Walsall Match Thread

For half an hour of the second half we looked good. Got men forward and played with more freedom. I hate to say it as I like him 1st time around, Vernam is offering nothing except a couple of decent crosses first half.

"Without the goals of Eisa we would be nowhere" say a few posters.

Well yeah, that would be true of many sides if you expunged the goals of their top scorer.

A whole new take on negativity.

John Lewis straight red today in 96th minute.

Quoted from ginnywings

"Without the goals of Eisa we would be nowhere" say a few posters.

Well yeah, that would be true of many sides if you expunged the goals of their top scorer.

A whole new take on negativity.

Think its more our lack of creativity Ginny. Rose must be pretty hacked off

Quoted from ginnywings

"Without the goals of Eisa we would be nowhere" say a few posters.

Well yeah, that would be true of many sides if you expunged the goals of their top scorer.

A whole new take on negativity.

It’s not the goals it’s the nature of them . Wonder goals are not going to see you finish above mid table

Best send him a memo then. Only tap ins allowed from now on.

Well that was pretty underwhelming but nice to see an Eisa rocket up close and personal! Aside from some moments of quality it was a pretty stale fixture over all.

I thought Jake had a really good game. Made some really good saves.

Quoted from Poojah

Is it all that concerning? It was an almost universal observation when the fixtures came out that we had one of the toughest starts possible, and so it has proved; barring Walsall, all of our opponents are in the top 10 and only Wimbledon (currently 4th) weren’t amongst the sides fancied to do well.

Today was frustrating in that we should have seen off a mediocre Walsall side once we got in front, but we’ve ultimately only lost 1 of our opening 5 games. The 21/22 season, when we had that barnstorming start to the season, was a Hurst anomaly - it normally takes his Town sides a little time to get going.

We’ve had a steady if unspectacular start, Eisa’s rockets aside, but Hurst’s CV suggests he will iron out the kinks in due course. I think it’s reasonable to feel mildly frustrated we haven’t taken 3 points today, but “concerned” goes a touch too far for me. We’re ticking over alright, and will get better as time goes on, imho.

Our start is deeply concerning, because we've got the most impotent attack in the league after 5 games:



We simply do not create enough goalscoring opportunities, and our start has been masked by by Eisa smashing in 4 worldies, which simply isn't a tactic we can rely on for the rest of the season. Our problem last season was that we actually had quite a good xG rating, but we weren't converting the chances we created due to poor finishing. So far this season we're outperforming xG (good!), but creating very very little in the way of good quality chances, and that's a deep concern.

People are reading too much into the 'quality' of the opponents we've played so far and not paying enough attention to how they've performed in the first 5 games this season. Aside from Wimbledon who've conceded 2 goals in 5 matches, we've played teams who've conceded 9, 7, 8 and 10 goals respectively this season and created absolutely intercourse all against them all. It's a big worry.

Quoted from Hagrid

Dont want to repeat myself but 3 years for Vernam… dear me

Thought he did alright today. Got plenty of crosses in and worked tirelessly going backwards. He's not in top form clearly, but he'll be a fine signing if he stays fit. Interesting Hurst suggesting he's still getting up to speed from a knee op.