21/03/06 RIP Hope &Belief

Well the honeymoon period ended with a bang.

We actually didn't start too badly and actually looked like we could get the ball wide and cause the Yeovil defence some problems with Skipper Devlin looking particularly dangeroys on the ball. Then it all went wrong, Ishmel got booked for a badly timed attempt to get the ball. Then it was if the midfield of Smith and Leary realised our 4-4-2 formation was out numbered in midfield by there 3-5-2. Panic the ball became a hot potatoe and we started playing high and long...not our strenght. Then it happened the Yeovil sub Lindergaard was allowed to run at the defence we had three players in attendance and none of them put any effective challenge in. He had time and space in the box to cut a perfect ball for the unmarked Matt Harold to chest down in acres of space to fire past Oakes who had no chance.24 minutes gone

In the match preview we wrote the first goal would be crucial, and so it proved. The confidance drained from the team. The ball became an even hotter potatoe, and was kick long and inaccurately comming back at us quicker and better by a confident Yeovil team. Yet we should have equalised Ishmel Demontagnac produced a low cross from the left which looked certain that James was going to tap into the unguarded net only to not get there under pressure.

In the 33 minute the goalden rule of defending was broken Roper letting the ball bounce leaving Oakes in no man's land, he hesitated and Aaron Davies nipped in to fire past him 0-2.

What followed was the worse performance by a Walsall team at Bescot for quite a while, no passion no ideas, no accuracy in the passing, any shots going wide were met with a chourus of derision. The team left the field to a chourus of Boo's.

Merse has often said it is easy to play when you are 2 down. So despite the poor showing the crowd hoped for some fight and passion and a improved second half. KB brought on Mads Timm for Mark Wright, in an attempt to add some creativity as Yeovil were bound to sit back. He also changed to a 3-5-2 to accomodate Timm. Things got worse the ballwas just booted down the throats of the centre halfs ....how Devlin was expected to anything constructive with balls in the air I don't known. Confidence and possession lost in fact as Walsall pushed forward we looked vunerable at the back and weak in midfield we were poor in the challenge and out run and out thought. Our mistakes nearly lead to a third for Yeovil, Oakes continuing in a bermusing performance kicking poorly making uncertain descisions yet making a couple of class saves to keep it down to two. Bring in on Westwood for the injured Smith was not greeted by any enthusisium by the crowd, Fox pushed into midfield. In the 89 minute with the game lost Ishmel Demontagnac made another rash tackle and despite the protests he was shown the red card and had to be pulled away from a confrontation with the ref. Three minutes of stoppage time ended the suffering with crys of 'what a load of rubbish'

Yeovil were a very poor team and we made them look average and better than us by miles.

Your having a laugh the poor chap who announced the text vote lines were open could hardly be heard for crys from the crowd.
For the record Daniel Fox was the sponsors choice.
A confidence player and he lost it big style tonight, hopefully he can clinge onto the couple of good saves he made and forget about the poor mistakes and distribution or we are in trouble Took of at half time, still looks a bit light weight for a full back never really got forward to any real effect, but no one shone tonight His hair is getting long and shabby.His performance would have given Merse the evidence to why he didn't play him,not the same player as seen at Southend etc, we need our experienced players to stand tall Still a fans favorite, but made mistakes like all of his colleagues at times looked as if the pressure of the game was getting to him, he is only 19 remember. I can understand why the sponsors picked him, he made less mistakes than others, but often still found it hard to pick out a red shirt, Still no match fit. Had a couple of good chances but seemed disinterested, it was the type of performance our Forest fans have seen from him. He didn't seem willing to take a risk. When the ballwas played into space behind the full back, he was still back on his heels waiting for the square ball!!! Again very similar to Smith never managed to get the ball down and played, lost the ball with long hopeful balls Another player a shadow of the player seen on our recent travels, read Leary's comments and just change the name He is only young, let any chances we created came mainly through him. His temper and his inability to tackle was his down fall. At the moment he is a luxury player leave him forward and give him the ball and he might create a chance but don't ask him to chase back and tackle...can we afford that in our position.
To leave with cry's your not fit to wear the shirt is going to far in my opinion. Looked fitter and in the first half the most likely to unlock the Glovers defence. In the second half as the service dried up so did his effectiveness We need to take him out of the firing line before we crush his confidence and career. A second half shooting opportunity was passed wide, he was scared to miss after a wild shoot in the first half caused a large amount of abuse to be sent in his direction. He still ha snot come to terms with the pace of league one football He has ability he has skill, he lacks passion and fight I think he is thinking summer hols and back to Man Utd with my buddies. I hope he proves me wrong since he has the ability save us single handed but does care. Some fans were just waiting to jump on any mistake he made, but in fareness he didn't do as badly as some of the others. In fact a neutral fan who didn't know the history of earlier in the season commented he thought he should keep his place on saturday, make of that what you will. Tried to change things, but the players froze, ther is little you can do once they have crossed the white line. How he can get the players to forget this and move on for saturday will be key, he has some big choices to make and a striker to find. He still thinks it's Christmas two first half shot's two goals end of story. If anyone wanted any further proof that between now and five pm on Friday we need to find someone, things are getting desperate. Confidence, the good work ha sbeen undone. It is funny if we had lost to Tranmere or Swansea and won this one we would have been happy, the points totalin the case of a Tranmere defeat would have been the same not a lot has changed really. Six home games to go, the fans can help us stay up, but as shown tonight they can also help to send us down. I can understand the frustration and the display was enough to make a saint angry. But does chants of 'not fit to wear the shirt' Getting on young players backs, help I think not also to get told to get off the pitch your a disgrace when your warming up at half time would knock my confidence so god knows how Andy Oakes felt. As a group of supporters we were quite and nervous and I think this didn't help the team. I appreciate the team gave us nothing to cheer but the time has come to decide whether it is a them and us situation or are we in this together. My view is we need to swallow our anger and hurt and disappointment and get safe and secure our league one status then vent our spleens on the mismanagement of the club we love on those that deserve the blame.

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