Chesterfield (A) League One Mar 28th 3pm

[WFC_Rob]

Has he really come out and said we'll win next week if we play like that again?! That was the worst I've seen us play this season and we wouldn't beat any of the relegation scrapers in the league below with that sort of display, let alone Notts County. Their manager came out and said how poor they were today, yet ours comes out and makes that claim? It's plain daft.

We were really careless with the ball, but even more worrying was just how timid we were. I don't think the number of tackles made by players in red even reached double figures. When I say careless with the ball, I mean long aimless balls looped up either onto Ian Evatt's head or out for a throw in. It was really windy out there, which made it all the more frustrating that we spent most of the game hoofing the ball from back to front.

I'd be interested to see how many people still want to argue that Sawyers shouldn't be in the side, because without him we're even more toothless. We ended up bringing on Benning, a player who wasn't good enough for a place on the bench two months ago, in an attempt to change the game, which shows how weak our squad is.

I'd class myself as still being a fair way off joining the Smith Out camp, but I'll be changing my mind if we serve up much more of what I saw today. He needs to prove today was a bad day at the office rather than a sign of what's to come.

[SoccerHQ]

Poor result no question. Smith seen to go for the play for a 0-0 when you hit a sticky patch run which has happened a few times this season and today it came unstuck.

I still can't see this team going down although I concede it's looking a bit tighter than a few weeks back. If you're talking about 50 points with a decent goal difference being the bar....then this team can eek out 4 draws from the Notts, Crawley, Crewe, Fleetwood and Oldham games no question although I'd prefer to see a better finish than that.

[JAL-WFC]

Today just showed how tactically inept Smith is.

Without Sawyers, today was the perfect chance to play Baxendale in his natural position: no. 10.

Bax in the middle, Cook and Forde on the wings and Hoola Hoop up front was probably most people's starting line up?

But Smith throws up his Plan B!!!! YES THATS RIGHT LETS PUT BAXENDALE ON THE WING AND PLAY JORDAN BLOODY COOK UP FRONT. Smith is a moron. Also is Cook Smith's best mate or something? The kid needs dropping, been useless this season. Most disappointing signing of the season. Give Grimes a run out, at least he occasionally scores.

He FINALLY plays 442 when we only have one recognised striker in the whole squad? Why didn't he play it last week when both Hiwula and Bradshaw were 'fit' to play? Absolutely mindless.

If you look at the players who were on the pitch at the very end you can just see how weak our squad is. Benning wasn't wanted at York yet we bring him on to try and change a game? Don't like slating young players but Benning is not a winger/full back or even a footballer in any sense of the imagination.

Reece Flanagan needs to go to the gym. Along with Baxendale. And Ford. And Cook. We are so light weight its embarrassing.

Hiwula has a nice first touch though. Needs to play along side a more direct striker a la Bradshaw. Reckon it would be quite a nice partnership in league 2.

"We wont miss Butler".... oh the naivety! We probably have the smallest centre backs in the entire football pyramid. Good use of the budget Smith. Moron

I dont think we will go down simply because there are 4 even worse teams than us in this division. Which is quite amazing if you think about how utterly crap we are!

Boring boring boring. Bye bye Smith. Wont even thank you for Wembley because you couldn't even motivate the players to give a decent performance for us to remember.

SMITHOUT

[Ancient Moaner]

Has he really come out and said we'll win next week if we play like that again?! That was the worst I've seen us play this season and we wouldn't beat any of the relegation scrapers in the league below with that sort of display, let alone Notts County. Their manager came out and said how poor they were today, yet ours comes out and makes that claim? It's plain daft.

We were really careless with the ball, but even more worrying was just how timid we were. I don't think the number of tackles made by players in red even reached double figures. When I say careless with the ball, I mean long aimless balls looped up either onto Ian Evatt's head or out for a throw in. It was really windy out there, which made it all the more frustrating that we spent most of the game hoofing the ball from back to front.

I'd be interested to see how many people still want to argue that Sawyers shouldn't be in the side, because without him we're even more toothless. We ended up bringing on Benning, a player who wasn't good enough for a place on the bench two months ago, in an attempt to change the game, which shows how weak our squad is.

I'd class myself as still being a fair way off joining the Smith Out camp, but I'll be changing my mind if we serve up much more of what I saw today. He needs to prove today was a bad day at the office rather than a sign of what's to come.

How many 'bad days at the office' must we endure, before Bonser et al realise that to serve up this bilge week in week out will end up with us in Division 4. Sure there may be 4 weaker sides below us, but, with the exception of possibly Crawley & Yeovil, our competition for the final two places are fighting like stink for survival....we are just surrendering without a fight...it's just embarrassing. :(

[SaddlerSteve]

Has he really come out and said we'll win next week if we play like that again?! That was the worst I've seen us play this season and we wouldn't beat any of the relegation scrapers in the league below with that sort of display, let alone Notts County. Their manager came out and said how poor they were today, yet ours comes out and makes that claim? It's plain daft.

We were really careless with the ball, but even more worrying was just how timid we were. I don't think the number of tackles made by players in red even reached double figures. When I say careless with the ball, I mean long aimless balls looped up either onto Ian Evatt's head or out for a throw in. It was really windy out there, which made it all the more frustrating that we spent most of the game hoofing the ball from back to front.

I'd be interested to see how many people still want to argue that Sawyers shouldn't be in the side, because without him we're even more toothless. We ended up bringing on Benning, a player who wasn't good enough for a place on the bench two months ago, in an attempt to change the game, which shows how weak our squad is.

I'd class myself as still being a fair way off joining the Smith Out camp, but I'll be changing my mind if we serve up much more of what I saw today. He needs to prove today was a bad day at the office rather than a sign of what's to come.

How many 'bad days at the office' must we endure, before Bonser et al realise that to serve up this bilge week in week out will end up with us in Division 4. Sure there may be 4 weaker sides below us, but, with the exception of possibly Crawley & Yeovil, our competition for the final two places are fighting like stink for survival....we are just surrendering without a fight...it's just embarrassing. :(

You only have to look at the guano that we endured with the likes of Merson & Hutchings who the club seemed intent on supporting to the bitter end to realise that Smith is unlikely to be going anywhere soon. Even as crap as Merson & Hutchings were it still took near riots from supporters to get them sacked!

[Cully]

I'm back safely and will have to consider carefully my report on the latest pile of SMITHOUT rubbish whilst drawing my bath and bathing.

Back soon........................

[Big Dave wfc]

The whole set up is all wrong, this brand of football, the way we conduct ourselves on the pitch, everything lacks a bite a bit of nastiness, we are not combative in the slightest. So little desire even at wembley they couldn't get up for it and the players need to take a share of that with smith,

The gaffer spunked the budget on deadwood signings who have since come in and a few have gone, ad I'd love to ask him this, how many of this current crop would any other league 1 team want or indeed I would want to be playing in a Walsall top next yr.

ROD. Downing. Henry, kinsella, mantom, forde, Bradshaw, Sawyers

Not including hiwula and Cain because they are not ours, the rest I couldn't care less but to see the back of them.

Fed up with it all, not renewed season ticket for next season, had nothing to change my mind size=150][/size]

[Big Dave wfc]

People stop banging on about Baxendale being played in his natural position, he's not a league one footballer, he's tat, get rid, he don't deserve another chance, same goes for a lot of them, absolute dregs

[bushbury red]

Piss poor got the feeling its going to go down to the last game of the season Bristol city away

[PT]

The soul of Walsall FC back in force in the stands.

Unfortunately it was still sadly lacking on the pitch.

Three points for the taking but we were so lightweight against a physical side. Bax, Forde and Cook basically got out of the way when physical danger looked even a remote possibility.

We looked better when two of those went off, but conceded in by far the most likely way a goal was going to come today. Why, when we are likely to lose a lot of first ball from set pieces, we don't have a player on the back stick is a mystery.

Thought O'Connor was our MOTM today. The rest? Meh.

I think there's a very good chance we'll go down. Is there anyone other than our deluded manager who fancies us on Friday?

At least our players will surely have to shut up about the play-offs now. Even to that bunch of limp, uninspiring and feeble-minded group of ahem, "men", it must be obvious we're in a right old relegation fight.

[superjorge]

Was a definate Smith in.. Now..umm like many getting splinters. If he plays one up front again next week and keeps the deadwood in team. We're doomed..I say doomed. Plus we must beat creepy Crawley and Crewe. Can we???
You decide

[lemlinspire]

Spireite in Peace

Apologies to those 400+ Walsall fans who made the trip today. By far the worst game I have seen home or away all season and if possible both teams should have gone home with 0 points from that drab affair.

If you didn't go ( well done ) don't look at the BBC stats and think it tells a story of a dominant CFC team. We had more possession ( did nothing with it ). Had more shots on target ( Not sure I would count some of those as real shots. More like passes to your keeper ). Had a bucketful of corners ( which were wasted ).

We certainly didn't deserve to win and I am sure we will play better and get less ( Like last weekend ).

Chin up guys. I will say I thought you were well organised at the back but just needed to break out of defense quicker, especially against teams that over commit going forwards ( Like us )

Whilst the game itself was absolutely dire I wouldn't say as a team you were one of the worst 4 teams I have seen this year and I would be surprised if you were to go down.

Good luck for the rest of the season

[hullsaddler]

Thought we weren't as awful as last week and thought we were going to hang on for a draw. ROD is a great shot-stopper & has made crucial saves in numerous games but why does he bother practicing catching crosses before the game? He stays rooted to his line and doesn't dominate his 6 yard box at corners. It's as if he's afraid he'll catch Ebola if he ventures out. This is such a basic part of goalkeeping & it's something he seems to be lacking. Thus today's goal. Thought Taylor had a terrible game and Purkiss not much better. O'Connor definitely the pick of the defence. We did at least have one or two efforts on goal... Mantom's effort in first half looked close ... did not have a very good view of us hitting the bar.
Smith still seems to have a fair amount of support given the chants of 'Ginger Mourinho' etc. Last week convinced me that sadly we need a change & I didn't see anything to convince me otherwise today. My final game of the season ... if we had won then I would have seen 4 wins, 4 draws & 4 defeats but sadly not. Just hope my next game isn't at Hartlepool (pleased they are making a fight of it) or York.

[BathSaddler]

A 1-0 defeat.

Told you so :( . 4 goals in 10 games tells it own story.

Very worried now...

[Cully]

.............bored with stating the obvious, it appears even previous defenders of SMITHOUT have finally stopped posting guff with the exception of those who still laughably think that every defeat for the third season in a row is 'a bad day at the office' :lol: utterly deluded :roll:

Nice pint of John Smith's in the Rose and Crown opposite the ground although a few of the occupants might have dubious DNA. Usual suspects in our following broke into 'Ginger Mourinho' and 'Dane O, Dane O give us a wave' a couple of times replacing it near the end with 'Dane O Dane O sort it out' but apart from that and a couple of 'Smith fudge off's' no change from the resigned look on the faces around me as we left.

[JonnyOwen]

Don't think we won a single second ball today either.

[Wragbyred]

Spireite in Peace

Apologies to those 400+ Walsall fans who made the trip today. By far the worst game I have seen home or away all season and if possible both teams should have gone home with 0 points from that drab affair.

If you didn't go ( well done ) don't look at the BBC stats and think it tells a story of a dominant CFC team. We had more possession ( did nothing with it ). Had more shots on target ( Not sure I would count some of those as real shots. More like passes to your keeper ). Had a bucketful of corners ( which were wasted ).

We certainly didn't deserve to win and I am sure we will play better and get less ( Like last weekend ).

Chin up guys. I will say I thought you were well organised at the back but just needed to break out of defense quicker, especially against teams that over commit going forwards ( Like us )

Whilst the game itself was absolutely dire I wouldn't say as a team you were one of the worst 4 teams I have seen this year and I would be surprised if you were to go down.

Good luck for the rest of the season

Can I just thank a supporter of an opposition team for giving a single line description of the 2014-2015 version of WFC
Hopefully it will get better

[IHTC.]

Don't think we won a single second ball today either.

And yet Dumbo was on the radio saying that they had discussed the weather conditions and that it would be a '2nd ball game', that talk went well :roll:

[TheGilbertAlsop]

It was a poor game today but we have played worse than that this season. It is a major concern that we are conceding goals from corners, not creating enough chances and not scoring any goals.
Our midfield was awful. Baxendale, Flanagan, Forde, Mantom, Benning did nothing at all and were too easily knocked off the ball. Both Taylor and Purkiss didn't contribute enough. Hiwula was left to feed off scraps. Cook was better further forward - he is most definitely not a left winger.
O'Connor was MOTM.
Having said all that though it was fairly even until Chesterfield brought their bigger players on and started to dominate the game more. Walsall's substitutions had almost no impact at all.
What is worrying is that there were lots of arguments between the Walsall players. I saw Mantom having a go at Purkiss, O'Donnell having a go at Purkiss and a general feeling of dejection when the goal went in.
Baxendale needs some time out the team altogether. It would have been nice to see him play more centrally today because he isn't a winger. He should start playing more games for the reserves.
Oh dear!

[Sadders]

I'll give my match reports in short bullet points.

- How can the likes of Chambers/Taylor/Mantom/Bax/Purkiss/Chambers be the same lads that left me buzzing with pride after Molinuex 20 months back?

- Smith won't play 4-4-2 ever again. We look weak in midfield when we do.

- For the first time ever, we don't look a team under Smith. Today and in recent weeks has been 10 outfield strangers. The best term I can think of is 'cohesion'. We lack it, severely at the moment. Be it confidence. Be it form. Not sure, but the flowing football of old has evaporated, today we didn't pass it on the floor once.

- We would be 10 points better off with Andy Butler. People said we wouldn't miss him. Clueless bafoons. He won 95% of aerial battles, he lead the team, sometimes with posture, sometimes with mouth, mostly with attitude - but it set the tone. Chambers as captain? I've never seen an ounce of emotion on either of their faces. Neither do enough, neither are captain material. Bin Adam especially.

- Sawyers isn't perfect, but Smith has built his team around him. Our entire team is slow, weak and not up for a physical battle. Both wingers lack pace and when they can't skin a man, they cut inside and look for Sawyers, they did it today, but with no Sawyers there we had nobody to hold it. He has bad days, but Sawyers is the core of any ball retention high up the pitch we have and without him, we are much worse. It's no coincidence that at Oldham away, Scunthorpe away and today we had nothing up top, played 4-4-2 in each game and got battered.

- ALL of our outfield attacking players are 'summer' players. When we are 2-0 up and dominating a game...they are fantastic...when we go behind, need to work hard, need to tackle or track a man, put a foot in during a 50-50 they are...nowhere. Cook/Forde/Bax/Benning/Flanagan/Sawyers to a degree.

- Purkiss, half the player recently. Andy Taylor? The rarest thing I've seen happen in a Walsall shirt. A great player 6 months ago. I'd drop him for Rico Henry if he was fit now. Adam Chambers? Our inspiring all action leader? No, just no. Cook today, abhorrent. Weak, not up for it, just down right dire. Forde, anonymous, poor defensively.

- The game itself? Chesterfield played well, but we defended well. However, the sheer volume of crosses and corners were going to lead to something eventually. Truth is, they were nice and pretty bit toothless, like we are so often. Butler smashes that corner clear. Does ROD have glue in his boots when the ball leaves the ground? We deserved a point but our attacking game was dire. We got over-run and didn't win a single second ball ALL afternoon. We improved when Smith went 4-5-1 with Cain - Mantom - Flanagan. I'd play that permanently from now on, stick Sawyers behind Hiwula and Bradshaw. Baxendale needs binning, he's pathetic.

- I could handle the defeats early in the season, regardless of results, some of the performances were decent and our team was just gelling together. The last 5 games I've seen, to me look like the result of a team who can't motivate themselves or aren't being motivated sufficiently by a 'soft' manager. If Smith thought today was good, I'm actually becoming genuinely concerned that he's probably relaying that to the dressing room, at which point our players think today and recent weeks have been acceptable. That's critically, totally wrong. Lacking cohesion, lacking fighters, lacking physical presence. We have a squad of nice possession players..nice Summer players. They aren't up for a relegation battle. I'm telling you right now.



My 20/1 with Bet 365, dropped nicely to 14/1 today... Any takers yet?

I can firmly say, from 100% stoichly in the Smith camp..I am teetering this evening. For the first time ever. Please repay my faith Dean as this would honestly be, the most unnecessary relegation in League 1 and Walsall FC history. It really is, just needless.

[Derbyshire Saddler]

Living just 10 minutes from the Proact this was a fixture I couldn't miss even though I'm skint after the Wembley weekender. I went with my father-in-law (Spirerites fan) and agreed to sit in the east stand amongst the home fans, this was my first visit to the Proact and the first time I've ever sat with the opposing fans. It was such a strange feeling being surrounded by my new neighbours whilst looking at the away end of 400+ fellow Saddlers who made me feel very proud today, much more than the ever increasing cack displayed on the pitch. For the full 90 minutes our hardcore support sang non stop and put the Spirites to shame, half time the home fans found a drum from somewhere which livened them up slightly but not much. The song of the day which really made me laugh was 'you can stick your crooked spire up your ass' ending with 'sideways' classic moment for me because they do really love their iconic spire :D I found the Chesterfield fans to be very patient, even though their performance on the pitch was as dull as ours, the fans around me didn't get stuck into the team unlike we do at home, I do feel we show our frustrations at home way to early which seems to affect the team, but to be honest that's the least of our problems at home. To think I was hoping for bragging rights up here, no chance, we played our usual non penetrative sideways/backwards football but today we expanded on our new approach which we used at Wembley, and that is the 'hoof ball'. For a team that prided itself on possession passing football (with or without an end product) why on earth have we now decided to play aimless long balls, especially in the windiest place I've ever lived within a low profile stadium with open corners? Our short passing was scrappy and we gave the ball away too easily. Bax has got to go, I've never rated him and think he's lightweight, when he got substituted a fan behind me said "look at him, he looks like a child" which I agree with, time to let him go I'm afraid. Mal Benning wasn't as bad as some make out, ok he's not great but at least he got stuck in to them, which others didn't. Thought O'Connor had a good game but know many don't rate him on here. Hiwula I feel sorry for, where the hell is his service? (Same applies to TB) He's constantly running around like a headless chicken looking for space, does he receive a well placed ball down the middle? fudge does he, the ball will go sideways or backwards. Ive made it well known on here that I'm SmithIn but the run up to Wembley, Wembley itself and this brainless performance today has finally put me in the SmithOut camp. I like the guy I really do but he seems to have lost the plot, the players don't seem to be playing for him and the excuses are embarrassing.

[tinned]

just needed to break out of defense quicker

Mate, I've seen mould advance at a faster rate than we "break" out of defence.

[SWS1]

We'm Worsul, ay we?
:(

[Tom_1992]

Great support from the travelling fans today.... And that's probably the only positive thing to say, so I'm going to leave it there! :D

[Whitters]

From Bob's Board "I didn't see the goal coming. Walsall can have no complaints mind as they looked a poor side and played with little intent to win the game themselves. "
There's heaps of posts like this.
Smith has had the side for 4 years now, why are they playing like this then?

[saddler79]

As bad as I am also feeling after that today I also only want to leave it on a positive and will bite my lip. Just to say a massive fair play to the walsall fans today. Sung loud and proud non stop for 90 minutes. No booing, or jeering or negativity in front of a game and 'performance' that was beyond dire. Well done lads!

[Leatherman]

I'm going to stay positive:
- supporters? Great and deserve better.
- somebody at the club must have Alan Buckley's telephone number.

That is all.

[Andy_Petterson]

I'll give my match reports in short bullet points.

- How can the likes of Chambers/Taylor/Mantom/Bax/Purkiss/Chambers be the same lads that left me buzzing with pride after Molinuex 20 months back?

- Smith won't play 4-4-2 ever again. We look weak in midfield when we do.

- For the first time ever, we don't look a team under Smith. Today and in recent weeks has been 10 outfield strangers. The best term I can think of is 'cohesion'. We lack it, severely at the moment. Be it confidence. Be it form. Not sure, but the flowing football of old has evaporated, today we didn't pass it on the floor once.

- We would be 10 points better off with Andy Butler. People said we wouldn't miss him. Clueless bafoons. He won 95% of aerial battles, he lead the team, sometimes with posture, sometimes with mouth, mostly with attitude - but it set the tone. Chambers as captain? I've never seen an ounce of emotion on either of their faces. Neither do enough, neither are captain material. Bin Adam especially.

- Sawyers isn't perfect, but Smith has built his team around him. Our entire team is slow, weak and not up for a physical battle. Both wingers lack pace and when they can't skin a man, they cut inside and look for Sawyers, they did it today, but with no Sawyers there we had nobody to hold it. He has bad days, but Sawyers is the core of any ball retention high up the pitch we have and without him, we are much worse. It's no coincidence that at Oldham away, Scunthorpe away and today we had nothing up top, played 4-4-2 in each game and got battered.

- ALL of our outfield attacking players are 'summer' players. When we are 2-0 up and dominating a game...they are fantastic...when we go behind, need to work hard, need to tackle or track a man, put a foot in during a 50-50 they are...nowhere. Cook/Forde/Bax/Benning/Flanagan/Sawyers to a degree.

- Purkiss, half the player recently. Andy Taylor? The rarest thing I've seen happen in a Walsall shirt. A great player 6 months ago. I'd drop him for Rico Henry if he was fit now. Adam Chambers? Our inspiring all action leader? No, just no. Cook today, abhorrent. Weak, not up for it, just down right dire. Forde, anonymous, poor defensively.

- The game itself? Chesterfield played well, but we defended well. However, the sheer volume of crosses and corners were going to lead to something eventually. Truth is, they were nice and pretty bit toothless, like we are so often. Butler smashes that corner clear. Does ROD have glue in his boots when the ball leaves the ground? We deserved a point but our attacking game was dire. We got over-run and didn't win a single second ball ALL afternoon. We improved when Smith went 4-5-1 with Cain - Mantom - Flanagan. I'd play that permanently from now on, stick Sawyers behind Hiwula and Bradshaw. Baxendale needs binning, he's pathetic.

- I could handle the defeats early in the season, regardless of results, some of the performances were decent and our team was just gelling together. The last 5 games I've seen, to me look like the result of a team who can't motivate themselves or aren't being motivated sufficiently by a 'soft' manager. If Smith thought today was good, I'm actually becoming genuinely concerned that he's probably relaying that to the dressing room, at which point our players think today and recent weeks have been acceptable. That's critically, totally wrong. Lacking cohesion, lacking fighters, lacking physical presence. We have a squad of nice possession players..nice Summer players. They aren't up for a relegation battle. I'm telling you right now.



My 20/1 with Bet 365, dropped nicely to 14/1 today... Any takers yet?

I can firmly say, from 100% stoichly in the Smith camp..I am teetering this evening. For the first time ever. Please repay my faith Dean as this would honestly be, the most unnecessary relegation in League 1 and Walsall FC history. It really is, just needless.

Given we are the 2nd lowest scorers in the division, how would you describe those who said we wouldn't miss Craig Westcarr who scored and assisted around 30 goals last season?

[IHTC.]

I'm going to stay positive:
- supporters? Great and deserve better.
- somebody at the club must have Alan Buckley's telephone number.

That is all.

Buckley? ? :lol: :lol: :lol:

He would have to be desperate for work to accept a job off WFC, he's still quite bitter towards the people who run the club.

[IHTC.]

I'll give my match reports in short bullet points.

- How can the likes of Chambers/Taylor/Mantom/Bax/Purkiss/Chambers be the same lads that left me buzzing with pride after Molinuex 20 months back?

- Smith won't play 4-4-2 ever again. We look weak in midfield when we do.

- For the first time ever, we don't look a team under Smith. Today and in recent weeks has been 10 outfield strangers. The best term I can think of is 'cohesion'. We lack it, severely at the moment. Be it confidence. Be it form. Not sure, but the flowing football of old has evaporated, today we didn't pass it on the floor once.

- We would be 10 points better off with Andy Butler. People said we wouldn't miss him. Clueless bafoons. He won 95% of aerial battles, he lead the team, sometimes with posture, sometimes with mouth, mostly with attitude - but it set the tone. Chambers as captain? I've never seen an ounce of emotion on either of their faces. Neither do enough, neither are captain material. Bin Adam especially.

- Sawyers isn't perfect, but Smith has built his team around him. Our entire team is slow, weak and not up for a physical battle. Both wingers lack pace and when they can't skin a man, they cut inside and look for Sawyers, they did it today, but with no Sawyers there we had nobody to hold it. He has bad days, but Sawyers is the core of any ball retention high up the pitch we have and without him, we are much worse. It's no coincidence that at Oldham away, Scunthorpe away and today we had nothing up top, played 4-4-2 in each game and got battered.

- ALL of our outfield attacking players are 'summer' players. When we are 2-0 up and dominating a game...they are fantastic...when we go behind, need to work hard, need to tackle or track a man, put a foot in during a 50-50 they are...nowhere. Cook/Forde/Bax/Benning/Flanagan/Sawyers to a degree.

- Purkiss, half the player recently. Andy Taylor? The rarest thing I've seen happen in a Walsall shirt. A great player 6 months ago. I'd drop him for Rico Henry if he was fit now. Adam Chambers? Our inspiring all action leader? No, just no. Cook today, abhorrent. Weak, not up for it, just down right dire. Forde, anonymous, poor defensively.

- The game itself? Chesterfield played well, but we defended well. However, the sheer volume of crosses and corners were going to lead to something eventually. Truth is, they were nice and pretty bit toothless, like we are so often. Butler smashes that corner clear. Does ROD have glue in his boots when the ball leaves the ground? We deserved a point but our attacking game was dire. We got over-run and didn't win a single second ball ALL afternoon. We improved when Smith went 4-5-1 with Cain - Mantom - Flanagan. I'd play that permanently from now on, stick Sawyers behind Hiwula and Bradshaw. Baxendale needs binning, he's pathetic.

- I could handle the defeats early in the season, regardless of results, some of the performances were decent and our team was just gelling together. The last 5 games I've seen, to me look like the result of a team who can't motivate themselves or aren't being motivated sufficiently by a 'soft' manager. If Smith thought today was good, I'm actually becoming genuinely concerned that he's probably relaying that to the dressing room, at which point our players think today and recent weeks have been acceptable. That's critically, totally wrong. Lacking cohesion, lacking fighters, lacking physical presence. We have a squad of nice possession players..nice Summer players. They aren't up for a relegation battle. I'm telling you right now.



My 20/1 with Bet 365, dropped nicely to 14/1 today... Any takers yet?

I can firmly say, from 100% stoichly in the Smith camp..I am teetering this evening. For the first time ever. Please repay my faith Dean as this would honestly be, the most unnecessary relegation in League 1 and Walsall FC history. It really is, just needless.

Given we are the 2nd lowest scorers in the division, how would you describe those who said we wouldn't miss Craig Westcarr who scored and assisted around 30 goals last season?

Deluded just like the ones who think Smith is doing a great job. Westcarr did more in one season than what Sawyers has done in 3 (just to add I am not a Sawyers knocker)