BFTG Walsall

[Esteban]

Fair play to Brian, got his tactics absolutely spot on. Playing Williams as a number 10 to keep Chambers in check was a great decision and vindicated by his goal.

[VOR]

1st goal was a tap in from 2 yards out. HRK is stood right behind him, so it's 2-0 whether Vydra's on the pitch or not.

2nd goal was a good header, made up for chalking off Williams's goal. But unfortunately next week he'll be up against a keeper with more than 6 football league appearances to his name.[/quote]

Well done for living up to your name. 1st goal - all about positioning: good goalscorers get tap-ins by being in the right place at the right time. 2nd goal was again about good positioning and technique under pressure - a fine finish. Still, feel free to keep looking for pretexts for undermining a very good player who Brian clearly rates, works hard and is now scoring freely. Sorry he isn't Lionel Messi but no doubt you would find fault with him too.

[Jano]

Expected far more from Walsall, thought they were poor with the exception of Sawyers. Slating Vydra's work rate is a bit silly, he didn't need to work too hard as they were no real threat, wouldn't surprise me if he's been told not to track back so much. Who we get in the next round will be interesting, would expect to lose against anyone above us in the table pretty much.

[harry]

Thought Walsall were the better team until HRK scored. Goals change games and all that. HRK was marginally MOM for me.
Overall a very professional display against a team who looked dangerous until we took the sting out of them.
Tish was tidy until went off & had a decent shot which wasn't too far off.
2nd goal was a beauty. Lovely through ball from Williams, great cross from Quinn and either Vydra or HRK could have got it. On the replay it looks like HRK turns away a little but annoyed that Vydra got there first.
2-0 flattered us at half-time. The 2nd goal coming so soon after the 1st seemed to kill off Walsall (ignoring their cross-bar challenge effort in 2nd half).
Williams looked like he'd fluffed his lines when he gave the ball away in the centre circle, then their 2 players ran into each other and all he had to do was dribble half the length of the pitch, outrunning the defenders & beat the keeper.
Gunter great cross (finally) for Vydra's header which was a great finish.

I wasn't convinced by the line-up before the game but I tend to think the manager knows more having seen the players all week & scouted the opposition. Results don't always prove it. 4-0 does on this occasion. We've played much worse against worse teams this season. A good performance against a team who I suspect we may see next season.

[Jano]

Really struggling to see how people can say Walsall were the better team in the first half, they offered almost nothing going forward except for Sawyers. Admittedly we weren't great, but they were not worrying us at all.

[SydenhamRoyal]

^Although it would've made things interesting had the shot from Sawyers been a few inches lower

damn right, I had a £1 on 4-1; I was willing Walsall to get a late consolation

[Victor Meldrew]

A bloke behind me said that Brian's tactic is to silence the crowd-the trouble is that it is our own crowd.
A drab first half an hour made worse by Tish getting injured-let's hope it is nothing serious, he is such a calm player and good tackler.
Kanu suddenly remembered it was a cup game (he only scores in cup games) and for once used the physical strength that he posesses to brush aside the defender to score a very good goal.
The game was then over as our greater strength and movement led eventually to a convincing win...bring on Shrewsbury for the next round.

This season and last both feel like the Simod Cup season when we struggled in the league but won cup games-admittedly the draw last year and this have been very kind to us.

A home draw in the next round would mean 4 home games on the trot after Tuesday which will mean an expensive February (for those of us that aren't local) but plenty of football which we all want.

[Snowball136]

Had a fiver on 4-2

[paultheroyal]

Really struggling to see how people can say Walsall were the better team in the first half, they offered almost nothing going forward except for Sawyers. Admittedly we weren't great, but they were not worrying us at all.

People see what they want to see...

They had a bit of possession and threatened which means they dominated clearly!!

It was pretty evens and cagey for first 20 or so and the second goal killed the game as a contest so attention turned to their fans!!

[Royal Ginger]

Sat in the North I can see down into the southstand concourse, and that rubbish was going on with the idiot contingent of their fans for pretty much the whole second half.

[3points]

It was pretty evens and cagey for first 20 or so and the second goal killed the game as a contest so attention turned to their fans!!

what was happening with their fans and the stewards in the second half. Couldn't see what was going on from the North Stand.

[Kitsondinho]

Really struggling to see how people can say Walsall were the better team in the first half, they offered almost nothing going forward except for Sawyers. Admittedly we weren't great, but they were not worrying us at all.

People see what they want to see...

They had a bit of possession and threatened which means they dominated clearly!!

It was pretty evens and cagey for first 20 or so and the second goal killed the game as a contest so attention turned to their fans!!

I said Walsall were the better team in the first half because we were shite until HRK scored. Walsall indeed had more of the balland created a few threats. At no point did I suggest they were dominating......just they were the better of the two teams playing during that section of the game. Once we went ahead, we were much better. During the 2nd half we were dominating them and could of scored 5 or 6.

[Winchester Royal]

It was pretty evens and cagey for first 20 or so and the second goal killed the game as a contest so attention turned to their fans!!

what was happening with their fans and the stewards in the second half. Couldn't see what was going on from the North Stand.

It appears that the stewards didn't want to allow that group back into that area, so barricaded the entrance.

[RG7Fan]

It was pretty evens and cagey for first 20 or so and the second goal killed the game as a contest so attention turned to their fans!!

what was happening with their fans and the stewards in the second half. Couldn't see what was going on from the North Stand.

It appears that the stewards didn't want to allow that group back into that area, so barricaded the entrance.

Too many sherbets at half time?

[Ian Royal]

I was wondering why they stayed penned up going nowhere, when all they had to do was disperse and go through one of the two or three other gates.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

More like her herbert stewards, they knew how many were coming yet let them sit close to y26

[marlowuk]

Really struggling to see how people can say Walsall were the better team in the first half, they offered almost nothing going forward except for Sawyers. Admittedly we weren't great, but they were not worrying us at all.

People see what they want to see...

They had a bit of possession and threatened which means they dominated clearly!!

It was pretty evens and cagey for first 20 or so and the second goal killed the game as a contest so attention turned to their fans!!

I said Walsall were the better team in the first half because we were shite until HRK scored. Walsall indeed had more of the balland created a few threats. At no point did I suggest they were dominating......just they were the better of the two teams playing during that section of the game. Once we went ahead, we were much better. During the 2nd half we were dominating them and could of scored 5 or 6.

Which is exactly how I saw things Kitso!

[CountryRoyal]

I can't remember a lot from the game tbh was fairly drunk.

Vydra's miss was

[Vision]

If Walsall are typical of a top L1 side then the gulf in class from championship level is huge, plenty of pretty football but absolutely sod all up front.
.

Think that's more an indication of a Sean O'Driscoll team as much as it is a standard League 1 team although he hasn't been there that long.

[UpThePrem]

I was wondering why they stayed penned up going nowhere, when all they had to do was disperse and go through one of the two or three other gates.

Not sure what the stewards were actually doing. They had them penned into the entrance gangway by blocking them in front and back. They couldn't get into the stand or back into the concourse. Eventually they let them back into the concourse and as expected suddenly appeared in the wheelchair area where they had to stay. Probably pissed up but from what I could see if was all gesturing and nothing more. No different to what some of the mongs in Y26 were doing.