Scapegoat

But the issue I had was making payment on a VPN. Options were all cards (no PayPal) and needed a billing address. Which it failed when didn't match the VPN location.

iota is the 9th letter of the Greek alphabet and the smallest - hence known as a name for something small. Agree that friendlies don't mean anything. Fitness is the only real benefit.

Tried to sign up using VPN - but the form won't let me pay as my billing address doesn't match my VPN location. Anyone any ideas? Do I just create the account browsing from the UK and then use the VPN to view?

Really? For the second time in two years Shez finished a season in good form - and therefore his 'stock' was high with supporters. A combination of squad changes, pre-season and 2 competitive defeats neither of which saw us play well - means that I think its fair to say that he hasn't increased his 'stock'.

Goals appears to be our weakness again, particularly from the forwards. Holloway's record with us is pretty dire (2 in 25 appearances) and overall 8 in 92 is not a good return even for a 'hold-up player'. The last 2 seasons we were spared relegation by Main / Erwin finding their goal-touch at the right time - will Davies / Duffus get enough playing alongside AHH? Not convinced.

On the original topic. If there is some genuine investment available for the club - of the type that actually might make getting out of the Division in the right direction a genuine possibility rather than the hopeful pipe dream we have at the moment - but that was dependant upon the new investor having their own man in charge of the team: What would you do? Keep Shez and the current budgetary constraints..... OR Accept that its a fair price and we get a new manager and funds to go with it? 2 games in - Shez certainly hasn't increased his stock from last season (though I think doom and gloom and judgements are too soon) so are people more willing to see him move on.

The changes are subtle, but being honest, last season was about grinding results out rather than anything exciting in terms of performances. With basically the same squad (Wilson seems an acceptable replacement for Ripley; Duffs/Davies same for Erwin) the style of football is unlikely to impress. Does Shez find it harder to motivate without the 'backs against the wall' mentality of a relegation battle? Is a currently decent playing surface making it easier for teams to pass and play football against us? Was last seasons recovery more fluke than we realised? One poor defeat and one half decent cup defeat is too soon to say.

Walsall 2 - 0 Latics no scorer 4444

I think whilst in both stints Sheridan somehow extracted Play-off form, he didn't extract play-off performances. He managed to grind out results but it didn't look like a team that could/would do it for 46 games. The hope is a few additions would be enough to achieve that - it might still be the case but even the biggest optimist cannot have taken much out of Saturday's performance.

Taken a few days to reflect before posting, but now time has passed my thoughts are as follows: (1) Ben Wilson did OK, liked his quick throw distribution. Goals were more down to the defence, and would have been really great saves if pulled off. (2) First goal looked offside, but apparently not. The downside of having a slow centre back paring is that quick teams will spring the off-side trap. (3) Too slow to support any attacks and all too often we either have 1 in th box OR we take that long, that the box is packed and we swing in a ball from the corner of th penalty box that is far too easy to defend. Summary for me - started well and but dropped away quickly, especially after the first goal. Last season we were a poor team, a very poor team, but Sheridan managed to instill confidence and self-belief into them. Often for players at this level, the difference between being lauded for a good performance or booed for a bad, is simply that. I have seen Banks / Green / Holloway etc play some great football when we are "up". But worryingly for me, that 30 minutes into a new season, ours seems so fragile. When we revert to our nervous state - we are truly very poor. Clearly journalists and bookies think that is the way that the season will pan out, and if they are right we will be in another fight. Can Shez (with maybe another one or two additions) keep us positive?

Based on the clips and comments on the pre-season games a much needed creative spark in the midfield

Not sure on this. For those that came week in and week out, we are all sure what an important player Conor is for the team and our chances this season. To the floating fan, its just a goal-keeper. No matter how good they are, they are never the type of player to get bums on seats. Therefore IF they have got Conor Ripley lined up, I think him being announced at the game tomorrow would be a massive boost to the supporters / atmosphere who are there tomorrow. Staying in this hypothetical world, what is the latest that it would become apparent tomorrow? What time are official team sheets available? Matt Chambers tweets the line-up at 14:00 with TBC as number 1 and Ben on the bench?

Jan not a short term loan?

Gaining a bit of momentum this one. Not exactly exciting news if so.

Its a fair challenge, but I think I'd still defend the concern over BW. With 1 appearance at 2 clubs, CR never got a chance. Therefore wasn't assessed and deemed not good enough IMO. BW had 8 appearances at 2 clubs. Enough to have had a look and then decide no? Perhaps. Dont know the detail of how and when they were made - but add in the views of Wimbledon fans as well and I am not excited by the prospect.

Noon tomorrow I believe

But Ripley established himself at a loan club (as did Rachubka seasons earlier). If you go on loan to a lower league club you'd expect to play regularly. He's been out a few times, had a few games and.l not commanded a regular place.

Ben Wilson - 19 first team appearances in 3 seasons is not exactly impressive. Loaned out to lower league clubs has not managed to command 1st choice.

Because they are not allowed now? I thought emergency keepers were? And not having one surely classes as an emergency!

As the clock ticks - interested in what people think will happen for Saturday.

Is there a usual 14 day cooling off period? If so - can order, test VPN, and then cancel if doesn't work.

I think Latics will get the first points total starting with a 6 since.....I think Shez was last in charge for a full season. 14th. Get to the final of the Checkatrade trophy.

I have long given up on making any predictions based on pre-season games. Recall having a wonderful pre-season a number of years back and then lost the first 5 games without scoring a goal. Its about getting fit mostly. As for expectations it's not easy and there are a number of thought processes you can allow yourself to follow: Upbeat version.... (1) Sheridan achieved play-off form with the team last season so given a full pre-season and time to add a few players we will do well (2) People are under estimating us - we will be the dark horse this year (3) Other teams have shown that success in this division does not necessarily require big money squads Pessamiatic version (1) All the season previews think we will struggle and so do the bookies - without the blue tinted glasses perhaps we are in trouble (2) Whilst we got results last year under JS we know deep down that there were few "performances" and eventually the 'luck' runs out (3) The loss of a good goalkeeper is a big factor - our success was based on being hard to beat (4) We can always talk ourselves into being positive on the eve of a season - and we are mostly proved wrong Personally - I think it will be steady progress. I honk we will be bottom half but only just.

Harsh. A signed Bovis shirt from the Portman Road game would surely be worth more than a standard one?

That is along as demand is in excess of supply. As someone else pointed out - if the number of clubs looking for a first choice keeper diminishes and there are still a number of players that want first team football then the law of economics works in out favour.