad. Why wait in the hope that someone better becomes available? If you were saying to hold osme of the budget and wait in June, I'd have listened. But it's 2 weeks until the season starts, let's sign them up and work with them.

For me, definites:
Palmer - covers both full backs and wings
Suffo - gets goals
Grant - defensive midfielder, what is important for me is that when he sits, it allows Mattis to get forward which is what he's best at. Against Villa last night, Mattis sat allowing Bradley to get forward, which wasn't that effecitve (albeit against Barry/Osbourne who are admittedly good)

Possibles:
Ba - big and bustling but has good feet too
Reich, Ayre - haven't seen enough of either but what I've seen I've liked

[ShropsSaddler]

So basically all of our triallists then? you've just contradicted yourself.

No. Clearly not. I've not suggested we keep Reich, Ayre or Cooke and said that Palmer is at best a "maybe" on the basis that we have youngsters who will want opportunities this season. Added to which, the signing of Ba is, I thnk, only viable if it allows Deeney out on loan to rediscover how to score goals.

If they're all good enough, why not sign all of them now. Why not get them in and get them playing with the rest of the squad. Why wait in the hope that someone better becomes available? If you were saying to hold osme of the budget and wait in June, I'd have listened. But it's 2 weeks until the season starts, let's sign them up and work with them.

Presumably Brum because it's not necessarily our call? These are very good players who may well have other offers and, every time they play for us and do well, you can bet your life other clubs are watching them. Football's very different to the old days. Just because someone doesn't have a contract in late July does not mean nobody wants him and he's no good. It's just as likely that the player is weighing up his options and waiting for that slightly better club to get in touch.

Also, we don;t know what other irons in the fire we have. Perhaps Ricketts is still an option for this season? In which case, signing Ba and/or Suffo right now might mean there's no space for him. Same for some of the other players. If people are watching our triallists, we're almost certainly watching others as well.

[latviancheese]

Id just like to note the style of play from last night, and how well we mixed it up.

We mainly played the ball into one of the big lads, which isnt a hoof alot of them were good passes, who held it up and then we played the passing football. But we also got it out wide, and passed our way around too.

[ShropsSaddler]

Id just like to note the style of play from last night, and how well we mixed it up.

We mainly played the ball into one of the big lads, which isnt a hoof alot of them were good passes, who held it up and then we played the passing football. But we also got it out wide, and passed our way around too.

Interesting to hear that Latviancheese. I'm looking forward to some more exciting attacking play this year if nothing else. As you say, a long ball game doesn't have to be hoofball. Using the channels is good football sense at this level, if you have the players who can run all day.

[Brum]

So basically all of our triallists then? you've just contradicted yourself.

No. Clearly not. I've not suggested we keep Reich, Ayre or Cooke and said that Palmer is at best a "maybe" on the basis that we have youngsters who will want opportunities this season. Added to which, the signing of Ba is, I thnk, only viable if it allows Deeney out on loan to rediscover how to score goals.

If they're all good enough, why not sign all of them now. Why not get them in and get them playing with the rest of the squad. Why wait in the hope that someone better becomes available? If you were saying to hold osme of the budget and wait in June, I'd have listened. But it's 2 weeks until the season starts, let's sign them up and work with them.

Presumably Brum because it's not necessarily our call? These are very good players who may well have other offers and, every time they play for us and do well, you can bet your life other clubs are watching them. Football's very different to the old days. Just because someone doesn't have a contract in late July does not mean nobody wants him and he's no good. It's just as likely that the player is weighing up his options and waiting for that slightly better club to get in touch.

Also, we don;t know what other irons in the fire we have. Perhaps Ricketts is still an option for this season? In which case, signing Ba and/or Suffo right now might mean there's no space for him. Same for some of the other players. If people are watching our triallists, we're almost certainly watching others as well.

Well I disagree. You say these are very good players but they've been released by the likes of Wycombe, Gillingham and Notts County (for whatever reason). Since the ITV digital collapse, you often hear of players struggling to find clubs. Wrack and Roper are prime examples, only just the wrong side of 30, 100s of games between them, both could have been offered deals at Bescot and we wouldn't have protested.. yet they're at Kettering. Michael Standing is at Lewes nowadays, he's under 30 and he was a decent footballer, who just didnt fit into our system.. My point is, if we want these players, there's a good chance they'll sign up. They want their futures sorted and in terms of former clubs, they don't have much pedigree to negotiate with.

As for Ricketts, as much as I like the player, we can't keep hanging on and waiting for him. I think we did that last season and look at how that ended up

[Pedagogue]

I'd always trust Pedagogue's opinion on players and their performances....but it was interesting to note, listening to the commentary on WM last night, that Ibehre seemed to be very involved in the game and, indeed, the commentators thought he was a real handful for the Villa defence and commented upon how effective he could be this season several times.

Interesting to see the "sign all of them up" opinions on here. It's just NOT going to happen. For three main reasons, I'd suggest;

i) Mr Mullen won't want to use up all the budget just now, I suspect he'll be looking to save some for both the January transfer window and the loan market
ii) We have some very promising youngsters coming through who NEED a chance at some stage this season. People are raving about Sansara after last night. Assuming Boertien gets fit and IF we signed Palmer, this would effectively mean that Sansara was 3rd choice left-back and would be most unlikely to feature this season. Same for right-back if Weston and Palmer are considered the best 2 options there - when will Taundry get a chance to establish himself?
iii) The calibre of players we've got on trial is such that they are not going to be willing to be benchwarmers this season. They'll want "guaranteed" first team football and we obviously can't give them that.

So, out of the players on trial, I would suggest that the "important" signings are Suffo (who seems to have a real eye for goal, just what we need), possibly Ba (as competition for Ibehre and to allow Deeney to go out on loan), Grant (as the extra midfielder) and possibly Palmer or Reich as the right-sided option (although, again, everyone is saying Nicholls was superb last night).

We not only have to face the fact that we're not one of the bigger spending clubs in the division, but I also think we have to look at the club we want for the future. I really don't want a return to the STM days when we dragged players in from here, there and everywhere and some potentially promising youngsters never got a chance to really make an impression (Hawley, Bishop, Birch etc). The last couple of seasons have been particularly "exciting" because of the youngsters who have established themselves and, as much as some enjoy dragging up the old arguments, the sales of Dann and Fox have gone some way to paying off the loans from Mr Bonser which can only be a good thing. Several of the youngsters NEED to establish themselves this year or be on their way - Nicholls, Demontagnac and Deeney spring to mind. Bradley needs to cement his reputation and push on. Taundry needs the chance to establish himself. And Smith and Sansara are at the stage where they need to be playing at least SOME of the games. All that means that we have 7 players there of whom only Bradley could be classed as a "regular" on the team sheet but all of whom need to be on the subs bench, not being squeezed out by older players.

Thank you for the generous comment, SS :D . I confess that I am still not impressed by Ibehre, having watched him against Hednesford, Worcester and Villa. He strikes me as another Deeney - bags of huff, puff and honest endeavour but not exactly over-endowed in the skill department. His first touch on the ball is poor but he will run about and pressurise defenders. Do we need another Deeney? Georges Ba is very similar but a little bit better than either of them.

I agree with your comments that we must keep the avenues of opportunity open for our own youngsters and this could be a "make-or-break" season for the likes of Bradley, Taundry, Smith, Sansara and Demontagnac not to mention the, as yet, unseen talents of the two Davieses - unseen at first team level, that is.

[RED 5]

Crikey!...£72 well spent then.

Are they staying over for the Birmingham game?

Not after tonight :lol:

Only joking - they really enjoyed the experience as Maltese games only pull in crowds of 300 ish

What team do they follow in Malta?

[Ned_Kelly]

Gilmartin's fault for the second goal, spilled it.

Played well, but I cant help but think we have signed Ibehre when Ba is a better player. Suffo had a good touch. Roberts is Allan Picken in disguise. ermmmm that Keegan Eyre looked decent when he came on. Ok performance.

So none of our outfield players were at fault with their second goal, then? None of them failed to close down the Villa player who shot? None failed to react quickly (like Maloney did) when Gilmartin blocked the shot (not "spilled" it)? Jeez, Metfan, I don't think I've known anyone who sees everything in "black & white" as much as you do! :mrgreen:

I would agree with your comment about Ibehre, though - signed in haste, methinks.

Sorry, if you are in goal, you are employed to not let them in. When you make a save like that, you have to have strong hands and wrists to get the ball away from the goal. if you cant catch it. Goalkeeping error.

I wouldn't disagree but, as you well know, it was your implication that Gilmartin was SOLELY at fault for the goal, to which I was referring.

The major fault is his was it not ? there we go then lol

A good performance, but our tactics were quite simple. whack it down the line for Ba and Ibehre.

Take no notice Bob. He missed half the game while on his phone texting :lol:

[Burnside]

Ince - Still Quality. Still the differance - able to make match winning saves and dominate.

Palmer ? - Good yes, like Taundry in many ways. Good player, but why are we bothering with him with Weston, Boertin, Sansara and Taundry ?

Gerrard - as normal

Roberts - a Step on the road to replacing Dann. So far as he gets the ball and is calm. Shame we didn't have him at Christmas

?Nicholls - used out wide, still better as a central striker, uses his pace well some good deliveries

Zaaboub - Very disapointed. Expected to see the player who tore us apart, he just looked like a lazy Mike Ceccere, poncing about, landing on his arse not trying

Mattis - Good Good, like last season

Bradley - Good Good like last season.

Ibhere - Doesn't do anything wrong, then again, doesn't do anything outstanding, nothing dynamic about him. Work rate is good though !

Ba - didn't really stand out for me, think we'd be wasting a wage based on that game - those who have seen him more may disagree.


Subs

Deeney - for me this guy is going to come good. I love him to bits.

Sufo - nice touches, work rate is very very close to 0

Keegan Eyres - some canadian midfielder. was is it with us and canada at the moment ! Tidy player.

No one else really impressed me.

WE like the ball up to the big man when we can. but we need someone dynamic to play with him.

At the moment we seem obsessed with finding the next Heskey or Benjamin !

[latviancheese]

I have no idea what people see in Deeney, he is truely awful.

[canadiansaddler]

Keegan Eyres - some canadian midfielder. was is it with us and canada at the moment ! Tidy player.

Think it may be Keegan Ayre

http://www.canadasoccer.com/eng/nationa ... ayerid=136

things may have gone side ways for young Keegan since he left BC as in 2006 he was Canada young player of the year

http://www.hibernian-mad.co.uk/news/loa ... &id=272721

anyhow was also meant to be in discussions with Gillingham I believe

[Exile]

I have no idea what people see in Deeney, he is truely awful.

In your very much less than humble opinion, of course. :wink:

[latviancheese]

Of course its my humble opinion, but some people need to open their eyes and look at him, so what he runs around? people need to look at the bigger picture.

[Burnside]

Latvian. No offense pal but i seriously doubt just how much you know about the game.

You are judging this kid without looking at the rate of his development since he joined.

Typical Walsall fan mentality. Small minded.

[King Crimson]

Latvian. No offense pal but i seriously doubt just how much you know about the game.

You are judging this kid without looking at the rate of his development since he joined.

Typical Walsall fan mentality. Small minded.

Perhaps he's judging a striker by his one goal and two assists in forty-odd appearances last season, including over twenty starts. :idea:

Kid or not, unless he's had the 'mother of all summers' and transformed himself, that's not going to be good enough to make him anything other than a 'bonus' for this season. We need someone who'll consistently deliver at this level. There's no evidence that that someone is Troy Deeney - yet.

[Brum]

Latvian. No offense pal but i seriously doubt just how much you know about the game.

You are judging this kid without looking at the rate of his development since he joined.

Typical Walsall fan mentality. Small minded.

Perhaps he's judging a striker by his one goal and two assists in forty-odd appearances, including over twenty starts. :idea:

Kid or not, unless he's had the 'mother of all summers' and transformed himself, that's not going to be good enough to make him anything other than a 'bonus' for this season. We need someone who'll consistently deliver at this level. There's no evidence that that someone is Troy Deeney - yet.

haha, me and king C had the deeney debate on another thread. we had to agree to disagree :lol:

[King Crimson]

Latvian. No offense pal but i seriously doubt just how much you know about the game.

You are judging this kid without looking at the rate of his development since he joined.

Typical Walsall fan mentality. Small minded.

Perhaps he's judging a striker by his one goal and two assists in forty-odd appearances, including over twenty starts. :idea:

Kid or not, unless he's had the 'mother of all summers' and transformed himself, that's not going to be good enough to make him anything other than a 'bonus' for this season. We need someone who'll consistently deliver at this level. There's no evidence that that someone is Troy Deeney - yet.

haha, me and king C had the deeney debate on another thread. we had to agree to disagree :lol:

True, and I'll just reiterate, I admire the lad's attitude and workrate, and I'm not advocating we chuck him out - just don't think he's ready to have pressure heaped on him due to an absence of other options up front. Not good for us, or him in my opinion.