Swindon Town (H) League 1 Saturday 10/11/12.

[pumajaguar]

Very poor, we have really reverted back to type.

Didn't quite realise how much we relied on Cuvellier until seeing us play without him. We never looked like creating a chance let alone scoring a goal.

Grof just isn't good enough in my opinion. He is erratic, unpredictable and must be playing a part in the defence being so badly organised. Where is Jimmy?

Taundry was poor, Holden seems to be getting worse, even Butler is starting to look shaky. Manning was excellent though when you consider it was his first ever start, he seemed confident and always wanted the ball, almost scored and made a great block to deny them.

Patterson and Baxendale, both have good touch and technique and are useful players when the team is playing well, but when we are up against it they disappear. Both are very lightweight and do very little in the way of defending.

When will Smith open his eyes and realise we need a centre forward with some presence who can make the opposition defenders realise they are actually in a game. A big man could also help to bring the likes of Patterson, Bax, Bowerman and Grigg into play.

Not brining Bowerman on until the 83rd minute was pure madness. Smith certainly seems to have his favourites and other players have to put in a blinder just to get a place in the eleven!

Another relegation dog fight beckons.

[boringteacher]

Yeah but I don't know if you noticed that Grof is right footed? So what does Featherstone do with time and no one around him? Pass it to Grof on his left foot!!!!! Most outfield players fall over if they try and kick the ball with their wrong foot so Grof will be no different. At the end of the day Featherstone shouldn't be bloody passing the ball back! Especially when we're losing

Featherstone, under pressure with yet again no outfield options to go to, passed it back to his keeper who had plenty of time to deal with it - and didn't. I was a bit quick on Grof yesterday because I thought that he should have saved the 2nd from seeing it 100 yards away. Having seen it again, it would have taken an excellent save and he can't really be faulted for it.

He is an excellent shot stopper (2 good saves yesterday), but that isn't enough. He needs to be out of the team asap for 2 reasons. First, he still has shown no ability to dominate his box - even given our fantastic man marking, the 2 corner goals were scored from around the 6 yard box on Tuesday night - even the dwarf Swindon played yesterday showed how a keeper should deal with crosses that close in. More importantly, the excuse for a defence that we have has absolutely zero faith in him - I thought Butler was going to stick one on him after the Featherstone incident. You can blame the management in part for this - Darlow was a damaging waste of time - but I dont think you can teach a keeper how to organise a defence. If Wacka can jump six inches off the floor, he should be in the team on Tuesday night and if he aint fit enough for a run of games, Smith better add a keeper to the 3-4 outfield players he needs to sign.

[Neuromantic]

Richard Taundry is one of the worst players I have ever seen.

[IHTC.]

Why are people shocked and say even 'Butler looked average'? Is that because he is? Yes he is still our best defender we have had in recent times but my god just because he kisses the badge he's no messiah. Compare him to Forbes, Barras, Viveash, Ryder and Roper and he would not be fit to clean their boots. Shows how desperate we are when we hail such mediocrisy.

[Worsul]

Another defeat. What did we expect. Paulo where's nice shoes. Waves his hands and tries to encourage a poor side that won!,,,, DS look AT the positives.... BRANNING.. Well done kid. You did your dad proud today and of you had put effort in to score from half chance. you were MOTM. You have a bright future. Get out now

Manning was excellent though when you consider it was his first ever start, he seemed confident and always wanted the ball, almost scored and made a great block to deny them.

[pumajaguar]

Manning was excellent though when you consider it was his first ever start, he seemed confident and always wanted the ball, almost scored and made a great block to deny them.

Ha ha, Malvind Benning - Manning

Easy mistake to make, kind of....

[latviancheese]

Why are people shocked and say even 'Butler looked average'? Is that because he is? Yes he is still our best defender we have had in recent times but my god just because he kisses the badge he's no massiah. Compare him to Forbes, Barras, Vivesh, Ryder and Roper and he would not be fit to clean their boots. Shows how desperate we are when we hail such mediocrisy.

He is just the kind of player who thrived when we had our backs to the wall. I suspect he may come good again because we are gash again, but i feel sorry for him having to play with the other 3 defenders. Holden and Taundry who have the positional sense of three legged goats.

Holden has played right back most of his career, its no suprise he isnt hacking it at centre half.

Viveash was a class above, and Barras was a goal machine :lol:

[IHTC.]

Richard Taundry is one of the worst players I have ever seen.

Yes he is awful but every now and again he will do something that wins him another 2 games and he did that yesterday with the goal line clearance, regardless of the fact it was Taundry it was brilliant last ditch defending.

[Bernie]

Yes he is awful but every now and again he will do something that wins him another 2 games and he did that yesterday with the goal line clearance, regardless of the fact it was Taundry it was brilliant last ditch defending.

He keeps his place because of his work rate and effort. He gives everything, does what his manager tells him, and has a decent long throw. He lacks the quality to play in a good side at this level, but he has made nearly 200 appearances in a poor side at this level - the Walsall of the last five seasons.

If Taundry is in the side that means we have a poor team and will struggle in League One.

[King Crimson]

If Taundry is in the side that means we have a poor team and will struggle in League One.

Correct.

[latviancheese]

Yes he is awful but every now and again he will do something that wins him another 2 games and he did that yesterday with the goal line clearance, regardless of the fact it was Taundry it was brilliant last ditch defending.

He keeps his place because of his work rate and effort. He gives everything, does what his manager tells him, and has a decent long throw. He lacks the quality to play in a good side at this level, but he has made nearly 200 appearances in a poor side at this level - the Walsall of the last five seasons.

If Taundry is in the side that means we have a poor team and will struggle in League One.

Correct. He is also cheap as chips, like the rest of them.

[chestersaddler]

Yes he is awful but every now and again he will do something that wins him another 2 games and he did that yesterday with the goal line clearance, regardless of the fact it was Taundry it was brilliant last ditch defending.

He keeps his place because of his work rate and effort. He gives everything, does what his manager tells him, and has a decent long throw. He lacks the quality to play in a good side at this level, but he has made nearly 200 appearances in a poor side at this level - the Walsall of the last five seasons.

If Taundry is in the side that means we have a poor team and will struggle in League One.

Correct. He is also cheap as chips, like the rest of them.

You can't put a price on chips at Walsall

[wednesburysaddler]

few positves
---------------
1) was better than tuesday
2) banning looks good player
3) grof had a better game fact
4) brandy looked like he has some pace

negatives
-----------
1) couldnt have been any worse than tuesday but i still went expecting us to lose so wasnt against what i thought
2) banning would look good in a team full of rubbish
3) grof still looks like a v poor goalkeeper not a patch on jimmy clayton or trevor wood
4) brandy runs like forest gump but has no end product


i have a season ticket but ive decided not to go tuesday so i can save my 12 pounds to spend at crawley
doesnt make me a stayaway im sure my 12 pounds wont make any difference apart from bonsor wont take 6 quid of it for his pension fund.

i really hope we can scrape a win against lincoln maybe it may give us some confidence but i really worry that were going to lose yet again.

[Jolly Johnny]

So we've now had Branning, Manning and Banning. Is Malvind Benning the new Osborn/Osbourne/Osborne/Osbourn? :mrgreen:

[IHTC.]

So we've now had Branning, Manning and Banning. Is Malvind Benning the new Osborn/Osbourne/Osborne/Osbourn? :mrgreen:

haha so funny :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Cowshed]

Slightly better performance, thought we were in for a 5 or 6-0 job after 2 minutes when they took the lead. Thought we might of snook an equaliser at 1-0, but the 2nd really killed the game. Grof is worse than Jon Brain, he scares our defence and everyone infront of him, his decision making is pathetic, kicking woeful - but of course he made 2 regulation saves (that I could have made) and he'l be accepted as a decent league 1 keeper - my backside, he's garbage.

...

Grigg tried hard, but got nothing out of their centre halfs who doubled up on him. Thoose calling for 4-4-2 need to realise we need 5 in midfield, we already look weak at the back with 5. Last season 2 central midfielders, Flo and Mantom played and we got trounced on at the back frequently, they need protection.

Rubbish.

Firstly, you criticise Grof heavily... Was it Grof who let their winger in behind our defence after 59 seconds and let him get a cross in from inside the box? No. Grof has no chance if thats the way theyre going to defend. And the 2nd goal was a hard low shot, I dont think he had a chance with that. He then made 2 good saves, one he tipped on to the post, one he palmed out, so it could have been 3 or 4 nil without Grof.

I do agree that he's not the best keeper we've ever seen, but theres only so much blame you can lay at his door. Did you see some of the passbacks to him today? The defence is nervy, and that doesnt help the keeper either.
Secondly, you then go on to say Grigg tried hard... were you watching the same game? I didnt see the centre halves doubling up on him, were you seeing double? Did he make a single run? Did he chase anything down? Did he win a single header? Did he have a single shot?

The answer to the questions above is the same... NO.

When the ground was built why was it decided that the stand facing west should be the home end? The season is played mainly in the winter months when we often get low lying Sun. Because we always kick towards the away end 1st half our keeper always gets the setting sun directly in his face. During the second half the sun has set behind the stand so the away keeper does not have the same problem. 8)

[Delandrodney]

Did anyone really expect us to win against Swindon? Malvind Benning nervy start got a lot better and looks like a prospect.

[kshammer]

My (late) opinions..,

1. Benning looks good.
2. Feel sorry for Grigg who got no decent service.
3. Butler and Holden are cack against any half decent ball that means they have to turn or move slightly.
4. Grof is rubbish but Saturday wasn't his fault.
5. Smith is a bellend for not bringing our top scorer on earlier.
6. Brandy is particularly tat.
7. As is Taundry.
8. Chambers is useless - him being in there is ruining Featherstone.
9. We need right back, centre half, winger, ball winning midfielder, striker and experienced goalie.
10. Without Flo we are hopeless.

[saddlertd]

Why all this moaning about Taundry? I thought he played okay on Saturday considering he had absolutely no cover from Baxendale or Brandy and so was invariably having to defend against two attackers more or less on his own. I agree about Grof: he doesn't command his box and therefore puts pressure on his defence. Adam Chambers has had it now and should be dropped as should Baxendale. When Taylor is fit, I would even consider playing Benning/Branning/Manning on the left side of midfield. We do need at least 3 quality players: a keeper, centre-half and target man, but I suppose if we had an extra £400k a year to play with then perhaps we could afford them. Now where could we get such an amount?!! Bonser/Suffolk Life out!!

[Bernie]

So we've now had Branning, Manning and Banning. Is Malvind Benning the new Osborn/Osbourne/Osborne/Osbourn? :mrgreen:

Whatever his name, he was the one bright feature against Swindon. Is he our first Sikh player? There are not many Sikh players in the league.

Grigg once again showed that he needs someone alongside him who can win the ball in the air. On the one occasion when he did get a header he spent the next minute rubbing his head. I am sure it would help his career if he became a Sikh. He could grow his beard again and nobody would be allowed to laugh at him, and if he wore the turban he might be a bit less reluctant to make contact with the ball with his head.

[bangsection]

So we've now had Branning, Manning and Banning. Is Malvind Benning the new Osborn/Osbourne/Osborne/Osbourn? :mrgreen:

Benign was my favourite. Almost certainly a smart phone autocorrect but I'm still going to refer to him as "Malvind Benign" for ever.

[latviancheese]

Whatever his name, he was the one bright feature against Swindon. Is he our first Sikh player? There are not many Sikh players in the league.

The only other Sikh player i can think of ever to play pro at our level is Baichuny Bhutia. Nicknamed the Sikkamese sniper! :lol:

[kshammer]

Wikipedia says Netan Sansara is of Indian origin - not sure whether he was a Sikh though.

[Bernie]

Wikipedia says Netan Sansara is of Indian origin - not sure whether he was a Sikh though.

I assume that Sansara is of Hindu descent. If he were a Sikh he would have Singh in his name.

While Malvind Singh Benning's religion will not matter a jot to Walsall fans, if we were to have a successful Sikh player it would encourage local members of the Sikh community to take an interest in the club.

[4143]

if we were to have a successful Sikh player it would encourage local members of the Sikh community to take an interest in the club.

True. You can't move for Hindus at Bescot since Sansara's debut.

[latviancheese]

I know a few Sikh lads that go down the bezzla occasionally and look out for Walsall scores. To me thats progress from them supporting Arsenal. :mrgreen:

[chestersaddler]

I know a few Sikh lads that go down the bezzla occasionally and look out for Walsall scores. To me thats progress from them supporting Arsenal. :mrgreen:

Does he have windows in his house?