Oldham Athletic (H) League One August 8th 3pm

[BarnsleySaddler]

A late sub for Walsall:

Anthony Forde replaces Rico Henry.

[Ancient Moaner]

1-1 aye it, just got in and low and behold it's 1-1 now there's a surprise......mid table?
Stunned at the Sheff & Wigan results though!

[BarnsleySaddler]

Draw 1-1.

Has Smith learnt anything about making substitutions because again a team make changes and get a result while we just watch what they do and then leave it to late to change a game.

Discuss.

[We-ARE-Walsall]

An ok start.

One of the front two needs to drop back when we are defending, we look too exposed.

So, after 45 mins of having 2 up top you'd now like us to play 1 up front
:shock: :? :wink:

Didn't go today, something totally unavoidable came up, so had to give it a miss. Anyway, I said this before when people were crying for us to play 2 up front. We actually have one less attacking player in the team than when we played one up front.

To add to this, we had probably our two best attacking players after Bradshaw on the bench because of this change. Another master stroke by Smith I'm afraid. Was never about playing two upfront, we always just needed to break with more urgency, and get more numbers forward to support the attack. Now we have a completely unbalanced team again, with no place for our best attacking players (Lalkovic and Morris) Genius.

[Whaleoilbeefhooked]

Draw 1-1.

Has Smith learnt anything about making substitutions because again a team make changes and get a result while we just watch what they do and then leave it to late to change a game.

Discuss.

This. 110% this. Everyone in the ground could see that coming.

[IHTC.]

Well that was disappointing, we are going to struggle if we cannot beat a bang average Oldham team at home who thoroughly deserved the point.

Positives: Etheridge and the full backs.

Negatives: Cook who is absolute gash and no better than Grimes, the gap between the holding midfielders and Sawyers was exploited time and again.

2 upfront and still lack of ideas and efforts on goal.

[SoccerHQ]

Just not enough goals in this team I'm afraid for anything other than mid table.

Formation change will work against some teams but eventually will be figured out.

At least Sawyers got an early goal this season so hopefully he can chip in with a few, it's time he stepped up.

[SWS1]

I've got a feeling we are now at the position in the table where we will finish the season - if we are lucky. :(
My spies tell me that it looked as though Smiff decided to instruct the team to hold what we have for the second half, with the inevitable result. :(
Just getting a slight feeling that Smiff may have "taken us as far as he can" and that a change of manager might - just might - be what we need.
The problem is that a change of manager could result in ↓ just as easily as ↑ but keeping Smiff looks very like keeping us → and I DON'T mean going forward. :(
Glass half empty, at the moment. :(

[Wragbyred]

Jesus! Smith plays with two up top and nobheads on here still moan!
fudge bunch on idiots

[m&m]

Same old I'm afraid but with less attacking threat.Oldham
Sussed us out very quickly and dominated the second half.

Our team of midgets was outmuscled again.We lost it in
Midfield as Mantom and Chambers were poor.

[We-ARE-Walsall]

Jesus! Smith plays with two up top and nobheads on here still moan!
fudge bunch on idiots

But two up front leaves us with one less attacking player, right ? + He hasn't built a squad to play 2 upfront, especially as he is using the woeful Cook as one of the 2. Not an idiot at all, but if it makes you feel better.

[EvenFlow]

A draw was about right. Two very decent goals, and a ref who's Pavlovian response to any player touching the floor outside the box was a free kick, which resulted in some baffling decisions for/against both sides (and Dunn's late swan dive was almost worthy of Carlos Carneiro... almost).

Keeper and the back three were very assured, although if Etheridge and O'Connor are going to continue those short 1-2s between them, I'm going to need a cardiac surgeon. O'Connor was a solid choice for MOTM- my personal choice would have been Sawyers. Rico is dynamite over the first ten yards, his natural timing in the tackle makes his lack of stature a non-issue, and he even won (the majority of?) balls in the air. Believe the hype. Demiteriou was great going forward, generally good going back, but I'd wager based on today that he'll concede more than one penalty this season.

Mantom still looks off the pace, and I can't echo enough what others have said about Cook- when he wasn't occupying the same space as Bradshaw (and Demetriou, on one occasion in the first half), he was completely anonymous. No-one's idea of a centre forward... look at that looper from Bradshaw from the right channel in the first half- Cook was leisurely jogging/ball watching in acres of space, when he should have been breaking his neck to get there and throw himself at it. Lalkovic was a huge improvement, even in cameo form.

Beautiful day, horrific traffic from Darlaston through the Ikea island to Morrisons. I now have beer :D

[IHTC.]

Jesus! Smith plays with two up top and nobheads on here still moan!
fudge bunch on idiots

Boreoff, no-one is moaning that he played 2 upfront we are moaning that he plays 2 upfront with 1 striker, cook is absolute rubbish and offers nothing, diddly squat, zilch to the team.

[tinned]

Jesus! Smith plays with two up top and nobheads on here still moan!
fudge bunch on idiots

Can you get any further up Smiths arse? It don't matter what formation we play, this dick will still fickle.it up. Don't beat teams like Oldham at home you don't do anything in the division.

.

[Andy_Petterson]

Jesus! Smith plays with two up top and nobheads on here still moan!
fudge bunch on idiots

Boreoff, no-one is moaning that he played 2 upfront we are moaning that he plays 2 upfront with 1 striker, cook is absolute rubbish and offers nothing, diddly squat, zilch to the team.

I am moaning that we played two up front. I think we look a much better team with 1 up front.

[We-ARE-Walsall]

Jesus! Smith plays with two up top and nobheads on here still moan!
fudge bunch on idiots

Can you get any further up Smiths arse? It don't matter what formation we play, this dick will still fickle.it up. Don't beat teams like Oldham at home you don't do anything in the division.

.

We should be grateful. :roll:

I fail to see, if he planned on playing two up front, why he never signed another striker, why did he sign Lalkovic at all ? Where does Morris fit in to this? Possibly our most exciting prospect, and why is Cook starting ? Many more questions, to add if anyone wants to try and answer them.

[tinned]

Jesus! Smith plays with two up top and nobheads on here still moan!
fudge bunch on idiots

Can you get any further up Smiths arse? It don't matter what formation we play, this dick will still fickle.it up. Don't beat teams like Oldham at home you don't do anything in the division.

.

We should be grateful. :roll:

I fail to see, if he planned on playing two up front, why he never signed another striker, why did he sign Lalkovic at all ? Where does Morris fit in to this? Possibly our most exciting prospect, and why is Cook starting ? Many more questions, to add if anyone wants to try and answer them.

Even asking the questions means you want Smith to fail.

[SoccerHQ]

If it's two upfront Lalkovic really should be playing...at least with his mobility he can stretch back 4s and give Bradshaw space to work with.

That should be a no brainer change for next week although given how much Smith was bigging up Cook last week one I'm not expecting.

[IHTC.]

Jesus! Smith plays with two up top and nobheads on here still moan!
fudge bunch on idiots

Can you get any further up Smiths arse? It don't matter what formation we play, this dick will still fickle.it up. Don't beat teams like Oldham at home you don't do anything in the division.

.

We should be grateful. :roll:

I fail to see, if he planned on playing two up front, why he never signed another striker, why did he sign Lalkovic at all ? Where does Morris fit in to this? Possibly our most exciting prospect, and why is Cook starting ? Many more questions, to add if anyone wants to try and answer them.

Smith's transfer activity this pre season is shocking and I have a theory as to why.

Smithout does not trust himself to spend his budget wisely, the club said there is a bigger budget but we only bring 3 in? quite baffling. It is convenient for Walsall managers to have small budget as this gives them a ready made excuse, now the budget is higher we only sign 3 players, something does not add up.

The only thing I can think of with Cook is that Smithout is giving him a last chance to prove himself before he gets dropped for Milan or this is what I hope rather than Smith thinking he's a better player.

why have we got so many wingers now we have this new system and so few strikers?

Why does he consistently sign utility players rather than players who have a set position?

Why is Smithout still here?

If this club has ambitions to get into the Championship or atleast fight for a playoff spot then Smithout has to go.

I said previously I hope Smithout does not stifle Morris's progression, I'd rather see him loaned out and playing than sat on the bench gathering dust and playing pointless reserve games.

[We-ARE-Walsall]

Jesus! Smith plays with two up top and nobheads on here still moan!
fudge bunch on idiots

Can you get any further up Smiths arse? It don't matter what formation we play, this dick will still fickle.it up. Don't beat teams like Oldham at home you don't do anything in the division.

.

We should be grateful. :roll:

I fail to see, if he planned on playing two up front, why he never signed another striker, why did he sign Lalkovic at all ? Where does Morris fit in to this? Possibly our most exciting prospect, and why is Cook starting ? Many more questions, to add if anyone wants to try and answer them.

Even asking the questions means you want Smith to fail.

Well to me, the basics of football management. When you take over a job, you sometimes have to choose a formation/game plan based on playing to the strengths of what you've got to work with. As you progress and build your own side, you then bring in players to play in a system/formation that you want to use also allowing them to play to their strengths.

Over Smiths reign, he has signed some useful players, but he never seems to have a clear plan in mind, and if he does, he certainly doesn't sign players to fit what he is trying to do. To me, the squad is far better set for the 4-2-3-1 of last season. He has Lalkovic, Cook (although I'd just pay him up and fudge him off) Forde, Morris who can play wide. Bradshaw is perfect for the lone striker role.

He failed to sign another striker, meaning we are playing 2 up front, with only 1 striker of any worth at the club. It still wont solve the goals scored problem, because effectively instead of having 4 attacking players 1 striker, 2 wide men and Sawyers. We now have Sawyers, Bradshaw, and Cook (if you can even count him) Lalkovic, Forde and Morris were all on the bench, and they are all wide players, when we don't play with any. Genius.

Edit

I agree with all your point IHTC, especially the one about Morris.

[funk_hits_the_fan]

'Smith out' posts after a 1-1 home draw at the start of the season.

You never disappoint UTS!!

[leics_saddler]

Well on the face of it a lot of the old problems remain.
However, I'm convinced that we'd have lost that match last season.
I still worry that we failed to put mid-table fodder like Oldham to bed though.

Anyway, I like 352 or 3412, whichever it was.
Lots to admire about our play as ever, but with a goal lead it was always on the cards it'd be 1-1.
It's not like we didn't all say what would happen beforehand.

Etheridge - fantastically erratic in the style of Clayton .

O'Connor - given MotM, sound enough.
Downing - much the same
Taylor - played well, couple of hiccups in new role.

Henry - brilliant, he'll be gone soon.
Demetriou - good

Mantom - good
Chambers - good
Sawyers - rejuvenation, I'm glad he proved me wrong.

Bradshaw - did well with scraps
Cook - nice touches but too indifferent at times

[JonnyOwen]

1st half we were great, 2nd half unbelievably frustrating. Felt the back 4 in Etheridge and the 3 CB's looked like they had mistakes in them, and we were unbelievably sloppy with the ball. That was the perfect "Nicky Featherstone" type of game as we had no cool heads, just panic and nerves. Oldham got what they deserved, and a draw was fair. Felt Cook was good up until 20 minutes in where he made his first mistake, where he then tailed off and looked worse and worse as the game went on. Milan helped with legs in behind as our only outlet was hoping Sawyers would win every second ball after we clipped balls into Bradshaw and Cook.

Good performances: Sawyers, O'Connor, Rico
Bad performances: Cook.

Everyone else bang average/below average. Etheridge is Clayton's Filipino twin. Downing looked mistake prone IMO.

Felt the game was screaming for us to push higher and just retain the ball with a bit more of a punch after about 60 minutes in, but we just kept conceding possession and space and eventually we conceded. A Matt Preston to match Oldham's dirty challenges wouldn't of hurt at all.

[IHTC.]

'Smith out' posts after a 1-1 home draw at the start of the season.

You never disappoint UTS!!

and your blind support of Smith is about as predictable as Smiths dull tactics, glad you find a 1-1 draw inspiring, if you had been there you would have realised how lucky we were to get the draw in the end.

[IHTC.]

From where I was sat Oldham seemed unlucky not to get a penalty, what are other's thoughts who may have had a better view?

[scott_powell]

Etheridge - Not his biggest fan but did ok.

O'Connor - Solid
Downing - Solid
Taylor - Looks uncomfortable in the 3.

Henry - Quality! Stronger than he looks too!
Demetriou - Really like him!

Mantom - Crap.
Chambers - Broke up play. Typical Chambers
Sawyers - Still our most talented player. Everything good goes through him. I heard shouts of "lazy" a few times. Fans are clueless.

Bradshaw - Didn't do much. Worked hard but so did Taundry during his time here.
Cook - Same as Bradshaw but without the workrate.

We didn't deserve anything from today. Played well for 15 minutes.

[TheSwift]

Etheridge- Really impressed. Erratic style but claimed crosses well and looked good.

Demetriou- Committed and got forward well. Seems an improvement on Purks attacking wise.
Henry- Not afraid to get stuck in. Tried some nice things and believe he'll progress well.
Taylor- Solid and actually looked sharp/quick.
O'Connor- Headed well. Looked solid.
Downing- Bit nervy. The weak link in the defence. Should have smashed his shot that was cleared off the line as the weak shot meant it was easy to clear.

Mantom- Looked off the pace still. Not in the game all afternoon and kept losing the ball. Not impressed.
Chambers- Again was quite poor. Anonymous most of the game and didn't make much attempt to try and take the ball down.

Sawyers- Fantastic goal and was great first half. Second half faded but as one of his critics, I was impressed.

Cook- Worked really hard I thought and got some headers well. Not much service because the midfield two were so God awful in keeping the ball.
Bradshaw- Same as Cook but obviously a known goalscorer so looked more of a threat.

Milan- Again looked bright but should have played in Tom rather than having that shot.
Forde- Didn't touch the ball.

The few points I want to make are Smiths awful in game management (clearly needed a change in formation/players but took him 20 mins to spot this and then he ended up making a pointless sub upfront rather than a switch in mid/defence), the fact we really really need a new CB and strong CM (but I could cope without striker as I was actually quite impressed with their movement today) and the fact Oldham's tactic really showed up our lack of strength/height which we desperately need.

Uts!

[PINNACLE]

Not wanting to get drawn into any arguments or differences of opinion but if you are satisfied with what was on offer today then you really are easily pleased.
In my opinion it was woeful and very much the same as what was on offer last season, another season of boring mediocrity looks like the order of the day !
I want my Walsall back.

[IHTC.]

Not wanting to get drawn into any arguments or differences of opinion but if you are satisfied with what was on offer today then you really are easily pleased.
In my opinion it was woeful and very much the same as what was on offer last season, another season of boring mediocrity looks like the order of the day !
I want my Walsall back.

Same as last season? If Smithout does not make ateast another 2 signings we will be worse than last season. If Smithout thinks Cook is better than Milan or heaven forbid Morris we are in deep cack.

[Walsallone]

I agree with "The Swift" especially our need for a CH and CM(sorry Chester but it is obvious). If we are going to play that system long term then the midfield 2 need to be strong physical players ...Mantom isn't and Chambers is coming to the end of his career.
I thought Cook did ok in the first half and but for an excellent block would have scored a good goal but second half our lack height/strength was exposed.
One further thought I like to see 10 matches at least before coming to any conclusions on our season but I will say the sooner the 2 promised signings arrive the better.