11 September 2021

Matthew Taylor believes George Miller can thrive at Walsall

11 September 2021

Walsall boss Matthew Taylor believes the Saddlers will benefit from being George Miller’s last-chance saloon after the loan striker marked his home debut with a brace in a 3-1 win over Mansfield.

The former Bury forward’s career has stalled since moves to Championship sides Middlesbrough and Barnsley – and he left the Tykes to join Walsall on loan on transfer deadline day.

Miller outmuscled Elliott Hewitt to fire home the Saddlers’ early opener and, after lashing a stunning 25-yard volley against the bar, repeated the feat to rob Richard Nartey to slot home his second.

Taylor said: “George gives us a different dimension up front, he gives us somebody that is strong and willing and you can see he can finish.

“He’s very aware of his situation at the moment – this loan must work for him and from my perspective it’s a great position for us to be in with a player who’s that hungry.

“If you watched his performance today, you wouldn’t know he was only on loan with us and that speaks volumes about the type of person he is.

“It was outrageous the half-volley he hit, I couldn’t quite believe it and if that’s anything to go by I’m excited to see him in a Walsall shirt again.

“The players were exceptional today, their work rate, their attitude. We were dogged, we worked hard but I think George’s tenacity sets the team off.

“He’s got his goals because he’s worked his socks off today for 90 minutes and that’s why we worked so tirelessly to bring him to the club.”

Mansfield slumped to a fifth straight defeat in all competitions, slipping to 20th, and only bottom side Oldham have conceded more.

Ash Taylor headed Walsall’s second from a corner to compound Mansfield’s ongoing set-piece woes before Danny Johnson lashed in a late consolation.

“I thought it was an inept performance from start to finish, certainly defensively,” slammed boss Nigel Clough.

“When you concede two goals straight down the middle of the pitch, two-on-one, it’s very difficult. We know we’ve got centre-half problems but we didn’t think they were that bad.

“We’ve conceded far too many goals and you saw a negative reaction from us certainly after that first goal and also when the second goal went in.

“Harrogate last week scored three goals from set-plays against us – today it’s just two clearances down the middle and a set-play again.

“I wish we could go back to making four or five substitutions like we could last season because we would have made four at half-time.

“We missed our senior players – you miss your captain Ollie Clarke, your vice-captain James Perch, the next one down Stephen Quinn. Three leaders on the pitch missing today and it showed.”

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