Sorry deano you tried but sorry how can you defend that lot
Needs supporting imo.
Even after the great escape DS struggled in 11-12 and first half of 12-13 before it all started to click after that.
He’s making mistakes in approach and during games but needs to be remembered he is 35 games into managing in league football.
Phil Parkinson might not be the greatest manager in the world but he has 300-400 games managing in league footballers.
Like players signed from non league it takes time particularly with the miniscule budget he gets most windows.
In August I’d have taken mid table gladly. I still think he’ll obtain that for the club (Cook + Jarvis will win a few games over next two months) and then full attention must be diverted towards the owner.
All those clean sheets at Wrexham were lucky? Keates isn’t the problem, he needs help but we can’t turn on the manager this early, surely?? 
Wrexham have conceded 18 goals in 28 league games, whereas we have conceded 41 in 26 (plus a bagful in the cup comps.)
Maybe Keates wasn’t the defensive brains behind their tight defence after all?
He probably is in a situation he hasn’t experienced before as a manager, so let’s hope he can remain level headed and that he’s a quick learner.
The fans also need to remain level headed though and remember where the problems at Walsall FC lie.
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A good post but, even if the real problems are at the top, we can’t ignore tu the fact that these same defenders let nothing like this number of goals in last year so that suggests the problem is either players higher up th the field and/or tu the way tu the manager is setting up and preparing the team.
Like you, I think it’s a time for level heads and I don’t want our club to be one of those who sacks managers every five minutes so he needs support but he also needs to learn very quickly because, based on the last 15 or so matches, we’re on course for a clear relegation.
Right now, I’d settle for us setting up very defensively and getting a few hard fought 0-0s.
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The problem is the system he plays. 4-4-2 is a very rigid system that needs to have the right players to be deployed. Good managers will get his players to play between the lines or to move the ball quickly between flanks. We get caught in 2 situations. 1. Where the ball had been played between the lines and the opposition runs directly at the defence (and issue for even the best defenders) or 2. Because we play so narrow, we get done by the switch to the opposite flank where we can’t shuffle over in time. The opposite winger has pick the ball up and drives at pace and has time to pick the ball over. I see this formation will work in the lower leagues with players who aren’t technically good enough to receive the ball in tight spaces between the lines or players who can switch a ball 40 yards with pace. But that where it gets caught out higher up
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How can people not see it’s a collective, Keates all the way down to the players aren’t good enough.
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Can’t underestimate what Chambers adds to us as a defensive unit.
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Was thinking in the car that maybe Carl Darlington was the man behind the mean defence at Wrexham, because Keates sure wasn’t it seems.
My problem is that the back 4 we have may not be much cop, but they should be enough for this league, and that’s worrying.
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