Oldham Athletic, League One 12th August 3pm

[Mazza01]

First goals on IFollow, first win, and first half to forget, second better, but let's be honest. It couldn't be worse than first. And striker is not needed, but at least two midfielders and/or wingers. Baka, Jackson, Candlin will be enough, when one striker will be used. Sometimes lack of option upfront was too glaring. Long ball, Baka wins a header and no one else is near to help or press opponent. Defence, except one mix-up, was solid. Only need time to gel better. But midfield? Lightweight, ill-manned, bereft of offensive ideas. Oldham was a nut to crack. Tough one, but not showing much. So no defensive values were needed, but offensive. Flo would be shining today, probably, but he wasn't playing.

What? What on earth gave you confidence in bakayoko today?

Agree he didn't win one header all game, and that was against a centre back so fat he couldn't get off the ground.

[Michal]

What? What on earth gave you confidence in bakayoko today?

I liked what I saw today. I don't expect him to score four goals in each game, but I expect him to progress. Full season as first, or second, striker should help. I know he missed a sitter, but that's irrelevant. All strikers missed a lot of sitters. At least ball found him. More worrying part was, that Adam Chambers had no one, when trying to create something. That's why he had to play sideways, but that's not striker's fault.

PS I cut quotes, cause later that tree from quotes makes forum nearly unreadable.

[Guest]

The equaliser

https://youtu.be/qMieejpIL_Q

[coop63]

Much needed win today so great to get back to winning ways - UTS

[SoccerHQ]

Great stuff seeing Edwards picking the ball up and running straight back to the centre circle, clear to me the players knew 3 points was a must today and time was of the essence.

Got a feeling Edwards will win POTY.

Wierd aswell to see the goal nets up. Did the club spend 500k on stanchions?! :mrgreen:

[chunkster]

What was the attendance today?

[Welsh_Saddler]

What was the attendance today?

4,419 :D

[chunkster]

What was the attendance today?

4,419 :D

Not to shabby, a few more wins and it will start to creep up :D

[Mazza01]

What was the attendance today?

4,419 :D

Not to shabby, a few more wins and it will start to creep up :D

Decent away following tbf.. home ends looked empty.

[Guest]

What? What on earth gave you confidence in bakayoko today?

I liked what I saw today. I don't expect him to score four goals in each game, but I expect him to progress. Full season as first, or second, striker should help. I know he missed a sitter, but that's irrelevant. All strikers missed a lot of sitters. At least ball found him. More worrying part was, that Adam Chambers had no one, when trying to create something. That's why he had to play sideways, but that's not striker's fault.

PS I cut quotes, cause later that tree from quotes makes forum nearly unreadable.

Completely unreadable on my phone - unless I hold it horizontally.

[PT]

Enjoyable second half. It's been a while since we dominated a half like that and thoroughly deserved the win. So whatever Whitney said at half-time worked a treat. Well done him! He also held his nerve and didn't try to force the win through a panicky sub when we were so on top.

The Achilles heel was there for us to see though. We had three minutes to hold on to that lead and all but blew it following a last minute set-piece. Another great save from Gillespie.

Great to win. Great to say we deserved to win. Lots to work on still and the quality of football feels like a league below where we were 18 months ago. But overall - we've all got to be happy tonight.

[SoccerHQ]

Staute of Edwards going up anytime soon in your front garden PT? :D

[Whitters]

What was the attendance today?

I use this - https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/leag ... es-results

[chunkster]

What was the attendance today?

I use this - https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/leag ... es-results

cheers buddy :wink: just looked at fleetwoods crowd last week? after the season they had last year :shock:

[PT]

Staute of Edwards going up anytime soon in your front garden PT? :D

:lol: :D

He's a real challenge for me. I want to love him as our modern day Chris Marsh. Versatile, hardworking and pops up with rare but always important goals. But like Marsh, he is strictly Third Division and has many limitations. Look at the build up to Bury's free kick for the goal last week. Look at the build up the Sheffield United's first on Wednesday. People go past him like they do the cones in training. Turning circle of a tanker.

Maybe not a statue, but as he got an important goal today, I might give the hedge a bit of a "Joe quiff".

[Guest]

In the top half of the table!

https://youtu.be/g3AZKj3ftwE

[chunkster]

In the top half of the table!

https://youtu.be/g3AZKj3ftwE

That miss by backa has got to be in the top 10 all time misses in wfc history, shocking :shock: if we do get someone in i can see him either warming the bench with jackson or playing for a lower league side for the rest of his career, at Bury i couldn't believe how bad he is at winning headers? ozzy and kinsella put more effort in :|

[coop63]

In the top half of the table!

https://youtu.be/g3AZKj3ftwE

That miss by backa has got to be in the top 10 all time misses in wfc history, shocking :shock: if we do get someone in i can see him either warming the bench with jackson or playing for a lower league side for the rest of his career, at Bury i couldn't believe how bad he is at winning headers? ozzy and kinsella put more effort in :|

Agree - no wonder he held his head in his hands.... in fact his hands are about the only thing that does touch his head coz he gets no where near the ball with it :lol:

[chunkster]

In the top half of the table!

https://youtu.be/g3AZKj3ftwE

That miss by backa has got to be in the top 10 all time misses in wfc history, shocking :shock: if we do get someone in i can see him either warming the bench with jackson or playing for a lower league side for the rest of his career, at Bury i couldn't believe how bad he is at winning headers? ozzy and kinsella put more effort in :|

Agree - no wonder he held his head in his hands.... in fact his hands are about the only thing that does touch his head coz he gets no where near the ball with it :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[BathSaddler]

I'll take the three points and party :)

[pumajaguar]

Well deserved win after that second half. Time will tell if it was more a case of them being bad or us being good.

[Gripper]

Baka is getting lots of flack for his miss but that ball came at a right pace - combined with how he had no option but to hit it first time. I berated him at the time but looking at it again it was a toughie IMO.

[Pedagogue]

Baka is getting lots of flack for his miss but that ball came at a right pace - combined with how he had no option but to hit it first time. I berated him at the time but looking at it again it was a toughie IMO.

Quite right - and the critics of his mistake seem to have overlooked an even easier missed chance by everybody's favourite, Oztumer, just a few minutes earlier.

[Super Gabor]

I was impressed with Devlin yesterday. Looks like a hard working, tenacious right back who made some good attacking runs. Of the other new acquisitions, Gillespie looks the part although he had little to do in the second half apart from that last gasp save. A good second half but we're missing a confident and proven striker and a bit more flair and pace in our attacking options.

[El_Nombre]

Baka is getting lots of flack for his miss but that ball came at a right pace - combined with how he had no option but to hit it first time. I berated him at the time but looking at it again it was a toughie IMO.

Quite right - and the critics of his mistake seem to have overlooked an even easier missed chance by everybody's favourite, Oztumer, just a few minutes earlier.

You know why everyone's over looking that? Because he's proven time and time again he can actually finish, and did do later on in the game, where as Baka doesn't look like he can finish his tea half the time. He's also not a striker, his main priority isn't to be a dead eye finisher, Bakayokos is.

He's everybody's favourite for a reason.

And I'm not buying that it was a difficult chance either. It might have come to him at a right pace but it was passed to him. It's not like he had to react to a deflection or something. He should have anticipated it and he should have AT LEAST hit the target from there.

[Welsh_Saddler]

I realise that professional footballers are often equally comfortable with playing the ball with either foot, but I wonder .... is Bakayoko genuinely two-footed or is he naturally right or left (by preference). That particular pass came to his left foot, there was no question of being able to hit it first time with his right foot (if that is what he would normally prefer). In the event he did rather snatch at it - but at least he kept it on the ground whereas a few Walsall strikers from years gone by would have ballooned it into the car park!!

UTS :D

[chunkster]

Baka is getting lots of flack for his miss but that ball came at a right pace - combined with how he had no option but to hit it first time. I berated him at the time but looking at it again it was a toughie IMO.

Quite right - and the critics of his mistake seem to have overlooked an even easier missed chance by everybody's favourite, Oztumer, just a few minutes earlier.

I agree, it was nearly as bad, but there is a massive difference in skill and effort from both players, so i can forgive him :wink:

[Pedagogue]

I realise that professional footballers are often equally comfortable with playing the ball with either foot, but I wonder .... is Bakayoko genuinely two-footed or is he naturally right or left (by preference). That particular pass came to his left foot, there was no question of being able to hit it first time with his right foot (if that is what he would normally prefer). In the event he did rather snatch at it - but at least he kept it on the ground whereas a few Walsall strikers from years gone by would have ballooned it into the car park!!

Bakayoko is left-footed (or neither-footed, if you prefer :mrgreen: )

[The General]

Bakayoko is getting a lot of criticism which in my opinion for yesterday's performance is unjustified.Yes he got a couple of things wrong but he got a lot right.He did win a number of headers,those that say he didn't should visit Specsavers.His effort and energy was way in front of most performances in the second half of last season.
Over the years we love to vilify our strikers many of whom go on to better things.Try Butler,Grigg,Deeney.
Let's give our young players support instead of dog's abuse.Any sport is massively about confidence and ill informed criticisms do nothing to help.There are far too many who only like to see the negatives-let's have a bit more balance please.

[El_Nombre]

Bakayoko is getting a lot of criticism which in my opinion for yesterday's performance is unjustified.Yes he got a couple of things wrong but he got a lot right.He did win a number of headers,those that say he didn't should visit Specsavers.His effort and energy was way in front of most performances in the second half of last season.
Over the years we love to vilify our strikers many of whom go on to better things.Try Butler,Grigg,Deeney.
Let's give our young players support instead of dog's abuse.Any sport is massively about confidence and ill informed criticisms do nothing to help.There are far too many who only like to see the negatives-let's have a bit more balance please.

I'm sorry but just because something is criticised it doesn't mean it is ill informed or unbalanced.

Yes he did win the ball in the air.

As for effort and energy, I'm sorry I don't agree. He had one burst at the end of the game (which actually resulted in him giving away a foul that led to the Gillespie save). To not chase the ball down with 5 minutes to go was absolutely criminal when it was played over the top. I can't remember if we'd already scored or not but either way it could have been the difference between holding on or not. Too often Chambers (and the people that don't think he is worth a two year contract need to have a look at themselves, easily our most important player) picked up the ball and everything in front of him was static. He had absolutely no options. That's not JUST on Bakayoko but he was one of the culprits.

He's also not got the brain to play on his own up top. Whitney can think Oztumer is a striker all he wants but he's not. He plays deeper than that which left one up top. Too often he was pealing out onto the the wing to find the ball. I'm sorry but with one up top you absolutely can not do that. If you get the ball, who you aiming for in the centre? If he had a proper strike partner it wouldn't be an issue but it leaves us stuck with the ball out wide, nobody in the middle and nothing threatens.

I'm not one who gives him "dog's abuse" and I will always support and encourage any player that pulls on a Walsall shirt when I'm there. Some people's criticisms may be unjust but there are certainly some fair ones there too.