only one who looks interested half the time is cookie feel sorry for him.
Only thing i won’t blame him for is missing the penalty.
Why not? Keates is the manager, he should prepare the team so that they have a good penalty taker available, and practise penalties.
So far this season we have had 7 penalties during the 90 minutes in and missed 4, (Cook 2, Leahy & Jarvis). We also missed 3 penalties in the shoot out against Macclesfield (Cook, Leahy & Morris).
Cook is 0 out of 3, Leahy 1 out of 3, Ferrier 1 out of 1, Ishmail 1 out of 1, Kouhyar 1 out of 1, Jarvis 0 out of 1 and Morris 0 out of 1.
After the Macclesfield defeat Keates said “Penalties are just a lottery”. He was wrong then, and it looks like he is still wrong. Penalties are really important and he is responsible for making sure that we have good penalty takers.
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To all of you who critisised me when I criticised Keates a few month back … I hoped he’d learn and I’d be proved wrong … but … well …
I told you so.
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Smacks of a lack of preparation with that many pen takers and misses…
He’s most realistic of some of the names banded around.
Massively overachieved at Sloppies which got him championship gig but didn’t last long so really he’s back to going to struggling league 1 team and turning round things there.
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I don’t see anyone with an existing good reputation at this level taking this job. Why would you? The constraints are too limiting it’s not worth the risk.
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Someone will always want the job, out of work managers might see it as a stepping stone and they all need money!
I don’t really know what to think about that. First half was as tepid a Walsall performance I’ve seen in a long while. We were aimless in attack and were probably lucky to go in at half-time 1-0 down.
Second half was a complete turnaround and on another day we could quite easily have gone on to win that game 3 or 4-1.
In terms of performances, Devlin was the pick of the bunch in the first half and helped drive us forward at the start of the second half. I criticised him last week, but more than happy to praise him today. Cook was also excellent in the second half and was unlucky with a couple of efforts that he managed to fashion for himself. The defence were generally okay, but I’ll have to see the first goal again as it surely shouldn’t be Scarr who is tracking the runner, and eventual goalscorer, into the space vacated by Guthrie. Scarr and Norman both had good games, of course the mistake at the end doesn’t look good for Scarr, but overall he looks capable.
There were also three blatant penalties turned down in the second half, which again could easily have changed the game.
Despite this bad luck, it’s clear that Keates needs to stop the rot and find some wins from somewhere. A defeat against Wimbledon on Tuesday and I think the Board might be forced into acting to try and salvage the season.
Also, a very strange atmosphere in the away end today. Reminiscent of Coventry and Shrewsbury away where it kicked off between our own supporters. Never a good sign…
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I think the squad looks decent and Shrops is right, the manager is not using the right setup or tactics. If Dean cannot put a team out which can perform then there’s only one person to blame.
The problem is that people were calling for Whitney to go and Keates to come in and thats what they got.
I don’t know what is the best squad, I don’t even know what is the best defence, or midfield, or attack. Who is the best set-piecer? I dunno too. It’s very hard to find optimism, when so many things are not working and there is no instant solution. Crucial game will be … on Tuesday. First of few. So, no new manager, but where is that magic shop to buy some magic and save this season.
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Were El Nombre and Funk HTF in the crowd today at Blackpool, fighting it out? If not, perhaps they should have been! It’s getting very difficult to keep the faith with a club that keeps losing: the last two seasons have been absolute cack. What is our win percentage during that time? It can’t be very high. I’m getting to the point where I don’t care whether we get relegated or not. We obviously can’t compete in League1 anymore which is a damning indictment on Jeef Boner’s running (into the ground) of the club. The current business model is totally out of date - it’s time for a change.
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I thought he was left footed having watched him at Bolton and the fact he is generally playing on the left but I stand to be corrected. Live text said he took the pen right footed which supports him being right footed I guess as if he is left footed and decided to use his ‘weaker’ foot then that would just be head in hands stuff!
Gillingham
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To be fair I think he’s both but he seems to prefer his right from what I can tell.
One of those games where it was never going to go in for us, not even from the spot. Very poor first half where we offered absolutely nothing. Then again, Blackpool weren’t hugely threatening and by the early stages of the second half seemed content to shut up shop for the 1-0.
We looked marginally more lively in the second half and for me should have had at least one other penalty. But it doesn’t mask the fact that we’re poor.
As for the fighting in our end. I was fairly close, and from what I could tell it seemed to start based on someone reacting badly to certain songs that were being sung. I’m all for freedom of speech, let there be no doubt there, and I don’t condone anyone reacting violently to something someone else shouts at a football match. We all vent our frustrations. But sometimes I do wonder - do we really need to be singing “we’re ■■■■■■■ ■■■■” even before the match has started? Things have been really poor for a while now, that much is true, but I really don’t see how slating players before a ball has even been kicked in what was a key fixture for us really helps matters on the pitch. Nothing to do with being a ‘snowflake’ or any other such term. Football is football, it’s a passionate game. Just my view. Understand if it’s controversial to some and fine if people disagree. But the real subject of derision and target for vocal reprehension is the bloke who owns us.
As a side note, decent following from us in terms of numbers I thought. Some of the stewards were approaching Bolton levels of twattery though.
Anyway, we’re down as far as I can see. I don’t see this team clawing the necessary points to stay up from the fixtures coming up and I wouldn’t be able to tell you our best line up for tackling them. Our form is atrocious and that sort of rot doesn’t stop easily. The 3-0 at Gillingham clearly helped in no way. I also have the strangest of suspicions that all is not well behind the scenes.
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Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside…
https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/walsall/11633093/blackpool-2-0-walsall
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Agree, cannot have 22 happy players, ones brought on loan getting picked instead of regulars will cause issues, and do not think Dean has the answers, mind you, there are not many managers who do. If you look at successful teams, they play better with smaller squads and better team spirit.
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I’m a lover not a fighter but listen, if someone insults me directly I will respond. I’m all up for debate and I’m fine with people having a different opinion to myself, but when it comes to insults and name calling I’m not having it! Absolutely no need.
It’s not just me that has a problem with this bloke so lets not all pretend it is; my tolerance has just snapped the last couple of weeks.
As someone that is not going to the games I am going to steer clear of these match threads though; my contribution & passions would be much better spared for those that want to remove our beloved board.
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As a voice of reason, El Nombre does come across as someone who could have an argument in an empty room. I’m still not sure if he is a wind up merchant or just wants to antagonise. Just my viewpoint.
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Is it not possible for an individual to play well in an otherwise poor team performance? I think that was the point. We’ve all seen that plenty of times.
Also ‘class acts’ is clearly relative, unless you genuinely believe someone thinks Jarvis is Champions League ready. Stuart Rimmer was a class act in an otherwise dreadful team, for example.
I think you overreacted to fairly standard input to be honest. It’s been an emotional day.
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