Saddlers Social: Walsall fans have their say

Port Vale was nice. The whole afternoon felt like the away game I’d been waiting for all year. I couldn’t go to Northampton and my failed attempts so far this season had been Crewe, Leyton Orient and Oldham (ugh). The win at Vale Park was just our fourth victory on the road in 2019, and the first I’d been at since Andy Cook scored a hat trick at Gillingham in January. Ouch.

It wasn’t pretty. The first half in particular was two very, very fourth tier teams, but the move for our goal was lovely and definitely not one you could have envisioned six weeks ago.

Macclesfield was frustrating. Josh Gordon absolutely ran his socks off though and there were a couple of other notable performances. Wes McDonald more than deserved that excellent finish based on his recent outings. I really hope the silence on his future isn’t indicative of some bad news.

Improvement on the pitch does seem to be happening, albeit very slowly and cautiously. Exeter away is going to provide a bigger test though, and I’d snap your hand off for a draw to keep the relatively positive momentum going into Christmas.

We’re still pretty unspectacular in just about every respect, and I think quality not quantity in January is going to be the difference between scrapping about and a reasonably progressive second half of the season. But we knew turning this ship around was going to take some time and work. I just hope we have the tools.

I was staggered to hear that our wage bill in 2018/19 was apparently as high as it had been since the Championship days. The last few years really have been a catalogue of terrible business decisions. I really, really hope we’ve stopped making them.

Stuart Cox

Lots of questions again after Saturday’s performance (when isn’t there to be honest). DC is constantly tinkering and changing and playing players out of position when it’s been clear before that it hasn’t worked.

Clarke is not a left back and it showed on Saturday - mis-placed passes, caught out of position and defended poorly for their goal. Pring was fit so why didn’t he play from the start?

Onto Kinsella - one the fans love to love - he is not a winger. He really struggled on Saturday and even though I haven’t been Holden’s biggest fan he is more of a threat on the wing than Kinsella ever will be. Guthrie and Sinclair both had a poor game and looked well of the pace. Why Bates wasn’t introduced at some point I don’t know. Jules? What has happened to him? He’s fit apparently, but is not making the squad. Internal dispute somewhere?

The positive every week is Wes McDonald. Without him, there is zero creativity and attacking threat from anywhere else in the team. Yes, he often makes a poor decision or holds onto it for too long, but he can unlock something that no-one else can. We simply HAVE to sign him up in January along with another half a dozen to replace a sizeable chunk of a squad that has performed poorly for the whole season.

Having been optimistic back in August, I now just want to get over the line come May and start again. The football, along with the whole match day experience, is not enjoyable at the moment.

A message to our half time entertainment organisers - a bloke having a shot at goal from 3 yards out (and failing) is not entertaining. Bring back Sumo (remember him) or at least something vaguely interesting.

Chris Saunders

Recent form has been good on paper and whether or not the performances on the pitch have been entertaining results are all that mattered recently. We really need to take this form forward and create a feel good factor around the club which sadly still seems to be missing at home games.

The squad still looks unbalanced and that is worrying, the goal conceded Saturday was due to this and the sacrifice of Facey at half time also seemed to be. Having to sacrifice someone at half time just to adjust the balance of the squad, especially one as young as ours, can seriously impact on players confidence. Next month we must address this otherwise it could unsettle the dressing room if it goes on long term.

Saturday was an ok point but when you look at the festive fixtures the squad really need to grind some results out otherwise we will soon be looking over our shoulders again.

Rob Harvey

We are edging ever closer to the January transfer window, and boy do we need it!

Although we are doing well results-wise, having only lost one of our last nine (all comps), the performances and overall stats don’t make for pleasant reading really (League Two only):

Played: 21

Won: 6

Drawn: 5

Lost: 10 (second highest amount of lost games so far!)

Goals For: 16 (second lowest in the league)

Goals Against: 27

To me it is evidently clear that we need more creativity and more firepower. Our midfield is too pedestrian and nowhere near attacking enough, and our strike force leaves a lot to be desired once you look past Lavery and Gordon. Things don’t usually get fixed in an instant, but we need to do something sooner rather than later. That said, three points is three points and if we have one shot on target to win a game I’d take that over having 20 shots and losing.

The game against Macclesfield was a true reminder of where we now find ourselves. Two poor teams scrapping it out against each other and apart from the two goals scored in the game there wasn’t much else to discuss. Macclesfield were off the pace, and for periods of it we were somehow worse than that, but we managed to rescue a draw from the jaws of defeat so it’s another point towards safety!

Looking ahead to the next game I think it will be a very tough test against a team that have been there or thereabouts over the past few years in this League and I would take a point now if it was offered. We need to get Alfie Bates back in the middle of the park to help us create a bit more.

This season has been full of surprises for us fans so far, mostly not good ones, but maybe Christmas will deliver some optimism and goodwill – here’s hoping!

Robert Dearn

Saturday wasn't the result that we were hoping for, but it shows that we are now a team that can fight back.

In previous games we have played a lot better and not got a result, but recently, it seems that we have that bit of fight in us, and that we will battle to get a result, even if our performance has been poor. This is a trait that has been sorely missing the last few years.

In our last four league games, we have gained eight points from a possible 12, which isn't a bad points haul, considering that three of those teams sit above us in the league. I think DC has steadied the ship, and it feels that the players have started to gel and work better together.

On a final note from me, I really hope that Wes McDonald stays with us, we know that talks have happened and are ongoing, but it would be very nice to see a player stick with us rather than leave after we've given them a chance.

Dan Price

Heading in the festive period in a much better position than I thought we would be come five or six weeks ago. Rightly or wrongly of players picked we seem to have settled on a formation that is giving us solid performances at the back and also creating chances going forward, Totally understand that were not a free scoring team but you have to create chances to score goals.

A thing I currently do question is some of the team selections and exclusions that we have seen. Zak Jules seems to be well down the pecking order after impressing when in the team, James Clarke playing at left back with a left back on the bench, Liam Kinsella playing wide right with Holden sitting on the bench and then Alfie Bates sitting on the bench after being the brightest spark of the last two months? It seems that DC has set his mind on what personnel he wants in his starting 11 and regardless of positions they will play.

January will be key to how we end the year. Can we keep Wes? With clubs apparently on the scout I imagine It will be tough to keep a player in League Two with “bigger” clubs on the hunt for his signature but seriously think, without him we lack threat and spark in the final third… Come on Leigh lets break the bank.

I would like to finish with some praise after seeing Liam Roberts play 100 games for the club. He has his fans and critics within the fan base but I personally think he is one of the best shot stoppers in this league and a thing that resonates more than anything is his heart and passion for the shirt and the club which is very visible to see. Well done Liam.

Happy Christmas Saddlers fans….UTS

Nick Etheridge

The performance of the team on Saturday probably mirrors how everyone is feeling right now. It was almost as though some of the players were counting down the days until they break up for Christmas. On the back of it all though, there are some real signs of improvement. Most notably, a few weeks ago we would have almost certainly lost that game. Avoiding defeat has led to us not registering a loss in nine games, with four of those in the league.

With the transfer window on the horizon, the signing of another out and out winger, along with the resigning of McDonald is essential. 4-4-2 seems to be the go to at the moment, but whoever plays out on the right looks as lost as the last Bounty in the tin of Celebrations. It was Liam Kinsella’s turn this week to play the graveyard shift and although he gave his all, as he always does, it really hampered our shape. We basically ended up playing with three deep lying central midfield players.

With no threat through the middle, we again were only able to play down one wing, meaning that we were so predictable with our play and bereft of any creativity anywhere else on the pitch. With another winger added to the ranks, we could get away with playing two deep central midfielders as we’d have an extra threat elsewhere. I genuinely feel that the strikers aren’t the problem as, bar two or three ‘worldies’ from the opposition keeper, would have seen us register a handsome victory. If we can consistently create chances then they will get goals. As we are pretty well stocked in the middle of the park, the only option seems to be adding width. Let’s just hope we don’t ‘do a Walsall’ and let McDonald go in the process

Ian Newbold

Going on home league games alone, and we’re up to eleven my nearly half-empty season ticket book tells me, are there any great signs of improvement for the Bescot Faithful?

The only one I spotted before half-time on Saturday was the new vending machine on the concourse of the Homeserve Stand.

The second half was better on Saturday, with the introduction of a left-back to play left-back, on the left-hand side of the field, improving our play on, errr, the left side. Re-arrange the words, science and rocket.

Though that change did lead to us playing the second 45 without a full-time right back, meaning we were still lopsided.

It was refreshing to hear Darrell Clarke admit he got his selection, and substitution of that error, wrong. But there’s some obvious weaknesses in this team or squad, and some of those seems to be of our own, or of DC’s making.

I don’t want to read too critical, as what do I know anyway, but two narrow wins from eleven attempts and when we’re failing to record three points against the likes of Stevenage, Grimsby and a Macclesfield team in a mess, enthusiastic optimism is becoming a little harder to muster.

Apathy is alive and unwell at the Bescot again.