It's not all Brian's fault...

[Father Jack]

much as we, as fans, would love to have had the big fella back here, i can see a bunch of possible reasons the club said no. unfortunately, his current form is nowhere near the standard of last season (if it was, he'd be in the Bradford side), we don't know the exact reason he left in the first place (may seem like biting off your nose by the board, but it could be a case of "you chose to leave, so we don't want you back"), or may be as simple as Ling didn't want to bring him in because of the huge impact he would have had amongst the fans, and in the dressing room. Ling has tried to stick by Saah (rightly or wrongly), so bringing back the bloke that Saah was meant to replace, would no doubt upset the "club captain".
personally i'd have loved to see him back here, if for nothing more than to raise the spirits in the changing room and on the training ground, although i'm sure he would've contributed on the pitch as well.

He was signed by Jackson and played by him. Parkinson however has decided that Branston is not his cup of tea (or choice of accompaniment to cold meat) hence the loan move.
He left here for the same reason most people do, a nice pay rise. Dont blame him one bit (not many playing years left in him I guess) :-o

[Regiment]

no, i don't blame him either Jack, but i'm guessing our board may see it differently. whatever the reasons he didn't come back on loan, it's a shame, as i'm sure it would've been a good move for us and the Pickler. mind you, i wonder how the Rovrum fans feel after his stupid red card on his debut ?

[Bigman]

I've been moving house so been out of the loop on Torquay news, but Branno was available and we said no to him? What!?!?! Sure, we have a new manager with his own people, but he keeps saying he wants a solid defense and that we're letting in soft goals, so surely bringing in a guy who not too long ago was in the L2 team of the season while partnering one of our centre backs is a good idea. Not signing him up makes no sense to me!

In response to the thread title, going on highlights and reports of frequent one-on-one misses I'd suggest some of it is McPhee's fault too

[Dave]

Football is no different to many sports as we all know , its not just about ability a large part of it is confidence, as we know when a footballer is full of confidence he will head and pass the ball with out thinking about it, and 9 times from 10 it will land in the right area's, the player feels epic, and the fan's think the player is just so moneysupermarket.

Brian Saah came here of the back of glowing reparts from Lingy , made club captain, and had massive shoes to fill in terms of the departed Guy Branston, all eyes were on him, he has had a slow start, that said he has also had a few decent games and shown us brief spells of what he really is capable of, there is no doubt whether he is good enough in my mind, he is so, so short on confidence however, we all know that the ball can become a like a lump of concrete when your confidence is shot and your nervous about getting it wrong, us fan's are not helping Saah witht his, you can see he is trying far to hard to win us over.

Also maybe there is somting wrong with the team set up, look at Morcambes goal, and Gllinghams 4th almost a carbon copy to me, and in fact there were cry's of the Morecambe all over again dont we ever learn all around me on Saturday, so all in all is it Saah fault...no.

[Trojan 67]

So far, it's been no Magic Roundabout for snail pace Brian (Saah).

He's been in that unforgiving BSP for two seasons, so it's taking him time to get up to speed.

When he comes out of his shell, we'll see Brian Saah the LEAGUE player.

[PL21gull]

Whilst it might not be all Brian's fault, the fact is that he does not tackle, does not attack the ball, and loses his man, ergo why is he at the centre of defence?
This has various knock-on effects - we have a good shot-stopping goalie but he is quiet and does not command the box or his back 4 sufficiently..
Against Gillingham we effectively played 4-2-4, leaving an awful lot of work for the two central midfielders (although Danny got stuck in defensively), and yet we hardly used the wide forward on the right; we had 19 attempts on goal, but I can only remember one (a header from a corner) from our main striker who displays a tendency to amble towards the penalty area. Our two central strikers were generally too far away from one another to create anything between them, as evidenced by the weekly lack of strikers' goals from open play.

We have a manager and a specialist defence coach, so whose fault is it that we are shipping loads of goals and not scoring enough?

[TCP]

Trust me on this one, Brian Saah IS a very good CB.

Why on earth he's not performed well for you guys yet is a mystery to me.

Stick with him, and he'll turn it round.

[Southampton Gull]

Trust me on this one, Brian Saah IS a very good CB.

Why on earth he's not performed well for you guys yet is a mystery to me.

Stick with him, and he'll turn it round.

I'm not one of those that want him out of the side but he really isn't playing well, if you look at the highlights from saturdays game he looks out of position and unable to make any kind of decent contribution. I'll take your word for it but he really is struggling right now.

[TCP]

I'm not one of those that want him out of the side but he really isn't playing well, if you look at the highlights from saturdays game he looks out of position and unable to make any kind of decent contribution. I'll take your word for it but he really is struggling right now.

I'm genuinely surprised to hear this Dave, as Brian was one of the very few plus points from last season for us.

[Southampton Gull]

I'm struggling to recall one game where you could actually say "Saah played ok today", he's looked slow, hesitant, low on confidence and is very very quiet. You'd think that being installed as Club Captain would have given him some hint that he's expected to show some leadership but he seriously hasn't up till now. I hope he repays yours and Martin Lings faith.

[numpte]

I think our whole defence is quiet and lacking leadership.I dont want to say we need Branno as I reckon we saw the best of him but certainly someone of his type.

For me, only 1 of Lings signings has been a success so far, Olejnik and I rather think we dont play to Howes strengths.

Having said that, it is still early days. On the current table, we've played all the top six, but only two of the bottom six.

This is a big week/ month though.

[Dave]

The problem may not just be confidence with Saah, i am begining to wonder if he is another player not enjoying life down here in the south west.

I for a while did not want Saah to be dropped from the team, however now it has gone to far enough, he is having an awful time of it, and fan's are on his back sometimes the only way round that , is to rest the player help him get his head right and bring back, there is a league 2 C/B in there somehwere.

[TCP]

Well he is from Essex, and does have a young family....

[AustrianAndyGull]

Maybe conference level football is where he is at and he isn't up to L2.