Walsall Away 23rd February

Think the results last night wen really well for us

Rochdale lost
Oxford lost
Gillingham lost
And Bristol Rovers only got a point

But we need to stopy relying on results going in our favour, Saturday is probably the biggest game we have had in 18 months

We lose this and its a massive psycological blow, we win and the opposite effect mentally

Im pretty confident of a win.

 

We certainly need to be filling the away end and getting behind the team from start to finish, roar them on to victory. Last i heard we had sold 500 and waiting for the second batch.

 

Difficult to see Keates surviving at Walsall if they lose on Saturday. Managers who use the term ‘six pointer’ or ‘must win’ are implying a nervousness about their team. See who uses it at today’s pressers. We just need to find a way of exploiting that.

 

We’re an optimistic bunch in comparison

https://upthesaddlers.com/t/bradford-city-h-23rd-feb-3pm/2403

 

Looking forward to this one, despite our recent poor form. I can honestly see us coming away with 3 massive points on Saturday, only because Walsall appear to be in even worse form than us, and they were woeful at VP. Nothing less than the 3 points will do. I hope we don't play it cagey, we need to start with high intensity pressure, and really go for it, don't allow Walsall to settle and gain confidence.

 

They have got that little dwarf playing too now he was a player Oztumer

 

not

 

https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/football/walsall-fc/2019/02/21/chris-marsh-dean-keates-knows-how-serious-this-is-at-walsall/

 

If we come out of this game moaning about penalties or some shit, I won't be happy.

We need to make and take the chances we create.

I'm slightly miffed about the repetitive narratives this season.

I do not want to hear it again, given I'll be listening on the radio.

 

I keep thinking I will go, but I haven’t seen them win away this season, so think best stay away

 

He doesn't sound confident at all, let's get an attacking team out and try keep the pressure on him and Walsall.

 

It’s not written by Keates that article

 

Really looking forward to this one for some reason. Walsall will be very fragile and I imagine if we scored early we'd win comfortably. It's a must win game no doubts about it, Hopkin needs to go for it, no silly defensive shapes or systems and hoofball, otherwise we've got no chance.

 

Given City's unenviable record of helping othet teams finish their poor runs , conceding against teams who find it difficult to score then I do not think a positive result will be that clear cut. Hopefully we score first and do not end up chasing the game.

 

Must win game.

 

Have we got an "attacking team"?

 

If we dont get anything from this game we are doomed. We really dont deserve to stay up.

 

I think so. There's enough attacking players in the squad to cause teams problems - we saw that when we dominated Walsall in the return fixture in December. Payne, O'Brien, Ball, Miller & Doyle all featured in that game and arguably we've added to that with Clarke, Anderson and even Butterfield to an extent.

Hopkin needs to strike the right balance (which he has got wrong at points in recent weeks) but there are certainly enough attacking options to get at Walsall from the off on Saturday.

 

Sounds like the author is very close to Keates with some of his comments "It’s difficult because it’s the club I love. And it’s difficult because of my mate Keatesy. But both Keates and the players are now at the stage where they have to stop this rot, if they don’t it will only end one way".

 

Come on @bantam65 I'm trying to put a bit of fell good spin on it .