Port Vale (H) Football League Trophy Tuesday 9/10/12.

[moaning saddler]

2 comments :

1. It seemed odd at the time that our "main" penalty taker was substituted just a few minutes before the penalty shoot-out.
2. Taundry - "Over the Bar" - sadly predictable.

[Fray Bentos is God!]

2 comments :

1. It seemed odd at the time that our "main" penalty taker was substituted just a few minutes before the penalty shoot-out.
2. Taundry - "Over the Bar" - sadly predictable.[/quote]

Why single Taundry out when there were many others who's shots were saved or went wide? Because he's an easy target? :roll:

Indeed. I'm not Taundry's biggest fan, but a shedload of others missed.

Playing wise, Paterson and Taundry need to take a long look at their decision making.

[IHTC.]

2 comments :

1. It seemed odd at the time that our "main" penalty taker was substituted just a few minutes before the penalty shoot-out.
2. Taundry - "Over the Bar" - sadly predictable.

Why single Taundry out when there were many others who's shots were saved or went wide? Because he's an easy target?

p.s sorry fbig my android phone went haywire

[latviancheese]

Singling out Taundry? :lol: :lol: :lol:

THATS NEW.

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart.

[wednesburysaddler]

dean smith note to self " must spend tomorrow practising to shoot on target from 12 yards "

okay lets put this into realism was a cracking game especially 2nd half but throwing 2 goal leads away is sloppy.
port vale seem a decent fast paced team of giants with a potent goalscorer.
the perfect recipe to do well in league 2 and if they can hold onto pope theyll go up.

walsall on other hand took around 45 minutes to start playing some kind of flowing passing football but seemed very slow and laboured and we were guilty of giving cheap balls away in midfield and within a second vale were onto our mistakes breaking with menace.
the more the game went on the more fitter vale seem to get and the more foot trodden we seemed and we played slower and slower.
although i was greatful for pens in the end i know that we would not win and yet again we have professional players who should have done better from 12 yards.
thought darlow was superb all night and saved the pens brilliantly deffo motm by a long way
flo had his best game in a while but he was pushed further forward 2nd half and it seemed to work for us in phases.
patterson was very poor tonight and no suprise by his body language that he was going to miss his pen
all i all id sacrifice tonight to get 3 points at the sloppies the weekend
onwards and upwards

[Welsh_Saddler]

Attendance was 2,845 by the way...

Walsall players who scored their penalties:

Bowerman, Taylor, Butler, Downing, Jones.

And those who missed:

Paterson, Cuvelier, Featherstone, Taundry, Brandy, Darlow.

(All right, Cuvelier did score one in the actual game. However, being 2-0 early in the second half it really shouldn't have gone to penalties.)

[Neuromantic]

For the about half hour of the game we kept the ball and looked in control - the rest of the time we looked devoid of ideas and urgency. The bubble has burst.

It is simply unforgivable to be 2-0 at home in the second against a league two side and lose the tie. No excuses - not good enough.

Paterson was rubbish. Made himself available but tries the glory ball, or to do things he is not good or strong enough to do.

Hemmings was rubbish. Attitude stinks.

Grigg was great again, but needs to get in the box more.

I hate to say, but this change to 442 isn't working. We are not good enough to control games when we don't have the extra man in there.

I can't wait for Chambers to come back.

Depressing result tonight but lets hope we can bring in a fresh face, and freshen up the side and formation for Sunday.

[moaning saddler]

2 comments :

1. It seemed odd at the time that our "main" penalty taker was substituted just a few minutes before the penalty shoot-out.
2. Taundry - "Over the Bar" - sadly predictable.[/quote]

Why single Taundry out when there were many others who's shots were saved or went wide? Because he's an easy target? :roll:

Indeed. I'm not Taundry's biggest fan, but a shedload of others missed.

Playing wise, Paterson and Taundry need to take a long look at their decision making.

I singled Taundry out simply because I actually said to my fellow sufferer as he was walking up to take his penalty - "Over the Bar". Sadly predictable as it turned out. Sadly, I did not predict any of the others. Sorry about that.

[IHTC.]

For the about half hour of the game we kept the ball and looked in control - the rest of the time we looked devoid of ideas and urgency. The bubble has burst.

It is simply unforgivable to be 2-0 at home in the second against a league two side and lose the tie. No excuses - not good enough.

Paterson was rubbish. Made himself available but tries the glory ball, or to do things he is not good or strong enough to do.

Hemmings was rubbish. Attitude stinks.

Grigg was great again, but needs to get in the box more.

I hate to say, but this change to 442 isn't working. We are not good enough to control games when we don't have the extra man in there.

I can't wait for Chambers to come back.

Depressing result tonight but lets hope we can bring in a fresh face, and freshen up the side and formation for Sunday.

Been saying he needs to be dropped for afew games now

A poor mans Julian Gray

Said that the last few games, if he could imporve his attitude towards finding space, losing his man and breaking his neck to get in the box he would score alot more goals

[SWS1]

Just gutted. End of. :evil:
How many times this season (which started so well) have we thrown a 2 goal lead or conceded in the last few minutes? TOO BLOODY MANY, THAT'S WHAT :evil:
:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :( :( :shock: :? :shock: :( :arrow: :( :twisted: :?:

[latviancheese]

At the end of the day, you shouldnt lose 2-0 leads. And you shouldnt miss that massive thing from 12 yards.

Oh wells.

[Whitters]

I have to say that a professional footballer who can't score a penalty is beneath contempt.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could say "great! It's going to penalties, we have a 100% record with penalties so there will be no problem".
Or maybe it's in our DNA to miss them?
Useless clowns.

[Bernie]

A bad performance all round.

I have defended Hemmings, but he was very poor tonight. The bubble has well and truly burst.

[KoloSaddler]

Maybe because Taundry is cack. Brady is cack and falls over to much.

[mel58]

I can't begrudge Vale the win - they're obviously a very useful side to have turned over Tranmere in the previous round and to be performing how they are in the League. Great turnout by their fans too.
Got to feel sorry for Darlow,who well deserved the MOTM award then performed heroics in the penalty shoot-out but was the man who missed our last penalty.

We need Chambers back as an option in the middle. Whilst Cuvelier continues to graft for 90 minutes, he needs to play a more withdrawn role when Chambers is not holding the middle of the park, to allow Featherstone and Baxendale to do their thing. Tonight I think the two of them were increasingly overun and ineffective as the match wore on: Vale are big, athletic and have a fair bit of skill too and we couldn't compete. I think both of them could do with a rest, but we don't have the depth in the squad to do that. I think we missed Purkiss on the right, who, for all his defensive frailty, is a more adept and versatile user of the ball than Taundry.
Patterson had one of those nights which showed up his limitations. Some of his decision-making was awful and he ran down blind alleys far too often.
For our game to be effective we need to keep the tempo of our play up and for all the possession we had tonight we made few real chances, Darlow being by far the busier keeper. Our goals came from a penalty and from Grigg's persistence in chasing a lost cause which he followed up with a smart finish. Vale scored from two very good moves and were more fluent throughout the 90 minutes.
Disappointing tonight but hopefully we'll take our frustration out on our Shropshire neighbours this Sunday in the second of a three game fiesta of long-standing local derbies.

[Bristol Fan]

A poor mans Julian Gray

I guess you're referring to Jamie Paterson, who isn't fit to be mentioned in the same breath as Julian Gray.

It was an entertaining game tonight (both keepers had a lot to do, and pulled off a few very good saves each) but others are right that we should never have let a two-goal lead slip. Our fringe players don't look very good (Hemmings was rubbish, Downing a very long way from being good enough). Even when we were in control of the game in between our first goal and theirs, it was so often the case that we had a good spell of possession in midfield but there was no movement at all further up the pitch, so it rarely led to anything. Grigg works his socks off but when he's running the channels, if nobody rushes forward (and they don't) then it's very unlikely to lead to anything. Cuvelier is nowhere near as effective as part of a midfield four but I understand why Smith is reluctant to go back to 4-5-1 - Bowerman is probably unsuitable as a lone striker right now, Grigg is never going to be prolific, so whichever of them plays, you're so reliant on the midfield for goals. Maybe Flo could be tried as a wide midfielder?

Saying all that - if the same 11 that started on Saturday had started today (and in particular Holden instead of Downing) then I think we'd have won.

[IHTC.]

No, I was refering Hemmings as the poor mans Julian Gray

[Duke]

3 home games 3 defeats , as the bubble burst ,big game for us now at the New Meadow

[Willenhall Saddler]

Subs: Brandy on for Hemmings, and Jones on for Baxendale.

83 minutes, Bowerman on for Grigg.

Taundz has been booked btw.

Deano is partly to blame for the penalty fiasco YET again.Why oh why did he take designated penalty taker Grigg off? Ok Grigg hasn't scored many BUT the fact of the matter remains he took his designated penalty taker off knowing there was a chance of penalties to come :? and why was Bopwerman on the bench? You don't drop your leading goalscorer.Vale didn't, he scored.

[KoloSaddler]

Think George had a slight knock.

[saddlerJP]

Agree with dropping/resting bow. Grrigg is on international duty on Sunday, if Bow got injured we'd be going to Shrewsbury with Brandy as our goal threat. Taking Grigg off with a few mins to spare with pens looming was a bit silly though

[WFC_Rob]

I couldn't make it to the game last night, but I don't think there's any need for us to start panicking too much.

We've all been saying how shallow our squad is, so it's pointless to assume we can compete in two competitions - even if the JPT only involves sides from our league and the one below.

Holden and Bowerman have been two of our best performers so far this season, but looked very jaded at the weekend and needed a rest - Bowerman in particular, who picked up a knock last Tuesday and didn't look the same player on Saturday. Smith gave the two of them a rest and now they should be fresh for Sunday, so it's job done in that respect.

Of course, it's a bit of a concern that we surrendered a two goal lead and lost on penalties yet again, but damaged limitation was the name of the game. The squad came out unscathed and we should have a few of our best players back and firing on all cylinders come Sunday.

[Bernie]

A very poor performance all round.

Why did Dean Smith sign Paul Downing? He looked every bit as bad as we feared - he is nowhere near League One standard. He should have prevented both the shots that they scored from: the first one he deliberately dodged, turning his back as the forward prepared to shoot and making himself as small as possible so the ball would not hit him, and the second went through his legs. He does not know how to win the ball in the air, and most referees will not let him get away with raising his arms to push opponents out of the way when jumping for the ball. We have to hope that Butler and Holden do not get any suspensions or injuries. If and when that happens then Smith will have to get an immediate emergency loan signing.

Hemmings was dreadful. I had real hope that he would be a big signing for us - but his first touch, his decision making, his passing and his involvement in the game were all very poor.

Febian Brandy showed why has not scored a competitive goal since 19th December 2009. For a striker to go over 1000 days without a goal and not want to take one of the first five penalties in a shoot-out is shocking. Brandy has not scored a goal since he was aged 20. He is now 23, so while he should have been reaching his peak as a young striker aged 21 and 22 he did not trouble the record-keepers. Will he score a goal before he is 24 in February?

Grigg again worked pretty hard. I would love to see him or Bowerman alongside a dominant centre-forward.

[brummie saddler]

to bath saddler

the last time we won on penalties was during our golden spell

we played reading away and martin butler missed on penalties.

im not sure if it was the next round that we wont on to play blackburn away and then lost on penalties (the zadrilic wonder goal game) darren wrack was the villan who missed.

[tinned]

I would love to see him or Bowerman alongside a dominant centre-forward.

Many of us ahve been calling for this since August. We got shouted down as people who wanted to resort to last season's hoofball tactics. Nothing could be further from the truth .... we DESPERATELY need someone up top that can ask a few questions and get a bit physical. The start to the season has been wonderful but that doesn't mean we should pretend that the rest of the season will follow the same pattern. We've been found out and can no longer answer the questions oppo team ask of us, it's time for another option.

[WFC_Rob]

I would love to see him or Bowerman alongside a dominant centre-forward.

Many of us ahve been calling for this since August. We got shouted down as people who wanted to resort to last season's hoofball tactics. Nothing could be further from the truth .... we DESPERATELY need someone up top that can ask a few questions and get a bit physical. The start to the season has been wonderful but that doesn't mean we should pretend that the rest of the season will follow the same pattern. We've been found out and can no longer answer the questions oppo team ask of us, it's time for another option.

I agree - that would equip us well for the rest of the season and should have been acted on earlier. Having some kind of target man, or someone who can hold the ball up with his back to goal will improve the way we play - whether we play a 4-5-1 or a 4-4-2.

We're now victims of our own success in a way because we started well, so Smith wants to keep faith with the team he's played since the start. Whilst I can understand why he took the decision to do that, if we've been found out, we'll find it harder to recruit a striker as we slide down the table than we would have done when we were in the top six.

Smith wasted a salary on Brandy, as far as I'm concerned. He can't play up front on his own, he struggles to play down the middle altogether because he's not intelligent enough, and we don't need him as a winger.

[wfc & chips]

brandy would've scored had bowerman (i think?) squared the ball to him when he was unmarked 2 yards out. poor decision. their 1st goal looked deflected, their 2nd a foul on butler, whose passing was unrecognizable by the way. they could've also lost their captain in the 1st half after he brought down grigg who was through. downing looked comfortable in possession but was bullied in the 2nd half by pope, he kept giving up on winning the header & trying to win the ball afterwards, which he consistently failed to do. he rectified this, winning unconvincing headers which gave other defenders chance to clear. if he strengthens i believe he'll prove to be an asset in the future.

all in all a thriller with some cracking passing football. don't usually watch shoot-outs but both 'keepers had been sensational so i hung about. we lost a lottery on the 'keeper's pens, so what? i'm impressed by the bravery shown by our young team & management, if only it were shared by the fans. the anguished howling which greets any extended spell of possession is embarrassing, and can only pile needless pressure on the man on the ball. we're heading in the right direction after some awful years, the fact that fans seem incapable of enjoying it is ludicrous to me.

[Bernie]

their 1st goal looked deflected, their 2nd a foul on butler, whose passing was unrecognizable by the way.

There may have been a slight deflection for the first goal, but it was within the first yard on its way to goal as it perhaps brushed Downing's heel when he was turning away, making himself small and trying to get out of the way of the shot. There was no foul on Butler before the second goal - he misjudged the flight of the ball and got tangled up in the feet of a Vale player, it would have been a foul to Vale had the referee not played the advantage. Downing should not have allowed Pope a shot through his legs.

all in all a thriller with some cracking passing football. don't usually watch shoot-outs but both 'keepers had been sensational so i hung about. we lost a lottery on the 'keeper's pens, so what? i'm impressed by the bravery shown by our young team & management, if only it were shared by the fans. the anguished howling which greets any extended spell of possession is embarrassing, and can only pile needless pressure on the man on the ball. we're heading in the right direction after some awful years, the fact that fans seem incapable of enjoying it is ludicrous to me.

There must be something wrong with me, because I am ludicrously incapable of enjoying seeing Walsall lose three home matches in a row.

[Mal]

A loss is a loss even suffering three on the bounce but sometimes the performance gives hope which is what we have with this current set up

[Darth Vader]

their 1st goal looked deflected, their 2nd a foul on butler, whose passing was unrecognizable by the way.

There may have been a slight deflection for the first goal, but it was within the first yard on its way to goal as it perhaps brushed Downing's heel when he was turning away, making himself small and trying to get out of the way of the shot. There was no foul on Butler before the second goal - he misjudged the flight of the ball and got tangled up in the feet of a Vale player, it would have been a foul to Vale had the referee not played the advantage. Downing should not have allowed Pope a shot through his legs.

all in all a thriller with some cracking passing football. don't usually watch shoot-outs but both 'keepers had been sensational so i hung about. we lost a lottery on the 'keeper's pens, so what? i'm impressed by the bravery shown by our young team & management, if only it were shared by the fans. the anguished howling which greets any extended spell of possession is embarrassing, and can only pile needless pressure on the man on the ball. we're heading in the right direction after some awful years, the fact that fans seem incapable of enjoying it is ludicrous to me.

There must be something wrong with me, because I am ludicrously incapable of enjoying seeing Walsall lose three home matches in a row.

You won't go to Shrewsbury away because of our own supporters, must be something wrong with you.