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CREWE MATCH

Reports and reaction from the 2014-2015 season as Walsall finished 14th in League 1
Welsh_Saddler
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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sat Apr 18, 2015 3:50 pm

1-1 WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT !!!!!!!!!! :D Some chap named Bradshaw....... :wink:

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boringteacher
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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sat Apr 18, 2015 3:51 pm

super tom!!

(please relegate Crwho)

Welsh_Saddler
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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sat Apr 18, 2015 3:56 pm

If we can score another one, we will be mathematically safe from the drop..... (some hopes!!!) :D

SoccerHQ
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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:00 pm

How come this match has overrun so much, 99% of the other games have been finished by at least 5 minutes. :lol:

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:03 pm

SoccerHQ wrote:How come this match has overrun so much, 99% of the other games have been finished by at least 5 minutes. :lol:


See above.

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:05 pm

FT 1-1

SoccerHQ
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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:09 pm

Guest wrote:
SoccerHQ wrote:How come this match has overrun so much, 99% of the other games have been finished by at least 5 minutes. :lol:


See above.


Yeah I know the injury but the delay at the start? A lot of league 1 games never seen to kick off on time, I notice this a lot for the evening games at the Bescot. How hard is it for the ref to ring the bell 7 minutes before kick off, teams come out three minutes later and then kick off at 3pm or 7.45pm?

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:12 pm

Colchester finished 2-2, so they can't catch us. Crewe can only equal our points tally but have a gd of -33. Notts Co and Orient need to win their last 3 games to overtake us. Crawley need to win their last 2 games.

Almost safe, mathematically.

Coventry play both Crawley and Crewe, so that should make safety even more certain.

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sat Apr 18, 2015 5:39 pm

WE DID NOT DESERVE ANYTHING
To clarify, 80 minutes of dire lack luster football where Crewe were on top of us.
Then a fluke Bradshaw Goal with about 3 bounces just into the opposite corner of the goal.
Then 10 minutes of real Walsall nearly stealing all 3 points.

Overall we stole and I mean STOLE a point from Crewe.
Anyone who says different is watching a different game.
If we had scored from good play as we played in the last 10 minutes fine.
But we did not, It was not until after the fluke goal we played better or at least better then Crewe.

Still a Great day out at Crewe so I personally hope they stay up just to go again next season.

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sat Apr 18, 2015 5:53 pm

Smith blaming the pitch for lack of quality :lol:

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Sadsfan
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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sat Apr 18, 2015 6:00 pm

Nah, don't believe Smith would blame the pitch. :wink:

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wednesburysaddler
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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sat Apr 18, 2015 6:49 pm

was a typial smash and grab point today
2 poor sides with very little quality on show.
crewe had the better of the opening exchanges and only a stunning 1 handed dive from O'Donnell prevented us going behind early on but was inevitabke when it arrived.
forgive me for not knowinf crews names but some bloke hit th post when he should have scored but it bounced out we didn't clear the lines and ball came back into area for a soft header that easily beat the keeper.
apart from that crewe offered very little going forward but seem to break up our play very easily at every chance.
2nd half started as the first had finished with crewe on top with possession but with very little threat.
sawyers was played wide and looked completely out of sorts apart from a few minutes befor he was subbed for cook.
the goal was a strange one I just saw their keeper pivot 360 degrees not knowing where the ball was presumably from spin on the ball and it nestled into the net.
from that moment Walsall grew in confidence and made a few attacks without really being threatening.
all in all we probably didn't deserve anything but had a bit of luck on our side.
frustrating that we keep going sidewards and backwards most of the match and I don't know wether that's the players not being confident of going forward or instructions to let every team member and fan in the ground a touch before we got n penalty area.
fans were great today and I loved all the Ashley grimes songs.
love going to crewe and I really do hope they stay up so we can have another go at not beatng them again next year.
2 poor sides on the day bereft of any quality what a poor league.
1 last thing how smith can blame the pitch is unbelieveable. looked nice and flat with grass on it from where I was sitting!!

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PT
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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sat Apr 18, 2015 8:52 pm

For the second Saturday in succession we go two up top in a bid for a much needed goal and for the second Saturday in succession we bag aforementioned much needed goal. It's not rocket science.

We were bad today. Morris had his first poor game since coming back and Taylor had one of his "dead legs" afternoons. Cain seemed to struggle to do the simplest of things and Sawyers seemed determined not to get hurt - he was evading tackles that hadn't even been imagined in the tacklers mind- and ducked more often than an English top order in the West Indies during the 70's.

We got a point which is job done, but it was ugly and exposed all the flaws in the current set-up.

Whilst I agree that it was good support today, I don't get how you can go from singing "ginger Murinho" one minute to calling him a useless twerp the next. There's fickle then there's just stupid.

We've stayed up - yay. We're turgid - boo.

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JonnyOwen
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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sat Apr 18, 2015 9:11 pm

I'm a big Sawyers fan, but he was dire today, truly dire.

Mantom changed the game.

paddy
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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sat Apr 18, 2015 9:31 pm

Morris will be dropped on Tuesday, smith does it with all the kids, Cook will play

This ginger mourinhio tag should be long gone. He's hardly set the world of football alight the last 2 seasons

May 3rd can't come quick enough. Need a break from this poor football

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sat Apr 18, 2015 9:56 pm

Having witnessed countless disappointing, abject and pathetic performances away from home over the years, this was only disappointing in that we failed to beat a team below us in the league, who over the last twenty years or so, usually seem to frustrate our attempts to overcome them.
IF we accept that our season and performances to date have been distinctly slightly below average, then today just added to that.

My problem is that the collective level of performance does not reflect the collective ability of the players. I just don't accept that the squad is only the 15th best in the division. The reasons why we appear to be only at that level (although potentially we could still finish anywhere between 7th and 22nd subject to results and permutation of fixtures) are well documented through numerous threads on this board.
Those reasons to me follow the same lines of many, whereby the rigid pattern of slow build up play is usually followed by either a blocked shot, a snatched off target shot, no shot, or a pass back to O'Donnell!

The tone is set and I make no apologies for again citing our "lynch pin" Sawyers as the major problem.
Today I couldn't see what he was trying to do. If he is pivotal to our style of play, then surely he has to impose himself and make something happen.
Today what I did see was him gifting the opposition the ball by either being caught in possession, or criminally under hitting "low risk" 5-10 yard passes. Contrast that with Cain who delivered a multitude of diagonal "high risk" 50-60 yard cross field passes to feet. Again, not for the first time, even Adam Chambers showed more urgency and got further forward than Sawyers.
I appreciate that football, as most things in life, is a matter of opinions, but having watched Sawyers on a little over 30 occasions this season his contribution falls way short of expectation. I am even handed in my praise/criticism of all players, which fundamentally revolves around an assessment of a player's ability and how they measure up to that opinion, on a match by match basis. Perhaps on another bespoke thread someone could discuss and analyse his role and educate me as to his value, because despite his ability I don't see how he warrants his constant place in the team.

Getting back to the game in general, we couldn't get to grips with Haber in the first half, who caused our central defenders big problems, as did Dalla Valle to a lesser degree, with Ajose dropping off into space then running at us and then chipping into balls over the defenders for Haber to get on the end of. I thought Grant gave a master class in a defensive midfield role, creating time and space for himself on the ball and always making himself available for colleagues. Late on he also went forward and unleashed a strong shot that was well saved by O'Donnell.
As I said at the start, this was far from being amongst the worst of displays and in the context of an away performance it wasn't unduly uncomfortable as, despite Haber's presence, I wasn't anticipating a Crewe goal with each attack.

In conclusion, we could be better and therefore more effective, by utilising the full squad and varying the tactics.

I heard a recent comment which I believe came from the manager, about only having a full squad to choose from for the first time a couple of games ago. This may well be factually correct, I've no idea, but I'm not sure what credence you can give to that statement when, for example, Morris was largely responsible for the Crawley upturn and as far as I'm aware he has been available all season!

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sun Apr 19, 2015 2:20 am

In the back of the net. Ball and keeper. :lol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IgecFSgi7k&feature=youtu.be

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sun Apr 19, 2015 8:02 am

We were really poor and didn't start playing until the 80th minute. Too many players had bad games at the same time against a team that wanted it more but weren't much better. Our goal was hilarious. I had no idea it was going in until I saw the panic on their keeper's face.

Considering we were coming off the back of a 5-0 win and we are looking likely to stay up, the attitude of a handful of fans disappointed me. Sawyers got his usual abuse from a few who seem delighted when he doesn't play well and Cain receiving shouts like "f*** off back to Leicester" are ridiculous. I'm not talking about people who moan to their mates that a player is playing poorly, I'm talking about the people who scream the whole game at certain players.

We sing songs at O'Donnell trying to get him to sign a new contract but even he must see that we're not exactly the most welcoming bunch at times. If Sawyers and Cain decide they don't want to play for Walsall next season it will be because of overly negative fans like those. 99% of the fans were brilliant, it's just that loud 1% that sometimes do my head in.

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sun Apr 19, 2015 8:23 am

A great day out in the sunshine almost spoiled by the match.

My man of the match their No 35.Sign him Deano.

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sun Apr 19, 2015 8:48 am

gray wrote:Considering we were coming off the back of a 5-0 win and we are looking likely to stay up, the attitude of a handful of fans disappointed me. Sawyers got his usual abuse from a few who seem delighted when he doesn't play well and Cain receiving shouts like "f*** off back to Leicester" are ridiculous. I'm not talking about people who moan to their mates that a player is playing poorly, I'm talking about the people who scream the whole game at certain players.

We sing songs at O'Donnell trying to get him to sign a new contract but even he must see that we're not exactly the most welcoming bunch at times. If Sawyers and Cain decide they don't want to play for Walsall next season it will be because of overly negative fans like those. 99% of the fans were brilliant, it's just that loud 1% that sometimes do my head in.

I didn't go yesterday, but this has been a concern for me for weeks now. Walsall just isn't a good place to play your football at the moment. For a club that's trying to build its relative successes around young players, subjecting them to that sort of abuse (admittedly from a distinct, but vocal minority) is looking more of a backwards step in their development than a forwards one.

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sun Apr 19, 2015 9:12 am

We turned up for the last ten minutes so can count ourselves v fortunate to leave with a point.Nothing wrong with the pitch,I was three rows from it,it was absolutely fine,no excuse Deano.Sawyers is so gifted just wish he would apply himself.If he wants an example of where poor attitude can get you may I point him in the direction of an equally gifted Walsall player,Ishmael Demontagnac,see where he is now.We were poor today,no excuses. Great day out as always at Crewe,find these days its more about meeting fellow Saddlers than the football.

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:13 am

WFC_Rob wrote:
gray wrote:Considering we were coming off the back of a 5-0 win and we are looking likely to stay up, the attitude of a handful of fans disappointed me. Sawyers got his usual abuse from a few who seem delighted when he doesn't play well and Cain receiving shouts like "f*** off back to Leicester" are ridiculous. I'm not talking about people who moan to their mates that a player is playing poorly, I'm talking about the people who scream the whole game at certain players.

We sing songs at O'Donnell trying to get him to sign a new contract but even he must see that we're not exactly the most welcoming bunch at times. If Sawyers and Cain decide they don't want to play for Walsall next season it will be because of overly negative fans like those. 99% of the fans were brilliant, it's just that loud 1% that sometimes do my head in.

I didn't go yesterday, but this has been a concern for me for weeks now. Walsall just isn't a good place to play your football at the moment. For a club that's trying to build its relative successes around young players, subjecting them to that sort of abuse (admittedly from a distinct, but vocal minority) is looking more of a backwards step in their development than a forwards one.


You get it at all clubs though.

I doubt when players are thinking of signing for Walsall they remember a couple of idiots on the front row shouting rubbish and then don't want to sign.

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:27 am

Well fudge me, a 6'3" striker scores a header at the far post. Again. Nothing to see here. Move along.

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:29 am

SoccerHQ wrote:
WFC_Rob wrote:
gray wrote:Considering we were coming off the back of a 5-0 win and we are looking likely to stay up, the attitude of a handful of fans disappointed me. Sawyers got his usual abuse from a few who seem delighted when he doesn't play well and Cain receiving shouts like "f*** off back to Leicester" are ridiculous. I'm not talking about people who moan to their mates that a player is playing poorly, I'm talking about the people who scream the whole game at certain players.

We sing songs at O'Donnell trying to get him to sign a new contract but even he must see that we're not exactly the most welcoming bunch at times. If Sawyers and Cain decide they don't want to play for Walsall next season it will be because of overly negative fans like those. 99% of the fans were brilliant, it's just that loud 1% that sometimes do my head in.

I didn't go yesterday, but this has been a concern for me for weeks now. Walsall just isn't a good place to play your football at the moment. For a club that's trying to build its relative successes around young players, subjecting them to that sort of abuse (admittedly from a distinct, but vocal minority) is looking more of a backwards step in their development than a forwards one.


You get it at all clubs though.

I doubt when players are thinking of signing for Walsall they remember a couple of idiots on the front row shouting rubbish and then don't want to sign.

There's only one thing on their mind. Money.

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sun Apr 19, 2015 3:31 pm

Louise wrote:We turned up for the last ten minutes so can count ourselves v fortunate to leave with a point.Nothing wrong with the pitch,I was three rows from it,it was absolutely fine,no excuse Deano.Sawyers is so gifted just wish he would apply himself.If he wants an example of where poor attitude can get you may I point him in the direction of an equally gifted Walsall player,Ishmael Demontagnac,see where he is now.We were poor today,no excuses. Great day out as always at Crewe,find these days its more about meeting fellow Saddlers than the football.


Agreed Louise, best pre match pub atmos for while!
A great away day spoiled once again by the football dished up.
Two relegation teams putting up an appalling, dire display of 'end of the season' rubbish.
Walsall only turned up after 80 odd minutes, Bradshaws goal was 'fluke of the century'! Crewe deserved to hang on for the three points, but to be honest Shelfield High School for girls under 14's reserve team could have equalised against 'em!
Lets face it, Tuesdays result masked what can only be described as a wasted opportunity of a season, that includes our Wembley humiliation.
We have a pithe poor team that couldn't fight it's way out of a paper bag, substantial changes (which I regret to say includes a change of Manager, which we all know won't happen) will have to be made throughout if we are to escape another season of dreary boring rubbish.

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sun Apr 19, 2015 4:02 pm

Didn't go yesterday but from reading the match reports I feel like I did.

All in all, taking the season as a whole I can only see it as an opportunity missed. Whilst the squad is far from perfect it should (IMO) have been MUCH closer to the top 6 than we are. The only person I can blame for this is the manager. Too pig-headed and stubborn about playing a certain way.

Do we really want another Groundhog Day season next time? It's so obviously time to thank Smith for his efforts but to inform him a change of outlook is now needed.

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sun Apr 19, 2015 5:04 pm

Louise wrote:find these days its more about meeting fellow Saddlers than the football.


Surely with following Walsall this is what it has always been about? Otherwise why would you consciously follow a lower league club if you expected a certain level of entertainment or quality football?

I became an avid follower mainly through the social aspect & Crewe has been a top away game historically.

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sun Apr 19, 2015 5:13 pm

As an exile for the past 13 years or so, (having lived in the furthest south and furthest north of the country in that time), the vast majority of the matches i have seen are at away grounds. For the last couple of seasons I've felt that I've been spoilt by this as we have been set up for counter attacking and have seen some pretty good displays and so haven't perhaps shared the frustrations of the usual supporter - mainly due to having the mentality that a point away from home is good.
However this season might be different....
I've not been to many matches this season for mainly financial reasons but the first and last matches have a certain symmetry to them.

Port Vale away - first game of the season (more of that later)
Scunthorpe away - fudge awful performance (made worse by drinking timothy taylor's beers - surely the worst ale in history?)
Sheffield Utd away - Looked truly dead till we equalised and then looked like we could go and win it.
Preston Home - Nothing really needs to be said. We were all there.
Doncaster Away - Perhaps the sort of performance that i have been used to seeing - took our chances - looked solid.
Barnsley away - reminded me of THAT WBA performance in the championship. Worst I've seen for many a year.
Wembley - Moving on...
Crewe away.

I went to Port vale expecting the absolute worst and a complete tanking - but after a bad first half we were rescued by Bradshaw and i walked away feeling confident. Sawyers had a game to forget and felt he needed someone to tell him to THINK when to pass.

I went to Crewe expecting us to do quite well - but after a terrible first half we were rescued by Bradshaw and i walked away feeling not so confident. Sawyers had a game to forget and felt he needed someone to tell him to THINK when to pass.

I don't know what the answer is - but for the first time ever - I've been thinking more about the manager's position. I'm certainly not in the Smith Out camp - but i do think next season is a real turning point and I honestly think that Smith's future will be linked to how Sawyers performs next season. and while we have more money in the pot after the JPT - agents also know this - so any extra money will probably be swallowed up by contracts (see O'Donnell).

It's gonna be interesting but leaving on an up note - away atmosphere and optimism at away matches has improved a huge amount over the last few seasons (those who were at Huddersfield away - after Money left - and Hartlepool away -no one even clapped the team- will know what i'm talking about)

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sun Apr 19, 2015 5:36 pm

SoccerHQ wrote:
WFC_Rob wrote:
gray wrote:Considering we were coming off the back of a 5-0 win and we are looking likely to stay up, the attitude of a handful of fans disappointed me. Sawyers got his usual abuse from a few who seem delighted when he doesn't play well and Cain receiving shouts like "f*** off back to Leicester" are ridiculous. I'm not talking about people who moan to their mates that a player is playing poorly, I'm talking about the people who scream the whole game at certain players.

We sing songs at O'Donnell trying to get him to sign a new contract but even he must see that we're not exactly the most welcoming bunch at times. If Sawyers and Cain decide they don't want to play for Walsall next season it will be because of overly negative fans like those. 99% of the fans were brilliant, it's just that loud 1% that sometimes do my head in.

I didn't go yesterday, but this has been a concern for me for weeks now. Walsall just isn't a good place to play your football at the moment. For a club that's trying to build its relative successes around young players, subjecting them to that sort of abuse (admittedly from a distinct, but vocal minority) is looking more of a backwards step in their development than a forwards one.


You get it at all clubs though.

I doubt when players are thinking of signing for Walsall they remember a couple of idiots on the front row shouting rubbish and then don't want to sign.

Probably not, but if someone like Cain gets offered the same by us as he does someone like Burton, for example, would it not play on his mind? Maybe I'm just being too sensitive, but it does seem ridiculous to me how much grief some of our promising young players get. Just ask Ricketts, Fryatt & Grigg.

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Re: CREWE MATCH

Sun Apr 19, 2015 6:00 pm

Do you not think when Grigg was missing open goals at Brentford last season he was getting a little bit of stick off their fans, it happens everywhere although I do think it was unacceptable when Sawyers was sarcastically cheered off v Yeovil at the start of the season.

Mind you I was always bemused by the stick Paterson used to get on here, even 6 months before he left. To me it was obvious he had the ability to play at a higher level before too long and it all came together in 2013.

Maybe fans would rather see 11 Troy Hewitts or Ashley Grimes running around the pitch like headless chickens.

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