Port Vale (A) League One 5 Apr, 3.00pm

[latviancheese]

Nahh its not happening is it. Pfft.

Its the hope that kills you anyway.

[chestersaddler]

fudge it :evil:

[TheSwift]

It will be interesting to hear what Bakayoko was like

[philthesaddler]

It's not been happening since it became patently clear that we just don't score enough goals.

We're almost perfectly mediocre - won 14, drawn 14 and lost 13 with a goal diff of +2

Mediocre doesn't get you in to the playoffs

[tinned]

It's been blatantly bloody obvious we wouldn't score enough goals for most of the season. Nothing was done about it for way too long. And then when something was done we brought in someone who I'm sure has never watched a football game let alone played in one as a professional.

[Guest]

Still, we had 7 out of 9 shots on target. Should please somebody.

[JAL-WFC]

Surely this is a cause for celebration?!?!

On current form, we will be finishing below mid-table which is great because we wont be relegated!!! Fantastic season, well done all.

Not as if we DID have an opportunity to seriously challenge the top six but screwed it up completely.

[Guest]

Still, we had 7 out of 9 shots on target. Should please somebody.

Surely this is a cause for celebration?!?!

On current form, we will be finishing below mid-table which is great because we wont be relegated!!! Fantastic season, well done all.

Not as if we DID have an opportunity to seriously challenge the top six but screwed it up completely.

Obviously not JAL...

[mosaddler]

play off position push all but over. :(

[Guest]

It's over.

[geoffwhiting]

Massively disappointing result. For a team supposedly fighting for a play-off spot, there are no excuses for losing this vital last-chancer. Especially lousy result as Wolves did the business for us over Peterborough. We're now even below Port Vale, and they've done the double over us this season. For me, just having to say those words is a real embarrassment!

With MKD picking up their form lately, and Posh moving 5 points ahead of us, the play-offs have looked increasingly unlikely over the last few weeks, but I don't think we have any chance whatsoever of the play-offs now. Deano will no doubt come out with the usual annoying line, saying it's still mathematically possible and we'll keep going while it is, but I don't think he or any single member of our squad will believe it can happen now. It's gone, chucked away over the last two months after promising so much. In short, same old same old!

So at best it's upper mid-table for us now, but I fear we might end up as low as 10th, and we move on to 2014/15. Can we find a combination to solve our season-long problem - goal scoring? Not while JB keeps the purse-strings so tightly knotted.

[leics_saddler]

When we are reliant on handout from the dingles, it's a sorry situation.
I'm afraid until we have a strategy to deal with teams like Part Fail we're going nowhere and deservedly so.
Well done all for a good effort this season, but I'm afraid our lack of Plan B has done for us.
Big summer to come, we need to start our preparation now.

[clawtheolder]

To be honest both teams would still be playing till August and still not scored if the crap ref had not given the penalty. Passing it around the box till you lose it won't score you goals. sexy football my A*se.

[BathSaddler]

I'm not surprised at a 1-0 defeat, and predicted as such. A lack of firepower has cost us considerably this season.

If Westcarr had not stupidly got himself sent off last week, it may have been different today.

[tinned]

To be honest both teams would still be playing till August and still not scored if the crap ref had not given the penalty. Passing it around the box till you lose it won't score you goals. sexy football my A*se.

It seems a long time since the sexy football chants doesn't it? It's all well and good playing attractive football but that soon wears off when it becomes apparent we can't finish any of it off.

[Sadders]

Absolutely dire performance with the ball.

Bullied in central midfield by a pretty woeful Vale themselves. Sawyers can kiss my piece. Baxendale, 3 year deal? Lol. He made Bakayogo look like a sumo. We had 5 or 6 players out there today that shone away from the ball, pulled out of tackles and just generally looked half arsed. Baxendale, Sawyers, Mantom, Brandy and Ngoo to an extent were all dire. James Chambers well off the pace and Adam Chambers barely stuck a foot in. Troy Hewitt's pass around the corner to Butler late on..I just can't get into it, release him now.

Positives? Butler, Downing and Taylor all defended excellently, the centre backs in particular were both excellent. I actually thought Smith took Ngoo off at the wrong point, he'd just single handedly skinned a couple of defenders and pulled a couple of great balls back. Bakayogo was excellent when he came on, he looked nervous and missed a good chance but I'm very excited by him. He looks relatively quick, he chased everything down and he has a bigger build than the likes of Bax/Milan/Brandy. Lalkovic was excellent when he came on. He skinned a few players, had 2 or 3 shots on target and just forced the issue.

Anyone who thinks Butler won't actually be considering his options this summer only needed to see how pissed off he was at the end. Trundled down the tunnel, probably pissed off that the 7 or 8 bottlers around him won't get stuck in. Although it was nice to see Milan gesturing the 'head up' sign at the end, I have no issues if he stays next season.


Smith really needs to consider his options this summer. He needs to stop worrying about being dynamic upfront and just build a squad with 2 proper centre forwards, a proper number 10 and 3 proper wingers. Last summer he tried to build a frontline with a bit of everything but missed the basic point that our forward players are a mish mash of positions, played all over the place. Oh and stick Baxendale in a gym for 3 months, if he doesn't strengthen up you mays well rip up the rest of his deal now. Butler/Taylor are my main concerns, both will be very close to leaving this summer - especially Butler and that IMO, will be our biggest loss defensively, since Dann left. Lots to replace.

[JonnyOwen]

Bakayoko and the back 5 were all excellent, Lalkovic seems to have his head in the right place and was dangerous when he came on with a definite drive to score - I hope he stays.

Ref atrocious, but we deserved to lose, toothless without our winger/attacking midfielder/striker Westcarr to carry the attack.

Ngoo is hopeless.

[BathSaddler]

Apparently, Port Fail's first double against us since Queen Victoria was on the throne. :(

[IHTC.]

Apparently, Port Fail's first double against us since Queen Victoria was on the throne. :(

Was it a number 1 or 2?

[clawtheolder]

Bakayoko and the back 5 were all excellent, Lalkovic seems to have his head in the right place and was dangerous when he came on with a definite drive to score - I hope he stays.

Ref atrocious, but we deserved to lose, toothless without our winger/attacking midfielder/striker Westcarr to carry the attack.

Ngoo is hopeless.

Smith needs to start with Bakayoko for the rest of the season to bed him in for next season, nothing to lose.

[JonnyOwen]

Michael Ngoo has got to be match fixing, how can someone who has been brought up and developed in world class youth facilities and being paid thousands of pounds worth of wage be so poor - and yet 18 year old Bakayoko who is playing his first ever senior game and has been developed by a half decent youth facility in the West Midlands be so much better than him?

[BathSaddler]

Michael Ngoo has got to be match fixing, how can someone who has been brought up and developed in world class youth facilities and being paid thousands of pounds worth of wage be so poor - and yet 18 year old Bakayoko who is playing his first ever senior game and has been developed by a half decent youth facility in the West Midlands be so much better than him?

Because Premiership academies are not fit for purpose and are not able to develop home-grown players?

Seriously though, we should have known something was up when Yeovil sent him back in October after they had initially signed him on loan for the season.

[Andy_Petterson]

Michael Ngoo has got to be match fixing, how can someone who has been brought up and developed in world class youth facilities and being paid thousands of pounds worth of wage be so poor - and yet 18 year old Bakayoko who is playing his first ever senior game and has been developed by a half decent youth facility in the West Midlands be so much better than him?

Other than a first half forward ball to absolutely nobody, the like of which i haven't seen since my primary school days, I thought Ngoo did ok. He wasn't helped by an imbecile of a ref who let Port Vale continually get away with cynical fouls. Ngoo was literally wrestled to the ground at one point right in front of the ref .At least a booking. The mild telling off the Port Vale defender received was a really just outcome and deterrent. See Also the cynical tackle from behind on Brandy in the second half.

However, although I think he tried, there is no point playing Mr Ngoo now. Let him go and just give Bakayako some game time.

Romaine Sawyers had a brilliant game, if it was a pre season friendly. Someone needs to tell him football is a contact sport.

Lalkovic can go too as far as I'm concerned. Not a team player too many stepovers.

Hope Richard O'Donnell is with us a for a good while.

[Sadders]

Michael Ngoo has got to be match fixing, how can someone who has been brought up and developed in world class youth facilities and being paid thousands of pounds worth of wage be so poor - and yet 18 year old Bakayoko who is playing his first ever senior game and has been developed by a half decent youth facility in the West Midlands be so much better than him?

Other than a first half forward ball to absolutely nobody, the like of which i haven't seen since my primary school days, I thought Ngoo did ok. He wasn't helped by an imbecile of a ref who let Port Vale continually get away with cynical fouls. Ngoo was literally wrestled to the ground at one point right in front of the ref .At least a booking. The mild telling off the Port Vale defender received was a really just outcome and deterrent. See Also the cynical tackle from behind on Brandy in the second half.

However, although I think he tried, there is no point playing Mr Ngoo now. Let him go and just give Bakayako some game time.

Romaine Sawyers had a brilliant game, if it was a pre season friendly. Someone needs to tell him football is a contact sport.

Lalkovic can go too as far as I'm concerned. Not a team player too many stepovers.

Hope Richard O'Donnell is with us a for a good while.

SURELY you can only be trolling.

Milan was excellent when he came on, fine 1 step over too many when he could have played a simple 4 yard pass to Taylor. But otherwise, he had 3 attempts on goal and played a peachy through ball to Bakayoko who couldn't quite control it. Sawyers had his worst game of the season IMO. Watched the ball just trickle passed him on a few occasions, I'm normally his biggest fan as all of our play goes through him which puts pressure on his shoulders, but he just looked half arsed today. Got right under my shaft.

[ChopperWFC]

Bitterly disappointing today. Don't think most of the players actually believed they could make the play off. Well chaps it was within touching distance but is now gone for another year.. You've shown this season that you can do it with some excellent results and performances against the leagues best . Looking at the goals of the season too they are mostly net busters so again you've shown that you can do that too. For some reason the willingness to do it for each other got lost somewhere. Today I lost count of the amount of 50/50 balls we bottled and I totally lost the plot when late on a goal down we have a corner and decide to take it short and pass it over and over till we lost the ball. Get it in the mix and pick up off the second ball. We've loved passing teams off the park at times this year but for all the possession teams aren't scared of us because they know we just don't shoot enough. Smith has baffled me too with his subs. Today he took off Ngoo just as he was making an impression on the game. Also don't understand why he hooks Brandy as he is our quickest player and get behind tired full backs late on. Sawyers needs to get a back bone as he has all the potential but will never put a foot in and is too laid back. Could be a star but has to up his game. Well done however to Milan and Bakayoko who actually looked like they wanted it. Another big chance gone and if some of those players showed half of the commitment the tremendous folk who WALKED to the game today had then we would still be in the hunt.
I've enjoyed this season a lot but will always feel it could have been so much better. Il keep dreaming as we all do as it just needs a few percent more from everyone to make it happen.
Up the Saddlers forever !!!!!

[kshammer]

Ngoo has offered nothing at all - time to cut our losses with him and go with Hewitt and Bakayoko until Westcarr is available. I really wanted him to be decent but all he is doing is preventing our own players from playing. While the play offs are still mathematically possible we need to play the best players available - he isn't one of them.

[Andy_Petterson]

Michael Ngoo has got to be match fixing, how can someone who has been brought up and developed in world class youth facilities and being paid thousands of pounds worth of wage be so poor - and yet 18 year old Bakayoko who is playing his first ever senior game and has been developed by a half decent youth facility in the West Midlands be so much better than him?

Other than a first half forward ball to absolutely nobody, the like of which i haven't seen since my primary school days, I thought Ngoo did ok. He wasn't helped by an imbecile of a ref who let Port Vale continually get away with cynical fouls. Ngoo was literally wrestled to the ground at one point right in front of the ref .At least a booking. The mild telling off the Port Vale defender received was a really just outcome and deterrent. See Also the cynical tackle from behind on Brandy in the second half.

However, although I think he tried, there is no point playing Mr Ngoo now. Let him go and just give Bakayako some game time.

Romaine Sawyers had a brilliant game, if it was a pre season friendly. Someone needs to tell him football is a contact sport.

Lalkovic can go too as far as I'm concerned. Not a team player too many stepovers.

Hope Richard O'Donnell is with us a for a good while.

SURELY you can only be trolling.

Milan was excellent when he came on, fine 1 step over too many when he could have played a simple 4 yard pass to Taylor. But otherwise, he had 3 attempts on goal and played a peachy through ball to Bakayoko who couldn't quite control it. Sawyers had his worst game of the season IMO. Watched the ball just trickle passed him on a few occasions, I'm normally his biggest fan as all of our play goes through him which puts pressure on his shoulders, but he just looked half Arsenal today. Got right under my shaft.

you've said it yourself. Milan had 3 shots on goal and ballsed up a simple pass to Taylor. This is why he is not a team player. We won't go any where with him.

Think my Sawyers comment went under the sarcasm radar. I think he bad game too.

[Sadders]

Phew, I sort of gathered the Sawyers comment was sarcastic.

I disagree with Milan though, I'm more than happy for him too shoot as the rest of our team dont. He's the only one that looked like bothering.

[hullsaddler]

We've loved passing teams off the park at times this year but for all the possession teams aren't scared of us because they know we just don't shoot enough. !

Was listening to their version of Sadworld before the game & their ex-player who does the Mick Kearns role summed us up along the lines of... " I think they over-pass the ball too much, if at times they could get the ball forward more quickly they would be a far more dangerous side.'

[chestersaddler]

We've loved passing teams off the park at times this year but for all the possession teams aren't scared of us because they know we just don't shoot enough. !

Was listening to their version of Sadworld before the game & their ex-player who does the Mick Kearns role summed us up along the lines of... " I think they over-pass the ball too much, if at times they could get the ball forward more quickly they would be a far more dangerous side.'

Did he cough down the mic?