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

[latviancheese]

You could say we totally dominated that game bar a tn min spell second half.

Simply did not work the keeper enough. Same old same old. When we decided to start to play a bit it was too late.

We should have been 2-3 up at half time, and everyone of the 1200 fans there today could see the 1-1 a mile off.

SOD has left me fuming with his subs in the 88th min, they were token. 20 mins earlier we were on top and it needed a fresh impetus, by the time he bought Henry and Morris on it was pointless. The fact he mugged off a reporter too when asked why Henry didnt play too says a lot about the man.

Bradshaw looked slow and leggy and was offside more than Westcarrs cock today, Lalkovic only decided to play when he was pissed off. Forde puts a lot of work in but he lacks an attacking edge.

WE NEED SIGNINGS. Well, we have one but he wont play him. :lol:

Really, if Downing/Bradshaw had not scooped sitters over from 5 yards we would have won comfortably. However all this clap trap about SOD being better than Smith at changing a game is nonsense. We slow the game down at all the wrong times, and we completely over complicated things, Sawyers included. The Ref was also a complete barclays

We need to keep going, but i really think we are losing grasp of it all. Sad really.

I preffered it when we had no expectations :mrgreen:

[coop63]

the manager set the team up to create chances and to restrict the opposition having chances. He did that extremely well today imo.
The stats prove it. We had 19 shots at goal Crewe had 4.
I don't know what people expect. Do they want him to run on and put it in the net himself?

Only if the other 11 on the pitch have touched it first :wink:

I am gobsmacked how u can feel today was anything other than very irritating.. We wasted lots of possession and even when we did create anything didn't have the quality to finish it.. I thought teams looking for promotion had momentum and invention - sorry saddla but for me today was dreadful..

[latviancheese]

Oh and Adam Chambers was world class today. heroic.

[otiswfc]

Everyone moaned last week that lalkovic didn't play he did today and was man of the match Taylor was impressive also, Chambers had a good game he always does.
Negative points Bradshaw was isolated again Manton was poor, Sawyers needs to be dropped for Morris.

[saddla]

I wish we could go back to having 200 follow us away and 3500 gates at home rather than have the numbskulls who don't understand football singing that we're cack. :evil:

[sallian]

Everyone moaned last week that lalkovic didn't play he did today and was man of the match Taylor was impressive also, Chambers had a good game he always does.
Negative points Bradshaw was isolated again Manton was poor, Sawyers needs to be dropped for Morris.

Sawyers is never dropped, as most fans seem to think he is our axis of creativity....despite the fact he regularly brings moves to a halt, walks into walls, and abandons the simple pass into space which would result in a chance or attack

[coop63]

You could say we totally dominated that game bar a tn min spell second half.

Simply did not work the keeper enough. Same old same old. When we decided to start to play a bit it was too late.

We should have been 2-3 up at half time, and everyone of the 1200 fans there today could see the 1-1 a mile off.

SOD has left me fuming with his subs in the 88th min, they were token. 20 mins earlier we were on top and it needed a fresh impetus, by the time he bought Henry and Morris on it was pointless. The fact he mugged off a reporter too when asked why Henry didnt play too says a lot about the man.

Bradshaw looked slow and leggy and was offside more than Westcarrs cock today, Lalkovic only decided to play when he was pissed off. Forde puts a lot of work in but he lacks an attacking edge.

WE NEED SIGNINGS. Well, we have one but he wont play him. :lol:

Really, if Downing/Bradshaw had not scooped sitters over from 5 yards we would have won comfortably. However all this clap trap about SOD being better than Smith at changing a game is nonsense. We slow the game down at all the wrong times, and we completely over complicated things, Sawyers included. The Ref was also a complete barclays

We need to keep going, but i really think we are losing grasp of it all. Sad really.

I preffered it when we had no expectations :mrgreen:

Totally agree that we tend to over complicate things and unfortunately most of the time it revolves around Sawyers - I just don't know what he is trying to achieve coz it usually has limited or absolutely no effect.. It was working earlier in the season but frankly we've been well and truly found out by opposition most weeks and it's now an ineffective strategy..

Agree that the ref was Barclays too

[coop63]

Everyone moaned last week that lalkovic didn't play he did today and was man of the match Taylor was impressive also, Chambers had a good game he always does.
Negative points Bradshaw was isolated again Manton was poor, Sawyers needs to be dropped for Morris.

Sawyers is never dropped, as most fans seem to think he is our axis of creativity....despite the fact he regularly brings moves to a halt, walks into walls, and abandons the simple pass into space which would result in a chance or attack

Dead right - never agreed with you before but as things stand today Sawyers was a wasteful player for most of the 90 minutes etc.. I personally wouldn't worry if he was dropped for an exploratory game or 2 because he's becoming an expensive luxury that doesn't produce..

[funk_hits_the_fan]

Everyone moaned last week that lalkovic didn't play he did today and was man of the match Taylor was impressive also, Chambers had a good game he always does.
Negative points Bradshaw was isolated again Manton was poor, Sawyers needs to be dropped for Morris.

:shock:

Didn't a piece of elaborate skill from Sawyers win us a game at Doncaster? Tit for tat....

[aaaae]

Disagree about Sawyers. He just needs to have a look at his second goal against Blackpool away and realise what he is capable of if he decides to have a dig.

[Mazza01]

We have been cack for weeks, our resistance to sign players will cost us once again!

No excuses today we just aren't good enough.

The next 2 weeks will define our season , 2nd or 7th flip a coin.

[Sadders]

Such a very frustrating afternoon at the office.

On 99 other days out of 100, we would have been 3-0 up, cruising, on dream street after 15 minutes, with the game won and some goals to rack up. Instead we contrived to miss 3 awful chances, one in which Bradshaw MUST bury and another where Sawyers was a little over composed a missed when lacing it would have been better. We played very well in general, better than I have seen us for a while - but it's a simple fact;

- We aren't clinical.
- We don't have enough consistent goal sources
- We don't put teams away when on top.

The fact is, we simply cannot rely on a defence to hold out for 90 minutes each week, whilst we missed open goals.

The big problem today, lays with SOD. Im absolutely disgusted with him and his lack of subs. ANYONE with one minor, tiny clue about how to manage a football team could logically see that on a heavy pitch in February that BOTH wingers needed to be subbed on the hour mark so we had fresh legs to push us on. Had Henry/Morris came on and added fresh legs even 15 minutes before they did, I'm convinced we would have won. As it was, O'Dismal stood there arms folded letting our promotion chances drift passed like a piece of wood in a river without a care in the world. Dire, dire, dire management. Absolute crap. I noticed that both Morris and Henry walked off without clapping the fans and Milan wasn't happy when he was subbed - SOD is already showing that his management is adding cracks in a squad that was previously well knit.

Disgusting performance from SOD today..he is single handedly having the biggest negative affect on our promotion push.

I'd like to mention the Crewe keeper too, pulled off some blinders today. Steve Davis commented on Radio Stoke after how we should have been out of site and that his save from Bradshaw in the second half was 'world class'.

Unfortunately, the poor atmosphere in the stands only contributed to what felt like a day we will look back on in May and think 'what may have been' as we resign ourselves back to the normality of mid-table/relegation seasons for the next decade until things click again. That doesn't however, excuse a select few in the left hand side in the second half abusing our own players. Some gobby little cack with his 2 kids, he should be absolutely ashamed of himself, what an absolute, chav, thick, dirty, nasty, disgraceful pond life of a family, the likes Jeremy Kyle look forward to having on their show for the comedy value, gobbing off to Taylor and calling Sawyers 'cack' when everyone around them was trying to encourage the side, disgusting, pond life, nobody, chav, ugly, thick, barclays. fudge off, if it was up to me you would be banned.

Rather downbeat tonight and so will the players be...it could lead to a couple of tankings in the next few weeks.

We really need to hold onto 6th now and see if we can fluke/scrape our way to a Wembley promotion.

[ToeJoe Jnr]

I believe we have had the lowest number of squad players used in the league? Given we have had cup runs this season puts another 8 games on our season. Automatic promotion is still on the cards but my concern is if we slip into the play offs is another 3 games too much if we don't freshen the squad?

I think we are averaging just over 1 goal per league game since the turn of the year, this doesn't scream automatic promotion. Especially when this coincides with us conceding more at present. Something has changed and not for the better.

This 5 game run has yielded 8 points so we are 2 down on the target. The next 5 include Wigan & Burton so will be difficult to make them up in that block.

[Ancient Moaner]

Just got back half hour ago, had to wait that long to calm down.
I think I speak for 2,000 odd very frustrated Walsall supporters today when I say THAT WAS SHITE!!!!
Though we should have been 3/4-0 up in the first half hour, our No1 sticking point is that we can't score goals, if we had still been playing now we still couldn't score even if Crewe had gone home!
Wrong team choice, again, and though this hurts me to say, Bradders has become the luxury player in my opinion.
He has deffo lost the ability to score, and his penalty was quite poor and was lucky to go in.
2 points squandered, Crewe were there for the taking, we have lost our edge.
If a striker isn't brought in RIGHT NOW we can kiss promotion goodbye.
1/10 performance, that will be tested in the next two matches, don't expect any points from them.

[Ancient Moaner]

Oh and Adam Chambers was world class today. heroic.

Agreed he's immense, his interception tackles are monumental, pity there is no outlet available once he wins the ball! :(

[mosaddler]

chance after chance...

http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sp ... -1-walsall

:twisted:

ps only if we had similar players too killa and wilson then we would be top by a country mile.

[Mazza01]

Omg those highlights have just made the day even worse, there's some shocking misses in that lot!

[Cully]

Yet more disappointment, l have less expectation week on week. We're just not good enough, almost every player looks like he's in a training session, no steel, no bite, no urgency, if it wasn't for Chambers we would probably collapse under a more determined or dynamic team than Crewe.
Lose to Wigan and Burton and forget about promotion...........we were probably the least dangerous team Crewe will have played all season, absolutely useless weak display of goal scoring as usual.

[coop63]

The frustration seems widespread - couple of players tweets are posted on Bescot Banter - Milan and Andy Taylor both expressed their thoughts and they seem to mirror many of our own!!

Hopefully - this will create a reaction from the guys next week!

[Walsallone]

How anyone can call that performance "SHITE" is beyond me....we played some wonderful football and if Bradshaw had been on form we would could have had 5. I see people blaming the manager but i think that is nonsense...we had 19 shots ..8 on target so what was SOD to do find a better player from our non existent striker options on the bench . ! Someone above said he picked the wrong team..well how would you get more goals out of us at the minute.
Some of our fans were a disgrace and our players deserved better than a few boos and a smattering of claps. They dominated the game but our lack of striking options found us out again. The sooner we get someone in to help the better.
One further point I thought Matt Preston was excellent today along with Taylor,Mantom and Chambers.
I wouldn't be surprised to see us win our next two games..which we are capable of doing if we can hit the net.

[sallian]

chance after chance...

http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sp ... -1-walsall

:twisted:

ps only if we had similar players too killa and wilson then we would be top by a country mile.

In a sense the highlights and missed shots are encouraging....as real opportunities were created, and there were some real clear chances engineered.....yes they were BADLY executed..... but could have scored 3 or 4 goals.

Walsall often look weak in their shots like they lack the muscle or spark to strike the ball cleanly, swiftly and hard.

500 shot drills are needed....and lots of kick ups, develop the fast twitch fibers of the quads.

Other teams seem to have a lot more goals in them, so don't see us making the top 4 at all......every game too much hard work even to score one goal....but at least today there were real opportunities to score.

If Cook would have been on probably would have scored....

If we are struggling so hard to score...but creating chances then why aren't Murphy and Bakayoko around? What is the aim....wait till they are 30 and we are relegated from the Conference South?

[Mazza01]

The frustration seems widespread - couple of players tweets are posted on Bescot Banter - Milan and Andy Taylor both expressed their thoughts and they seem to mirror many of our own!!

Hopefully - this will create a reaction from the guys next week!

In all fairness mate Milan talks the talk on social media week in week it's getting boring!!

[caldy]

I am afraid that we are on the cusp of a dogface era at Walsall. Giving teams possession, dropping off, tippy tappy shite around their 18 yard box with no shot or end product. Slow build up play is getting slower at times unless we go long. I honestly thought today that after their goal went in SOD was playing for a draw. No subs until it was way too late was just an insult to the lads on the bench and the fans. Of the players, Chambers was by far and away our best player today, god help us when he retires. Taylor and Mantom can leave now for me. Both way behind in terms of understanding and skill than the rest of the team. Taylor should never have started and if I were Rico sat on the bench after Taylor is preferred to him I would be pissed off. Mantom can hardly play a ball forward these days unless it is long range. I am a massive Sawyers fan but I'm afraid today and in recent matches I have noticed that he just slows us down at crucial times. Is it him at fault, his teammates or the system we play?

Lastly SOD and I feel bad for saying this as we are 2nd but I've got hardly any confidence in him. He doesn't inspire me so I can understand the players being uninspired. What was an uncharacteristic good season is turning out to be a typical season if we don't turn things around. Our performances are getting progressively worse, signings are needed. If by the start of March we are still top 3 I'll be very surprised.

[funk_hits_the_fan]

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:

[Walsallone]

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!

[moaning saddler]

I think the problem that many supporters have with the in-game management today is nothing to do with the first half, but everything to do with the second half, when it became apparent that several players had either started playing like headless chickens or had disappeared from view entirely.
Just what was the point in delaying the substitutions until they had become virtually irrelevant?

[Sadders]

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).

However, that comment is a bit broadbrush. Yes we should have been out of sight early on and SOD cannot physically put the ball in the net. However, it also became apparent after 55-60 minutes that Milan was tiring and Forde didn't have the pace to beat his man and stretch a weak Crewe side on the break. It was at this point SOD's poor management cost us the game and is costing us points. Taylor shouldn't be starting, Mantom looks off the pace and still, no matter how much of the ball we have - we leave Bradshaw isolated.

I'm afraid to say that I am raging with SOD tonight when virtually every single person with a single footballing braincell could see that the time and place to get Henry/Morris on was about the hour mark. Instead, he left it too late as the starting XI got more frustrated at not taking the chances they had created and started to waste the ball and become tired.

Had Henry/Morris come on on the hour today, I'm willing to say that we would have won the game by 2 clear goals. I know hindsight is a great thing, but that decision/tactic was not hindsight for SOD to take today - it was as clear as day at the time. Unfortunately, we will never know now, but come May these little decisions and subs/periods of play may become incredibly costly.

[Pedagogue]

... Sawyers needs to be dropped for Morris.

Sawyers is never dropped, as most fans seem to think he is our axis of creativity ... despite the fact he regularly brings moves to a halt, walks into walls, and abandons the simple pass into space which would result in a chance or attack

Dead right - never agreed with you before but, as things stand today, Sawyers was a wasteful player for most of the 90 minutes etc. I personally wouldn't worry if he were dropped for an exploratory game or two because he's becoming an expensive luxury that doesn't produce.

Probably the first time that I've agreed with sallian, too. As I have posted before, Sawyers decorates the game, rather than influence and control it - as a player of his ability should. His fancy flicks and touches are a delight to watch but they do not progress our game very much. He fails miserably when it comes to the basics of making 7 or 8 yard passes, particularly when the ball needs to be played first time. He won't head the ball, he runs/walks into trouble and frequently transfers the ball from his left foot to his right, thereby losing the impetus of the attack. Much the same could be said of the fans' other favourite, Lalkovic.

We totally outclassed a very poor Crewe side in the first half and should have been 5 or 6 goals to the good. We started the second half in the same vein but as soon as Crewe equalised, their morale and spirit were visibly lifted. Although we eventually resumed control, our finishing (or lack of it) was as inept as ever. Bradshaw is still isolated and the whole team's shooting was dreadful.

One good thing to emerge from O'Driscoll's press statements is that the team lacks aerial power. Hoo-bloody-ray; the penny has finally dropped that we do not have a good header of the ball, particularly in midfield and up front.

As others have commented, why are we paying Bryn Morris's wages and not playing him?

A double substitution with 3 minutes plus a further 3 minutes stoppage time??? What the hell were Henry and Kieron Morris supposed to achieve in 6 minutes (shades of Dean Smith)??? Did Morris even touch the ball? The fans' honeymoon period with O'Driscoll is now definitely at an end.

[coop63]

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).

However, that comment is a bit broadbrush. Yes we should have been out of sight early on and SOD cannot physically put the ball in the net. However, it also became apparent after 55-60 minutes that Milan was tiring and Forde didn't have the pace to beat his man and stretch a weak Crewe side on the break. It was at this point SOD's poor management cost us the game and is costing us points. Taylor shouldn't be starting, Mantom looks off the pace and still, no matter how much of the ball we have - we leave Bradshaw isolated.

I'm afraid to say that I am raging with SOD tonight when virtually every single person with a single footballing braincell could see that the time and place to get Henry/Morris on was about the hour mark. Instead, he left it too late as the starting XI got more frustrated at not taking the chances they had created and started to waste the ball and become tired.

Had Henry/Morris come on on the hour today, I'm willing to say that we would have won the game by 2 clear goals. I know hindsight is a great thing, but that decision/tactic was not hindsight for SOD to take today - it was as clear as day at the time. Unfortunately, we will never know now, but come May these little decisions and subs/periods of play may become incredibly costly.

Spot on Sadders

In many respects the lack of response from the dugout to the clear issues on the pitch will be debated but frankly, it goes without saying that the costly lack of quality finishing is what cost us the additional 2 points today.

[coop63]

... Sawyers needs to be dropped for Morris.

Sawyers is never dropped, as most fans seem to think he is our axis of creativity ... despite the fact he regularly brings moves to a halt, walks into walls, and abandons the simple pass into space which would result in a chance or attack

Dead right - never agreed with you before but, as things stand today, Sawyers was a wasteful player for most of the 90 minutes etc. I personally wouldn't worry if he were dropped for an exploratory game or two because he's becoming an expensive luxury that doesn't produce.

Probably the first time that I've agreed with sallian, too. As I have posted before, Sawyers decorates the game, rather than influence and control it - as a player of his ability should. His fancy flicks and touches are a delight to watch but they do not progress our game very much. He fails miserably when it comes to the basics of making 7 or 8 yard passes, particularly when the ball needs to be played first time. He won't head the ball, he runs/walks into trouble and frequently transfers the ball from his left foot to his right, thereby losing the impetus of the attack. Much the same could be said of the fans' other favourite, Lalkovic.

We totally outclassed a very poor Crewe side in the first half and should have been 5 or 6 goals to the good. We started the second half in the same vein but as soon as Crewe equalised, their morale and spirit were visibly lifted. Although we eventually resumed control, our finishing (or lack of it) was as inept as ever. Bradshaw is still isolated and the whole team's shooting was dreadful.

One good thing to emerge from O'Driscoll's press statements is that the team lacks aerial power. Hoo-bloody-ray; the penny has finally dropped that we do not have a good header of the ball, particularly in midfield and up front.

As others have commented, why are we paying Bryn Morris's wages and not playing him?

A double substitution with 3 minutes plus a further 3 minutes stoppage time??? What the hell were Henry and Kieron Morris supposed to achieve in 6 minutes (shades of Dean Smith)??? Did Morris even touch the ball? The fans' honeymoon period with O'Driscoll is now definitely at an end.

The Bryn Morris issue is a mystery - why is he not getting ANY game time?