Crewe Alexandra (A) League One, 13th Feb, 3pm

[ChopperWFC]

My thoughts today .
Chambers- class above anyone today ( kids watch what he does and if you can learn that intercepting and simple ball play you will be a pro footballer )
Milan - got some stick today but to me he gave it his all and at least at shots at goal
Preston - beast and will become a fans favourite

Obvious but got to take out chances as the game should of been out of sight at half time

Manager - what's your problem with Rico ???
What's your problem with subs ?? We were drawing, ffs

The board - do you want promotion ?? We need new recruits to get us over the line . It's sooo close just show some ambition. Remember what Goodman did for us. Don't let it slip away. The squad is tired and stretched
I believe but need some backing !!!

[tinned]

We're way too interested in building intricate patterns in our build up play rather than create and take chances. Every attack has to have dozens of passes, many of them including Sawyers, before we decide to have a crack. As others have said, Sawyers is now slowing down our play. He's an ultra talented lad but he needs to return using his skills to help our attacks, not hinder them with fancy play.

It's all and well the forever optimists of this world bleating on about performances but unless something changes we will miss out on promotion whilst raving about how well we played. Sometimes it seems some people cannot (or refuse to) see when things are on the slide unless changes are quickly made.

Oh yeah, it appears O'Driscoll ahs inherited Smith's in game clock, trouble is it's currently ten minutes slow.

[caldy]

CALDY..you must have been at different game to me!!! Obviously people have different opinions but "tippy tappy" teams do not create the chances we did today. As for the manager if we were not creating chances then that would be a cause for concern. Imagine if the 3 simple chances in the first few minutes had gone in I doubt we would be having posts like yours!

When I say tippy tappy I mean when we get to the opposition box we stop and pass from one side to the next then back then wing then centre and so on and so forth. As for chances, long range shots count as much as clear cut chances and how many clear cut chances or half chances do we create? Not many. SOD in game management was poor today. The morale of the team will only go down if cack players are starting ahead of good players I.e Taylor and Henry. The buzz word in football is press we do the opposite. Crewe were cack and it was crying out for a change everyone else could see it apart from the one bloke who matters. I'm worried

[chestersaddler]

There are a number of posters saying we should have been 3 or 4 up then blaming SOD for the performance....

Engage your brains before your typing fingers ffs :shock:

I was one of the very few to remain constantly in the Smith IN group (Which felt like it ended up being just you and me at times.

Ahem...I think you'll find there were a few more of us that stuck by him through thick and thin. I will also give SOD the same respect although I am slightly concerned based on recent happenings. Hopefully he and the players will sort it out.

Reading some of the posts tonight, I thought I'd logged on to the Bury fans forum :D

[saddla]

There's a fair few who will return to work on Monday morning to their factory/office/shop/pub/dustcart convinced that they are much better football managers than the guy who's paid to do the job at Walsall. Such a shame that you can't get a UEFA coaching badge for your exploits on Championship Manager. :roll:

[SWS1]

Let's face it, Burton are going to win this league 1 - 0.
We are struggling to put teams away.
Playoffs beckon but, IMHO, not nailed on yet.
We have to put away teams that we are out-footballing.
No foo-king teeth.
:(

[moaning saddler]

There's a fair few who will return to work on Monday morning to their factory/office/shop/pub/dustcart convinced that they are much better football managers than the guy who's paid to do the job at Walsall. Such a shame that you can't get a UEFA coaching badge for your exploits on Championship Manager. :roll:

Since you like your statistics, can you confirm if you have just returned from the shortest-ever UTS "holiday". :roll:

[tinned]

There's a fair few who will return to work on Monday morning to their factory/office/shop/pub/dustcart convinced that they are much better football managers than the guy who's paid to do the job at Walsall. Such a shame that you can't get a UEFA coaching badge for your exploits on Championship Manager. :roll:

And how's that any different to the last 100 odd years (apart from the Championship Manager bit)?

[Optimistic]

I must admit I did not go today as I was working. However, I read through the thread until I got to the highlights and quite frankly I think that was more informative than the posters as it was a couple of moments from Crewe plus some excellent saves which their keeper made.

The rest of the highlights were basically all quality play from the Saddlers, some very good shots and some skill from Sawyers which we will not see from another Saddlers player for quite a while. The long ball he threaded through was sheer class.

We should have scored more, there is no doubt about that, but their goal scorer has now got 6 in 6. Burton are now clear at the top after a 1 - 0 win and I don't see them scoring bucket fulls of goals. Wigan couldn't even score for all the money and players they have. Coventry scored 6 but not against us or Burton.

There will be plenty more twists and turns in the league before the end and we are still in the mix for automatic promotion. If you do not believe me then tell me who else but Burton are consistent. The picture may look different after the next 2 games but which way will they go.

[saddla]

There's a fair few who will return to work on Monday morning to their factory/office/shop/pub/dustcart convinced that they are much better football managers than the guy who's paid to do the job at Walsall. Such a shame that you can't get a UEFA coaching badge for your exploits on Championship Manager. :roll:

And how's that any different to the last 100 odd years (apart from the Championship Manager bit)?

The difference now is that the fans are given a keyboard and access to spout their piffle to the whole world.

[Jolly Johnny]

Just watched the highlights and they show that we were by far the better team and in control of the game as well as playing some nice attacking football tbh. I guess that is why they are called highlights - you don't show the frustrating bits other than the lack of finishing!

Sawyers actually looked good in those clips and kept the pace of attacks up but two bits summed him up for me. One where he should have buried the second chance which was a great move and the other which ironically lead to the penalty. Ball comes across the box and he is reluctant to challenge and head or win the ball. A touch fortunate that it ended up a handball tbh.

I can share fan's frustration over the late subs, lack of use of bryn morris and the missing cutting edge but it looks like we are still playing some good stuff. Improve our composure and opposition box play and it could all be very different at 4.50pm!

[belgiansaddler]

Yesterday was one of the most frustrating matches I can remember. First 35 minutes it was wave after wave of Walsall attacks, should have been 2 or 3 up inside 10 mins. By half time we were hanging on. Second half started with us missing a sitter within a minute. Don't like giving Crewe any credit but they hung on in there when they had to, we were so dominant at times it was ridiculous. Tried to overplay it too often.

Even though they were better in second half in spells we still had a hatful of chances. Downing and rico's chances were probably harder to miss than to score, but to be fair to Rico it was his first touch after what must have been a massively frustrating 87 minutes on the bench! The only people in the ground who wanted Rico to stay on the bench were the Crewe manager and players. Still early days to start getting on managers back but the lack of substitutions in second half were baffling.

Demetriou was nackered understandably after the amount of running he did, Taylor was OK defensively but struggled to get forward and if he did he was too shagged to do anything by time he got there. Forde offers us absolutely nothing going forward. Never seen a player cut inside and go backwards so many times. Bradshaw looks nackered, everything went through Sawyers but he needs to start to be more decisive again. Chambers was absolutely immense and thought mantom was good too.

Game was crying out for 2 new wide players in second half when they were starting to get tired. We did that effectively earlier in season by swapping round with Rico Forde Milan and Morris. If we had done that yesterday I am convinced we would have won xxx

[caldy]

The problem with highlights is you don't get a true reflection of the game. Substitutions were needed from at least the hour mark and didn't come. Taylor was blowing out of his arse the last half hour and he wasn't much good for the first hour either. Mantom was awful mostly and has been for a while and Forde was rubbish. Rather than pass to demitriou he would try a cross field pass to no one. He can't go past his man either which stops our attacks. Highlights are good to see the goals but not much else.

[Walsallone]

but they do show some of the clear cut chances we created!! They didn't show the others!! As I said before you were at a different game!!! At least we are not Everton fans...34 shots to 2 and they lose !!! I wonder if their board is full of moaners this morning blaming the Manager for not scoring easy chances :D
I expect it is but as we cannot change anything about yesterday lets look forward to Wigan and Burton..if we can start converting our chances we will win and lets hope we can have a new player or two to help.

[Leatherman]

Yesterday was one of the most frustrating matches I can remember. First 35 minutes it was wave after wave of Walsall attacks, should have been 2 or 3 up inside 10 mins. By half time we were hanging on. Second half started with us missing a sitter within a minute. Don't like giving Crewe any credit but they hung on in there when they had to, we were so dominant at times it was ridiculous. Tried to overplay it too often.

Even though they were better in second half in spells we still had a hatful of chances. Downing and rico's chances were probably harder to miss than to score, but to be fair to Rico it was his first touch after what must have been a massively frustrating 87 minutes on the bench! The only people in the ground who wanted Rico to stay on the bench were the Crewe manager and players. Still early days to start getting on managers back but the lack of substitutions in second half were baffling.

Demetriou was nackered understandably after the amount of running he did, Taylor was OK defensively but struggled to get forward and if he did he was too shagged to do anything by time he got there. Forde offers us absolutely nothing going forward. Never seen a player cut inside and go backwards so many times. Bradshaw looks nackered, everything went through Sawyers but he needs to start to be more decisive again. Chambers was absolutely immense and thought mantom was good too.

Game was crying out for 2 new wide players in second half when they were starting to get tired. We did that effectively earlier in season by swapping round with Rico Forde Milan and Morris. If we had done that yesterday I am convinced we would have won xxx

That's pretty much how I saw it too.
A couple of seasons ago I would, in fact I did say Chambers was finished but, the end of last season and for most of this he has been fantastic and superb example of what a professional footballer should look like. Absolutely amazing. I doff my cap sir.

I think Bradshaw is short on confidence rather than being knackered. He's still expected to score from one in four chances per game but he's only getting one chance every four games. (slight exaggeration there, but I am trying to make a point.)

I disagree with your early days for the manager comment though. We only have a handful of games left to play and the players just don't look like they believe anymore.

Bonser should be checking out that squeaky Spring on his shark tank trapdoor while he still has time.

[Leatherman]

but they do show some of the clear cut chances we created!! They didn't show the others!! As I said before you were at a different game!!! At least we are not Everton fans...34 shots to 2 and they lose !!! I wonder if their board is full of moaners this morning blaming the Manager for not scoring easy chances :D
I expect it is but as we cannot change anything about yesterday lets look forward to Wigan and Burton..if we can start converting our chances we will win and lets hope we can have a new player or two to help.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Everton weren't top of the league at Christmas were they?

[portlandbill]

Things are no different than earlier on under Smith. We should have buried Blades and Swindon away but didn't. We should have buried Blackpool and Crewe but didn't. That's ten points we have thrown away. Five under O'D five under Smith. Same old Walsall.

[IHTC.]

Just seen the highlights and I do not understand why people are concerned about SOD, it appears we totally dominated and if the players had had their shooting boots on and their keeper was not on top of his game we would have won easily. I could understand it if we played poorly and created nothing but we didn't by the looks of things.

2 things I do not get though is why leave substitutions so late? What does he expect them to achieve in 6 minutes? It takes them that long to get up to speed with the game. And secondly why leave Henry on the bench, Taylor or Henry? It's a no brainer.

[The Bosted Slab]

If you fail to take gilt edged chances you are likely to do less well than you would otherwise have done.
That is what happened yesterday.
For all the criticism of certain individuals in the various aspects of build up play, the only indisputable fact is that we failed to score from open play, despite creating some of the clearest chances that we have done for weeks.
Their keeper did well, but shouldn't have had a prayer with the early attempts from Bradshaw and Sawyers.
No matter what I thought of whether the right team was selected, the right tactics employed, the timeliness of substitutions or whatever, clear chances were missed by a variety of individuals and so that is where the "blame" for our failure to win lies.
For all the frustrations and talk of Bradshaw's isolation, at least three times he was fed in open play where we could have expected him to score.
At the moment, clinical we ain't.
If we hadn't have created those chances I would have been saying something completely different about the game, players and tactics.

[Cowshed]

What I loved about yesterday was sawyers Back flick
There will be kids trying it today in the parks etc he's great for getting the kids in

I love the fact that lalcovic falls over but they are still not getting the ball off him

Keep shouting Milan because you can literally see the key turning in his back and off he goes again

I loved Taylor slipping over and then getting back up to beat the commonwealth 100m record to get back in the penalty area - priceless

Don't get promotion stress everyone - take promotion out of the equation and we are seeing some entertainment this year I'm loving it

UTS

[Jolly Johnny]

Yesterday...mantom was good too.

Mantom was awful mostly and has been for a while.

Which one was it??

Just shows how people can see games and players very differently, including what their role and expectation levels in a game are.
Sawyers is the biggest example of this.

[chestersaddler]

Yesterday...mantom was good too.

Mantom was awful mostly and has been for a while.

Which one was it?

If Belg and Caldy would disclose how much ale they had consumed prior to the match, it may help us decide :wink:

[Gripper]

Endless creativity, no killer instinct, real shame to see yesterday. Painful watching the sky highlights, 2 minutes of us attacking, one Crewe chance and their goal.

We looked good going forward I thought, bodies in the box etc.

No need to panic 'cause I wasn't expecting much at the start of the season.

Without laying into SOD, those subs were so late were they done to add on time or to actually change something? Apart from finishing I guess it was working...sort of.

[Ancient Moaner]

but they do show some of the clear cut chances we created!! They didn't show the others!! As I said before you were at a different game!!! At least we are not Everton fans...34 shots to 2 and they lose !!! I wonder if their board is full of moaners this morning blaming the Manager for not scoring easy chances :D
I expect it is but as we cannot change anything about yesterday lets look forward to Wigan and Burton..if we can start converting our chances we will win and lets hope we can have a new player or two to help.

So my friend have you read all the thoughts on here? It seems that only yourself and optimistic will believe that yesterdays 'performance' worthy of anything more than irritation and despair. We were awful, we play too much tippy tappy approach work (to coin an earlier phrase) will someone at Walsall F.C. PLEASE make sure the players spend 90%
of next weeks practice sessions doing shooting practice! We couldn't even score again Crewe for clips sake, their appalling team scored a cracker...what can we achieve? a penalty! :? Promotion is no more than a pipe dream unless we go back to the basics before SOD came on board and 'dumbed us down' to average/poor. :(

[Walsallone]

AM...I thought you were an accountant because if you were you could add up all those who thought we were SHITE....total 1 ...some others felt we were not so good but most people either thought we played well or were frustrated by our failure to score. I was frustrated about that but to equate that with a poor performance by the whole team is daft. We outplayed Crewe created chance after chance but didn't take them.
I have supported Walsall for many years and believe me I have seen some SHITE but this team is good,on its day very good and to use such language to describe our efforts yesterday is plain daft...indeed it is worse than that it is an affront to most of our players who played so well for so little reward in the end. By the way we didn't lose and still have the best away record in the league...as you say SHITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[saddla]

I can't remember who said it now but "Goals win you matches. Clean sheets win you promotion" We have scored 7 goals more than Burton but take a look at the table. interestingly no-one has lost fewer games than us in league 1.

[NEWPORT SADDLERS DAD]

I can't remember who said it now but "Goals win you matches. Clean sheets win you promotion" We have scored 7 goals more than Burton but take a look at the table. interestingly no-one has lost fewer games than us in league 1.

Also Burton haven't got a player in the top 25 for scoring.Their goals must come from anywhere.

[Optimistic]

but they do show some of the clear cut chances we created!! They didn't show the others!! As I said before you were at a different game!!! At least we are not Everton fans...34 shots to 2 and they lose !!! I wonder if their board is full of moaners this morning blaming the Manager for not scoring easy chances :D
I expect it is but as we cannot change anything about yesterday lets look forward to Wigan and Burton..if we can start converting our chances we will win and lets hope we can have a new player or two to help.

So my friend have you read all the thoughts on here? It seems that only yourself and optimistic will believe that yesterdays 'performance' worthy of anything more than irritation and despair. We were awful, we play too much tippy tappy approach work (to coin an earlier phrase) will someone at Walsall F.C. PLEASE make sure the players spend 90%
of next weeks practice sessions doing shooting practice! We couldn't even score again Crewe for clips sake, their appalling team scored a cracker...what can we achieve? a penalty! :? Promotion is no more than a pipe dream unless we go back to the basics before SOD came on board and 'dumbed us down' to average/poor. :(

Looking at your points AM, I fail to see how you can claim despair or a tippy tappy approach with all the shots we had. I suppose that in some strange way we could be irritated at the fact their keeper saved some of them. As far as Inman scoring a cracker it's now 6 goals for him in 6 games and I suppose that has irritated a few opposition fans lately.

I am Optimistic because we are doing well and I realise that teams near the bottom are not going to make it easy for us or Burton to score goals, because they will be more than happy with a point. Wigan had the same problem on Saturday but they really need to beat us, Burton don't a point would be good. We will all lose games before the season is over, you need to realise that.

The bottom line is that all the negative posts would have been positive posts but for Bradshaw hitting the underside of the bar. So you see, you and I are just an inch away from agreeing with each other and promotion being a reality.

[Leatherman]

Things are no different than earlier on under Smith. We should have buried Blades and Swindon away but didn't. We should have buried Blackpool and Crewe but didn't. That's ten points we have thrown away. Five under O'D five under Smith. Same old Walsall.

How many games did we win under Smith compared with O'Driscoll?

[Ancient Moaner]

but they do show some of the clear cut chances we created!! They didn't show the others!! As I said before you were at a different game!!! At least we are not Everton fans...34 shots to 2 and they lose !!! I wonder if their board is full of moaners this morning blaming the Manager for not scoring easy chances :D
I expect it is but as we cannot change anything about yesterday lets look forward to Wigan and Burton..if we can start converting our chances we will win and lets hope we can have a new player or two to help.

So my friend have you read all the thoughts on here? It seems that only yourself and optimistic will believe that yesterdays 'performance' worthy of anything more than irritation and despair. We were awful, we play too much tippy tappy approach work (to coin an earlier phrase) will someone at Walsall F.C. PLEASE make sure the players spend 90%
of next weeks practice sessions doing shooting practice! We couldn't even score again Crewe for clips sake, their appalling team scored a cracker...what can we achieve? a penalty! :? Promotion is no more than a pipe dream unless we go back to the basics before SOD came on board and 'dumbed us down' to average/poor. :(

Looking at your points AM, I fail to see how you can claim despair or a tippy tappy approach with all the shots we had. I suppose that in some strange way we could be irritated at the fact their keeper saved some of them. As far as Inman scoring a cracker it's now 6 goals for him in 6 games and I suppose that has irritated a few opposition fans lately.

I am Optimistic because we are doing well and I realise that teams near the bottom are not going to make it easy for us or Burton to score goals, because they will be more than happy with a point. Wigan had the same problem on Saturday but they really need to beat us, Burton don't a point would be good. We will all lose games before the season is over, you need to realise that.

The bottom line is that all the negative posts would have been positive posts but for Bradshaw hitting the underside of the bar. So you see, you and I are just an inch away from agreeing with each other and promotion being a reality.

As Kevin Keegan would say " I would love us to get promotion!" the irritation is that without scoring goals, it won't happen.
Completely sober on Saturday, and it was a massive turgid experience, and as I left the stadium, I, like most around me thought, "that was a season changing 'non performance'." Just wish we had an Inman at the moment!