Imagine back in 94 95 … Chris Nicholl walks in to Bescot and goes I want incremental improvement. We’ve had a few seasons in this Division so we’ll just see if we can do a bit better.
No he didn’t. Demanded promotion at the minimum knew the players were good enough.
Nambypamby modern age oh well that’ll do nicely nicely mentality doesn’t make winners.
Two wins, make the play offs or a failed season.
Completely agree on Stirk. It has to be him or Comley, but rarely both.
I think people can see he work Josh Gordon does. It’s there for all to see. But can you afford to have a “jigsaw” (goes to pieces in the box) playing centre forward for you?
DJ to the rescue!
How we weren’t out of sight after 20 minutes I don’t know, we played some real good football.
Once again MS decided to use DJT instead of the best finisher at the club and that nearly came back to haunt him, 15 minutes to go he finally rolled the dice and got DJ and Matt on to play together, the rest as they say is history.
What’s worrying for me is DJ appears to be very withdrawn, I do think the players like him and the way the announcer introduces him you can tell he’s highly thought of, maybe just maybe something isn’t right with him outside football, maybe MS is protecting him ?
But then I look at MK Dons away when he brings him on at 4-0, the whole situation doesn’t add up, either way I believe he will be gone at the end of the season, natural finishers are hard to come by as everyone wants one I hope we manage to sort that.
Anyway the team showed tremendous character and dug right in to the end getting the deserved three points, a late winner should take them in to Saturday’s game full of confidence, let’s secure the win and take it into the last game of the season.
I thought we were equal parts good and bad yesterday.
I’m an Owen Evans fan, but how hard is it to get the ball out quicker? Surely it’s the easiest part of being a keeper.
Taylor Allen, who I said I didn’t believe the hype the other day, was absolutely excellent and you could see why he has been getting the praise he has. My MOTM. The rest of the back three looked shaky though and Daniels still looks painfully slow since his injury. We miss Adegboyega.
I thought Foulkes was outstanding. Brave, committed, energetic. Played some lovely passes too, there was a delicious flick around the corner for Hutchinson.
I thought it was Liam Gordon’s worst performance in a Walsall shirt. Gave it away, wasteful, got beaten too which is unlike him. There seems to be some mitigation with his chance though, looks to me like Faal has put him off and an awkward bounce. Still, not a great performance. It’s off the back of a deserved MOTM and a game where he should have had two assists so you can’t have it all.
Stirk and Tierney were outstanding at times. They do need to learn when to play though if they are going to play deeper, particularly Tierney, who at one point passed the ball straight to their striker, a third of the way inside our half with no defenders around him, could easily have been their winner. But some lovely touches and passes from both on the whole.
Hutchinson … I feel for him at the minute. He looks so indecisive in the final third. He’s playing without confidence. I thought the assist might perk him up but I lost count how many times he just gave the ball away on the edge of their box. He desperately needs something to click at the minute, it’s been the same for a few games.
J Gordon runs around a lot, in a position where that should be a bonus not your main attribute. He’s average on the ball and a downright poor finisher.
Faal … could be the most frustrating player of all time 
Either side of his goal he missed an absolute sitter and gave the ball away under no pressure whatsoever in a really promising position. There’s no doubt he generated chances though and we look more dangerous, and crucially unpredictable, when he’s on the pitch. He brings chaos which isn’t a bad thing in the opponents third.
It’s crazy that DJ sits on the bench every week, and I don’t blame him at all for not celebrating. He’s watching DJT come on ahead of him most games (who was absolutely dreadful again) and Josh Gordon chase defenders playing it around quite easily, regardless of his effort. It’s even crazier that the goal will change nothing and he will be on the bench again Saturday. I’d be onto my agent immediately … after Sheppey, but even more so now.
Goals are what strikers are supposed to give ya and DJ does that, J Gordon and DJT couldn’t finish their dinner but at least they run around a lot
Just watched the highlight back and as I suspected DJT did nothing in the build up of that move to “pull defenders away” he was doing his usual faffing about doing nothing, DJ made his own space. It was also DJTs mistake that gave Swindon’s Glaziel the last chance that Evo saved with his legs… there is no getting away from it after 2 seasons DJT has shown nowhere near enough to remain here or any EFL club and if he is given another contract it will only emphasise that Sadler is blinded by favourites to the detriment of this club.
Could not agree more, i think we really need to make it priority to sign him in the summer the lad has alot of potential.
I think Taylor Allen May we’ll make us a few quid.
Different to Scott Dann as a Centre half. But similar trajectory from the fringes to being a main stay. Then looking at Allen he has qualities those higher up like. Good technical player. Left footed. Specialist left sided Centre half. Set plays.
Major question is defensive nouse. Still young. Develops that by playing the next 12 months someone will pay for the qualities he has.
I’d wrote the guy off as a nothing signing. Happy to eat humble pie on this one
I actually agree with this, he’s handful and gets 4/5 good chances a game.
Once he sharpens that up, he’s a 20 goals a season striker.
First half performance was probably the best I’ve seen all season with more composure we could have easily been 3 nil up at half time. If Sadler can get us playing like that more consistently and add abit more quality in the final third we will be sure contenders for automatic next season.
Agree with comments about his positive overall contribution, but in terms of finishing he seems a striker more comfortable taking difficult chances.
He’s scored some very nice instinctive finishes for us, none less than the flick against Sunderland, but the more time he has to shoot/compose himself the less likely he seems to hit the net.
Would be interesting to see the goals he scored at Barrow, perhaps their style suited him better as a scorer rather than a foil.
Nice post.
I agree about Foulkes,
Seems like a few had written him off, but to me, he is exactly what a good prospect looks like. Definitely got something about him, if he can continue to improve he could become a top player. He is always looking for the ball, never hides and tries to push us forward.
He’s raw, but his contribution in the build up to the chance Gordon fluffed shows the potential there. I see more I like about him than bad.
I agree. He’s stronger than he was at the start of the season.
I don’t think he’s a wing back though. More a full back who enjoys the odd maraud. Laird or Demetriou like.
Hope next season. Josh Gordan has not been signed waste of space, runs around but mo threat he might be a good national league player. DJT must be given his marching orders, i think faal with right mentor could be a good accusition. So if he leaves WBA we should throw him a lifeline.
Still feel Saddlers not the anger we need…
I think he will get there. The lads 20. It’s not like he can’t play a pass. He will never be a speed demon, but it’s a fallacy you need that as a wing back. One of the best at it I’ve seen is Marcos Alonso and he would never be described as that.
Maybe not the quickest but he has bundles of energy, which is probably more important.
maybe but with Doncaster having it in their hands it makes Barrow catchable, maybe 2 places available instead of 1 if they keep wobbling
I said this before when someone asked how he scored 15 goals for Barrow. Almost certainly the case I would think, alongside it being just one of those seasons where everything went right for him.