Pah!!
Well that was complete garbage. Get rid of the entire defence, they are the weakest set of players I have witnessed for a fair few seasons. We seem totally incapable of winning any high balls into our penalty box or for that matter to almost any opposing forward player. Playing one of our best players, Dobson, just in front of the defence is totally pointless, nothing creative is coming from any midfield player as witnessed tonight leaving our so called wide players with the sole responsibility to create chances.
All our procession tonight came to nothing, Southend had 3 chances and scored them all with ease, we missed ours by failing to put away two simple chances and wasting our corners which were into double figures by the end of the game.
Iâm not sure how Keats can change our fortunes without an extensive clear out - too many average players.
We have had a really decent start to season but our 6 league victories have come against teams now occupying places in bottom 8 of league 1. it seems we had a relatively easy start to season and a top half finish is probably too much to hope for.
I canât wait to see Joe Edwards back in a Walsall shirt.
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Best player by far last season.
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Jury is out on a lot of the staff at the club.
The non-league contingent, including the manager, have made a decent start. Which is good.
We know that about 4 players at the club are definitely good enough to make a decent living from the game I.e make it as professionals in the third or fourth tier. They really need to step up as those in the ânot sureâ category either prove they can make it or prepare for a summer departure as Keates moulds the genuine âdean keatesâ team of 2019/20.
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So the players who went unbeaten away from home for 7 matches are âaverageââŚwe have suffered 2 away defeats to good teams. Tonight from all accounts I have read we were the best team in the first half but failed to take our chances. In defence of our defence when that happens confidence begins to drain away and that is clearly what is happening. If we had taken our chances especially at home we would still be in the play offs! but none of us expected that so we are about where we expected to be. We now have a great chance with 3 home games to come to rebuild that confidence but that will only happen if we start putting the ball in the net.Lets hope we can do it!! UTS
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but we were playing better away than we were at home
Wrote this some time ago Swifty. Also, much has been said about our new team spirit, and indeed Dean has done well on this, but lets face it, it could not have been hard to improve on what went before.
I hope we are taking on board Macclesfield`s team spirit and never say die attitude, 0-2 up and then 2-3 down away to a team flying from a division above and themselves 2nd from bottom with a GD of -5.
Fantastic effort from them and perhaps tells us when things go not quite right we may still have a way to go.
Thatâs impossible to maintain over a season, home form needs to be your bedrock otherwise you do slip down the table.
Going to be tough. Charlton will be close to top 6 and Burton have hit some good form lately. For a few reasons Wycombe is a big game now I think.
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to be honest if we could start to put in a good performance at home i wouldnât be worried
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https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/walsall/11533952/southend-3-0-walsall
If you want to keep these goals for posterity:
Downloadable
Agree with Cully , way to many average players in this squad. The only way we will improve is by bringing in better players.
Could be another tough season.
Less one-sided than Luton but that may be down to the quality of the opposition. We did at least create some chances, put in a few reasonable crosses but it was the end product that was missing. We should have equalised from one of the two 2nd half headers from Ginnelly and Ferrier. Sadly Southend took their chances. Early season optimism falling like the autumn leaves.
Congratulations to the small band of singers who kept going pretty much non-stop for first 70 minutes and without the unpleasant stuff of Saturday.
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Wow. This team is going to be the victim of its own good start. Relegation favourites the start of the season.
Tough game but a poor performance. Hope to see a return to the early form sooner rather than later.
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Weâve lost that spark but Keates canât play Ferrier up top on his own, he ainât that kind of player and he ainât good enough - nor are the players who supposedly complement a single striker up top - where were the runs beyond him? Where was the man just off him?
Defence is an issue, but remember, when the ball aint sticking up top, and your midfielders play making attempts are coming straight back at you, then as a defender youâre in for a long night.
We need to play 2 up top, otherwise we just ainât got the personnel to threaten, and weâll be easy pickings for teams like Southend, who lets be honest, were no great shakes
It looks to me like Keates doesnât really know what his best 11 is. Thereâs too much tinkering going on, itâs virtually impossible to predict a line up and formation.
He needs to bank on the players that have performed best so far this season and go with that.
Totally agree Phil, and to be honest thatâs whatâs disappointing me. Iâd rather we have a way to play and stick to it. Ok maybe react tactically in games from time to time, but from the start letâs just try and be the best at what we are and try and improve the individual players and as a team. Doesnât mean weâre going to be great every game, and certainly not win all of them! Defenders need to defend and that means winning headers, âsecond ballsâ, blocking, giving the ball to midfielders etc. The forwards are what they are, and need the confidence to develop which means time on the pitch, sometimes making mistakes and having ineffective games. The environment that the Keates factor and the unexpectedly good start created was perfect for that. No way the fans are going to get on anyoneâs back so long as 100% is given.
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Agree with both you and Phil. We need to play 2 up front. We have no one who can play the sole striker role and the defence has no chance when the ball keeps coming back. I hope we can get back to playing as we did in the early part of the season. One other point players form goes up and down at any level and as supporters we should recognise thatâŚZeli is a good player at this level and hopefully he will be back to his best on Saturday.
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