Walsall v Aston Villa - Friendly - 27/7/10

[Wyrley_saddler]

I think we played well tonight and were unlucky not to get a draw. My main concern was the defence giving the Villa players too much time and space on the ball. On numerous occasions, Stokes allowed the Villa winger a good few yards of space making it easy for the winger.

As for the Deeney situation, Troy's given his shirt away after a match countless times, so I wouldn't read much into it.

[adjisaddler]

Yea was at the game tonight , sadly in the villa end as got a free ticket .Saddlers support looked so small compared to villas though.Enjoyed the game think the saddlers were greatly improved.
Thought Carew was immense at times along with some guy i have no idea who he was think he was number 9 for villa

Brain looked pretty decent in goal, Byfield looked sharp first half but faded a little , Marshall looked smart , Deeney wasted so many chances it was ridiculous at times.
Performance greatly improved on the 5-0 i think it was last year.

Adj

[latviancheese]

Yea was at the game tonight , sadly in the villa end as got a free ticket .Saddlers support looked so small compared to villas though.Enjoyed the game think the saddlers were greatly improved.
Thought Carew was immense at times along with some guy i have no idea who he was think he was number 9 for villa

Brain looked pretty decent in goal, Byfield looked sharp first half but faded a little , Marshall looked smart , Deeney wasted so many chances it was ridiculous at times.
Performance greatly improved on the 5-0 i think it was last year.

Adj

Werent it 2-2 last year?

Their number 9 was Weimann, a young Austrian i believe.

[leics_saddler]

Very enjoyable evening out, I must say. Walsall will have made themselves a lot of friends with that performance, especially that they tried to play a bit of football. As for the players:

Brain - We'll have some fun with him! Fantastic save from Sidwell early on, totally faultless for first goal. 2nd was a good save but parried straight onto Weimann's foot alas.

Westlake - a little out of his depth, great experience for him though, shame about the first goal as he tried to deal with it.
Mcdonald - sound
Lancashire - sound
Stokes - sound

Jones - sound, tried to create and beat players
Taundry - MoTM for me. Excellent all round display and assist
Richards - still cack
Gray - sound, used the ball well

Deeney - sound, held the ball well, forced an outstanding save from Friedel [refer below also]
Byfield - sound, very unlucky with the header off the bar

Subs:

Marshall - looked sound, but little impact
Lescott - sound
Nicholls - goal with first touch, looked good - deserves his long awaited chance up front if Deeney goes.
Geddes - looked sound, but little impact
Paterson - he's a streak isn't he, but looks quite good on the ball - needs a few Balti pies yet.
Bevan - looked sound, but little impact

Aston Villa:
Friedel was superb, as were Albrighton, Sidwell and Bannan.
Carew is a monster and it's easy to see why he was a top European striker, it must have been a fantastic experience for the players to play against him. Weimann is the worst player who will ever score two goals here. He had an appalling effort deflected in and a ball dropped onto his foot with an open goal. He'd never have scored otherwise - a special mention must go a phenomenal Kanu style miss.

Other points of note:
Collins going off after 90s.
A linesman that appeared to have stigmata and required the game to be stopped - information appreciated
1min of injury time as a result! (4min?)
Dancing Kev trying to start a riot single handed
Wonderful bit of Dave Bathurst crowd control "a reminder that the train to Birmingham is at 9.44 and next isn't till 10.44"

And the special mention, as it was my first ever seat in the Text OAP stand, for the three silly old duffers who criticised absolutely everything Deeney did. He apparently won 0/13 headers against Carew, Cuellar or any other giant to hand. At one point surrounded by three Villa players, he held the ball up well, until he found a team mate with a pass. Quite why he deserved a comment of "what are you going to do now?", I do not know. He'll be a good player before these three drop dead unfortunately.

Peter Skipper has aged as badly as me by the way, and Martin Goldsmith would have been put down if he were a horse.

[leics_saddler]

Werent it 2-2 last year?

2-3, I think.

[philthesaddler]

Byfield hits the bar:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HubrWpGERhU[/youtube]

And Nicholls scores:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4e1z88mdR4[/youtube]

[Bernie]

Excellent report, leics, thanks very much, these reports are really appreciated. But I have to pick you up on one point.

Nicholls - goal with first touch, looked good - deserves his long awaited chance up front if Deeney goes.

Yes, if only somebody would for once try NIcholls as a striker so that we can see what he can do there. :?

Nicholls has started 77 matches for Walsall and at least a dozen of them he was playing up front, and I estimate that he has come off the bench to play as a striker in about 30. How many more matches will it take before he settles in and we start wanting him to be good enough to play in that position?

[Exile]

A linesman that appeared to have stigmata and required the game to be stopped - information appreciated

Nice report, but did the linesman's hands really start bleeding??? :shock:

[leics_saddler]

Excellent report, leics, thanks very much, these reports are really appreciated. But I have to pick you up on one point.

Nicholls - goal with first touch, looked good - deserves his long awaited chance up front if Deeney goes.

Yes, if only somebody would for once try NIcholls as a striker so that we can see what he can do there. :?

Nicholls has started 77 matches for Walsall and at least a dozen of them he was playing up front, and I estimate that he has come off the bench to play as a striker in about 30. How many more matches will it take before he settles in and we start wanting him to be good enough to play in that position?

I know how you feel about Nicholls and in a way I agree. It's very much a case now of strike or be struck off, but he does need to be given a fair starting run up front and a consistent partner so we can make that decision.

[leics_saddler]

A linesman that appeared to have stigmata and required the game to be stopped - information appreciated

Nice report, but did the linesman's hands really start bleeding??? :shock:

No but his head appeared to. They were making a lot of fuss for a lost contact lens otherwise!

[Duke]

very encouraging by all accounts.

great videos cheers Phil

[Magic Man Fan]

First friendly I've got to so far and I have to say I was impressed. Villa had a strong side out and whilst we struggled at times, which you'd expect, we created enough chances to suggest we'll have more going forward this season. Some of the passing and keeping possession was impressive too so I'd suggest to those that stopped going because of the way we play, then you may want to give the team another try this season.

[tinned]

First friendly I've got to so far and I have to say I was impressed. Villa had a strong side out and whilst we struggled at times, which you'd expect, we created enough chances to suggest we'll have more going forward this season. Some of the passing and keeping possession was impressive too so I'd suggest to those that stopped going because of the way we play, then you may want to give the team another try this season.

I hope you're right and we play a more entertaining game this season. Some games last season were dificult to get excited about.

I only saw us play the Wolves, and whilst I'm not about to rubbish our chances based on a defeat against a Premier League side, I must admit at not being too optimistic of a top half finish. From what I can see we are very thin on the ground in terms of numbers, lacking in quality and definitely short of a leader or two. I fail to see where this optimism of a high finish (mainly on Facebook) is coming from, other than wishful thinking.

[Magic Man Fan]

First friendly I've got to so far and I have to say I was impressed. Villa had a strong side out and whilst we struggled at times, which you'd expect, we created enough chances to suggest we'll have more going forward this season. Some of the passing and keeping possession was impressive too so I'd suggest to those that stopped going because of the way we play, then you may want to give the team another try this season.

I hope you're right and we play a more entertaining game this season. Some games last season were dificult to get excited about.

I only saw us play the Wolves, and whilst I'm not about to rubbish our chances based on a defeat against a Premier League side, I must admit at not being too optimistic of a top half finish. From what I can see we are very thin on the ground in terms of numbers, lacking in quality and definitely short of a leader or two. I fail to see where this optimism of a high finish (mainly on Facebook) is coming from, other than wishful thinking.

I haven't seen any of that on facebook, I'm not in any of the WFC groups. I do think the squad is better in numbers, and quality than last season though, although Deeney leaving will make a dent, but I think Grigg and Nicholls will do a better job than many expect. I think we may lack a leader but it gives the opportunity for others to take on that responsibility, and who's to say the squad building isn't complete? They may be waiting for Deeney to go, to know they can finance the wages of someone else to come in, otherwise we'd be leaving it until the last 5 minutes of the transfer window again, which doesn't look likely.

Ever the optomist, eh Dave? :wink:

[tinned]

First friendly I've got to so far and I have to say I was impressed. Villa had a strong side out and whilst we struggled at times, which you'd expect, we created enough chances to suggest we'll have more going forward this season. Some of the passing and keeping possession was impressive too so I'd suggest to those that stopped going because of the way we play, then you may want to give the team another try this season.

I hope you're right and we play a more entertaining game this season. Some games last season were dificult to get excited about.

I only saw us play the Wolves, and whilst I'm not about to rubbish our chances based on a defeat against a Premier League side, I must admit at not being too optimistic of a top half finish. From what I can see we are very thin on the ground in terms of numbers, lacking in quality and definitely short of a leader or two. I fail to see where this optimism of a high finish (mainly on Facebook) is coming from, other than wishful thinking.

I haven't seen any of that on facebook, I'm not in any of the WFC groups. I do think the squad is better in numbers, and quality than last season though, although Deeney leaving will make a dent, but I think Grigg and Nicholls will do a better job than many expect. I think we may lack a leader but it gives the opportunity for others to take on that responsibility, and who's to say the squad building isn't complete? They may be waiting for Deeney to go, to know they can finance the wages of someone else to come in, otherwise we'd be leaving it until the last 5 minutes of the transfer window again, which doesn't look likely.

Ever the optomist, eh Dave? :wink:

I'd rather be realistic than either optimistic or pessimistic. :wink:


One lad on FB is confidently prediciting promotion. Way, way off.