Walsall v Carlisle: Variety provides spice for Saddlers’ in-form attack
Mat Sadler feels Walsall’s variety in attack has been key to their red-hot form in front of goal, as they prepare for the visit of second- bottom Carlisle United tonight.
Walsall have responded to their 6-2 drubbing at the hands of Fleetwood Town in their last home outing with four points from the past two games on the road.
On Saturday, Walsall romped to a 4-1 victory over Grimsby Town at Blundell Park to propel themselves to the top of the goalscoring charts in League Two.
The Saddlers have already scored a third (23) of last season’s tally (69) after just 11 games.
George Hall emerged from the bench to set-up Danny Johnson’s third of the season in stoppage time and Sadler believes the attacking options across the squad has made them such a dangerous threat in the final third.
He said: “I’m pleased for George and Danny (Johnson) coming on and contributing in the way that they did. There’s no-one you want it to fall to more in that situation than Danny.
“George (Hall) comes on and shows speed and pace. It’s very difficult to deal with speed.
“There’s loads of different ways that we want to score from and we showed some of those today (against Grimsby).
“Albert with the way that he contributed and took the sting out of the game. So we’ve got some really good attacking players. Reyes (Cleary) wasn’t in the squad today but another fantastic attacking option.”
Carlisle sit second from bottom after collecting just one win from their last 10 games (losing seven, drawing three).
Mike Williamson’s outfit have not tasted victory in any of their last five games and suffered a 4-0 defeat on their previous road trip at AFC Wimbledon.
But Jamie Jellis, who scored his third goal of the season with a sublime long-range volley at Grimsby, insists form will have no bearing on Walsall’s approach to the game.
“At home, the atmosphere that our fans bring is immense,” the midfielder noted.
“We’re not looking too much into form or where people are in the table. We come with the same mindset whether they’re top or bottom.
“It doesn’t matter. Anyone can beat anyone so we’ve got to be on our game and carry out the same game plan as we do every week.”
Walsall will still be without long-term absentees Priestley Farquharson (thigh) and Josh Gordon (knee) but Oisin McEntee is in contention once again.
The Irishman was available for the trip to Grimsby but was not included in the squad despite travelling to Blundell Park.
Sadler added: “He was very close. Oisin is available so we’ve just got to decide when to put him in and when to put him out.
“As we know, we’ve got a really good squad and it’s just about making the right decisions for the right games.”
