I should be working but easing myself back in I side-tracked myself doing some analysis of our goals this season and when they were scored.
Very strong showing in the second half of our league games but also the pattern is repeated in Cup games too (which, unless I counted wrongly, we scored Zero in the first half of any our 9 cup games, yet 12 in the 2nd halves).
Someone could no doubt make this look better than my limitations on Excel but here you go:
I used the BBC Football site and regrettably it doesn’t have results for the first half of last season, with no match info before Jan 2024, so that gets me off that hook.
Combined with a superior squad, I think it’d certainly show how Sadler has developed as a manager. We routinely seemed to run out of steam last season and substitutions often seemed questionable. Nice to be wrong about a manager and credit to Trivela for their decision making.
There is an argument that all three defeats this season, could have been turned round. But that’s me being greedy.
I bet many seasoned Saddlers are fearing the wheels will come off sometime soon, but perhaps just like the games we have played, collectively the second half of the season could be stronger than the first.
The County performance showed that waiting in the wings, we have some real talent and strength.
It doesn’t have to be a season of two halves if the mentality is right.
Fleetwood were really good. I am baffled why they haven’t done better this season. It shows how hard it is to get a side to perform week in week out and this is why Sadler deserves praise.
Given we’re untouchable in the 2nd half of games… imagine what we’ll do in the 2nd half of the season!!
The 2nd half of games in the 2nd half of the season could get crazy!
My mates and I have called it the ‘Walsall rope-a-dope’. We feel teams out and then go for them in the second half. There was someone who said that a team would have to bury us in the first half for us to not have a chance. I agree.
