Neil Cutler: Walsall's Checkatrade Trophy showing gives selection headaches
Walsall’s performance in their Checkatrade Trophy win over Albion has given boss Jon Whitney a selection headache for their league clash at Oxford, Neil Cutler believes.
The first-team coach said both he and Whitney were delighted with the Saddlers performance as they secured a 3-1 victory over the Baggies’ under-21 side.
After falling behind to a first-half Rayaan Tulloch goal, Walsall hit back after the interval with goals from Reece Flanagan, Zeli Ismail and Luke Leahy securing a convincing win.
Whitney experimented with his team selection on the night with Flanagan, Ismail, Liam Roberts and Maz Kouyhar all making their first starts of the season.
And Cutler believes the display has given the coaching staff something to think about ahead of the trip to the Kassam Stadium.
“I thought we were excellent against Albion from start to finish,” he said.
“We wanted to use the game to push a few of our players and get them some minutes. We wanted to play a few of the younger players who we feel need to show what they can do.
“And they didn’t let us down. I thought they were excellent throughout.
“They have given us a few headaches. But they always do because their attitude day in, day out is first-class.
“They come in and put a shift in every day. That is what our philosophy is all about – come in, be yourself and work as hard as you possibly can.”
Cutler was particularly pleased with the performances of widemen Ismail and Kieron Morris as Walsall switched to a traditional 4-4-2 formation.
“We needed to see what Zeli could do and I thought he was first class,” Cutler continued.
“I thought our two wide players in particular were excellent. It was a chance for us to play Kieron on the left because he normally likes to play on the right.
“He was direct and he got balls in the box. His work rate was excellent and I thought they both did really well out of possession.
“The game was a chance to look at different players and different formations and we will continue to work on that because there will be times we flip formation.
“We have to have that in our locker, to be able to play different formations and understand them when we do.”