Peterborough United (A) League One Mon 6th Apr, 3pm

[JJunior9]

Decent performance, defensively sound again with good build up play...

However we have zero end product, as well as over complicating things offensively too. At one point A Chambers went passed 2 and instead of shooting from just outside the six yard box tries to go passed another. At another Sawyers from a similar position chose to lay off the ball to Morris further away from goal than shoot himself.

Morris and Cain my MOTM's offensively. Morris was excellent, inventive and carried the ball well. I think he needs to play on the left however as he likes to cut in on his left foot which doesn't look as good as the right. Cain was the only one willing to shoot!

JonnyOwen, you were clearly watching the same game as me. O'Connor was excellent, Morris showed potential and Cain had 3 good chances to hit the target (and was narrowly wide with all of them, with the goalkeeper well-beaten).

Totally agree with the Chambers 'Maradona-dribble' before passing backwards (?) and Sawyers straight through and turning back to pass #scaredtoacceptresponsibility

My favourite lowlight was when Forde broke clear, wondered whether to break into the box and take on the out-of-position covering centre-half or to arrow a slide-rule pass to Hiwula on the back-stick: what did he do? Float one straight out of play under no pressure at all...

I don't know about anyone else but the highlight was the half-time entertainment when some young lad pinged a 60 yard chip into a skip to win himself £250. I wonder how many of the Walsall forward-line could show such accuracy. Maybe Deano should bring in some barn-doors and banjoes into training on Monday...

[The Bosted Slab]

The most striking thing for me was that although it ultimately had no positive impact on the result, two of the three substitutions were timely and may have had chance to take effect.
I was encouraged that the seemingly sacrosanct Sawyers was taken off, a decision that was screaming out to be made.
Mantom's introduction however was largely ineffectual and I think the decision to play him in an advanced position was a mistake, as I don't believe that he is match fit enough yet. It would have been far better to push Cain forward, as up to that point he had been involved in a few moves leading to ultimately poorly executed shooting opportunities for him. Cain seems to me to have lost his defensive abilities and although he busied himself he wasn't really challenging for the ball properly with full commitment.
Hiwula should have been given a little time centrally before being substituted, as I don't see the sense of playing someone who is supposed to be a central striker wide left, especially as he has scored goals for us.
As frustrating as he can be, I thought Cook did quite well and I think it was a mistake to take him off when he did, albeit very late in the game, as he was still causing their defence a few problems.
Morris had a very encouraging game, especially in the first half where he showed good skill, with trickery, ball retention and a willingness to close down and tackle. He was a little less effective in the second half, but still a candidate for our best overall performer.
Defensively we weren't troubled too much and the back four played okay. Taylor looked much better than of late, with O'Connor the pick of the four. James Chambers seems to be struggling a bit for some reason, as the composure that he used to show has deserted him and a lot of his clearances ended up being rushed, miss-hit flaps at the ball into midfield.
As pleased as I was to see Bakayoko get on the field, it was too late and in reality reduced our attacking prowess.(not sure if we actually have attacking prowess!!)
If you could take the match out of the serious context in which we find ourselves, i.e. relegation fight, inability to score enough goals, underperforming etc., then I thought we did okay as an away performance and in fact I would go so far as to say that we generally looked composed and in control. Unfortunately such levels of general performance may not be sufficient for us retain our third division status, as six points, or possibly more, may need to be accumulated from somewhere. The overwhelmingly great failing of this team to score goals was highlighted yet again by our approach of seemingly wanting to either walk the ball into the net, or at best slowly trot the ball into the net. We at times managed the walk and slow trot bit, but alas not the "in the net" bit.
Very worrying times and no consolation in the fact that we look every bit as good, or bad, as most of the other teams we play. Peterborough for all their investment looked a poorer team than us and there can be no excuses for our failure to have scored/won.

[Guest]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MihmCdwePVI

[Cully]

I'm not sitting on the fence Phil, I am still fully behind the club, which includes the manager and the players.

I would be interested why this would be the case unless you've not seen the team play, you admire a team that doesn't score goals and has played over the past two seasons in probably the most mind numbing and one dimensional way, you accept that any negative outcome obtained by the team is the direct result of a rather tenuous raft of excuses presented by the manager which include 'fans making sarcastic comments to the players' [Orient home], 'the pitch was a little bit bumpy' [Barnsley away] and 'we've been very unlucky this season' after losing all three home games in a row at the turn of the year conceding 10 and scoring 2 goals.
If there is any positive aspect of SMITHOUT's managements ability other than his loyalty to certain players and his defensive attributes, some might praise his brown shoe/tracksuit combo last seen away at Chesterfield - not me I hasten to add, that I might have missed feel free to enlighten me. His results record, ranks him as one of the worst ever Walsall managers, a record that I believe would have already seen his departure at any other club other than our own.
Week after week, month after month and it appears season after season we see the same pattern, hopeless chancy signings - quantity not quality, long win less runs, abject displays and inventive excuses as a reward for those of us, who for no better reason, still continue to support the team through thick and thin.
Dean Smith has had his chance [four years], time to move on Dean and let someone else have a go.

[Andy_Petterson]

Great result.

[chestersaddler]

I'm not sitting on the fence Phil, I am still fully behind the club, which includes the manager and the players.

I would be interested why this would be the case unless you've not seen the team play, you admire a team that doesn't score goals and has played over the past two seasons in probably the most mind numbing and one dimensional way, you accept that any negative outcome obtained by the team is the direct result of a rather tenuous raft of excuses presented by the manager which include 'fans making sarcastic comments to the players' [Orient home], 'the pitch was a little bit bumpy' [Barnsley away] and 'we've been very unlucky this season' after losing all three home games in a row at the turn of the year conceding 10 and scoring 2 goals.
If there is any positive aspect of SMITHOUT's managements ability other than his loyalty to certain players and his defensive attributes, some might praise his brown shoe/tracksuit combo last seen away at Chesterfield - not me I hasten to add, that I might have missed feel free to enlighten me. His results record, ranks him as one of the worst ever Walsall managers, a record that I believe would have already seen his departure at any other club other than our own.
Week after week, month after month and it appears season after season we see the same pattern, hopeless chancy signings - quantity not quality, long win less runs, abject displays and inventive excuses as a reward for those of us, who for no better reason, still continue to support the team through thick and thin.
Dean Smith has had his chance [four years], time to move on Dean and let someone else have a go.

Hello Cully.

I have seen less games this season than in the previous 4 or 5, mainly due to work commitments coupled with geography, so no , I have not been able to see first hand the amount of games as you and others have. I do, however, listen to most games on Sadsworld and read the match reports on here.

I also try to take a balanced view with respect to the expectations I have of the club that I have supported for 45 years through thick and thin (mainly thin) and what appears to be a poor offering on the pitch of late.

I like Dean Smith, he comes across as a hard working, genuine bloke - by no means perfect, but he's OK by me. As Walsallone has posted, we are a couple of strikers from being a decent side.

I also agree with PT that we need to focus more on quality rather than quantity. Let's hope Dean learns from this.

I suppose it boils down to the fact that Walsall's position in the football hierarchy doesn't mean as much to me as being a Walsall supporter.

I'm in Spain for a few days yet, but will be at Swindon.

[Whitters]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MihmCdwePVI

Cheers - nice - could have been 1-1 judging by this snippet.
Nice bit of skill by our bloke too.

[Neuromantic]

I went - we were good in two thirds of the pitch and absolutely pitiful when it came to anything resembling an attack. I know this word is banded about on here a lot... but I mean it in it's truest form... when we get into the final third we are clueless, absolutely clueless. There is no width, no urgency, no flow, no aim... I could go on.

Smith has the summer to sort this out - if not... goodbye.

[Whitters]

I went - we were good in two thirds of the pitch and absolutely pitiful when it came to anything resembling an attack. I know this word is banded about on here a lot... but I mean it in it's truest form... when we get into the final third we are clueless, absolutely clueless. There is no width, no urgency, no flow, no aim... I could go on.

Smith has the summer to sort this out - if not... goodbye.

Why leave it until then - he's had 4 years to sort it out.
If you had an employee that couldn't sort an essential part of their job out after 4 years you'd get rid.
They should be a well oiled attacking machine with dazzling interplay by now FFS.

[chestersaddler]

I went - we were good in two thirds of the pitch and absolutely pitiful when it came to anything resembling an attack. I know this word is banded about on here a lot... but I mean it in it's truest form... when we get into the final third we are clueless, absolutely clueless. There is no width, no urgency, no flow, no aim... I could go on.

Smith has the summer to sort this out - if not... goodbye.

Why leave it until then - he's had 4 years to sort it out.
If you had an employee that couldn't sort an essential part of their job out after 4 years you'd get rid.

Not if you were asking him to polish a turd and put up with all the grief whilst you were raking in the cash.

[Whitters]

I went - we were good in two thirds of the pitch and absolutely pitiful when it came to anything resembling an attack. I know this word is banded about on here a lot... but I mean it in it's truest form... when we get into the final third we are clueless, absolutely clueless. There is no width, no urgency, no flow, no aim... I could go on.

Smith has the summer to sort this out - if not... goodbye.

Why leave it until then - he's had 4 years to sort it out.
If you had an employee that couldn't sort an essential part of their job out after 4 years you'd get rid.

Not if you were asking him to polish a turd and put up with all the grief whilst you were raking in the cash.

Chester, half the people on here would be able to take a few strikers and midfield players at any level and drill them to play well together over a period of 4 years with them being in 4 or 5 times a week.
I don't see the problem.
Either the cattle are mind-numbingly dumb or the bosses aren't focussing on the right things.
Or the bosses haven't got the capabilities.
Surely there are coaches/ex players who can help if our people aren't up to it.

Look at that snippet again.
Is Sawyers helping Cain? No.
Does Cain take the right option? No.
Analyse and put right - analyse and put right FFS.
It shouldn't be a no-scoring low-percentage please-yourself free-for-all.

Whatever Smith and co are doing it's not donalding working is it?

[chestersaddler]

It depends what 'working' is.

'working' for Uncle Jeef, maybe maintaining Div 3 status with an affordable budget and achieving windfall transfer fees to help pay back his loans.

[Cully]

:lol:

I love your posts Chester, can you please stop winding everyone up?

SMITHOUT :arrow: PERIOD