Oldham v Walsall: Darrell Clarke calling on Saddlers improvement
Walsall boss Darrell Clarke is asking for his players to ‘stand up and be counted’ as they look to overturn their recent poor form.
The 2-1 loss at home to Cheltenham on Saturday made it three defeats in a row for the Saddlers after disappointing showings against Salford and Leyton Orient.
They now look to tonight’s clash away at Oldham, who are also struggling in the league.
Dino Maamria’s Latics sit 21st in the division, with only two wins in 14 games, and come off the back of a 1-0 loss to Macclesfield.
Before that, they were hammered 6-1 by Mansfield, losing Tomas Egert and Filipe Morais to red cards.
Walsall sit two places and four points ahead of Oldham and will be looking to create more daylight between themselves and the bottom clubs.
And Clarke insists his side must do better than their recent showings, but claims that this game is no bigger than any other.
“It’s a strong league, but I’m not saying it’s a very good league,” he said.
“We’re just rubbish at the minute, that’s fact. It’s a league that if you show a bit of quality and stop giving rubbish goals away and do things right, it’s not hard to shoot up the table.
“They’re all massive.
“But we’re miles away from top seven, let’s get it out of our heads, we’re not a top seven team.
“There’s no excuses for me, we have to be better.
“Obviously there’s a lot of work to be done. I’m not a rookie manager. When you lose games as a manager you’re rubbish, when players lose games they’re rubbish, I get it.
“I don’t moan about it, I say just try to cut my players a bit of slack if we can.
“It’s hard for the fans to do that – give it to me, I picked them, I brought them to the club.
“They have to stand up and be counted, but more so myself.”
Striker Josh Gordon got his first goal of the season in the Cheltenham loss, winning and then taking a penalty to draw his team level. And the 24-year-old is hoping Walsall can bounce back from the loss.
“We need to try and change what’s been going on,” he said. “That’s what happened last time (at Morecambe) and we went on a bit of a run.
“It’s a Tuesday game, a quick turnaround, and we can bounce back.
“That’s the main thing, starting again and hopefully get something out of the game.”
