Darrell Clarke: More to Come From 'Decent' Saddlers Squad Darrell Clarke: More to Come From 'Decent' Saddlers Squad
Posted by: Bescot Banter

Darrell Clarke: More to Come From 'Decent' Saddlers Squad

Walsall manager Darrell Clarke has spoken to the press following the Saddlers' League Two draw with Forest Green Rovers and insisted his team's performances in their opening two games show that the club has made a lot of progress in a short space of time.
Clarke's team kicked off their 2019/20 campaign with an opening-day victory over Keith Curle's Northampton Town before snatching a deserved point against Forest Green at the weekend.

Despite controlling that game for long periods of time, it was second-half substitutes James Hardy and Rory Holden who combined for to draw the Saddlers level.

And Clarke, who is keen for his fringe players to push for a starting spot, believes their impressive cameos proves he has built a squad with strength in depth.

Speaking via the Express & Star, Darrell said; "I think we’ve built a decent enough squad on a very reasonable budget. There’s money in the pot for a rainy day as well.

"I think if you look where we’ve come as a club in such a short space of time, I think it’s been really positive. The lads are gelling nicely but we want to keep getting better and the demands never go away from me.

"We have got a little bit of momentum now, we are unbeaten in two. Lets take that into the next game and see where we go."

Despite the Saddlers dominating large swathes of the game Forest Green took the lead during first-half injury time as Joseph Mills slammed home from the penalty spot, a goal which would prove to be his team's only shot on target during the game.

But whilst he was pleased with his side’s overall performance, the manager admitted they need to become more clinical in the final third if they are to take anything out of the 2019/20 campaign.

Clarke continued; "We were a little bit disappointed with our final third play, we need to learn how to score that first goal and kill teams off. But Forest Green are a team who made the play-offs last year and we edged them on most of the stats.

"It’s going to take a bit of time to iron things out and get things going exactly as I would like. People keep saying we have bought 15 players into the club. But we have released 20 professionals and six loans have gone back to their clubs.

"So we’ve got 15 players and three of them are loans. This is a massive rebuilding job and for me the signs in the first two games are really positive."
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