George Bennett on why defensive reinforcements are still needed at Walsall

Express & Star

George Bennett and Jonny Drury discuss Walsall's defensive players - and why they still need to strengthen.  David Okagbue handed the Saddlers a boost last week - by rejecting a contract offer at Stoke City to pen a two year deal at the Bescot.  George discusses the signing of last season's loanee, and why there is still a need for other defensive recruits in Mat Sadler's squad.

Transcript

00:00How do you view how Matt Sadler will now go about shaping his defence for next season?

00:29It was an area where they suffered a lot of injuries. The players that came in did okay.

00:35But if you look at the statistics, you know, Khagboue was one of the defenders, part of

00:38that defence that shipped 73 goals last season. You know, some sort of notable bad days at

00:46the office for the back line. You know, his return is positive. But how do you see things

00:51shaping up for the rest of the summer in terms of how Matt Sadler will want to bring that

00:56number down and solidify his back line?

01:00Yeah, I think firstly, it was a sign that Walsall and the fan base needed, you know,

01:05in the wake of Hutchinson's departure and Dan Watson's departure, they needed some positive

01:12news. And I think Khagboue's return is definitely that. The fact that he rejected a contract at

01:18Stoke where, you know, he probably wasn't going to get the same game time. And he clearly looked

01:23at his career and thought, I really enjoyed my time at Walsall and the progress that I

01:26made at Walsall last season. And I want to join them permanently. So that's a really

01:30positive move that you got a player that wants to join the club and do well with the club.

01:33And in terms of the defence, yeah, you know, there were some bad days at the office. There

01:39were some really good defensive performances as well. But, you know, it's about, Matt Sadler

01:44said after the final game, it's about reducing those days where Walsall just completely

01:49capitulate, you know, 4-0 against Sutton, the 5-0 defeat against MK Donne, the 3-0 defeat

01:58against Newport, those types of games, you know, Khagboue wasn't involved in that final day

02:05defeat against Wimbledon. But Matt Sadler said that the defence was going to be an area he's

02:08going to address. This goes some way to doing so. And, you know, although I think Khagboue was

02:13fantastic for Walsall last season, he's still a young player and it would be good to see some

02:18experience injected into the back line. Oshin McKenney will be back next season. Will he play

02:24in midfield? Will he come back into the back line or will Matt Sadler kind of alternate between the

02:29two? So that's a really good option to be able to bring back. Harry Williams should be back. So

02:34that's another plus. So there will be options coming back. But there's clearly question marks.

02:39I mean, Donovan Daniels suffered an injury in February, never quite came back the same player.

02:44Can he kind of hit the ground running at the start of the season and prove a point to the

02:48Walsall fans? Priestley Farquharson, another play, put in some fantastic performances for Walsall,

02:54but his first season was plagued with injury. Clearly a player that Walsall will benefit from

02:59if they can keep him fit. But do you kind of go into the season relying on players that maybe,

03:05especially in Farquharson's case, couldn't quite prove their fitness last season? So it feels to

03:11me that Walsall bringing Akagbewe back in is a great addition to the defence. Obviously Taylor

03:20Allen as well, I forgot about that one last season, played at left centre back and did really

03:24well. But it just feels that maybe Walsall need one more experienced head to come into the defence

03:29just to shore them up and safeguard them from hopefully those days of capitulations that we

03:35seen at times last season.

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