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Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Reports and reaction from the 2013-2014 season as Walsall finished 13th in League 1
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saddlerken
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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Sun Dec 29, 2013 7:19 pm

PT wrote:So yes, we need a quality signing if we are to have even a hope of the play-offs. But do the club need or want promotion?


They should do, yes.

One very good reason is the likelihood of winning some more supporters for our inevitable return to division 3. They might hang around this time :shock:

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sallian
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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Sun Dec 29, 2013 7:28 pm

Welsh_Saddler wrote:
sallian wrote:
Welsh_Saddler wrote:I expect to see a Sallian post completely reversing his theory that if the other team scores first then Walsall are without hope.... :lol: :lol: :lol:


...Walsall are so goal-shy, shot-conservative,


So how does that stack up with today's FACTS in that Walsall had almost TWICE as many shots as Gillingham, and MORE on target than Gillingham?

Start being a real supporter, and not a doom-and-gloom know-it-all. Better still, don't bother posting at all.


They need to take more shots to have a chance of scoring more goals. They need to shoot earlier. And they need to create the chances earlier by delivering the passes earlier.

These 3 simple changes would give them 2 or 3 goals more a game, even without a new striker.

I am saying they don't score enough because they don't shhot enough and don't efficiently attack as a team enough. Everyone knows now they stop when they get to last third and get confused about what to do next.

If they had 15 shots each half rather than for the whole match they would have probably won.

If I was the manager or sports psychologist for the team, I would tell the strikers to try and score 10 every match with BELIEF, POSITIVITY & DETERMINATION.

It would yield results.

I have considered approaching the team to give the players a free sports psychology session. I am convinced I could get them scoring a lot more goals (and if worked, which I'm pretty sure it would...they should pay me a few quid) But it would need support from coaching staff to drive the play towards continuous chance creation (which means directness and supportive movement).

About doom and gloom...I don't like it when they do the same wthings wrong, over and over again.

I am positive and congratulatory about every single good pass, run, tackle or effort a player makes. And I never shout abuse at the players or manager....as I don't believe negative comments at them helps.

But this is a forum where we should be able to express ourselves about how we feel and think.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Sun Dec 29, 2013 7:41 pm

After trying to bore Gillingham to death with possession football for the entire first half, it might have been sensible to use the same tactics for the 3 minutes of injury time after taking the lead in the 90th minute.
What we actually did was to go for another goal - Westcarr missing a point-blank header in the 91st minute. The Gillingham goal came directly from the subsequent goal kick, with the Walsall defence seeming to do a disappearing act.
Westcarr then had another chance - putting a shot a yard wide - before the Saddlers defence again went into panic mode and Gillingham should probably have scored.
A very strange end to a game.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Sun Dec 29, 2013 7:43 pm

PT wrote:
sandysaddler wrote:clearly need to make a quality signing in jan window, surely if there was money in the pot to offer grigg a 4 year deal then even without his transfer fee there should be money in the pot for a replacement even if only on loan!


I think it depends on what you mean by "need". If we want to be in with any chance of promotion then I agree that we "need" to make that quality signing.

I'd like us to go for it. I'd love to see us at Wembley and I'd die a happy man if I saw us win at Wembley. I don't think we'd have a prayer of staying up. The days of clubs with 5/6,000 crowds sticking in the second division have gone. You need 10,000 regular home fans as a minimum to be a second division club these days and we're woefully short on that score. Bonser wouldn't gamble again and I wouldn't want him to as we'd end up four or five million in his debt rather than the current score. We'd go from having a small division three budget to an embarrassing division two budget where our only hope would be a relegation with dignity (a la Graydon's first season or what Yeovil are up to this year). I'd take that all day long but I'm not sure that the 2,000 returning fans would or indeed half of those who attend now. It would bring a pressure onto Smith and a re-emerging focus onto Bonser.

So yes, we need a quality signing if we are to have even a hope of the play-offs. But do the club need or want promotion?


This is the crux of the matter. As bizarre as it sounds I agree promotion could be counter productive to the club's fortunes in the short term. It's no coincidence that the last two times we made the 2nd tier, we were in the 4th tier shortly after. That's why I'm reasonably happy with the way the season is panning out.

It does beg the question what a sensible long -term strategy for the club is though, if you're not going for promotion, how are you going to get more fans in that will make promotion more viable? I'd suggest the following.

- Target the cups to give the fans something to cheer about.
- Try and win home matches more so than away matches
- Give youth as much chance as possible
- Try and improve the match day experience as much as possible.
- Offer good ticket deals to kids. Make them become long term fans
- Build a two tier stand for the away fans (and fleece them)

To be fair the club is already doing some of the above, and they've probably already put more thought into this than me anyway.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Sun Dec 29, 2013 8:01 pm

moaning saddler wrote:After trying to bore Gillingham to death with possession football for the entire first half, it might have been sensible to use the same tactics for the 3 minutes of injury time after taking the lead in the 90th minute.

I got Sir Alex's autobiography for Christmas and while my first instinct was to bin it, it turns out it's a very interesting read with some very interesting insights.
I recommend it.
In analysing Barca's success he talks of them boring teams to death with possession football until they lose concentration.
So if that's what WFC do, I'm all for it.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Sun Dec 29, 2013 8:05 pm

wfc & chips wrote:we've scored 2 twice in the last 3.

bax with an assist.

anything else need correcting?


Lets be really positive and narrow the window of analysis to the last game....we are UNDEFEATED and SCORED 2!!!

Lets be positive and start our assessment from the last ten seconds....WE HAVE NOT CONCEDED A GOAL.

Do I have to go through all our games to prove my point? Or will you stop arguing for the sake of it by reducing the sample size to fit your hypothesis?! okay you forced me!

23 league games gone, half the season...a good stage for some statistical analysis.

The following is our frequency of goals in league games, either 0, 1, 2 or 3. We havn't scored 4 yet. First figure is goals scored, second figure is the amount of games in which that number has been scored.

0=8
1=8
2=4
3=3

So my point is somewhat self evident. By far our most frequent goal tally in a match is 0 (nil) or 1 (one). In sixteen matches we score either 0 or 1 compared to the seven matches where we managed 2 or more. A ratio of 7:16 expressed (i.e. scoring 2 or more per game) 25 goals in 23 matches is basically an average of one goal a game...so 2 goals IS QUITE RARE. I win again...get your SALLIAN IS RIGHT T-shirt printed now

a) Tranmere Rovers 3-1
a) Oldham Athletic 1-0
H) NOTTS CO. 1-1
a) Brentford 0-1
H) PRESTON N.E. 0-3
a) Crewe Alexandra 3-0
a) Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0
H) ROTHERHAM UTD. 1-1
a) Leyton Orient 1-1
H) BRADFORD CITY 0-2
a) Colchester Utd. 1-1
H) STEVENAGE 2-1
a) Swindon Town 3-1
H) COVENTRY CITY 0-1
a) MK Dons 0-1
H) PETERBORO UTD. 2-0
a) Crawley Town 0-0
a) Sheffield Utd. 1-1
H) PORT VALE 0-2
a) Shrewsbury Town 1-0
H) CARLISLE UTD. 2-0
a) Bristol City 0-1
a) Gillingham 2-2

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sallian
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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Sun Dec 29, 2013 8:14 pm

TheSwift wrote:
sallian wrote:
TheSwift wrote:http://www.bescotbanter.net/2013/12/smith-insists-i-have-got-funds-available.html

http://www.bescotbanter.net/p/rumour-mill.html

On the other note of transfer business, look at the first link. A subtle way perhaps of saying we might get someone in.

On the second link is a nice rumour. Also heard he was training with us earlier this month to keep match fitness.


If this is true they should sign him for 3 seasons. Even if he was 45 I think he would still be much more effective than anyone else we have.

Dean Smith needs to lose another false maxim 'young junk is better than elderly quality' it isn't. Walsall should have signed David Kelly as a player not as assistant coach....or even Richard O'Kelly.


He says he wants to play his 'final months of his career' closer to home. I guess he will be retiring come the end of the season.


They need to convince him otherwise.....he probably doesn't realise how relatively supreme his finishing skills would be among some teams! Let him cut down on the training if his joints ache, just bring him in on a wheelchair to score the goals, then drop him off in a sauna.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Sun Dec 29, 2013 8:16 pm

Andy_Petterson wrote:It does beg the question what a sensible long -term strategy for the club is though, if you're not going for promotion, how are you going to get more fans in that will make promotion more viable? I'd suggest the following.

- Target the cups to give the fans something to cheer about.
- Try and win home matches more so than away matches
- Give youth as much chance as possible
- Try and improve the match day experience as much as possible.
- Offer good ticket deals to kids. Make them become long term fans
- Build a two tier stand for the away fans (and fleece them)

To be fair the club is already doing some of the above, and they've probably already put more thought into this than me anyway.

Good post Petterson.

Some of my ideas....
What about breaking the shirt-cost cycle - ie selling shirts for half what the other clubs sell them for to get the kiddies out of the Man U etc shirts and in to ours.
Advertising ay it?
Also, is it possible to have heated seats (and pay a premium for them)?
More community involvement from the players.
I understand all games are recorded so is it possible to have TV transmission of all games via the Internet - at a cost of course - for ex-pats and folk living in far flung parts of the UK (and for stayaways so they can watch but not lose face).

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sallian
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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Sun Dec 29, 2013 8:17 pm

Whitters wrote:
moaning saddler wrote:After trying to bore Gillingham to death with possession football for the entire first half, it might have been sensible to use the same tactics for the 3 minutes of injury time after taking the lead in the 90th minute.

I got Sir Alex's autobiography for Christmas and while my first instinct was to bin it, it turns out it's a very interesting read with some very interesting insights.
I recommend it.
In analysing Barca's success he talks of them boring teams to death with possession football until they lose concentration.
So if that's what WFC do, I'm all for it.


The problem is when Walsall do this is that they forget to try and score when the other team gets bored and they also get bored themselves and lose concentration :lol:

I think its a better strategy to try and bore the other team with having to continuously collect the ball out of their own goal.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Sun Dec 29, 2013 8:18 pm

funny, i don't bother reading your cack any more, unless it's short. i just clocked the comment about 2 goals being a rarity, and pointed out how inaccurate it is saying it now.

plus pt criticizing bax in a match the former ain't seen and the latter provided an assist is odd. mind you, he went on to argue against promotion or something. just a weird day, i guess.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Sun Dec 29, 2013 8:21 pm

sallian wrote:
wfc & chips wrote:we've scored 2 twice in the last 3.

bax with an assist.

anything else need correcting?


Lets be really positive and narrow the window of analysis to the last game....we are UNDEFEATED and SCORED 2!!!

Lets be positive and start our assessment from the last ten seconds....WE HAVE NOT CONCEDED A GOAL.

Do I have to go through all our games to prove my point? Or will you stop arguing for the sake of it by reducing the sample size to fit your hypothesis?! okay you forced me!

23 league games gone, half the season...a good stage for some statistical analysis.

The following is our frequency of goals in league games, either 0, 1, 2 or 3. We havn't scored 4 yet. First figure is goals scored, second figure is the amount of games in which that number has been scored.

0=8
1=8
2=4
3=3

So my point is somewhat self evident. By far our most frequent goal tally in a match is 0 (nil) or 1 (one). In sixteen matches we score either 0 or 1 compared to the seven matches where we managed 2 or more. A ratio of 7:16 expressed (i.e. scoring 2 or more per game) 25 goals in 23 matches is basically an average of one goal a game...so 2 goals IS QUITE RARE. I win again...get your SALLIAN IS RIGHT T-shirt printed now

a) Tranmere Rovers 3-1
a) Oldham Athletic 1-0
H) NOTTS CO. 1-1
a) Brentford 0-1
H) PRESTON N.E. 0-3
a) Crewe Alexandra 3-0
a) Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0
H) ROTHERHAM UTD. 1-1
a) Leyton Orient 1-1
H) BRADFORD CITY 0-2
a) Colchester Utd. 1-1
H) STEVENAGE 2-1
a) Swindon Town 3-1
H) COVENTRY CITY 0-1
a) MK Dons 0-1
H) PETERBORO UTD. 2-0
a) Crawley Town 0-0
a) Sheffield Utd. 1-1
H) PORT VALE 0-2
a) Shrewsbury Town 1-0
H) CARLISLE UTD. 2-0
a) Bristol City 0-1
a) Gillingham 2-2


Couldn't you just put 'we don't score enough' rather than all of that griped drivel.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Sun Dec 29, 2013 8:23 pm

Whitters wrote:Also, is it possible to have heated seats (and pay a premium for them)?
.


that's a daft idea...much better just to sell WFC thermal underpants on match day and build a changing cubicle just before the turnstiles.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Sun Dec 29, 2013 8:25 pm

TheSwift wrote:
sallian wrote:
wfc & chips wrote:we've scored 2 twice in the last 3.

bax with an assist.

anything else need correcting?


Lets be really positive and narrow the window of analysis to the last game....we are UNDEFEATED and SCORED 2!!!

Lets be positive and start our assessment from the last ten seconds....WE HAVE NOT CONCEDED A GOAL.

Do I have to go through all our games to prove my point? Or will you stop arguing for the sake of it by reducing the sample size to fit your hypothesis?! okay you forced me!

23 league games gone, half the season...a good stage for some statistical analysis.

The following is our frequency of goals in league games, either 0, 1, 2 or 3. We havn't scored 4 yet. First figure is goals scored, second figure is the amount of games in which that number has been scored.

0=8
1=8
2=4
3=3

So my point is somewhat self evident. By far our most frequent goal tally in a match is 0 (nil) or 1 (one). In sixteen matches we score either 0 or 1 compared to the seven matches where we managed 2 or more. A ratio of 7:16 expressed (i.e. scoring 2 or more per game) 25 goals in 23 matches is basically an average of one goal a game...so 2 goals IS QUITE RARE. I win again...get your SALLIAN IS RIGHT T-shirt printed now

a) Tranmere Rovers 3-1
a) Oldham Athletic 1-0
H) NOTTS CO. 1-1
a) Brentford 0-1
H) PRESTON N.E. 0-3
a) Crewe Alexandra 3-0
a) Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0
H) ROTHERHAM UTD. 1-1
a) Leyton Orient 1-1
H) BRADFORD CITY 0-2
a) Colchester Utd. 1-1
H) STEVENAGE 2-1
a) Swindon Town 3-1
H) COVENTRY CITY 0-1
a) MK Dons 0-1
H) PETERBORO UTD. 2-0
a) Crawley Town 0-0
a) Sheffield Utd. 1-1
H) PORT VALE 0-2
a) Shrewsbury Town 1-0
H) CARLISLE UTD. 2-0
a) Bristol City 0-1
a) Gillingham 2-2


Couldn't you just put 'we don't score enough' rather than all of that griped drivel.


Well I basically did say that before, but then he was tryin' to be smart n arguin' 'bout it weren't he eh?!

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Sun Dec 29, 2013 8:51 pm

Pedagogue wrote:This is the most one-sided 0-0 match that I have seen. Gillingham are so poor that they can only get better in the second half.

Our football is mind-numbingly boring - sideways, sideways, sideways, always bloody sideways!

Will someone please get the ball into their penalty-area QUICKLY and will someone please SHOOT ON TARGET!


You forgot to mention that Gillingham should have been 1-0 up at half -time - missing their one and only gilt-edged chance after Butler got bored with our tactics and decided to inject a bit of excitement by completely losing his man.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Sun Dec 29, 2013 9:04 pm

Whitters wrote:
moaning saddler wrote:After trying to bore Gillingham to death with possession football for the entire first half, it might have been sensible to use the same tactics for the 3 minutes of injury time after taking the lead in the 90th minute.

I got Sir Alex's autobiography for Christmas and while my first instinct was to bin it, it turns out it's a very interesting read with some very interesting insights.
I recommend it.
In analysing Barca's success he talks of them boring teams to death with possession football until they lose concentration.
So if that's what WFC do, I'm all for it.


Nice theory. Problem is that we seemed to get bored first - once in the 1st half when we basically invited Gillingham to score, and immediately at the beginning of the 2nd half when we were so bored we went to sleep in defence.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Sun Dec 29, 2013 9:26 pm

I just got back, felt that 2-2 was undeserved, and overall we should of had the 3 points in the bag. Some shoddy defending cost us 2 points, but we've defended well all season so I think this was just a blip. Sam Mantom was outstanding today, I think he covered every blade of grass, and was intercepting so many passes that their fans we're shouting in frustration. As well as some of his passing being proper lazy guided stuff. Westcarr worked hard and did look like out most dangerous player going forwards. Baxendale was a little better than he has been, he was the only one of out players who wanted to go forwards in the first half when we kept what felt like 95% possession by just passing it around their penalty area with their entire team being in their half.

Second half was much more entertaining than the first, Sawyers' goal was scrappy but well deserved, and Grays was similar too. Their first was a worldy, keeper maybe could of got a stronger hand on it, but it did come out of no where and he definitely kept us in the game towards the end as they kept prying us open by defensive mistakes caused by simply the presence of Akinfenwa being nearby making some players nervous to stick their foot out.

Some real positive signs, especially in the second half attacking wise, and in the first half defensively as we limited them to one good chance and kept pretty much all of the possession to the extent that there wasn't even any added time.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Mon Dec 30, 2013 12:41 am

PT wrote:
sandysaddler wrote:clearly need to make a quality signing in jan window, surely if there was money in the pot to offer grigg a 4 year deal then even without his transfer fee there should be money in the pot for a replacement even if only on loan!


I think it depends on what you mean by "need". If we want to be in with any chance of promotion then I agree that we "need" to make that quality signing.

I'd like us to go for it. I'd love to see us at Wembley and I'd die a happy man if I saw us win at Wembley. I don't think we'd have a prayer of staying up. The days of clubs with 5/6,000 crowds sticking in the second division have gone. You need 10,000 regular home fans as a minimum to be a second division club these days and we're woefully short on that score. Bonser wouldn't gamble again and I wouldn't want him to as we'd end up four or five million in his debt rather than the current score. We'd go from having a small division three budget to an embarrassing division two budget where our only hope would be a relegation with dignity (a la Graydon's first season or what Yeovil are up to this year). I'd take that all day long but I'm not sure that the 2,000 returning fans would or indeed half of those who attend now. It would bring a pressure onto Smith and a re-emerging focus onto Bonser.

So yes, we need a quality signing if we are to have even a hope of the play-offs. But do the club need or want promotion?


Sorry fella but that reads like a post from an accountant or auditor, it makes sense but basically rubbishes the whole point of being a football team. Lets not bother trying to get promoted, well go the whole hog and fudge it why bother being a professional football club.

As football clubs you exist to win as many games as you can and win trophies or promotions, otherwise what's the point?

Depressing stuff

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Mon Dec 30, 2013 2:18 am

168 Saddlers there today....big effort, congrats to all that went.

If Sallian put just 10% of the effort he puts into posting ludicrously long posts on here into actually going to games, he may appreciate the situation a little more. I just wish we would purchase this mercurial 'striker, poacher etc' if just to stop this rubbish when they don't make any real difference. Having listened to what people say that have been to the last 2-3 games, it appears we aren't creating all that much.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Mon Dec 30, 2013 2:24 am

derbysaddler wrote:
PT wrote:
sandysaddler wrote:clearly need to make a quality signing in jan window, surely if there was money in the pot to offer grigg a 4 year deal then even without his transfer fee there should be money in the pot for a replacement even if only on loan!


I think it depends on what you mean by "need". If we want to be in with any chance of promotion then I agree that we "need" to make that quality signing.

I'd like us to go for it. I'd love to see us at Wembley and I'd die a happy man if I saw us win at Wembley. I don't think we'd have a prayer of staying up. The days of clubs with 5/6,000 crowds sticking in the second division have gone. You need 10,000 regular home fans as a minimum to be a second division club these days and we're woefully short on that score. Bonser wouldn't gamble again and I wouldn't want him to as we'd end up four or five million in his debt rather than the current score. We'd go from having a small division three budget to an embarrassing division two budget where our only hope would be a relegation with dignity (a la Graydon's first season or what Yeovil are up to this year). I'd take that all day long but I'm not sure that the 2,000 returning fans would or indeed half of those who attend now. It would bring a pressure onto Smith and a re-emerging focus onto Bonser.

So yes, we need a quality signing if we are to have even a hope of the play-offs. But do the club need or want promotion?


Sorry fella but that reads like a post from an accountant or auditor, it makes sense but basically rubbishes the whole point of being a football team. Lets not bother trying to get promoted, well go the whole hog and fudge it why bother being a professional football club.

As football clubs you exist to win as many games as you can and win trophies or promotions, otherwise what's the point?

Depressing stuff


I'm with you, hence why I said I'd want us to go for it. But, it's all changed. Nobody bats an eyelid when managers suggest that they got a team promoted "too early" or question the sense in qualifying for Europe's second club tournament. It's why around half the premiership are happy with finishing fourth bottom, it's why teams play weakened sides in the cups, it's why finishing fourth in the premiership is more important than winning either domestic trophy, it's how a team in our league get £16million from the FA for abject failure, it's why a couple of players leave one third division team to sit on the bench of another. Winning games and trophies and promotions for the sake of glory only is sooo 20th century.

Our ship is steady, we're nicely solvent and the money from the summer means we can survive at this level for a while by tying players and management down for longer and investing in the production line. The question, as we go into the January transfer window is whether we gamble and how big that gamble could be. And the point I'm trying to make is that the gamble to get promoted probably isn't as big a medium or long-term gamble as promotion itself, because the financial stakes get raised massively.

It is a bit depressing, but the good thing about where we are is that I've no doubt that everyone at Walsall FC is working as hard as they can with the resources they have to get us to as high a finish as possible. Whether that is for the sake of Walsall FC or personal career development doesn't really matter. The team and the management deserve far better backing from the town than they currently get and I'm sure that if a few more turned up we would be less cautious going into a transfer window, because promotion into a league where 10,000 punters seems to be the minimum requirement wouldn't look quite so scary.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Mon Dec 30, 2013 11:13 am

One of the biggest complaints in past seasons was that our short term policy where contracts were concerned meant that it was hard to identify with a group of players that changed almost completely from season to season.

If we are in for a midtable campaign this season then I am rather looking forward to seeing how Mantom, Sawyers, Downing and Baxendale get on next term. Hopefully we'll be able to add Morris, Bakayoko and a few more to that list too. Of course, I'd much rather win the league by 20 points but if we can't do that then there's a fair bit of pleasure to be gained from watching a group of players mature into a really good side. And if they're good enough to get poached then at least we'll get decent money for them now.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Mon Dec 30, 2013 12:44 pm

Whittless in shock Barcelona and Walsall comparison.

fudge clueless, mindnumbingly crap comments.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Mon Dec 30, 2013 1:14 pm

bangsection wrote:One of the biggest complaints in past seasons was that our short term policy where contracts were concerned meant that it was hard to identify with a group of players that changed almost completely from season to season.

If we are in for a midtable campaign this season then I am rather looking forward to seeing how Mantom, Sawyers, Downing and Baxendale get on next term. Hopefully we'll be able to add Morris, Bakayoko and a few more to that list too. Of course, I'd much rather win the league by 20 points but if we can't do that then there's a fair bit of pleasure to be gained from watching a group of players mature into a really good side. And if they're good enough to get poached then at least we'll get decent money for them now.

to be honest at the end of last season i was looking forward to seeing how patterson, grigg and brandy were going to perform this term but players will move on so we will always need to look at the loan market. graydons first season we had a very small squad and relied heavily on loans and i dont think we would have survived dean smiths first two seasons without those quality loans

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brummie saddler
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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Mon Dec 30, 2013 1:18 pm

first half, pretty boring, some good diagonal balls into purkiss behind their left back but either a poor ball or no one getting on the end of it (find it astonishing the % of times we fail to find a man with crosses, from open play or corners)

second half, their goal was taken well, chaps first touch i think was a poor one that went above his head, what he did next was quality, i felt confident odenell was gonna beat it away as he extended his arm towards the ball, but it seemed he didnt get the purchase on the ball. we must of changed something because unlike the first half we seemed slightly more dynamic, breaking quicker like the red arrows unlike the panzer tanks of yester year we seen in the first half.

all game the gills looked like a poor team, but they seemed to make our two centre halves notably butler look really off the pace.

im not sure if the highlights showed westcarrs miss at 2-1, a free header 4 yards out attacked well but went over, should of gone in, but we all felt that it wouldnt make one jot of difference, how wrong was we.

i have not one idea of how their striker got in behind/between butler and downing for their second.

and what was more scary we owe odennel a great deal for a good save from what could be classed as a one on one i think with near enough the last kick of the game, unbelievable.

credit to the 160 of us who went, once the lads finally gave us some action we really did try and back them all the way to the end.

im not really down about the result, after going a goal down and how we was paying (predictability) i would of sold my ass for a point. and we got one, im grateful i got a fair bit of excitment from the second half to make the 12 pound in money well spent.

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PT
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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Mon Dec 30, 2013 2:50 pm

Nice one Brummie. Well done to you and all the others who made the trip.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Mon Dec 30, 2013 3:04 pm

on the highlights last night it looked to me a blatant shove on chambers by akinfenwa for their 2nd. only saw it once, mind.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Mon Dec 30, 2013 4:46 pm

A large amount of us stayed at the end to clap them off into the tunnel, even after the equalising goal, since we realised how much effort they put in and how much they might need our support to help them kick on after the disappointing last few minutes.

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brummie saddler
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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Mon Dec 30, 2013 7:27 pm

if you take the ball ache of a logistical nightmare that is Gillingham out of the equation....
its one of the best away grounds to visit, proper ground (all stands different to each other) close to the pitch.
ground squashed inbetween a housing estate.
the high street with pubs down the road.

if we have these away for a game that could decide something or just a last game of the season piss up I will be very happy if we land Gillingham.

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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Mon Dec 30, 2013 8:37 pm

brummie saddler wrote:if you take the ball ache of a logistical nightmare that is Gillingham out of the equation....
its one of the best away grounds to visit, proper ground (all stands different to each other) close to the pitch.
ground squashed inbetween a housing estate.
the high street with pubs down the road.

if we have these away for a game that could decide something or just a last game of the season piss up I will be very happy if we land Gillingham.


It's poor on most fronts. You need to get to more grounds.

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kshammer
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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Mon Dec 30, 2013 8:45 pm

bangsection wrote:One of the biggest complaints in past seasons was that our short term policy where contracts were concerned meant that it was hard to identify with a group of players that changed almost completely from season to season.

If we are in for a midtable campaign this season then I am rather looking forward to seeing how Mantom, Sawyers, Downing and Baxendale get on next term. Hopefully we'll be able to add Morris, Bakayoko and a few more to that list too. Of course, I'd much rather win the league by 20 points but if we can't do that then there's a fair bit of pleasure to be gained from watching a group of players mature into a really good side. And if they're good enough to get poached then at least we'll get decent money for them now.


Spot on - to often our fans seem to think a younger player should be perfect after a season or so of play. The contracts enable them to reach their potential... it's all about a bit of patience on our part and not over reacting like fans of the Premier League do.

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kshammer
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Re: Gillingham (A) Sun Dec 29th League One, 3pm

Mon Dec 30, 2013 8:46 pm

JonnyOwen wrote:A large amount of us stayed at the end to clap them off into the tunnel, even after the equalising goal, since we realised how much effort they put in and how much they might need our support to help them kick on after the disappointing last few minutes.


Nice one for doing that... exactly the kind of support they deserve.

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