Gemma06

Smalley wasn't supposed to be a right back, he switched to 3-5-2 but as soon as he did they put McNamme back on their left wing meaning Smalley had to cover him. By the time he'd done that it was already too late anyway. I thought he should have changed it at half time and gone 4-3-3, we were all over them for the first 20 minutes or so, they were there for the taking but after one silly mistake from Gregan and then the penalty we let them back in the game when really until then they had been one of the worst teams i've seen us play in a good while

Team for tues; Crossley, Eards/Hazel/Gregan/Jones Lids/Allot/Whitaker/Taylor Hughes/Ormerod Tell them to get out there and prove they are worth a place in the team because the last few games very few of them have done that. They are capable of playing well, we've seen that, now its time for them to stand up and prove that they are willing to put the effort in. Those who dont respond drop them for the game on saturday, we have a squad good enough this season that we can drop the players who are not performing, and thats all players incuding Hughes, Taylor, Allott.....

I mentioned that he'd a poor game again yesterday on the way out of the ground and some guy pushed two people out of the way so he could shout abuse in my face and tell me that Hughes was the best striker we'd ever had play for us.

I've thought that about Hazel myself, i thought it was just me and i was missing something because everyone keeps going on about how good he is but i just dont see it. I'm not saying he is a bad player or anything but he makes just as many mistakes if not more than Gregan and Stam do and his distribution is much worse than Eardleys yet Eards gets slated at every opportunity.

Very disappointing today, it was as bad if not worse than the performance at Stockport, the only positive for me was Davies, thought he did quite well when he came on considering how poor the service was too him. I thought Crossley made a couple of decent saves too. We'll have to do a lot better on tuesday, i would like to see Davies start and maybe Maher given a chance in midfield.

When other teams concentrated on stopping Wellens play that normally meant them having two players on him virtually all the game which should have been to our advantage, i never understood how when Wellens was taking two players out of the game that our other players didnt take advantage of that. He never had anyone playing alongside him who was willing to take the game on. Out of the two its Wellens every time, though i do like Whitaker he's impressed me since we signed him.

Not having a dig at Lomax but he misplaced plenty of passes, had a steady enough game but Eardley will deservedly come back into the team next week along with Gregan. I dont normally like changing a winning team but we play Leicester next and we need to have our strongest team out. Getting Jones on a long term loan could be the difference between promotion and just missing out. Losing any of Crossley/Eardley/Gregan/Jones long term would cause us problems at the back, though we have decent cover short term

If Wolfy gets the chance of a decent run in the team this season i think he will surprise a few people, he's bulked up a bit. Its too early for him now as he is only just back from injury and it will need injuries/suspensions for him to get his chance but should he get the chance he will need to take it as it will probably be his last with us. It would be wise to get him out on loan somewhere because the lack of chances in the first team will have been hindering his progress. His positioning is spot on, decent ball control, not got fantastic pace but he's not slow, knows where the back of the net is and he has a footballing brain, he has all the attributes to make it he just needs to grab his chance should it come his way. I doubt he's going to get a chance here now but i think he does have a future in the game at this level

Stockport gave us 2000 tickets, we sold them all the had no obligation to give us anymore. They wouldnt sell tickets over the phone to people who weren't in their database or didnt have a stockport postcode they couldnt really do any more than that. It isn't their fault that there fans determined to get in the home end no matter what. And why go in the Cheadle end? If your going to go in with other fans its not the best place to go is it. If we give Leicester the big part of the RRE and they sell out do we then give them the small part as well just in case there fans get tickets for the home end? If we give them the whole of the RRE and they sell that out do we give them a bit of the main stand too? The blame lies solely with those people who went in there and that starting goading the home fans when we scored. Now im not saying that its right that it kicked off like it did, but its not Stockports fault that it did. The only thing i would say Stockport need to look at is how slowly he stewards and police got there, what should have happened was we scored, fans cheered, stockport fans got irate but the stewards and police got in there as soon as it happened and either kicked the latics fans out or moved them to the away section because there were empty seats there. I'm not having a go at latics who went in the home end either, i've done it on a few occasions , and today im taking my nephew to watch Liverpool play City but even he knows, at 7 years old to keep his mouth shut should liverpool score (though i would hope even he did they wouldnt kick off with a kid!)

To everyone saying that Davies has a chip on his shoulder and he doesnt put any effort in and his attitude is wrong, do you know him well enough to know what he is really like? do you see him in training every day? I admit the way he plays football it sometimes looks like he isn't trying but thats just the way he plays, he plays with a cocky, arrogant, swagger about him and sometimes it comes off for him and sometimes it doesnt. Forwards need to be a bit cocky and selfish at times, most decent strikers are. Hughes is cocky and selfish when he plays too yet no-one seems to mind that. The attitude of some our fans needs sorting, not our players, there is a difference between having a bit of a moan when they mess up - which they will, thats why they are playing in league one - and just shouting abuse at players for no good reason. We have lost one league game all season but to listen to some of our fans last night you'd have thought we hadn't won any. The last few years it seems to have got a lot worse, or perhaps i am looking back through rose tinted glass but i dont remember many players getting the same stick the likes of Butcher, Forbes and even what players like Smalley, Eards and Lids got last season.

Although i dont agree with it all kicking off (although it was to be expected if you got a ticket in that stand and can't keep your mouth shut) i dont see why people are saying its stockports fault for not giving us more tickets. Why should they? All it does it help the away team create a better atmosphere which in turn spurs their team on. Not so long ago most latics fans were moaning because we gave Blackpool the whole of the RRE in the playoff game because it would help them create a better atmosphere (and it did). There is no difference here, Stockport were in no way obliged to give us more tickets after we sold out and to be fair to them they did try to stop oldham fans buying tickets for the home end. The one thing that they should look into though was the oldham fans coming in at the same entrance as the stockport fans and then having to walk past all the stockport fans to get to our seats (though i didnt notice any trouble in that stand)

Davies in for Alessandra and Bryne for Lomax. I wouldnt mind if Lomax is still in the starting 11 though, but i think if we want to seriously go all out for promotion then we need to go with out strongest team and for me Lomax just isnt good enough defensivley for a promotion chasing team. Also having a left footed player playing on our left side would give the team a better balance. I would also like to see Mahor on the bench but wouldnt like to say who he would replace

Much more handsome than Lids! which is reason enough for him start in my opinion

Stam for me, he makes mistakes but so do Gregan and Hazel (though no-one ever seems to notice his) i have a feeling Shez might go for Bryne but should Stam play he's a very good centre half

we had some tranmere fans shouting that to us as well so my 7 year old nephew gave them the v's He didnt really know what it meant though he's just seen lots of people at the match doing it If you take kids to football there going to hear a lot of swearing, he knows not swear outside of football (or at the football if his mum or grandma are there, they'd kill me if they knew i let him sing the songs with swearing in!)

He does keep in position most of the time but sometimes he does have to cover for other players and if he does get dragged out of position then it is up to others to cover for him. He does lump the ball upfield sometimes when perhaps there are better options but can you name one player that never does that? He does sometimes have to hoof it upfield because there is no-one available for a pass or because he gets the ball played to him when there are opposition players all round him or is that his fault to? He's not perfect, far from it, but he certainly isnt a liability. If he's on the bench then who plays right back, Lomax? that leaves us with Taylor at left back, and Lomax isn't perfect himself he does make mistakes, just as many as Eardley in fact. Or Hazell at right back? no chance he is a centre half and thats it. Perhaps we should try supporting him, you know like everyone does with Hughes, even when he makes mistakes everyone is still shouting Hughsey, whats the difference?

I think some people forget the Eardley is still only 19. Yes he is inconsistant at times but all young players are. Eardley will go on to play at a higher level, hopefully with us. He is definately good enough to play in the championship and if he plays alongside better players then who knows he might go on to play in the premiership. He is 19 has played about 80 league games and if you include cup games he will be almost at 100 first team games, thats not bad for a teenager. Add to that he has played several times for his country. Give the lad a break, yes he makes mistakes but everyone does - even Hughes, Taylor and Hazel - and if you look at him after he's put a bad cross in no-one is more frustrated about it than him. He is 19 years old, he will carry on improving and he will get more consistant

Some people are really going OTT on this thread. I personally dont mind people standing up and i dont mind all the swearing though i only stand myself if i cant see due to people standing up in front. What i do find a bit off is people saying that the disabled access should be in the Chaddy End, why should they have to move from somewhere where they have a very good view to where its pretty crappy at the bottom of the Chaddy just so people can stand up when, like it or not standing is not allowed inside the ground and people know that when they pay to get in. And someone mentioned that those with young families should go and sit in the main stand but it was (i think) 3 times more expensive to buy a childs season ticket, im sure when i looked into it it was £150 for my nephews in the lower tier of the main stand whereas it was £50 in the Chaddy end and the Rochdale rd end. The club have not said that we can not sing and create and atmosphere but several people do go over the top at football sometimes, from where i sit in the main stand i saw several people get knocked over on Saturday just so people could charge over to the Millwall supporters(and vice versa) just so they could shout abuse and throw things and on Tues at Rochdale several people charged to the front for the penaltys pushing over kids (someone almost knocked my 7 year old nephew to the floor) and again standing directly in front of at least one wheelchair so they couldnt see. I'm sure most people who do those things at football matches wouldnt do that outside a football stadium (but sadly im sure some do) so why do people think its acceptable at a football match? I dont think the club is trying to get rid of the atmosphere at matches, the statement seems to have come from the police more than the club, and are not trying to take away anyones fun but they do seem to be saying just be a little curtious to those around you which is fair enough but the club should also have organised things a little better themselves, i dont like the idea of specific singing sections but there should be a family section in the ground

I didnt think Crossley was that bad really, the first was due to his and Gregans mix up, but the 2nd wasn't his fault he shouted for it but Hazel still headed back for some reason, the third he did well to push to initial shot onto the bar and couldnt really stop the follow up.

For his goal at Old Trafford alone he should go down as a latics legend

I did

My first favourite player was Andy Barlow when i was about 6 or 7 years old, then i moved onto Mike Milligan & Ricky Holden, then it was Gunner Halle and then the legend that was Sean McCarthy

Yes, to get the best out of him all he needs is a striker who will make decent runs and then he will pick them out. He had no pace 2 years ago and he still can't run past his full back but thats not his game, it never has been really even before he signed for us. He's not perfect, i know that he has his bad points but then so do all our players thats why there playing in league one. I know i go on about him a lot on here but only because i just don't understand how people can't see what he brings to the team. I do rate Smalley though, he has the pace like Taylor but seems to have more intelligence on the pitch he just doesnt seem to have all that much confidence in himself. I think it will be a fight between Smalley and Lids for a starting spot on the right and neither of them will let the team down. If Shez plays Smalley instead of Lids then so be it, Smalley is a fantastic young player but what will be good about next season is no players will know that they are definately going to start in the next game, we have a pretty decent squad an if someone isn't playing all that well then we have other players who can some in and do a good job

Lids played his best football for us when Porter was playing and fully fit, when McDonald was playing well and making fantastic runs into the box and when Wellens was in the team. Wellens could pick Lids out when he was in space, last season we didnt really have a central midfielder playing who could pick out a pass as well as Wellens could, he was stood in acres of space screaming for the ball but no-one could get it out to him - Allott had an excellent season but he isnt that type of player. We didnt have Porter or anyone else in the box who would attack the ball, they just stood and waited for the ball to land right on their head. Any winger whether it be lids, smalley, phillips or taylor need other people to make runs for them. Of the pre-season games ive seen ive been most impressed by O'Grady he has been making some fantastic runs and he and Lids linked up very well several times during the Derby game and he attacks the ball inside the box, i think he will be a big player for us next season and will get on the end of a lot of balls whether they be from Lids, Smalley or whoever. Shez will decide the team and as someone on here said to me in a post on here during last season Shez knows more about football than anyone on here.