Why don’t we pick up players from our doorstep??
Today they had Ironside who was at Kiddy, we also missed out on Bishop that wen’t to Accie and Marsh to FGR.
That was a major part of our recruitment in the 70’s and 80’s when I was a kid/ young man
Kelly, O’Kelly, Green… all from Alvechurch for example.
Because I think we have more people employed to go seeking events to hold than people to go seeking good footballers.
Doesn’t need too many when you’ve got Jim Davidson, Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown and the like on speed dial.
Even in his wheelchair he was a bit quick for us.
Family club that puts Chubby Brown on you couldn’t make it up all about money.
FFS!
Please never change, Geordie. You are one of the increasingly rare voices of reason on this forum. Brian (by the way, I loved your deliberate Briab spelling mistake) Dutton is even worse than Darrell Clarke and, remember, he was the latter’s key sounding board for 18 months, so he had plenty to do with the abysmal performances that preceded Port Vale making its own huge recruitment mistake.
Forget the fact Cambridge is second on the League Two table. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, xG data suggests Cambridge is the division’s most overrated team. xG data is imperfect - I never said it was not - and there will always be the odd team which defies the numbers because, as I outlined in another thread, football is a very low-scoring sport that is subject to very high degrees of variance. Statistically, 30-odd matches is not a significant sample size, so teams such as Cambridge will defy the data from time to time. Walsall did not have marginally the better of the second-best team in League Two; the Saddlers created zero clear-cut chances against a team which played as well as I would expect a mid-table League Two team to play, which is what xG data suggests Cambridge is. A 0-0 draw would have been a fair result, yet many posters are saying they have seen enough from Dutton to appoint him on a full-time basis. I must have cataracts because I cannot see what they are seeing.
But am I surprised? Not really. I have been a member of this forum long enough to remember lots of people creaming themselves about the likes of George Dobson, who cannot get a game for Sunderland now the Black Cats have worked out he is a League Two-calibre player at best, Josh Gordon and Liam Kinsella. Gordon is a non-league striker whose conversion rate is below par, while Kinsella would have to be one of the worst central midfielders ever to play for Walsall. Any match in which Kinsella is man of the match is a bad match between two bad teams, which is what Walsall versus Cambridge was.
Dutton should have exited stage left at the same time as Clarke. Dutton’s team selections and in-game management are even more bizarre than those of Clarke. How on Earth did Emmanuel Osadebe not only start against Cambridge but also survive the second-half changes when he was the obvious choice to come off for Wes McDonald? McDonald has been very disappointing for much of this season but, if I were Cambridge’s manager, I would have been delighted to see both him and Tyreik Wright - Walsall’s two most capable attacking players - on the bench when the match kicked off. Wright only came on when he did because Cameron Norman went down injured, and McDonald played the final 10 minutes. This time last week, Dutton omitted Frank Vincent from his original 18-man squad, brought him on with half an hour to go and he ends up going the closest to grabbing an equaliser for Walsall. Oh, and Dutton also deployed Wright, a youngster making his way in football and loaned to Walsall for developmental purposes, in three different positions in the space of one match. Dutton has even less of a clue about football than the two guys who are calling - and I use calling in its loosest possible sense - Walsall’s away matches on iFollow currently. Dutton out. Someone else in. Almost anyone else in.
For what it is worth, this is how I would use Walsall’s squad, both with and without Rory Holden, who is the club’s only genuine League One-quality player. I would be 4-4-2 without Holden and 4-2-3-1 with him. If Walsall had a decent alternative to McDonald on the left wing, I would seriously consider playing him in the Holden position until the latter returns, and empower him to run straight at central defenders.
WITHOUT HOLDEN
Rose
Norman Scarr Sadler Melbourne
Wright Vincent Bates McDonald
Gordon Lavery
WITH HOLDEN
Rose
Norman Scarr Sadler Melbourne
Vincent Bates
Wright Holden McDonald
Lavery
RETAIN LIST FOR NEXT SEASON
Rose
Norman
Melbourne (if possible)
Wright (if possible, but unlikely)
Bates
Holden
McDonald
Perry
Nolan (maybe)
Walsall needs a goalkeeper, two central defenders, a box-to-box midfielder, a back-up playmaker to understudy Holden and two strikers in addition to the players on my retain list, a strong core with the rest of the squad padded out by either youth team members or loanees from higher up the pyramid.
Yes he is crap so are a lot of the rest, but overall a better team performance. The level we’ve slumped to, players are going to do stupid things, then a worldly finish from a player who did next to nothing the whole match.
I’m one who says give him longer based on what I’ve seen so far. Here’s why:
Demonstrable effort to play passing football, which is far more pleasing to watch (with the exception of Exeter away, where we resorted to hoof ball for some reason). It would be interesting to see our passes completed pre/post DC.
Vincent’s chance v Bradford and another chance yesterday, which I can’t recall who by. Slim pickings from 6 games, yes. But green shoots none the less.
A genuine awareness of current successful tactical trends, see the 3-4-3 employed v Stevenage and Cambridge. This gives some evidence that Briab isn’t stuck in the past, and Reminds me of when Smith came in and everyone wondered what kind of sorcery it was when he switched from 4-4-2 to 4-2-3-1.
from what I’ve seen doesn’t appear to have the idiosyncratic team selection that DC had, where certain players didn’t get a look in for no apparent reason. See how he’s played Sam Perry, who has performed acceptably.
yes, results have been poor, but DC left us in a real mess player wise, and I don’t blame Brian for that. From what I’ve seen he looks his own man and not a clone of DC.
On the downside, Briab’s interviews do worry me. The Exeter interview was particularly cringeworthy, but I’m prepared to give him a pass on that for now.
I agree Holden is our best player.
More a case of I won’t be bothered to waste my time, with complete idiots like yourself.
To confirm, as you did, that signing rubbish Players is “ok” because they are “padding”…there really is no point discussing anything further…such stupidity.
And to remind you once again, it’s a “Man’s World” apparently. So if you can’t take being “called out” for your stupidity, then best to stay quiet 
Obsessed.
FWIW, I couldn’t care less about Brian laughing at the full time whistle. Just a bit contradictory with his interview
Interesting note on Holden.
Should the entire team be based around him?
Because it’s a completely different game in 2021, with Players joining Clubs all over the world, let alone just all over this Country.
Until the Tombola is put on Ebay, I agree as a collective group, they aren’t being given a fair chance (though the lack quality cannot be ignored)
I personally thought it was from something that guy behind had said before he walked on the pitch and then turned into a wry smile as he approached the players for the way they had pinched all three points .
I was absolutely gutted for the lads as I thought the very least we deserved a point
I agree. The Cambridge guy probably said something like, “We battered you, mate!” followed by a deep intake of breath, sideways glance and wink.
He might have said, “I’m glad that we don’t have to play your boys again.” It is interesting that Mark Bonner praised Walsall’s running game, whereas Dutton was slightly critical of his team’s fitness levels.
All of the above would draw a wry smile from Briab, in the public eye.
I just hope that we have a real go at Barrow. With Wright, McDonald, Reid and Osei, there is genuine pace so if the groundsman can keep the pitch nice and flat and the like of Bates, Perry and Vincent can thread a ball, we should be able to get round the back and maybe win a penalty.
Like Osadebe against Cambridge yesterday, Reid is playing against his old team on Friday. If you are chasing a game, it makes sense to have players like this in the squad.
One final note: looking at that Northampton Dobson goal, there was a packed house behind the goal willing the ball into the net. In addition to the players, I think it keeps referees ‘on their toes’, in terms of focus and adrenaline.
The players need to be reminded that this game is probably one of the biggest games in their career because to have relegation to non league on their CV is not going to help them or their agents, when it comes to negotiations for a new contract, here or elsewhere.
Everyone is treading the tightrope. That’s why Barrow have had 3 managers this season. If we are not better than Barrow, let’s face it, we don’t deserve to stay up…
Dutton has inherited the players he has and cannot change them. Yesterday, they played a team who are favourites for automatic promotion and we were easily the better side. Kinsella made a massive difference and he not only allows the others to play but to play further up the pitch.
Although they seem unpopular here, White and Osadebe had very good games - White was solid in defence and even made a few things happen going forward and Osadebe was everywhere and you could see him encouraging Perry and Wright. I just do not understand why people do not like White. Osadebe came closest to scoring and played in Wright with the ball of the match. Melbourne also looked good.
Over BD’s tenure, we are now playing better football - he has only had a few games. The only disappointment for me in what I saw as a good performance was that, whereas in previous games, the strikers could complain at the lack of service, this time they had chances and did not really look like scoring. The worst for me was when Lavery just had to roll the ball to Gordon who would have been clean through but he blasted it over his head. And it was a penalty.
The club have to act if we lose to Barrow.
By ‘acting’ that can mean several things.
I actually think it’s criminal his assistant is even more inexperienced than he.
