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Norwich City (H) League 1 Tuesday Re-Re-Arranged. 26/1/10

Reports and reaction from the 2009-10 season as Walsall finished 10th in League 1
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Duke
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Re: Norwich City (H) League 1 Tuesday Re-Re-Arranged. 26/1/10

Wed Jan 27, 2010 8:54 am

Very pleasing to read we put in a decent performance last night , by all accounts we deserved a least a point .

Whats important is we carry it on at Gillingham,

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saddlersam
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Re: Norwich City (H) League 1 Tuesday Re-Re-Arranged. 26/1/10

Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:11 am

1966 wrote:A testament to how well we played was that I was actually gutted at the final whistle that we had lost this one. Before the game though I was expecting a drubbing so I guess this shows for most part of the game how ell we did play. To be frank however, I thought that the use of subs was key. We lost by a country mile again on this count - Lambert can claim bragging rights on this as the changes he made undone us and for the last 20 minutes or so we were on the backfoot.

For those that lay this loss as Claytons mistake, yes a howler, but as Norwich had the lions share of corners (fourteen?) at least a dozen were claimed by the big fella or punched away and out of danger in a what was almost flawless handling display.... I would tend ask more questions on why we under so much pressure in the first place and why couldnt we get the ball to stickup front........ finally why cant we have a plan B, Lambert obviously did!!!!



As Big Mick said himself though, if you stand towards the edge of your 6 yard box you HAVE to claim every ball. There is a reason you see very few 'keepers doing this at corners. You mess up from one out of 100 and you've still messed up.

His mistake cost us a game we deserved to win, it's as simple as that.

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Re: Norwich City (H) League 1 Tuesday Re-Re-Arranged. 26/1/10

Wed Jan 27, 2010 10:01 am

McDonald looked a better player than Hughes.

MacDonald- Superb. My MOTM. In the way every time and won almost everything in the air.


Would this be the same McDonald who "kept making mistakes" and was playing for the "suspended" Hughes, according to Mr Wilford of the BBC?

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Re: Norwich City (H) League 1 Tuesday Re-Re-Arranged. 26/1/10

Wed Jan 27, 2010 10:26 am

Sometimes there is a fine line between winning and losing games.Decisions are what managers of any note do to define matches.
Unfortunately our manager falls down time and time again on big decisions tactically in terms of personel on the pitch.

To replace the injured Mattis with O'Keefe was crazy.Should have been the tenacious Taundry.O'keefe is another Bradley and upset the balance.
Also to replace Till and put on Parkin(WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP)as a 3rd striker was bizarre.Where did he think the service would come from?It needed Nicholls but as somebody has already said he clearly has a problem with him.

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Re: Norwich City (H) League 1 Tuesday Re-Re-Arranged. 26/1/10

Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:05 am

Theres times when criticism of Hutchings mid-game decisions is merited, but in this circumstance, I dont think it is.

We started the second half well, in fact we were the better team in the first 10/15 minutes of the 2nd half. What was CH going to do? Yes, he could have tried to shut up shop at 1-0, but that would have just encouraged Norwich to attack more.

However, it was obvious to me from the very start that Norwich's quality would tell eventually. I said to my mate at half time, "I can see them getting an equaliser, and if they equalise, they'll go on and win it"...and I was proved to be exactly right.

I think in all honestly we didnt deserve anything out of the game last night - their keeper didnt touch the ball for the first 20 minutes, and only had one save to make - from Byfield - in the whole match. Norwich on the other hand, had about 10 corners? Maybe more, how many last ditch tackles did Manny or Clayton have to make?

We dont score enough up front, because without Jones we've got no creativity or pace to stretch defences, and we're not tight enough at the back. If you allow Norwich 10 corners, several free kicks and most of the possession like we did last night, then it's a certainty that they will score.

You can't say a team deserve to win on the basis that they did 'ok' against a team above them in the league. :roll:

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Re: Norwich City (H) League 1 Tuesday Re-Re-Arranged. 26/1/10

Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:44 am

As Phil says, we did not deserve to win, last night - Norwich did. However, that's not to say that there were no positives. We WERE the better side in the first half but, yet again, thanks to the clueless ineptitude of the manager, we threw away the chance of an impressive victory.

I am sure that we would all like to know what the problem is between Hutchings and Nicholls. Alex is no Wayne Rooney but he is a damn sight better than Till and Parkin (combined!). Norwich's defence looked slow and ponderous at times, so what does Clueless do do? - he puts on our slowest player, Parkin, instead of one of our quickest, Nicholls!

His obsession with Till is bewildering. Now, Till can cross a ball well - if the opposition is stupid enough to stand off him and give him time and space. However, when he is marked, he contributes nothing because he is totally devoid of pace, particularly over the first 3 or 4 yards (the most important bit). He cannot go past a man to save his life. He always looks to lay the ball in square or back because he lacks both the confidence and the ability to take on an opponent and beat him.

Richards is an enigma. He shows ability in flashes then completely drifts out of the game. He cannot defend for toffee (which was why Sansara had so many problems with Richards in front of him - Vincent is that little bit older and wiser (and better!)). As others have said - if he plays at all, he should be in central midfield, not on the wing - he is too slow.

Bradley is another enigma. Hutchings clearly can't get the best out of him. Bradley can't tackle but he would be a good player playing "in the hole", to use a coach's phrase, and breaking forward on late runs into the opposition penalty-area. Playing alongside Mattis (an over-rated and limited player, imo) appears to inhibit Bradley but I think that his biggest problem is the job that he is asked to do - and that is down to the manager.

Ince - I still think that he is our best goal-keeper - but only just. As soon as we can scrape together enough points to avoid relegation, then he should be dropped and Gilmartin brought in to gain valuable experience. Then bring Ince back for the last game against MK Franchise and we can give him a great send-off. Time to go back to your soccer academy for under-priviliged kids in Trinidad, methinks, Clayton. Thanks for everything but the time has come for you to hang up your boots. Those "Incey Moments" are becoming more frequent - and expensive.

Parkin - why? One of our tallest players yet he did not win a single header after he came on. It is hard to see what he brings to the team.

All in all, a frustrating evening. We did not deserve to win, yet we could have done. Poor team selection, poor use of substitutes and tactical incompetence all cost us dear. Taxi for Hutchings at the end of the season, I think.

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Re: Norwich City (H) League 1 Tuesday Re-Re-Arranged. 26/1/10

Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:24 pm

Aint Parkin's fault, the bloke wants it at his feet. But we dont bring him on early enough to see it.

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Re: Norwich City (H) League 1 Tuesday Re-Re-Arranged. 26/1/10

Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:27 pm

philthesaddler wrote:Theres times when criticism of Hutchings mid-game decisions is merited, but in this circumstance, I dont think it is.


I agree with this (and the rest of your post). You could maybe say that Taundry instead of O'Keefe could have replaced Mattis, but otherwise I'm not sure what else Hutchings could have done. At 1-0 we could easily have had a penalty, Byfield had a great chance late on to level, the equaliser was down to an individual error - that's not a bad showing against a team whose resources dwarf ours to a level which is frankly astonishing given we're meant to be at the same level of football. On paper Norwich should beat us 4-0 nine times out of ten. I'm happy that we tried our best against them; it wasn't quite good enough, but that's life.

I think Hutchings deserves criticism for lots of things, but not his decision-making last night.

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Re: Norwich City (H) League 1 Tuesday Re-Re-Arranged. 26/1/10

Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:48 pm

Hutchings knows his subs before the game even starts, if we need a player in midfield O'keefe will come on. Also Parkin will be given 5 mins at the end when we're losing!! It's his standard subs, anything that goes on during the game is irrelevant. He has his pecking order of players in those positions and sticks to it.

It should of either been Taundry for Mattis or bring Alex or Taundry on to play out wide and play Richards in CM.

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Re: Norwich City (H) League 1 Tuesday Re-Re-Arranged. 26/1/10

Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:36 pm

I was really disappointed last night by the manner of the defeat. I thought we started like a team with no confidence at all and the midfield was just chasing shadows and the dence was having to defend superbly. Then Deeney (who hadn't had a decent first touch once until that moment) got us a goal out of nothing, thanks to his strength and persistence.

After that, confidence started the flow and we looked in no trouble at all and could have scored again (altough I do think it would have been a harsh penalty - it wasn't deliberate).

What we didn't have, however, was what they had - a man willing and able to run at defenders (I also disagree about Till's performance - he couldn't get past his man) in the shape of Hoolihan, who just decided to take control and did. There looked only one winner once the equaliser went in, because the confidence just drained away. If we can't get on a run, on that basis, we're in trouble.

We also have absolutely NO pace in midfield without Jones.

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Re: Norwich City (H) League 1 Tuesday Re-Re-Arranged. 26/1/10

Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:16 am

moanin old git wrote:I have read with interest all the above reports from folks who were there last night, and most seem gutted to have lost.
However, this is Walsall's problem, we continue to lose, we come out at the start looking overawed, even if we were playing
the Long John Silver impersonators 2nd eleven!
And, if we continue to lose, as we are doing, there will only ever be one conclusion, if we cannot get points from somewhere...and damn quickly at that, we will find ourselves in a pretty 'dark' place very soon. If Gillingham have a
nightmare we may get a point, if Oldham are as bad as they have been, we could scrape another point perhaps. Other
than those two games we are looking at stonewall defeats for all of our upcoming fixtures, and a 5 point gap between
us and the pap at the bottom will be disappear in the blink of an eye. I realise this is being negative, but it is also being
realistic, and I am very worried. :(


You're a moaning old git

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Re: Norwich City (H) League 1 Tuesday Re-Re-Arranged. 26/1/10

Thu Jan 28, 2010 12:51 pm

chestersaddler wrote:
moanin old git wrote:I have read with interest all the above reports from folks who were there last night, and most seem gutted to have lost.
However, this is Walsall's problem, we continue to lose, we come out at the start looking overawed, even if we were playing
the Long John Silver impersonators 2nd eleven!
And, if we continue to lose, as we are doing, there will only ever be one conclusion, if we cannot get points from somewhere...and damn quickly at that, we will find ourselves in a pretty 'dark' place very soon. If Gillingham have a
nightmare we may get a point, if Oldham are as bad as they have been, we could scrape another point perhaps. Other
than those two games we are looking at stonewall defeats for all of our upcoming fixtures, and a 5 point gap between
us and the pap at the bottom will be disappear in the blink of an eye. I realise this is being negative, but it is also being
realistic, and I am very worried. :(


You're a moaning old git



He's rite though, Ive watched us all season and i still say we dont have enough goals in us, we rely so much on Steve Jones its frightening.

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Re: Norwich City (H) League 1 Tuesday Re-Re-Arranged. 26/1/10

Thu Jan 28, 2010 1:58 pm

We desperatly need some form of wide player. Jones wont play for another few weeks, out strikeforce has to create most things for itself.

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