Thetownend.com

eally, really encouaged by tonight's performance. Yeah, we were made to sweat but they would never have scored a second without Ifil's fuck u for the first, and other than that he had a good game, so no need to go on about it.

Brez: Still a bit ropey IMO...

Amankwaa: better, a lot better, Strong, confident, good in the air. The whole back four looked like a unit, until their first goal.

Greer: considering he joined yesterday, he was immense. Won headers, smashed a few in the tackle, calm distrituion, talks a lot. ucking ledge. Missed a silly header and made the odd error, but for game one, consideering he must be rusty, he looks great/

Ifil: goal aisde, looked ok. One texter said he was shit, I disagree. He'd never played alongside Greer before and had to deal with a massive lump of a striker, did well til the goal.

Vincent: superb. I've slaughtered him before but tonight he bought a renewed calm to the back line. Simple and effective, good talker. Good to have you back mate, nice standing ovation for him as well.

JPM: Excellent IMO. Worked hard, busy.

Nalis: weak link for me. First half looked good but as soon as they put any pressure on he went to pieces.

Allan: good game. Good distribution, got stuck in...didn't suggest he could dominate a game tho, but early days.

Kanu: ridiculously good first half. Hungry, energetic, confident, good skills, strong as fook. Went quiet when Vincent went off.

Paynter: worked his nuts off. Got lucky with his goal, but you don;t shoot you don;t score. Worked hard and got the reward.

Cox: That goal was amazing. I can't think of a better one. Apart from that he was quiet, but who cares when he scores a goal like that?!

Subs:
Timlin: looked poor when he came on, but not helped by them getting one back. Bit harsh judging him on that performance.
Blair: didn't have much time...
McNamee: never tracked back to mark his man. This annoyed me. A lot.

DW: Tactically spot on. Good loan signings on this performance, if Greer plays like that again I'd snap him up. Kanu offers more than macca beause of his strength. Personally would have replaced Nalis towards the end, but thumbs up from me.

Good effort from the town end tonight, in places. Bit quiet all round but made an effort at certain points.

I wrote my thoughts in the other thread, you attention seeker.

A vital win but we need to back it up with a positive result at Oldham though.

We beat Orient away and followed it up with a dire performance against Brighton. We need to build on this win.

that other thread was fo those who weren't there AXS!

I doubt we'll beat Oldham, but it gives me hope for the games after that. We need another central midfielder though.

Sat with Fitzroy Simpson tonight! :D

Didn't see JFW's black muffs. :(

Why was it for those who weren't there? It's called matchday action / REACTION!

Plenty of people who went have posted in it.

Havnt looked at the match day thread..for me was a really good performance.

Brez...7
Amankwah for me man of match 9
Ifil 7
Greer...top notch 8
Vincent...8
Kanu...8
Nalis...7
JP McGovern...8
Allen...good second half...8
Paynter...7
Cox...8

I went to this game expecting the worse,i really enjoyed the game,only negatives being Ifils lapse and DW taking Vincent off too early,like Timlin but left back he aint!...like the way Wilson through Allen in...he should be proud of his performance ..battled well against bigger oppo and some quality touches on the ball.
We  played alot further forward tonight(except the last 10) and we will score for fun playing like that,alas we will concede on the break..was really pleased wth Greer and Kanu,.....Greer made some great forward runs as well....oh and nearly forgot,Coxes goal was brilliant.

Leefer, there's plenty of threads for this sort of thing already!

Good to hear it was an enjoyable game though. I would imagine Vincent going off was purely fitness related, the guy can't be anywhere near match fit

I merged up because I'm clever.

in fairness, timlin has been quality at left back in recent weeks, has he not?

Can anyone think of a better goal than Cox's? I'm sure there has been one, just can;t think of it. Not fallon's, or tony grant's, or hoddle's v sunderland? Anyone think of one?

Thought he was poor last few games imo.

Timlin should have never been put into the situation in the first place. He started well. It's time they allowed Timlin to concentrate on playing in his (I imagine) favoured role in midfield.

Agree with that rich but understand why he was. Kennedy was good but just not fair on our young lads to throw them into a low confidence defence.

Walsall fan in peace.

You were lucky we were shait. :D

Thought we might sneak a point at the end, but that would have been undeserved after your containment efforts throughout the game.  Getting Bradley off and Davies on changed it for us, as did Wilson's unusual timing for removing Vincent, who had a decent match up till then.  Afterwards, you nearly managed to choke!

Best of luck for the season, I'm sure we'll be playing each other next season in this division.

Only thing i disagree with on the top post is i thought cox worked his nuts off, and no whining as in recent times. One thing that struck us was the team were actually in a proper formation, which worked brilliantly until Jerel's rickett. Was also good that we had mobility in midfield, for a change, so i think Peacock and pook will be lucky to see the bench even if DW brings another midfeilder in. And also credit where due i'm not JV's biggest fan but he made a noticeable difference tonight. Not ideal letting those 2 late ones in, but that's the first time for ages i've actually left feeling entertained! Dont think we were brilliant, but certainly better than recently.

I liked you until you said that. I still expect promotion.

Well he didnt walk off the pitch..Vincent was good tonight and i thin dw made his only mistake pulling him off too early...Amankwah made some really good challenges and important headers early on....i wasnt happy yesterday morning...i am this morning,an all round more positive performance.

To be fair to wilson he probably had thoughts of 8 games in febuary regarding vincent and at 3 nil up and cruising it was a good time. As we know hindsight is a great thing

Agree DRS...it was a good performance,i thaught he did the right thing at the time,the good thing is he wont put Timlin at left back again....i wouldve dropped Kanu back and put Timlin in the middle....Hindsight eh?

Ooooh, we won a game.

Whooopee.

I always aim to disappoint. ;)

No he has not. In fairness. Are you a spacker or what?

I'm pleased and concerned in equal measure. We won but a) it still sounded wank and b) we almost shagged it up again.

Has anyone mentioned Cox was 5 yards offside, for Paynters goal and stood directly in front of their goalie, couldn't beleive it was allowed tbh.

I did. In the proper match day thread :)

@DMR - yes we still have issues but we should not let the last 15 minutes detract from how comfortable and creative we were in the first 75. We need a central midfielder though.

@Walsall fan - Vincent has been injured this season hence being taken off. I'm suprised he played so long.

Im somewhat confused as to how people can say "Wilson took Vincent off too early etc."

Not sure how many times but how can he possibly play a full 90 after being injured for so long and only having 45 mins of reserve football under his belt!

No-one wanted him to come off but it had to be done!

Agreed, but Timlin was shite.

He was shite, and would personally have preferred Kennedy but is he injured?

This also confirms Casal will probably never play for us again.

Only from reading the comments on this but surely it is time for Timlin to get back in Midfield?

Is Peacock out of favour now?

A punter in the clubshop doesn't think so, there was a guy in front of me getting casal's name printed on a shirt, i was guessing he only had enough cash to pay for a short name, although i would have though Cox was cheaper and the better option!

Peacock has a back injury bob

I simply dont believe that someone got Casal printed on the back of their shirt

Gods honest!  Maybe he was buying as a windup for a mate or something, but was def being printed with Casal.

Thats nuts!  Surely if he was going to get a chance he would have had it by now what with us having Vincent out, Timlin being cack and Kennedy not really getting much of a go (injury or not I don't know mind).  

how can you comment if all you did was listen to the game and not watch it?
Most games sound wank on the radio.

And as for the Timlin comment there has been a fair few comments made about how well he's played at left back.

MAYBE the persons surname was ALSO Casal?

Mmm unlikely !

Ok, wasn't aware of that thanks!

I was almost prepapred to take you seriously as well DMR.

Timlin was certainly pretty good against Leicester and Yeovil. Either way, we're agreed he's not a left-back by choice.

Centre midfielder is a must, I wouldn't want to rely on Nalis and Allen for the remainder of the season.

Better than Peacock & Pook, but agree that a n other is required.

My assessment

Brez - did ok wasnt outstanding but hopefully returning slowly to form

Defence - REALLY REALLY SOLID .. until Vincent went off -- he was organising them all game and had a solid one himself - as soon as he went off they lost all shape - mainly as Timlin continues to not actually position himself correctly and all the others then have to switch over ... but Greer looked good considering he hadnt played that much and Amankwaah had a good game overall.

Midfield - Nalis and Allen were pretty poor in terms of tackling as one might expect - the passing at times was quality from Nalis and even led to a goal .. but his fitness meant he couldnt get round the pitch quickly enough. Allen looked overawed and out of his depth. I really hope we dont see this LILY ALLEN midfield combo again as against a stronger side we will be punished severly.
JP Mac was JP Mac - flattering to deceive .. the bright spark was the forceful running of Robson-Kanu who terrified the defence .. but we never gave him the ball enough and sometimes his final ball let him down ... but I thought he was ace all the same.

Attack - good stuff from the Cox Paynter combo -- terrified the Walsall defence and both chipped in with a goal -- Paynter was well marshalled in the first half but was too much for them in the 2nd as he took a bit of control winning countless challenges until substituted. Cox was what weve come to expect from Cox - endless selfless running and a fantastic strike to boot.

The play itself continued signs of improvement - we seem overall more organised and set pieces seem slightly improved. Its nice to see us play to feet and keep the ball on the ground even when we hit a long ball its more of a pass than before.

The problem tho is definitely that central midfield --- with Peacock injured we really missed him - and Id certainly pick Easton and Pook over Nalis and Allen any day but in reality we need a real quality player in there - perhaps a youngster on loan from a top Premiership side even.

If we continue with LILY ALLEN on Saturday ... expect the worst!

Ha Ha, Lily Allen.

I bet Fatbury is proud of that one.

Sorry Fatbury but I completely disagree with that sentiment.  Nalis played well (until last 20 - he should have been replaced) and Chris Allen did well, got stuck in played the intelligent ball.  What I liked is neither of them just ran about like headless chickens and then lumped it forward at every opportunity.  They also passed the ball backwards, shock, they played the easy ball.  Something Easton, Pook and Peacock have struggled with.

They also looked to get the ball wide to JPM and HRK which was good to see. It was a pleasure to see us not bypassing the midfield, we seemed to be more of a unit.  Makes a change to to have two players in the middle who can control the ball at the first attempt, none of this first touch, second touch is a tackle.

Hope DW keeps the team exactly the same for Oldham.

because people are stupid.

It like the time Kennedy got injured, could barely run so he was subbed off against Carlisle. A few minutes later Carlisle scored and everyone moaned at Byrne for taking of Kennedy who was playing well despite the fact he was injured and couldnt even run!!

well janaage I hope YOU are right and I am wrong .. but I reckon the Lily Allen midfield will struggle up at Oldham .. but I will be the first to admit my mistake if they go up there and pull out a surprise win ...

re Vincent coming off .. he had only had 60 mins in a reserve game in the last 4 months so was dead on his feet when he came off ... not a mistake by Danny Wilson at all ... we had really no alternative to put back there bar Timlin

umm he had 45 mins in the reserves.

We need Jack Smith to get back fit quickly, then if Vincent can't last the 90 mins then Smith can come on and slot in there or swap him over for awanker

J Smith has probably picked up an injury at the wrong time now though, as I would imagine the defence will stay the same for a while and hopefully that means aljokefre stays out as well !

hahahaha lilly allen :nonono:

 :shutupbitch:

I agree with bringing Vincent off...but replacing him with Timlin was...well if you watched him v Stockport then its obvious really...but at 3 up DW probably thaught it was worth the gamble,i like Timlin though and its not his fault....really just shows us all what a tough position it is...but Vincent made it look easy at times last night..really hope we keep the same team on Saturday.

Wilson didnt really leave much option on the bench to put on anyone else bar Timlin!

Smith, Timlin, McNamee, Razak & Sturrock!

Apart from smith who is a full back and probably played half his carear at left back

I think you'll find it was the P.Smith DRS

not the smith that plays in goal then?!

Jack Smith was in the stands rcovering from a cold.

Haha the pussy. fuck i need glasses. Maybe that was not Craig Easton i was sat next to either then

A COLD!!!!! god tell me you are joking???!!

Man flu is a very debilitating illness...

Good shout DV but i said on an earlier post i wouldve dropped Kanu back there..he looks like a player who can play anyware...easy in Hindsight though.

Playing two defenders who haven't played a full 90mins of first team football for a fair few months and not putting a defender on the bench seems a bit mental.

I keep saying Ben...wares Morrison!!

not good enough yet

Thats exactly what I thought. I never for a minute thought they would both finish the game. Timlim was on the bench as a midfield replacement but also as a full back I suppose.

Having two strikers + McNamee on the bench, if anything came across like Wilson was expecting us to be chasing the game, not hanging on

Should be at least on the bench.

Interesting that neither he nor Kennedy has played since it was claimed that they were seen out on the piss in Old Town!  DW did say though that the younger players do need a break from the pressure of a relegation battle.

morrison sat with smith. with aljofree and kennedy. mark marshall sat with fitzroy.

It's all Dave's fault

He has ruined the careers of two promising pro's and probably cost us millions

:(

All the youngsters had an adult with them then!