Yes - bit like a slimmed down Akinfenwe.
Now 4-1 (Candlin).
Kiersey scored according to the official site.
1 Like
Give Edwards John a contract he is class !!!
1 Like
He got the boot.
Who were the striker trialists today?
How many saddlers there today?
The best we have played so far, a lot more attacking intent and quality on show than the previous two friendlies. First of all I have to point out my favourite part of today was the return of Mat Sadler cause my god was he vocal in the best way. The best example of this was him shouting āGet ā ā ā ā ā ā ā hereā to Cameron Pring when he wasnāt narrow enough. Love that, he will make a big difference to the organisation and the accountability in the side.
Second of all, Alfie Bates is the real deal. He absolutely ran the show once again, he had the legs and intent of Kinsella and the composure and quality on the ball of Danny Guthrie this afternoon. Always wanting the ball, always looking up to make a forwards pass, willing to have it in uncomfortable areas and play out, not afraid to get into a challenge and go for a 50/50 or get easily dispossessed. If he maintains these kinds of performances and development then he wonāt be a Walsall player come his 20th birthday.
And thirdly, we need to sign Kairo Edwards-John, the lad oozes quality. A fantastic goal today to go with the one on Tuesday, and he even should have had a couple more as well some more assists. Give him a contract now and get him on the plane to Poland ASAP.
Onto the others. In the first half, Danny Guthrie really impressed me, looked a bit sharper than Tuesday already. Kinsella was fantastic, broke up play brilliantly with some lovely pressing and challenges and he capped it off with a sublime rifled shot from 25 yards into the near post. If he keeps this confidence to take these efforts and keeps learning about his offensive positioning, I can see him adding a lot more goals to his game, which we will need.
Roberts was much more vocal and commanding which is like a nice choc ice on a hot day, super ducking refreshing. Big, big positive there. Tom Leak, Shay Facey and Cam Pring were all solid. Brandon Thomason-Asante up front was bright again with his movement and pace but technically he leaves a lot to be desired. Snatches at shots and has very weird body positioning when on the ball. Rory Holden looked very poor though, made a lot of poor decisions like running down blind alleys and forcing passes. Neither are good enough IMO.
Second half, Joe Slinn in goal made one poor mistake for their goal by being caught out by their free kick, and then made a top save to tip a goal bound shot over. I donāt know enough about keepers though, but what I will say is I didnāt have confidence in him. Youth teamers were all raw but fine. Cockerill-Mollet impressed me with how vocal he was for a young left back playing in centre back, and he looked fairly assured too. Cameron Norman was also very assured and looked composed and cultured all second half in both right back and centre back.
McDonald is a league 2 winger through and through, he was naff today but he showed a few embers of the player he can be on his day. He had a little bit of the Lalkovic syndrome, looks pants but when it goes right oh boy I reckon it would go right. Just an early prediction though as he was awful today. James Hardy was class, invaded space through the pockets wonderfully and drew players into him with his dribbling which created so much space for the wingers and Adebayo. Onto Adebayo, he was on fire tonight, winning headers, skinning full backs, absolute class. I just worry he will be found out against a league defender who knows how to deal with him, time will tell but it looks very promising.
Once again though Jack Kiersey was awful. Alfie Bates is 3 times the player in every aspect and the only good thing he did was score. Might be a little harsh but he has shown me absolutely nothing, if he was a trialist I wouldnāt have offered a deal thatās the last thing Iāll say on him.
Darrell Clarke very vocal and demanding again and I loved the team talk in the centre circle at full time where it looks as if he was just ranting on and on to them for 10 minutes. He just commands attention from everyone under him and I love it.
A good performance made better when you realise we were without Gordon, Clarke, Scarr and Sinclair as they were rested. Past few days has been so positive.
32 Likes
Ever thought of applying for Joe Masiās job Jonnyā¦brilliant report mateā¦
6 Likes
Cheers, heās my inspiration 
1 Like
I canāt claim to know much about this Alfie Bates , but seriously how good is this lad?
Excellent account of the way things went today thank you. Looks like things are progressing nicely, with competition for PLACES as well. Looking good. in DC and his staff I am believing more in every day that passes. UTS.
3 Likes
Great report mate top work, looks like the team is starting to take shape, what position does Edwards-John play
Winger on either side but he looks better on the right.
Any news on Ferrier
I enjoyed todayās game and not only because we won convincingly it was the manner in which we won. We have more leaders on that pitch than we had for the whole of last season.
Sadler was very vocal to the defence around him which will only get better with Clarke the other side of him. Guthrie was vocal in the middle of the park assisting Kinsella and giving him some advice and then in second half we had Cockerill-Mollett barking out orders. Itās great to see so many wanting to help others out no matter how old they were.
The game itself I thought we were great with out build up play, especially Kinsella, Guthrie and Bates but our final ball was poor. I guess this didnāt help with a very poor Rory Holden and equally as poor Asante.
Edwards-John is still very raw but has proved in the last two games he can score for fun, he just needs the arm around the shoulder which Clarke will give him and he will be a damn good player.
One position that still terrifies the life out of me is right back, Norman and Facey just donāt seem at the races even against non league sides. The rest look more than capable.
Adebayo has impressed me a lot in the three games too. I expected a Baka type player but he works his backside off, runs past players with ease and can push players off him also. He also can header a ball which Swindon fans said he would never do.
The possession we had was pleasing as well today, we very rarely gave the ball away cheaply and Hardy, Guthrie and Bates were able to carve out space with some pin point passing.
Iām liking it a lot what Clarke is doing and trying to do.
I wonāt get carried away against a side a few leagues below but by August 3rd we will be ready to go against League 2 sides.
Nice to hear even in the early days our youngsters saying Clarke is the best manager theyāve had. Says a lot about him.
Positive times ahead. UTS.
12 Likes
From where I was standing, looked more like a 9 on his back rather than an 8. Definitely wasnāt Ferrier! 
Someone has said on Facebook that they spoke to Kairo Edwards dad at the match and Kairo is going to Wycombe next for a trial and not Poland
Also he didnāt get on the team bus to come back to Walsall
If thatās the case, heās obviously not what DC is looking for to complement the players heās already signed up. He obviously a man who knows exactly what he wants.
1 Like
Not sure what the split was but official attendance (if I heard it correctly) was 694. Thatās more than Alfreton last Saturday (611); didnāt catch what it was at Leamington but didnāt look as many to me (400ish?)
To all the doom mongers last week told ya to have faith, in Darrell we trust believe me what a side we have got together, the players that didnāt play today played behind closed doors yesterday against a first 11 wolves side so donāt read anything into josh not playing today or Clarke or Sinclair in Darrell trust we have a proper manager like what I see loads get YA MONEY ON
2 Likes