New boss Lee Grant vows to bring "aggression" to Walsall's attack

New head coach Lee Grant insists he wants to bring “aggression” to Walsall’s attacking play next season.

Walsall netted just 24 goals in League Two after the turn of the year - including only six across their final 10 home games.

They eventually finished the season with a record of 56 goals scored, which was the joint-14th lowest in the division.

Meanwhile, Grant was dismissed by his former club Huddersfield Town in January with the best attacking record in League One - having plundered 46 in 27 games.

Grant outlines his ‘aggressive’ Walsall vision

“It may shock a few people in terms of where I played as a player, but my teams have scored a lot of goals,” Grant explained.

“I enjoy coaching teams that play aggressively when it comes to that.

“Look to threaten the opposition back-line, look to create ways to score goals, look to be really positive and aggressive in terms of having numbers in the right areas.

“If you look back over the last 12 months, that’s probably an area where we can improve.”

Walsall will be without the services of former loanee Daniel Kanu - who has returned to his parent club Charlton Athletic after scoring 18 goals last term.

Aaron Loupalo-Bi has also headed back to Fulham - while Jamille Matt and Josh Gordon have been released.

Grant targeting improvement after attacking shortcomings

That leaves just Aaron Pressley, who scored seven times during his debut season last term, as the only contracted out-and-out striker.

Grant admits that there is plenty of work ahead this summer, but that areas of improvement required have already been discussed in-depth with the Walsall board.

He added: “We want to be a young, hungry and aggressive team. We know that’s not easy and some of that is going to have to come down to how we recruit this summer.

“Can we improve upon some of the areas where we feel we have fallen short this year?

“We’ve looked at those in-depth across the course of my recruitment process and my time at the club so far.

“Some of the things I have identified have aligned very closely with what the football club have seen and felt over the past 12 months.

“That has encouraged us to take these next steps together. The goal is to help give the team some really strong principles around how aggressive we are out of possession and how positive we are in possession.

“That gives us an opportunity to score more goals and be an aggressive, attacking team.”