Walsall and Grimsby Town face off with both teams aiming for a strong season

Both teams finished mid-table last term, and both will feel an opening day win will be the first step to pushing up the league.

Walsall and Grimsby were solid mid-table teams last season, neither looking up, neither looking down. Both have had rebuilds, however they have been rebuilds of different sorts. Walsall needed gutting, from top to bottom, and saw a new owner, manager, coaching team, and players come in. Grimsby’s change have come in the form of Ian Holloway, who came in at the end of December, as a manager and a stakeholder. He took the time to asses his team, whilst making a couple of changes in January, before really starting to reshape Grimsby in the summer. This is different to Walsall, who enter this game with a very settled side. The transfers manager Darrell Clarke has made have been to add depth, rather than wholesale changes. So it will be a ‘new look’ Grimsby, against a same set-up Walsall.

Every team wants to start the season strongly, however this opening day is unlike any before, as both teams have had two competitive fixtures this week already, and both have seen their two games go to penalties. Walsall had a tough tie against Sheffield Wednesday last weekend, where they defended well and drew 0-0. But they lost on penalties which saw them out of the Carabao Cup at the first hurdle. Grimsby drew 1-1 with Morecambe, and also lost on penalties. In their EFL Trophy games, both drew 2-2, before winning on penalties at the second time of asking. Walsall took on League One Bristol Rovers, while Grimsby faced League Two newbies Harrogate.

It will be tough, hard fought game. As both teams have slowly been getting into their groove this week. Grimsby named two very different line-ups between their two games, though they may class their EFL Trophy team as a second string side. However, getting a positive result, shows the depth at their disposal. The same can be said for Walsall, who fielded a line-up that was much changed, but less so than Grimsby.

Team news

There were no injuries in either of Walsall’s cup games. Danny Guthrie and Stuart Sinclair missed both, however Clarke has given a clean bill of health for the game. But this is Darrell Clarke, who feels that telling the press who is unavailable is doing the opposition’s scouting work for them. There could be league debuts for George Nurse, Hayden White and Emmanuel Osadebe. Walsall have signed, Rory Holden and Jack Rose, both were on loan last season, and both will be looking forward to staking a claim for a second time around.

Grimsby and their team are a little tough to predict. I would assume it will be more alike to that of their Carabao Cup outing, however any players who impressed in mid-week could well feature. New boys Sean Scannell, Danny Rose and George Williams all feaured, so I would expect to see them again this weekend. It is shame to see any player missing the start of the season, and Grimsby will be sad to see James Hanson, Luke Hendry and Max Wright miss out, the latter coming off in the game against Morecambe.

Key Players

Walsall will be looking to Rory Holden to be a key that unlocks the Grimsby defence tomorrow. He’s had a good pre-season, and shown that he is already improving from last season. In the cup games, he struggled against Sheffield Wednesday, however that was to be expected. In mid-week, he changed the game when he came on, and made Walsall look a more potent threat.

Grimsby will be looking to Elliot Hewitt to counter the threat of Holden. Hewitt works hard for the team, and although players in his role often don’t get the recognition they deserve, he did get big praise from his manager for his efforts this week:

“The performance the other day, I thought (Elliott) Hewitt and Ludvig Ohman were absolute mountains in there, absolutely fantastic.”

For me, that will be the key battle. If Hewitt can snuff out Holden, and stop him pressing Walsall’s attack, then Grimsby will be off to a good start.

Managers

Darrell Clarke has been speaking very highly of his good friend Ian Holloway, who was on hand to help Clarke when he managed Bristol Rovers:

“I get on really well with Ian, who was very supportive when I was managing Bristol Rovers,”

“He’s a top guy. He says it how it is as well, he doesn’t mix his words, but he’s earned that right – he’s a top, top manager.

Despite the praise, Clarke will be wanting to get one over on someone he feels is a mentor figure, and Holloway won’t want to see someone he has guided getting the better of him.

Clarke can be very secretive about his line-ups, and selection issues, however he did elude to a fully fit squad:

“The players fitness levels are good and the beauty for me is it looks like I have a fully fit squad which was always the aim goal in pre-season, which is good news,”

“One or two are lacking match minutes so you have to do a bit of juggling as a manager.

Both managers have similar personalities, both are very loud, and call things how they see them. They are both, however, very smart managers, and don’t give things away that they don’t want to, despite their open personalities, and seeing them go up against each other will be one many are looking forward to seeing.

 

Head to Head

The two teams only played once last season, which saw a resounding 3-1 win for Grimsby. The game itself saw the Mariners side excel, with a Walsall team that weren’t at the races. The big difference that day, a certain James Hanson, who found himself on the score-sheet twice. Prior to this, the teams last league meeting was all the way back in 2007, which means that the formbook of these games is a history waiting to be written, and Grimsby will be after another solid win at Walsall.

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