Milton Keynes Dons (H) January 18th, 3pm

I saw a fan of another team on twitter ask with a very similar screenshot something along the lines of “what kind of football is this?” :grin:

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Winning football :soccer: :laughing:

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What would be interesting to see is a heat map of the ball. Stongly believe it would show the ball spending most its time in their half/defensive 3rd as they knocked it sideways and back amongst their backs - and that to be the same pattern in most games so far.

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Mat Sadler: Walsall boss proud of how team coped with Nathan Lowe exit - BBC Sport

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It’s pressing in the right areas too though which will be helping fitness wise. Rather than aimlessly chasing the ball they have trigger points in certain areas of the pitch and outside of those will hold shape and allow the oppo just to go side to side across the back line. Always going as a team too not leaving one man to chase triangles on his own.

All that being said it is a huge help that the 8s we have (Mct/Jel/Lak) all have loads of running in them.

Overall a perfect combination of players that fit the system and are willing to buy into the system/work ethic, and loads of hard work by Sads and his staff.

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Jellis stealing the show. He’s bloody nuts

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As I keep telling the wife: it’s not what you’ve got; it’s what you do with it that counts!!

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“We know what a team we’ve got and what a spirit we’ve got. We’re a team because of the collective sum of our parts. We are not about individuals.”

So many times you’ll hear phrases along these lines from managers/coaches and when fans see the reality not matching up to the manager’s rhetoric, eyes roll, heads shake and eyebrows get raised. This time, Mat’s spot on and I think we can all see it on the field. What a job he and the whole “backroom team” have done to bring this about.

This season is a real rarity and we should enjoy the journey as well as the destination.

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Productive!! One of my major criticisms watching Walsall around 2012/13, under Dean Smith, was that we had loads of possession but didn’t do much with it! It was tippy-tappy, pretty boring football. It was only when we added some more forward-thinking players that we developed an end product and both looked pretty good and scored some goals. Other words I’d use to describe the current team are: effective and clinical!

I have to say that it’s not my favourite stat the old xG but ours is out of this world for how much we have of the ball during games.Talk about clinical.

Opposition players don’t get much time to think, as usually there’s not 1 but several of our players around them like a pack of yapping Westie terriers. :laughing:

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Indeed, and there are often tweaks during the game on how we press. I have noticed some games the forward players do actually drop off more at times. The press on Saturday was so intense in the second half, they couldn’t breathe for it.

Sadler really does seem clued up on what he is doing and is outsmarting plenty of more experienced managers.

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It’s strange when you listen to other teams managers/ supporters after they’ve played us, the majority don’t really praise us and tend to generalise that we are a boring negative team that doesn’t possess real quality and that their tactics/formations were wrong and can’t understand why we are where we are, some do give us mild praise but reluctantly. As Sadler has alluded to we don’t have individuals our strength is teamwork, desire,passion and belief in what we want to achieve, as in most games this season I have an unwavering faith that if a game is tight or we concede first that we will find a way to score and win, success and confidence plays a huge part in sporting success , it’s far easier to run on high octane fuel when you are confident and winning much easier than when you are losing regular and the world is against you. For any team in any division to have 9 consecutive wins and no defeats in 16 games is truly remarkable and should be applauded not only by our fans but by anyone that has a sporting affiliation. I have to admit I was very much a Sadler out guy appointed because he was cheap and already in the building I never imagined he could create what he has ( coaching staff included, and owners ) enormous credit to all concerned, can we continue this amazing run ? Who knows, logic tells us that it will end sometime if it does I’m confident that another “ run “ will commence we have mental strength as much as playing strength. As others have said we do need to add some more bodies up top and midfield for me and I’m sure they will be arriving shortly to enable us to finish the job, let’s not worry too much about who might leave and enjoy the moment, it’s been awhile for some of us and long overdue, we’ve earned our place in the sun after enduring many bleak and dark seasons. I’m really looking forward to May and a sunny day in Crewho hopefully as champions or already promoted, there will probably be a tear in my eye , come on you reds.

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You can just tell jellis would be something unique as his a young man with an 80s moustache

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I like his enthusiasm at the end of every game is unbelievable you’d think he’d just won the lottery.

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Agreed, often much stronger in the second half and that’s no fluke, obvious adjustments made at half time, County away being the prime example.

Testament to both lads up top still capable of doing that at their ages. AA really stepped up second half Saturday after a pretty poor first half I thought.

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When did the club stop posting highlights and extended highlights on the official website?

It appears to be all on the app saddla: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.walsallfc.app

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I don’t want to watch the game on my phone. I can barely tell whats going on on the small screen. I want to watch on my 48inch TV linked to my pc.
They don’t care about us old uns :sob:

Interesting they show in slow-mo the tackle by Connor Barrett on the ‘fall down king’ Crowley.
Our Star Man clearly gets the ball first, but the ref books him. Shocking decision.

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