Brentford (H) 11.08.12 - Capital One Cup 1st Round

[chestersaddler]

Anyone listening on Sads world - I can't get a link :evil:

[Welsh_Saddler]

Some scores elsewhere, approaching half-time:

Crewe 4 Hartlepool 0
Leeds 2 Sloppies 0
Dingles 0 Aldershot Town 0
Sheffield United 0 Burton Albion 1

[Neuromantic]

Update: playing football - look confident and full of attacking creativity.

[Welsh_Saddler]

Nearly half-time, still 1-0 up (a cushion of a couple more goals would be reassuring).

Cuvelier might have to watch his step - he's committed 4 of our 9 fouls in the first half. Hemmings has been booked, as has one of the Brentford full backs, O'Connor.

We've had 6 shots, 5 on target....what on earth is going on????? :D :D :D

[Sadsfan]

5 shots and only one goal!? Grigg/hemmings /Patterson/cuvelier useless. Our target man we've been asking for would have scored all of those. Smith out.

[Fray Bentos is God!]

Playing really well. Hemmings looks very dangerous.

[longdogs]

Played some nice stuff in the first half. We certainly look capable of extending our lead.

[Welsh_Saddler]

Highlights will be shown next Wednesday on the League Cup Show (BBC).

[cookyskid]

Anyone listening on Sads world - I can't get a link :evil:

Listening on BBC Radio London i-player

[Neuromantic]

Very strange substitution both in terms of personnel and tactics.

[Welsh_Saddler]

Bowerman on for Hemmings (who has been booked).......Grigg also booked - he must be putting himself about a bit :wink:

[mossa]

Anyone listening on Sads world - I can't get a link :evil:

Listening on BBC Radio London i-player

Do you have a link for that?

[IHTC.]

A very mature performance from Paterson

[cookyskid]

Anyone listening on Sads world - I can't get a link :evil:

Listening on BBC Radio London i-player

Do you have a link for that?

Sorry - a bit late
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_ ... listenlive

[Holbeach Saddler]

Walsall win? unpossible.

[Ancient Moaner]

So, possibly we might have the makings of a team then? Brentford were supposedly one of the strongest of the teams vying for promotion...,looking forward to reports coming through...very encouraging to actually WIN a footy match!! :D :D ...

[BathSaddler]

An opening day victory against anyone is a good start, particularly against a team fancied by some [mainly their own supporters, if the views on their websites are anything to go by :wink: ] to challenge for the PO's this season.

The attendance of 2,248 [374 away], even when taking into account the competition, the Olympic factor, and comparing it to crowds elsewhere, is worryingly low. A truer measure of our level of support will no doubt be in evidence next week, when, with considerable Donny support, we should get 4,500 +.

I look forward hearing from those few who were there...

[Ken Barlow]

That was good.

[IHTC.]

The attendence dosnt worry me, its what you would expect for a 1st round league cup game. Granted we could have expected afew more with it being on a saturday but my guess is they are saving there money for nxt wk. Watch the stayaways come out the closet if we get a good draw for the nxt round.

[Neil Ravenscroft]

Told you there was nothing to worry about!

Hemmings and Featherstone looked very good, Hemmings terrified them. Chambers outstanding second half, Grigg was unlucky not to get a hat trick, defence looked a little shaky at times. PLAYED FOOTBALL

[Worsul]

Pleasantly surprised at that.

Whilst not world beaters, Walsall looked like they were capable of keeping possession and creating. Given the number of new faces, its more than I was expecting.

Of course, with Brentford down to 10 men it perhaps shouldn't be used as a guide for this season.

MoM was Patterson

UTS

[Wyrley_saddler]

I thought we played very well. We lined up like this:

-----------------------Grof------------------------
Purkiss ------- Butler -- Holden ------- Taundry
-----------Chambers---Featherstone------------
Paterson ----------Cuvelier ---------Hemmings
---------------------Grigg------------------------

And it worked wonders. Defensively we were very difficult to break down. Everytime someone like Donaldson or Weston got the ball, they had 2 men on them. We looked comfortable when they had the ball and bar the odd occasion, they couldn't get through us. I thought Holden was particulary solid and looked very assured with the ball at his feet. I liked how Chambers and Featherstone sat infront of the defence. It protected them fantastically. Chambers was my MOTM, seemed on fire in the middle and Featherstone did really well. Very calm on the ball and can pick out a pass


Going forward we looked good. Passed the ball around nicely and were never rushed. We happily passed and pulled them across the park until there was a gap. Hemmings looked very dangerous and took his goal superbly. I thought Paterson tried to hard and did too much a lot of the time. Cuvelier was as always, a cut above most. Grigg did ok. In the air he is awful but on the deck he did rather well and brought others into play well. Unlucky not do score on a couple of occasions

It started to go wrong when Deano changed the formation. We were rather comfortable 1-0 up and them down to 10 and he decided to go 4-4-2. I think we struggled a bit more then and looked less solid.

A few other points:
Grof played well and pulled off a couple of good saves.
Taundry played well at LB, although he still rushes everything instead of thinking about it
Purkiss looked fairly good at RB, although he had the odd 'Lee Beevers' moment.
Not a lot to say about the subs, although Jake Jones showed flashes of quality.

Overall, a very solid team performance against an obviously very good Brentford side.

[andy22]

Just back from game and thought that was the best GAME OF FOOTBALL we've played for a few years. We actually kept possesion and played the ball on the floor instead of playing hoof ball which we've done for the the last couple of seasons.
Thought that the new lads looked good especially Chambers and Hemmings with possibly Purkiss the best right back we've had for a while. Holden looks as though he could be a good partner for Butler.
Grigg was impressive it has to be said as he did everything except score and could have had a hat trick, think he answered his critics today.
Taundry did well as an emergency left back but tended to get pulled out of position at times.
If we can keep this up for the rest of the season, which i doubt, we could do well.
Two thing that did come out was the urgent need for a proper left back and even though Grigg did well a big strong striker up front.

[JonnyOwen]

Grof: Impeccable, pulled two or three great saves off. First half took a shot directly to the chest and shrug it off and in the second half made an incredible save from a dipping shot that looked like it was going in.

Purkiss: Looked steady and have only just noticed how tall he actually is! This being said I rarely saw him win a header, I don't understand, and going forward he just sort of stood there and then passed it back to Holden. Defensively on the ground, a tidy player.

Holden: Great header-er of the ball and you can see the experience that is there, he positioned himself well, lacks a bit on the pace side compared to many; but defensively solid as well, he is no Manny but he is definitely good enough to replace him.

Butler: Amazing as always, every corner, cross, ball up field to him he headed away with ease; brilliant as we all know and expect from the skipper.

Taundry: Great on the ball, in the first half from where I sat I had a great look on him and he is still defensively sound and is quite able on his left foot, wouldn't complain if he started but would still prefer an experienced Stewart there who also has the pace to speed down that left hand side.

Paterson: Like said above, looked very mature and could whip some nice balls into the box from corners. However he didn't seem to run down the wing as much as before, which someone near me kept egging him on to do, but I like that he took a look up and passed it inside to the midfield as that is what we are going to have to do without a target man, pass it around. If he took that man's advice, he would of ran down the wing and then crossed it in to our attackers and midfielder's who would have to climb up the defenders back to even get a chance of heading the ball, so playing passing football is what's needed.

Chambers:Tidy as ever, made a few mistakes but looked very clever on the ball and who made some great tackles and interceptions. He has looked much better since the MK Dons game and his return from injury.
Featherstone: Another tidy one, seems to work well with Chambers as I think of them both as similar players. Intercepted well and made a few short runs with the ball and then distributed to the wings or Flo well.

Flo: Flo is just a class above the rest, you can easily tell, I noticed twice where he would overlap into great positions and the player with the ball doesn't notice his great run into space and then a greater goal scoring chance is lost. Made his mistakes though, like the volley! What a calamity that was! Some say it is still going and is on track to land on Mars just before the Donny game. :P

Hemmings: What a signing he looks to be, great down the wings, great on the ball, smart head and can finish well. His goal I never though from where I was would go in, but he slotted it past the keeper with what looked a hard angle with ease. Great, great player. At your heart out Nicholls.

Grigg: I feel like being less harsh on him after that performance, got into some good positions and got some good shots away, even though most was off target it was still impressive that he got into those positions. Still useless in the air, but he has certainly proved me wrong about him. Also stupid to push that guy, to be honest he sort of deserved the ball off his back, no need to shove him.

Subs:
Jones: Impressed to be honest, looked lively, not scared to take players on and drew some fouls; future star? I think so!

Bowerman and Brandy: Didn't do to much, Bowerman played a poor cross but that is all I can remember, didn't get too much time to shine between the two of them.

Great victory, did have me on the edge of my seat at times, I could just sense an equaliser coming but it never came. Must be the horrors of last season still fresh in my mind. We look much better than expected, in midfield especially. Paterson got Man of the match but I would of given it to either Butler of Chambers. UTS!

P.S. Pirates of the Caribbean them returned! Get in you Saddlers!

[SWS1]

Brentford fans are very confident of them winning comfortably. :shock:
"Walsall 0, Brentford 8.
Seriously."

Revenge is what they're after, pure and simple.....in League Division III (South) we thumped them 7-0 or 7-1 :lol: :lol:

Without looking it up, never could remember - one was Brentford and the other was Millwall, same season, 7-0 and 7-1. Happy days!!!!

Same season, we beat Norwich 6 -3 - and I don't think we were promoted that season. Statto to correct me??

Well, that is an encouraging start to the season :D , although I am a little concerned :( that we couldn't score again against 10 men (were we unlucky or cr-ap?) and at the fact that we started the second half (against 10 men) with a healthy percentage for possession (57% v 43% I think) but ended up with 50 - 50 :shock:
Looking forward to the reports/comments, especially as the first reactions are relatively positive. :D

[Neil Ravenscroft]

Brentford fans are very confident of them winning comfortably. :shock:
"Walsall 0, Brentford 8.
Seriously."

Revenge is what they're after, pure and simple.....in League Division III (South) we thumped them 7-0 or 7-1 :lol: :lol:

Without looking it up, never could remember - one was Brentford and the other was Millwall, same season, 7-0 and 7-1. Happy days!!!!

Same season, we beat Norwich 6 -3 - and I don't think we were promoted that season. Statto to correct me??

Well, that is an encouraging start to the season :D , although I am a little concerned :( that we couldn't score again against 10 men (were we unlucky or cr-ap?) and at the fact that we started the second half (against 10 men) with a healthy percentage for possession (57% v 43% I think) but ended up with 50 - 50 :shock:
Looking forward to the reports/comments, especially as the first reactions are relatively positive. :D

They came back into it because Rosler made a change and went 3 4 2, so they weren't outnumbered in midfield. It took us a while to adjust. As for the lack if goals, it was just bad luck and good goalkeeping

[Darth Vader]

Lovely. Super Saddlers.

The attendance was indeed poor, very poor - we'll get at least double that vs Doncaster though, they'll bring 1,000 odd so no reason why we can't muster up 4K home fans, but still, people are quick to blame the budget on Bonser and Co but we get that sort of figure today!Get you arses down the Bescot.

[Optimistic]

Taken apart down the wings.
Unable to hold the ball upfront.

We will fly down the wings with skill and flair weaving past defenders and passing the ball to central midfield and back again.

There will be no need to hold the ball upfront it will be in the net or out for a corner or goal kick as soon as its near the area.

I can see a pacy game and plenty of goals in this one. 3-2 The Saddlers Brandy 2 Flo 1 or maybe even 4-2

Call me Optimistic if you like.

I'm sending for a medical practioner right now, Im sure they will help you regain some sort of mental stability over a period of time...in the meantime, keep away from football grounds, particularly around Bescot Crescent!! :lol: :lol:

An optimist eh? AND a Walsall supporter, hmmmm, sorry that just dow gell my friend :?

I hope you have cancelled the medical practitioner now you realise what optimism can do. I managed that result all by myself!! :lol: - just think if there were more optimists what we could achieve. 2nd round in 2 cup competitions already and the league hasn't even started. Just wait until we are more fluent at playing this system.

Bring on Donny FC Who are ya Who are ya

[Neil Ravenscroft]

I thought we played very well. We lined up like this:

-----------------------Grof------------------------
Purkiss ------- Butler -- Holden ------- Taundry
-----------Chambers---Featherstone------------
Paterson ----------Cuvelier ---------Hemmings
---------------------Grigg------------------------

And it worked wonders. Defensively we were very difficult to break down. Everytime someone like Donaldson or Weston got the ball, they had 2 men on them. We looked comfortable when they had the ball and bar the odd occasion, they couldn't get through us. I thought Holden was particulary solid and looked very assured with the ball at his feet. I liked how Chambers and Featherstone sat infront of the defence. It protected them fantastically. Chambers was my MOTM, seemed on fire in the middle and Featherstone did really well. Very calm on the ball and can pick out a pass


Going forward we looked good. Passed the ball around nicely and were never rushed. We happily passed and pulled them across the park until there was a gap. Hemmings looked very dangerous and took his goal superbly. I thought Paterson tried to hard and did too much a lot of the time. Cuvelier was as always, a cut above most. Grigg did ok. In the air he is awful but on the deck he did rather well and brought others into play well. Unlucky not do score on a couple of occasions

It started to go wrong when Deano changed the formation. We were rather comfortable 1-0 up and them down to 10 and he decided to go 4-4-2. I think we struggled a bit more then and looked less solid.

A few other points:
Grof played well and pulled off a couple of good saves.
Taundry played well at LB, although he still rushes everything instead of thinking about it
Purkiss looked fairly good at RB, although he had the odd 'Lee Beevers' moment.
Not a lot to say about the subs, although Jake Jones showed flashes of quality.

Overall, a very solid team performance against an obviously very good Brentford side.

I was beginning to think I was one of the few who couldn't see why Paterson got MoM. Still making poor decisions, but seems to be getting better

[Ken Barlow]

When is the draw for round 2?