With 10k prize money they probably did make a profit.
I agree there is a bit of rubbishness about it all but it wasn’t a complete waste of time.
Prize money in the bank.
Some players benefited from the minutes I’d say, Hornby, Cleary, DJ, Weir, and Hall, although obviously bad news Hall got injured he needed more minutes on the pitch at some point.
Another win, clean sheet, DJ goal.
Not great but not a complete waste of time. Great chance of qualifying from what is a very difficult group.
Extra time for some players (DJ), free hit of a match (practice session) and progressed with another win (good for player mentality). Trivela have stated in the past that “they don’t need the money, but they need our support”, so it’s not all about the money in the modern game for ‘some’ teams or owners…
Watching that on the Tele last night brought back memories of watching the matches during COVID. It just highlights how much having a crowd makes the game and you can see why the players respond to our noise.
It’s not all about money for me either. I’m fundamentally opposed to our club having to play U21 teams in principle. I would never attend one of these games. Was just making an observation…
He didn’t want to make that pass, was told to by Uncs.
He played two great passes and we looked more stable right flank than left… he is a good signing IMO
I enjoyed the game on Saddlers+, apart from when the commentary switched at the end of the first half. Fulham were a good side and seemed to have more physical strength and stamina than some of the U21 sides we have played. Remember though that Williams is only 21 too and none of them had his strength.
With 8 changes from Saturday, it was a reserve team of sorts, all the more so since 2 of the same team were Okagbue and Williams, who were not our first choices at the start of the season.
We did not play with quite the coherence of the league matches but we had good shape, which shows that the coaching team is doing its job well with the squad, and looked likely to score. We do now have strength in depth.
The Hall injury is not serious but he does seem to need a lot of time to get his confidence back. For me, the only disappointment is Maher, who was OK - he didn’t let anyone down - but is not making the progress expected. Is it confidence? Lack of strength? Lack of time on the pitch? I do hope he can turn it around.
10k in modern football is like your Gran giving you 50p to go and spend in a sweet shop now.
Maybe a loan to Drogheda in January, I don’t see any improvement since before he went to Rushall.
Good to see Sadler managing the minutes of the squad where he can. Sensible decision to rest Allen, Gordon, Stirk and Matt and give game time to the likes of Weir, Maher, Cleary and DJ.
Ideally Jellis and Barrett would have remained on the bench but with our injury situation at the moment and he majority of the squad is needed.
Good to see Maher play the full game, albeit in an unfamiliar position, and good to see Sadler using the competition to try out new things. For the record, you could tell he hadn’t really played that role before but the stuck to the task and will benefit from the experience
THAT’S a penalty? 
Actually, whether it was a foul or not, it was outside the area.
Maher is just fine.
The problem is and always has been fans who get a little carried away with the speed of the process….
I understand it, we all love to see and all get a little carried away with a talented young player coming out the academy and I’m sure I was the devil incarnate with many of you and his close family who felt I was always critical of him.
However……pro football and breaking through and ultimately “making it” are a tough tough laborious business that really doesn’t follow a straight line of progress very often.
I said 18 months ago that if RAM was in the first team (last season) it would mean we weren’t where we wanted to be or should be….i think I said it again last summer…this wasn’t and isn’t a dig at RAM. It was simply stating facts that he wasn’t ready for regular football in a league that’s unforgiving and brutally physical.
I’m not proclaiming to know more than anyone else but I have seen a lot of young players and their journeys and I could see a lot of things in games where many would talk about things he did with the ball and I knew with absolute certainty that the staff would’ve been looking at all the things he was doing without the ball.
The loan to Rushall was perfect for him. Personally I felt cutting it short was a silly thing to do but maybe needs must was the driver.
This year is a tricky one because in all honesty, he could probably benefit again by going into the National league and getting away from Essington and training full time elsewhere….
At Walsall I’m not saying players go easy on him at all but there’s a familiarity where he will be seen as a “the kid” and he’ll get looked after and allowed a bit of freedom on the ball each day. What he needs now is an environment where basically no one gives a crap about him….a group of players that want his shirt off him and won’t accept him taking theirs and who will get stuck into him physically and verbally and demand that he does the right thing.
We all moan about him but a perfect place for RAM right now would be Solihull and allow Labadie to push him around a little.
RAM is still young. He has talent and he has so much still to learn. Getting carried away 2 maybe even 3 seasons ago is the problem many fans will have because they can’t understand the apparent lack of progress in that time.
The truth is he was miles away from where they thought he was 3 seasons ago and he’s not a million miles away from where they think he is now and his progress will be huge without being able to see evidence of it just yet.
He’ll be fine and he will break through. How long he stays there and / or how far he goes after that is down to him and a lot of luck.
Love that win last night.
In the past there was always an excuse as to why losing such a game didn’t matter!
Thank god those days are behind us.
That’s my stance, even though we do similar in the Birmingham Senior Cup etc.
As I predicted preseason, I find the mithering about Maher bizarre.
Full disclosure, I didn’t see this game in particular, but when I have seen him this season he has been absolutely fine 
he’s going to be raw. He’s going to try things that don’t come off. He is going to develop physically.
He’s still lovely on the ball, takes people on and has a spark about him. That is more than enough for a 19 (NINETEEN) year old. He is exactly where he needs to be, and the worst thing we could do is farm him out for another irrelevant loan in kick chase football.
Let him play relevant football, at the level we want him to DEVELOP to. I’m sick of giving up on young talent, farming them out at the first opportunity to some semi pro hacks, and then being surprised that that is what they develop into. If he was struggling I’d say fine, but he’s not been in the two games he’s played (against League One opposition by the way). Sam Perry, Tom Leak, Alfie Bates all had a chance at developing into a League Two position, but we put far too much pressure on them, way too early, farmed them out to irrelevant football when they failed, and then were surprised that is what they turned into. We used to be a club prided on sticking with a few youngsters and developing them into something, even if that wasn’t necessarily with us either in a league above or below. Maher has plenty of skill and technique it would be a huge shame if we wasted that.
Agree with most of that on Maher but he does need games though and currently he seems unlikely to get that many with us. He was out of the squad entirely on Saturday (personally would have him in instead of Hall on current showing).
If we could get him a loan to the National league to a team that plays football then I think that would benefit him.
He’s getting cup games as it stands. Maybe around January that might need reviewing but don’t see an issue at the moment at all.
I do not disagree with any of this. My comment was that, on the basis of the season so far, there is not much sign of progression. I would agree that he needs to go out on loan again because he is not going to be starting many games with us. Perhaps against Shrewsbury in the BSM cup but surely not against Leicester.
Rob Williams, in the commentary made the same point that Andy Williams did in a similar commentary last year, that RAM’s weakness is his play off the ball. Rob W did say that he thought that playing LWB had helped in that respect.
Potentially only 3 more cup games left though. I would be very picky about what team we sent him to but would do it if it was possible.
That’s 7 starts, a hand full of sub appearances between now and Jan. Currently got game time in 5 out of 10 games. Perfectly fine for a 19 year old back up.