Little Old Walsall

December 2012 Review​
"Walsall struggle in difficult December"
"Manager unsure if Cuvelier will return"
"Saddlers accept bid for under performing Dutchman"

Walsall have today announced that on the last day of December, the day before the transfer window opens that the club have accepted a bid from Grimsby for Etienne Esajas for a fee believed to be around £3.5k. The left winger was the managers first signing in the Summer but hasn't found form at all and all parties involved are to be happier with this outcome.
"I just don't think Esajas has ever settled here, it's a shame because he looked the part but once we saw him in competitive games he just didn't fit in with our style and so this move suits everybody. Hopefully the contract with Esajas and Grimsby can be sorted and we can all move forward."

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The Walsall manager also today admitted that he is unsure whether promising centre midfielder Florent Cuvelier will be extending his loan from Stoke City until the end of the season.
He had this to say "I have spoken with Flo and he wants to finish the season here but I have heard that Stoke City want to loan him to a Championship club to test him further. But we'll see what happens."
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Walsall 3 - 0 Yeovil
Febian Brandy '3
Will Grigg '49
Daniel Devine '62


Oldham 1 - 1 Walsall
Cristian Montano '22
Febian Brandy '28


Walsall 0 - 4 Portsmouth
Callum McManaman '7 '46
Luke Garbutt '26
Ashley Harris '73


Walsall 1 - 2 Crawley
Sergio Torres '48
Florent Cuvelier '54
Josh Simpson '84


Colchester United 2 - 2 Walsall
Clinton Morrison '17
George Bowerman '25
Will Grigg '49
Freddie Sears '63


Walsall 0 - 1 Preston North End
John Mousinho '60


Walsall 3 - 1 Doncaster Rovers
Will Grigg '4 '22
Robbie Blake '14
Febian Brandy '20

Not a great month but it could have been worse, the encouraging thing was our last display against Doncaster Rovers, couldn't fault it. We were unlucky to draw against Colchester and we were very unlucky to lose against Crawley. Just an unlucky month but it has brought us back down to earth which is maybe what we needed.

Player of the Month
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Player of the Month goes to Febian Brandy this time. His partnership continued in December, evidently not as good but it was still there for all to see. He managed to grab himself three goals in his five games and is currently 5th top goalscorer with 16 goals, 2 goals behind the leader.​
 
January 2013 Transfer News

Benson loan cancelled
The news coming from Walsall Football Club today is that on loan striker Paul Benson's loan deal has been terminated by the manager. Benson made 10 appearances and scored 1 goal.
"We don't feel it was working and as we were paying his wages we felt it would be better if we went for alternative targets."

McGivern in shock loan return!
Fan favourite Ryan McGivern has made a shock return to Walsall on a loan deal for the rest of the season from Premier League Champions. This comes after his loan deal with Hibernian expired. The left back made 12 appearances for the Scottish Premier League club and it would have been more had he not suffered a serious injury which kept him out for 2 months.
"This is a great signing for the club, we are in the top three sides for goals scored so we need to work on our defence, this signing does just that. His contract with Man City is up when his loan deal expires here, if we're both happy then we'll see what happens at the end of the season.."

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Stoke City say NO to Flo return
Stoke City today told Walsall that Flo Cuvelier will not be returning to Walsall. Florent Cuvelier was said to be disappointed that he couldn't stay for the rest of the season but hours later he was on a plane to Belgium completing a loan move to AA Gent.

QPR Keeper in bound!
QPR have allowed Radek Cerny to join Walsall on loan until the end of the season to gain some first team experience. The Czech Republic goalkeeper has spent 4 years at QPR and has come in to provide competition with David Grof.
"Radek is very experienced and is now providing competition with David Grof. Jimmy Walker can now take more of a coaching role rather than a coach/sub goalkeeper so it works well for us all."

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Brendan Rodgers son joins the Saddlers
Brighton & Hove Albion have allowed Anton Rodgers to join up with Walsall for the rest of the season as a replacement for the now AA Gent midfielder, Flo Cuvelier.
"Anton Rodgers is a really exciting prospect and can play in a midfield role, whether it be attacking or defending, he plays it well."

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Coup for Walsall as ex-Birmingham City Striker Forssell joins!
Walsall have today made a coup signing in Mikael Forssell. The ex-Birmingham City striker joins on a free transfer until the end of the season and brings with him bags of experience at Budesliga and Premier League level.
"Forssell is a great and really excellent signing for this football club. We're proud, honoured and grateful that Mikael has agreed to join. Even though fans talk about him not scoring a competitive goal for 3 years we believe he has what it takes to add that bit of class to our side and will hopefully score plenty of goals."

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January 2013 Review​
"Bad start to the month, but it ends better"
"Benson sent back to Swindon who instantly release the striker"
"Walsall add Tonne from the Blades on loan"
"McGivern joins on a full transfer!"

We managed to add left winger Erik Tonne to the team on loan from Sheffield United during January and contributed to a goal on his first appearance. He's started really well here.
I'm also delighted to have captured Ryan McGivern on a transfer. Although we originally loaned him it was always my intention to try and sign him for a free at the end of the season, once Man City accepted my £0 bid though I was straight into talks!

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Scunthorpe 2 - 0 Walsall
Luke Williams '15 '20


Notts County 3 - 2 Walsall
Febian Brandy '13
Jamie Paterson '24 (PEN)
Yoann Arquin '83
Enoch Showunmi '90
Alan Judge '90+2


Walsall 0 - 2 Stevenage
Patrick Agyemang '10
Lucas Atkins '48


Carlisle 0 - 2 Walsall
Erik Tonne '5
Will Grigg '85


Tranmere 0 - 0 Walsall

A disappointing start to the month and the Notts County defeat goes down as my worst, conceding three goals in the last 9 minutes and losing 3-2 from being 2-0 up isn't acceptable. Thankfully we were playing a struggling Carlisle side soon so we could put right what we haven't in previous games and get some points. Then we played 2nd in the league Tranmere. We were an incredible 10-1 to win the game... yet held them to an impressive 0-0 draw. We're definitely missing Florent Cuvelier though.. Here's the league table (sorry for missing it out in December!)

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Interesting to see Bury still on top! Been there all season.. Tranmere 2nd too, a surprising top two! At the other end of the league.. not very surprising, apart from the fact we aren't there as we were predicted 23rd!


Player of the Month
The Player of the Month award goes to Will Grigg, he came 2nd in the leagues young player of the month award this month and despite only netting once, he's put some decent displays in. Really hoping (and sort of expecting) a Northern Ireland call up!

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good job so far! im liking the layout and good signing in Tonne, got him in my York save last year and he killed legue 1!
 
TottenhamFan101 said:
good job so far! im liking the layout and good signing in Tonne, got him in my York save last year and he killed legue 1!
Click to expand...
Thanks! Yeah Tonne has done really well, played three games but all really good. Great to finally have a winger who can deliver a decent ball.. Making the difference!
Radek Cerny has been quality too! Three clean sheets in a row now.. Unheard of :D
 
February 2013 Review​
"Walsall crush rivals once again!"
"Walsall go unbeaten"
"Saddlers look safe"

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Walsall 3 - 0 Shrewsbury
Andy Butler '42
Joe Jacobson '45 (OG)
Febian Brandy '51


Walsall 1 - 1 Leyton Orient
Will Grigg '37
Ryan McGivern '68 (OG)


Walsall 1 - 1 Crewe Alexandra
Mark Ellis '5
Nicky Featherstone '52


A very short month but I am happy about that.. we've been playing 6-7 games almost every month so far so this was welcome! Makes it even better that we've managed to go unbeaten too and that takes us to five games without defeat and makes it look like we're safe from relegation. Very proud of the team so far, I've got such a young squad but they're doing brilliantly, if we can keep these together and add a bit of quality when these loan players go, who knows. I'm happy to say that my January transfers seem to have paid off and we've strengthened where needed too. Here's the league table..

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Player of the Month
I'm going to give player of the month to someone different this time, the captain and a fan favourite, Andy Butler. He has been impressive all season and he'd have won player of the month a lot more often if it wasn't for the great strike partnerships we've had. This centre back has kept us in games and got us going in others. A brilliant player, I'd go as far as saying my most consistently good player all season.

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More to come tomorrow, hope people are reading and enjoying :) Any feedback, just let me know. Thanks!​
 
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