Barnsley (A) League One 7th March, 3pm

[paddy]

6 points off play off & 9 off relegation

[Guest]

See what happens when you sack your manager.

[Welsh_Saddler]

There's one statistic that rules out any excuses......in 90 minutes we didn't manage to put ANY accurate attempts on Barnsley's goal. Their keeper could quite legitimately have played outfield.

Strange, because at Yeovil our forwards (and midfielders) were queuing up and having pot-shots. Deano???????

[yoda]

Their keeper could quite legitimately have played outfield.

Not really as if there were an empty net we would have been shooting at it every time we went into their half.

[Welsh_Saddler]

Their keeper could quite legitimately have played outfield.

Not really as if there were an empty net we would have been shooting at it every time we went into their half.

You reckon? :wink:

[yoda]

Yes.

..... I didn't say we'd hit it though! :oops:

[Guest]

2 shots today (both off target). 2 goals in the last 6 games. Wembley is not going to be a goalfest.

[Optimistic]

See what happens when you sack your manager.

Yes, you lose 2-3 at home to Port Vale.

[TheSwift]

Had a last minute change of heart and decided to wash the car instead of sleep. Glad I did as I wouldn't even had got 40 winks!

We might not have got a clean sheet, but I got a clean car! :mrgreen:

[aaaae]

As much as keyboard warriors like to berate coaches about their tactics and how the team should have played, through the season the main factor in the success of a team is the quality of the players in the squad.

Today we were missing 3 of our first XI midfield, Forde, Cook & Mantom. Clearly we don't have the quality in the squad to absorb this. No surprise that we lost to a team like Barnsley.

[TheSwift]

2 shots today (both off target). 2 goals in the last 6 games. Wembley is not going to be a goalfest.

It will be, just not coming from us :) :(

[TheSwift]

Us:
51% possession
1 shot
0 on target
3 corners
10 fouls
2 offsides

Barnsley:
49% possession
16 shots
8 on target
4 corners
7 fouls
4 offsides

[philthesaddler]

Another tactical masterclass from Deano I see.

[stig231]

No surprise that we lost to a team like Barnsley.

Yes, a functional, hard working team who do the basic things reasonably well. Centre backs who head it and clear it, wide men who run at players and get the ball into the box, forwards who get in there to be on the end of chances and are more clinical than ours and who usually score with their first attempt on goal in either or both halves.

Unfortunately there are lots of 'Barnsleys' in League One, and after 4 and a bit years Smith still generally struggles to find a way to beat them.

[philthesaddler]

No surprise that we lost to a team like Barnsley.

Yes, a functional, hard working team who do the basic things reasonably well. Centre backs who head it and clear it, wide men who run at players and get the ball into the box, forwards who get in there to be on the end of chances and are more clinical than ours and who usually score with their first attempt on goal in either or both halves.

Unfortunately there are lots of 'Barnsleys' in League One, and after 4 and a bit years Smith still generally struggles to find a way to beat them.

Indeed, and all the more surprising that he leaves two of our better built players (Cain and OConnor) on the bench in favour of the likes of Baxendale and Flanagan.

It's a flimsy squad, not only in size but also in physical stature, partly to do with our budget, but also down to Smiths philosophy of signing non entity type players that are neither one thing nor another.

[chestersaddler]

A rare tatoring away from home.

Looking forward to Ancient Moaner's match report, providing of course that he hasn't slit his gizzard on the way home :D

[belgiansaddler]

whatever AM posts he has not slit in a gizzards yet, he just dropped me off �

that excuse for a performance today was truly shocking. Absolutely woeful and embarrassing. yes we have 30,000 going to wembley but there were 350 there today who deserved for the team at least to turn up. Disgusted by the performance, glad in saw a few mates. Apart from that it was disgraceful. Blame sarcasm, the pitch, the ref whatever. All bollox. TAoday was because the players weren't interested and had their eyes on Wembley. That performance is not far from Gillingham away in THAT match. Totally gutless and embarrassing

[Darth Vader]

Inconsistant

[Guest]

Us:
51% possession
1 shot
0 on target
3 corners
10 fouls
2 offsides

Barnsley:
49% possession
16 shots
8 on target
4 corners
7 fouls
4 offsides

We were 100% better than that. TWO shots - one from Hiwula and one from Cain. According to the BBC, anyway.

I'll post the highlights later.

[TheSwift]

Us:
51% possession
1 shot
0 on target
3 corners
10 fouls
2 offsides

Barnsley:
49% possession
16 shots
8 on target
4 corners
7 fouls
4 offsides

We were 100% better than that. TWO shots - one from Hiwula and one from Cain. According to the BBC, anyway.

I'll post the highlights later.

Depends who you trust more, the Beeb or Sky.

[Super Gabor]

whatever AM posts he has not slit in a gizzards yet, he just dropped me off �

that excuse for a performance today was truly shocking. Absolutely woeful and embarrassing. yes we have 30,000 going to wembley but there were 350 there today who deserved for the team at least to turn up. Disgusted by the performance, glad in saw a few mates. Apart from that it was disgraceful. Blame sarcasm, the pitch, the ref whatever. All bollox. TAoday was because the players weren't interested and had their eyes on Wembley. That performance is not far from Gillingham away in THAT match. Totally gutless and embarrassing

Was it worse than last Saturday against Orient?

[hullsaddler]

First the only positives 1. what a glorious warm sunny afternoon. 2. I caught an earlier connection home at Doncaster.
Apart from that .... GOD THAT WAS GRIM.There were no redeeming features at all, unless we sparkled after their 3rd, when I left. Poorest performance I've seen this season. It was WOEFUL. It will be embarrassing at Wembley if we play remotely like that. Barnsley weren't that good but they didn't have to be. Truly depressing.

ps not sure why I mixed up Lalkovic with Ledesma in an earlier post .. Advancing years is only excuse

[belgiansaddler]

One of these days smith needs to come out and hold his hands up. His credibility is plummeting due to the fact he never accepts any blame, it's always someone else's fault. Today was atrocious. Gutless, spineless and pathetic. I am in smith in camp but unless he comes out and owns up to this shambles I will be moving the other way. Wembley or not. Disgusting performance

[JonnyOwen]

Deano blames the pitch.

Grass is green and O'Connor isn't a RB.

[hullsaddler]

My first ever visit to Oakwell was for the game in the Milk Cup run.
The only things that were different today were ... Oakwell, our performance and attitude, the result, the weather & the time of day.

I also found a £10 note on the terraces that night ( sorry if it was yours)

[otherbournemouthsaddler]

Just got in.

My Review:

FIFTY SHADES OF fudge cack!

The End

[Sadsfan]

The excuses are embarrassing.

[Ancient Moaner]

Well, what can be said about that performance that hasn't been covered by Belgian?..Not a lot, he's used all the adjectives that are available....gutless, embarrassing, spineless, woeful, pitiful, tragic, this HAS to have been the very worst performance from a Walsall team that I can recall seeing in many, many years!
If it hadn't been for the great company today, it would have been a slit your wrist job!
This is NOT a football team, it is just a pitiful excuse. Smith MUST apologise publicly for this appalling display, and if he doesn't, then I'm sorry but it's time for him to move on........
No plan A or indeed plan A.....no attacking ability whatsoever, Barnsley were 'there for the taking' they aye particularly good, but they made us look like a Sunday Morning pub side with no organisation, no flair and no ability...I've reff'd better teams in the West Yorks Heavy Woollen Gate League!
I'm now dreading Wembley, it may end up as a record defeat in the competitions history.
We are soooo bad, I cannot see us getting to that magic 50 point mark, and we SHOULD start looking over our shoulder to those relegation spots, cus unless there is a minor miracle/new manager syndrome, we look doomed to be in that relegation scrap come May time.
Woeful embarrassment. Sad times, with the exception of a good day out in 14 days time (when we will attract another NIL extra supporters for the future). We have nothing but a relegation debacle to look forward too.
Why have we all wasted soo many years following this shambles of a club?

[stig231]

No surprise that we lost to a team like Barnsley.

Yes, a functional, hard working team who do the basic things reasonably well. Centre backs who head it and clear it, wide men who run at players and get the ball into the box, forwards who get in there to be on the end of chances and are more clinical than ours and who usually score with their first attempt on goal in either or both halves.

Unfortunately there are lots of 'Barnsleys' in League One, and after 4 and a bit years Smith still generally struggles to find a way to beat them.

Indeed, and all the more surprising that he leaves two of our better built players (Cain and OConnor) on the bench in favour of the likes of Baxendale and Flanagan.

It's a flimsy squad, not only in size but also in physical stature, partly to do with our budget, but also down to Smiths philosophy of signing non entity type players that are neither one thing nor another.

i'm not really saying Smith should fill the team with 6 ft 3 inch bruisers who can play a bit but just a little bit of mixing it up wouldn't hurt sometimes. if we had a team who could score an Arsenal like 20 passes team goal then they would be playing for err Arsenal not mid table in Lge 1.

I can't have a go at Smith for playing Flanagan. Cain has looked like he needed a break for a few weeks, Flanagan scores 2 in the reserves the other week and played well in a win at Yeovil according to the commentary.

As for Baxendale, he has been a real disappointment. He just hasn't improved at all and you know he is going to be subbed if he starts, its a matter of when not if. Same for Grimes too. So you are pretty much already 1 sub down.

I am Still Smith in and prefer the idea of having a team with more (to varying degrees) promising youngsters as opposed to a team full of has been or never will be journeymen. The problem with that is around this time each season we start saying the likes of Forde, Cook, Sawyers will be better for having a season of first team football behind them. Obviously every one cant work out but how many years do you give it till you get the year where it all clicks?

Oh and please stop with the excuses, every team has bad days, rough decisions, injuries, and suspensions but how you deal with them is the art of management. Whinging generally gets you nowhere and after 46 games you usually finish where you deserve to.

[Sadders]

Make no bones about it, that was my lowest point of the Smith reign. Today was no better than the 5-1 vs Coventry at the Ricoh.

I can't even describe how bad this was. A top 3 instant worst performance ever candidate (since 2004). We didn't have a single shot on goal. We didn't force one even half chance. We didn't get into there box even ONCE. How much you can blame the players or Smith is questionable, but that was 11 gutless twerp running around a pitch chasing shadows, not tackling, not working, not closing down, keeping an eye towards more glamorous days. It was pathetic, the very worst performance I can remember in many years. When I say we didn't have possession in the Barnsley box, I'm not joking. When I say Bradshaw touched the ball 5 times and ALL of them were bad, I'm not joking.

The most worrying aspect? Our most important players were the most culpable and our most energetic player was a loan player. I'll put it down to Wembley, but Smith needs to question whether he can consistently motivate this team to perform to a similar level week in week out, because this was totally unacceptable.

Andy Taylor, a lost sheep, stuck in between the regular 8/10 weekly performance and a pub player who doesn't know how to kick a football. Adam Chambers, a slow, plodding, old, ineffective mindlessly boring crab, with no desire to affect the game positively in any way, shape or form - today just stuck another nail in his release come May. Tom Bradshaw, slow, rubbish first touch, completely uninterested - displayed the very WORST attitude of any of our players today, don't care whether he's scored 16 goals, to not even compete for headers with 30 minutes left on the clock is unprofessional and it stinks.

Reece Flanagan, weak, slow, out of his depth. Baxendale, a skinny little twig of a man who belongs on the stage, not a football pitch. Useless. The less said about Ashley Grimes, the better, just send him to the non league. Finally, let's just get round to James O'Connor - once of Championship pastures (how). The very worst 45 minute performance I have seen from a player wearing a Walsall shirt in many years. Abhorrent. Slow. Pathetic. Never a full back in the reign of football fullbacks. Why does he insist on either A) Diving in and getting skinned and B) Standing off and letting a player score or shoot? Total rubbish, fine him 2 weeks wages to save the club some money and then loan or end his contract.

I do think to myself, what could Smith have done differently? He was right to start with that XI, the one who won at Yeovil on Tuesday. But it just begs the question, why couldn't we perform to the same level? Barnsley were okay, have good players and are in good form all over the pitch - but they had 1 shot/chance in the first half and barely did a thing until the second goal, at which point we just caved in and let them run us ragged all over the pitch. Personally, I'd have played Cain over Flanagan, it wasn't the right day to stick him in against a better quality and much more experienced opposition.

The positives? Barely any. Sawyers looked interested and we actually held the ball when he had it. Hiwula, excellent again. Real good find by Smith. James Chambers and Downing were 'okay', O'Donnell did okay too - could have claimed the first goal? Mantom will play for the reserves in the week, Cook and Forde (Boy did we miss Forde today) should be back in action next week. 3 first teamers that would go straight into our best starting XI.

I do love Deano and today was more the players than him, but the excuses.. (I mean a 20mph fudge breeze and 'we cant play in these conditions) are a massive 2 fingers up too anybody that was there and paid to watch this god awful pile of dogshit.. I was pleased to see the entire 11 and Smith walk passed the away end and look completely ashamed to have put that performance in, it at least shows they care. Never seen a final whistle go before and not one single fan stop and clap the players. Smith knew that one was unacceptable and I saw O'Kelly lose the plot with our midfielders a couple of times, that gives me hope that the media stuff is just public protection of our players and that he did rip them a new one in the dressing room.

Ratings -

O'Donnell - Meh, made one good save. Looks like he should have claimed the opener. Poor goal to concede. 6

Purkiss - Poor. Didn't attack once, kept hoofing it. Not sure whether he went off injured or tactically. 5

Chambers - Average. Made some decent tackles but he has a mistake in him. 6

Downing - Best of the back 4. Headed and defended well generally, but the constant aimless hoofing must stop. 7

Taylor - Awful, absolutely awful. Lost confidence and pace. Looks tired. Constantly skinned. Didn't get forward once. 2

Baxendale - Embarassing. Hopefully his last game in a Walsall shirt. 1

Chambers - The absolute summarisation of Smith's 'central midfield'. Negative. Slow. Ineffective. Release him. 2

Flanagan - Not the right game to play him. Got bullied out of it and gave it away far too often. 4

Hiwula - Excellent again from Jordy. Worked hard, got up and down. Must wonder why he's surrounded by retards. 8

Sawyers - Played well in fairness. Still a bit sideways and backwards at times. But we only retain the ball with him. 6

Bradshaw - Terrible. Didn't win a thing. Gave up after the hour. Eyes on Wembley or annoyed at Hiwula from taking the 'number one' place from him. Very poor. Don't care if he's scored 16, today was pathetic - especially attitude wise. 1


SUBS

O'Connor - Beyond abysmal. Send him to slaughter. -5.

Cain - Hard to comment, didn't do much really. 4

Grimes - Honestly? Just rip his contract up. 2.



Can't describe how awful and deflating this was. A 4 year low. Players need a really long look at themselves or else they will lose so much confidence that they will force themselves into a completely needless relegation battle. Cook and Forde back immediately. Any player that doesn't perform to 100% between now and Wembley, doesn't play on the day.

Be happy you missed it.