Rochdale Away

[Sadsfan]

Sadders, I'm all for your 'everyone needs to get behind the team' mentality but they have to give us something to get behind. On Saturday they did, so we got behind them.

Ok the result may have been a one off tonight but the performance isn't. It is happening far too often. We go one down and we look beat, teams have sussed that now cos they are pretty sure we ain't gonna score twice.

Honestly, how many good performances have we had this season? and then go back to January? It is not many.

Just because you enjoyed Saturday doesn't mean you can't call for Smith out , but I can see exactly where they are coming from.

Personally, I think he has earned the right to a few more games at least and Saturday showed that there is potential in this team/squad and I think we will improve when our injured players become fit. But this seems an increasingly optimistic view after performances like tonight.

Mick Kearns in commentary said we are trying to play a football match and they are trying to win a football match and that seems to sum us up more and more under Smith.

Smith has been manager for 3 and half years, got to be getting on for nearly 200 games. He aint a rookie any more.

Smith has managed 190 games and won 55. Draw your own conclusions...

[SWS1]

Just shows how paper thin our squad is. A couple of extra injuries to an admittedly long list and we can't really put out a competitive team. We must at least give Smiff the opportunity to pick from a more or less full squad before passing judgement. Bradshaw was a big, big miss tonight and, effectively, we have over a third of our squad missing. Whatever the reasons for our big injury list, it's a fact and we simply can't compete in this division with two thirds of a squad. :(
At least our relatively good goal diff is keeping us out of the relegation places. :)
Glass 47% full - for the time being.

[leics_saddler]

Franksy tonight: "Ah, one win at Bescot and everything is rosy again."
There speaks a Dingle who clearly knows nothing about League 1.

For the rest of us in the real world, I said that we stood a good chance of a tonking there tonight.
They have done it to plenty of other teams already and too many people underestimated them.

It's clearly not "let's tippy tappy our way up the league again boys."
I'm not reading too much into tonight's result, as I quite expected it.
However, the way they go about their business at Gillingham is going to reveal an awful lot about the mindset at the club.

[Sadsfan]

Just shows how paper thin our squad is. A couple of extra injuries to an admittedly long list and we can't really put out a competitive team. We must at least give Smiff the opportunity to pick from a more or less full squad before passing judgement. Bradshaw was a big, big miss tonight and, effectively, we have over a third of our squad missing. Whatever the reasons for our big injury list, it's a fact and we simply can't compete in this division with two thirds of a squad. :(
At least our relatively good goal diff is keeping us out of the relegation places. :)
Glass 47% full - for the time being.

I think if we had just had a poor start to the season then that argument would hold water and more people would be happy to give Smith more time. However, if you look at the run of form since January - that is more concerning as it shows a trend, a very big downward trend.

[gray]

Ive never left early before tonight. That combined with living in Manchester probably means I'm one of the first home. I'm not going to go into great detail but we were truly awful. We made Rochdale look like world beaters, it could have been a premier league v non–league match. None of our players were good but out of the dross I'd say that sawyers and benning were the best purely because they beat a couple of players and had a couple of passes that found their target.

I love giving youth a chance but Flanagan and Clifford were so light weight it was unbelievable. Flanagan in particular looked terrified every time the ball went to him. Morris was lively and had some nice touches when he came on. We're struggling with injuries and I'm still in favour of smith but there's no way he can afford many more performances like that.

[Cowshed]

Even with our strongest team we wouldn't have got anything tonight Rochdale were far better so the injury list is irrelevant

The 1st choice team just isn't good enough for the league and 3 wins in 26 confirms this.

We will pick up the odd win if we catch teams off form like we did on Saturday.

Replacing smith may not be the answer but what else do you do? How do you get more out of this squad of players?

[stig231]

Even more worrying is that from tonights table we have played only 1 of the top 10 , and 4 of the 5 other teams in the bottom 6.

When our injured players do come back they will be coming into a run of games against mainly the top teams and doubly difficult to get up the league.

[chestersaddler]

Just got in after a night out without access to the football. Really shocked by that result. Long time since we've been ommered like that :(

Looks like it could be a long winter ahead.

[hullsaddler]

0-4 was a flattering scoreline. Rochdale could/should have scored 6 or 7 easily. Their effort that hit the post would have been a world class goal if it had gone in. Impressed with them. The less said about us the better I suppose.

[WFC_Rob]

When you go from being very good to so absolutely abject, where do you go from there?

Very worrying times indeed now. Smith will definitely get the chance to prove what he can do when those on the treatment table are back in the side, but the question is, will it be too late by then.

I didn't go tonight but having spoken to a couple who did, it sounded like that was as bad as it got during the Hutchings era. To not make a change at half time when you're 3-0 down, and to leave it so late to bring someone like Baxendale on seems truly flabbergasting to me.

And the worst thing is, we'll be back to the random numbers out of a hat team selection at the weekend - at one of the toughest places to go in the league.

[Ancient Moaner]

Just got back home from the most embarrassing debacle of ALL my years following the Saddlers.
This was not a football match, it was pure and simple humiliation, it was a very poor Sunday morning team being thrown up against a League side.
How many foul adjectives could be used to describe how bad we played tonight, to call it 'played' is an insult to the game of football........we were VERY lucky to get NIL
Why and how it was not 8/9-0 is a mystery to us all....when our vocal support started to chant "were so bad it's unbelievable" you knew how bad it was.
Rochdale are not Barcelona, but we were sooooo bad they were made to look world beaters.
I will not use the words that could describe that game... the moderators would not allow it.
We are Relegation fodder, no quality, no plan, no attack, no midfield, just utter shite.
How did this team beat Preston on Saturday? the worlds greatest mystery.
Positives? Butler played his heart out...........the rest? garbage.
Our chances of avoiding relegation? A complete new squad and Manager......The end.
Goodnight all, I'm off for a drink, to null the pain, Oh to be a Worsul supporter! :( :(

[Sadders]

Made my point until I'm blue in the face so I won't continue with that. Fair play to anybody that went tonight.

Players in on their day off, 'defending undefendable' and an inexcusable performance the verdifct from Smith after the game. Least he knows how poor we were.

[Graydon48]

The most worrying thing is that when Cook/Mantom shake off their injuries how long before they are match fit. Xmas ? They have had practically no pre season same applies to Purkis.
The Chambers boys never go more than a few games without getting crocked.Bradshaw hopefully won't be out long but the way things are going who knows.
Smith is clutching at straws if he is waiting for us to climb the table when he gets his injured players back. Can't see us ever getting a fully fit squad this season.

[pumajaguar]

Just got back to my Manchester home after watching this utter garbage. I think it's clear that Deano really struggles to change a game, when Play A dosen't work he seems to have no idea how to change things round. Credit to Rochdale, they completely outclassed us in every department.

All of the back four were poor.

Flannagan looked out of his depth.

Forde was anonymous yet again, other than that cross for Bradshaw's goal, in which he was afforded a ridiculous amount of space, I've seen very little promise from him.

Benning tries, but he is a left back. Didn't stop him spending half the game on the right wing though...

Manset was utterly woeful. I think the walk onto the pitch tired him out. A polar opposite to Bradshaw. Slow, clumsy, immobile and unfit.

The injuries are undoubtedly a factor, but only one player was missing from the team that put in a cracking second half against Preston. Let's hope Bradshaw is back quick as we looked lost without him.

The Preston win has bought Deano more time in my eyes, but a few more losses and I will be Smith out.

[belgiansaddler]

That was truly shocking, abysmal. I have been searching the thesaurus for an adjective that would adequately describe that performance but can't find anything suitable. It was a total shambles.

Yes I know we have injuries and we had an inexperienced team out there. I am also generally an optimist and definitely not in the Smith out camp. But that performance was indefensible. From the first whistle they were faster, hungrier and better. How they only scored 4 is beyond me and we didn't even deserve nil. If there was a plan tonight then I am beggared if I know what it was. We were totally outplayed and out fought in every department.

They cut through us at will. Our defending was a joke. The midfield was totally over run and as for Manset Jesus wept, it would have made no difference whatsoever to our performance if he had spent the match in the pub. Sawyers showed a couple of nice touches but ended up looking a tit basically because he was trying to pass to people who weren't even moving.

Highlights? Errrrrrr........ On the pitch absolutely none. Off the pitch Bangsection managed to lose his carers and get to the match unsupervised, Ancient Moaner having a good old moan in the car on the way back, WAW starting Big Fat Jans Barmy army chants. Errr that's it. To cap it all Liverpool won.

Dean Smith has done a lot of good things for WFC in his time here but he cannot afford many more performances like that. Tonight we were clueless, gutless, spineless, totally without character, shape or idea.

Walsall FC

[JonnyOwen]

The less said the better.

Midfield, lightweight, inexperienced, raw, scared, intimidated. Clifford and Flanagn are both small, good on the ball dribblers and passers - flair players, those two together away from home against a tough, fast, strong and physical midfield of Rochdale's meant they got absolutely butchered.

O'Connor was horrendous in defence, Downing not much better - the worst thing about O'Connor is that he makes mistakes, and then moans at the other defenders, very annoying.

No midfield meant we were attacked and opened from the off, defence never stood a chance, wide players weren't in the game and Sawyers was trying to pass to Manset who looked tired after the first minute.

One poor spot, led to another poor spot, led to another poor spot...

Men vs Boys. Would that have happened with Mantom or A Chambers in the middle? Not a fudge chance.

[Whitters]

4 pages of whining so far - most of it from people who didn't go.
Is there anyone can give us an idea why Rochdale won so well - tactically?

[belgiansaddler]

4 pages of whining so far - most of it from people who didn't go.
Is there anyone can give us an idea why Rochdale won so well - tactically?

They passed it to their own players, were well organised, beat our players, got into space, looked hungry and always had players available to pass to........ Er that's about it. On the other hand we did none of those things. Believe me 4-0 flattered us

[motty]

I went unfortunately, worst performance of a Walsall side I've seen since merscum. They were average at best had pacey strikers/wingers.if chambers is out for more than a week smith has to get someone in. Flanagan and Clifford in the middle with sawyers and manfat infront utter joke. The whole team should donate a weeks wages to a charity for that excuse of a performance. Oh and all you O'Donnell bum boys.....he's great when things are going well, he's utter crap when its not. Players good enough for league one out of the team today, Taylor,butler,sawyers,forde,clifford,downing. Smiths tactics today were inept and beyond thick I'd love to know what he said at half time to get them to come out with the same amount of apathy as the first.

[mel58]

Dale were better than us in every department. They were into us from the off and maintained a high tempo and were direct though not hit and hope, throughout the entire match. They gave us no time on the ball either in attack or defence, they passed swiftly and accurately and are clearly in the groove as a team.

Seven would not have flattered them - we didn't have a foothold in the match at any point.

An awful and ominous performance and, to cap it all, the Ratcliffe was shut after the match!

[JonnyOwen]

4 pages of whining so far - most of it from people who didn't go.
Is there anyone can give us an idea why Rochdale won so well - tactically?

They absolutely obliterated our midfield, our defence were then extremely vulnerable and starting making mistakes, meaning we got thrashed. Simple as that, the midfield is the most important part of a team, they defend, attack, support and ours was so lightweight that Rochdale's midfield looked like Barcelona's compared to ours.

[belgiansaddler]

4 pages of whining so far - most of it from people who didn't go.
Is there anyone can give us an idea why Rochdale won so well - tactically?

They absolutely obliterated our midfield, our defence were then extremely vulnerable and starting making mistakes, meaning we got thrashed. Simple as that, the midfield is the most important part of a team, they defend, attack, support and ours was so lightweight that Rochdale's midfield looked like Barcelona's compared to ours.

I wouldn't blame it all on the midfield. The entire team was shocking. Manbag was useless and seems in capable of holding the ball or even moving. That put pressure on midfield who got totally overran. Behind them the defence were a complete shambles. We appeared incapable of passing to our own players. All compounded by nobody in the entire team appearing to know what our match plan was, if indeed we had one.

[latviancheese]

I see Manset is going down a storm :lol:

[latviancheese]

I see Manset is going down a storm :lol:

[Whitters]

Thanks for the reports, they give a clearer picture of what happened.
I notice the BBC has us down for only 38% possession.
Is this the lowest % we've had so far in the Smith tippy tappy era?

Rochdale must be gutted at just over 2,000 when they seem to be doing so well.

Also Chesterfield have a bloke who has now scored consecutive hat tricks - have we ever had a bloke do that?

[mister marmite]

1st game of the season for me.

No Pace
No Imagination
No Invention
No sign of anyone willing to show responsibility.
No confidence or belief in knowing that our way of playing no matter what will work out. Which no matter who we've played the last 2 or 3 seasons has shone through and given hope.

Hate to say it - but it smacks of a team who've
- Had a massive fall out and hate each other
- Hate the manager / management / things behind the scenes
- Simply stopped responding to a management team and changes are needed.

We can blame injuries, age of the squad, frequency of games atm etc but ...
- No way can we expect to compete with that midfield four today. I've seen local non league teams this season with Midfields who would bully (and out play) our midfield four.
- Smith carries the can for the squad and its depth. I can't believe the budget is maxed out. Use the loan market - for a 1-2 month loan on a CM. Thats what its there for.
- As for new signings, again, Smith carries the can. Todays game was crying out for a Nicky Fetherstone. Even a fringe player hasn't been replaced and its noticeable.

[hullsaddler]

and as for Manset Jesus wept, it would have made no difference whatsoever to our performance if he had spent the match in the pub.

Think he would have struggled in the pub if it had involved holding up a pint or passing one to someone.

[Ancient Moaner]

So it's not just me then? :lol: :lol: :lol:

They somewhat reminded me of a Sunday morning pub team, out heavily on the pith the night before, but a had been donated a brand new strip by the pub landlord, the team manager/strategist, is a bloke who sits in the bar always wearing track suit bottoms, who swears he once 'ran the line' for a Northern Counties first round cup tie. :) :) :(

Methinks it's time for a change of management, I've not been in the 'Smith out' brigade before, but after that debacle, the only way we will avoid relegation this year is a clearout at the top.

[Andy_Petterson]

Even with our strongest team we wouldn't have got anything tonight Rochdale were far better so the injury list is irrelevant

The 1st choice team just isn't good enough for the league and 3 wins in 26 confirms this.

We will pick up the odd win if we catch teams off form like we did on Saturday.

Replacing smith may not be the answer but what else do you do? How do you get more out of this squad of players?

I've read some nonsense in my time, but that takes the biscuit.

[gray]

Having Mantom, chambers and Bradshaw would have made a difference. Flanagan and Clifford looked like 10 year olds who had won a competition to start for Walsall. Manset might come good but he's nowhere near ready yet. Maybe we would have still got beaten, who knows but it wouldn't have been as embarrassing I'm sure.