Walsall positional review 2023/24 - The Defenders
Walsall positional review 2023/24 - The Defenders
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00:00Hello I'm Nathan Judah, I'm here with Walsall Report, it is Mr. George Bennett.
00:03George it's Tuesday, we are talking about the defenders. Of course if you haven't
00:07watched it, Mondays was the goalkeepers. But Tuesday the defenders and there have
00:11been a lot of defenders this season, quite a few defenders. So let's talk
00:17about, let's go right wing back, we'll go across the back three and then end up at
00:21left wing back and then we can discuss about the future going into next season.
00:24So I think a good place to start is probably Tom Knowles.
00:28Definitely, I mean you know kind of came into that right wing back slot, played
00:33there in preseason and then in the early weeks of the campaign he was kind of
00:38blighted by injury, so it was a massively stop start for him. He got suspended when he
00:44got the two yellow cards against Swindon. So you know it just took him a
00:48while to get going and once he did I felt like there were there were gradual
00:53signs of improvement throughout the campaign, that you know there's questions
00:56over his final ball. The amount of opportunities he creates down that
01:00flank, he creates lots of them, his movement's great. It's just
01:04sometimes you know that final ball's lacking and if he could just add that to his
01:07game he would be hugely productive. So you know the attacking side of his game
01:12is clear to see. Defensively you know there was clearly room for improvement
01:16it's a position he's not played before and I felt like you know just before he
01:20got that injury against Forest Green we were seeing signs where he's
01:24really starting to take to the role and where he's come back in just towards the
01:28end of the campaign. Two cameos from the bench and then obviously the 5-1
01:32battering against Wimbledon. It wasn't the greatest end of the season for him but it was clearly a point where he was still getting back to his full fitness.
01:43And a couple of backups I guess in Fulks and Riley. Yeah well I mean you know I
01:47started with Joe Riley, he came in, struggled, sorry he came in, he struggled for game time.
01:54Purse time, it's best to interrupt isn't it? Yeah absolutely. So yeah he struggled for game time
02:01right at the start and then Matt Sandler reverted to a back four around October
02:07time and he had a run in the side and I mean he got a leg injury about 11
02:14minutes into the defeat against Harrogate here in November and yeah you
02:19know it's not been it's not been great for him since. He's just you know it took
02:24a long time for him to get back and once he did he's just really got a look in.
02:28So with his contract running out you know you'd suspect that probably his
02:32days are numbered now. Yeah so those are the right the right wing backs. Let's go
02:36into the centre backs and again a lot of them. I guess you could talk about the
02:40starting back three and how that changed very very quickly. Yeah I mean you know I
02:44just want to sort of touch on Joe Foggs. Yeah yeah of course. I mean a young player who had two
02:49seasons on loan at Kidderminster, one promotion, the latter of those. So you
02:54know there was massive promise for him and he had a good run in the side earlier
02:57in the season. I remember a performance where he set up, I think it was
03:02Ross Tierney's goal against Blackburn. Really impressive for him and
03:09then dropped out again. I didn't really get a look in for quite some time.
03:14Only sort of minutes from the bench here and there and that injury as I mentioned
03:18to Tom Knowles then presented him with a chance and you know I feel like he
03:23acquitted himself really well. He's another one that's out of contract but I
03:27feel he's done enough to deserve another deal. And then obviously let's go
03:32with the three centre backs who started and obviously two of them didn't last
03:37too long. Well yeah I mean in preseason Sadler kind of experimented with the
03:42back three and second halves of games but it was quite clear that you know his
03:45preferred back three to begin with was going to be Priestley Farquharson,
03:51Donovan Daniels and Chris Hussey. And then in the open training session
03:55Priestley Farquharson picks up an injury. Chris Hussey starts the season and
04:01then a month in his final game sent off against Grimsby I believe. And you
04:08know he announces retirement with the injuries that were starting to build at
04:11the back that was a real blow for Matt Sadler. So early on in the season.
04:17Yeah you know he kind of designed in his head how he wanted his back three to
04:22work and with the injury to Farquharson and Hussey's retirement his
04:27plans were scrapped. That's kind of what's led to what's been a
04:31defence been a living organism really. It's been been changing throughout
04:36there's been periods of continuity but yeah you know throughout the campaign
04:40we've seen we've seen huge changes. Yeah and you say there's changes and quite a
04:43few replacements and to varying levels of success but he has had some success
04:48there. Exactly well you know I think probably the start with Harry Williams
04:52signed admittedly for himself he didn't expect to get the game time that he got
04:57in the first half of the season. Matt Sadler you know alluded to the fact that
05:00he was signed as a future prospect really just to see how he got on but he
05:05was thrown straight in at the deep end opening day against Morecambe. You can see
05:10he was very good in the air yeah but you know it's a difficult challenge for
05:14someone that was playing in non-league the season before at Alverchurch to come
05:19in and try and perform on a League Two stage and you know there were
05:24performances where maybe you could see his rawness. I remember the 4-2
05:28against Wrexham where he struggled a little bit but he improved and improved
05:33in confidence as time went on. Had another spell in the season in the
05:37October and I always say one of my favourite interviews was interviewing him
05:40after the 3-1 win against Bradford because you know Andy Cook had scored
05:44from the penalty spot but in open play he hadn't got a sniff and that was very much
05:47down to Harry Williams and I was really interested to see how he was going to
05:51kind of take that on the second half of the season but unfortunately injury
05:55deprived him of that opportunity. Yeah, loan spells, a couple of loan spells as
06:01well. Loanees come in. Yeah you know get on to Taylor Allen in a minute but the
06:06loan spells I mean David Akagbe is someone that I remember his first game
06:10against Salford and you know he actually talks about it himself you know how he
06:16really struggled and he got, I remember there was a back pass where he put Owen Evans in trouble and he got
06:22hooked at half-time. Right. Six weeks out of injury, is this gonna work? Yeah. And then
06:28you know he came in to the side, learnt the ropes really alongside Farquharson
06:32and Daniels especially during that period as I've kind of mentioned in one
06:36of the previous videos around the five wins and six over the festive period.
06:41Played right back a couple of times even and you know with mixed success. Yeah.
06:47But you know he's really learnt the trade and during that sort of run where
06:53they were a makeshift back three alongside Adebayega, one of the other
06:57loanees and kind of went into the centre of that defence whereas before he was
07:02kind of learning from Daniels and Farquharson and kind of took centre
07:06stage and become a real vocal presence and then Adebayega when he came in
07:10at Mansfield you know for the first month we hadn't seen anything from him.
07:13Yeah. Priestley, Farquharson and Daniels had kind of nailed down those spots and
07:17they both got injured and you think what are Wolves not gonna do about those two? Yeah.
07:21Up steps Emmanuel Adebayega, he came on at half-time, scored a winning goal, I think it's
07:29three goals in his first four games you know probably towards the end I think
07:33there was a game against Doncaster and after that he got dropped. Mm-hmm. But
07:37what an impression he made in that second half of the season and clearly a
07:41player with massive potential and yeah that makeshift back three, Taylor Allen
07:46is one of the stories of the season. I mean he's played everywhere this
07:51season, he played left back, left wing back, he came on, scored his first goal against
07:55Wrexham when he came on as a centre midfielder. I think he started his career
08:00as a forward, traditionally a winger but anyway he thrived at left centre back
08:05during that run, he came in the same game actually as Adebayega although he
08:09started it rather than off the bench and he's just you know the fact that he's a
08:13local lad. Yeah of course. He's become a bit of a fan favourite really, I mean
08:19it's a questionable mark in the box for him for the Wimbledon game but
08:23outside of that he's been sound defensively but also going forward I
08:27mean his set-piece delivery has been crucial, I think it's three goals, three
08:30assists, scored against Tramier and Colchester as well as a Wrexham goal so
08:36he's really started to find goals and assists in his game and yeah sort of
08:41going forward sadly likes those overlapping centre backs on the wide
08:44centre backs and he fits that mould perfectly. And then Liam Gordon, left
08:50wing back? Yeah you know consistent performer throughout the campaign, I'm
08:57trying to think of exactly how many games it is, I know he's he was only he
09:02only missed two of Walsall's 46 league games but you gotta think as well I mean he's
09:06been representing Guyana on international duty so those trips take a lot out of him.
09:10Yeah absolutely. I remember a game he came back against Swindon and he made a mistake
09:16for the goal so you know he's not been completely flawless throughout the campaign but I
09:19feel like you know during the course of the season he's probably been one of the
09:25most consistent performers and you know thoroughly deserved his new deal, a player
09:32that you know Walsall can rely on next season. I think it's two goals, four assists so
09:37he'll definitely be wanting to improve on that next season but it's an
09:40improvement on on the previous campaign. And in terms of next season obviously
09:45there's plenty of people who you won't see from from these defenders but is
09:50defence or looking at defenders a priority for Matt Sadler, is it going to
09:54be a case of getting a couple people permanently, renewing a couple or taking club
09:59options and also I guess making sure they get the right loans? Yeah I think it
10:04would be interesting to see kind of how he does look to bolster the defence because
10:08there's clear need for improvement I mean 73 goals conceded, I think it's 19 of the 23 away
10:14games they conceded first, that's a habit that needs to be you know nipped in the bud
10:17very quickly because you know you can't expect to be mounting a playoff
10:21challenge if you if you're giving yourself that sort of amount into
10:24climbing games every time so yeah and Matt Sadler recognised that in his
10:29post-match interview after Wimbledon that you know the defence is an area that
10:33needs to improve so going on to that you know kind of spoken about Harry Williams
10:38has won this out of contract, I'd be very surprised if he's not given another
10:42opportunity, he's kind of been in rehabilitation and you'd hope that you
10:45know he can kind of build on what he built during the first half of the season
10:51Farquharson and Daniels are under contract which is a plus, I think Farquharson will be
10:58key next season if he can keep fit, aside from that Rollin Menahese is another
11:03one that's out of contract, I mean he came back had a really bad injury on loan
11:08at Hartlepool, came back around November time, didn't get a look in, went out on loan
11:17went to Aldershot, came back in during an emergency when it was so hard, I think it was two
11:22centre-backs left to play of a back three, so he came in for one game
11:26scored and we've not seen him since, so I think kind of the right hand on the wall, to be honest
11:31you know you spoke about Reilly, I think probably that's another one that we
11:36could we could possibly see as well, out of contract, not getting a look in
11:41I mean I'm trying to think where else we are with the centre-backs left
11:45and I guess could you see any of these loanees returning potentially?
11:48I mean from Ada Biega's tweet the other day was very complimentary about the club
11:55and kind of wished them all the best, can I kind of read into that possibly and think
11:59probably not, I think Cagbury would be a great capture if they could, young
12:05player, I know he's got a, I think Stoke have the option to trigger a one-year
12:13extension, I'm not sure whether they've done that, but you know if there's any
12:20possibility Walsall could get him in, I think that would be a really good signing but you know
12:23it's one of those, it's only down speculation at the moment, you can't say
12:26for sure. Yeah and I guess wait and see is one, especially with loanees and if
12:29you're going from you know Championship or Premier League clubs, you've got to wait
12:32for that trickle-down effect and maybe it is you know on September the 1st or
12:36August the 31st, you've got to wait it out, wait it out and then hopefully there's a
12:39couple of players that might become available. Yeah I mean that happened with David and Cagbury
12:43they wanted to sign him earlier in the window and they're waiting
12:46deadline day to get him, but you know the bottom line is Walsall do need
12:50defensive reinforcements, you know we spoke about Daniels, Ferguson and
12:56Allen's impressed, sorry he's another one who's got an option year and I would be
12:59very very surprised if that's not activated, but yeah there's clearly need for
13:05improvement at the back. Absolutely that's the end for the defenders on
13:08Tuesday, we'll be back tomorrow with the midfielders.