Danny Webb spoke to the media on Friday morning ahead of the Spireites’ League Two trip to Walsall, with Chesterfield looking to get one over the Saddlers after play-off semi-final defeat at the end of last season.
Beginning with a reflection on the midweek performance at Crewe, he said: “Obviously it was disappointing. It was addressed Thursday morning. We went through a few things, but probably put it to bed relatively quickly because our bread and butter is the league and, with a massive game at Walsall coming up, I think it was important that the gaffer used his experience to not linger on it too much.
“The coach was obviously very quiet on the way home; the dressing room was very quiet. Obviously there wasn’t a lack of effort, but when you lose 7 -1 it probably isn’t a very good team performance, let’s be perfectly honest. So, it has been put to bed but a lot of issues were addressed.”
The assistant manager then gave an injury update, saying: “Matt Dibley-Dias is going to need operation on his knee, which could potentially keep him out over two to three months minimum. It’s not good, not good for the lad, not good for us, because he was playing ever so well.
“Dylan Duffy has a little cyst on his knee that was affected and disrupted with a tackle against Crawley, but that will only be a week or two.
“A few weeks ago, we were saying how we’ve got to keep the slate clean on the injuries and improve from last year and we’ve got a bad one already, so we’ve got to hope that pattern doesn’t continue. But if it does, we’re going to have to roll with the punches and produce better results than last year when we had some injuries.”
With Walsall up next, Webb gave his thoughts ahead of the clash.
“We played them four times last year and only got one point,” he said. “We’ve overcome last year’s results at Cheltenham and Harrogate this year, but I think Walsall will be a different test.
“Their stats already are showing that they don’t concede many, but they haven’t scored too many either, whereas we’ve scored the most and conceded more than we want.
“There are similar patterns to last year, albeit six games in, but we’re second in the league. We have to remember that. We’re five points better off than we were last year at this stage and if the season was to stop Saturday night and we win, we’d be promoted.
“They’ve changed quite a few of their players from last season but they play in a very similar and very effective way. We’re going to have to stand up to the challenges, it’s two different footballing styles coming head-to-head. Last year they come out on top, so we’re going to have to improve in certain areas.”
Watch the full interview here.
