Put the prozac down! Be patient...

[Deadly_D'Jaffo]

OK I am not going to intentionally try and agitate the majority who went tonight and saw another abject & uninspiring display, but I left the ground feeling not that disillusioned to be honest. The worst home games this season have been Crawley & Gillingham and although in parts it was painfully similar, we looked a much more resilient and organised team tonight then we have done in a long time.

POSITIVES:

Matt Hill/CB. Keep him here imo. He was great in the air and looked as assured as I have ever seen him at United. I think he is a positive influence and it's a comfort to have him as cover for Collins and Maguire. Our MOM.

Porter. Not helped by absolutely zero support from Miller or the midfield, but he did his job again tonight. We'll be much more threatening with someone who can play off him.

Miller. While he was really poor tonight (which we can chalk this upto rustiness) it's another game towards his full rehabilitation to first team football. A fit & confident Shaun Miller can win us some games.

Again I reiterate that as a team we look more difficult to break down and individual errors have been significantly reduced. In the games against Crawley & Gillingham we gave away possession cheaply, made some outrageous individual mistakes (e.g. All thre goals in these two games) and looked like a team of individuals who didn't know their role or who they were marking/picking up. OK some of that was on show tonight but much less then has been shown in the last few weeks. That tells me that the focus on improving our defending and resilience which NC has talked about is having an effect.

I am as far from a 'clapper' (do we still use that terminology?) as you'll get, but anyone who walked into the ground tonight and expected us to play some fluid, Bayern Munich type of attacking football against an understated Walsall side is naive. Clough has inherited an awful mess and is being forced to work with a squad that lacks both ability and belief. Given the circumstances I think he is doing an exceptional job.

 

[LSF]

Agree with you to a point DD'J - Making ourselves hard to beat was NC's first task and I'm sure he knew that even before he took over. He's gone some way to doing that with the tools at hand so far and just as we looked abject at times last night, then the trick is we can hopefully make the Orients (on Saturday) and other high placed teams look as bad as us. Nicking points off the higher teams is just as hard/easy as against those down there with us.

To summarise - nothing much separates the wheat and chaff in this division, you can be crap (its all relative) and still go up. We may well go on a run at some stage in the season and stay up comfortably, or on the other hand, lose unluckily/ deservedly on numerous occasions and go down. The line is that fine!

 

[puppet]

I read quite a lot about last night, more of the same complaints as every week and things didn't sound great. However, such is the gloom around the supporters now, McGinn was heavily criticised for making two bad mistakes from corners at the end. I'm all for the 'they're bloody professionals' comments when players like King turn up her and steal a wage but this is a young lad who two weeks ago people were tearing their hair out at him being left put, first name on the team sheet etc etc. having seen admittedly what amounts to one minutes of highlights (after replays), he put in a terrific corner early in the first half which was only a committed defender away from going in. White's run for the penalty was pretty determined and a definite penalty as was the handball. So a bit of bad luck there... had we scored the first penalty would we have raised our game before half time?? We don't know for sure, to score with the last kick of the half instead made a difference to how the game could have panned out. There's been a lot of talk about the surprising quality of Walsall as a footballing side and it was a particularly clever piece of skill that gave their winger a yard on White, not quite as simple as the 'he lost his man' for the goal (to be fair to posters, they didnt have the reply to watch like I have)... if anyone lost his man it was Maguire. White also got stick for the short header which nearly resulted in a goal. Luckily, probably on the back of last weeks mistake, Long's reaction was better but looking at it, it looks a mish-mash of indecision on both sides, possibly down to bad communication on Longs part?? Back to McGinn and his late on mistakes, you can kind of understand the pressure getting to the lad, especially the second time. I remember similar incidents of repeated bad corners stirring the Kop into uproar, teh atmosphere when the shit comes down is usually bleak at the Lane and can often be counter-productive (thats not blaming the fans its just an unfortunate by-product of the shit we are in). I just hope Clough has enough of an idea on how to fix it well enough to keep us up. He has inherited a bad combination of players from the last three managers (and whoever else decides on player signings) I think even the likes of Warnock and Dave Bassett, at their motivational heights, would struggle with that squad.

UTB

 

[LSF]

but this is a young lad who two weeks ago people were tearing their hair out at him being left put, first name on the team sheet etc etc. having seen admittedly what amounts to one minutes of highlights (after replays), he put in a terrific corner early in the first half which was only a committed defender away from going in..

UTB

Agree with the gist of your post Pup, but to describe McGinn as a 'young lad' in football parlance is a bit wide of the mark. He turns 25 next Monday and has made over 140 first team appearances at a few clubs, someone else described him as a young player in another thread, but at 25 I'd say he was in the peak years!

However, I do believe some people judge players without any degree of fairness in their assessment and I'm sure McGinn didn't intend his poorer corners to fall short like they did, just as Aidy White was pissed off that he lost his man in the lead up to their goal. Just because players are comparatively high paid to most fans, it doesn't mean they don't have pride in playing well.

 

[sitwell]

Poor old Maguire gets blamed for losing his man when he was in the South stand

 

[ZoneManWilf]

Poor old Maguire gets blamed for losing his man when he was in the South stand

We did observe that Collins in that mask looked quite a lot like young Harry from a distance.

 

[puppet]

Poor old Maguire gets blamed for losing his man when he was in the South stand

I hang my head in shame, I watched the highlights on the official youtube via Fb and it wouldn't reload, so it was written from a sketchy memory.... and to think I've always laughed/spat blood when people behind me abused players who weren't even on the pitch so many times in the past *puts big Mcdonalds bag over head with eye holes cut out*

 

[puppet]

Agree with the gist of your post Pup, but to describe McGinn as a 'young lad' in football parlance is a bit wide of the mark. He turns 25 next Monday and has made over 140 first team appearances at a few clubs, someone else described him as a young player in another thread, but at 25 I'd say he was in the peak years!

However, I do believe some people judge players without any degree of fairness in their assessment and I'm sure McGinn didn't intend his poorer corners to fall short like they did, just as Aidy White was pissed off that he lost his man in the lead up to their goal. Just because players are comparatively high paid to most fans, it doesn't mean they don't have pride in playing well.

I'd got it into my head McGinn was much younger, I think I'm getting addled in my old age (see Sitwell's response for even bigger howlers in my post)

 

[LSF]

I'd got it into my head McGinn was much younger, I think I'm getting addled in my old age (see Sitwell's response for even bigger howlers in my post)

Aye, comes to us all Pup, my brain (in certain departments) has long since reached its peak, downhill all the way now.....

 

[Bladesman]

We are collecting points which is a reason to be optimistic because under Weir a point looked a mile a while.

 

[Pinchy]

I hang my head in shame, I watched the highlights on the official youtube via Fb and it wouldn't reload, so it was written from a sketchy memory.... and to think I've always laughed/spat blood when people behind me abused players who weren't even on the pitch so many times in the past *puts big Mcdonalds bag over head with eye holes cut out*

 

[blade too long]

a sensible post, as thats the approach Nigel has had to adopt in the circumstances, a sensible lets plod on till january and gather as many points as we can , with what we have ,which with our best team should win 2 or 3 in december to keep us climbing slowly until the relief cavalry come over the hill
yes at times it might be a bit turgid, but cloughies dad won the league winning ugly most of the time , as do most succesful clubs, if we can smash and grab 3 1-0 wins before the new year we can have both feet away from the drop

 

[Kenilworth]

I hang my head in shame, puts big McDonalds bag over head with eye holes cut out

At least your looks will have improved, Pup
Did you cut the eye holes in the front of the bag

 

[Damski]

I thought SUFC have had better games than Tuesday night, but it was a hard fought point. Walsall are one of the better teams this season. What I noticed was that they weren't too physical, and SUFC should've closed them down more in the middle third, made them trip up and the like. Be a bit bolder, you're playing at home! I think we could've probably nicked a winner but if you'd have offered me a point I'd have taken it. I thought Hill filled in well at CB. Miller was poor. I'd still start him tho, once he's on form he's probably our best striker.