Walsall vs Swindon Town - Official Match Day Thread

[Panda Paws]

To me, Doughty is 'a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a vest'. On the one hand, he's scored some vital goals without which we would, quite frankly be going down and he clearly is a player with some ability. A goal scoring midfielder is invaluable to any team - that's 'Good Doughty'.

'Bad Doughty' on the other hand, gets pushed off the ball too easily, stays routed to the spot instead of moving to help a team mate (particularly noticeable at throw ins on Saturday) and strolls around for large parts of games.

If we were to sign him, maybe 'the-best-coach-I've-seen-in-25-years' can get a better, more consistent level of performance from him. If not, I can see him being one of those 'marmite' love him/hate him players who polarizes opinion.

It wouldn't surprise me if he was one of the players Power has a deal lined up with.*

*Not ITK, just a 'feeling in my water' kind of thing.

Which is why he's signing for an average L1 side rather than sticking in the Champ (apparently).

Would be a great signing for us.

[Batch]

Walsall fans and staff very complimentary. Interestingly a few on their forum seem to really rate Brophy! I still struggle to see why so many on here think he is turd. First season in league football and he's improved considerably, I predict that in a years time we'll all be pissed off that he's about to be sold!

he's been a bit part player until now, you have to give him half a season to see how he goes. he's having a bit of a run thanks to bonggate

[Reg Smeeton]

I was about to post something similar.

http://www.upthesaddlers.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=49191&start=120

Refreshing to see honest praise from opposition fans who must have been frustrated last night given where they are in the league.

Saddlers fans have always been a decent lot.....

As for Brophy, I'm not wholly convinced, but he's gone from park player to something better in his first season so who knows.

But like a lot of these lads, showing improvement because they've started from such a low base doesn't mean they'll necessarily become effective players.

Luongo, Byrne and Gladwin, have shown you can be a top end player in Div 3 but some way short in Div 2....and our young lads are some way off those 3 still.

[Tails]

Saddlers fans have always been a decent lot.....

As for Brophy, I'm not wholly convinced, but he's gone from park player to something better in his first season so who knows.

But like a lot of these lads, showing improvement because they've started from such a low base doesn't mean they'll necessarily become effective players.

Luongo, Byrne and Gladwin, have shown you can be a top end player in Div 3 but some way short in Div 2....and our young lads are some way off those 3 still.

Brophy looks better now than Gladwin did at the end of his first season.

[normy]

Interesting that the Bury boss David Flitcroft said in the Adver that Brophy was one of our most talented players.  I've been impressed with him apart from his crossing and final passing which might come with time and training. A bit lightweight as well, but he'll get tougher.

[Panda Paws]

Has a deceptive turn of pace and some guile, but only really works as a LWB (which is fine if that's what we're playing I guess). Needs a summer of conditioning, power and strength work and has a decent shot next year of establishing himself as a pro - but equally could fade away quite quickly.

[Reg Smeeton]

Brophy looks better now than Gladwin did at the end of his first season.

Matter of opinion....I always thought Gladwin had something about him, mainly being big, reasonably mobile, and good with the ball.  This season his bank balance will have improved but he's wasted a year.

Brophy's main attribute is running with the ball, quite an old fashioned thing and not to all coach's taste..a bit like Gladwin, it's quite difficult to know what is his best position.  I think we'll give him a new contract just in case...

[suttonred]

I reckon he will probably end up as the left sided of a middle midfield 2. He reminds me of John Moncur a little, but that might just be the build. Certainly worth keeping.

[Don Rogers Sock]

Matter of opinion....I always thought Gladwin had something about him, mainly being big, reasonably mobile, and good with the ball.  This season his bank balance will have improved but he's wasted a year.

Brophy's main attribute is running with the ball, quite an old fashioned thing and not to all coach's taste..a bit like Gladwin, it's quite difficult to know what is his best position.  I think we'll give him a new contract just in case...

Feel a bit sorry for Gladwin. By all accounts he was very reluctant to leave.

[Frigby Daser]

This season his bank balance will have improved but he's wasted a year

I'm not sure that sentence would make sense in the eyes of your average footballer.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

Interesting that the Bury boss David Flitcroft said in the Adver that Brophy was one of our most talented players.  I've been impressed with him apart from his crossing and final passing which might come with time and training. A bit lightweight as well, but he'll get tougher.

When opposition fans say you're team has played well then you know you really have and when opposing fans and manager alike single out a particular player, you know he must have something about him.

Brophy is very deceptive - he's built like a match with the wood shaved off and he's not particularly quick. However, opposing defenders seem to find it really hard to defend against him. He does that funny little swervy, shimmy type thing and it seems to work 9 times out of 10. The next stage is that he needs to learn what to do after he's done that because he looks a bit unsure of himself at the moment. If he can get into the habit of hitting the bye line and whipping a decent cross in, we'll be in business.

If he can build himself up a bit, get a full pre-season in and generally build his confidence up we've got an extremely promising player there.

[Reg Smeeton]

When opposition fans say you're team has played well then you know you really have and when opposing fans and manager alike single out a particular player, you know he must have something about him.

Brophy is very deceptive - he's built like a match with the wood shaved off and he's not particularly quick. However, opposing defenders seem to find it really hard to defend against him. He does that funny little swervy, shimmy type thing and it seems to work 9 times out of 10. The next stage is that he needs to learn what to do after he's done that because he looks a bit unsure of himself at the moment. If he can get into the habit of hitting the bye line and whipping a decent cross in, we'll be in business.

If he can build himself up a bit, get a full pre-season in and generally build his confidence up we've got an extremely promising player there.

If he's going to play LB or LWB, he needs to improve massively on the defensive work..atm he hasn't much of a clue.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

If he can find some end result maybe he will be relieved of any defensive duties as they  eventually did with Byrne.

In some respects he is very Byrne like starting out. I remember not rating him much at first

[Reg Smeeton]

If he can find some end result maybe he will be relieved of any defensive duties as they  eventually did with Byrne.

In some respects he is very Byrne like starting out. I remember not rating him much at first

So he can't defend, doesn't make chances or score goals, other than that though, he's a good player.   

[Simon Pieman]

Points like 'he's deceptive' remind me of Blair Sturrock being 'too intelligent' for our midfielders to play the right balls to him