nzlatic

We just looked desperate to get to half time. Retreated until the inevitable.

Saved by the flag. How was there no pressure on that cross?

He went off injured on Saturday so I presume not recovered enough. Looked like he jarred his knee or something like that.

What a cracking finish. Get in! Good example of our issues a bit before when Dallas broke away, commentators mentioned the lack of Oldham players joining the break.

Yet again ref lets a wild foul go. He’ll have the card out the first time any of ours do something similar.

We haven’t won in 9. Be interested to hear who should be playing to make us more likely to win.

We play again 38 hours after the final whistle. I’m not surprised to see a bit of a shuffle.

I'm not talking about fans forums, I don't think they really do anyone any favours. Apart from the cricket club one which was gold. The club has a captive online audience and a summer with no football being played. A comms expert would work out a way to use that to start building some sort of relationship between managers/players and fans. Speculation on my part though this, I am not a comms expert, or even a comms anything. But I think there's an opportunity to do something that can have a positive effect and build up some momentum/excitement ahead of next season.

They've had no issue increasing the number of champions league games they play over the last few years. Funny that.

I agree. It often gets said that we're no different than other clubs in this regard but I don't believe that. We have had a far worse time of it than pretty much any other club over the last 30 years (unless you want to count ones going bust). So that makes it understandable that there's a more toxic element among our fans than others. What I think the club needs to do is understand that and look at ways it can try to help things. It's too passive just to say it'll be fine once results pick up. What could the club be doing over the summer to try and improve the relationship between club, players, management and fans for example? This isn't a 'fans fault' post. It's trying to acknowledge what we've been through as a fan base and understand the anger on the terraces over things not being better than they are yet. And everyone (eg club/fans/oasf) trying to proactively do something about it rather than just wait for us to win.

Sounds like despite all the changes, the red card and not having a keeper in goal for the 2nd half Gateshead still could have got something out of that game. Looking at the remaining fixtures I'd say your biggest threat to getting 7th is us losing tonight! Although I'll remain hopeful we can stay in the hunt against all the odds.

It’s not being diplomatic. Just stated some facts. Apart from the bit about his salary which was a guess.

He’s only 27, has played in a couple of different positions, has been promoted twice from this league, was loved by Hartlepool fans and I can’t imagine he’ll be on a massive salary. It’s not worked out for him here at all but I’d be surprised if he’s still here by August.

If Couto is a cheap back up it might be an opportunity to test him tomorrow if Kitching hasn’t recovered from the injury.

I’m coming up for my first home game since early last season on Saturday. I’m really desperate for there to be something on that game. Even if it’s the longest of longshots!

Technically don’t need that to happen although it would be better if they did. If aldershot win tomorrow it’s still up for grabs on Saturday if they lose then. And Halifax don’t win.

I remember a story a while ago about our manager (possibly Wellens) travelling south on a Tuesday night to watch a game and getting pelters because he apparently should have been in Oldham training our players to play better. At 7.45 on a Tuesday night

It’s quite unbelievable given how little of the season we’ve been in or near the play offs and that we haven’t won in 9 games, that there’s still a small chance of us getting in. Ridiculous really. We should be well out of it. I’m starting to think Southend have a very good shot at 7th. The biggest obstacle is probably them needing us not to lose to Halifax!

Halifax draw 0-0. Play offs still possible.

I don’t understand how it’s accepted in football that clubs pay agents. They work for the players so any agents fees should come out of their pockets.

All over for both of us if Halifax win tonight.

This is where we have to trust Mellon and his "I know what good is". He should in theory know what a good team looks like having built a few. And that's not 11 great individuals. It's a blend of different skills and personalities. Maybe that's where we fell down last summer - the previous manager and recruitment team did well at finding good individuals (ie ones that had done well elsewhere) but did badly at finding players that fit well together in a team. Whelan and Garrity are good recent examples of players who's new clubs got laughed at for signing them. They've then gone on to fit really well in those teams.

When Mellon took over from Brabin, did he have to do an overhaul of the playing squad? Or had Brabin signed some decent players already?

https://analyisport.com/insights/how-football-clubs-use-data-to-sign-players/ Interesting article about it.

I don’t know how stats are used in recruitment but I’d hope they’re used to compliment other aspects of recruitment. It’s like performance stats. You wouldn’t pick your team based on them, but they should be useful info as part of assessing your own players. I’d be surprised if we’re relying on stats heavily when making signings but it would be useful to have more of an insight.