PeteG

Don't disagree with you, I don't believe Unsworth is the man to bring any long term success, I wouldn't have appointed him in the first place but he was always coming once the Royles were involved.

I don't think there is an open cheque book in all fairness. With the exception of Norwood we aren't talking vast sums, certainly not to the levels of Wrexham but certainly in the top 2 in this division and that's what it boils down to. The league is crap and we are under achieving and it's either poor recruitment or the manager, possibly a combination of the 2.

The problem is, I don't believe the recruitment department has done a very good job so far, whether that's down to them or the manager, I don't know. The squad looks unbalanced to me, we've got too many strikers, i've already made the point elsewhere about getting Raglan after we signed Hobson and they tried to shoe horn all 3 CB's in 1st game up. Lack of a RB, which fair enough has been rectified but should have been done earlier as well as addressing the midfield. I honestly don't believe the recruitment is all that it's cracked up to be. We have signed Reid and Willoughby who have barely had a look in. Honestly think we should have a settled, preferred system and recruit the players to fit that not just think he's a good player who's available, let's get him. It certainly looks like a scatter gun approach at the moment and is a continuation of last season.

On the pitch, it most certainly is!

No mates of mine appointed Keith Curle, I can assure you of that. I know exactly who was responsible for that decision. I'd have never got rid of Harry Kewell or a number of his predecessors for that matter.

If and it's still a big if, but if we only get 1pt or even 0pts from the next 2 games then surely it's time to pull the plug. He won't just have had 5 games he will have had almost a full 12 months and if we are sat in the relegation places after all the investment, then i don't really believe it would a knee jerk reaction as Matt Dean was suggesting on the pod this week. I didn't think he was the man to lead us to a promotion and I actually thought it may be around October, November with us sat mid-table that might lead us to getting rid but surely if we are in the relegation places in 2 games time, it's time for him to go. My issue is, who is making that call? If it's down to DR rather than the Rothwell's then is he going to stand by his man? Remember, he was given the job with no interview process and the other question is, who would be selecting the next manager? No more jobs for the boys, we need a real process, you can have all the stats and recruitment structure in place but the most important position you ever recruit for is the 1st team manager. Who is qualified to make that decision within the club? If DR wants to throw a hissy fit should they decide to get rid of Unsworth then he can go too for me.

Thought Norwood was head and shoulders above anyone else on the pitch today. He came short, linked play, gave us a real physical presence and obviously looked a real goal threat. Nuttall linked really well with him. Dickenson obviously did well and scored a great goal but not sure how he got MOM ahead of Norwood. I also thought Shelton was very good today, looked very controlled and Tollit confirmed what i said last season, he does look a footballer who can actually control it and pick a pass. All in all a good performance.

He also said he'd found a club and everyone had left who they wanted to leave. I'll take what DU says with a pinch of salt.

He also said he was training at home and had been given a training plan, think i'd rather train with the youths like Wheater had to!

I've always liked David Artell, did well at Crewe for the majority of his time there. Bit strange hes not had another job since but he did say he needed a rest having done literally everything at Crewe. Plays decent football and I think he would be a good fit for us.

He's signed 4 strikers and apparently doesn't fancy at least 3 of them! The man needs to go.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not judging them at all yet. i'm just thinking we may have over estimated how good the squad and recruitment is, when the reality is, with the exception of Norwood, they all have a lot to prove. I still think we will be in and around the play-offs because the league is absolutely terrible.

100% with Norwood, he's the exception i'd have thought, clearly good enough to be playing 2 levels higher. The rest of them are very much unproven and why I think expectations are a little high among the fanbase. We have been going on about signing lads from Gateshead, Altrincham and Chester as if they are the best signings the club has ever made. No disrespect to those 3 clubs but if we had signed these players 3 years ago there would have been the proverbial piss boil on twitter by some.

Agree with that as I stated in a previous post somewhere. I can't believe questions haven't been asked when Unsworth has asked to sign striker after striker yet then fields a team with 7 defensive minded players. If I was Chairman or CEO and the manager came asking for another striker, my immediate response would be what about the other 3 or 4 we have signed for you that we the supposed answer to our prayers? I'm not sure this recruitment department is all it's cracked up to be but then i'm old fashioned in believing managers should have full say when it comes to signing players, after all he has to pick the team.

Bizarre given he's signed Nuttall, Reid and Willoughby. How long will it be before he doesn't fancy Norwood. The only striker that has improved ironically is Fondop who Shez signed.

What makes you think he doesn't fancy Willoughby btw? Apart from the obvious, that's hes had very little game time in pre-season and sat on the bench Saturday, it seems bizarre that having chased him for so long, he now doesn't fancy him or is it possible Unsworth hasn't signed him and it's down to the recruitment department?

I can answer that now, Chesterfield are. We brought in Reid because Nuttall turned us down, only to end up getting Nuttall anyway, meaning Reid has become some what surplus to requirements. Raglan was offered to us and we couldn't turn him down despite just having signed Hobson and the captain happens to be a CB too, so we have had to shoe horn the 3 of them into the side. To compound the error with either Reid or Nuttall we then went and signed Willoughby having chased him for approx. 10 months and now the consensus is, we don't fancy him. We've failed to address the midfield problem or the RB issue. During Unsworths time we must have signed around 15 players and despite the setup of having 10 scouts, all singing data, i've yet to see more than 1 signing that has made a massive difference. The 1 signing who did was Yarney and he's gone and I'd hazard a guess he was asking for less than we are paying Raglan or Norwood. If I was Frank, i'd be asking him to unload a few more before sanctioning anymore signings.

I wouldn't say that, but spending money is no guarantee you get the recruitment right. Look at Chelsea and United over the past few seasons compared with City and Liverpool. All 4 have spent similar amounts yet 2 of them seem to have been far more successful with the players they brought in and seem to have a set plan in terms of positions and types of players they go for whilst you could argue the first 2 have had a scatter gun approach. We seem to have the scatter gun approach atm

This is my point really, whilst I don't think Unsworth is the answer, we still haven't recruited the right players. There's been a lot of hype about the ones we have recruited but there are question marks over all of them bar Norwood. Given the recruitment last season with the likes of Nuttall didn't fill me with any great confidence, i just don't think the team/squad is as good as many think it is.

RWB is a specialised position that very few can actually play well. It should be reserved for elite players. Even at the top of the game some are much better going forward (TAA) and some are better defenders naturally (Kyle Walker). I think it's ridiculous to ask a young lad just starting his career who is a CB to even try and play there. Even a very good experienced CB would struggle.

Not sure Norman can be blamed for any of the goals in all honesty, could he have done better? possibly, but they were hardly howlers. He's an average NL keeper, but if your midfield and defence back off as much as we did yesterday and invite the opposition to get within shooting range unchallenged and still don't pressure the ball once they are around the edge of the box you are asking for trouble regardless of who is in goal. Norman isn't our biggest issue by a long way, the tactics of backing off and the midfield in general is.

I can't remember when it was tbh but glad you were keeping tabs on me. I will add on the recruitment side, I have a feeling we have become over reliant on stats, not just Latics but people in general. They can tell you anything but I don't think you can beat what your eyes tell you. i remember Dino telling me that Mouche covered the most miles in almost every game according to the data, there was no way that could be true, I even asked him whether he wasn't sure Mouche was swopping his GPS vest with Missilou at the time. Also, why have we recruited striker after striker, is it because they haven't been happy with the ones they got in the first place, which makes you question what they are doing. We need far more balance in the squad, we have possibly too many CB's not enough MF or full backs and certainly too many forwards to keep them all happy. I personally think they will off load one or two of the forwards and hopefully recruit a couple for the middle of the park which will control the tempo of the game. What's happened with Rooney, i've heard the rumours he was training with the youths or at home with a training programme but I though Unsworth said he had found a new club? It's obvious he's not part of the plans but with 2 decent strikers to feed he could be a short term answer.

Fairly predictable since the season started yesterday and i don't bother with pre-season

I'm certainly no fan of Unsworth but I do feel he will be here until at least the end of October unless we lose the first 4 or 5 games, which in all honesty i can't see happening, the league is that poor, we will pick up wins over the next few weeks and I can see us around the play-off positions or not too far away. However, there is a bit of over expectation regarding these signings. With the exception of Norwood who clearly is good enough to be playing 2 divisions higher, how good are the others? Ward did ok for Gateshead who finished in the bottom half, Lundstrum was playing for Alty and when tried at EFL level with Crewe didn't make the grade. Raglan was a bit part player for Cheltenham and is probably on the slide given his age. Willoughby scored goals in the league below. For all the talk of the attacking talent, I don't think it's anywhere near the standard Kewell had at his disposal 2 or 3 years ago when we were banging goals in for fun. If we had signed a lad from Gateshead, Altrincham and Chester the fans would have been in uproar. Our midfield is really poor and the recruitment team don't seem to have addressed this. How much say is Unsworth having on the recruitment? To put it bluntly, i think we are miles off challenging for the title but the league is that poor we should be in or around the play-off positions most of the season. Think we might have to adjust our expectations, Norwood won't make us a title winning side on his own as McAleney proved just a few seasons ago.

They say a weeks a long time in politics, well it's certainly a long time at BP. I would over 95% wanted him gone after the Gateshead loss last week, yet 2 fantastic away wins later, it does seem we may have turned the corner. I'm not getting carried away, we need to keep this going and finish top half now to give us genuine belief for next season. If Unsworth does pull this off long term we will all be eating humble pie and the board would need to be congratulated for holding their nerve.