josh_latics

Good player and all, but do we really need him? We've got a bucket load of right backs, and enough left backs. I imagine he's on a fair whack, and there are more pressing areas we need to improve.

It would have been strange to bring him in for a month or so and push Poleon further down the pecking order. He should be given a run in the team, he's ours, we've spent money on him. He doesn't look clinical yet, but then JCH only scored 6 or so league goals for us.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B7yS9bpIEAACoZi.jpg:large Paddy pleased to be joining Ipswich/still scarred from MK/coming down from something.

Hope Ashley isn't on her way over again.... http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/oldham-fan-travels-across-globe-8403782

YES! I like this. His greatness needs to be recognised.

There's no shame in slipping to 2 1-0 losses away at Bristol and Preston (the less said about MK the better). It's annoying we've dropped points against Crewe, Yeovil and Gillingham at home, but I think we might be better suited to playing the "lesser" teams away from home. They can't just sit back, so Forte and Poleon's pace should be a lot more effective (Forte hasn't scored at home since Bradford in October!) It looks like there's 2 play off places up for grabs, and everyone from at least Peterborough in 15th (wow, their chairman won't be happy!) to Rochdale in 5th will fancy themselves. If we can kill off the Gillinghams etc, there's no reason why we can't make a real fist of it.

The guy's incredible. Wins the ball back so often, takes the ball from Rachubka and dictates play, there was a couple of incredible long ranged passes in the first half. Looks like he's relishing being a captain too, (to be fair, there was a lot of supportive action yesterday, Poleon went over to Philli after he missed his one-on-one and told him to keep going, and someone did similar to Poleon when he had a chance). A real good team performance, no-one let us down (don't think AMS and Poleon should be our striker force long term, though)

Latics 2-1 Dale ht 1-0 Gerrard 4975

Hopefully the referee will show some common sense. They could (on the whole, sorry OASIS and those who live far away) wait till 6pm to call it off, with us being 6 miles apart and all. So there's a whole day to get ourselves in order. More likely that they'll call it off at 11am because of a fine layer of snow though....

No wonder he has a bit of an attitude problem, by the age of 20 he's played under Ferguson, Evans and Robinson...

Isn't this a complete non-starter? Unfair dismissal requires two years of employment, we signed him August 2012 and was sacked December 2013? I was, and still am, happy with the way we dealt with this. On the balance of probabilities, his behaviour that was recorded is gross misconduct, whether or not the Sheikh is dodgy.

LJ said there would be non-pros on the bench, so imagine Tuohy, Byrnes etc. Shame Bove and Truelove aren't around. What's the deal with Turner and Locky? Long term?

Ha, wow. That went down well.... It's got to be a balance though. Johnson was that type of player, but he disrupted the whole balance of the team. Philli offers an attacking threat but also helps us maintain our shape. Forte doesn't offer anything defensively, but he's a goal threat so it's allowed. But the rest of the team has to cover his slack. Not sure, some do, some don't. He's won 4 thought, and he got 2 "legitimate" assists vs Dale, so I don't think they do count winning them as assists in the chart I saw. Anyway, I'm #TeamPhilliskirk. £5 to playershare when he opens the scoring on Saturday.

Philliskirk has 3 goals, 3 assists (according to stats site). Plus I reckon he's won 4 - very very soft - penalties for us (Donny, Chesterfield, Dale, Fleetwood). That's 10 goals already, for someone who has been moved around the pitch to accommodate other players and systems. He works hard and wins the ball back for us a lot, and is quite talkative on the pitch. I think he's invaluable and we should play to his strengths.

Agree. Always wanted Dayton to work, he has moments of genius, but the rest of the time he looks lightweight and can't hack it. Granted, the diamond doesn't really suit him, but I wouldn't be bothered if he moved on. LJ seems to have gone off him too, AMS getting on ahead of him. Probably on a fair wage too.

Jabo and Derbyshire's goal ratios were broadly similar for us, about 1 in 5. If it's a choice, I'd take Jabo for his all round play. Plus, we have no idea if LJ even fancies Derbyshire, he was a Dickov player. Plus Jabo's wages would be much closer to what we could afford (if Col U even want to sell, and he wants to come North permanently, bulk of his career has been down South, and someone said Wimbledon were interested)

Fleetwood 1 -3 Latics HT:(1-1) Forte 4260

Reckon there's any chance of Wilkinson coming back this window? He's not played since they signed Eidur and Heskey, so he's probably 5th or 6th choice now...

Mellor shouldn't be anywhere near the pitch.

Ha, woops. Surely he'll have someone lined up, lost Jabo, Johnson, Kenny, Tidser and Youngs in a week....

Any news on Jabo? I'd have him back, he had 3 really good games for us (Cov, Sheff U, Doncaster), and if he was suffering from an injury, that would account for a lot of the less impressive stuff between the Sheff and Donny games. I know he only scored twice for us, and he missed a few chances, but he got in the right places, was an effective target man, bringing others into play etc. If he's 100% fit and with a bit more confidence after his goal on Sat, he could be really useful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa4FGWaFKpM Blackman vs Liverpool pretending to be a keeper.

They'd clearly targeted Rachubka - they did something similar earlier to him, and LJ and Tommy were screaming at him to use his knee to protect himself when he jumped. Whilst he clearly organises us well, he's not good enough. Whether or not it's a foul, he's gotta deal with that. Mills was daft. No need to fly in (other than he's had two months of having the :censored: kicked out of him). Kelly class. Think Jones is much better in the middle than left, and if we keep Jabo, the 4-4-1-1 we played in the second half suits us better, I think.

Yeah, add me to the £5 if we beat Donny. (My maths is a bit sketchy, but with all these Donny pledges I think we can afford Costa if we win)

Latics 1-0 Donny (HT 1-0) Jones 4488