10 paragraphs of waffle and assumptions.
He’s a good / top league two player.
He’s going to be one of the top earners.
Sadler has wasted a good chunk of the budget on him to run him out for four minutes of injury time. And Sadler spent 6 months coaching him last season. Makes it worse.
Back to the game. Job done. Obvious qudlity shine through. Easy draw next round, big draw 3rd please
Something must have gone on. Surely Sadler’s plan at the start of the season wasn’t to build the attack around a teenager on loan from Lincoln.
Wish the DJ talk would stop dominating every game.
I said I’d have started DJ but we didn’t and we got the job done professionally without him, and as long as that continues then I don’t care whether he plays or not, comes on for 30 seconds or not.
Walsall Football Club cannot revolve around DJ.
Yes I did. It was painfully crap.
Did you ?
I put it in the wrong thread… Cheers for your input though.
Completely agree Dan.
I think most fans of most clubs would be going “we scored four goals and created thirty odd chances with our fourth choice centre forward leading the line. That’s brilliant”. Not us though.
Anyway Marine vs Harrogate today. I’m hoping to see a Marine win (obviously), some Harrogate players pull up with injuries (not nasty ones just two or three week jobs) and a couple of Harrogate sending offs. The romance of the cup eh.
I wouldn’t mind him doing knock and run if he took the damn ball with him.
Yes he was. It was a really poor performance from him.
He took his goal well, but the rest of his play is so slow, languid, loses possession, just nothing of any substance.
He will be gone in May. One of the most pointless signings by our club, in the last 20 years. We knew he was rubbish from last year, yet still signed him? Why!
What does the dog think though @P.T 
I think last night proved that McEntee is not a midfielder, and is just a centre half doing an impression of one. He didn’t influence the game, and couldn’t get on the ball against a Tier 8 side.
The dog reckons that the obsession with DJ is a manifestation of an existential crisis which has plagued Walsall FC for six or seven years. That having your happiness and sadness vicariously invested in eleven men kicking a football around requires hope to sustain it. But the transient nature of modern football, especially in the fourth tier, means that it is hard to shackle one’s hope and aspirations to people who you don’t feel reflect your own passion. Therefore the need for the emergence of individual rather than collective heroism has never been so acute, especially in the huge vacuum created by a complete lack of playing success. It is therefore no surprise that after his brilliant loan spell, many feel that DJ is the hero they crave and need to perpetuate hope.
I then threw him a tennis ball which distracted him from his dissection of the DJ obsession because he was getting boring.
You really have it in for Irish defensive midfielders 
Why won’t people learn?
I was spot on about Kinsella, and will people listen?
Probably because Sadler thought having him for a year under him could have saw him improve and we would have picked up a pretty much no risk cheap signing to give us another squad option.
I remember us signing Romaine Sawyers after having him on loan for a month. Over six games he played 17 minutes, got released then we took him on trial away at Halesowen Town. Sometimes you have to take a chance on younger players with the off chance they do turn out good, but with DJT it hasn’t worked out really.
If we really think that having some big physical presence in midfield is a must. If we really think that the tributes of a centre back are needed in midfield and are determined to wedge a square peg into a round hole. Then I think Daniels would be a far better bet than Mcentee.
He carries the ball better, he is more composed, he is a better passer and he would be a leader right in the middle of the park.
We absolutely need him at the back right now but if everyone were available I’d prefer a Farq/Mcentee centre back pairing with DD in midfield than Farq/DD at CB with Mcentee in midfield.
Or we could just sign proper midfielders.
The amount of negativity on UTS is amazing. We have a tie we are expected to win, which we do comfortably and professionally while leaving the minnows with their pride. No one was booked. I’m not sure if we had any injuries - maybe Okagbue? - and we had a couple of players back from injury. I think McEntee makes a big difference, both in terms of his presence and his attitude.
It’s not fair judging players because the opposition isn’t very good. All they can do is win.
Watching on the tele, I was reminded of when we play Premier League opposition, the imbalance in terms of possession, all the talk of quality and so on. Interesting too that Adam Virgo knew all about our problems from dead balls.
I thought the ITV mob were all very good.
Karen Carney’s knowledge of our club was levels above what I’ve heard when we’ve been on Sky. And Virgo was also extremely well versed on our strengths and weaknesses.
Whilst there was a natural pull for the under-dogs they had done their homework on us which was actually really refreshing.
Laura Woods the best anchor in live sports on the box holding the whole thing together.
Which all meant that oddly, Matt Sadler seemed more at ease and natural live on ITV than he does when talking to our bloke every week.
Well done ITV.
It’s not negativity it’s a bit of realism of context for me.
They were dreadful, and we were very professional.
The game last night taught us about as much as a pre season friendly against Rushall (maybe even less).
I want to see that same shape, and purpose to getting the midfielders on the ball, triangles, rotating possession, playing inside - against Harrogate.
I think it clearly suits our midfielders, and Daniels is good with joining in too.
I will be very disappointed if we return to long ball counter attack football - and lose or draw against Harrogate.
My point is that we did what we needed to do and with some style in this game. It did not “teach us” anything because it could not, it was just a potentially tricky tie that we negotiated without fuss.
To compare, Barnsley were also 4 tiers above their opponents and at home but conceded 3 goals in a draw. It can happen.
Yes, excellent post. There were quite a few posts on here before the game about the “Walsall way” and how we could easily end up losing this one. But, in fact, we were never in any danger, even when they scored. For most of the 90 minutes, we worked the ball well, we created chances and we were so superior, you might have suspected more than four divisions between us. So surely the right response after that is to say well done Mat Sadler and well done to ALL of the players for their part in a thoroughly professional performance.
I’ve noticed a new trend in comments as well (maybe it’s not new but I’ve only just noticed it?) that, when we have a good result or performance, some posters can only respond with “well it will mean nothing if we don’t beat x,y and z in upcoming games”. For these people, I would suggest some meditation and mindfulness, such that they stay in the moment and enjoy it for what it is. The past has gone, the future isn’t here yet 