Shrewsbury Town (H) JP Trophy Tuesday 30/8/11.

[latviancheese]

Why the police presence tonight? They looked pathetic.

[bleed_red_n_white]

I'd like to point out thats 10 goals we've scored now in all compititions, not bad considering this time last season.

[Darth Vader]

I swear the Walsall freak squad came out tonight as I saw some right characters around me in the F2G lower - people you think would've been banned or serving a long sentence in jail, for manslaughter.

Still, decent atmosphere for a JPT game - I really do hope the Shrews gain promotion this season.

[SaigonSaddler]

I swear the Walsall freak squad came out tonight as I saw some right characters around me in the F2G lower - people you think would've been banned or serving a long sentence in jail, for manslaughter.

Still, decent atmosphere for a JPT game - I really do hope the Shrews gain promotion this season.

But I was in the lower.......oh! :oops: :D

[latviancheese]

Me too. :P

[priestley_saddler]

Well, that was closer than it looked like being at half time. That said, we'll play worse teams than Shrewsbury in our league this season (in fact, in Bournemouth I'd say we already have). They are one of the better sides in League Two, and have already smashed Derby and Swansea in cup matches this season, so we shouldn't underestimate just how good a result a 2-1 win is.

Nicholls really should have put us infront in the first few minutes but he slipped as he hit it and it just hadn't got the legs to reach the goal before their defender cleared it.

In any other season, Jarvis goal would have been a shoe-in for Goal Of The Season. However, this time around I'm not entirely convinced it would win Goal Of The Month, as every goal we've scored at home this season, including the Taundry one that followed it, has been an absolute corker. You can even add Macken's friendly goal against Wolves to the list (although being in July it might struggle to win goal of the month :wink: ). However, this in itself concerns me. I find it unlikely we'll continue to smash in 30 yarders at the required rate all season. It would be like a cricket team scoring nothing but sixes and never getting any one and two's. That said, if the only negative is that we're scoring too many spectacular goals and not enough 'normal' ones then its a strange thing to complain about.

I expected the second half to be a stroll, but there goal gave them a new lease of life, the ball glancing in off Butler's head leaving Grof with no chance. However, Shrewsbury did seem to be suffering from 'Walsall Syndrome', whereby they had a lot of the ball in a lot of dangerous areas for much of the half, but actually created very little, barring one mad goal mouth scramble where Grof made at least two stunning point blank saves (it may have been three) to keep the lead intact.

I know its a clichy we've used a lot already this season, but I really think we'd have thrown that match away 12 months ago. If I was a sloppy I'd be gutted to have lost that.

Grof - If I was being harsh on him, I'd argue Wacka would have held the first of his multiple top class stops and thus negated the need to make the rest. However, that would be unfair on him. His increase in confidence from Saturday was clear for all to see. Handled better, distribution was solid and made good saves. Could do nothing with the goal.
Westlake - After Taundry, our most improved player this season. Really is developing into a top full back at this level.
Sadler - I may be in a minority here, but I think he was lucky not to concede at least one penalty for handball in the closing stages. One after the 'Grof melee' and one a minute or two after. Apart from that, was solid throughout. Both defends and attacks very well.
Butler - Really unlucky to be credited with the own goal, lead the defensive line well. Keeps us organised at the back although I still don't think he's quite playing at the level he was at back end of last season.
Smith - Another really good performance. Lancashire has a fight on his hands to win his place back. Had a difficult night tonight against a big awkward striker but came out on top.
Gnakpa - Has played with a lot more discipline in the last few games and the team benefits from it. He does seem to have gone from beating his man three times to not taking him on at all. Needs to find the happy medium but is doing well. Again failed to finish the match though.
Hurst - I still think he's stronger on his right foot, but that also has its advantages. The wingers can swap sides and he links up equally well with either Westlake or Sadler.
Chambers - I think to be honest he was the difference between us winning that match and possibly doing what we did at Bramall Lane. He just has the experience and the know how to see out games like that. His presence also meant we had the option of going five across the middle in the closing stages, which we did.
Taundry - Got sponsors MOTM by virtue of Jarvis penalty hitting the bar. Scored an absolute beauty and just keeps getting better. Over the last few games people have started expecting that level of performance from him, and he hasn't disappointed.
Nicholls - I think he did really well. Should have scored early but fell over meaning his shot didn't have the legs to reach the goal before the covering defender. When he didn't have a pass on he just ran with the ball. Was actually very clever to win the penalty. Beat his fullback, cut into the area, slowed down and waited for the contact. I actually saw him win a header too. Linked up well with Jarvis.
Jarvis - His goal was a scorcher and, despite his penalty miss, I would have given him MOTM. I just hope the missed penalty doesn't affect his confidence too much. Certainly doesn't deserve to get dropped when both Macken and Grigg are available.

Subs

Peterlin - Came on for Gnakpa and played on the right. Helped tighten things up but didn't really make an impact.
Beevers - Did exactly the same job he did at Bournemouth, came on in the closing stages to shore things up.

[latviancheese]

I know its a clichy we've used a lot already this season, but I really think we'd have thrown that match away 12 months ago. If I was a sloppy I'd be gutted to have lost that.

Sadler - I may be in a minority here, but I think he was lucky not to concede at least one penalty for handball in the closing stages. One after the 'Grof melee'.

No he joined Man City :P

And ar, first thing i sad to my dad after the Grof melee was that was a blatent handball :mrgreen: .

[SaigonSaddler]

Grof Melee has GOT to be the name of a new porn star! :lol:

[priestley_saddler]

Grof Melee has GOT to be the name of a new porn star! :lol:

Starring alongside Jeef Boner :mrgreen:

[latviancheese]

:lol:

[Magic Man Fan]

Not just Jarvis is it .

Westlake , Smith and Taundry were rubbish according to many fans last season , and should have been shipped out

Marvelous what a decent manager can do .

I don't care what people say in hindsight. If Taundry was out of contract in the summer, he would have walked. Let's just embrace that Deano has done a great job on him.

Taundry was cack last season, now he is playing well - well done Deano.

And you have the nerve to criticise people for writing Jarvis off. Believe it or not there was a time before last season, and before Hutchings when Taundry (and Westlake and Smith) all performed well in the past and showed signs of great promise. Dicky Dosh told press years ago he thought Taundry could do very well out of the game, and that from an experienced youth team coach who produced players to go and play at the top.

Yes, he was tat for most of last season, but so were most players with lack of fitness and confidence. The criticism of Smith and Westlake was also OTT, and damages confidence further.

If the supporters went out and started slating the players for no reason on Saturday they'd start playing poorly again.

[Sadders]

Good first half performance, dissapointing second in the aspect that we didnt create much, but defended well. Shoudl have been further than 2-0 up at half time, with Nicholls missing a chance as early as 40 seconds that he did very well to create. Stunner from Jarvis, I dont care how crap he is, he can do that every week for me.

Second half was dissapointing. The most worrying thing was how knackered and leggy our players looked after 65/70 minutes. Perhaps the solid performance at Bournemouth Tuesday started to take effect. For all the pretty passing Shrewsbury had I didnt think they created much other than forcing a couple of cracking saves from Grof in one big melee late on.

Taundry was MOTM, though Smith, Nicholls and Buter could all have won it. Gnapka was cack, looked as though he couldnt be bothered, looked slow, looked confidence lacking and looked un-fit if im honest. We'l give him a few more games before we make judgements, but I expected the most from him and so far he's been the weakest summer signing.

Grof 8 - Did what he had to do and did it well. Good kicking and made a couple of good late saves.

Sadler 8 - Very impressive. Defends well and loves to get forward, can see why he was the best left back in league 2 last season.

Smith 8 - Excellent, did very well against Morgan who will give a lot of centre backs a hard time. Looked a pace quicker tonight as well.

Butler 8 - Unlucky with the own goal, but defended very well otherwise, won numerous headers and looks all the player he did last season.

Westlake 7 - Thought he was solid as usual, but he could work on his attacking play a bit more.

Chambers 6 - Maybe I was at a different game? But i thought he looked dis-interested and barely touched the ball apart from a cracking tackle late on. Worked hard though.

Taundry 8 - Was pretty much everywhere on the night. Didn't get involved as much with the passing side of things, but worked like a terrier, got stuck in and obviously loves playing for the team he supports.

Hurst 6 - One of the weaker performers on the night. Looks slow and one paced to me. You can tell he's obviously a luxury player. At least he has 2 feet and defends well though.

Gnapka 5- Awful. Looks tired constantly, looks slower than he should be and is yet to finish a game. Perhaps he's unfit, but other than his headers from goal kicks he has'nt offered much at all yet.

Nicholls 9 - My MOTM. I was a big Nicholls fan a couple of years back and have been one of the most dissapointed Walsall fans in his performances over the last couple of seasons, but after a couple of strong performances so far this season I thought this was his best performance in a long while. Chased, worked his socks off, created his own chances, went on mazy runs on numerous occasions in the second half. He also adds another dimension with his pace as he gets on the end of balls over the top. If he keeps that up, he might just earn himself a new contract next season.

Jarvis 8 - Another solid performance from him, might have had a hatrick on the night. his goal was an absolute screamer. Walsall players just dont score thoose kinds of goals. If we can keep him scoring and work on his first touch I dont see why he can't have a reasonable season. Still got some work to do, but a promising performance.

Brentford Saturday and we'l have to defend well. Gary Alexander and Clayton Donaldson will cause problems.

[latviancheese]

To be fair, one thing i cannot abide is players on the floor, on their arse, arms in the air. Pulling up their socks.

Gnakpa did that twice today. Thought he had a decent first half tho.

And as for Taundry. Last season was last season, get over it. Boys been top dollar this season. so "Shut up, and get behind the lads".

[Wyrley_saddler]

Like others have said, good first half, but a poor second.

For me, the three standout players for us tonight were Nicholls, Sadler and Westlake. I would have given Nicholls man of the match as he seemed to show some of the form from before his leg break when he first broke through. He was a thorn in Shrewsbury's backside all night.

Grof - Didn't really have much to do but did pull off a couple of save of the season contenders.

Westlake - Superb for me, developing into a very good fullback. Seems to have matured a lot and has an old head on young shoulders
Butler - Typical Butler performance, solid and leading from the back
Smith - Did very well.
Sadler - I like him a lot. Very good at defending and likes to get forward too, Runner up for man of the match for me.

Gnakpa - I don't like him. For me, he doesn't offer much apart from a few headers won. He is too reluctant to release the ball and seems to think he is Messi and can take the world on, when he can't.
Chambers - One of his more quiet performances from others than i've seen. However, he came to light when needed towards the end.
Taundry - For me, he was in and out of the game. Not a bad performance but not particulary good one. Cracking goal but he was never man of the match.
Hurst - Didn't have the best of games. Shrewsbury's big number two had Hurst in his pocket all game.

Jarvis - Looking a lot better, sharper and more confident. Cracking goal and unlucky with the penalty.
Nicholls - Breath of fresh air. Constant danger and looked confident. Even when it didn't come off for him he was quick to chase back and make amends for his error. My man of the match.

SUBS
Peterlin - Didn't have much to do
Beevers - Did a vital job of filling in the gap between the midfield and back four which Shrewsbury were beginning to exploit. Not spectacular but none the less an important role for the few minutes he was on.

[brummie saddler]

dissapointed with the poor turnout from the welsh lot and even our turnout to be fair, but i guess the buzz for shrewsbury is only in soo many fans (on the otherhand i just seen a picture of the ftg upper and it did look quite full)

fans were in good voice and done the lads proud, i was happy that we was still singing "1 ryan jarivs" even after he missed the penalty that can only really help keep a players head up and give him heart that we really did appreciate just what he has done in the past 2 games. also Groff had his own personal song debuted tonight which im sure will make him confident which is massive for a keeper..... a note on his close range save from the header, i think he got really lucky in the fact it really was a soft header and could of been caught with ease but he made a wierd dramatic dive with a weak push on the ball which we was lucky to not see bundled back in the goal, but o well its in the past and he will get better and better.

a note on the police presence, fair enough the fixture does warrant a police presence but having coppers lining the steps either end of the ftg lower was pretty pathetic, i personally think they just wanted to watch the game so made them self look like they was doing a job by standing in the corners.

[Asps]

We were lucky to hold for the win.

2nd half the possession must have been 80:20 to Shrewsbury. We couldn't keep the ball.

Chambers, Hurst, Gnapka just don't look fit enough to me - they tired too quickly, whereas Sloppies still had a spring in their step.

It was a good, exciting game and I'm glad of the victory, but it was far from a convincing WFC performance imo

[Asps]

Attendance 2605 - 500 away fans.

Crowd was way more than that imo. 3K plus without a doubt

[latviancheese]

Attendance 2605 - 500 away fans.

Crowd was way more than that imo. 3K plus without a doubt

No way were there 500 sloppies.

[Asps]

Why the police presence tonight? They looked pathetic.

Pacticularly when they didn't arrest the riest beast Dancing Kev when he Michael Jackson crotch danced in front of them.

[longdogs]

Attendance 2605 - 500 away fans.

Crowd was way more than that imo. 3K plus without a doubt

I was surprised it was so low, from where I sit in the middle f2g it felt like a 3500 crowd.

[Asps]

Attendance 2605 - 500 away fans.

Crowd was way more than that imo. 3K plus without a doubt

I was surprised it was so low, from where I sit in the middle f2g it felt like a 3500 crowd.

Yes, we'll leave Swiftyboy to speculate where the money from the cash turnstiles ended up :mrgreen:

[Lone Striker]

Think we may have got away with one tonight, poor performance and got through thanks to a couple of excellent goals, apart from the penalty we created very little in open play and had very few set pieces to put much pressure on their goal. Having said that even though Shrewsbury had a lot of possession they only troubled Grof on a couple of occasions and in the main Butler and Smith dealt with their front two effectively all evening.

Biggest concern for me was the way that we continually gave the ball away all over the pitch and found it difficult to keep the ball for any length of time, the ball just did not stick up front with Jarvis, Nicholls or Gnapka when he was switched in the second half, and added to that Chambers and Taundry found it difficult to get any lasting good possession we were therefore out passed by Shrewsbury for almost the entire second half. We played into their hands by continually losing possession or unfortunately reverting back to the ways of last season kicking long balls that their back four had little trouble dealing with.

The game proved what an influence Jon Macken is to the way we play, if he is out for any length of time we need a replacement as on the evidence of tonight we cannot replace from within the current squad. We need a striker who is capable of holding the ball up with back to goal and the ability to bring other players into the game, tonight this did not happen once as far as I can remember.

Twelve months ago we would have lost that game, but as I said after the game at Bournemouth at our level good organisation and team spirit will win you some games and tonight our back five were organised, and we scored with a couple of long range efforts to find us in the second round of a cup.

Lets hope that we may have a loan signing or two in the pipeline over the coming weeks to add some additional quality to the hardwork that everybody is clearly putting in at the moment.

[latviancheese]

Why the police presence tonight? They looked pathetic.

Pacticularly when they didn't arrest the riest beast Dancing Kev when he Michael Jackson crotch danced in front of them.

One of them saw the funny side. The rest looked sadly serious. Probably couldnt wait for an easy target.

[WarsawPact]

Disappointing performance throughout the match IMO.

We were far too careless with the ball, losing it through poor control and pass selection.

Fortunately, we managed the Sloppy strikers quite well, and scored a couple of stunners.

[latviancheese]

The game proved what an influence Jon Macken is to the way we play, if he is out for any length of time we need a replacement as on the evidence of tonight we cannot replace from within the current squad. We need a striker who is capable of holding the ball up with back to goal and the ability to bring other players into the game, tonight this did not happen once as far as I can remember.
.

Not really Jarvis tried flick ons and quick passes. Macken is a different style in which he will back into a player and lay it short. He would have had no effect tonight either though because everything was in the air.

[Darth Vader]

Attendance 2605 - 500 away fans.

Crowd was way more than that imo. 3K plus without a doubt

I was surprised it was so low, from where I sit in the middle f2g it felt like a 3500 crowd.

Same here, definitely looked over 3,000.

[Pedagogue]

Grof - not ready to be first choice yet - still "flaps" at the ball too much - but he will get better, I'm sure.

Westlake - steadily improving and making the right-back spot his own.
Smith - my MotM - his pace gets us out of trouble.
Butler - probably one of the least impressive performances that I have seen him give but he is still a key player.
Sadler - sound display and his forward runs add an extra dimension to our play.

Gnakpa - dreadful - didn't look interested - what has happened to the pre- and early-season promise?
Chambers - quiet but steady
Taundry - sponsors' MotM - hard-working performance.
Hurst - not involved enough for me.

Nicholls - electrifying pace but his finishing was truly, truly awful - great shame as he was always threatening the Sloppies' defence.
Jarvis - stunning goal and very poor penalty - it was clear how much his confidence has improved.

Peterlin, Beevers weren't on long enough to give a fair assessment.

Three 1st team penalties and one reserve team penalty in a month!!! What's going on?

Sloppies had plenty of the play and contributed their full share in an entertaining game. However, their performance was an "Alex Nicholls" one - very good build-up and approach play but absolutely zero end-product. Nevertheless, they should at least make the play-offs again.

[latviancheese]

Another thing, why does Gnakpa never attack the far post?

[Whitti Steve]

Decent game, decent crowd (we have had much lower for first round of this compo in the past).

Thought sloppies did well in the second half and our player tired, maybe a legacy of Bournemouth. I understand some of the criticism of Gnakpa from last night, he needed to be replaced sooner, however - don't write him off yet. I thought he was excellent at Bournemouth - as others have said, way too early to write players off.

Manny Smith looks like he is back to the player we thought we had before Hutchings got hold of him, and wells done to Grof who look more relaxed that on Sat amd pulled off a fantastic double save to keep us in the game.

[swiftyboy]

Attendance 2605 - 500 away fans.

Crowd was way more than that imo. 3K plus without a doubt

I was surprised it was so low, from where I sit in the middle f2g it felt like a 3500 crowd.

Yes, we'll leave Swiftyboy to speculate where the money from the cash turnstiles ended up :mrgreen:

I don't understand? ;-)