George Bennett discusses the big task of replacing Walsall's goals

Shropshire Star

Jonny Drury is joined by George Bennett to discuss Walsall and the two areas that will need addressing for next season. The Saddlers have lost their top goalscorer this summer in the form of Isaac Hutchinson. And on top of that goalkeeping coach Dan Watson, who was credited with helping the Saddlers score a number of goals from set pieces, has departed the club. George looks at the two losses and how the Saddlers can replace those goals.

Transcript

00:00George, the big headline from Walsall Summer has been the departure of Isaac Hutchinson

00:13and the goals that he will sort of take away with him, with how impressive he was last

00:18season, how impressive he has been at Walsall. Couple that with the fact that Walsall's goalkeeping

00:25coach Dan Watson has departed the club this summer. Someone who has been praised for his

00:31work on set pieces, which have also supplied a third of goals last season. You couple that

00:37together with the departure of Hutchinson and that leaves a really big gap for Matt

00:43Sadler and his staff to fill in terms of finding the back of the net.

00:47Yeah, definitely. Hutchinson in his two years at Walsall is kind of a constant flow of progression.

00:56There were bouts of inconsistency, but his record speaks for itself. It was eight goals

01:01in his debut campaign and he went on to smash that out of the park last season, deservedly

01:09won the Player of the Season award and will be a huge void for Walsall to fill. You spoke

01:18there about Walsall's set piece record and Hutchinson with over a third of Walsall's goals

01:25he was directly involved in in the league last season. So it's clearly going to be a

01:31hole which Matt Sadler and his squad will have to fill. I mean, it was good to see them

01:37react quickly with the signing of Charlie Lakin, someone who's a local coming from originally

01:42from Birmingham's academy and had a really bright loan spell at Sutton United despite

01:47their relegation. Sutton would kind of cut adrift last season and then picked up some

01:55really good form and he was instrumental to that. They missed out on safety by about three

02:01points in the end and eight goals and five assists in 21 appearances bodes very, very

02:06well indeed. You've also got to consider playing in a team that were fighting at the

02:11bottom end of the table. So you'd hope that Walsall's aspirations will be to be more towards

02:16the top end of the table, hopefully fighting for that playoff spot again and he could hopefully

02:22make a real impact. Walsall last season, it was 23 different scorers. So the goals were

02:28definitely stretched across the squad, although Hutchinson and Draper earlier in the season

02:33were kind of the talisman. I mean, just kind of looking at the other options. Gakiring,

02:40if he could stay fit, he could definitely be a provider of goals. I think it's three

02:44goals in 17 games, but goals in back-to-back games when he first came back into the side

02:49against Wrexham and Grimsby. Cameron and Neymar step up this season, a really good loan spell

02:55at Russia Olympic and a bright academy prospect that Walsall fans will be hoping can succeed.

03:01Oshin McKenzie is back. What will Matt Sadler do with him next season? He played at centre

03:05back, but he was also converted into a midfielder. Six goals for him last season before his injury

03:10on Boxing Day, which abruptly ended his season. Jamil Matt started to find the goals. Can

03:18they get enough out of him? Can he stay fit because there were kind of injury issues towards

03:22the end of the season? And clearly Danny Johnson, will Matt Sadler find a more regular place

03:28for him in the side this season because all Walsall fans know about his capabilities in

03:33front of goal. And just lastly, Josh Gordon came in. One goal last season, he clearly

03:39offers so much off the ball, but in front of goal maybe he left a little bit to be desired.

03:45Can he rediscover his goalscoring boots and prove a really shrewd signing for Walsall

03:49again?

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