Today I have to say that I disagree with King and say that we did not play too badly.
It was absolutely abysmal. Not only was it remarkably dull, uncreative and a completely apathetic performance but half of them were totally useless!
It wasn't great, I have to concede (spoken like a true politician!) but I'm used to unimaginative, dull performances at the County Ground. For a couple of seasons we have not had a spark in midfield - Miglioranzi is the closest we have but all too often he is not at his best, as he wasn't today. For me, not including substitutions, only Duke, Hewlett and Miglioranzi disappointed in terms of levels of performance. It was just that our midfield did not know how to break Walsall down and subsequently we had very few chances.
Evans made a mistake, but other than that played well - good kicking also.
O'Hanlon and Heywood were solid and were not undone by Joachim's pace, but when he came down the left flank, funnily enough where Duke inhabitats, he gets half a chance and unlucky for the 'keeper it slips in. We are not a bad side, but today has shown we are not a great side neither. We lack players in key positions - midfield being the most obvious.
Ratings-wise, I'd say:
Evans - 6 (mistake let him down)
Jenkins - 7 Solid
Heywood - 7 Did well, didn't hoof it constantly
O'Hanlon - 7 Ditto
Duke - 5 Too many loose passes. Throw-ins seem to be his only asset
Igoe - 8 Brilliant, did what he was supposed to do, keep it up!
Smith - 7 Played well, but was well marshalled by their right back
Miglioranzi - 5 Anonymous, nothing came off for him
Hewlett - 3 Get a hold of the ball laddy
Parkin - 7 Okay, didn't see much of the ball
Roberts - 7 Ditto
But even after Duke and Hewlett went off we were still average. There doesn't seem to be a scapegoat today, that's perhaps what makes defeat so hard to take.
The few pluspoints I could extract from today's game was the performance of Fallon when he came on, and King's newfound willingness to gamble!