Speaking to the press shortly after the Saddlers' defeat to Northampton Town, Walsall Head Coach Matthew Taylor has insisted his team are not in a battle to avoid the drop.
After suffering a one-nil defeat to the visiting Cobblers, the Saddlers have now lost six games on the bounce and find themselves just seven point above 23rd placed Oldham Athletic, who were able to win their first game in ten attempts with a late winner against bottom-of-the-table Scunthorpe United on Saturday afternoon.
The Saddlers, who are yet to win in 2022, now move on to a meeting with the Iron on Tuesday evening and will be looking to emulate the Latics as they look to ease the pressure, which is continuing to grow with every dire display.
Answering questions posed by members of the local media, Matthew said; "I don't think we're in a relegation battle. What we are is in a really bad vein of form.
The Saddlers, who are yet to win in 2022, now move on to a meeting with the Iron on Tuesday evening and will be looking to emulate the Latics as they look to ease the pressure, which is continuing to grow with every dire display.
Answering questions posed by members of the local media, Matthew said; "I don't think we're in a relegation battle. What we are is in a really bad vein of form.
"We're in a bad vein of form based on the talent we have in the squad. We're not in a position that the players deserve to be based on their ability.
"We're in the position we're in at the moment because we haven't performed consistently enough. Now, we can't be mentally weak.
"It's my job to protect the players, but there also has to be an element of truth in it. The performance was better, but we’ve still not got a result, so it’s got to be better again on Tuesday, and we’ve got to get a result."
Taylor went on to speak of his frustration at how the Saddlers fell behind - Louis Appéré's tenth-minute goal seeing the visitors take all three points back to Sixfields - and called upon his players to cut out the errors.
Matthew continued; "We've given a free-kick away and then not cut the ball out at the near post.
Taylor went on to speak of his frustration at how the Saddlers fell behind - Louis Appéré's tenth-minute goal seeing the visitors take all three points back to Sixfields - and called upon his players to cut out the errors.
Matthew continued; "We've given a free-kick away and then not cut the ball out at the near post.
"The thing for me at the moment is that we're not making teams work anywhere near hard enough for goals.
"That's what is really disappointing. It's our errors that are costing us. When you look back at that goal, it's most definitely avoidable. It's not good enough.
"We didn't hold the ball up. We weren't enough of a physical threat up front, but we've still had good chances."