Fleetwood Town (H) League One 11 Apr, 3pm

[Tom_1992]

Ashley Grimes is not responsible for the goal drought, he has beeen played out of position all season...blame the manager....also Grimes has been given lots of 10 minute slots to turn things around......not enough time

If you want to blame any of the players, I would point more towards Sawyers who is too slow in delivering the simple pass into space....or loses possession, but again the manager is to blame for always preferring him and not correcting his errors

Very convenient for managers to let the blame fall on low tally strikers who haven't been given a fair run....when in reality the problem is a tactical/formation one

Totally agree

I've just had a look at the games we've played this season without Sawyers in the team, some of these we played a 4-4-2 and others we stuck with a 4-2-3-1.

Leyton Orient away: 0-0 D (4-2-3-1)
Scunthorpe away: 2-1 L (4-4-2)
Colchester home: 0-0 D (4-4-2)
Oldham away: 2-1 L (4-2-3-1)
Preston away: 1-0 L (4-2-3-1)
Chesterfield away: 1-0 L (4-4-2/4-2-3-1)

Now I know 6 games isn't exactly a comprehensive guide to how we fair without him in the team, but it's hard to ignore that in those 6 games we've scored just two goals drawn two and lost four. And having watched most of the games where has hasn't played we do look even less toothless (if that's possible) than usual.

The problem is you can't centre your whole teams play around a player who has only scored 4 goals this season. It's vital in the summer that Deano signs a striker who will genuinely change a game off the bench, or have the ability to play as a two up front with Bradshaw. Just so teams have something different to think about each week, we're not exactly difficult to play against, stop Sawyers and stop Bradshaw and you've stopped Walsall. I really think Sawyers has a big part to play for us going forward, but everything just needs freshening up in the summer!

[Leatherman]

Without wishing to overstate my own footballing ability, I am convinced that I wouldn't look out of place in the team (offensively), as I am more than capable of making safe passes to a teammate across the line, or even back, punting occasionally into space or touch and I can definitely do risky fancy flicks that don't come off.

Strangely, for a humorous post, you may well have summed up our attendance situation.
People will not pay to watch football where they, rightly or wrongly, feel they can do better themselves.
Entertainment has to be performed by people more skilled than you are or it's not entertainment.

Not a lover of You've Been Framed then? :mrgreen:

[Ancient Moaner]

A good season to me is top 10 and 60 points.

Bit of a long shot now but still possible with wins v Crawley, Crewe and Oldham.

Please pray tell from whence cometh the goals to 'win' the afforesaid football matches?
As Guest so eloquently pointed out, it has been 8 hours and 8 minutes of footy between our last two.
The squad ain't exactly brimming with goal scoring nous now is it?

Crewe have let in 70 odd goals I believe so I think there will be a goal or two there, Crawley are hardly an impossible defence to score against and Oldham will just be a dead game at the end of the season.

Another way to look at it is it only requires Bradshaw to finish off one chance at any stage of the game as the backline has responded very well since Wembley or is that too much positivity for one post?

It's OK, Moaner had us down back in 2012 and that we'd be struggling in the Conference South. Don't tell him playoff chasing Fleetwood have only scored 8 more goals than us. ;)

Or that only relegated Yeovil have scored fewer goals than our inept bunch? :oops:
Still there's always Bradshaw, Bradshaw or even Bradshaw to rely on.................

[SaigonSaddler]

A good season to me is top 10 and 60 points.

Bit of a long shot now but still possible with wins v Crawley, Crewe and Oldham.

Please pray tell from whence cometh the goals to 'win' the afforesaid football matches?
As Guest so eloquently pointed out, it has been 8 hours and 8 minutes of footy between our last two.
The squad ain't exactly brimming with goal scoring nous now is it?

Crewe have let in 70 odd goals I believe so I think there will be a goal or two there, Crawley are hardly an impossible defence to score against and Oldham will just be a dead game at the end of the season.

Another way to look at it is it only requires Bradshaw to finish off one chance at any stage of the game as the backline has responded very well since Wembley or is that too much positivity for one post?

It's OK, Moaner had us down back in 2012 and that we'd be struggling in the Conference South. Don't tell him playoff chasing Fleetwood have only scored 8 more goals than us. ;)

Or that only relegated Yeovil have scored fewer goals than our inept bunch? :oops:
Still there's always Bradshaw, Bradshaw or even Bradshaw to rely on.................

Still a lot more than we got in the Conference South this season. :)

[Louise]

Highlights for me ; 1 - Had a photo/cuddle with the legend that is Ian Roperino, what a lovely Man
2 - Tinned kept me entertained with his rantings :lol:
3 - The Sun shone.

Oh and I watched 94 minutes of turgid useless football.
Will see you all at Crewe, great chippy by the ground so thats swung if for me :wink:

[Soton Saddler]

A good season to me is top 10 and 60 points.

Bit of a long shot now but still possible with wins v Crawley, Crewe and Oldham.

Please pray tell from whence cometh the goals to 'win' the afforesaid football matches?
As Guest so eloquently pointed out, it has been 8 hours and 8 minutes of footy between our last two.
The squad ain't exactly brimming with goal scoring nous now is it?

Crewe have let in 70 odd goals I believe so I think there will be a goal or two there, Crawley are hardly an impossible defence to score against and Oldham will just be a dead game at the end of the season.

Another way to look at it is it only requires Bradshaw to finish off one chance at any stage of the game as the backline has responded very well since Wembley or is that too much positivity for one post?

It's OK, Moaner had us down back in 2012 and that we'd be struggling in the Conference South. Don't tell him playoff chasing Fleetwood have only scored 8 more goals than us. ;)

Or that only relegated Yeovil have scored fewer goals than our inept bunch? :oops:
Still there's always Bradshaw, Bradshaw or even Bradshaw to rely on.................

It's good that Dean Smith unearthed that bit of talent then really. It's a shame that he couldn't rely on Sawyers, Cook, Forde, Manset or Grimes to contribute a bit but that's football. You'd thought they would have brought a bit more to the table.

All in all Smith has assembled, on budget, a team that can survive in league one - and even on occasions touch the outside of the play offs. Long may it continue.

UTS

[lichsaddler]

Saturday's game highlighted the Sawyers issue amongst our fans. I thought he was brilliant, was the only player on our team who took the ball on the half turn and consistently tried to play it forward and increase the tempo of our play. Everything decent went through him, everyone else seemed scared to play it forward except him.

On the other hand, you have the usual moaners who boo him as soon as he doesn't throw himself into a two footed tackle like Cook did! One moment summed up our fans attitude to Sawyers in the first half. He was going to challenge for a header with a Fleetwood midfielder. The Fleetwood midfielder decided then not to challenge for the ball in the air and so Sawyers took it down and controlled it, to which a few morons booed and huffed at him for not aimlessly charging in and heading it aimlessly with maximum gusto.

Everyone other player on that pitch seems scared to make a mistake, misplace a pass, take on a man, apart from Sawyers. Yes he needs to add more goals but those who want him gone, please judge him on what he's in the team to do.

[tinned]

Long may it continue.

A dozen home wins in 2 full seasons. Some of the lowest goal scoring ratio's in our history. Probability of finishing lower in the league for the second consecutive season.

Oh yeah, long may it continue :?

[WFC_Rob]

That's the thing about Walsall fans though - the same lot who boo Sawyers for not diving into a challenge he's never going to win are also the ones who moan at Adam Chambers because he won't shoot from 35 yards.

By the same token though, I didn't hear a single moan on either of the two ocassions O'Connor aimlessly booted the ball into touch when under no pressure. Apparently that counts as the sort of incisive forward pass the moaners were waiting for.

[tinned]

2 - Tinned kept me entertained with his rantings :lol:
3 - The Sun shone.

Now be honest, why the move second half? 2 or 3? :mrgreen:

[Tom_1992]

Saturday's game highlighted the Sawyers issue amongst our fans. I thought he was brilliant, was the only player on our team who took the ball on the half turn and consistently tried to play it forward and increase the tempo of our play. Everything decent went through him, everyone else seemed scared to play it forward except him.

On the other hand, you have the usual moaners who boo him as soon as he doesn't throw himself into a two footed tackle like Cook did! One moment summed up our fans attitude to Sawyers in the first half. He was going to challenge for a header with a Fleetwood midfielder. The Fleetwood midfielder decided then not to challenge for the ball in the air and so Sawyers took it down and controlled it, to which a few morons booed and huffed at him for not aimlessly charging in and heading it aimlessly with maximum gusto.

Everyone other player on that pitch seems scared to make a mistake, misplace a pass, take on a man, apart from Sawyers. Yes he needs to add more goals but those who want him gone, please judge him on what he's in the team to do.

My thoughts exactly from the Fleetwood match, I've mentioned it before I'm sure that some of our fans just want 11 cloggers running around like headless chickens as long as they 'put a shift in' or 'put themselves about'. And on the Cook challenge I don't understand why that didn't particularly anger anyone!! It was reckless, should have been a red card and could have potentially cost us 3 points which would have dragged us right in the mire, but Sawyers trying something skillful in the middle of the pitch warranted a more negative reaction for some reason. :roll:

[Louise]

2 - Tinned kept me entertained with his rantings :lol:
3 - The Sun shone.

Now be honest, why the move second half? 2 or 3? :mrgreen:

I moved for 3 but got the bonus of 2 :wink: