Saddlers Social: Walsall fans have their say

Rob Harvey

It certainly looks like we are already in the process of planning for next season going off recent comments made by Darrell Clarke doesn’t it? Personally I don’t think that’s a bad thing to be doing as it could even give us a head start on others who are going to be competing with us next season, as long as it’s being done in the correct way. Let’s face it we aren’t going up and we aren’t going down this season so we may as well accept that now and get to the end of this season with as many points as we can and with a plan being put in place for an actual proper attempt at getting promoted next season.

This season was always going to be one of change and nothingness. Yes we were optimistic and looked back at the last time we got relegated to League Two, but things have changed since then and we aren’t as competitive as we were that last time round either in comparison to what some of the others seem to be forking out on players, and we have had a massive overhaul of players to deal with.

It’s frustrating at the moment and we are in a bit of a lull again, but if Darrell Clarke is planning for next season then I’ll put my trust in him and see where we are at after 10/15 games next season. I’m thinking that we may be looking to sign Nathan Sheron, Jack Rose and possibly even Rory Holden for next season, which is especially why he’s got Sheron in on loan now.

As for now, we’ve got a trip to Forest Green coming up, followed by one straight after to Newport County. My head is telling me two defeats are incoming, my heart says four points given that we seem to be better away from The Banks’s. Regardless, I’m a Walsall supporter and I’ll back them no matter what, for better or worse as they say!

Jack Talbot

What a game of 2 halves!

First half was possibly the best I have seen this season at home. We pressed them and closed them down quickly. We had a couple of big opportunities to score more goals and should of been at least three up at half time.

However, it was a very different second half. The only shot on goal was in added time at the end of the game. It was very poor and that is why we are not pushing for the top seven this season.

For the remainder of the season I would bleed the youngsters into the team and see what talent we have in our academy as our season is now over and we are playing for a top half finish.

Let’s finish this season on a high and prepare for a promotion push next season!

Chris Saunders

With little left to fight for this season having the chance to now have one eye on next season is a good thing. Being able to give experience to youngsters will only pay dividends long term and if handled correctly it’s actually an exciting prospect as a Walsall fan to know next year we may have a team built with players who have come through the system and wear the badge with pride.

Off the field could also be exciting with Pomlett having a clear plan he wants to enact, a new Bescot Bar and a club that in my experience is now listening to what the fans are saying around off the field matters. Needing to appreciate these changes can’t happen overnight is important but if they do push on and build correctly I have a feeling deep down we may have a community club going forward we can be proud of.

Dan Price

What a 90 minutes of football, the first 45 minutes was arguably the best 45 minutes of football that I has seen us play in a long time. We could well have been three up within the first half an hour and always running through the back of my mind was would those chances come back to haunt us.

Our first half performance showed a desire and press that I haven’t seen for a long time, no doubt the wind played its part in that first half but the amount of mistakes we forced I was excited for the second half. WOW, what a change in that second half, we were second to every ball, allowed them time and space on the ball and looked like the energy had been totally zapped out of us and probably the worst I’ve seen us play! Was that because the effort of the first half or did we hope to sit on a 1-0 lead and nick a win ?

Seeing Josh Gordon and Caolan Lavery up top again was a delight and you can see the clear connection they both have. With DC comments at the end about looking for a press for next season let’s hope that we now utilise our players and look to blood the young prospects that we have about the club. Lets get Callum Cockerill-Mollett, Alfie Bates and Jack Nolan in that starting line-up week in week out and allow them to build relationships on the pitch and gain vital league minutes.

Stuart Cox

Well January has been and gone. The month that we were all hoping would ignite our fire again and send us on a miraculous journey towards seventh place. To be fair, I can understand why DC didn’t splash the cash at the end of the window. The two defeats to Carlisle and Morecambe on one hand showed just why we needed fresh blood but also ended any realistic hopes of making a play off push.

He has said in the media this week that he would rather hang on to the cash and build for a push next season. While that statement makes sense, it does leave fans wondering whether that promised cash will EVER materialise having been promised it so many times this season.

Realistically who is going to want to come to a mid table (or worse) League Two club that don’t pay the going rate. It was a bold statement that he made – hopefully it won’t come back to haunt him. There have been other managers in this division that have been sacked after similar seasons to ours, teams that, like us, were expected to do well this season – Mansfield, Scunthorpe etc.

In fact Paul Hurst was a name that many of us wanted at Walsall before the appointment of DC. If next season doesn’t go to plan early on, will LP have the bottle to make a change? In DC I think we have a good manager who has made some poor choices this season in terms of formation, tinkering and certain signings.

Hopefully he has learned from that and will approach next season in a different way. Oh and please get rid of the half time ‘score from six yards without it bouncing’…. How is that entertaining?!

Robert Dearn

So Darrell Clarke has said that next season he wants to build a team for a promotion push. This leaves me with two main thoughts.

Firstly, that is what we want to hear. The fans wanted a push this season, however it has proven to be too much of an ask with the turnover of players and staff. It does raise questions as to what would happen should we not be pushing for promotion. Leigh Pomlett has spoken about time, and wanting to give the boss time to build a team, but making those promises and not fulfilling them will leave fans frustrated, and calling for a change of management.

My second thought is about changing the team. Clarke has spoken about getting rid of mentally weak players and weeding them out, but if there are no takers, can it be done? There will be those that leave at the end of the season due to contracts and loans ending, but those on longer deals may be difficult to move on, leaving less room in his budget.

It's February, and were already talking summer transfers. Oh the life of a Saddler.

Nick Etheridge

If ever a game summed up our season it was Saturday. Signs of encouragement, glimpses that we’ve developed something that resembles a style of football, at times it was even enjoyable. We even managed to score in front of the home end! The chances we created weren’t necessarily down to excellent play, it was more the whole team pressing as a unit, forcing Crewe into mistakes. They always looked decent going forwards but I was surprised with how poor they were at the back.

After the interval the same issues that we’ve had for a lot of the time this season reared their ugly heads. Crewe didn’t change anything at half time, we just seemed to drop off them and invite pressure. Maybe the plan was to hit them on the counter? Whatever it was didn’t work, as we didn’t even lay anything resembling a glove on them.

At this stage of the season you’d expect the key positions to now have partnerships that have been developed over the course. The constant changing at centre half and centre midfield has really hampered us here. If you asked ten Walsall fans what our preferred combination in those positions is, I’m convinced you’d get ten different answers

On the topic of midfield, we are desperate for some creativity. If Wes McDonald is having an off day, which is looking more and more likely with the opposition now doubling up on him, then we really look short on quality.

Stuart Sinclair, Liam Kinsella, Nathan Sheron, Alfie Bates and Danny Guthrie all do a very similar role. Depending on contracts, next season at least two of those should be offloaded and replaced by someone who can offer us something different as we are just too predictable.

Ian Newbold

Like the manager said at the weekend, it was a bad week. Abject and beaten at home by one of the two sides fighting between themselves for League Two’s last place. Then losing from a leading position against a nearish neighbour showing us how League Two could be done.

What I found really concerning about last week were some real worrying signs about the character of this side. No one coming to Josh Gordon’s aid when a Morecambe defender took exception to his brash style. Where was the team wading in asking questions later? All for one.

Then on Saturday, as the game played out, we gave up. We were losing by a single goal, but still, no urgency, a team acceptance that we’d lost. At one point nearing full-time the ball was in play, and transitioning back to us after an overhit cross I think, but our midfield were too busy pointing fingers at each other and arguing to go and get the ball.

Even if being outplayed, control what you can, channel that aggression positively. Perhaps by sticking together, which is precisely what we supporters are constantly being told to do.

Jon Taylor

The first half on Saturday was what I think as a Walsall fan we all want to see – pressing football, energy and enthusiasm on the pitch. Granted our goal in essence came from nothing but it was down to us putting them under pressure and taking advantage and at half time no one would have guessed that it was Crewe who were flying high.

Now the second half was the complete opposite, we looked second best and our heads dropped from the second they equalised. We also had dropped the energy and pressing we had in the first half – is this because of fitness levels and we can’t do this for 90 minutes? Was this a deliberate ploy to play a different style of play? Did we find the tea bags from the Jimmy Mullen era? I’m not sure but this has been a similar story throughout the season, we can rarely put together two complete half’s of football.

I still think DC will come good for the club and he should get the rest of the season and the summer to reorganise. If we are in the same position this time next year I would be surprised if DC is still around.