Skip to content

Match day thread: Walsall

2

Comments

  • Am I alone in being totally fed up ( or stronger ) with McCarthy hoofing the ball long and diagonal vaguely toward Bayo every single time? The percentage success rate of this ‘tactic’ is negligible.

  • Samuel and CMS upfront with Bayo on for the last 20 mins.

  • I’d go along with that @DJWYC14 but might give Bryn Morris precedence over Curtis Thompson. Darius Charles is predominantly left sided (and has played many a game at left back) which I could claim was why I had Sido in mind. The truth is that, after his successive injuries, it was a case of “out of sight, out of mind.”

  • @perfidious_albion said:
    Am I alone in being totally fed up ( or stronger ) with McCarthy hoofing the ball long and diagonal vaguely toward Bayo every single time? The percentage success rate of this ‘tactic’ is negligible.

    It's not the most subtle or effective tactic is it? It must be part of the sanctioned gameplan though. Stewart used to do it a lot last season and if it was McCarthy doing it off his own back it would surely have been stopped by now.

  • @EssexWanderer said:

    @perfidious_albion said:
    Am I alone in being totally fed up ( or stronger ) with McCarthy hoofing the ball long and diagonal vaguely toward Bayo every single time? The percentage success rate of this ‘tactic’ is negligible.

    It's not the most subtle or effective tactic is it? It must be part of the sanctioned gameplan though. Stewart used to do it a lot last season and if it was McCarthy doing it off his own back it would surely have been stopped by now.

    Agreed he must be playing to orders but we are better than that: McCarthy is a ball player, we do have a mid field, Bayo is as good on the deck as he is in the air. At this level possession not feeding off scraps wins games.
    Ironic that McCathy’s latest Instagram post shows him lumping this exact ball! It is dire to watch and Gaz wonders why the crowds aren’t bigger!

  • @perfidious_albion - I would suggest that throughout Gareth's tenure it has been an integral part of his defensive system to generally have one ball playing centre half and one hoof it merchant. We currently have El-Abd as the more cultured defender with Charles/Mccarthy as the hoofer. In the past we had Pierre as the more agricultural defender paired with the ball playing Mawson/Stewart.

  • I don’t think Wesley Darius Charles is a natural hoofer. Pretty good on the dance floor though.

  • For me, the danger playing Charles and El Abd together is that we will be very short of pace in the centre of defence. I would prefer Sido than Charles and when fit, would play Anthony Stewart instead of El Abd, However, we all have different views but isn’t it good to have the choices we have with this squad?

  • edited October 2018

    I just can't see how el-abd starts ahead of Charles. As good an organiser as he is, his lack of height and pace gets too easily exposed now we're understandably on the back foot more often in games. If these flaws were things under his control I'm sure he'd get more stick, but you can't exactly berate someone for being short or slow...

  • I've not found any of the games I have seen to be dire to watch. But perhaps I am easily pleased.

  • basically any team who do there homework on us will use the wide areas to cause us problems, Ferrier went past Harriman more times can I count on two hands, Jacobson is woefully short of pace and don't even get me started on El Abd for the 3rd goal.

  • LX1LX1
    edited October 2018

    It's good to know you can count, if only up to eleven!

  • @rmjlondon said:
    basically any team who do there homework

    Do you ever do yours?

  • @perfidious_albion said:

    @EssexWanderer said:

    @perfidious_albion said:
    Am I alone in being totally fed up ( or stronger ) with McCarthy hoofing the ball long and diagonal vaguely toward Bayo every single time? The percentage success rate of this ‘tactic’ is negligible.

    It's not the most subtle or effective tactic is it? It must be part of the sanctioned gameplan though. Stewart used to do it a lot last season and if it was McCarthy doing it off his own back it would surely have been stopped by now.

    Agreed he must be playing to orders but we are better than that: McCarthy is a ball player, we do have a mid field, Bayo is as good on the deck as he is in the air. At this level possession not feeding off scraps wins games.
    Ironic that McCathy’s latest Instagram post shows him lumping this exact ball! It is dire to watch and Gaz wonders why the crowds aren’t bigger!

    Agreed

  • I for one would much rather see the ball hoofed cross field than ending up in our net! Main issue defending atm is looking so stunned when the ball is coming in to the six yard line and being second to rebounds apart from being hit with sucker punch own goals and letting in more easy goals. Its not a lack of effort but rather a deer in headlights situation.

    We are tenacious at the front and can turn it on in the middle of the park but do not seem to have the grit to keep cool heads and clear the danger when it cuts back. We have conceded some shocking goals this season (though who would give up the fairytale ending last home game?) and if we can get rid of the kamikazi tendency and boot the ball out a bit more having won it at the back we might just survive.

    Having said that I do wish it went out to a blue shirt more often and surely we must practice where to boot it to have the greatest chance of at least contesting possession. That "hoof" that CMS won in the middle of the park springs to mind; makes me smile that does.

  • I think Norsquarters has made some excellent points. There’s a lot of snobbery talked about football style and whilst we would all love our team to play like Manchester City or Barcelona, it’s not going to happen. GA has devised a method of play that is largely effective and gets the best out of the players we have. No one complained last season when we were winning so many games, but it’s much tougher winning at this higher level.

  • @glasshalffull said:
    I think Norsquarters has made some excellent points. There’s a lot of snobbery talked about football style and whilst we would all love our team to play like Manchester City or Barcelona, it’s not going to happen. GA has devised a method of play that is largely effective and gets the best out of the players we have. No one complained last season when we were winning so many games, but it’s much tougher winning at this higher level.

    An astute observation indeed.

    I'd politely suggest the posters involved in this debate largely use interesting and descriptive language in their discussions. Profanities are generally for emphasis and accordingly apt in the usage we normally see on here IMHO.

  • How depressing, seems we get what we deserve. Off to buy some deep heat for the anticipated crick in my neck looking skyward. Roll on Saturday!

  • I don't know when it changed, maybe people are watching too much European football, but why do people expect lower league centre backs to be ball players?

    We've been spoilt with the likes of Mawson recently, but most centre backs you want to either give it very easy, 5 yard ball on the floor, or knock it, and let the other players do the fancy stuff.

  • There must be something wrong with me as I am quite enjoying this season...I'm not sure what everyone else was expecting, but before a ball was kicked I thought it was going to be a slog that we would be lucky to survive...as it is I've been pleasantly surprised by some of the games and the football. (Fingers crossed, touching wood)

  • With a fit again Tools we will have five centre backs, not to mention the mysterious youth loanee from Reading (who looked potentially the best of the bunch in pre season). Surely one of them could control it look up and pick out an eighteen yard pass to the feet of a midfielder who might create something?
    I’m not asking for Champions League here just some possession football.

  • @perfidious_albion, Charlie Fox is from QPR.

  • I'm enjoying this season too @Wendoverman, though I had slightly higher hopes than you at the start. We've had some enjoyable and memorable performances.

  • @drcongo and @Wendoverman, I have also enjoyed the season so far and feel we will do OK, especially when you think we will have Tyson and Stewart returning for the second half of the season. I think we need to iron out some of the issues but all part of settling into a a better level of football.

  • Can I join the enjoying the season posse, it looks like this time it is going to be a roller coaster and l think Samuel could be a find.

  • I would enjoy the season even more if I could munch away at a packet of crisps!

  • For many at Adams Park enjoying a season is considered hedonistic

  • edited October 2018

    @mooneyman beware because I was being offered a crisp and looking away from the field I missed the first Scunthorpe goal. Carbohydrates may ruin your enjoyment of the the game.
    @LX1 I think promotion was a traumatising experience for some Gasroomers...and possibly a sizeable number of people in Block E of the Beechdean.

  • Non crisp related enquiry for those that went to Walsall...(and apologies if someone has already posted something on this) but did Russell Martin get stick/a nice welcome from the travelling Chairpeople?

Sign In or Register to comment.