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Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Reports and reaction from the 2008-09 season as Walsall finished 13th in League 1
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southern saddler
 
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 2:53 pm

Wheres the blog?

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gerryhatrick
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 3:11 pm

southern saddler wrote:Wheres the blog?




Exy's probably still in bed.

admin
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 3:13 pm

Blog now live - apologies for delay - Exile is feeling lonely so can you get over there...

http://www.upthesaddlers.com/wp/

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adjisaddler
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 3:20 pm

1-0 walsall

ricketts


Adj

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adjisaddler
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 3:22 pm

Cross from Zaaboub drilled low middle of goal by Ricketts

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adjisaddler
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 3:45 pm

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

2-0 Deeney


Come on you super saddlers

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Exile
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 3:59 pm

admin wrote:Blog now live - apologies for delay - Exile is feeling lonely so can you get over there...

http://www.upthesaddlers.com/wp/


Cheers admin. Second half in a minute or three.

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Exile
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 5:02 pm

2-0 us. Think ColU wasted some chances that came their way but we deserved the points. Can't wait for a proper report from the game!

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Cheesebag
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 5:20 pm

Good performance, nice to see us playing with wingers too. a proper football team :) Special mentions to Ricketts and Deeney, both played well and Deeney never stopped running.

Also ZAAAAABBBBBOOOOOOOOB, cracking attacking play with a few "Ronaldo" type touches to boot!

Well deserved 3 points, Looking forward to Northampton now.

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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 5:29 pm

We are hard to beat! At last. :D :D :D :D :D
Leicester aberration aside, the defence seems to be performing well.
As Weston and Boertien played, where did Palmer play and how did he do? :?:

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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 5:41 pm

after a decent first half he was then found out in the second to be a liability, they brought on the pacey SIMON hackney not scott lolol and then attacked palmer with pace at every opertunity, im not impressed with this lad at all he is a liability, we need a centre half quick so we can switch weston back there, hope his injury isnt serious by the way.

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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 5:44 pm

A deserved win against a Colchester side who had a fair amount of possession but were toothless in front of goal.

Ince - back to his best, with two fine saves, early in the game. Only one "Incey moment", in the second half, when he annoyed Gerrard - AGAIN - by failing to come for a ball and failing to boss the issue.
Palmer - usual display but wasn't exploited - still can't pass a ball.
Weston - good until carried off, injured, in first half
Smith (on for Weston) - a more than adequate deputy for Weston - got steadily better as the game wore on - no obvious blunders
Gerrard - typical Gerrard performance - no frills, wins the ball
Boertien - a couple of unforced errors but generally sound and skilful on the ball
Nicholls - plenty of pace and 100% graft, as usual, but he isn't a right-winger
Bradley - started brightly but then faded from the game - a shadow of the player of 12 months ago but he will recover, I'm sure.
Hughes - struggled to get back on the odd occasions that he pushed forward - still doesn't look 100% match fit
Zaaboub - motm deservedly so - looks a rejuvenated player - had a hand in the build-up of both goals
Taundry (on for Zaaboub) - help keep things tight in the closing stages
Deeney - enjoying his run in his correct position - took his headed goal well
Williams (on for Deeney) - fresh legs for a tiring Deeney - you always need a fit, busy strike partner for Ricketts (MR doesn't do "running" or "work" :D )
Ricketts - typical Ricketts, totally bone idle but still shows enough class to score one and lay on the other.

Wacka got a warm reception, which he clearly appreciated! Fans in the ASBO-TO-GO stand may not have seen it but Jimmy grinned broadly at the "Dodgy Keeper" chants, early in the second half! :D

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saddlerken
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 5:57 pm

I agree, we played some lovely stuff first half

Seems to me that CH and God have got things sorted, feeling much more confident now, and that season ticket for next year could be a goer again

Ace!

Massive problems in defence though, lack of quality and quantity covering all positions, if CH was serious about a play off push, then that defence must be a priority

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Cannock
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 6:19 pm

A thoroughly enjoyable performance i must say.

The Boob without doubt a classy man of the match and special mentions must go to Troy Deeney and Manny Smith. Deeney is obviously benefitting from having a run in the side in his favoured position and i must say, he played rather well. I am not easily pleased but Troy had me nodding in appreciation today.

Manny Smith also coped extremely well with the dangerous Guy and poweful Platt when he came on.

From my side i was disappointed with Gerrard and Palmer. For the first 20 minutes Gerrard was all at sea with Platt winning everything offered to him. I feared the worst and had it not been for Ince's two "one on one" saves we could have been dead and buried before we scored.

Overall, i was rather chuffed.

Jolly well done chaps.

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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 6:22 pm

We are now nearer the playoffs than the drop zone.
:D :D :D :D

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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 6:27 pm

its all good with me :D

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Asps
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 6:32 pm

Cheesebag wrote:Good performance, nice to see us playing with wingers too. a proper football team :) Special mentions to Ricketts and Deeney, both played well and Deeney never stopped running.

Also ZAAAAABBBBBOOOOOOOOB, cracking attacking play with a few "Ronaldo" type touches to boot!

Well deserved 3 points, Looking forward to Northampton now.


Yes a strong displa. We looked comfortable once we got the lead.

Nice red handbag Cheesey :mrgreen:

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Deano_Saddler
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 6:47 pm

Ince - two great saves, a few dodgy kicks but that's Clayton for you.

Boertien - i thought he did well aganist a decent looking right midfielder.

Gerrard - Best i've seen him play recently, didn't give Platt a sniff but that's not hard to be honest.

Smith - Thought he coped quite well actually, didn't give much away.

Palmer - Never liked him and never will, hoof hoof hoof is all you get from him.

Zaaboub - Agree that he was man of the match, was involved with both goals, ran at their defence typical wingers performance.

Hughes - Steady with the ball, didn't give much away but for me he is just to quiet in a lot of games i've seen him play.

Bradley - I thought he had a good 1st half but drifted out of it in the 2nd.

Nicholls - Same as Bradley.

Deeney - Work his socks of like always, took his goal really well. Decent performance.

Ricketts - Great in the 1st half, scored 1 and was involved with the other. Glad to have him back.

I thought Williams looked tidy when he came on aswell, few great touches. Don't know how the referee didn't give a free kick when he was clearly fouled towards the end.

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yoda
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 6:55 pm

The game was summed up for me perfectly near the end, when Palemer slipped over, the Colchester player ran through and shot wide of what was pretty much an open net.

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Jorge14
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 7:37 pm

SWS1 wrote:We are now nearer the playoffs than the drop zone.
:D :D :D :D


31 points from 15 games to make the play-offs...How costly that spate of last minute goals might prove to be.

Haway the lads. Really buoyed by the reports of today's game which, other than the usual criticisms of Palmer/general concern of lack of strength in depth at the back, seem to be universally positive.

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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 7:43 pm

Pedagogue wrote:Ricketts - typical Ricketts, totally bone idle but still shows enough class to score one and lay on the other.



Pity about that Pedagogue, you were doing so well upto that point. Ricketts was the difference today between winning and drawing, he is without doubt the outstanding player in the squad.
The bits I watched didn't include any bone idleness unless you meant the half time break. I watched all the players and note that they all have various periods of apparent inactivity ie Deeney, Nicholls, Ince, Gerrard, Weston, Smith, Boertin, Taundrey, Palmer, Bradley, Zaaboub,Hughes. Actually come to think of it that Ince is definately the most bone idle, standing around in goal, watching everyone else.......... :idea:

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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 7:47 pm

Ricketts was different class today. absolutely superb.

I take it the bone idle brigade didnt notice him filling in at centre half, right wing and in the middle when players where injured?

Our best player. well done today MR.

My first look at Hutching's walsall. Was very impressed. We look to have a killer touch in front of goal now and are much more creative from wide areas. I think them issing piece is more creativity from the middle of midfield to be honest.

The defence were awful until weston off. he had a mare - i don't care where he wants to play - he is a right back.

Palmer is diabolical.

Good win and there is a chink in the tunnel of light for the play offs. slim chance but not beyond us. we will have to go on a 10 game winning/ not losing streak.

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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 8:08 pm

I think I must have been at a different game today. To me it was largely hoofball from both sides. MR a class act above the others.

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caldy
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 8:27 pm

Pretty much a hoof ball game but when we did play football I thought we were impressive. Zaboob was excellent. Ricketts was brill and Deeney worked his socks off. I thought Manny Smith was fantastic today. He seemed more confident than previous games. Both goals were taken well. I thought we rode our luck a bit at times but mainly controlled them and let them play until our defensive third where we just blocked them out. The only negative was Palmer, he was without doubt the worst player on the pitch. Awful, get rid asap!!!!

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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 8:49 pm

ShyTallKnight wrote:I think I must have been at a different game today. To me it was largely hoofball from both sides. MR a class act above the others.


I agree - you must have been at a different game.

Palmer's aimless launches aside, I though we looked to get it wide, run at their full backs and get ball into the box. A style that has lead to four of our last five goals, all of which were beautifully crafted and finished. Similar to the kind of style Graydon's best days will be remembered for.

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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 9:05 pm

Well, if ever anyone wanted a definition of 'routine 2-0 win, today was just about that.

There was little between the two sides early on, as neither side seemed particularly composed on the ball. The ball was played in the air far too much by both sides and I feared that would work in their favour with Clive Platt giving Gerrard a really tough time.
We also had our finger hovering over the self destruct button as we gifted them two really good chances. Palmer's defending which allowed his man to get a chance one-on-one with Ince was absolutely shocking. I know he's supposedly not a defender, but it was embarassing just how easy he conceded the chance. Thankfully Ince came to the rescue, as he did again shortly afterwards.

Once we got into the game and started trying to get our foot on the ball, we looked a lot better. Having barely touched the ball for the first 15 minutes or so, Zaaboub began to look dangerous, which is key to the way we're playing at the moment.
Hughes smashed a shot which was met by an absolutely outstanding save by Super Jim, who pushed it onto the post.....naturally.
Then, from their free kick inside our half, we defended well and broke forward with such pace that we just ripped them open. Nicholls spotted Zaaboub in space at the back post and his cross-shot was turned in by Ricketts. Another very well-crafted goal.
They showed why they are where they are in the league - Yeates in particular contributed to them looking pretty handy going forward, but they looked really dodgy at the back. Our second goal proved that - a routine knock to the back post again allowed Rickett's header to tee up Deeney's, which looped over the midget they had between the sticks. :D

In terms of the second half, it was just a case of seeing the result through. Smith did really well at the back alongside Gerrard, and Hughes gave a typically mature performance. He never does the spectacular, but we definitely look more organised and solid when he plays. Zaaboub continued to look a real threat down our left, which is definitely where the majority of our attacking threat comes from.
I can't help but wonder how much better we'd be at the back with a half decent replacement for Palmer. The guy is a complete disaster waiting to happen I'm afraid. Had they had their shooting boots on, we would have lost today as a direct result of his mistakes. Thankfully that didn't happen.

Overall, things are starting to loook bright again. In our four strikers, we have enough threat to bother anyone. Ricketts is one of the best players in the league when he's in the right frame of mind, Deeney is scoring goals, and Williams gives us something different in that he can hold the ball up as well as go past players. Had we tightened things up at the back and changed the management earlier in the season, I'd like to think we'd be challenging for a playoff place.

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yoda
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 9:14 pm

The only downer was the attendence. I was a bit peeved at it, if only because there looked many more there from where I was sitting. I was shocked at how poor it was.

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Exile
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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 9:19 pm

ShyTallKnight wrote:I think I must have been at a different game today. To me it was largely hoofball from both sides. MR a class act above the others.


The Mick Kearns match report would suggest that we started slow, warmed up after a goal against the run of play, carried on curising and added a second before half time, then sat back, absorbed the pressure and counter-attacked throughout the second half, when Wakka denied us the chance to extend our lead after his two earlier assists.

No denying that had they had their shooting boots on we could be looking at a draw, but we put away our chances, created through passing play on the break, while they didn't. Only in the second half, and late, did we "resort" to hoofball.

Ricketts did sound excellent, as did Zaaboub, Hughes Deeney and Nicholls.

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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 9:46 pm

Cully wrote:
Pedagogue wrote:Ricketts - typical Ricketts, totally bone idle but still shows enough class to score one and lay on the other.


Pity about that, Pedagogue, you were doing so well up to that point. Ricketts was the difference today between winning and drawing, he is without doubt the outstanding player in the squad.
The bits I watched didn't include any bone idleness unless you meant the half time break. I watched all the players and note that they all have various periods of apparent inactivity, i.e. Deeney, Nicholls, Ince, Gerrard, Weston, Smith, Boertien, Taundry, Palmer, Bradley, Zaaboub, Hughes. Actually, come to think of it, that Ince is definitely the most bone idle, standing around in goal, watching everyone else.......... :idea:


I'm disappointed in you, Cully. I would have thought that any-one with more than a grain of intelligence (and that includes you :D ) would have realised that I was alluding to the fact that Ricketts can achieve more in his brief involvement in active play than a lot of other sweaty-shirted toilers can in 90 minutes. It still doesn't alter the fact that he does not work as hard as others, less gifted than him, or chase down defenders or even RUN (oh, correction - he did run once, in the first half, and should have scored). Obviously, if he were to add that element to his game then he wouldn't be playing for us. He would be at a much higher level, as befits his undoubted talent. In the meantime, it does mean that his strike partner, be that Ibehre, Deeney, Nicholls or Williams, has to work that much harder. I would have thought that that was obvious.

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Re: Colchester United (H) League 1 Saturday 14/2/09.

Sat Feb 14, 2009 11:50 pm

The crowds will not come back until we are consistently winning. Some who were out shopping or whatever, this afternoon may not even be aware of the consistent improvement each game since CH and MO took over.

We need to be patient, even with Palmer. It appears that apart from Deeney, improvement is being seen in Bradley and Smith. We now have competition for places, with even Gilmartin a possible starter this afternoon.

Forget about the play-offs, but lets keep winning at home and drawing or better away. From just outside the top six, we will be in a strong position to add to the squad in the summer and put in a real challenge next year.

Well done Jeff for these two appointments (even if you are still the rent-man). From Conference possibilities to promotion hopefuls, with only one loan signing - really good to have our Saddlers back. Now which way is it to the Banks' ...

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