Going forward

It has been a long wait, but finally, Walsall has got their scoring boots on and got some much-needed goals. Two consecutive 1-0 victories from Morecombe and Scunthorpe, after a marvellous bicycle kick from skipper James Clarke, will lift the mood at both the players and the fans and give Darrell Clarke some breathing room.
Lets built on these two victories and keep climbing the table and build up a big gap to that relegation zone.
The two last matches we have felt more on the front foot and not back home as much, we have kept a higher line of engagement I think.
We are still stable defensively, which shows in the resent results, only one goal against in the last four matches.
I feel Darrell Clarke and his coaching staff have started at the right end by building up a good defensive and build on that. Now we will probably see the team build up more confidence in the attacking area as well when they can feel comfortable with their defensive positions.
By having a ground to fall back to when things aren’t going the way you want is quite essential when building a team that you want to compete for a place in the top end of the table. Having a good base makes it easy to win games ugly, to grind out points. That is one of the significant changes I can see from the last few seasons where we all to often dropped points, especially late in the games. By cutting out individual defensive errors and have a good defensive where everyone trusts each other will make it easier to work in other aspects of the game like a more dynamic attacking play. I feel we have started to see signs of the attacking side in the last two, three matches and I am very optimistic about what is to come from the rest of this season.
Before the season kicked off, I didn’t expect us to be a straight hit and be in the top of the league. I still think we will achieve a top 10 position maybe even sneak into one of the playoff positions if we are lucky. Pretty much everyone thought we should get a promotion at the first chance and be back at League One next season. I would be surprised if we win promotion this season. A rebuild of a club from top to bottom will take time, and should not be rushed but carefully planned.

My feeling is that the January transfer window will be pivotal for how the season will end for Walsall. We need to strengthen the squad to get into the playoffs. First of all, we need better players out wide to have more options to attack. If we get better quality out wide, we can get better quality balls into the box where the strikers by then should be well up to scratch. We have four strikers that with the correct support from midfield and from out wide will score goals. If they get proper support and delivery, they need it’s up to them and the attacking coaches to make sure they are in the correct positions to finish the chances off. They won’t score much if they find themselves out of position when the attack is about to be finished off.