Home
Kieran Sadlier has been told what he must do to earn a regular spot at Wanderers.
The former Rotherham United man came off the bench at Fleetwood to create an equaliser for Conor Bradley but has been used sparingly in League One this season.
Sadlier has completed just 180 minutes of league football – but Ian Evatt was pleased with his performance after replacing Owen Beck at Highbury.
“Kieran’s challenge is to have that impact from minute one,” he said. “The game suited him because we’re able to utilise him in different positions and we could utilise him as a wing-back because the game was literally in their final third.
“He was almost an out and out winger at times, getting on the ball, he’s able to cross off both feet, which is really good for us because defenders don’t know which way to show him.
“I’m pleased with them all. I can’t speak highly enough of what they’ve achieved out there.”
Beck had been given the first league start of his career on the left, as part of a starting line-up with the youngest average age of any Evatt has named in League One.
“It’s not easy to come into an environment like this and a game like this when things haven’t been going really well for us the last month or so,” the manager said.
“But Owen took it all in his stride. He’s not part of Liverpool’s team and squad for no reason, he’s a really good player. That young four across the middle of the pitch was fantastic.”
Wanderers have a Papa Johns Trophy game against Barrow on Tuesday night but have no fixture on Saturday, which gives them plenty of time to prepare for a Friday night game against Bristol Rovers on December 2.
Evatt will also have some welcome selection problems to consider after subs like Sadlier, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Josh Sheehan pushed their claims at Fleetwood.
Criticism of recent performances had put some pressure on the outcome of Saturday’s game and Evatt was delighted with the way his whole squad stuck to task.
“We’ve got a really good squad of players and it’s challenging to pick 11, it’s really challenging to pick 18, but I have a massive amount of belief in all of them to affect games when they’re all positive,” he said.
“Sometimes it’s hard to stay positive when there’s been an air of negativity around, but what we’ve spoken about is the white noise and blocking that out. Things that we can’t affect and concentrate on the things that we can control and affect.
“At the end of the day, football is 11 v 11, one against one, crowd noise is amazing but it’s about focusing and remaining disciplined on what we’re trying to do and how we’re trying to affect the opposition and implementing and executing our game plan. Today we executed perfectly, I was so proud of the players because that was a really good performance.”
Source