Jon Whitney: I take responsibility for Walsall's FA Cup failure
Boss Jon Whitney admitted he must take responsibility after Walsall crashed out of the FA Cup to non-league Macclesfield.
A first half header from John McCome was enough to give The Silkmen a 1-0 victory in the first round clash at the Banks's Stadium.
Despite entering the tie having gone six games unbeaten, the Saddlers laboured throughout and struggled to create many clear goal scoring opportunities.
And Whitney admitted he was hugely disappointed to go exit the world's oldest cup competition at the first hurdle.
"I will take this defeat for them (the players) because I don't think it was through lack of effort and I think before the game they wanted to do well," the boss said.
"But some of the decision-making and some of the below-par performances, you are not going to come through even against a non-league team.
"There was expectancy on my players while Macclesfield are underdogs and playing with no tension. That makes it a more even playing field.
"But you could see that some of my players were like rabbits in the headlights I thought. And that's not good for me because I need to trust these players to play in League One.
"People will be accountable but I will take that defeat for my team and I will take the criticism because that's my job."
Whitney insisted Walsall were not guilty of underestimating their opponents, but felt too many players didn't hit the heights they showed throughout October.
"We knew what was to be expected from them – we didn't underestimate Macclesfield whatsoever," he continued.
"We analysed them above and beyond and we knew their threats.
"For their goal, we've got to think about what leads up to that set-piece – decision-making and then defending from the set-piece.
"It made it difficult as then we were chasing the game and there were too many below-par for me. We will have a good look – and hopefully they will as well – why because we have to learn from it.
"It's a negative experience but you can't just forget it. You have to reflect, analyse and work out how you can prevent something like that happening again in the future."
