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Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Reports and reaction from the 2012-2013 season as Walsall finished 9th in League 1
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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Sun Sep 16, 2012 5:56 pm

Determined not to get carried away (yet) but WORRA RESULT!!).
Best of all are the comments emanating from the Pompey direction praising our effort and our football.
Lots of successful managers have taken a year or more to settle in and produce a good team (Fergie?) so
SMITH IN!
uts!!!

:D X 100

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Ancient Moaner
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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Sun Sep 16, 2012 6:01 pm

chestersaddler wrote:
Finch wrote:Just to emphasise what a very impressive start this is, consider the teams we have played. Several people have already pointed out that we have played some of the more fancied sides, and the numbers back up that we have had a tough start. This is by no means a scientific process but I added up the league positions of all the opponents of the top 10 (yes, I do need to get a life!) to see who had the lowest total and therefore the 'toughest' start. Interesting findings:

Tranmere - 106
Notts Co - 93
Stevenage - 104
Crawley - 88
Walsall - 66
Yeovil - 85
Sheff Utd - 123
MK Dons - 71
Doncaster - 61 (from 5 games)
Brentford - 87

Let's hope we can do better than last season against teams in the bottom half!


As a fully paid up member of the happy clapping club, I did not think that we would be where we are given the early season fixtures.

I'm chuffed to betties as our Norther Saddlers would say.

Seriously though, I'm concerned that Moaning Old Git might have had a stroke given the start to the season.


Like I've said on another thread, I get back from holiday and the Football League is upside down!!!
What the heck is going on? Before long I'll have nowt to moan about!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
I am trully overjoyed at this 'mossive' set of performances...Can't wait to see the lads in action soon..good to see us put
'debt ridden but somehow able to spend millions' Pompey in thier place..come on me babbies!!!
UTS for ever..

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Sun Sep 16, 2012 6:48 pm

Fray Bentos is God! wrote:How the **** did Hereford get relegated?


ExLandlord (HUFC) wrote:
NigelFareastx wrote:Alls I did on this board was to express basically my disappointment
And frrustration and losing all our players to be replaced by these players
From Hereford. A team relegated to the conference. Footballs all about opinions if people think this is a good thing and we've improved the squad
They are entitled to their opinion. Just like I'm entitled to mine

I wish everyone on this board and of course Wfc all the best for next season


The reason we were relegated was down to very poor management (prior to RO'K's arrival) not to do with a ability of the players.

Purkiss will be perfectly OK in League 1. In fact, I'd say he'll give you better service and value than James Chambers. Featherstone has a good engine and will work his socks off but you'll need someone to do the creative stuff. Baxendale is one we saw very little of but was well thought of by RO'K and Brandy showed well initially. Paul Downing was with us a few seasons ago and should have matured since then He showed decent ability albeit with a lack of experiaence.

We've also seen a couple of players move to the Gayhous at Shrewsbury which, IMO, confirms that it wasn't the players that caused the drop.

Best of luck.


As I was saying...

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Sun Sep 16, 2012 6:54 pm

ExLandlord (HUFC) wrote:
Fray Bentos is God! wrote:How the **** did Hereford get relegated?


ExLandlord (HUFC) wrote:
NigelFareastx wrote:Alls I did on this board was to express basically my disappointment
And frrustration and losing all our players to be replaced by these players
From Hereford. A team relegated to the conference. Footballs all about opinions if people think this is a good thing and we've improved the squad
They are entitled to their opinion. Just like I'm entitled to mine

I wish everyone on this board and of course Wfc all the best for next season


The reason we were relegated was down to very poor management (prior to RO'K's arrival) not to do with a ability of the players.

Purkiss will be perfectly OK in League 1. In fact, I'd say he'll give you better service and value than James Chambers. Featherstone has a good engine and will work his socks off but you'll need someone to do the creative stuff. Baxendale is one we saw very little of but was well thought of by RO'K and Brandy showed well initially. Paul Downing was with us a few seasons ago and should have matured since then He showed decent ability albeit with a lack of experiaence.

We've also seen a couple of players move to the Gayhous at Shrewsbury which, IMO, confirms that it wasn't the players that caused the drop.

Best of luck.


As I was saying...


Indeed you did, and your thoughts were welcomed by some of us. Most of the dissenters have disappeared into the long grass for now, but don't worry, they'll soon be back if we start losing a few :wink:

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Sun Sep 16, 2012 6:58 pm

chestersaddler wrote:
ExLandlord (HUFC) wrote:
Fray Bentos is God! wrote:How the **** did Hereford get relegated?


ExLandlord (HUFC) wrote:
NigelFareastx wrote:Alls I did on this board was to express basically my disappointment
And frrustration and losing all our players to be replaced by these players
From Hereford. A team relegated to the conference. Footballs all about opinions if people think this is a good thing and we've improved the squad
They are entitled to their opinion. Just like I'm entitled to mine

I wish everyone on this board and of course Wfc all the best for next season


The reason we were relegated was down to very poor management (prior to RO'K's arrival) not to do with a ability of the players.

Purkiss will be perfectly OK in League 1. In fact, I'd say he'll give you better service and value than James Chambers. Featherstone has a good engine and will work his socks off but you'll need someone to do the creative stuff. Baxendale is one we saw very little of but was well thought of by RO'K and Brandy showed well initially. Paul Downing was with us a few seasons ago and should have matured since then He showed decent ability albeit with a lack of experiaence.

We've also seen a couple of players move to the Gayhous at Shrewsbury which, IMO, confirms that it wasn't the players that caused the drop.

Best of luck.


As I was saying...


Indeed you did, and your thoughts were welcomed by some of us. Most of the dissenters have disappeared into the long grass for now, but don't worry, they'll soon be back if we start losing a few :wink:


And it'll be the ones who haven't seen us.

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:01 pm

Well, what an entertaining game, coupled with the fact I had £4.04 on Walsall to win 1 – 2 at 12 – 1, truly wonderful.

We played excellent football in the opening 15 minutes including a spell in which we put together as many passes as we did for the remainder of the first half. After which, as to be expected in an away performance, Pompey had the rub of the green - I think we absorbed the pressure very well. Portsmouth looked content on playing long balls down the middle which Holden and the very impressive Butler dealt with – with no problem. Whilst not very fast on the break, we did create a few chances in the first half while countering - but these were squandered. We should really have taken the lead in the first minute, but Bowerman (I believe..) shot straight at the keeper.

I was concerned that in the second half Portsmouth would adopt a more direct style and try and infiltrate our defence with speed rather than height and for the first 10 minutes my concerns seemed to be justified. Grof pulled off a wonderful point blank range save and we were lucky on a few occasions to get the ball out of our box before a Pompey player finished us off. However like in the first half we absorbed said pressure and that’s when we struck. The referee decided that we had fairly out muscled one their players on the right flank and we attacked with killer incision, Baxendale (who I thought looked solid (amongst a very solid midfield)) firing an unstoppable shot into the back of net. This was followed by a superb strike by Flo which went through everyone (including the keeper) into the bottom left. Fantastic!

The Portsmouth faithful, who were excellent (although singing about the Saints losing to Arsenal while 2- 0 down at home seemed a little silly) seemed to really get behind their team at this point and I was surprised at just how lacklustre the Pompey players looked. After looking like they had no new ideas, a real scramble in the box and schoolboy defending gifted them a way back into the match. Whilst we stood strong in the closing 15 minutes I felt that Portsmouth really didn’t have a clue on how to break us down, our defending on the wings was not brilliant and they really could have monopolised on this. Holden’s slip was rescued by a firm standing Butler and one of their players wasted a free header which I was certain was going to ripple the back of net. That being said we did enough on the counter to probably snatch a third goal ourselves.

All in all a very credible result, at times we played some really nice smart football. Defended and attacked as a team and looked very organised for a new look team only 6 games in. The three non Walsall fans I was with in the away end thought we looked very good and were particularly impressed with our goals and Paterson’s strike at the death, although if I’m honest I was O.K. with this not going in as this way we got three points and I won my bet!!

Good fan point of the day: The genius “Is this a fire drill?” chant as the Portsmouth fans left.

Bad fan point of the day: The idiot who I couldn’t see but could hear who shouted at least three racist obscenities. One of my mates was genuinely shocked by it and rightly so. Go home, don’t need you support.

Don’t want to end on a sour note so to say I am pleased would be an understatement. Great performance, great result and great league position – Up the Saddlers!

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:05 pm

Why £4.04 - a strange amount to wager.

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:26 pm

Registered Saddler wrote:
We-ARE-Walsall wrote:
belgiansaddler wrote:First half I thought we struggled a bit, was under a lot of pressure, but in the main we dealt with it all quite well. We play very narrow when we don't have the ball, which I think will work well the majority of the time, which it did yesterday. They did overload us down the right often, was fortunate that their wide players were very wasteful. We weren't quick enough on the counter attack first half, when we had the chance to break, it was all a bit to slow tempo, and Hemmings had a poorish game, helped a few of our counters break down. We did however create the best two chances of the half, one of which really should have hit the back of the net, think it was Paterson.

Start of the second half, much better tempo, and we got two goals which we thoroughly deserved. Grof made a double save that reminded me of Walker in his hay day, fantastic stuff. All in all no one could deny us the victory. Looked solid for the most part, and created much better chances. Paterson's shot would have been goal of the season had it gone in rather than hitting the bar/post. Really chuffed, we look like a decent side, although looking at our bench, we will need to remain injury free, in particular cuvelier, who is up there with the David Preece, Martin O'Conner's as a Walsall midfielder, he really is that good.



This post was actually written by me, Belg had left himself logged in on my computer.

Whoever authored it, I agree entirely.


Was definitely me :lol: Although I know Belg will agree about Cuvelier, I thought he was going to spontaneously combust when he told anyone and everyone he met after the match how good he was :lol:

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:41 pm

I won 14.04 on a previous bet and felt like a maverick!

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Sun Sep 16, 2012 8:09 pm

We-ARE-Walsall wrote:
Registered Saddler wrote:
We-ARE-Walsall wrote:
belgiansaddler wrote:First half I thought we struggled a bit, was under a lot of pressure, but in the main we dealt with it all quite well. We play very narrow when we don't have the ball, which I think will work well the majority of the time, which it did yesterday. They did overload us down the right often, was fortunate that their wide players were very wasteful. We weren't quick enough on the counter attack first half, when we had the chance to break, it was all a bit to slow tempo, and Hemmings had a poorish game, helped a few of our counters break down. We did however create the best two chances of the half, one of which really should have hit the back of the net, think it was Paterson.

Start of the second half, much better tempo, and we got two goals which we thoroughly deserved. Grof made a double save that reminded me of Walker in his hay day, fantastic stuff. All in all no one could deny us the victory. Looked solid for the most part, and created much better chances. Paterson's shot would have been goal of the season had it gone in rather than hitting the bar/post. Really chuffed, we look like a decent side, although looking at our bench, we will need to remain injury free, in particular cuvelier, who is up there with the David Preece, Martin O'Conner's as a Walsall midfielder, he really is that good.



This post was actually written by me, Belg had left himself logged in on my computer.

Whoever authored it, I agree entirely.


Was definitely me :lol: Although I know Belg will agree about Cuvelier, I thought he was going to spontaneously combust when he told anyone and everyone he met after the match how good he was :lol:


:lol: top fella, had me in tears with his gazelle like walking and social-ness.

Are you off to Stevenage still? I want to go, might be able to stretch to it considering I didn't spend a ton on beer as Belg brought 700 carlsberg cans on the coach, gave away some john smiths to the lad near the front as well, think it was to the one that kept pissing in a bottle.

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Sun Sep 16, 2012 8:11 pm

Soton Saddler wrote:our defending on the wings was not brilliant and they really could have monopolised on this.

That's the one area we do tend to struggle in, as both Hemmings and Paterson are generally very poor at tracking back. I'm quite happy for that to be the case as long as they keep doing the business at the other end of the pitch, but we do need Purkiss and Taylor to be on top form as they often find themselves outnumbered.

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:22 pm

321 Saddlers at Fratton Park yesterday.

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:49 pm

Soton Saddler - top marks on your avatar.

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:53 pm

Highlights now online:

http://www1.skysports.com/football/live ... 2757/video

Good double save by Grof. Fabulous goal by Baxendale. Shame there's no footage of Paterson's late piledriver - maybe it'll make the Beeb highlights.

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Sun Sep 16, 2012 10:05 pm

bangsection wrote:Highlights now online:

http://www1.skysports.com/football/live ... 2757/video

Good double save by Grof. Fabulous goal by Baxendale. Shame there's no footage of Paterson's late piledriver - maybe it'll make the Beeb highlights.

McLeod had already been flagged offside but good save nonetheless. Typical Sky to show two Pompey chances that are way off target but not Walsall's shot that hit the post. Don't think BBC do highlights any more. :x

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:05 pm

What a double save. Poor defending for their goal though.

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:32 pm

Great performance on the whole, crazy celebrations for the goals, squeaky bum for the last 20 minutes.

We are currently playing very good football this season. It's nice to be able to say that.

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Mon Sep 17, 2012 4:00 pm

Cuvelier's strike is pure class. I think he found the only gap through a crowded box to get it into the bottom corner!

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Mon Sep 17, 2012 5:52 pm

I just watched the highlights!

Nice!

Might come home for Christmas - see the late Dec early Jan games.............. wish I could get the games online.

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Mon Sep 17, 2012 6:06 pm

Very fair report from the Pompey local press here: http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompe ... -1-4269184

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Re: Portsmouth (a) - 15/09/12 - League 1

Mon Sep 17, 2012 9:47 pm

Registered Saddler wrote:Very fair report from the Pompey local press here: http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompe ... -1-4269184


A good report there - although "perennial strugglers" is a bit tough. The last couple of seasons, obviously, but we were 10th as recently as 2009-10 under a certain Mr Hutchings :shock:, with mid table/top half finishes the two years prior to that.

All seems a long, long time ago though. Until now...

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