Bristol City (Wembley) JPT Final Sunday 22 March 3.30pm

[PT]

We were poor but no poorer than we were say at home to Orient or Vale. Smith's time is coming to an end. He deserved to lead his team out at Wembley and that should be the beginning of the end of his tenure. I'd love him to prove me wrong in the summer by signing a different type of player but I just can't see it.

I actually feel a bit sorry for him yesterday. I think some of his players cheated him and whatever fitness checks we do obviously weren't adequate. I think I'm right in saying that yesterday was the first game when the whole first team were declared fit all season. Really? Either they've been swinging the lead previously or they let the club down by suggesting they we're fit yesterday. I get Cain and O'connor's mal-content, I really do.

But, I'm reading on here about days being ruined and people being embarrassed. Since when did following Walsall mean that we let the football ruin a good day out at the football? The game was a disappointment but the day wasn't and I'll never be embarrassed to follow us. The closest to embarrassing it gets is losing to Slough or Lincoln in front of a couple of thousand people, or even losing 4-1 at home to Scunthorpe every time we play them and not losing to what is effectively a Championship side in a cup final at Wembley. Get a fudge grip.

[BathSaddler]

Yesterday was just very, very disappointing, but not entirely surprising. All of us know about the quality of the opposition, but our performance lacked any semblance of a desire to win. We were inept, one-paced and sloppy both with the ball and without it. We only came into it when we were two goals down because they were content to play the match out at that stage.

Players can be overawed on such a big stage, but questions once again have to be asked about preparation and mental attitude. I'm worried now that we are going to get sucked in to a relegation battle, because this team does not appear to have the mental and physical strength to see us through one.

I'm not that fussed about visiting Wembley again any time soon, either.

[sid swifty]

What a bloody disgrace,with 30,000 "Walsall fans" to impress and be tempted to try Walsall out again in a league match,Dean Smith played one lone (unfit) striker and bored the pants of any but the most loyal fans, and blew any chance of me or many thousands of possible recruits going to Bescot in the future,boring,boring,boring.

Reading that, the disappointment of losing today is already fading away

See ya next time we have some 'success'

No you won't pal,you are welcome to smith and his boring brand of football....back to 3,000 next week eh?....I wonder why :D

[LLASLAW]

I still don't really know what to think. I would say mostly I am disappointed.

Yes, Bristol City are too good for League 1
Yes, Bristol City have bigger resources and better players than us
Yes, Bristol City were clearly favourites for the game.

however,

I am disappointed because whether we were to win or lose yesterday, I wanted to see some pride and effort from the boys (more effort than was shown), but I feel that we looked beaten within the first 5-10 minutes.

My opinion FWIW:

O'Donnell - Not his best game, but I feel he had little protection from the defence.

Purkiss - Skinned too often, couldn't cross a bridge yesterday.
J. Chambers - Had a difficult time with BC's front line
Downing - As per Chambers, also lost the ball on a few occasions trying to play past their strikers.
Taylor - Not 100% fit, some good tackles/blocks, was skinned too easily time and time again.

Cook - Didn't do much of note. Mostly poor crossing. The attempt that hit the post was a cross (I think?)
Mantom - Still getting back to match fitness, huffed and puffed, at least attempted a few shots on goal.
A. Chambers - Showed effort and fight, wasn't afraid to put his foot in.
Forde - Offered little burst of attacking threat, but was suppressed by Bristol City powering past.

Sawyers - Yes, he is technically good, but in this game he was very frustrating. Holds on to the ball for too long when there is opportunity to play someone in. Did track back to help with defence on occasion and took one for the team with his yellow card.

Bradshaw - Clearly not fit, however he did try and make the ball stick and was always available to use.

Subs:

Hiwula - IMO didn't look overly interested and wasn't involved much.
Baxendale - Energetic 10 minutes or so, did more than Cook in his brief appearance. Even had a shot!
Grimes - I've not been his biggest fan, but I'm inclined to say we should give him a little spell at #10, and with Sawyers going off to the Caribbean, now would be the best time. I thought he looked alright and played some decent balls across the pitch.

My main gripe with yesterday was the standard of our crossing, it was poor, and if 1 or 2 of them were a bit better then who knows.

Overall though, I've managed to see my team play at Wembley finally after waiting for years, and it is an experience I will never forget, hopefully if we ever manage to get back we will make more of a go of it.

Here's hoping to a successful last few weeks of the season! UTS!

[belgiansaddler]

What a bloody disgrace,with 30,000 "Walsall fans" to impress and be tempted to try Walsall out again in a league match,Dean Smith played one lone (unfit) striker and bored the pants of any but the most loyal fans, and blew any chance of me or many thousands of possible recruits going to Bescot in the future,boring,boring,boring.

Reading that, the disappointment of losing today is already fading away

See ya next time we have some 'success'

No you won't pal,you are welcome to smith and his boring brand of football....back to 3,000 next week eh?....I wonder why :D

Bye :roll:

[portlandbill]

People on here are saying we may be dragged into a relegation battle. Not true, we are in a relegation battle. look at the table!

That performance was poor. Bristol played with pace and power. It looked like they had three fast wingers, a big lump at the back and front, both good players. When Flint had an altercation with Jordi it looked like he was playing with his young kid.

I agree great day spoiled by the game and grown men fighting at the back of row 127 and threatening a steward. .

Good to see plenty of Asians in Walsall colours.

[Neuromantic]

Great day out - saw a lot of the people I have seen home and away last 20 years.. That meant more to me than the ...

Rubbish performance. Laboured, blunt and why play 4 obviously unfit (not match fit) players ? (Chambers, Taylor, Mantom, Bradshaw) ? Ludicrous.

[Soton Saddler]

Very flat yesterday, quite disappointing. Bristol City absorbed everything without looking ever in danger - easily a mid table Championship side that.
Every player would have had to have a blinder to beat them.

There were some very silly moments yesterday but I don't think the performance was abject. All the players seemed so worried about making mistakes that they made loads! If it hurts them anything like it has hurt us fans then training is going to be quiet this week.

We did put together some nice moves at times and tried a number of ways to get through them. The team seriously lacks a killer edge. A Ledesma or Paterson or Lalkovic who requires double marking. When Jordan Cook hit the post and Baxendale ran the ball into touch (when their player slipped) I could have screamed!

Shout out to the plebs fighting in The Green Man - twonks. Especially the coward that took a running punch at his opposite pleb who had both hands held by security - knocking him clean out in the process. Pathetic.

Anyway, up the saddlers.

[Louise]

As a diehard Saddler who has been watching for 65 years said to me yesterday, Wembley is a delusional day out.
The hype around it has masked the poor league performances and the fact we are hurtling down the table.
I am v concerned that we are in a real relegation dog fight and judging by yesterday there aint much fight in our dogs.
We have 9 Cup Finals now to turn it around and stay in League One.
My concern as it has been all season is Deano has no Plan B and that was so evident yesterday.
We play an unfit Bradshaw who is feeding off scraps ,never going to work.Yes away from home but this one up front at home and at Wembley is not on for me.
Too many players sadly froze yesterday and just didnt have the desire and bottle that the Graydon team had in 2001.
I like Deano but I am thinking his tenure may be coming to an end. He has no flexibility and if I was Cain would be well fed up , you cant have personal favourites.
Play your best ,strongest team .
As for Wembley, enjoyed the day and seeing my team play there will be an abiding memory when I shuffle off this mortal coil but its Graydon's Team that still makes me get the goosebumps.
I wont be buying the DVD.

[BathSaddler]

Great day out - saw a lot of the people I have seen home and away last 20 years.. That meant more to me than the ...

Rubbish performance. Laboured, blunt and why play 4 obviously unfit (not match fit) players ? (Chambers, Taylor, Mantom, Bradshaw) ? Ludicrous.

Which if is the case, tells you a lot about what Dean Smith thinks of his own wider group of players. I noticed in the programme that Bristol City actually have a smaller squad than we do - 4-5 less, in fact. Sure, they can go for quality along with an intelligent use of the loan market when required [something RG did for us in our first promotion season, albeit on a much, much smaller scale], but we have clearly stocked a much larger group of players, many of whom will only be used if we are really desperate. Is this really the best use of the resources we have?

My fear is that any additional money given to DS will be wasted in the same way.

[Walsallone]

I have supported Walsall for nearly 60years and have refused to go to Wembley until we were there. I had a good day . I think the stadium is great and we were treated properly by all the staff we met. The journey down and back was trouble free so everything surrounding the game was a plus.
In the game itself it hurts me to say it but we didn't play as we can. As others have said this was partly down to playing unfit players...Bradshaw,Taylor,James Chambers, Forde(possibly) and Mantom. Perhaps we should have played Hiwula,Benning,O'Connor,Baxendale and Cain instead. Would it have made a difference? I don't know but what I do know is that we are better than what we saw yesterday.
Bristol City are a good team but we allowed them to look better than they are and I was very disappointed.
As for the future ,unlike some on here,I am a supporter . That means going to matches,win or lose,triumph or despair. In fact if there were a couple of thousand more like me we would have a better chance of competing against the bigger teams. So you supporters? its up to you.

[philthesaddler]

Purkiss - Skinned too often, couldn't cross a bridge yesterday.

Someone said the other day he's the best crosser of the ball at the club :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Generally our possession football is atrocious - it's so slow, predicatble and ponderous. In a big open stadium like Wembley, it provided a great opportunity to see the affect our slowness and predictiveness in possession has.

You could clearly see Bristol City's shape alter to counter every pass we made even before we made the pass! Downing to Chambers, Chambers to Taylor...and as Chambers telegraphed the pass he was about to make, their right winger pushed up on Taylor, their right back pushed up on Cook, the striker started to move towards Chambers to cut off the pass back in to him... result? Taylor was forced in to one of two options: pump the ball over the top to Cook, or come inside to Mantom, Sawyers or Chambers, who were outfought.

Hoofball is a poor kind of football, but when played right, with pace and zip, it's effective - Dean Smith has got us playing this slow, crab like football that is so ineffective that teams dont need to get out of 2nd gear to beat us.

[reedswood sadler]

What a let down first time new wembley good day out good experiance finally saw my team AT wembley still waiting to see them PLAY at wembley disapionting and embaresing.
Bristol good team we all know that but thought we would have put bit of fight up and simply surrendered, feel sorry for all fans who flew in from everywhere to see this garbage.
Cant understand why so many fans picking out sawyers ,yes he was bad but apart from o donell so was all the others

[mister marmite]

Agree with those who say that the attitude and manor of that performance was what we have come to accept this season.

Would be nice to hear Smith apologise for that showing.

We are capable of better. But better is 1 every 5 games this season.

We are all marvelling at Freeman. Where is our `Freeman' .... We've unearthed the likes of Flo and Ledesma in recent seasons.

[Neuromantic]

Did I just read 'Dean Smith' and 'Apologise' in the same sentence ?!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Maybe he will blame the size of the pitch, the wind, the type of grass or the intermittent sunshine?

[sid swifty]

Its not just the players who let the club down yesterday,the fans did as well,the fans were non existent.Considering there were 30,000 fans,supposedly ecstatic at being there for the first time in 125 yrs i never even heard walsall fans sing one song all the way through and there was no volume at all,yet icould hear Bristol city all through the game.

[philthesaddler]

Did I just read 'Dean Smith' and 'Apologise' in the same sentence ?!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Maybe he will blame the size of the pitch, the wind, the type of grass or the intermittent sunshine?

A pitch can be too perfect you know.

Barnsley was too bobbly, and Wembley was too carpet like. Something in between is needed.

[philthesaddler]

Its not just the players who let the club down yesterday,the fans did as well,the fans were non existent.Considering there were 30,000 fans,supposedly ecstatic at being there for the first time in 125 yrs i never even heard walsall fans sing one song all the way through and there was no volume at all,yet icould hear Bristol city all through the game.

Are you thick?

What part of your brain makes you think that the 30,000 that went yesterday are all Walsall fans?

I could reel off a list of 100 people I know that went yesterday that I've never known go to a Walsall match before, they probably couldn't name more than 2 players.

And there's you wondering out loud why the atmosphere was poor and using it as a criticism of fans.

[aaaae]

Lots of people hurting this morning judging by all the lashing out that's going on across the social media. Funny that getting to Wembley seems to have set off a cack storm of anger. Maybe it would have been better to have beaten Preston away in the league and lost to them in the JPT?

[LLASLAW]

Purkiss - Skinned too often, couldn't cross a bridge yesterday.

Someone said the other day he's the best crosser of the ball at the club :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

To be fair, when he's having a good day, he can play some decent cross-field passes, but yesterday was terrible, every cross I remember him making either hit the first man or was right into the hands of Fielding.

In terms of our football, it wouldn't half be better if it was a bit more direct and effective. It's all well and good passing the ball around the back four 20 times before progressing to midfield, but that's not doing anything. There's no reason we shouldn't be aiming to progress up the field quicker and still stick to keeping the ball on the floor!

The other thing that I notice time and time again is most of our player have a reluctance to shoot. I think Sawyers needs to become a little more selfish in that respect.

[hullsaddler]

High spot was seeing the team walk out onto the pitch. Obviously very disappointing performance. I thought we had 10 minutes or so when we looked better after we went 2 down but our complete inability to cross the ball effectively meant we never looked like clawing a goal back.

As to the points about the singing/atmosphere. I was disappointed in that. If we had had 7 or 8 thousand there we would have made loads of noise. The people who start off & lead the songs were too thinly spread in that crowd made up as it was of predominately casual supporters. I'm sure it'll sound better at Chesterfield on Saturday.

[Welsh_Saddler]

Did I just read 'Dean Smith' and 'Apologise' in the same sentence ?!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Maybe he will blame the size of the pitch, the wind, the type of grass or the intermittent sunshine?

A pitch can be too perfect you know.

Barnsley was too bobbly, and Wembley was too carpet like. Something in between is needed.

I won't do a blow-by-blow report of the game, as I would only be repeating the content of stacks of previous posts. On the question of Dean Smith's reaction, he is quoted in The Telegraph this morning in these terms:

"We won't dwell on it, we knew it was a special occasion, we wanted to come here and embrace it. We have played against the champions elect in our league and just come up short. We didn't perform to anywhere near our level. It's too early to say whether there are regrets but some will be disappointed. Maybe it was a bit of nerves. We're normally very good on the ball."

Perhaps a couple of observations from me..... before kick-off, while all the outfield players were jigging and dancing up and down in their warm-up, the goalkeeping fraternity were carrying out their own practice session. One of the exercises was catching high crosses pumped in from the wing, and O'Donnell came out and leapt like a salmon to catch the ball every time. Yet the opening goal from the Bristol City corner came from exactly that cross (in fact it was nearer to his goal than the pre-match ones) but he stayed rooted to his goal line, Downing was leaned on very heavily and the header went straight in. Now don't get me wrong, I have huge respect for Rich O'Donnell as a shot stopper, he's up there with the very best, but he sometimes doesn't command his goal area as he should. Even if he contents himself with punching the ball clear, that would be better than acting like a rabbit caught in the headlights - that 6-yard area is supposed to be his domain, nobody else's, and he does have the physical presence and the reach to command it.

Tom Bradshaw......his hamstring is clearly not back to full normal function, and he was up against a big lump of a defender who was easily able to grapple and push him around with no protection from the referee.

As far as energy and drive in his play is concerned, the only Walsall player to show anywhere near the kind of application necessary was James Baxendale, but he was only allowed a few minutes to have a go.

In all, a very disappointing day as many have said. City were streets ahead of us on the day and it showed all too painfully. If we had lost 7-0 but put heart and soul and passion into the 90 minutes I would have been less affected. Maybe the players WERE putting heart and soul and passion into the game, but it certainly didn't look that way from the spectator's point of view.

[leics_saddler]

Well I was embarrassed and the players should be as well.
All they had to do was have a go and avoid a thrashing.
They avoided the thrashing but that was more by luck.
They were totally overawed by the occasion and Bristol City.

What worried me most of all was the total lack of an appropriate demeanour.
They looked like they'd lost it from the opening minute - and that is down to the manager.
Ok, we had some bad luck and the referee didn't help, but you have look like you're going to take advantage of any luck on offer.
In front of 72,000 and millions on TV, they were abject and it looked like men against boys.
If I'd been left out of the team, I'd be furious after watching that effort - at least it would show passion on my part!

One chance in a career and they blew it on an epic scale.
Don't kid yourselves, those highlights and Steve Claridge (bless him) flattered us.
How will the club respond? The season is nearly over, so have we got enough about ourselves to bumble our way to 52 points?
Let's hope so..... And then what?

[reedswood sadler]

Amazed at sid swifty having go at walsalls 30000 fans lack of singing perhaps its because there were maybe 5000 true fans and 25000 day trippers who know nothing about walsall. As a real fan I will be in the 3000 supporting my team boring or not, you are obviously a day tripper looking for a bit of glory if you are not prepared to watch us again.

[Walsallone]

Well put Reedswood..I mean't to respond myself to his nonsense. As I have said elsewhere we must now look ahead and stick together over the next few games to ensure we stay in the division. So lets all get behind the team and leave the inquests until the end of the season. At that point we need to review all thats gone on and take some big decisions. I would prefer a smaller in number but a stronger in quality squad which also gives us options in the way we play. Difficult to achieve,no doubt,but it can be done.

[Sadders]

A good weekend ultimately ruined by an abysmal display on the pitch. Always liked Smith, seems a nice bloke, very loyal to his players, likes youngsters and wants to play a game of football, very admirable philosophy. But yesterday he lost a lot of my respect. Did I expect to lose? Yeah, comfortbaly. Did I expect us to turn it on and Barcelona? No. But did I expect us to play at 100% miles per hour, get at their throats, close them down, tackle, fight, get at them, attack, drive forward and at least have a go? Yes I did. If ever there was a day to say, nope - I'll stop being stubborn at 2-0 down after an hour and change things, this was it. From the second it went 2-0, we should have gone for 2 upfront, played as wide as possible and told Mantom to drive forwards.

The atmosphere was woeful, which is was always going to be - 26,000 daytrippers don't have a clue on what songs we sing 46 times per season, nor should they expect to be. Wembley was a nice, comfortable stadium, but a little like Stadium MK in that it's souless.

At best we were lacking energy, at very worst we were gutless, slow, weak and embarassing. For me personally, Hiwula should have started and Cain next to Chambers. Purkiss is better than O'Connor, always has been, especially at right back. Anybody at Barnsley will have seen that point in case. Anybody at Walsall FC who thinks that shambles will make more of the 29,000 people in the Walsall stands return to watch us more frequently anytime soon, is completely deluded.

Our most natural WINGER is on loan at Wrexham, our best centre forward is constantly injured, our captain is old, slow and contributes nothing to the side, our fullbacks are hugely average defensively. As a team we lack motivation, will and guile. We never run at teams, we never carry the ball and drive forward, we are just a basic, negative football outfit that will bore any set of fans. The most worrying aspect of this? This was by no means, our worst performance recently. Barnsley was a disgrace, Bradford very poor, Orient useless, Scunthorpe barclays, average vs the Dons, abysmal vs Port Vale. With the way we had been playing in those games, it made yesterday even worse! Nobody looked interested, we played like we were scared. No heart, no passion...pathetic. A non event on a massive level.

Wembley = Walsall FC in a nutshell. 127 years of dissapointment.

A fresh start is required in the summer, as I'm not sure Smith's management and lack of plan B will be able to play out in League 2, which by the way, is the level we will be playing at next season. League 2.

[sid swifty]

Its not just the players who let the club down yesterday,the fans did as well,the fans were non existent.Considering there were 30,000 fans,supposedly ecstatic at being there for the first time in 125 yrs i never even heard walsall fans sing one song all the way through and there was no volume at all,yet icould hear Bristol city all through the game.

Are you thick?

What part of your brain makes you think that the 30,000 that went yesterday are all Walsall fans?

I could reel off a list of 100 people I know that went yesterday that I've never known go to a Walsall match before, they probably couldn't name more than 2 players.

And there's you wondering out loud why the atmosphere was poor and using it as a criticism of fans.

No,don't you ever call me thick again or i will find you and make you eat your words,ok?

[sid swifty]

Amazed at sid swifty having go at walsalls 30000 fans lack of singing perhaps its because there were maybe 5000 true fans and 25000 day trippers who know nothing about walsall. As a real fan I will be in the 3000 supporting my team boring or not, you are obviously a day tripper looking for a bit of glory if you are not prepared to watch us again.

And i suppose Bristol city get 40,000 every week.....but i could hear them.

[ws3]

Amazed at sid swifty having go at walsalls 30000 fans lack of singing perhaps its because there were maybe 5000 true fans and 25000 day trippers who know nothing about walsall. As a real fan I will be in the 3000 supporting my team boring or not, you are obviously a day tripper looking for a bit of glory if you are not prepared to watch us again.

And i suppose Bristol city get 40,000 every week.....but i could hear them.

Funny, I heard them once, on about 90 minutes when there tourists suddenly realised the game was won. Before that? Nowt.

[chestersaddler]

Its not just the players who let the club down yesterday,the fans did as well,the fans were non existent.Considering there were 30,000 fans,supposedly ecstatic at being there for the first time in 125 yrs i never even heard walsall fans sing one song all the way through and there was no volume at all,yet icould hear Bristol city all through the game.

Are you thick?

What part of your brain makes you think that the 30,000 that went yesterday are all Walsall fans?

I could reel off a list of 100 people I know that went yesterday that I've never known go to a Walsall match before, they probably couldn't name more than 2 players.

And there's you wondering out loud why the atmosphere was poor and using it as a criticism of fans.

No,don't you ever call me thick again or i will find you and make you eat your words,ok?

:oops: