It is back to South Africa for me this weekend after a brief trip to the UK that offered a chance to watch the Saddlers for the first time in a couple of seasons. Having watched the great escape of last season behind a computer screen, I was impressed with both results and the fact that the squad was assembled prior to the start of the season. The resulting league position at this stage of the campaign is then a huge disappointment.
With my games to attend being against MK Dons and Huddersfield I was not really expecting much so the solitary point gained is not so disappointing. Despite the overall doom and gloom that seems rife amongst the support there really is not that much else to be disappointed with either. This does not look like a relegation side to me, at least based on these two performances. True there are huge limitations in the size of the squad and particularly the forward options but nobody is beating the Saddlers by big scores and there seems to be a strong team spirit in the camp. I expected that would be the case given the comeback from last year. Clearly it is not a top half side but it is also not a bottom four side.
The MK Dons game was ruined by the sending off however the spirit shown by the side to try and get back into the game from what should have been an impossible position was impressive. The second goal was a ridiculous error from the officials and the Gnapka effort that struck both posts is about as unlucky as you can get on a football pitch. However, not once did the side drop its tempo and let heads drop. I have seen plenty of sides give up under similar circumstances.
Walker deserves a long spell on the sidelines for his moment of madness, particularly as Grof was outstanding in his place the following Saturday. How a goalkeeper with nearly 500 league appearances can make such a fundamental error is beyond me. What is worse is that he has previous form for this type of poor judgment, both at Walsall and West Ham. I understand from those around me that he has been playing well but when he rejoined last season I feared his legend status may become tarnished. Sadly for me at least, it now has.
There is a fine central defence in front of whatever keeper is picked. Smith and Butler are no frills lower league stoppers who gave me every confidence in both games. Midfield clearly lacks some creativity and there is not a lot on the wings. The performance of Wilson in his first two games was encouraging and given the madness ongoing at Doncaster hopefully some deal can be arranged to keep him, at least for this season. Up front we are clearly well off the pace. Macken looks slow and surprisingly hesitant in front of goal, although he did an excellent job of holding the ball up as a lone striker at Galpharm Stadium.
Let’s dwell on that performance to conclude with. I have to say I was hugely impressed. Clearly we came for a draw with a five man midfield that was still bypassed by a home side that created enough chances to win the game in the first half. The belief that grew through the side as the game progressed was great to see and almost certainly would have earned a point against a side with less confidence than a 41 game unbeaten, second placed side in front of a large home support. What was most encouraging was how Smith changed the game after going behind by bringing on more mobile forwards and pushing his wide men on. Often teams setting out with such a defensive mindset find it hard to adjust to going behind, particularly after holding out for so long. Here it was different almost straight away and in fact if Will Griggs 90th minute lob had been an inch higher we would have been celebrating a famous win.
The two games left me with hope. Walsall look organized and hard to beat but clearly lack creativity and finishing going forward. I understand we have scored a fair few wonder goals this season but are not scoring (or even creating) routine efforts in the box. This needs to improve if we are to climb away from danger. I may be wrong but it seems there is just enough there to avoid the drop zone for now. Maybe even enough for an FA Cup run and the chance of a big third round fixture screened live in South Africa.
By: Paul Giess (@ItsStillAyoba)