Walsall Ratings

[SmiffyPie]

Conditions were terrible which excuses the poor football but doesn’t excuse the lack of fight.
I saw a team looking low on confidence yesterday and abandoning our style of play.
I thought Baldwin was our best player, followed by Jones.

I managed to see the first 15mins before the gales over this side buggered my internet. I did think right from the kick off that there was a definite change in approach. The ball from defence was moved forward much quicker and the possession passing seemed to be only when required (instead of the build up). Has LW got a grip of the back line and told them to hurry it up and not get caught on the ball? Perhaps the whole team are caught in the uncertainty of a revised approach? Lost the game after that and had to make do with the BBC text thing!

[jackal2]

I managed to see the first 15mins before the gales over this side buggered my internet. I did think right from the kick off that there was a definite change in approach. The ball from defence was moved forward much quicker and the possession passing seemed to be only when required (instead of the build up). Has LW got a grip of the back line and told them to hurry it up and not get caught on the ball? Perhaps the whole team are caught in the uncertainty of a revised approach?

Great point. I saw and thought that too. What we saw yesterday might well have been a team beginning its transition to a more pragmatic style in terms of reducing the amount of time spent with the ball in defensive areas, and not yet confident in what it was doing. These things take time to get right, but it doesn't mean the plan is wrong. First half defensively I thought we did okay, hence the clean sheet at half-time, but in the second half both the players and the Head Coach seemed to have a collective seizure!