Walsall V Southend Leauge 1 Sat 30 Aug (Home)

[TofDover]

Big Baz almost right

[latviancheese]

The one game i decide i cant be bothered with and we tonk someone. Tut.


:|

[Jolly Johnny]

The one game i decide i cant be bothered with and we tonk someone. Tut.


:|

Same here mate! Decided not to schedule this one in, in the end, deciding I'd save money and time for another game. Bet that one I go to now is 0-0 in driving rain!!! :lol:

Good on the boys though!

UTS!! :D

[loop]

Well done lads !!!! :D

[Neuromantic]

Absolutely Superb today.

Mainly because we decided to play actual football, and did not Hoof it down the channels.

Reich was awesome on the left wing, he played really wide and stretched the midfield quite brilliantly. Great finish for the opener, and all round good display.

Stephen Hughed gave a 'how to play in midfield' performance. Brilliant.

Gerrard played like scouts were watching. brilliant.

Ishmel gave their defence the run around, the skill before his third goal was genius.

Defence still looked shaky. Get rid of Roberts. ermmmmm, what else? Oh yeah, Deeneys Crap. I think Weston coming into right back and having Palmer on the right wing looks a very good prospect.

Got some very big players coming back soon, the Key will be if we sign a good centre half or too, because we are conceeding way too much.

[Louise]

I was very apprehensive about today because I think Southend are a good team but how great to be surprised.
We played as a team and just hope to continue in this form.
Reich was outstanding and at times looks a class above. Jabo was full of running and Ishy well Ive always been a fan but when he plays like today its a joy to behold.That third goal would be on Goal of the Month if it was Ronaldo,sublime skill.
Well done to the team,and the Sun came out what more can you ask for than 5 goals in the sunshine!!!!

[Purple Toucan Saddler]

Got to say and did not think i would be saying it - but give ishy a run up front with Jabo - I really do think they complimented each other superbly today, and think it could be the start of a very productive partnership

Thought Roberts was crud

the rest of the team played like they wanted to win everything and made southend look like an average team

fair play to the players and to Mullen for giving them the boot up the ass that they needed - just hope they can keep the momemptum going and get a suitable replacement for Gerrard if he does go (which will be a big loss), and dont be surprised to see Ishy go either after scoring a hatrick on transfer deadline weekend either - think this match tape will be watched by many managers tomorrow to consider if Ishy is worth a punt

Come on me Babbies :D I am a happy Saddler tonight

[sj]

Where did that come from??


I wasn't going today but I did and I'm glad about that. An end-to-end game, lots of chances and lots of goals, Fabulous, just fabulous.

Ibehre is such a handful, strong , skilfull, in-your face ,hold it-up type of player. Ishmel loved playing of him. The midfield going foreward were just too much, but needs a bit more work when defending. Reich and Hughes were both class, hope they can stay fit.


We need some stability now, if only to recognise our players. Only 3000ish there and thats a worry

[WFC_Jimmy]

Brilliant perfromance from the super saddlers today :D

Ishmel has proved his worth to mullen today.....START HIM EVERY GAME!!!!!

i also thought that Palmer stood out .....can cross well with both feet.... great signing!!!

Fair play to Gerrard aswell, a very professional performance...best of luck gezza!


Roll on next saturday.....Up THE SADDLERS!!!

[Purple Toucan Saddler]

Got to point something out

I know it is early days

But we are in the playoffs :D

[cal wfc fan]

The booing at Gerrards first touch of the ball was totaly out of order!! :evil: and im glad it didn;t continue.
Thought the singing of "his Song" at the end of the game was a nice touch :)
Good luck Ant and well done today.

[Maverick]

Great second half performance.Jabo,Hughes,Antnee & Ince.Now that is some backbone of a team,just a shame it is to be torn apart.(Allegedly)

[Purple Toucan Saddler]

Defo wish Gezza all the best luck if he moves on - he has been a loyal committed servant for our club - just wish more players showed the commitment and effort that he puts in every game

Must also point out that the consistancy of Palmer's and Reich's deliveries today in from the wings were something that we have not seen at the Banks's for a long while

[Duke]

Fantastic result against a team many believe will be there or thereabouts come he shake up.
I hope this result and performance doesn't distract from the fact that we need another centre half , 2 if Gerrard leaves . With Weston , Mattis and Ricketts to come back in its looking good the next 2 days will be vital.

[AlexTheWalsallFan]

http://www.southendunited.premiumtv.co. ... 86,00.html

They seem to think that we were lucky

5 times lucky :roll:

[Wyrley_saddler]

I think Ishy is one lucky boy. In my opinion he should have been sent off in the first half. it was a nasty tackle, he went in with his studs raised. But on he went and scored a superb hatrick so credit to him. Great result and it just goes to show how well we can play. We just hammered a very good leaague one side who made the play-offs last season.

Up The Saddlers

[OldPenkSaddler]

My considered opinion this week is:

Quite good. ..................Mullen Out. :wink:

Don't think that will make the front page.

PS It was good to see the Sooooooooper Slim Stafflers back. He must be our good luck charm

[tape66]

5-2

Well done lads. great score line!!! :D

Great game, can you stay away more please :wink:

[tape66]

Thought we played some good football. Was very impressed with out work rate, which I think made all the difference.
To sum up:

Crowd, Small
Players, good
Ishy, fantastic (but still needs to stay calm)
Tinned, quite reserved.

[WFC_Rob]

My player for player view of things....

Ince - no chance for either goal, but made one good if comfortable save from Revell's header which would have put them 2-1 up just short of half time.

Palmer - Why won't the guy head the ball? His 60 yard passes and crossing abilities are second to none, whilst his defending more often than not leaves a lot to be desired. I'd actually look to play him on the right of midfield where he can use his crossing ability to our striker's advantage, just like he did for Ishmel's header. Great ball.
Gerrard - showed us what we'll be missing if/when he goes. He was immense. Got us off the hook at least once with some tremendous last-ditch defending, but rarely look stretched. Showed exactly the commitment we were looking for. All the best to him.
Roberts - I actually thought he looked decent before he went off injured. Wins his share in the air and likes to keep things simple. Whilst his injury record isn't endearing him to many fans at the Banks's, as long as we can get him fit and keep it that way, he'll be fine.
Boertein - solid defensively and made some decent overlapping runs which I thought Reich could have helped him to make more of with better passes.

Deeney - I'm not going to fault that performance because I thought he played as well as we could expect. Not a right sided midfielder but contributed more than Nicholls in that he works harder and will actually win his share in the air. Hope he's not seen as a more long-term solution but he can do a job.
Hughes - The pick of the midfield. He showed today why he's a coup for any team in this league. Has the vision awareness and eye for a pass of Samways with a bit more mobility there to boot. I don't think we'd have conceded the second if he'd been kept on purely because he holds the structure of the team together.
Taundry - has a habit of doing the difficult thing before making a pig's ear of the simple stuff. Won one great tackle of note and then gave the ball away. That said, he was an improvement on previous matches in that his passing was a lot better.
Reich - great composure and strike for the goal, decent ball in for the own goal and generally looked a threat. He looks the sort of player we simply need in the side, whether that be on the left, the right or the middle.

Jabo - again worked really hard and played a big part in Ishmel's first goal. More evidence was seen today of defender's inabilties to be able to handle this man. Holds the ball up and gives it simple - perfect. Can't wait to see the damage he does to Ling's Orient next weekend. :D
Ishmel - actually did very little apart from score three goals. And I mean that with all sincerity. He's got to play though because of that exact fact. Whether or not he meant the third strike doesn't matter too much to me because the way he made the space for himself with that turn was fit to grace the Champions League.

Smith - no nonsense defending and didn't look that troubled.
Bradley - nothing really of note apart from his usual ground-covering work. Was good to see him back in the team though.
Nicholls - same as above.

Overall, that second half performance has set the benchmark for the rest of the season. Southend actually looked pretty good at times and kept the ball as well as sides do at League One level. Few sides in our league would have handled the likes of Hughes, Jabo, Reich and Ishmel for those 45 minutes though.

[Registered Saddler]

Hard to know where to start. Southend were abysmal although Reich, Ishmel and Jabo made life tough for them at the back. Our defence is way, way too soft - even more so if the excellent Gerrard departs - but I think that's JM's tactics at fault. Maybe we've grown accustomed to the Money way, but I thought we had too many players upfield and were susceptible to the break. First half, they had too many chances because we weren't getting close enough to them. I'm hopeful Mattis will make a difference when he's back.

On the other hand, we have the makings of a very attractive, exciting side. Jabo was everything I knew he would be when he signed in the summer. A cult hero already - just like he was at Orient. Creates space for other people to score, exactly like I said, only to be shouted down by doom-mongers brandishing statistics like the gospel. Hughes will add a lot with his quality on the ball and experience. Palmer's set pieces are excellent, could do a lot worse than trying him on the right wing once Weston's fit. There are some flaws (some fairly big ones, indeed) that need ironing out but it's early days yet. Come Tuesday morning, things could be quite different, we'll see.

[Stu]

There is an interview in the Evening Mail online with Palmer, where he actually says he is a winger that is capable of filling in at full back, not a full back by trade. Makes sense why many have said he is good going forward but suspect defensively. Maybe the answer to the right wing problem when Weston is fit?

[ShropsSaddler]

Superb assessment Rob, I pretty much agree with everything there. Just a couple of comments;

a) I'm glad it's not just me who thinks Roberts did fine. He seems to be the new boo boy for some. He did what he had to, he put in some good challenges and, with Gerrard, formed a very good partnership.
b) Absolutely agree about Hughes and the 2nd goal. I wonder why he went off? He had his left leg raised on the bench. Old injury perhaps?
c) Reich - some great stuff on the ball, but woeful off it. The question is can we afford to have a player who contributes next to nothing defensively? He was better 2nd half, suspect the manager had words!
d) 1st Southend goal came directly from Reich failing to close down his man and allowing him to cross, Palmer losing his man at the far post and being nowhere near him for the header and the player on the edge of the box being allowed the freedom of Walsall with noone near enough to challenge - that's a bit worrying!

My player for player view of things....

Ince - no chance for either goal, but made one good if comfortable save from Revell's header which would have put them 2-1 up just short of half time.

Palmer - Why won't the guy head the ball? His 60 yard passes and crossing abilities are second to none, whilst his defending more often than not leaves a lot to be desired. I'd actually look to play him on the right of midfield where he can use his crossing ability to our striker's advantage, just like he did for Ishmel's header. Great ball.
Gerrard - showed us what we'll be missing if/when he goes. He was immense. Got us off the hook at least once with some tremendous last-ditch defending, but rarely look stretched. Showed exactly the commitment we were looking for. All the best to him.
Roberts - I actually thought he looked decent before he went off injured. Wins his share in the air and likes to keep things simple. Whilst his injury record isn't endearing him to many fans at the Banks's, as long as we can get him fit and keep it that way, he'll be fine.
Boertein - solid defensively and made some decent overlapping runs which I thought Reich could have helped him to make more of with better passes.

Deeney - I'm not going to fault that performance because I thought he played as well as we could expect. Not a right sided midfielder but contributed more than Nicholls in that he works harder and will actually win his share in the air. Hope he's not seen as a more long-term solution but he can do a job.
Hughes - The pick of the midfield. He showed today why he's a coup for any team in this league. Has the vision awareness and eye for a pass of Samways with a bit more mobility there to boot. I don't think we'd have conceded the second if he'd been kept on purely because he holds the structure of the team together.
Taundry - has a habit of doing the difficult thing before making a pig's ear of the simple stuff. Won one great tackle of note and then gave the ball away. That said, he was an improvement on previous matches in that his passing was a lot better.
Reich - great composure and strike for the goal, decent ball in for the own goal and generally looked a threat. He looks the sort of player we simply need in the side, whether that be on the left, the right or the middle.

Jabo - again worked really hard and played a big part in Ishmel's first goal. More evidence was seen today of defender's inabilties to be able to handle this man. Holds the ball up and gives it simple - perfect. Can't wait to see the damage he does to Ling's Orient next weekend. :D
Ishmel - actually did very little apart from score three goals. And I mean that with all sincerity. He's got to play though because of that exact fact. Whether or not he meant the third strike doesn't matter too much to me because the way he made the space for himself with that turn was fit to grace the Champions League.

Smith - no nonsense defending and didn't look that troubled.
Bradley - nothing really of note apart from his usual ground-covering work. Was good to see him back in the team though.
Nicholls - same as above.

Overall, that second half performance has set the benchmark for the rest of the season. Southend actually looked pretty good at times and kept the ball as well as sides do at League One level. Few sides in our league would have handled the likes of Hughes, Jabo, Reich and Ishmel for those 45 minutes though.

[Kiansmom]

5-2

Well done lads. great score line!!! :D

Great game, can you stay away more please :wink:

Evey week :mrgreen:

[King Crimson]

Absolutely gutted that family commitments conspired against me and I missed the game yesterday. Great result. Thanks to all those who have posted detailed summaries and player-by-player analyses on here. My brother-in-law called it pretty much like WFC_Rob. It seems there's most dispute about Roberts' performance. My brother-in-law and Rob seem to think he was decent enough, but others say he was 'shakey'. Anyway, on the positive side, we'm back up to fifth in the table, and still await the return of Ricketts and the debut of Mattis. I'm looking forward to seeing the goals on telly.

[Evo Boozy Saddler]

Fine enjoyable day.

Decided that I wasnt going to go to the loo until we had had a shot on target, but by the 22nd minute I'd given up, and thus missed our first shot on target. My niece took great pleasure in telling me what a great shot it was mind :D Also it was good to get the first missed goal due to urinating, off the season in the bag :D

Still can't quite make my mind up yet of this team, think it's going to be a rollercoaster season, and I certainly didn't expect a win yesterday, but a very pleasent and welcome one it was.

Thought this season was going to be a right struggle, and it still could be, but a few more second halves like yesterday, and we could be alright :D

[NEWPORT SADDLERS DAD]

I was a bit dissapointed with Deeney,when we were 5-1 up he had a shot blocked when Ishy was square to him unmarked
and screaming for the ball.Had he passed it would have been 6-1 instead they broke from there and made it 5-2.
But that apart a day to remember.

[fensaddler]

I take that as a robust raised two fingered salute from the players to all the stay away fans. Perhaps now a few of you will realise that we are going to be doing something at the Banks's this season, that we do have the makings of a good team, and crucially we are playing far more entertaining football than in the last two seasons.

Of course, we are far from perfect. Central defence, particularly without Gerrard, is too light on cover and experience, though to be fair to Manny, he didn't do much wrong in the second half (which of course we won 4-1, as opposed to drawing 1-1 with Roberts on... :wink: ). Southend were by no means a bad side, and in the first half especially, looked very mobile, quick and threatening - but they also always looked vulnerable at the back, and the score only stayed at 1-1 because neither side appeared to have their shooting boots on in the first half. Southend could easily have been ahead after the first half, but then so could we.

But for Ishy's performance (and yes, he was stupid in the first half, and could have got sent off with a more volatile referee - but the ref clearly sussed that several Southend players, notably Grant, were inclined to go to ground rather too easily, and that players who fell over challenging Jabo hadn't been fouled, they'd just done the equivalent of running into a stout oak tree - watching opposition players bounce off him is a joy to behold...), Marco Reich would have been my man of the match - his goal was superbly taken, his cross caused absolute panic in the Southend defence and led directly to the own goal (and what pleasure that Anthony Grant, the diving get, scored it), and his range of passing and crossing was very classy. A real acquisition, and an asset to the team now that he is fit and is learning about his team mates (also very polite and pleasant, according to my contact in the Banks's catering staff).

Ishy, was of course, everything we know he is capable of, but rarely achieves. He still spent much of the match, especially in the first half, brooding and ball watching whilst the match went on around him, but all three goals were well taken, and his range of skills and footwork was at times absolutely spellbinding. He had already hit the post in the first half, as a a result of his pace and trickery. His third goal was the sort that really skilful players are sometimes lucky enough to score - preceded by wonderful skill to nutmeg two defenders, before his cross cum shot drifted in to the far corner of the net. Hughes also had a good game in midfield (I wonder if Bradley's absence suggests a view that these two cannot play together in central midfield?) and Taundry had the best game in the centre of the park that I have so far seen - busy and with some real attacking threat. A word too for Troy - he was not great going forward, but he got through a lot of effective work tackling back and harrying. Palmer also had the best game I have seen, and its not a bad shout to suggest that he might play on the right of midfield in front of Weston once he is fit. Boertein too looked fitter and more comfortable. We will miss Gezza - he had a fine game - and if he goes he must be replaced, preferably with two players to ensure we have the cover. But will there be the money to invest because crowds are so poor? Right now that might seem something of a risk to the board, though £800k for Gezza may soften the blow a little...

Now lets see the crowds that this team, and performances like that, deserve. With Mattis, Weston and Ricketts back, and some strengthening of central defence, this is very much a squad that could be challenging in and around the top six come the end of the season, and its about time the miserable tendency got back to the terraces and realised that we are still likely to be seeing a successful and entertaining season.

[Tafkass]

"I take that as a robust raised two fingered salute from the players to all the stay away fans. Perhaps now a few of you will realise that we are going to be doing something at the Banks's this season" Yeah right,get real,one swallow etc....there are 30-40-50 games over the past few 3 years which have worn fans down to the point that we dont really care anymore,so one game will make no difference at all mate.

[fensaddler]

I notice the match thread is far shorter this week? Proof if it were needed that most of the posters on here only feel motivated to write when they want to whinge. Are we Wolves in disguise?

Oh, and Tafkass, MATE, last season was far from the worst I have seen - a little perspective about the early 90s might be in order. That didn't 'wear me down', and neither will a little blip at the end of last season. And I will also manage to keep one good win in perspective too, since experience proves that most performances in any season aren't outstanding. Frankly if I were on the board of this club and reading this board, I wouldn't be inclined to invest my hard earned, or the club's, on new players. The fact that they have, and may well continue to do, reflects rather well on them. I've no doubt that's an unpopular sentiment on here, but unlike some I'm not inclined just to believe what everyone else around me is saying, whether that be other posters on this board, or the club hierarchy, whose pronouncements, or lack of them, I also consider with thoughtful scepticism.