Walsall skylights

[albie]

Poor goalkeeping for the third IMO;
https://videos.skysports.com/media/v1/pmp4/static/clear/6057984924001/e54491fa-ec14-4f3c-94cb-c6822c19a9a6/261702f0-e278-4d10-a1f5-6610c8c1cfac/main.mp4

Onward to Tuesday.

[Dutch Uncle]

Thought our goal was the best of the four

First goal, ball given away in a defensive area but a superb cross it has to be said
Second goal - acres of room in the penalty area for the Walsall player, but how often does that shot get through all the bodies? 
Agreed their third goal down to the keeper

[Branton Rover]

Interesting McCann said the third goal was a tactical mistake from himself and the staff - along the lines switching from zonal marking to a man to man thing that obviously didn’t work.

[drfchound]

We have been zonal marking for a while so why change it when it has been working well.

[dickos1]

It was because faal stands where we don’t have anyone zonally. So we tried to stop that by getting adelekun in but it then went to the man he should’ve been marking.
The second goal happened because of the reason they tried to stop the first time,

[Pancho Regan]

No class from Faal, celebrating his goal like that.

[scawsby steve]

The defending looked like it was earlier in the season.

It'll have to be better at Bradford.

[dickos1]

No class from Faal, celebrating his goal like that.

If you get booed like that and then score it’s going to be pretty hard not to celebrate

[drfchound]

No class from Faal, celebrating his goal like that.

Had some of our lot been booing him?

[dickos1]

No class from Faal, celebrating his goal like that.

Had some of our lot been booing him?

Yep

[andyst79]

Fair play to GM for taking the flak for the goal but as Albie has said it was weak by the keeper

[PDX_Rover]

It was the second goal where McCann said he messed up. They put a player on Faal leaving the player on the edge of the box open. They reverted  to zonal for the third and Faal scores. Keeper should have been more aggressive but he’s been good for us, so hopefully that’s a one off.

[drfchound]

Sometimes supporters expect players to go through games without making a mistake.
Even at the highest level mistakes are made.
For our goal, Hurst was left unmarked at the far post.
There would have been pandemonium if we had conceded that one.

[donnievic]

Interesting McCann said the third goal was a tactical mistake from himself and the staff - along the lines switching from zonal marking to a man to man thing that obviously didn’t work.

that was for the 2nd goal

[Campsall rover]

Lo Tutala at fault with 1st and 3rd goal imo

Think he should have come for that cross for the 1st, maybe just get some hand on it as it was in his zone.
Gordon could not miss from there. So keeper had to get something on it.
3rd goal he made a right hash of it.  Got to take man and ball.
The header from Tom that nearly was an OG I never heard keeper shout for it.  Not like him.
This has been his only game so far that he has not done well.
Hopefully only a blip.

Overall we were too slow didn’t play the ball in behind them which we should have done on that pitch.
Trying to play far too much football at times.
GM does worry me because he needs to understand that this is League 2 and you can’t beat everyone by passing the ball to death.
We need to mix it up far more. Football can be played in more than one way.
We only had one tactic yesterday and for 90% of the game it was SLOW! SLOW, SLOW.
We made it easy for Walsall, who although are a good team, high on confidence, were definitely beatable as is every team.

[dickos1]

There’s no way the keeper can do anything with the first one.
It’s drilled into the box and he scored a header from 10 yards out if he’d decided to come he’d have got nowhere near the ball.
Sterry fault the first one.
The second one down to the coaches but still that ball wouldn’t have hit through all those boxes many times out of ten.
3rd one keeper should be stronger, but that’s exactly the scenario they tried to nullify with the first goal.

[ravenrover]

No class from Faal, celebrating his goal like that.

This to me is absolute bo!!ocks. Faal or any other playing for an ex club should celebrate a goal scored. Be it against their previous club or any other.
And the same goes for all the  laughing hugging and shaking hands with fellow countrymen or ex team mates pre game they are your enemy for next 100 or more minutes. The time for all that is after the game

[Filo]

Lo Tutala at fault with 1st and 3rd goal imo

Think he should have come for that cross for the 1st, maybe just get some hand on it as it was in his zone.
Gordon could not miss from there. So keeper had to get something on it.
3rd goal he made a right hash of it.  Got to take man and ball.
The header from Tom that nearly was an OG I never heard keeper shout for it.  Not like him.
This has been his only game so far that he has not done well.
Hopefully only a blip.

Overall we were too slow didn’t play the ball in behind them which we should have done on that pitch.
Trying to play far too much football at times.
GM does worry me because he needs to understand that this is League 2 and you can’t beat everyone by passing the ball to death.
We need to mix it up far more. Football can be played in more than one way.
We only had one tactic yesterday and for 90% of the game it was SLOW! SLOW, SLOW.
We made it easy for Walsall, who although are a good team, high on confidence, were definitely beatable as is every team.

No way should he have come for it for the first, he would never have got anywhere near it, Sterry’s fault all day long, and defensively he was poor all game, gave it away n a few occasions

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Yes, can't agree with the keeper being at fault for the first. It was a whipped in cross swinging away from him and placed perfectly for their lad to score.

Third, definitely wasn't strong enough allowing Faal to bully him.

[Chris Black come back]

Total wage bill of £4.4m last season. Feels fairly weighty for League Two. Finished level on same points as we did last season.

[Bailey Vickerage]

Not a chance is the keeper doing anything with the first goal, that was on Sterry giving the ball away in a dangerous position.

2nd goal McCann has admitted to making a mistake with the instructions and then the 3rd we went back to the previous instructions and Faal bullied TLT, gave him enough of a nudge to stop him coming and then when he did try get there it was too late.

[selby]

  Sterry  regularly breaks the first rule of any ball game, he takes his eye off the ball looking up when passing and watching feet instead of the ball when tackling and has been sent on a walk a couple of times by wingers costing a goal, the game at Mansfield and at Bradford in the cup fine examples.

[ravenrover]

Mansfield? yes Sterry was beat but the goal was down to Faal not following his man at the far post

[Bailey Vickerage]

Mansfield? yes Sterry was beat but the goal was down to Faal not following his man at the far post

and the free kick that lead to the goal at Bradford was on the left hand side and was down to McGrath being too slow and then bringing the player down too late.

[moses]

I was sat in the Walsall family stand at half way watching the game on Saturday (godson got free tickets from his school). Interesting impulse control experiment.
Great view of Hurst goal, you could see him closing and finishing well, it was a lovely move.
They thought we were a tidy team in our own half and only one of them realised Faal used to play for us.
The view from the Walsall fans on our defenders having possession was that we would eventually '**ck it up and give them chance'. He said this about a minute before their goal.
They were getting nervous early on in the second half but we seemed to ease off after we scored and once they scored their second no one was panicking or encouraging 'game management'.

Anyway am bring the godson to watch a Rovers home game in a few weeks so hopefully I can still turn him away from the dark side.