Why is he waxing lyrical about Crewe? Since coming back into the league they have had two mid table finishes and lost in the playoff final. Wonder if Crewe fans think they are punching above their weight and are happy?
Thereās always a good compass on this stuff.
āWhat would sir Ray say/do?ā
His first season our expectations were so low that weād have been dead happy with say 12th.
But we got into a great position and he/we never let up. There were disappointments sure, but we dusted ourselves off and went again. There were leaders all over the pitch, there was a way of playing that wasnāt too pretty at times but every player in that team was crystal clear on their job/role/function. And if standards dropped, my word they knew. From the seemingly petty dress code, dissent to officials or not doing their job to the requisite standard, each player knew and we all knew too.
Different times and Iām not sure the modern player would take to all of the rules. But what they can buy into is a dead clear ethos and clarity around role and responsibility. Iām not sure Ray would have any truck with the āweād have taken this before the seasonā or ālots would swap placesā. Because like all good leaders if he had a glimpse of a higher standard or capability heād drive a new benchmark with not much tolerance for slipping back. Importantly he also had four or five real leaders whoād enforce those standards.
Dosh and Nichol werenāt altogether dissimilar.
You get the impression that Sadler has a group of senior players. His group. His guys. Trouble is, his group arenāt very good at football. His lieutenants arenāt capable of leading on the pitch regardless of how great they are āto have around the placeā. Daniels is no Viveash, Comley no OāConnor, and ever Jamma is no Rammell/Wilson. You get the impression that we deal in cliche and quasi corporate motto rather than passion and desire.
I think he keeps saying it because until itās mathematically not possible, then weāre still in a ok position that 20 other teams would want to be in and heās not going to openly say yeah weāve got no chance now.
Obviously the position we were in, itās terrible itās come to this.
Trust me, Iām as angry and deflated as everyone else with whatās happend since January, especially over the last month where itās hit me mentally seeing us slip away.
Apart from Wheatley the only current Walsall player who could be relied on to score goals like these, is Danny Johnson.
Youāre forgetting context.
But you know fine well, if it becomes so, it will be āfocus on the positivesā of being in the play-offsā¦and if we lose there, it will be āfocus on the progressāā¦rinse and repeat.
You learn nothing in life by not addressing problems. If we hadnāt had such a terrible collapse last season there wouldnāt have been any progress - even āincrementalā what progress there has been is literally comparing one Sadler collapse with another.
Hereās a thought, maybe if Sadler and the wider Walsall FC football management team had spent some time addressing and analysing the causes of last seasonās failure to reach the play-offs with an alarming drop-off at the key time, rather than focussing on how wonderful the journey had been and the perceived progress, they might have learnt something that would have been really useful in preventing it happening again!! ie now, with knobs on.
Mat Sadler āweāre not victims weāre fighters ā
To that exact point I would have said
āThe victims are the long suffering fans ā
Unfortunately yet more sanitised pointless nonsense.
He sounds more like a politician than a football manager.
This past week itās like being a condemned man in his cell counting down the days to the execution date, unrealistically hoping for a miraculous reprieve.
From the Gareth Southgate school of media-friendly boredom
A repeat of final day of 2016 I think.
A shock comfortable 0-2 win but all in vain as Bradford get the win they need.
The back 3 needs to stop now
Time for 4-4-2.
Get some wide overloads.
Levi running in behind.
Simkin
McEntee Williams Allen Gordon
Adomah Chang Hall Asimwee
Levi Matt
Letās not beat around the bush here. I wasnāt the greatest fan of dicky doshās style of football but thereās no way we would have been in this position after the first half of the season. Real quality would have been bought in and we would have win the league. Anyway hereās hoping for a miracle tomorrow ( it shouldnāt affect our decision to get rid of the head coach even if we go up imo)
I think Sadlerās arrogance in sticking with the same players and tactics gives little credit to opposition coaches. They have our number! Lee Bell will be no different. Organised, disciplined and compact. Exactly how Artell and Holloway sorted their teams out. Swindon played it brilliantly, press Stirk and both wing backs. The ball goes to the back 3, who lump it up to Jamma with a 50/50 chance of retaining possession. EFL2 CBās love a battle, facing up the pitch with someone who picks up the second ball. If I can see this, what are the analysts being paid for?
A lack of talking about going for the win. Itās all guarded from him. Lots of empty stuff. This lack of leadership, lack of winning mentality from him has seeped down through the squad and is why we find ourselves where we are from the position we were in.
Weāll lose tomorrow and not once in that game will we look like going up.
Yeah, it will be great if we do pull it off, but itās been soured for sure.
It might make me a misery guts, but I canāt brush off being almost the worst team in the league for half a season by winning (or even drawing!) one game.
Iāll he happy, but it will be more releif than joy. And Iāll still be Sadler out
I just canāt work out how or why you are so vocally negative about Wheatley - given heās had such limited opportunity in the squad
Stoke fans seem to think Lowe is unusable at their level yet look what he did here
You need context if youāre gonna be so obviously against the lad and he hasnāt had the chance to prove what he can (or canāt) do at this level
Come on Coop keep up, heās been vocally negative since the dawn of UTS, about everything WFC.
Although only allegedly if you believe @Belphegor that heās also @moaningoldgit and @ancientmoaner.
That is proper waffle @Locky
Oh yes, banging.
Quality post
Its going to a be hard, hard game. They are well organised, with a great manager and set of lads. They will be up for the fight to prove a point. We need to be us, front foot football, being brave. Hopefully we play our centre half in midfield and keep with the dynamic 70 year old attack. What can go wrong. Will be there⦠6 nil to the saddlers, all pointless as Bradford win