Blog: Walsall debacle can't happen again

'What are you gonna write about in your blog then?' a mate asked me outside Spotland after Tuesday night's debacle.

To be honest I'm still as lost for words as I was for the entire duration of the match. Well words that can be printed anyway,

Had the weekend and midweek performances been reversed, namely we'd been thumped by Preston and then gone and beaten Rochdale fairly convincingly, I might have just about got my head around the situation.

But I can't fathom out what is going on with the Saddlers at the moment. Losing 4-0 flattered us completely, Rochdale were so dominant it was embarrassing.

Think Scunthorpe (4-1) and Coventry (5-1) in that barren run in late 2012.

But, worse than that, think of the darkest days of Chris Hutchings, Kevan Broadhurst, Paul Merson, Colin Lee, Jan Sorensen, Kenny Hibbitt and even John Barnwell and you get the picture.

Injuries are making a difference, for sure, but that doesn't excuse how we couldn't even do the basics right.

We had an experienced enough back-line to not perform like complete strangers. We should be able to keep the ball properly too.

And when we do retain possession in our opponent's half, why does it feel like every player has to do an impression of one of Josep Guardiola's Barcelona just to try and set up an attack?

All of the good football the other night came from an impressive Rochdale outfit who look set up for a good season.

And they are a club with considerably fewer income streams, and therefore resources, than ourselves. Think about that for a moment.

Every positive from the win over Preston, and there were plenty, was erased by the Dale defeat.

Which does leave us with the slightly scary question as to which of the two games was the blip?

Manager Dean Smith promised that Tuesday night 'won't happen again'. He's right, it simply can't. Otherwise, I will have plenty to write about.