Academy boss on stalemate...
ACADEMY boss, Neil Woods, wants his players to rediscover their ‘killer streak’ in front of goal after watching his side draw 0-0 with Carlisle United at Ray Hall Lane on Saturday afternoon.
The youngsters were left to rue missed chances as they dropped two points in The Football League Youth Alliance North-West Division title race.
Woods was evidently disappointed at the final whistle and is desperate to see his side return to the form that they showed earlier in the season.
“I think we are having too many of this type of game and have been since the beginning of December,” admitted Woods. “There is a pattern that has been forming since early December, we don’t score enough goals for the control that we have in games.
“Over the course of the game we have had three or four one-on-one’s with their goalkeeper and for all the passing we do, we don’t have a killer streak about us, we don’t have that ruthless streak to score goals at the moment.
“We don’t get enough people into the right positions for the possession we have. We work the ball up the pitch well, we work the ball into the last third well, then you are looking for a little bit of creativity.
“The lads need to show more endeavour to get into areas where you might get hurt but you also might score goals. As a team we don’t have that at the moment.”
Woods believes that recent postponements may have disrupted his side’s rhythm and wants to see them rediscover the form that saw them win ten of their opening 14 matches this season as quickly as possible.
“I think if there was an outside factor it would be that we haven’t played for three weeks, I think that there was an edge missing from our performance today,” he added. “We’ve got to keep attempting to play the same football, which is what we do at Walsall. We try to play possession based football, but we need to have more heart and desire to score a goal in and around the last third and in the penalty area.
"At the moment, the only goals that we are scoring are very good team goals and you can’t just score goals like that, you have to score all different types of goals.
“It is something we have got to rectify, whether that’s through bringing younger lads up and changing positions or systems. But I think goalscoring is very much an attitude of mind and desire.”
Despite this setback Woods’ side are still challenging at the top of the division and travel to high-flying Wigan Athletic next Saturday (kick off 11.00am), looking to return to winning ways.
By ALEX DICKEN