Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:48 pm
Posts: 4809
Location: In the Armchair.
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THE CAZBAR BIG GAME PREVIEW – WALSALLI think the least said about the disaster against Stockport the better, how we can be so on it one week, and then totally out of it a few days later is baffling.
The thing that is concerning me right now is the playoffs…and it’s not a given yet, but if we do happen to end up in them and get a second leg home tie, there has to be a concern we could be already out of it before Pete switches the flood lights on for the home tie.
I’ve seen some people say we never played that bad and I’m feeling in a generous mood, so yes ok not that bad, but not that good either, our finishing was woeful and our defending worse, and we got what we deserved…absolutely SFA.
We do though seem to have the knack to bounce right back, so all I’m going to say is, if we start to lose at home now we might just screw the whole thing up, because currently it would be a result for us just to lose 3-0….anyway, no point in dwelling on it.
Below are all the usual stats including our home form and the away form of Walsall.
Dons (4th) – P 40, W 20, D 7, L 13, GF 63, GA 54, Pts 67.
Walsall (10th) – P 38, W 15, D 11, L 12, GF 57, GA 52, Pts 56.
Dons (H) (1st) – P 20, W 13, D 4, L 3, GF 38, GA 19, Pts 43.
Walsall (A) (15th) – P 19, W 5, D 5, L 9, GF 29, GA 35, Pts 20.
Carrying on our look at the stats, below is a closer look at that Walsall away record.
Win – Harrogate, Grimsby, Notts Co, Bradford, Salford.
Draw – Colchester, Crawley, Gillingham, Newport, Crewe.
Loss – Forest Green, Stockport, Accrington, Barrow, Mansfield, Sutton, Swindon, Wrexham, Morecambe.
Walsall Current Form – DDLWW
Looking at the stats I can’t say that anything jumps out at me other than they must be one of the only teams that have lost both games at strugglers Forest Green and Sutton United, but one result does standout at home where they beat Mansfield 2-1 last month to rise to 16th in the league table…and it’s amazing how quickly they have moved up the table since then.
Top scorer for the Saddlers is 23 year old Isacc Hutchinson who plays on the right hand side of a tight midfield 5. So far he has 11 goals in 43 appearances, and he also tops the assists list with 9 so our midfield need to be on the ball to stifle the Walsall main threat.
The Walsall gaffer is former defender Matt Sadler who with a name like that seems tailor made for the job and had a 574 game career scoring 12 goals for the likes of Birmingham City, Northampton Town, Watford, Stockport County, Shrewsbury Town, Walsall, Crawley Town, Oldham Athletic, and finally back to Walsall where he hung up his playing boots.
Sadler took over at the Saddlers in April 2023 following the sacking of Michael Flynn. Initially he was holding the fort until the end of the season, but a week after the season closed he was appointed as Head Coach on a permanent basis.
Being his first appointment it’s still early days but it’s a fairly respectable record so far that stands at P 49, W 18, D 14, L 17 giving him an almost 37% Win Ratio.
Historically it’s a fairly even record with no real positive or negative trends other than we have failed to score on 8 occasions out of the 26 previous meetings.
2004/05 – Dons 1 Walsall 1 (Kamara)
2004/05 – Walsall 0 Dons 0
2005/06 – Walsall 1 Dons 1 (Edds)
2005/06 – Dons 2 Walsall 1 (McLeod, Wilbraham’s)
2006/07 – Walsall 0 Dons 0
2006/07 – Dons 1 Walsall 1 (McLeod)
2008/09 – Walsall 0 Dons 3 (Johnson, Gerba, Wright)
2008/09 – Dons 0 Walsall 1
2009/10 – Dons 1 Walsall 0 (Easter)
2009/10 – Walsall 2 Dons 1 (Powell)
2010/11 – Walsall 1 Dons 2 (S Baldock, Woodards)
2010/11 – Dons 1 Walsall 1 (Leven)
2011/12 – Walsall 0 Dons 2 (Lewington, Ibehre)
2011/12 – Dons 0 Walsall 1
2012/13 – Walsall 1 Dons 0
2012/13 – Dons 2 Walsall 4 (Lowe, Bowditch)
2013/14 – Dons 1 Walsall 0 (S Williams)
2013/14 – Walsall 0 Dons 3 (McLeod 2, Reeves)
2014/15 – Dons 0 Walsall 3
2014/15 – Walsall 1 Dons 1 (Grigg)
2016/17 – Dons 1 Walsall 1 (Bowditch)
2016/17 – Walsall 1 Dons 4 (Muirhead, Reeves, O’Keefe, Barnes)
2017/18 – Dons 1 Walsall 1 (Aneke)
2017/18 – Walsall 1 Dons 0
2022/23 – Walsall 0 Dons 2 (FLT) (Lawrence, Holland)
2023/24 – Walsall 0 Dons 0
That totals up at P 26, W 9, D 10, L 7, GF 30, GA 23.
The 0-0 draw in October extended our winless run to 6 games . We had the bulk of the possession and shots, but we couldn’t beat Evans in the Walsall goal who made several superb saves from Harrison in particular. But the heartbreaker came deep into stoppage time when Mo somehow managed to get it over the bar from 6 yards out following some great work by Leko…..and yes I’m going to say it, just another game we can look back at and kick ourselves for not taking all three points.
With the best home record in League 2 it is surprising the bookies are offering such good value on us, but it’s probably down to our Jekyll & Hyde character and that Walsall are themselves in the hunt for a playoff place.
MK Dons 1/1, Draw 11/4, Walsall 11/4.
I don’t normally do predictions, although I might hint at one or two things such as Paddy Madden scoring against us…again, but this week I’m going to break from tradition but with a couple of criteria, Max Dean starts along with Cam Norman and Kelly stays between the sticks.
Kelly is our best option, Kelly is our only option, he made one mistake on Saturday, and one or two were calling for his head, ridiculous, what’s your option “frightened” Filip….honestly……well good luck with that one. You have to realise these guys are LG 2 keepers at best, if they were any good do you think they would be playing for us, although like the strikers department we came up short recruiting keepers.
if we are to fail this season, that will be the reason in my eyes, poor strikers, and poor keepers, and although it’s been a while since I’ve paced the touchline in the gaffers coat, having a decent keeper and strikers seems key to me if you want to get anywhere in the game….but what do I know.
Anyway I digress, I’m going for a Dons win but it will only reinforce our playoff spot as I fear the automatics maybe beyond our control or reach.
Walsall according to reports are struggling with injuries although it’s been 13 days since their last game where they drew 1-1 away to Colchester, so there is a fair chance they may be boosted by returning players. The key in my eyes is we need to get in front early, the longer we are frustrated in front of goal, the pressure is going to increase with every passing minute.
See you in the Cowshed.  WD
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Read the MELTDOWN after every game, no bullshit, just giving it straight
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