Welcome. This site is an archived version of the previous UpTheSaddlers forum (December 2004 to May 2018). To visit the new UTS website, please click here.

Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Reports and reaction from the 2011-2012 season as Walsall finished 19th in League 1
Forum rules
No swearing, no text speak no OTT abuse!
User avatar
WFC_Rob
Site Addict
 
Posts: 4878
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2005 12:29 pm
Location: Birmingham/Shrewsbury

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Sun Apr 29, 2012 7:35 pm

Blazing_Saddler wrote:It's a reality any Walsall manager has to deal with, everyone knows this. Dean would have known this when he took the job. Lets face it, no one else was ever going to offer him a managers job.

Next season, he HAS to do better. By better I don't mean I expect a promotion push. Just start to cut out some of his repetetive errors, that cost us goals/games/points.

When you have a small budget, it is even more vital that you get things right first time. I am willing to let Chambers go as a decent attempt of a signing, he hasn't quite worked out, but I think there was a chance he could have. Gnapka the same, he was a gamble (that failed) but it could have gone the other way with him, and for what it's worth Smith should definitely have tried him up front, the way we played early in the season.

There is absolutely no excuse for Hurst and Jarvis though. I'm no football scout, but I am almost certain if you gave me the wages they are on to find two players in those positions, I could find two better. It would be hard not to, utter bilge both of them. Peterlin also, why sign him, to leave him on the bench most of the season? The reason being he isn't really good enough. Needs to do better this summer, but I doubt he will. Just to remake my point, Jarvis and Hurst aren't gambles that might work out, they are utter dross, that were always going to fail.

Smith has had patience from Walsall fans, by our own terrible standards of giving people a chance, he won't be afforded such a luxury next season, and I think at some point next season, unless he does things better than he has so far, he will be out the door. Whether that is a good or bad thing remains to be seen, but it is certainly what I see happening.

Great post - can't disagree with much of that.

The key is that Smith learns from this season - more so than he did last time around. Equally, he needs to learn from his mistakes in the transfer market, but also remember the gems he did ultimately manage to recruit just in the nick of time.

He needs to realise that his primary concern has to be his team - not the opposition. As soon as he does that, I genuinely think we'll see things start to come together. Let's worry about how we can hurt our opposition rather than how they might go about hurting us.

User avatar
chestersaddler
Site Addict
 
Posts: 10191
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2008 11:21 am
Location: Europe

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Sun Apr 29, 2012 7:41 pm

WFC_Rob wrote:
Blazing_Saddler wrote:It's a reality any Walsall manager has to deal with, everyone knows this. Dean would have known this when he took the job. Lets face it, no one else was ever going to offer him a managers job.

Next season, he HAS to do better. By better I don't mean I expect a promotion push. Just start to cut out some of his repetetive errors, that cost us goals/games/points.

When you have a small budget, it is even more vital that you get things right first time. I am willing to let Chambers go as a decent attempt of a signing, he hasn't quite worked out, but I think there was a chance he could have. Gnapka the same, he was a gamble (that failed) but it could have gone the other way with him, and for what it's worth Smith should definitely have tried him up front, the way we played early in the season.

There is absolutely no excuse for Hurst and Jarvis though. I'm no football scout, but I am almost certain if you gave me the wages they are on to find two players in those positions, I could find two better. It would be hard not to, utter bilge both of them. Peterlin also, why sign him, to leave him on the bench most of the season? The reason being he isn't really good enough. Needs to do better this summer, but I doubt he will. Just to remake my point, Jarvis and Hurst aren't gambles that might work out, they are utter dross, that were always going to fail.

Smith has had patience from Walsall fans, by our own terrible standards of giving people a chance, he won't be afforded such a luxury next season, and I think at some point next season, unless he does things better than he has so far, he will be out the door. Whether that is a good or bad thing remains to be seen, but it is certainly what I see happening.

Great post - can't disagree with much of that.

The key is that Smith learns from this season - more so than he did last time around. Equally, he needs to learn from his mistakes in the transfer market, but also remember the gems he did ultimately manage to recruit just in the nick of time.

He needs to realise that his primary concern has to be his team - not the opposition. As soon as he does that, I genuinely think we'll see things start to come together. Let's worry about how we can hurt our opposition rather than how they might go about hurting us.



Agree for the most part, however, he also needs to recognise when teams have worked out our weaknesses and target them, for example Westlake.

User avatar
saddlerken
Site Addict
 
Posts: 3267
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 12:24 pm
Location: The Mill

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Sun Apr 29, 2012 8:13 pm

Blazing_Saddler wrote:
Neil Ravenscroft wrote:


Spot on - the dividing line between success and failure is tiny. We are just three wins worse off than Hartlepool in 11th


mmm, 3 wins is an awful lot for a side that only won 9 games out of 45.


Exactamundo, take 3 win off us and we're bottom, ipsofactomundo

User avatar
Aldridge_saddler
UTS Legend
 
Posts: 2347
Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2005 5:11 pm
Location: In the land of the bearded gods!

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Sun Apr 29, 2012 10:11 pm

saddlerken wrote:
Blazing_Saddler wrote:
Neil Ravenscroft wrote:


Spot on - the dividing line between success and failure is tiny. We are just three wins worse off than Hartlepool in 11th


mmm, 3 wins is an awful lot for a side that only won 9 games out of 45.


Exactamundo, take 3 win off us and we're bottom, ipsofactomundo


add the points that we have dropped into the equation and we would currently be sitting in 6th guaranteed the playoffs. So when people say we aren't far away from a very good side, there is proof. Providing Deano learns from this season and maybe reads through some of the match threads here we could have a very good season next year.

We just need to learn from our mistakes!

Bernie
UTS Legend
 
Posts: 1868
Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2005 8:27 pm

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Mon Apr 30, 2012 10:02 am

Aldridge_saddler wrote:add the points that we have dropped into the equation and we would currently be sitting in 6th guaranteed the playoffs. So when people say we aren't far away from a very good side, there is proof. Providing Deano learns from this season and maybe reads through some of the match threads here we could have a very good season next year.

We just need to learn from our mistakes!


Walsall are going to be either the 19th or 20th best team in the division this season. The league table does not lie over 45 matches. Last season we were the 21st best on points won, so I suppose we should be grateful to Smith for making progress.

User avatar
saddlerken
Site Addict
 
Posts: 3267
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 12:24 pm
Location: The Mill

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:07 pm

I cannot understand why any professional football club should wait for the manager to learn on the job, the more I think about it the worse it sounds

Staggering blind loyalty to the current manager

User avatar
chestersaddler
Site Addict
 
Posts: 10191
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2008 11:21 am
Location: Europe

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:30 pm

saddlerken wrote:I cannot understand why any professional football club should wait for the manager to learn on the job, the more I think about it the worse it sounds

Staggering blind loyalty to the current manager


I imagine that with the salary we pay, we have the choice of recruiting a proven failure of a manager e.g Hutchings or take a punt on an unproven one, who might develop into a good one. I reckon Smith has next season to show that he is indeed developing.

Welsh_Saddler
Site Addict
 
Posts: 9804
Joined: Sun Sep 25, 2005 5:44 pm
Location: The beautiful Afan Valley

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:49 pm

We pay salary????? :shock:

User avatar
Ancient Moaner
Site Addict
 
Posts: 4101
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2011 8:47 pm
Location: Leigh, twixt Wiggin & notloB

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:53 pm

Welsh_Saddler wrote:We pay salary????? :shock:


Better dig Joe Longthorn up again then!! cus our home attendances certainly wow be enough to actually PAY the players! :wink:

Cully
Site Addict
 
Posts: 4310
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 7:55 pm
Location: Rugeley.........pronounced RUDGELEE apparently

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Mon Apr 30, 2012 9:21 pm

chestersaddler wrote:
saddlerken wrote:I cannot understand why any professional football club should wait for the manager to learn on the job, the more I think about it the worse it sounds

Staggering blind loyalty to the current manager


I imagine that with the salary we pay, we have the choice of recruiting a proven failure of a manager e.g Hutchings or take a punt on an unproven one, who might develop into a good one. I reckon Smith has next season to show that he is indeed developing.


What evidence is there to show that Dim Deano 'is indeed developing'? unless you mean into one of the worst ever Walsall managers. There are plenty of decent managers out there, perhaps we should look to the non league scene for a successful one of which there are plenty. They won't be earning a fortune so will fit your assumed criteria. However, we must assume that the current board of directors are satisfied with the job that the Ginger Mourinho has done this season and accept his proven level of competence which appears to be hovering slightly above dismal.

We can therefore look forward to next season with some optimism and a successful 19th finish.

User avatar
SaigonSaddler
Site Addict
 
Posts: 10825
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 1:23 pm
Location: In Bonser's Grotto

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Tue May 01, 2012 9:17 am

Spoof interview. Not real. I have just made it up:

Congrats on surviving again Dean!
Cheers!
Some fans want Walsall to achieve more than simple survival next year though.
We all do, but even the most cursory assessment of our finances would point to the fact that we are roughly exactly where we would be, based on financial input alone.
Some fans are wondering why you are not Ray Graydon.
I'm not Ray Graydon.
Why not?
I'm just not. I wasn't born Ray Graydon, I'm Dean Smith.
So you admit that you are not Ray Graydon.
Yes.
Brave, if rather foolish and ill-considered.
*shrugs*
Erm, so where do you expect to finish next season.
Obviously as high as possible. I don't think the play-offs are out of the question, just that all things being equal the wages that Walsall are able to pay are among the lowest in the division. That's not an excuse, simply the fact of the matter. And while some fans will want more, I think most recognise that while the current financial arrangements are in place, the club is at a disadvantage.
Some fans point to your errors in tactical awareness at times.
I think I have made some mistakes, but I am on a learning curve and I'm learning all the time. Whether or not people give me the opportunity to continue at Walsall is up to the collective group involved. But I have kept Walsall up on two occasions, we are capable of playing attractive and effective football and I think I have earned the right to prove what I can do next season. I'm building a team, but the quality again comes down to finance, but I've shown that I can get some quality players in on loan and fashion an effective team. I am sure some fans would want to parachute in some as yet unnamed miracle-worker, but that remains a massive lottery. FACT.

Image

We-ARE-Walsall
Site Addict
 
Posts: 8041
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 10:23 am
Location: Fighting for the town.

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Tue May 01, 2012 9:55 am

Stop wasting money on players that are obvious bilge then, you ginger coont. !

User avatar
SaigonSaddler
Site Addict
 
Posts: 10825
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 1:23 pm
Location: In Bonser's Grotto

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Tue May 01, 2012 10:07 am

Blazing_Saddler wrote:Stop wasting money on players that are obvious bilge then, you ginger coont. !


:lol: :wink:

User avatar
tinned
Site Addict
 
Posts: 10023
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 1:49 pm
Location: Same poo, different day!

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Tue May 01, 2012 12:37 pm

Blazing_Saddler wrote:Stop wasting money on players that are obvious bilge then, you ginger coont. !


That's uncalled for an incorrect.

Dean is more grey than ginger nowadays.

The rest of your post is by and large correct, however.

We-ARE-Walsall
Site Addict
 
Posts: 8041
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 10:23 am
Location: Fighting for the town.

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Tue May 01, 2012 2:04 pm

tinned wrote:
Blazing_Saddler wrote:Stop wasting money on players that are obvious bilge then, you ginger coont. !


That's uncalled for an incorrect.

Dean is more grey than ginger nowadays.

The rest of your post is by and large correct, however.


Maybe that is what he was tyring to say in his "interview" above.

Interviewd by Don Goodman perhaps?

"I'm not Gray - Don ! , anyway, I can die my hair, w t f are you gonna do with that face ?"

User avatar
Chris
UTS Veteran
 
Posts: 304
Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2009 11:43 am

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Wed May 02, 2012 3:58 pm

Well I for one am delighted we stayed up. That's not to say we couldn't have done a lot better, but it could have also been a lot worse. Fact of the matter is though, we have just escaped relegation and I thought the mood would be a bit more buoyant than it actually is. Granted, there are underlying problems that need to be fixed if we're to make progress and the jury is still out on whether part of that entails giving Smith more time to learn, but I for one plan for now to revel in the fact that we won't be playing 4th tier football next season.

The thing is, I can't help thinking that if we'd done it in more dramatic fashion (i.e at MK Dons on the last day or by smashing Huddersfield), then there would have been more of a positive reaction to the outcome. I think the fact that it all petered out quite anticlimactically in the end has impacted the way our survival has been received.

On more than one ocassion, I have heard someone say something along the lines of, "Yeah, I'm pleased we stayed up, but gutted it didn't go to the last day of the season".

Seriously?

The logic of some people baffles me.

User avatar
WFC_Rob
Site Addict
 
Posts: 4878
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2005 12:29 pm
Location: Birmingham/Shrewsbury

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Wed May 02, 2012 4:47 pm

Chris wrote:Well I for one am delighted we stayed up. That's not to say we couldn't have done a lot better, but it could have also been a lot worse. Fact of the matter is though, we have just escaped relegation and I thought the mood would be a bit more buoyant than it actually is. Granted, there are underlying problems that need to be fixed if we're to make progress and the jury is still out on whether part of that entails giving Smith more time to learn, but I for one plan for now to revel in the fact that we won't be playing 4th tier football next season.

The thing is, I can't help thinking that if we'd done it in more dramatic fashion (i.e at MK Dons on the last day or by smashing Huddersfield), then there would have been more of a positive reaction to the outcome. I think the fact that it all petered out quite anticlimactically in the end has impacted the way our survival has been received.

On more than one ocassion, I have heard someone say something along the lines of, "Yeah, I'm pleased we stayed up, but gutted it didn't go to the last day of the season".

Seriously?

The logic of some people baffles me.

For those supporters a bit more neutral in their preferences and loyalties, that may be the case. Not for me though - I shall be delighted to go to MK Dons on Saturday safe in the knowledge that we won't be featuring in the lowest tier of league football next season.

The reason no-one seems that buoyant is that staying up isn't particularly an achievement. It was last year when Hutchings got a more talented group of players into a right old pickle and we had to be rescued from eight points adrift of safety. This year however, things just haven't really clicked into place, to put things mildly. Survival is a minimum expectation for me - not an achievement we should be proud of.

latviancheese
Site Addict
 
Posts: 13000
Joined: Sat Jul 22, 2006 3:35 pm

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Thu May 03, 2012 12:31 am

Well a pleasing end to a gash season riddled with extremley pleasing moments. Ive actually enjoyed this season.

It summed up our season really, an utterly garbage first half, with a battling, if lacking in skill, second half. A draw was fair, and a draw was enough.

Why did Jimmy play? Sentiment? Shocking. I love him more than any fan, but he is fat now. Why was he so angry at the end?
The "celebrations" were pathetic.

Cuvelier is the best player we have seen for at least five years.

We have the backline,just need the stuff infront next year.

Have a good summer, UTS.

User avatar
Michal
UTS Regular
 
Posts: 149
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 8:49 am
Location: 720 miles away

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Thu May 03, 2012 9:27 am

I just want to say thanks all of you for your banter, reactions, comments, opinions and coverage throughout the season. Keep up the good work :)
I know, one game left, but better sooner than later, right ;)

User avatar
Aldridge_saddler
UTS Legend
 
Posts: 2347
Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2005 5:11 pm
Location: In the land of the bearded gods!

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Thu May 03, 2012 9:49 am

latviancheese wrote:Well a pleasing end to a gash season riddled with extremley pleasing moments. Ive actually enjoyed this season.

It summed up our season really, an utterly garbage first half, with a battling, if lacking in skill, second half. A draw was fair, and a draw was enough.

Why did Jimmy play? Sentiment? Shocking. I love him more than any fan, but he is fat now. Why was he so angry at the end?
The "celebrations" were pathetic.

Cuvelier is the best player we have seen for at least five years.

We have the backline,just need the stuff infront next year.

Have a good summer, UTS.


You use your tongue prrrrrtyyyyerrr than a $20 whore!

User avatar
Darth Vader
Site Addict
 
Posts: 6190
Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2010 7:50 pm
Location: WS1

Re: Huddersfield Town (H) League 1 Saturday 28/4/12.

Thu May 03, 2012 1:20 pm

Michal wrote:I just want to say thanks all of you for your banter, reactions, comments, opinions and coverage throughout the season. Keep up the good work :)
I know, one game left, but better sooner than later, right ;)


No problems sir!

Previous
Return to 2011-12 Season

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests