Walsall to go back to their Plan A
Walsall manager Dean Keates has told his players to revert to ‘Plan A’ as they try to cope with the absence of Andy Cook.
The Saddlers travel to take on Burton tomorrow without their top scorer after he was sent off in the win against Bradford.
With the team having been low on confidence in recent weeks, Walsall have resorted to playing long to Cook too often.
But after he was dismissed last weekend, they no longer had that option with the team forced to play through the thirds.
“Cookie’s red card possibly made us play a little bit differently,” Keates said.
“Confidence-wise, the style of football we have been playing would probably be seen as our Plan D.
“It’s an option for us going a bit more direct because of how well he (Cook) holds the ball up and how he is in the air.
“But in recent weeks it’s been too easy to do that. When players aren’t confident they don’t see the picture as quickly.
“They don’t see how easy it is to control the ball and move it like we know they can.
“A few of the players have probably looked at it and thought, let’s hit Cookie as quickly as we can. It became the first option when it really shouldn’t have been.
“But the performance against Bradford will give them plenty of belief.”
