and you can ■■■■ off 
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Incredibly poor today . Where was the tempo , the energy , the desire ?? We only had any for 10 minutes at the end.
The lack of quality is so obvious. It’s too lop sided with players who are playing at the highest level they ever have and simply haven’t got the ability . Defensively it’s just a shambles - how many goals can we gift in a season ? I don’t remember seeing a Walsall team in the past 20 years so uncomfortable on the ball . The era of being a "footballing " side has well and truly been buried. RIP passing .
Add to the the lack of fight and ability the complete absence of a coherent plan and a manager/coaching staff who don’t appear to be learning , improving players or have any kind of plan and you have one word : Relegation.
Positives ? Ferrier really battled hard and the 2 attacking subs showed promise. That’s it.
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Both posts flagged by other users, deleted for breach of the guidelines.
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Question - does this large squad (in respect of recent times) really want to play for Deano?
Problem is if the answer is yes, they simply have no heart for the fight
If the answers no - this is the position we arrived at with the previous manager…
We are ■■■■■■ in my opinion and the clean out needs to start at the top
Walsall FC is becoming more and more of a joke. We all know the state of the facilities and the half-arsed approach to fixing things away from the pitch, and on the pitch isn’t much better either.
I’m starting to question my sanity in paying for a ST to sit in a cold, soulless concrete block to watch ■■■■ poor football.
I like Keates but he now has to start taking criticism aimed at him as he’s had 2 windows to sort stuff out and we are still making the same mistake time after time after time. That said however, short-termists may get to the stage where they want a new manager in, but I think that if we look at things realistically it doesn’t matter who’s in charge. Whilst the bigwigs at the top don’t give a ■■■■, we could have Pep Guardiola in charge and we wouldn’t be any better. Any new manager will still have the same working conditions, same restrictions, same budget and same set of players to choose from.
We are nobody’s first choice and we are dying, painfully and slowly. Attendances going down, player quality diminishing, facilities akin to that of a prison in some circumstances and an owner who is quite happy to sit on his ■■■■■■■ arse, rape the club of circa £400k per year in rent, and still be bigoted enough to ignore anything happening around him.
Welcome to my club. Welcome to Walsall Football Club. The land of broken promises and apathy.
As an aside, today was atrocious. Non league play to go with non league facilities.
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I think it’s a lot to do with coaching and professionalism. At half time they were running a small sided game. We were playing keepy up and then hitting 50 yard passes, walking around and doing what we like. We start most games slowly and I think a lot of that is to do with the intensity of training. Keates can say “they aren’t his players” all he likes but what manager walks into an empty team? Good coaches can coach basics into anyone, even if it’s just the basics of shape and systems. We don’t seem to be able to generate any attacking momentum, and constant pressure on teams where we work the ball across the pitch and probe. We live off scraps.
What I noticed to today was that we had Jarvis vs their full back with Andrew in front of him, we should have exploited that area of the pitch. On the other side when Norman picked up the ball, Devlin went inside. Why not get yourself on the touch line for an easy ball. That is coaching, he’s been told to get around Cook for the second ball. It’s so awful to watch. There’s better football being played in non league.
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Without context, this is my favourite post of 2019
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I agree with most things in your post Rob, but with one major exception. Given all the constraints as mentioned, the ability of the manager is key. They all have the same ■■■■ to deal with.
True but when you think back to Dean Smith for example, he had far more resource at his disposal in terms of salary etc. What i’d give for a Demetriou now!
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Same set of players? 8 in in January. I would rather have 2 or 3 who know what this Division is about!!! Anyway I thought this was a match thread. The other issues are being dealt with elsewhere.
Probably the same as i would for a decent owner.
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Rob you sum up the feelings of many of us
The CLUB is dying and it’s impossible for anyone to argue differently - it’s rotten from the inside out and top to bottom and only one man is to blame
Many of us have said for years, you reap what you sow and what’s happening now is the result of the pathetic ownership and p*** poor leadership stimulated and developed by you know who - god knows what the next few years holds for us
Goodbye WFC 
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I went today curious to see what team would emerge from the tunnel and whether the change in personnel would spark a revival in our recent fortunes.
More of a damp squib than a spark unfortunately.
I’m afraid that, the more the season progresses and our performances underwhelm me, the more I am realising that Dean is struggling here.
I’m worried about the rest of the season - if we go down we will struggle to get back with our budget.
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Don’t agree with that …DK has much more finance. Just look at the size of the squad!!!
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A debate of funds and squad is all well and good but we seem clueless in respect of tactics, skill, approach on the pitch and couple this to the overtly negative atmosphere around the entire club, it’s a recipe for disaster
I hate being so negative but there’s bugger all to be positive about!
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Smith inherited some crap and had poor budgets to work with, particularly early on.
The main difference for me was that Smith was trying to establish an identity and every decision he made was in line with that plan. Some worked, some didn’t but you could see what he was trying to build, even on the measly resources available to him.
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I don’t think we’d struggle financially. I think there are only a handful of teams with better attendances and we of course do well from non football income. I don’t think we have the best man in place to reverse a slump and pull us back in the right direction the way Money did.
Unless he finds himself on the edge of the box at the County Ground again.
Ok, I understand I only seen this game on the IFollow, but why I shouldn’t reply. So first, defence looked little bit better with Scarr, but still they cannot click. Maybe lack of experienced head, maybe tactical instructions, I don’t know. I don’t know how they train. Devlin on the right wing looked good in previous game, this time it was average at best. I know Dale had a good plan for this game, so maybe that was the reason. No big problem, winger was signed to replace him on this position. Osbourne? I know what is opinion about him, but for me, he regained some fitness level and as defensive midfielder he looked ok. Similar, in a way, to Adam Chambers. Kinsella might be better at playing footy, but lacks centimetres and kilograms. And is not box to box midfielder. Changes are another story. That’s not first time gaffer doesn’t read the game. For me it is little bit of Smithesque way of playing. Waiting and waiting, because game looks ok and any change can break it. After 50 minutes I thought something needs to be changed, cause game started to escape team. I’ve seen definitely too many games, not to notice such subtle changes. Dale made substitution, scored a goal and later just frustrate everyone and tried to counter. How WFC responded? Result shows it all. Gaffer? Needs to learn, quickly. I can say he lacks someone experienced on the bench, who could teach him few tricks how to do sth on this level. I know he is learning, but three points to relegation zone and ■■■■■■ goal difference. That’s the problem, two teams in relegation zone have better GD. So we back to defence problems, but they are hard to eradicate during the season. I’m afraid 2-3 defeats in February and nothing will change direction, where club is going. To League Two unfortunately.
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I suppose we will have to see if they stick with DK like they did with DS.
Re: Finance, If the rumours are true then everyone’s favourite full backs are earning more than any Walsall player in recent history. Mismanagement from the top through to JW that we are still paying for.
Welcome to the Bonser legacy - many years of massive under investment, indluding managers and coaching staff.
You reape what you sow, yes we have been lucky over the last 25 years but not much
Today, a must win game was absolutely ■■■■■■■ ■■■■.
Jeff is ■■■■, gamble is ■■■■, mole is a ■■■■ and Keates is ■■■■.
The club is on life support,.
It needs energy, desire, bastardry, care, passion and someone who kno what they are doing.
DK does not know what he is doing.
For a year we cannot defend, we are so narrow, we don’t stop crosses, and why oh why does he keep starting Osborne, Guthrie nad 0laying Devin out of position.
WTF are they coaching ?
Why are we so slow we have just had 10 days off !
I’m quicker than Osborne he’s a joke of a professional
Dean I like you, but your ■■■■, and so is your boss