Charlton Athletic (A) Mar 11th, 3pm

[reedswood sadler]

A point away to Charlton is a good result but not enough if you want to keep those faint,very faint hope of play offs.
Yet again we create chance after chance with nobody capable of scoring top priority next season is goalscorer we rely on Ozzy and fullbacks to get goals far to much.

[chunkster]

I am well chuffed at a point away at charlton lets face it we have come a long way since they beat us at home, ok we can forget getting into the top 6 this season but JW is hopefully learning a lot and fast, if he can keep us in the top 10 in his first season in football management then it is looking quite good for next season. i for one am pleased that he has proved me wrong. long may it continue :D

[SoccerHQ]

Thought that was a missed opportunity today.

Very impressive first half....Walsall came flying out of the blocks and Edwards was having a stormer down the left. Jackson missed from 6 yards, corner cleared off the line, keeper tipped one round the post and after a bit of a lull Jackson did a good finish from a one-on-one and it was a deserved lead.

Charlton aside from the lively Holmes putting in some decent crosses offered nothing and were one of the poorest teams I saw for that half.

Second half Charlton much more on touch, scored and were more likely to get the winner afterwards.

Point probably isn't enough but if Scunny keep losing then maybe not over yet. Probably going to need to win the final 5 home games to stand a chance.

Finally a word on the ref.....has anyone ever seen anything like that nonsense on the stroke of half time. He blows exactly as Ozzy enters the penalty area and is about to cross/shot.

I thought the common sense advice to refs was to tell them to blow up when the ball is in the centre circle or out of play. I really don't understand if time had overrun why he waited all the time for Ozzy to chase the ball, keep it in play, run towards the box and then blow as soon as he got in. We are talking another second or to in which the cross would've been cleared or it would've gone towards goal.

Didn't help he seemed to give Charlton everything second half either.

[SoccerHQ]

And today showed Whits still has a bit to learn.

Charlton not in it for 50 minutes, fat scouse Robbo makes a change sending on Novak.....moving Holmes (who was their best player by a mile) to the left and going 4-3-3.

Charlton started dominating possession, got the ball forward, scored and were on the front foot thereafter.

Unless Jackson was totally cream crackered I'd have liked him to have stayed on and gone with two strikers as Baka just can't hold it up well enough at this stage of his career, certainly not away from home.

Didn't understand only two subs when three points were needed either.

[philthesaddler]

Not sure what the reaction on Twitter is all about.

I thought that performance was pretty good, given the circumstances - we're a poor side, with little upfront, and we got a draw away from home.

Granted, we should have probably been 2-0 up at the break, but a combination of our shitness upfront, and the referee meant it was only 1-0.

I'm not a fan of Whitney, but you've got to give him credit in that he's found a system which means we don't get beaten very often - the downside of this is that we show almost nothing going forward. The sign of a poor manager perhaps?

I've said it before, but the 5-4-1 system we play means that we're always a man-short going forward. During the first half, we were on top, we were the better side, Edwards had the beating of the right back, and Ozy was playing well, but with only Jackson spearheading the attack, opposition defences don't really need to work hard, and we can never quite expose their weaknesses. All the time we were on top in the first half, we constantly had Laird, OConnell and OConnor sitting at the back, offering little except cover.

On the other side of the coin, we need to play the 5 at the back, because we're so poor at defending. Today, the goal we gave away was after some 4 or 5 chances to clear the ball properly, so despite overloading the team with defenders, we still can't defend. Just as a point of reference - out of the 10 outfield players today, 7 were "defensive" players - and people wonder why we appear negative? 70% of our team are defensive players.

Then we come to the remaining 30% of the team - Ozzy, Morris and Jackson. Not exactly the strikeforce to send shivers down opposing players' spines.

Jackson missed a sitter in the first half, and Morris was generally quiet.

The first half ended strangely, with the ref blowing for half time with Ozthumer in behind Charlton with an excellent chance to score - surely an extra 10 seconds wasn't out of order? Not surprised though as the ref was poor throughout. Second half, Charlton came at us, and we defending for our lives. Once Morris and Jackson had gone off, where were our goals going to come from? Ozy is good, but he's 5ft 2, he isn't going to beat an entire team on his own.

Jackson is frustratingly poor - almost constantly offisde and rarely offering anything the air, what exactly is his game? But then again, what else have the club got to offer upfront? Makris - LOL, no thanks. Baka? Doesn't look arsed tbf - for a 6ft+ striker with a big build, he really doesn't use it.

Can anyone think of a worse stable of strikers in the last 10 years?

15/16: Bradshaw, Lalkovic, Sawyers, Cook, Hiwula
14/15: Bradshaw, Grimes, Sawyers, Manset, Cook, Hiwula
13/14: Westcarr, Hewitt, Sawyers, Hemmings
12/13: Brandy, Bowerman, Grigg, Westcarr, Sawyers
11/12: Macken, Grigg, Jarvis, Bowerman, Ledesma
10/11: Macken, Reid, Dickinson, Nicholls, Grigg
09/10: Deeney, Nicholls, Byfield
08/09: Ibehre, Deeney, Nicholls
07/08: Mooney, Nicholls, Betsy, Deeney

Personally, I think the forwards we have this season are the poorest combination we've had in a long, long time. Makris offers nothing, Baka is raw and Jackson frustrating.

All in all, I think a draw was a fair result, but frustrating given that we could have won easily. All the more frustrating as this season appears to be a very weak league in general.

[SoccerHQ]

That's actually a good point Phil, first half when Edwards was constantly beating the non existant Charlton right back I thought to myself it would've been good if Laird was playing left back and was bombing on as another outlet rather then being in the back 3.

Strikers? Well there's no Troy Hewitt or Grimes in there but Makris just hasn't worked out, Baka is still raw and Jackson has poached goals but hasn't offered much more.

Seeing him score yet another for Bradford just now, would've loved Hiwula back who imo would've flourished as the main man upfront rather than just back up as he was last season but it wasn't to be.

If Bury went down I'd be straight on the phone to James Vaughan, he'd be the sort I'd like to see next season.

[PT]

Good report Phil.

I think we've gone from being a poor team to a distinctly average one. Progress if you like.

Bradshaw had this season left on his contract. We didn't need to sell him. Despite being average, I think the league is so poor this year that had we kept him, we'd be comfortably top six now. Points like today would have been converted four of five times and we'd have drawn the odd one we've lost. Unfortunately his replacements, despite costing a few bob haven't cut it.

[philthesaddler]

Good report Phil.

I think we've gone from being a poor team to a distinctly average one. Progress if you like.

Bradshaw had this season left on his contract. We didn't need to sell him. Despite being average, I think the league is so poor this year that had we kept him, we'd be comfortably top six now. Points like today would have been converted four of five times and we'd have drawn the odd one we've lost. Unfortunately his replacements, despite costing a few bob haven't cut it.

This is why the signing of Makris is so puzzling.

We've got limited resources - we're not a club that can sign someone in the hope that 2 years down the line they might be half decent.

If we really have spent £300k on Makris, and it is all above board - which I strongly doubt - then it's idiocy. That kind of money, properly invested, could have seen us go up this season, and that money would have been repaid threefold. As it stands, Makris looks less an "investment", more a complete an utter "piss it up the wall".

[DingleBull]

The usual negative borefest from the Smallsall lot on here :lol:

Do any of your actual supporters post on here?

[Guest]

Jackson not offside! :shock:

https://youtu.be/GWfRdNsu02s

[killers left foot]

it was pretty obvious we needed a striker in the window to me instead we signed randall a kid who cant get a look in at a cack wolves side.and before anyone says good strikers cost money we have not spent any from the henry sale yet surely at the least we could of got someone in on loan on a decent wedge? big mistake as we will miss out on the play offs because of our lack of goals.

[Mazza01]

I said it all along , not signing a striker in January put pay to any chance of us reaching the playoffs.

[EvenFlow]

The usual negative borefest from the Smallsall lot on here :lol:

Do any of your actual supporters post on here?

http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/wol ... win-watch/

Fail. As usual.

[pumajaguar]

A decent point for a mid-table side, which we are, but a missed opportunity for a genuine top six contender, which we aren't.

First 15 minutes or so was the best I've seen us play this season (this was only my 11th game of the season). Jackson managed to miss from six yards when it was easier to score, but took his goal well. In reality, we should have gone in 2-0 up and probably would have had the game won. Second half Charlton improved and a draw was probably fair in the end.

You have to go all the way down to Shrewsbury in 18th for a team that has scored less goals than us.

[Optimistic]

I get really annoyed with Jackson for getting caught offside so often, but in fairness to him that's his game. If we put the ball past the defense and on the ground sooner instead of waiting until he has made his run he will no doubt get more goals. Does he go too soon. I am not sure.

He doesn't always hit the target but he took his goal well enough yesterday and he just needs more balls to run on to in my opinion.

[Pedagogue]

If we really have spent £300k on Makris, ...

Just to be pedantic - it was reported to be €300k, or £250k at the prevailing exchange rate. I'm sure that much of that fee was to be paid in instalments subject to the usual conditions, e.g. appearances, goals, etc.

[DingleBull]

The usual negative borefest from the Smallsall lot on here :lol:

Do any of your actual supporters post on here?

http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/wol ... win-watch/

Fail. As usual.

It was a fortunate win. A very fortunate win. We should not be 1 point off relegation having spent 13 million+ on players. Can you you imagine what you lot on this site would be like if you were 1 point from relegation in League one?

I say on here because I'm not sure any Walsall fans actually post on here. You should be glad I do to bump up the match reactions! They probably do visit the site but fall asleep reading the posts. Seems most of the posters on here are that out of touch they would consider Bernard Manning a cutting edge comic :lol:

[JonnyOwen]

Decent point. We were vert good first 25 minutes and last 10 minutes when we were pushing for a winner (and seemed to be creating ways to not score!).

Should have won which is the real disappointment. Jackson scored and was still poor, so he came off for Bakayoko who must be either sleep deprived or on some kind of substance as he looked dazed and confused up front.

Dobson did very well in his cameo. Jedwards, McCarthy and Oztumer in the first half all played well. Adam Chambers did okay too.

[SWS11]

....they would consider Bernard Manning a cutting edge comic :lol:
He was, wasn't he? Very cutting if you were a member of a minority!

:shock:

Good point on Saturday, in my book.
Glass half full. :)

[EvenFlow]

It was a fortunate win. A very fortunate win. We should not be 1 point off relegation having spent 13 million+ on players.

No-one here cares in the slightest. This a Walsall forum. You appear to be lost

I say on here because I'm not sure any Walsall fans actually post on here.

On the contrary, friend. Every Walsall fan there is posts here. We're so miniscule and insignificant, you see. That's why your mob don't care about us. No sir, not at all.