'We just weren't ourselves' - Walsall boss Sadler
Walsall slipped to a third home league defeat of the season on Saturday
- Published
Walsall boss Mat Sadler believes a loss of identity was to blame for Saturday's 2-0 home defeat to Colchester which saw his side slip off the top of League Two.
The Saddlers conceded both goals during a disappointing first-half display which ultimately brought a third league defeat in four and back-to-back home losses.
It allowed Swindon Town to leapfrog them into top spot despite being held to a draw on a day where the top three all failed to win.
"We weren't quite aggressive enough, we weren't quite athletic enough, we just weren't us, basically," Sadler told BBC Radio WM.
"The second goal made it a real uphill task, and enabled them to sit in.
"I thought we played much better in the second half, and we were a lot more like ourselves, but we gave ourselves too much to climb."
Sadler saw his side fall behind for a sixth league game in a row, taking seven points from losing positions in that sequence.
They have also now failed to score a first-half goal in six of their past seven league matches, but the head coach does not believe a uniform trend is developing.
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"I'm not one massively for looking for things like that - I don't want to make things out of things that aren't," he said.
"I thought we were great last week (a 4-2 win versus Newport) - played really well, deservedly won that game.
"And in the previous couple of defeats before that, I thought we've played really well. It wasn't that today.
"We weren't ourselves in that first half and we have to lick our wounds and see that sometimes that is the case in the meandering of a season.
"But we have to make sure that we keep putting a flag in the ground for what we do and who we are.
"It's just important we recognise who we are, what we are like, what we do, how we want to play and how effective the way that we play is.
"Also when teams set up to be slightly different, we have to problem-solve that and make sure our basics are still our basics, but problem-solve those moments a little bit better than we did today."