So… we are a third of the way through the season.
What do we think? What’s the half term report?
Won 5
Drawn 5
Lost 5
I am stealing @Semaj graphic here but a nice indication of where we sit compared to previous seasons in this division.
Have we improved ?
What’s been the good stuff? And what’s been the disappointing stuff?
What do we think of Sadler so far? Good? Bad? Average?
Thought we marked a year since we last won on a Tuesday night game nicely too
If we’re using graphics….
How very… average
Different boardroom
Different manager
Different coaches
Different players
Same old Walsall
I mean… it’s a graphic all right… but doesn’t data trump abstract models? 
But has this season (so far) been any better than previous seasons? Statistically…. Nope.
It’s what I expected to be honest, just very average. I didn’t think we’d struggle, and I didn’t think we would hurt the top 10.
Just very boring.
Awful first half, excellent second half until the 93rd minute.
So frustrating because you can see there’s something about this team that could see us having a decent season, but for whatever reason it’s just not quite clicking on a regular basis. As others have said, that first-half was so lacklustre and against the top sides in the division, Mansfield, Notts County etc, we simply won’t get away with being 0-0 at half-time.
Let’s hope as the line up becomes more settled and injury list shortens, we start to see that consistency, because without it we won’t be troubling the top ten.
No change, we score a few more that’s about it.
I’ve seen nothing to think we could mount a proper play off push unfortunately.
No fan of Sadler and don’t think he’s getting the best out of this squad either, we have talent.
I’ve had enough abuse for using data mate so I stuck with the perception based model…
Feel like there are alot of positives, mainly individual players who have been very good so far this season.
Evans, Daniels, Gordon, Stirk, McEntee, Hutchinson,
Tierney and Draper have all been very good.
Feel like we’re missing abit of experience, especially defensively which would have possibly got us an extra 5 points from preventing conceding late goals at Morecambe, Crewe and tonight.
Injuries are also starting to show how threadbare our squad is. Williams and Draper going off tonight to add to Farquharson, McEntee, Oteh and Okagbue for a squad that was probably already one or two short if we had zero injuries.
But, even after points dropped tonight and last Friday, we are still only 5 points off the play offs, which shows apart from the top four teams in the division there really isnt much to this league again and you don’t even need to be anything special to be a top half team.
The thing I’m most disappointed about is the lack of an attractive style of football. I really thought that what BB meant with his letter/backing of Sadler.
We have been so boring to watch for large periods of the season; and I maintain we don’t play that much different to any of the sides under Taylor, Dutton, Clarke or Flynn. It certainly isn’t a huge shift.
That said… I have enjoyed those moment (like tonight) where we did press and have a genuine urge to go forward. I don’t think it’s very planned though; it’s like we lurch forward with players and try to frenetically attack.
It’s a bit like watching a toddler on a sugar rush playing chess.
I think the difference this season than the other seasons in league 2 we actually have decent players with potential that will improve as the season goes on we are just lacking leadership on the pitch. We need to take into consideration this is the strongest this league has probably ever been.
Lets not forget this club has been in turmoil for years and we have spent year after year putting bandages on top of bandages to repair the damage which hasn’t worked, time is needed to develop and persevere slowly putting the jigsaw pieces together.
About as fourth division as you can get in how average everything remains.
Considering how much stronger this league is now, for us to be were we are with a rookie manager is definitely an improvement on previous seasons.
Thank you. A considered response.
At the start of the season, I thought that a top half finish would demonstrate progress, with anything better a bonus.
Decent start based on the above. 60-65 points seems realistic.
Only a professor could come up with the idea of a HALF term report a THIRD of the way through the season. 
My view is that we have a better squad than before and some of the younger team members are talented players. Injuries have been a big factor in the defensive areas but we are frustrating to watch at times. Tonight being a good example. I hope for a better TWO THIRDS to come.
Problem with players you have mentioned who have performed well is that we will fall short this season and they will be off and we have another re- build . Rinse and repeat
Probably not a bad estimate.
You could consider that progress from a very low bar. Without trying to be negative and I’m really not, how does that progress transfer to next season? What is it worth in the end? Probably nothing. I think Gavin made a similar point below while I am typing this.
If you want promotion, really want it then in the end you have to go for it. Everything about our club says we are happy to tick along how we are and cross our fingers for a miracle. That was a bit more negative than I had planned actually I’ll still support them in the way I always have but I don’t have any real expectations now.
Totally disagree, seen several better “fourth divisions” than this one over the years including a few weve been promoted from, not that it really matters, its just a defeatist excuse. No successful football team ever took any notice of the strength of the division it was competing in by way of extracting some mitigating “consideration” from it. Take a look at its strengths and evolve a strategy to better it with a strategy based on resources, fair enough.
Its a lot easier to impart leadership, if there is a structure to adhear to.
Come again? You might think that, and I would agree with you, but Trivela woudn’t. They’ve just spent 12 months being mentored by and sharing a boardroom with the previous incumbants, who they describe in glowing terms. The first stage in solving any problem, is recognising the problem and how it arose, surely?
Theres no basis for that point of view, and its actually quite contradictory.
Walsall’s seasons almost invariably get worse as they go on. Having some decent players isnt actually anything new, several recent Walsall players who were part of poor teams have gone on to better things - much better in some cases, as will no doubt some of the current ones. That has nothing to do with forming a successful team in the here and now and in the short term, and the “lack of leadership” you point to will almost certainly mean it wont happen. The time and place to evolve and execute strategy is in recruitment. Recruitment…recruitment…recruitment… Of key staff, coaches, and players. Not in some half-arsed “on the job” fudge involving existing “family retainers”, “boys for the jobs”, and a couple of early bird shifting signings amongst the usual round of mediocrity.
I dont’ normally comment that much on the football, but wanted to respond to your post.
Could have called this season (give or take) having watched some of the first few games.
I’m actually ok with 555 in respect of results as all I’m bothered about until there is genuine enactment of change, is avoiding catastrophe - ie relegation and losing to Isle of Sheppey United in front of the nation.
