Jon Whitney: Walsall need to find more fight

Goals from Alex Rodman and Abu Ogogo saw the Saddlers slip to a 2-0 loss against their West Midlands rivals on Saturday.

The result prompted an angry backlash from fans with many calling for the manager to relieved of his duties while a 'Whitney Out' banner was also unveiled.

And with his team having now lost four of their last five, Whitney conceded something has got to change.

"I need to take a good look at things, the players themselves have to have a good look at things and then collectively as a group we need to look at it," he said.

"Something isn't working. We need to find more fight.

"It’s no good me trying to enthuse the players every week, they have to find it within themselves. They have to find more belief.

"We can just keep saying they are a young team and young players. They are playing in League One, they are playing men's football.

"I want people to step forward in the next seven to 10 days before we play Wigan."

Walsall are not in action this weekend with Wigan set to play Southampton in the sixth round of the FA Cup.

Whitney could also see a number of his young players called up for international duty ahead of the game at Oldham on March 24.

And the boss admitted he's got a tough few weeks ahead.

"It's a bad thing we've now got such a long break," Whitney continued.

"You don’t want that long to put things right.

"On the one hand it does give us a chance to work on a few things.

"But you can also have to add to that with the international break, a few players will be possibly going away.

"I think it’s going to be testing times. I think the squad will be threadbare if those players are called up. But that is what we have to deal with."