Saddlers Social: Walsall fans have their say

Ian Newbold

Seems the sum total of our ambition these last seven days was not to lose to the two worst teams in the EFL. And managing so is deemed a satisfactory week that shall keep wolves from doors. Joy, oh joy.

The table makes for sorry reading, though I am comforted by the bookies having us out at 20-1 for going down. I hope they are right. But I don’t see it and wouldn’t be offering anywhere near those odds.

Granted we only need a win or two, however unlikely they look right now, in fact half a dozen bore draws may be enough, but just how drab and uninspiring can a season be?

Harrogate on Friday is important, or another opportunity for us to escape this uncomfortable end to this already terrible season. I shall be watching from behind my sofa. If I’m not on a virtual Easter Egg hunt or whatever.

James Kenealey

This has now gone from incredibly uncomfortable to intolerable.

I said last week that this feels like 2018/19 in too many ways. That feeling of dread rose another notch on Saturday. I genuinely cannot see us winning another game this season, and given the fact that both Grimsby and Southend have now gained ground, thanks in part to our inability to do basically anything with any level of competence, the situation is desperate.

I didn’t watch the Grimsby game because after being put through the dire and inpotent mundanity of Southend, I made the decision to stop paying for the away games. There’s only so much of this anyone can take.

I’m just beyond enraged at the complete lack of accountability and responsibility at this football club, and listening to Dutton’s post-match interview was just the icing on the cake: Whitney-esque “fighting like men” drivel after barely drawing against the worst club in the football league. Is this what we’re supposed to accept as a job well done now?

Apparently we’re staying on track with our goal of “keeping the wolves from the door” by winning one game in 18 attempts and allowing the points gap to shrink yet again. Clearly our broad strategy for keeping wolves from doors is posting chunks of meat through the letter box and shrugging our shoulders.

Still, don’t fear! Our hastily scrambled together Director of Football appointment that’s happening five years too late will be just the direction we need! Inexplicably, it’s this moment in our half-decade descent that we’ve suddenly decided we need to do this. Whoever he ends up being, I hope his National League knowledge is good.

Nick Etheridge

Draws. They seem to be the story of our season. Across the entirety of the season, some of them have been decent. Others have been poor. The last two have been absolutely abysmal. To go to the two bottom sides of the division and not really have a go at them is unforgivable. The Southend game in particular, playing for half an hour against ten men and looking the weaker of the two sides speaks volumes of both the mentality and quality in the squad

A win in either of those games would probably have ensured our survival, give or take a couple of points (picked up in drawn games no doubt). I can appreciate that there are times to set out the stall to be difficult to beat, but every week we have to watch the team line up with eight defensive minded players. Defensively we have improved but we are limping to the finish line.

The sound bites that the manager comes out with hark back to the Jon Whitney era. We all know how that ended up, but that situation wasn’t anywhere near as bad as things are now. The likes of Sam Perry and Alfie Bates clearly have talent and are able to play football, but the way the team is shaping up and the tactics that are being used, this will quickly be coached out of them. It’s time for Mr Pomlett to honour his word. If he doesn’t then the fans will quickly turn and the goodwill that he has been shown towards his seeming openness will be lost.

Rob Harvey

After the draw on Saturday, we have won one game in 18.

That is five games away from a half-league season. Let that sink in for a moment.

Leigh Pomlett said Dutton needed wins, he’s got zero in 10. We’ve taken two points from the bottom two.

Dutton Out.

Roberto Petrucco

What a poor week for the club. There is no two ways about it. There is now a big concern as to where points will be gained from. The players aren't playing well, and clearly there are issues behind the scenes. So it all begs the question, when will Pomlett act?

The fans are growing more and more concerned about the situation, and the seemingly passive board. Leigh Pomlett spoke about wins, and we are yet to see them. He set out the stall, and now eyes are on him to make a decision, or statement about what the plan for the club is. This week sees us face two sides that we must do well against, or else the shrinking gap between us and the relegation spaces will reduce further.

Memories of two seasons ago anyone?

Chris Saunders

I feel like I could just copy and paste any of my recent pieces and they would sum up the last week. Ok we didn’t lose but a poor performance followed by a slightly better one and we still got closer to the relegation zone.

Tom Leak and Sam Perry showed why there is some future hope for the club turning in performances that put lots of the senior players to shame.

The strikers linked up to score a great goal so why is everything so gloomy? We had a real chance to put distance between us and the relegation places. We looked a very distant second best against Southend at a time when we need to really send a message that there’s fight left in us.

Then we play Grimsby and go behind early, the team get right back into it and even look to push on before half time and try and take the lead. What happened at half time? What did Dutton say in those changing rooms? Why set up the second half to see out for a draw when we had been in the ascendency? I think a mistake was made Saturday, in a game we could have pushed on to win we instead bunkered down and got ourselves pulled close towards the bottom two. That could be a risk that hurts us so much come the end of the season.

Stuart Cox

One win in 18 (eighteen). I put it in brackets as this is what the Grandstand VidiPrinter used to do when the score was so high you wondered if it had been mistyped. Four games ago our chairman said that Brian Dutton needed wins to keep his job. He hasn’t won. He hasn’t won a game since he took over. Three recent games have been against teams below us. We still haven’t won.

LP now has a dilemma. Does he stick to his word and get rid of a manager who hasn’t delivered what he had to do to keep his job or does he risk limping through to the end of the season with BD in charge and risk losing the faith of the (dwindling) fanbase? Please Mr Pomlett, don’t think for one minute we are safe now. We are sleepwalking towards relegation and you need to grow a pair and stick to what you promised.

Do the right thing as the faithful are losing faith.