Would love to hear your master plan Stretch.
4 Likes
Forget the score line, this isnât about results (and to be fair 2-1 today was lighter than I thought it would be). The performances are like ground hog day. Come out, concede the initiative, look petrified, last ditch defend, hope they donât score, come out second half looking better, hopefully score, before we run out of steam. Apart from the odd exception, itâs mostly been every game.
I actually donât think we are as bad as â16th League Twoâ, and I actually havenât put much stock in the position this year because I didnât expect much, but I donât ever remember being this bored with the actual football as a Walsall fan. Iâve said before I donât give a shit about direct Vs short before (I think itâs a bollocks debate that takes away from the thing that matters: results) but people genuinely try and say with a straight face this is better to watch. It looks the same. We have spells where we hoof it, we have spells where we hope the ball falls to an attacking midfielder and itâs not one of their cold days and they do something special (before the âLeave Hutch aloneâ brigade jump on, it was the same with Osedebe & McDonald, itâs not specifically about him).
The big argument for Sadler was âwell at least it will be more entertainingâ. I was never this bored last year.
19 Likes
Didnât expect much and Walsall give the slight bit of hope before taking it away as usual. Result as expected.
5 Likes
Knowles isnât good enough to berate anyone! When he develops an end product, then he can mouth off!! Iâd be on the phone to Plymouth if I were Mat Sadler!
Letâs be realistic they couldâve been well out of sight even if theyâd scored half the clear cut chances they had.
DD throwing his body in the way hides how easily they opened us up.
Theyâre a good side. Thereâs no getting away from that. When Luke Williams says theirs the east side heâs faced in two years at Notts you know theyâre class.
Some of our attacking play was so poor. The blind passesâŚ.the insistence on NOT switching play was shocking for players at this level. We may as well played on half a pitch (lengthways) for how we get our heads up and open the game out.
Evans having the ball basically means Mansfield were gonna have it in the next 5 secondsâŚâŚhe only aims rightâŚ.Comley, Stirk (who I thought did well) and Tierney only play to the rightâŚâŚitâs so easy for teams to lock us in and pressure us into putting the ball off the pitch.
3 Likes
Thought they were more than fair - told it like it was. I enjoyed the many bollockings they gave their own players, unlike the Walsall commentary which doesnât dare criticize.
Referee was decent today.
Didnât agree with the substitutions
2 Likes
Plymouth?
They could take a side out at Bescot for me if we had half the ambition Mansfield have. They genuinely want promotion and will get there eventually for sure.
More ambition, better players, more fans that actually have something tangible to buy into.
Not about todayâs result as such, but we arenât going anywhere anytime soon without some kind of miracle.
2 Likes
How patient have Mansfield been though? Sticking with clough.
9 Likes
Only in your head with your weird agenda.
Keep repeating yourself and eventually youâll get some disciples for your bollox cult.
Yes we lost but not as badly as many predicted.
Could be worse, but we aint going down.
3 Likes
Yes this is fourth season Mansfield have been favourites to go up so if they do it this year they will have worked for it as we will have to do.
3 Likes
Joint 17th. Hello darkness my old friend
Is it just me, or is this our most frequently held position since we were relegated?! Any stattos out there
1 Like
Up until we scored, which pretty much came from nowhere, it was worrying just how better Mansfield were than us in every department. They had so many chances to put the game to bed prior to us equalising.
Then once we equalised we had them on the ropes and suddenly they were rattled and did not look as good. Surely if we had been a bit more adventurous from the start rather then inviting them on to us in the first half the game could have been so different. We made Mansfield look better than they actually are.
Their winner was fortunate as I dont think he meant it. However, our lack of interest to do things like block crosses will eventually bite you on the backside and that is what happened. We could have stopped the cross for their winner but did not. We obviously did not learn from a few minutes earlier when a cross was whipped in from the other side which their forward just missed. There was no attempt whatsoever to block that cross. This was a theme throughout the game. We are also more than happy to allow the opposition to venture towards the box and have a shot.
We do not seem to be learning as the season progresses which has to be a coaching issue. We start slowly and invite trouble. We find it hard to defend crosses which is a worry as we donât stop any crosses. Then we end up yet again either drawing a game we should win, or losing a game we should draw. I am feeling both angry and frustrated. I think there is a good side in there somewhere but it refuses to come out. We can be better than what we have shown to date.
Well done to those who went to the game.
Finally, I thought Comley and Knowles were poor.
UP THE SADDLERS
8 Likes
Stockport Notts County and Wrexham will likely finish above Mansfield. I Reckon Mansfield will lose in the play offs again and that will probably be the end of Clough.
1 Like
Each season itâs the same: under-investment on the playing side leaves us short in key positions. We continued to try to play 3-4-1-2 even though we didnât have a right wing-back, and we were playing a centre-half in midfield. We do have 5 or 6 decent players but itâs not enough. Letâs hope we can have some sort of FA cup run because we ainât getting anywhere near the play-offsâŚ.again!!
Gillingham lost though.
This club has hit rock bottom on the pitch. League 2 and I expect us to lose most games ⌠shocking!
3 Likes
Agreed think they will change manager if Clough doesnât get them up this season.
1 Like
Thatâs okay then !
6 Likes
I would sooner have clough than an ex defender/real estate hawk