Random thoughts on the Saddlers

Walsall blogger Mark Jones has some random thoughts of the state of the club in general in the wake of Yeovil before setting off to Southampton.

Time for some random thoughts, written in the aftermath of Tuesday's defeat to Yeovil: -

The Players

I can excuse many things, including bad performances on dreadful nights when absolutely nothing goes right, but there is absolutely NO excuse ever for players or management failing to applaud the fans after a match. Hang your heads in shame. A shocking end to a shocking night.

The Game

What happened next?

Walsall are playing badly, there's no fluency, we're creating nothing and we're a goal down when one of our central strikers finds a bit of space in the box and cleverly pulls the ball back for the onrushing Alex Nicholls. Was it: -

A, Alex buries the chance created by Byfield and, although we don't really deserve it, we're back in the game. Another bit of quality from Nicholls late in the game sets up a winner for Troy. Three points are in the bag and we're up to ninth place.

Or B, Alex mishits the shot, returning the ball to Deeney and almost decapitating him in the process. We carry on blundering our way to a dreadful defeat and but still stay ninth.

As you have worked out, it's the latter. Such is life in mid-table. 14 games to go, the sooner we get to 53 points the better.

The Subs Bench

Now listen carefully and I'll explain - you have seven of them. You know that, you name them for every game; they sit on the benches with you in the dugout. Then you can choose three of them to go on to the field of play as kind of replacements for any of the first XI you sent out.

This is especially useful when your young, inexperienced side are dead on their feet and misfiring on a quagmire of a pitch during their ninth game in 28 days.

You can do this at any time you don't need to wait until, say, six minutes from time. Best of all you don't even need to wait until a player is injured, you can just take anyone off at any time.

Got that boss Chris Hutchings? then why not try it out sometime? Please?

The Goalkeeper

Clayton Ince made a clanger on Tuesday and he cocked up in the win - that's the win - at Leeds, but also saved us two points at Bristol Rovers two weeks back.

Our 'appalling' recent defensive record reads 5 goals conceded in 8 games – which includes a dodgy penalty and the two aforementioned calamities. That suggests to me the defence might not necessarily be the major problem.

Yet some people still call Clayton a clown, they really ought to think before they press the send button.

The Manager

Some people are starting to have a go, me included at times but there's absolutely no way on earth I'd be calling for the guy's head. Given the circumstances he has to work under, ninth in the third tier ain't exactly the worst ever position we've been in.

Yes some things could be done better but they could be a lot lot worse, and they have been! Just over 12 months ago we genuinely faced the prospect of having Ian Atkins in charge.

The Pitch

A lot has been said about the state of the Banks's Stadium pitch and the weather conditions but it was the same for both teams. Brentford boss Andy Scott moaned that we had adapted better to it than his side did on Saturday, but nobody could've said that on Tuesday.

If anybody was looking for extenuating circumstances, then for me the fact that it was the ninth game in four weeks had more of an effect, especially given that some have played very little football in the previous few months and some have played very little football at all.

But then again I don't do post-match press conferences.

The Weather

Why is the weather always flipping atrocious when we play Yeovil? Even when we play them on the opening day of the season, it's always tipping it down.

The Crowd

A sub-3000 crowd. Yes it's symbolic but is it really a surprise? This has been coming, the crowds have dropped alarmingly over the last two years because fans are disillusioned.

They are a reflection of years of neglect, and until those who can specifically do something about it, actually start to recognise that they themselves are part of the problem, then nights like Tuesday will keep happening.

The Local Media

I can't be the only person who is sick of waiting for someone to actually have the bottle to be a proper journalist for once and try and do some proper research into why there is so much disillusionment and negativity. Surely it can't be that difficult?

The Future

In the last 10 days alone, I've spoken to a lot of people about Walsall. I've exchanged texts and e-mails, I've seen many comments on the message boards, I was at the Focus Group meeting at the club and the Post Focus Group meeting in the pub.

I've been to two home games and to Elland Road and back, I was at the Supporters Trust AGM on Wednesday, and the one thing that strikes me is that people do still care. They may not be attending any more, they may not like certain individuals, they may be sick of the rent and the debt, but they still care.

But most importantly I saw the truly wonderful sight of the massive ear to ear grin on my 11 year old's face as we walked through the Leeds fans back to the car last week, which trumps everything that happened against Yeovil.

Don't anybody ever tell me this club doesn't matter.