shefflatic

he now says on instagram 'don't worry my job at Oldham isn't done'

I am hoping here that perhaps LJ has given reasoning for not playing him ala JCH earlier in the season he needed to buck his ideas up and he did, therefore back in the fold again.

I certainly hope he isn't leaving and bags us the winner at Anfield............

Genuinely though he is certainly worth persevering with for the duration of his contract at the very least, new country and all etc

genuinely shocked with this about Sidney

He has shown in parts that he has real ability, and real pace which is a massive bonus for the team.

I know his defending has been suspect at times and the end product needs improvement, but he is 24, new country and environment also new to the English game.

Unless something major has gone off behind the scenes or he is homesick then i just do not see why he is being let go rather than work with him to improve and develop/polish off the good attributes he has to become more effective.

Even just as someone who can carry the ball forwards for the team or as an outlet over the top for a quick break in on goal, he is worth having.

We definately haven't shown belief in him or given him the opportunity to improve and develop himself and feel valued in the team, what 3 starts?

Just the player we needed today in that sort of game, get round the back of them etc and would be a threat at Anfield

Interested as to the reasons - *awaits the 'because he's :censored:' standard replies - he is not ':censored:' evidently he is better than that, not as effective as he could be but certainly a good weapon to have around in the team.

Again unless something major or just homesick then I am just starting to doubt LJ, definately a good player being let go here..........

2-3 weeks as of the 12th Dec so if all goes well he is back just in time

Wes wears a protective mask?

More importantly what the hell is going on with Sidney?? injured/ill?? no mention recently, we need him at Anfield just as an outlet to hit

LJ has the nucleus of a good team, the most unfortunate aspect is Charlie McDonald has missed so many matches, he would probably have snapped up many of the easy chances which have gone begging and gained extra league points - possibly even secured us a place in the JPT.

With no like for like on the books I feel its imperative another experienced goal poacher is brought in.

Not easy at this time the season, but maybe a plunge into the non league market may be worth the risk (remember Charlie himself was playing in non league until he was 26 years of age).

My views on bringing in a creative player just to give the manager another tactical option are well known, but priority must now be given to another Charlie McDonald type striker.

At the risk of being told he's unproven and why has no league club has snapped him up before, I could suggest this man.(at 6' 2" he's not bad in the air too).

 

http://www.football.com/en-gb/lee-gregory/

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2bjrKtWl2U

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRRSPVN5tS0

worth a tweet to lee johnson if you are on twitter (you can send him a private message), i'm sure he'd have a look off viewing those videos, looks a decent player and in a better team would bag a few........???

send that ginger comb-over wimp Oxley back to Hull on Monday!

Absolute DISGRACE that a goalkeeper has made it to the professional game without EVER coming for a cross even when it is 2ft near him

Every fecking game he is costing us with errors and making the defenders nervous with his refusal to move 1 yard from his line - the guy is 6ft 4 FFS!!!

When you think what Gary Kelly used to come and claim as a 5ft 4 keeper it makes you sick watching Oxley

Rachubka in as first choice now until May, done nothing wrong at all and commands his box.

No wonder Wes ripped his head off at full time, I bloomin would

FUMING!!

I agree with Rictic here.

 

Potential is quite clearly there with Sid. Pace to burn, a trick and quick feet and he looks to be a good character to have around.

 

But, at 23; no matter if its his 1st season in England or not, how long do he have to fulfill on that potential?

 

He needs to learn when & where to do his fancy stuff, and he massively needs to improve upon his decision making.

His final ball; in particular his crossing, is also massively in need of work.

 

In short, very much a work in progress - i guess the question is how long do leave him under that banner before he falls into failed experiment who didnt ever kick on?

Simple answer - the 2 years on his contract.

It's about time (not the majority on here may I add) the moaning lot got behind our players and particularly someone of Sid's talent; some of the touches he made against Mansfield to control and move away with the ball under pressure were sheer class.

I agree his final ball is poor and when to do his tricks are the 2 areas he is deficient in.

He has moved to a new country and environment as has his family; albeit Holland not too far away or dissimilar, it's still new to him so I'm putting his 1st season down to this and learning/experiencing the lower leagues and what it brings.

Next year he needs to be really knuckling down and improving; if he is still the same in these areas of his game come then, then i'm sure LJ will consider how far we can go with him regards improving him to the levels required.

We have had too many occassions where players with real talent haven't 'done it' in their first 6 months so 'theyre :censored:' and are moaned at and ultimately leave us, only to improve 3-fold somewhere else with a bit of patience and some backing.

Sidney will be a top player - he is definately one we don't want to lose and see him tear us a new one with some shiester team in our league or get snapped up for the league above!

croft up at st johnstone again looking for a deal

if it's in failsworth then it would kill the club and no doubt he would rename us manchester athletic owls

he may even come in and after 18 months rebrand us playing in red and known as oldham blue owls

Foxdenton lane is the only realistic viable option, or the gasworks at hollinwood - there IS nowhere else!

I just get the feeling that if he buys us etc we will end up a long-term Cardiff/Hull when he thinks global and goes all out with re-branding and changing kit colours, he just strikes me as that sort of bloke

If this is to be the case then he can jog on

not allowed to call of cup games because of internationals, hence JPT games going ahead -3 players etc

Doyle is missing, not sure on Sako et al and whetehr they have any others who will be involved? Lets hope fletcher and rhodes get struck down with a bug or something so griffiths gets called up.....

add crofty to the list too

so sad that a player with the talent just doesn't want it enough anymore to get himself in top shape and stay that way otherwise i'd guarantee LJ would have signed him

exactly - Sakho, Doyle and Griffiths aside the rest is as like all league 1 much of a muchness - we certainly didn't test them tonight.

2 up top with Sidney and Monty would have given us a better chance of a point rather than the 4-5-1 as that is clearly wht we set up to get which is really disappointing from LJ given he likes to attack teams with pace every game and try to win!

Poor tonight and baffling to say the least as to what he was thinking changing tactics and personnel to the extent that he did.......

I am getting fed up of LJ's constant 'need' to change the team - WHY??!!

The team that has played the best football and won the games has been a 4-4-2 with Philliskirk and Rooney up top, with 2 tricky wingers.

We layed down and died tonight before we even kicked off - i have not been bored at a game this season but i was tonight - terrible tactics with non-existant attacking until we went 4-4-2 at 1 down and had a slight go at them for the final 10 but that was powderpuff.

Rooney plays well on saturday, ok he wants to change tactics, firstly - let them worry about us being on a little run and playing well, totally killed the momentum tonight and Rooney dropped again - keep doing it LJ and you will alienate the fans and players.

We win but why should i keep scoring when all he does is drop me 2 games later or plays me with yet another partner, will no doubt be rooney's thoughts.....................

4-4-2 stick with a line up and if it wins it stays the same LJ, no player will complain when the team is winning!!

Sure, go 1-0 up and change to 5 in midfield, that;s different, but to simply not have a go tonight and let them have it with ease was sad to see.

That is not the Oldham we have come to know this season, with pace and a desire to win the game, we were completely stifled by our manager tonight with his inexplicable subbuteo head on - keep mixing the tactics and not building partnerships on the pitch and we will continue to blow hot and cold.

Come on LJ, get it sorted!!

Oh and the final straw with Oxley tonight, yet again never came for a cross and handed them their first goal, literally. Near post cross and he dived to catch it, instead of clwaing the ball into his body he palmed it to the feet of their player 8 yards out, absolutely shocking when you think back to the crosses Kelly used to come and claim at 5ft 4in !!!

Rachubka in next game without a doubt.

I am getting fed up of LJ's constant 'need' to change the team - WHY??!!

The team that has played the best football and won the games has been a 4-4-2 with Philliskirk and Rooney up top, with 2 tricky wingers.

We layed down and died tonight before we even kicked off - i have not been bored at a game this season but i was tonight - terrible tactics with non-existant attacking until we went 4-4-2 at 1 down and had a slight go at them for the final 10 but that was powderpuff.

Rooney plays well on saturday, ok he wants to change tactics, firstly - let them worry about us being on a little run and playing well, totally killed the momentum tonight and Rooney dropped again - keep doing it LJ and you will alienate the fans and players.

We win but why should i keep scoring when all he does is drop me 2 games later or plays me with yet another partner, will no doubt be rooney's thoughts.....................

4-4-2 stick with a line up and if it wins it stays the same LJ, no player will complain when the team is winning!!

Sure, go 1-0 up and change to 5 in midfield, that;s different, but to simply not have a go tonight and let them have it with ease was sad to see.

That is not the Oldham we have come to know this season, with pace and a desire to win the game, we were completely stifled by our manager tonight with his inexplicable subbuteo head on - keep mixing the tactics and not building partnerships on the pitch and we will continue to blow hot and cold.

Come on LJ, get it sorted!!

Oh and the final straw with Oxley tonight, yet again never came for a cross and handed them their first goal, literally. Near post cross and he dived to catch it, instead of clwaing the ball into his body he palmed it to the feet of their player 8 yards out, absolutely shocking when you think back to the crosses Kelly used to come and claim at 5ft 4in !!!

Rachubka in next game without a doubt.

I am getting fed up of LJ's constant 'need' to change the team - WHY??!!

The team that has played the best football and won the games has been a 4-4-2 with Philliskirk and Rooney up top, with 2 tricky wingers.

We layed down and died tonight before we even kicked off - i have not been bored at a game this season but i was tonight - terrible tactics with non-existant attacking until we went 4-4-2 at 1 down and had a slight go at them for the final 10 but that was powderpuff.

Rooney plays well on saturday, ok he wants to change tactics, firstly - let them worry about us being on a little run and playing well, totally killed the momentum tonight and Rooney dropped again - keep doing it LJ and you will alienate the fans and players.

We win but why should i keep scoring when all he does is drop me 2 games later or plays me with yet another partner, will no doubt be rooney's thoughts.....................

4-4-2 stick with a line up and if it wins it stays the same LJ, no player will complain when the team is winning!!

Sure, go 1-0 up and change to 5 in midfield, that;s different, but to simply not have a go tonight and let them have it with ease was sad to see.

That is not the Oldham we have come to know this season, with pace and a desire to win the game, we were completely stifled by our manager tonight with his inexplicable subbuteo head on - keep mixing the tactics and not building partnerships on the pitch and we will continue to blow hot and cold.

Come on LJ, get it sorted!!

Oh and the final straw with Oxley tonight, yet again never came for a cross and handed them their first goal, literally. Near post cross and he dived to catch it, instead of clwaing the ball into his body he palmed it to the feet of their player 8 yards out, absolutely shocking when you think back to the crosses Kelly used to come and claim at 5ft 4in !!!

Rachubka in next game without a doubt.

Now you're just making a :censored:ing prick of yourself.

 

Opinions are wonderful. I welcome them all. You're the one who went on the rant about cliques just because a few people disagree with you.

 

Get a :censored:ing grip man!

On reflection, you're right -

My apologies to you all for going OTT on all this, I don't normally rise to any bait and find (particularly Lee Sinnott) the banter and sarcasm quite a good laugh (is it me or does anyone else think they are being watched by Darren Bent every time I read one of your posts? (or is it someone else entirely) - guess i just had a Craig Davies moment or 10 on all this.

we live and learn

Right, who's playing right back on saturday?

For the purposes of clarity it is time to name the clique.

 

(drum roll)

 

The members of the OWTB Anti-Bollocks Clique are:

 

Lee Sinnott

slystallone

24hoursfromtulsehill

garcon

...

 

 

Clique members please copy paste and add your name. Finally shefflatic and others will be able to sleep peacefully knowing precisely what clique they're not part of.

Go ahead if you lot have so much time on your hands

I'll sleep easy knowing that everyone is entitled to an opinion. Sure, i disagree with what people put on here but i leave it at that - it's called a forum and a platform for debate and discussion; not to snipe and take the piss when someone else happens to have an opinion different to that of other posters - it's their right to that view and that's where it ends

To be fair I enjoy the varying points raised on topics by everyone, it's usually a good read. I know my view on this particular topic regarding 'he who shall never have a bad word said about him' is clearly a sore point for those who love him dearly, so i'll leave it at that.

Can I suggest (if you clearly feel that strong about it) that those of you who do not wish for a respectful debate on the matter divert your displeasure to the OP, after all he simply asked the question 'would you have him back?'

I gave my own view, and i'm sorry it touched many a nerve.

I shall never utter a post on the topic again (should it ever be raised again) - that's a promise

Candidate for funniest post of the year.

Yet again on here it is proven unless you are part of the members clique, you invariably get shot down for daring to have an opinion which may differ from yours or that of the majority.

You sir, along with other like-minded posters of this attitude are embarrassing.

Don't get me wrong, i don't dislike Taylor at all and if he came back at any point of course I would support him like any other player. However, purely from a performance perspective:

- The Taylor that did great under Shez and PD's first season? - yes

- The Taylor that was sluggish, stale and ineffectual in his final season with us? no

It is on the latter that i base my opinion. I also feel he lost his effectiveness by the time he left - cutting in from the left every time and being dispossessed; he was very predictable and easy to snuff out of games and was a bit of a passenger in the team towards the end. Even when he was back on the right wing occasionally, he just missed the spark that he once had previously and the final end product.

The Taylor of 'old' in this team would be great to have, absolutely, but the one that left us? No thanks - the current wingers are more than capable and offer more directness and variety when they attack.

That's my view, no issue that others disagree, go ahead.

never understood the hype aside from the playoff year under shez which was his best to date imo.

Rather have the current trio of monty, dayts and sidney

just because he is an oldham fan doesn't make him a god or a 'yes he must come back' player as many seem to view him as.

Anyway, good luck to him but for me personally, no - i'd have Baxter back before him

why would we have the need to remove the 4 floodlights just to put a stand in?????

we need floodlights to play night games you know.....even with 3 it'd be pitch black so in one quarter of the pitch so wouldn't get away with it

Teams left:

Oldham

Rochdale

Fleetwood

Carlisle

Hartlepool

Chesterfield

Rotherham

Notts County

anyone at home please!

Rooney has done nothing wrong in the time he has had on the pitch - sure he could have been better at times, but so could the whole squad at varying points to date.

When he has played he has done fine by my book, taking into account the lack of proper service to him. He played great against P Vale and looked sharp, only to be droped 2 weeks later.

He needs backing from the fans and also the manager - chopping and changing your forward line and having Rooney partnered with another striker every game he has played in will have done him no god at all in being able to read movement and link ups with players around him.

He is NOT a target man and judging by the way he has played when the ball has been launched to him, it's not what he expected to be doing either when joining us.

He does need to be more physical and impose himself on defenders, but the abuse and vitriol he is getting on here and at the games even when he is nowhere near the ball or has no chance of winning a header against a 6ft 4 defender is pathetic and embarrassing.

He is our TOP SCORER FFS!!!

Play him as the main man, with either Mcdonald or Philliskirk alomgside. If we want to change it the other way then it is JCH who comes on for Rooney as the bit of bulk alongside the smaller nippier striker.

Rooney and CM or DP

Play them for the next 6 games come what may. He needs backing but also the chance to develop an understanding with a strike partner and the midfeiders.

You will soon see a marked difference in performance from all concerned.

It;s all about partnerships and confidence which Rooney needs at the moment.

The guy is a goalscorer - i hope we are not going to force him out through the moronic band of 'fans' abusing him game on game, i really hope not......

 

Dowie spent alot of money that can't be denied. It enabled him to sign the likes of Clint Hill for £225,000 etc.

 

But what also can't be denied is he had a structure in place and a system, playing 352 with wingbacks, he took average players like John Eyre and they looked class in that team, same goes for Carlo Corazzin, Wayne Andrews, Josh Low, Will Haining, Darren Sheridan etc.

 

He had the fittest team in the league, something LDJhechat:censored: said we were going to be, but all I see are laboured performances.

 

He had a scouting network that brought us Fitz Hall. It doesn't matter who his network was, but now i've mentioned it, it was his brother Bob. LDJhechat:censored: said his family were scouts etc, but he's not really pulled any gems in the mould of Hall out of the bag. Granted Adam Rooney is a decent forward for this level, yet he's not getting the service he requires, ie wingers bombing to the by-line and knocking them across goal for him, funny really when we have such great wingers in Montano, Dayton and Schmeltz, or in fact are these players not all that?

 

This was Dowies team in the play off v QPR at Loftus Road.

 

Pogliacomi

Hill

Hall

Haining

Murray

Armstrong

Sheridan D

Eyres

Low

Andrews

Eyre

 

Against Johnsons Crawley line up...

 

Oxley

Lanzoni

Mills

Tarkowski

Grounds

Rodgers

Smith

Dayton

Wesolowski

Clarke-Harris

MacDonald

 

Which line up and management team do you wish we had?

I feel this present team would do wonders under him given the structure and methods he would have implemented.

However, we haven't got him for whatever reason - it hasn't happened and we move on.

Johnson impressed me immensely when he arrived I have to admit, and he continues to speak sense and appears to be a methodical coach and analyser of the game, so I am more than happy to have him and certainly on the evidence of our general play and the talented playes he has managed to recruit, i'm more than happy he's here and his ambition and positive attitude bodes well for the club as a whole.

Who's to say the current team won't finsh in the playoffs also?!!

long way to go yet and i feel LJ has over-done things in the press and been too harsh on the team given we are a new group and aren't playing badly.

I know the man has high standards and I have no problem with him wanting better and to make the games and chances count to give us the points our performances deserve; however we have played really decent stuff in the games so far barring one or two poor games and I can't say i've come away from a game not having enjoyed it aside from Walsall.

The 2-0 loss to Preston was a great display and losing didnt bother me primariily because first and foremost the team gave their all and we played really well and that's all you can ask

Lambasting players for missing chances and labelling a new team and strikforce which is constantly changed game after game as being 'powderpuff' and 'my 5yr old could have scored that' is a little harsh - no player deliberately misses a chance and they'll be hard enough on themselves without needing to be micky-taken in the press.

Hope LJ keeps comments in-house and keeps positive with the players as that, added to a settled strikeforce, is what we need

Up to LJ to decide and manage at the end of the day, so all we can do is support him and trust him. We're playing far far better than last season, which is a start in itself.

Here's to 3 points on saturday!!

We started the 00-01 season worse than this we had some abysmal form under Penney

 

You only have to go back to the start of the year under Dickov his last 9 league games yielded only 1 point.

 

The 98-99 team made this lot look like a hybrid of bayern Munich Barcelona and the 1970 Brazil team.

 

The football and results in 96-97 the worst season I have experienced were also far worse than this.

 

We started shezs first 2 seasons as bad if not worse than this and began to click in October

 

This team won't go up but we've had several worse than this.

 

Next week we face a team top of the table and unbeaten so far it's got a tics win written all over it

Don't know how anyone can say this until about Feb time.

This league is always so close it only takes 3-4 wins and you go from 14th to 8th and in with a chance

Come Feb time and we are where we are now i will agree with you, but at this stage anything can happen

I think that's the problem with the 'well trained', if you'll excuse the term, latics fan - always thinking the worst before it has or looks likely to happen and something LJ commented on when he arrived, about changing the mentality from downbeat and pessimism to optimisim and belief

All i've know to date is the cup wins and the 2 playoff losses but I always believe we can be 'that team' and should always aim to be rather than 'if it happens, great if not then no biggy; we're only ickle Oldham'; just like in the cup games we all as a collective feel we're in with a chance to nick a win and the atmosphere reflects it.

Yeovil have done it so it can be done, but aside from that as an example, where's the fun in not aiming to overachieve relative to the 'big clubs being up there'?

It can be done, HAS been done so we can do it too.

Bristol C and Sheff U are 'big clubs' - so what? Why is it that always the clubs with the 'budgets' 'will be up there'? Sure they can therefore have more players and amass more of the better players for our league, but just as Leyton Orient are proving (so far) budgets get you feck all. They have the history, but they are our equal on a playing perspective and i quite frankly think that sheff utd's team is genuinely a mid to lower league 1 team ability wise so i'm not suprised at all they are where they are.

Mcguire worth £4m????!!! do me a favour, he is a lanky clogger of a defender, Tarky is far far better than this guy. Another one hyped up because of 'who' he plays for.

11 blokes v 11 blokes at the end of the day and nothing or no one should be feared.

LJ takes some blame for the constant changing of key areas, strikers mainly as it is key to have partnerships - Ritchie and Marshall, Henry and Milligan, Jobson and Barrett etc

However, we are still learning as a team and so is LJ. Granted, we may not get promotion this season, but we can at least be optimistic, positive and enjoy the ride.

If we all sub-consciously 'know' we won't be promoted, as you put it, then aiming for it and not getting it will therefore not raise expectations and no one will be 'let down'; it'll simply be 'oh well, we gave it a go, maybe next year'

If we as fans keep positive and have positive ambitions ie challenging the top 6 and transmit this to the players with encouragement and positivity in defeat, the players and LJ believe the same; then we may just about become a collective and achieve something rather than being downbeat and berrating someone for missing a one on one or giving a throw in away - why is there always someone to blame?

Time to stop the pettyness and get some perspective - after all is in football at the end of the day, far worse things going on in the world

Lets just all remain positive come what may and keep backing the lads - it can only push them that bit further and maybe we will score first and go on a winning streak?

We can get in the top 6 - let's go for it - if we finish 13th trying, at least we didn't finish 13th trying to avoid the bottom 4

Get down to BP on saturday and cheer on the lads!!!

yes we have had chances with Mcdonald, but the blame lies with Johnson on this

When the results aren't coming, the players need to build relationships and understanding.

We have changed formation and aside from the defence made constant changes week after week, no wonder the football isn't fluid or the strikers linking up.

4-4-2

Keep a settled front two in my opinion Ronney and JCH as they showed they can play and do the bis against port vale

Let them learn their runs and play together, constant changes doing no one any good, and i'm suprised someone as clued up as LJ has done it

Aye, managers love selling their most talented player, especially when it was 'our' choice to sell.

Corney is no doubt right that we didn't need to sell, but we did in order to fill the gaps in the squad that we were all craving and that LJ wanted as well, namely a GK, CB, RB and Rusnak/Philiskirk

Royle sold players to get 2-3 others in and so it happens like that at other clubs and has done throughout history.

I have never had a problem with us selling players - for low fees? that's for another debate and we havent done too badly over recent times ala Trotman etc

selling players and replacing them is fine - we got rusnak in for baxter whilst also adding 3 others elsewhere - common sense

it's when we have sold players and never replaced them that has hurt us - here we have done that and more so no one can moan in the slightest.

YET AGAIN the chairman backs his manager