Derby County (H) Sat 23rd July 3pm (friendly)

[Welsh_Saddler]

We welcome the Rams for our third "open" pre-season friendly. It seems likely that Derby County will field something approaching their strongest team as manager Nigel Pearson searches for a confidence-boosting win in their schedule, which hasn't gone terribly well for them so far. Their pre-season tour of Portugal produced these results:

15 July Vitoria Setubal Lost 0-1
16 July Benfica Lost 0-4

County had a similar experience to ourselves at the end of last season, qualifying for the play-offs and then getting comprehensively stuffed by Hull City 5-0 on aggregate. I won't mention Barnsley in any detail at this point.

Recognisable names in the Derby County squad may well include Tom Ince, Darren Bent and Scott Carson, once attracting a transfer fee of £3.25 million for his goalkeeping services.

As far as the Walsall line-up is concerned much will depend on how near to full match-fitness certain players are rated. We haven't seen Franck Moussa or Simeon Jackson as yet, and there may well be more new names to conjure with as Jon Whitney is on record as saying that discussions are still on-going for further additions to his squad.

No real point in predicting the outcome of this game, but after our very decent showing against Birmingham City we should be in for a high level of entertainment! Only two weeks until the real season starts........... :D

[saddla]

Yay... I can read it!

[Mike T.]

And me! :D

[chunkster]

ye what was that all about? saying i hadn't got the authority to read it :roll:

[newjersey exile]

So we went to the Caribbean a couple of seasons ago - is there no chance of a pre-season tour of the East coast of the US then? Mind you there would only be school girl teams to play .................... OK - forget that.

[Exile]

So we went to the Caribbean a couple of seasons ago - is there no chance of a pre-season tour of the East coast of the US then? Mind you there would only be school girl teams to play .................... OK - forget that.

That's half the fans' parole terms breached... :wink:

[Welsh_Saddler]

BUMP (for the o.p. edit) :D

[saddla]

Yay. My first game since last season and how I've missed it all. Bring it on, even a friendly :lol:
Probably going to Lu'on next weekend too! :D

[chriss5471]

No Rico, anyone have any ideas why?

[Ancient Moaner]

No Rico, anyone have any ideas why?

Is uncle Jeff in hand wringing mode possibly? Having no doubt 'put his foot down' on any further acquisitions, he may now be in a position to fly off into the Med for good, (but leaving his son in charge of course!).

By the way, IS there a footy match at the Bescot this afternoon, or is it that absolutely no one is interested in friendlies?

[Welsh_Saddler]

Line-up against Derby County:

Etheridge

Edwards
Cockerill-Mollett

O'Connor
McCarthy
Dobson
Chambers

Oztumer
Morris

Jackson
Moussa

Substitutes: MacGillivray, Shorrock, Kinsella, Bakayoko, Sangha, Roberts, Kouhyar, Osbourne


Half-time: Walsall 0 Derby County 1 (Darren Bent, 35 min)

[Welsh_Saddler]

Half-time changes: OFF go Dobson, Jackson, Moussa, and ON come Osbourne, Bakayoko, Kouhyar

[Welsh_Saddler]

Walsall 0 Derby County 2 (Ince, 68 min)

Attendance 2,933

England declare at 589 for 8 wickets.

[JonnyOwen]

Our performance was very flat, but to be fair Derby are a very good team and were excellently drilled.

Still, this performance points out the weak spots in out squad at the moment. A back up left back is needed (even though Cockerill-Mollett did really well) as well as some pace and direct running in wide areas.

[Darth Vader]

Hutchings out

[chunkster]

Our performance was very flat, but to be fair Derby are a very good team and were excellently drilled.

Still, this performance points out the weak spots in out squad at the moment. A back up left back is needed (even though Cockerill-Mollett did really well) as well as some pace and direct running in wide areas.

did derby put out a strong team?

[SoccerHQ]

Grant, Baird, Pearce, Shackell, Forsyth, Blackman, Bryson, Johnson, Russell, Bent, Ince

[DonningtonSaddler]

First time I have seen the team today. I thought we were OK. I wished we could have tried 442 in the second half with Bakayoko and Jackson playing together up front. The positives for me were:

1. Bakayoko looks like he could do a job up front. I hope Whitney isn't thinking we are OK with what we've got because we need another striker. Reuben Reid please.

2. Osbourne deserves a one year contract.

3. Maziar Kouhyar looks useful.

4. The stewards didn't find the pork pie I had hidden in my pants.

[chunkster]

Grant, Baird, Pearce, Shackell, Forsyth, Blackman, Bryson, Johnson, Russell, Bent, Ince

very strong team. so no shame in losing as long as we competed :)

[leics_saddler]

After a long absence...

Yes, Chunkster. They put out a very strong team.
Look at our three HT substitutes (no disrespect to our lads of course) and theirs were Cyrus Christie, Richard Keogh and Will Hughes.

Overall Derby started right out of the blocks and we could have been two down in 10 minutes.
Up till their goal we looked very good on the ball, some of the possession was very fluid for a team of relative strangers.
There was little incisive threat on their goal, only really shots from distance. Everything went through Oztumer and Morris, really.

As for the performances:

Etheridge - couldn't do a thing for the goals. Made a couple of good saves, woeful distribution at times. 2015/6 again!

Edwards - steady, can get forward too. Don't expect a Jase II though
Cockerill-Mollett - did very well considering he must have gone from 3rd choice to 1st choice in a month!
O'Connor - excellent
McCarthy - looked assured

Dobson - sound
Chambers - great, I don't how he does it at his age.
Oztumer - class act, tired towards the end but MOTM for an hour's play tells you enough.
Morris - Links well with Ozzie, again dropped off a bit in the 2nd half.

Jackson - frustrated figure, kept very quiet
Moussa - looks about as svelte and fit as me.

Substitutes:
Bakayoko - looked by far the most dangerous of the forwards which is worrying in itself.
Sangha - didn't get chance to make too much impression.
Roberts - would like to see more of him.
Kouhyar - some nice touches, but was a little out of his depth at times against this level of opposition.
Osbourne - as fit as Moussa, very solid though.

I'm a bit worried that too many of our players have been thrust into it.
Either they are new acquisitions, some of those coming back from injuries or our own lads who may have been over-promoted.
You have to wonder what on earth is going on with Rico. He's obviously on his way out.
We've got two weeks to get some of these a bit fitter and Rico playing or out and replaced.

[Ancient Moaner]

Is it just me looking from afar at todays info with a slightly jaundiced view, or does an air of 'fitness issues' and 'dissent in the ranks' shine through?
Would be a pity, because 'on paper' we have the nucleus of a reasonably competent squad.

Has Etheridge learnt to get rid of the ball yet? How many were physically sick having to watch the team in that abominable strip? :oops:

[Happydays2122]

On the basis of that performance. I expect goals to be a significant problem. Need to invest some of the Bradshaw fee in a decent striker and sime creativity

[Cowshed]

1st game this season

Very hot conditions and a well drilled top 6 championship side in Derby but clearly the level of quality in the team has dropped.

If you were kinsella you would be disappointed that Edwards get the nod I prefer the younger more tenacious home grown player

McCarthy will do a job at our level but we missed downing bringing the ball out from defence

Dobson was loose on the ball a couple of times which leaves the back four exposed but he seems to play more direct forward balls than mantom but I can't see him getting into scoring positions like mantom did

Moussa is worrying overweight for a wide player

Jackson - you wouldn't have known he was on the pitch - Troy Hewitt esque

Osbourne will do well at our level breaks up play and was tidy and gives us height in our own box worth a contract

Bakayoko showed good physicality and ozthumer was a box of tricks pity ozthumer cannot play more forward as they could easily form a lightbourne wilson type partnership which could work well. Saying that neither would have got a game last year.

There is enough to keep us safe but I can see us losing as many as we win

[liam t.]

1st game this season

Very hot conditions and a well drilled top 6 championship side in Derby but clearly the level of quality in the team has dropped.

If you were kinsella you would be disappointed that Edwards get the nod I prefer the younger more tenacious home grown player

McCarthy will do a job at our level but we missed downing bringing the ball out from defence

Dobson was loose on the ball a couple of times which leaves the back four exposed but he seems to play more direct forward balls than mantom but I can't see him getting into scoring positions like mantom did

Moussa is worrying overweight for a wide player

Jackson - you wouldn't have known he was on the pitch - Troy Hewitt esque

Osbourne will do well at our level breaks up play and was tidy and gives us height in our own box worth a contract

Bakayoko showed good physicality and ozthumer was a box of tricks pity ozthumer cannot play more forward as they could easily form a lightbourne wilson type partnership which could work well. Saying that neither would have got a game last year.

There is enough to keep us safe but I can see us losing as many as we win

As you said in the opening line people need to remember that we were basically playing a full strength Derby team that looked very impressive to be honest.
I agree with pretty much everything apart from kinsella I think defensively at least for the start of the season Edwards looks far more solid and communicates very well which we need at the back.

I also thought that Dobson played some great passes even if he lost it once or twice but he's is a completely different player to mantom. I was very impressed with how he broke up play and looked up to start an attack as quick as possible.

[sid swifty]

I find it strange that JW hasn't made any comments after the game,he normally doesn't need to be coaxed into talking,maybe he was off looking at a striker or maybe he didn't want any questions asked about why Henry wasn't playing or in the squad..... :o :wink: .

[saddla]

I find it strange that JW hasn't made any comments after the game,he normally doesn't need to be coaxed into talking,maybe he was off looking at a striker or maybe he didn't want any questions asked about why Henry wasn't playing or in the squad..... :o :wink: .

Joe Masi of the express and star tweeted after the game following his interview with Whitney:

Joseph Masi ‏@JosephMasi_Star Jul 23

On Rico and Flo, Whitney just wanted them to sit this one out ahead of Notts County on Tuesday. #saddlers #walsallfc
5 retweets 6 likes

We'll see if this is just another conspiracy theory on Tuesday.

[Micky Saddler]

First time I have seen the team today. I thought we were OK. I wished we could have tried 442 in the second half with Bakayoko and Jackson playing together up front. The positives for me were:

1. Bakayoko looks like he could do a job up front. I hope Whitney isn't thinking we are OK with what we've got because we need another striker. Reuben Reid please.

2. Osbourne deserves a one year contract.

3. Maziar Kouhyar looks useful.

4. The stewards didn't find the pork pie I had hidden in my pants.

awesome :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: