Never thought I’d say this but I thought Devlin and Leahy were excellent defensively today. Think I would have also brought Kinsella on for the last 20 - 25 mins in place of Osbourne who looked knackered.
It was a day when defences dominated and neither team were good enough going forward to break them down .
Both teams had good possession but were both wasteful when it mattered .
From a Walsall perspective , subdued probably sums it up
A game dominated by 2 strong defences most of the 90 odd minutes - you can see why they a becoming noted in the press as draw specialists…
Thought Dobson was awesome but like someone else said, Osbourne looked lethargic to me and when he went down injured, looked groggy for the rest of the game…
Clean sheet was good to see but as this season progresses and our approach gets tactically dealt with by the opposition, we will need this hard-working ethic but no doubt DK has that in his mind already…
If you’ve ever doubted the volatility of fans ,have another look at this,only 1 month old.
http://upthesaddlers.com/t/poll-expectat
7% predicted top 10. Those who predicted promotion teased. This is still a start way beyond the expectation of the vast majority on here.
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“Access denied” !!! 
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Didn’t go, but I do hope our front 2 haven’t been worked out as I suspected might happen.
Always the victim, aren’t you? Who started it?
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Got excited by our start, but in a “It’s coming home” vein (ie. It’s so much better than expected, but it’s going to level out sooner rather than later). As such, I’m not in the least bit disheartened by yesterday’s result/performance.
September 1st is over & we’re still unbeaten. Every single one of us, without exception, would
have snatched your entire arm off, if offered that on August 1st.
If you aren’t calm already… calm down.
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The staff in the TO were having to manually enter 16 digit debit/credit card details into their point of sale ‘system’. Do that 700 times and you have a queue. Needs sorting.
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The expected goals stats have come up with
Walsall 0.2 xG Blackpool 1.5 xG.
0.2 xG is the lowest in the whole EFL this weekend. How very dare they!
Glad to see the positivity of our match day threads are still as strong as ever and the bickering has subsided!
No wonder no new fans ever want to get involved on here…
Unbeaten and clean sheet, very very optimistic. Think Barnsley will be a big test for us, if we get through that confidence will rocket.
Looking forward to seeing Ronan get involved as heard very big things.
UTS
MS
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Yeah queue was ridiculous. Was going to sit upstairs but couldn’t be bothered waiting so just went to the cash turnstile.
Surely an obvious thing is to direct the away fans to the away end where that programme shop is and just have someone handing out tickets if they’re collecting. Otherwise they just pay cash like in the home end.
So one more window would be open for home fans. I also don’t understand why if fans want to buy future tickets for aways and whatever else where they can’t just do that after the game.
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I have to admit to a mia culpa moment here. I feel I am, in some way, responsible for the teams slightly muted performance yesterday - Sorry.
There was I, on Friday night, bigging up the team to number one son.
“You wouldn’t recognise them”, I said, “we’ve actually got wingers”, I said. “Sounds good, get me a ticket then”, he replied. (I had to pay for it, but that’s kids for you).
So, we rocked up on Saturday, full of enthusiasm (and some beer).
“Ferrier is brilliant”, I said, “he will put one on the M6 but the next will bost the net”, I said. Number one son smiled in anticipation.
Kick off, and when we did get forward, Ferrier duly obliged. “Well that was the M6 one”, said number one son, “Just you wait” I said.
We waited - and waited…
I’m not letting number one son come again…
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In every decent season we’ve ever had there have always been plenty of games like yesterday. The key to keeping a decent season ticking along is to get something from these games, and we managed that. Looking at some of the comments on here I fear for some when we do eventually lose a game, which could well be next week when we come up against possibly the best team in the league (certainly the best striker), on their own patch, a ground where we have rarely succeeded. However, I’m really looking forward to it, and would much rather be going there in the capacity of top six rivals than whipping boys. As was mentioned above its September and we are unbeaten in 6 league games…just to put that into perspective for anyone with suicidal tendencies…
At this level (third tier) or above this is our longest unbeaten start to a season since 1965/6 when we also managed 6 games unbeaten, making this season’s unbeaten start the joint best ever at this level.
The only other times in the entire history of Walsall FC when we have gone the first 6 league games of the season unbeaten were under Dickie Dosh also 6 games 2006, and under Buckley 13 games 1979. Both of those seasons were of course in the fourth tier. So basically, if we avoid defeat next week it will be the longest ever unbeaten start to a season at this level.
I hope someone tells the players!
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Definitely moving in the right direction for me physical sides like gillingham and Blackpool would have left with 6 points last year and we got 4 points and only 1goal against. As long as I can see progress I’m happy with that because you never know where it could lead to.
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In the circumstances outlined by the ones lucky enough to attend, this should be seen as a good result and the magnificent start to the season is brilliant 
. Of course we’ll lose eventually (maybe sooner rather than later) and that will certainly be an acid test for this rather thin squad - and, it would appear, for some fans too 
. An informant at the game (who attends quite regularly and, unlike me, knows a bit about footy at this level) opined that it was a case of (mainly) physical, wily old pros with an effective plan against our relatively young and inexperienced team still feeling their way. It sounds plausible to me but, in any case, if you’d suggested in July that we might be in the playoff places come September, I’d have questioned your sanity (but not your optimism). I’m just enjoying the season enormously so far (Macca blip notwithstanding).
UTS! 
Eventually scrolled through all the posts by some idiot moaning about an attendance figure being wrong and got to the more meaningful opinions, agree with a lot but don’t think Blackpool were better than us.
Was your typical nil nil, nobody deserved to win. Don’t think we were bad, but we weren’t good. I couldn’t have picked a MOTM if I had to, all were a 5 out of 10.
Keates doesn’t like to make excuses but I do think they are knackered. Eight games in the first 31 days of the season will take it out of everyone.
Blackpool look a decent side too, easy to see how they’ve only conceded one league goal after their only defeat in their 2nd game. Since then they’ve kept goals out and nicked one or two the other end so for us to keep them out too deserves a bit more credit than it’s getting.
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Agree that was an excellent performance yesterday.A good side manages to chisel a point when the football doesn’t flow.On a hot day against a very decent side we showed loads of effort and guts.Some people expect us to play amazing football every game and that just ain’t gonna happen
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Had an off day and gained a point, still unbeaten with what many believe to be one of the lowest budgets in the league. Onwards and upwards, let’s take it to Barnsley. Majority would have expected us to be lower half of the table after 6 games.
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