Saddlers Social: Walsall fans have their say on the Port Vale win and Elijah Adebayo transfer saga

Stuart Cox

After three points were gifted to us from our ‘friends’ at the Vale, this week has been dominated by transfer speculation, mostly around Elijah Adebayo.

In terms of the Vale game, it was a mediocre League Two affair with some goalkeeping howlers thrown in to supply the entertainment. Not sure why the defender chose to pass it back directly towards his own goal – you were told not to do that when playing under-11's football – but we’ll take it. I do feel much more confident though when Jack Rose is in goal. Maybe Liam Roberts was unsighted but you can’t be letting a 35-yard shot beat you in the middle of the goal. For every worldy he pulls out he follows it with a mistake and this doesn’t fill the rest of the team with confidence as well as costing us points.

Back to the transfer talk – it was a bit of a poker game really. Do we sell? Do we ask for more? Do we let him go for nothing in the summer and hope that he can supply the goals for a top seven finish?

In the end we must have chosen the latter which then pushed Hearts to move for someone they could get now. Will it affect him for the rest of the season? Let’s hope not, although we have seen many disinterested players on the pitch over the years. To be fair, if he continues to score and play the way he has been, the offers will come for him in the summer from League One and possibly above. It’s down to him and his attitude to seal himself a better deal somewhere in June.

Somehow we are still within touching distance of the top seven, albeit having played more games, but for me we are not consistent enough to get there. Hopefully I will be proved wrong!

Ian Newbold

Another easy win at Vale. They love gifting us a goal or two. Fair play. What we haven’t seen for a while is a right winger providing us with a genuine goal assist. A delightful cross that was only ending one way. Take a bow Tyriek Wright.

The two more alarming things are our inability to keep a clean sheet and reports that our leading scorer has agreed terms with an outfit in Scotland.

The former has been a problem all season, and with the personnel we have it really shouldn’t be. The latter is a problem all lower league clubs have had for decades, and just how the system works now. Offer longer contracts and risk getting stuck with players that don’t ‘kick on’ or risk shorter deals and losing players that do.

Stuck between a Adebayo and a Baxendale place if you will.

I actually think the club have improved in this area, offering more deals with club options, but it’s impossible to make the right call on all players.

Hope Eli stays, but if he doesn’t they’ll be others, and I think we just have to focus on enjoying a player’s development while they’re with us.

Chris Saunders

So an elusive win and even though it wasn’t a brilliant footballing spectacle it was a decent performance when the conditions were taken into consideration. Either way the points were ours and we now need to kick on from this.

All round the team did an ok job but the error from Liam Roberts cannot be ignored and surely as soon as he is fit Jack Rose must come back in. Mat Sadler adds a calmness to the defence that makes us look solid and organised but when teams realise they need to pressure the goalkeeper into a mistake you can almost see the back four having an element of doubt creep in and unsettle them.

The early signs are that the recruitment has some promise but only a run of games will let us really know for certain. I hope in the other direction Elijah Adebayo stays but if he does go I’d personally rather it be in the summer even if Hearts offer silly money now. As much as I think our chances of promotion sit in the outsider category whilst there is still a chance I think we go for it. This could be our last chance for a couple of years if we can put a run together now as I feel that we will lose some of the better players this summer and recruitment is only going to get harder with everything this pandemic has done.

Dan Price

I guarantee in years to come both of the goalkeeping gaffs will make their way onto a DVD somewhere, Again, I've not seen any conclusive footage to say the ball took any deflection for Vale’s goal however a strike from 35-yards that finishes in the middle of the goal leaves the goalkeeper at fault. I think he recovered well from it and made a couple of decent saves but in most games those mistakes cost you games and points.

It was great after all the speculation over the last few days for Elijah Adebayo to show that it hasn’t affected him in any way with two well taken goals. I think the club has to show some ambition however when the player is put of contract in the summer. It may be sensible to get something rather than nothing, I hear people say about why was he not given a longer contract but you look back six months would anyone have put him as our main striker and see him bagging 10 goals just after Christmas!

A few other notes from Saturday, I thought Tyreik Wright had a decent professional debut and getting an assist will only improve his confidence in the coming weeks and also thought Stuart Sinclair had a great game when he come on.

Onto the next game.. UTS

Nick Etheridge

It’s always good to beat a local rival, and Saturday was no exception. It did however serve as a timely reminder of what we all miss. The game wasn’t a classic by any stretch, and nobody will get carried away by our performance although we did look comfortable all game. The conditions wouldn’t have been ideal as a spectator but what fun we would have all had in that battered old stand!

Following the game, two key points stand out. The first one is the goalkeeper situation where it’s clear we need Jack Rose back as soon as possible. The goal Liam Roberts conceded won’t make any clangers DVD’s (the Vale keeper had that covered), but it was a poor error none the less. It’s excusable if he was being peppered with shots all game but in truth, he had nothing else to do. Liam’s not really improved in three years and his confidence is clearly shot. You don’t get promoted with a poor goalkeeper.

What you do get promoted with is a striker who scores goals. For a player who isn’t a natural finisher, works tirelessly on his own, and has been regularly starved of service, Elijah Adebayo has done brilliantly to net 10 league goals so far. If the club has realistic ambitions to get promoted then it’s imperative we keep hold of him. An adequate replacement will be hard to come by, even more so at the moment. If we get it wrong then I can see us sliding down the table. I remember when we sold Matty Fryatt and replaced him with Andrew Barrowman. Not a pretty sight I assure you!

Robert Dearn

Well, what a week it has been for the club and Elijah Adebayo. It is a story that is sure to resurface again soon, and has concerned a lot of fans. His efforts, and the big win against Port Vale have sadly been overshadowed, a mere few hours later.

The biggest thing from it, is that we need to tie down players earlier on. In years gone by, good players have come and gone on a free transfer, and although we will get some money for Adebayo, many of our squad wouldn't fit that.

It would be a huge boost for the fan base if Walsall can announce that a couple more players have signed new deals, and would ease tensions for the end of the season, and how many of our sqaud we could lose. I have no doubt that we are talking to players, and that deals are being made, but after the week we have had regarding Adebayo, I feel a bit contract news would be perfect right about now.