Jon Whitney puts Walsall arm around Amadou Bakayoko

The 21-year-old, who is a product of the Saddlers youth system, has failed to score in his last 10 outings.

Bakayoko netted 10 goals last season and currently has three in the 2017/18 campaign. But his recent drought has sparked criticism from the terraces – with some fans calling for him to be substituted during Walsall’s defeat to Southend on Saturday.

Whitney, however, insists the striker is strong enough to deal with his critics – with the boss revealing he has spoken to the youngster at length about dealing with set-backs.

“I speak with Ama all the time but I speak to all the young players,” Whitney said. “It’s what we do here. He is a young player and we don’t just leave any of our young players.

“I’ve checked with Ama to make sure he is okay. But he was expecting a bit of stick against Southend because myself and him have come in for some criticism over the past few weeks.

“He can handle it though and I thought he worked really hard against Southend. He left everything out on the pitch.

“He was also excellent at Doncaster the week before.”

Walsall were without Florent Cuvelier for the defeat to the Shrimpers with the midfielder missing out with a minor injury.

The Belgian was restored to the side after a five week absence for Walsall’s draw at MK Dons. He then started in the 3-0 win at Doncaster.

But the injury plagued 25-year-old tightened up in training last week with Whitney feeling he couldn’t risk him against Phil Brown’s side.

“Flo tightened up in training which isn’t great for him,” the boss said.

“It makes it very difficult because we can’t get any consistency with him.

“It was only something slight but he wasn’t available against Southend.”

Meanwhile, Erhun Oztumer says he is hopeful of an extended run in the FA Cup as Walsall prepare to face Newport County in the first round on Saturday.

Oztumer was part of the Peterborough side that got knocked out by Albion in the fourth round back in 2016.

And he is hoping he can now go even further with the Saddlers.

"We want to go far in the FA Cup – we are looking forward to it," the 26-year-old said.

“When I was with Peterborough we got to the fourth round and played West Brom. We took them to extra time and penalties but lost.

“I would like to get there again, maybe one step further, but it depends on the draw. We will see what happens. It’s a game that, on paper, we are expected to win but it’s the FA Cup and anything can happen. It's going to be a good challenge, we are looking forward to it."