First team coach Brian Barry-Murphy spoke to www.rochdaleafc.co.uk ahead of Rochdale’s League One fixture at the Banks’s Stadium…
“We know that Walsall are a very good team and they’re in very good form,” said Barry-Murphy.
“We’ve had some great games with them over the last few years, and there are a lot of similarities between the two teams/ clubs in terms of the playing squad size and type of players that they and we have.
“Erhun Oztumer, who scored a hattrick in their win over Southend United on Saturday, is probably the outstanding individual who attracts the attention, but they’ve got a good balanced squad full of hard-working players, including Adam Chambers, who is an ex-team mate of mine. They have an unbelievable work ethic there, very much like ourselves, when it comes to the manager and the players.”
Dale’s game against Plymouth Argyle fell foul of the weather at the weekend, resulting in a postponement, but the players have still been working hard in preparation for the match against the Saddlers.
“Once the Spurs game finished, our focus was straight back on the next game, which was Plymouth, and that was reinforced by the manager in the dressing room at Wembley, so the lads were tuned into Plymouth from Wednesday night onwards.
“When that was postponed on Friday morning, we started our preparations for Walsall, and trained as normal on Friday and Saturday for the match, so the lads are ready for the game and we’re fully prepared. It’s one we’re looking forward to and we can’t for Tuesday night.”
With recent performances in the league deserving more than results suggest, Barry-Murphy believes that if the players continue putting in those types of displays then results will follow.
“We’ve been in good form performance wise over a period of time, but results haven’t reflected that, which, at the end of the day, is all that matters. The lads are well aware of that, so if we can play as well as we know we can do, then we’re more than capable of getting a result.
“The players are fully focused on putting in the type of performances that we know we’re capable of, and if we do that, then the results will hopefully follow suit.”