Walsall thoughts...

I must admit, I don't know how I feel about Saturdays opponents Walsall - when they played us early in the season, we were quite frankly horrible, so it was hard to say whether they were as good as they looked in beating what was then, a beaten team 2-0. The reverse fixture saw us sweep them aside and win 3-1, so it will be an interesting matchup on Saturday.

I've been having a perusal on the Walsall forums, and the concensus is that they want their side to come and play attacking football, and really take the game to us - I for one would welcome this all day. Every time I've seen us against a side that has setup and defended, we've really struggled to break them down. Against sides that have attacked and been open, we've had a lot more joy. That being said, the Walsall contingent feel that they struggle to contain and defend, which saw them come a cropper against Bradford recently (4-0 defeat) amongst others, so it will be interesting to see how they approach the game.

I personally feel they will struggle to deal with our pace and directness on Saturday, and hope we can get a lead going into the second leg. I don't feel that we've anything to fear going to Walsall, our away record speaks volumes, but if we can get a 1 or 2 goal lead to take with us, that would be brilliant. The first legs of playoffs for me are almost meaningless (unless you walk away with a 3 or 4 goal lead - like we did against Birmingham) and I wouldn't be too despondent if Walsall were to win by a goal, or it ended a draw, but it would be nice to have that cushion.

I think they'll be cagey and the pressure is very much on them, so if we can get an early goal on Saturday (< 20 minutes) I reckon it could open up and we could get two or three. I can't see us not conceding, so I think a scoreline of Barnsley 3-1 Walsall might very well be the outcome. Here's hoping for a successful next three games.

Good luck lads!

 

I know they seemed to be shelling them in from all angles/range on Sunday!

 

Touche, but so did we!

 

2-2 on Saturday

 

That's not a bad shout in all fairness, and I wouldn't be too disappointed.

 

Agree, will be an interesting game.

 

Their main danger is Sawyers.

He's absolute class.

Plays in behind the strikers and holds the ball like Drogba. He's the danger man and if we can stop him dictating were half way there.


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He's been highlighted as the danger man for the last couple of seasons by ecru team (but oddly not all of our fanbase. Don't worry about them, some are a bit dense), but not many have managed to stop him dictating. When they have trid to stop him, it means putting two men on him, which opens up the space for our equally adept midfielders and forwards.

I don't think there's anything between the two sides myself. Like mentioned above, in both league games the home sides were in their worst runs of the season, lacking confidence, so difficult to judge on those games.

If we are to get past you, we need to do what we did against Preston in the JPT semi final last year. Get an away win, then hold out for a draw at home. We're at our best away, although my fear is we've frozen in front of bigger away attendances recently, so that may go out of the window.

A mention for Lalkovic, who isn't my favourite player, due to his lack of effort in helping defensively, but he's usually at his attacking best in televised games, and against former clubs, so double whammy in these games, and I wouldn't bet against him scoring.

What's your record in the play offs?

We've been in them three times - getting promoted twice (both from this division). We won before the final was at Wembley in 1988, over two legs against Notts County, then three games in the final against Bristol City due to a replay.

Most recently in 2001 we beat Stoke over two legs, then moneybags Reading in the final at Millenium. It's fair to say playing the bigger teams with big budgets and far bigger followings hasn't phased us in the play offs in previous occasions.

Although we did also get stuffed in 1994 by Crewe over the first two legs in League 2 play offs, by a Crewe team that had Ashley Ward, Tony Naylor and Neil Lennon.

I'm looking forward to it, despite being a bit deflated after missing out in autos after being top 2 for so long. But for O'Dismal, we'd have done it, but play off lottery it is.

I won't wish you good luck, but may the best team win over the two games.

 

This is our third time of reaching the play-offs and we reached the Final in the other two so let's hope that continues.
We've won both away ties (4-0 at Birmingham in Championship play-off, 3-1 at Huddersfield in League 1 play-off) but lost both home ties.
We lost 4-2 against Ipswich in the Championship play-off final but went through on penalties against Swansea in the League 1 play off after a 2-2 draw.
I can see us both winning the away legs since we seem to play better away from home.

 

I agree with this and he did run the show at times at the Bescot until SOD decided, bizarrely, to take him off, which may have cost him his job, especially as the natch sponsor later named him 'man of the match.' We need to think how we manage him with our 4-4-2, as he plays behind Bradshaw and floats around. Our improved performances have come with adoption of the simpler 4-4-2 and we should stick with it, but the midfield need to keep cavvy for Sawyers, or we need to think which of the two central defenders would pick him up. As he drifts around, he will pass between the zones for the different markers and all need to be aware of his movement. Sublime passer of the ball, so we need to watch him. On the other hand, his work-rate is sometimes not great and he can disappear from games if he has to break sweat.

 

Has he scored more than Sam?

 

No he isn't about scoring goals.

 

Going back to Birmingham on the train back from the Bescot I overheard a couple of your fans talking about Sawyers - couldn't believe how negative they were being. I really rated him, and against last season's defence he'd have run riot.

 

No, but Tom Bradshaw has a better goals to games ratio than Winnall over the last two seasons, despite being held back by injuries. Similar players.

Hourihane beats Sawyers for assists, but Sawyers is a bit of enigma, he makes everything/everyone else tick.

 

He's off to Brentford this summer by all accounts, on a free transfer. As is Gillingham centre half, John Egan.

That's the same Brentford who sold us Alfie Mawson, who is far and away a better centre half than Egan.

 

40 goals in about 84 games isn't it? Although, aren't most of those appearances starts, just a couple of sub appearances. That's still bloody impressive for any striker, regardless of level.

Winnall has 35 goals in 89 games. But 18 of those are sub appearances. Not to forget he was played out of position for much of this season under Johnson.

I think you're right. They're similar players.

Sam played at Shrewsbury for a month in 2012 so I'm assuming he might have played with Bradshaw.

 

Play Scowen and tell him to man mark him?

 

Worth noting the team that lost to Walsall at the start of the season...

Reds: Townsend, Wabara, Roberts, Nyatanga, Mawson, Scowen, Jackson (Crowley 62), G. Smith (Harris 46), M. Smith (Wilkinson 78), Pearson, Winnall.
Subs: Bree, Walton, White, Digby.

That team is so much poorer than what we have now - and if it were possible for Barnsley now to play Barnsley then I'd fancy us to win about 4-0.

3-1 Barnsley for me - and a fiver stuck on at 18/1 to put money where my mouth is!

 

Yeah, we're had many a discussion with opposing fans who can't believe a portion of our fans criticise him. They want headless chickens that run around, but have no quality. They'll realise how important he was when he's gone.