'More to come': Mat Sadler makes exciting Walsall claim and the odd statistics behind their rise back to the top
Mat Sadler insists his Walsall side have not reached their ceiling yet - as they prepare for a return to league action against Newport County.
The Saddlers returned to winning ways with an FA Cup victory over Eastleigh last weekend - following a run of three games without a win in League Two.
Despite that run they still sit top of the table - and ironically are on the same number of points as they were at this stage last season.
Now they are looking to return to form in the league - and Sadler has explained why he thinks this new group of players still has a long way to go.
He told Sky Sports: "It's exciting because I know what a young and hungry group we are," he says.
"There's some definite experience in the squad, which is brilliant to have, but there's so many guys I see that just are itching to do better and work harder.
"From my perspective, this is a very, very new group that are loving being together and are having some really good experiences together - but want more.
"We want to keep improving, we want to keep adding different ways of affecting games together. We're still learning from so many of the group still and we believe there's loads more to come from the group.
"You can talk loads, but most importantly, we just know we have to work hard and allow those relationships to form."
When a side sits top of the table at this stage of the season - you would predict that they had been dominating the ball and scoring lots of goals.
But that is not the case with the Saddlers. They have recorded the lowest average possession in the division, taking the fewest touches and completed the fewest passes.
On top of that, only one team in the top half has score fewer than Walsall's 19 league goals.
Outlining Walsall's success and those numbers, Sadler added: "We're very organised, very energetic in the way that we play, very disciplined in our shape and athletic on the transition," Sadler adds, when asked to explain the numbers to a layman.
"Those stats after 14 games are interesting, and it'll probably be an interesting one to cover after maybe 30 games, when it's really settled into a pattern."
