mattsgrandad

......and don't forget his other 'get out' clause. If PD is sacked, he can leave on a 'free'. Could of course, just be misleading gossip......

Not been on the site for some time so not aware of "Postman Matt". Apology accepted - carry on posting!

You must share the same strange mindset then!

If that's not a genuine question, ?? If it is, no - he's only 10.

My opinion is that Dickov will not be sacked and the key to our future will depend on how Simon Corney feels about retaining his faith in the viability of OAFC. Worst case scenario (imo) : Mr Corney will allow present loan deals to expire and tell the manager to persevere with the remaining squad members (unless he can negotiate some free loans). If we are still in the relegation zone come the end of the season, he'll liquidate the club and free up the ground for his ex-colleagues to develop as they wish without the burden of a football club to support. Best case scenario: A miracle occurs - we win every remaining game and get promoted. Hopefully reality will be somewhere between the two and we are still watching a football league team in Oldham next season.

100% failure. Granted we had more people at the games than would probably have otherwise been the case but.... .... 1 win (& a lucky one at that), 3 defeats (deservedly) & one goalless draw. .... atmosphere (especially last night) reflected the performance (dismal)- better to have 100 noisy excited fans than 1000 bored silent ones .... financially we must have lost money .... effect on ST holders - are they going to fork out for next season knowing that the cut-price offers will be made? I note that a recent article in the Chron had a go at the pesimistic attitude of fans (I assume they were referring to many of the contributors on this site) but let's face it, we are facing a massive struggle to stand still let alone improve. Without a substantial investment, the club's future must be in doubt.

But the point of the post (I assume) is that what we see with Latics is a constant contradiction - they offer hope & despair - usually in the same game as shown yesteday prior to Shefki's miss at 1-1.

I think it's more a mental weariness than a physical one due to the goals drying up. I don't think he can be criticised for effort - at his age, he still probably covers more ground than a lot of the younger players but it's now becoming wasted effort. He's lacking sharpness rather than fitness and perhaps a spell on the bench might help him lose the frustration and rekindle that early season sharpness and eye for goal.

I think that just about sums us up. Since Wes & Furman departed the team, we haven't had any midfield creativity or graft. I think I must have been the only supporter last Tuesday to think Adeyemi had a poor game - one surging run doesn't make a good performance in my book and today, we saw exactly the same. As for the rest, poor Shefki cannot buy a goal at the moment - the miss from Reids lay-off was an absolute howler and he managed (yet again) to pick up a booking for dissent - trouble is, we haven't got any plausible alternative - Smith was easily 2 to 3 inches taller than his marker yet lost more headers than he won and his ground play gives a good clue as to why he doesn't make the starting line-up. I'm just hoping that a Simpson/Reid pairing will surface in the next couple of games. Crosses (the goal apart) were again poor - straight to keeper or didn't get past the first defender. All-in-all a very disappointing performance and 1 point from the last 9 at home makes a mockery of the 'Golden Ticket' promotion - even a ridculously low amount of £3 per game won't be enough to bring the supporters back - SC must be tearing his hair out (metaphorically of course).

When he does return I hope PD realises that he's not a 90 minute man and utilises him for a second half appearance. Yes, he has got pace and, yes he can turn a defender but from whay I've seen, he can also get 'played' by the opposition once they have sussed him out. Frustration kicks in and before you know it he's allowed his game to fall apart. He also has to learn the 'team' game and accept that his own players will have a go when he forgoes the opportunities to pass.

I kind of expected a 5 goal game but one more akin to the MK Dons result. Absolutely delighted. Hopefully it might encourage some of the disappointed fans from last Tuesday to come back again. Incidentally, can anyone who saw the game comment on whether taking Winchester out of the game at half-time made the difference.

.....if only Bert Lister hadn't lost the ball and managed to get his pass on to Bobby Johbstone..... 3-1 would surely have been the final score.

For me, the Division 1 is no different from the two higher divisions in that there will always be the top section (varying in number from 3 to 6), the bottom section (similar numbers) and the middle bit who I would refer to as the perennial core. So, to escape a division, a club must either aspire to be in the top 6 or be deserving of a place in the bottom 6. Unfortunately, the top 6 is usually reserved for clubs with the bigger budgets/squads/attendances and usually (but not always) a recent dalliance with the higher division they are seeking to join (for premiership, read Champions league/Europa League). A place in the bottom 6 is always a possibility for the remaining teams but the combination of a decent (for the division) squad, the right management and a fair slice of luck should see most teams avoiding that. As for Oldham, we've had a brief flirtation with the top and bottom 6 at some point during recent seasons but eventually settled back to our rightful place - the perennial core. Until such time as we meet the criteria for a higher division, this is where we will stay and I, for one, will continue to support the team in order to maintain the status quo because without that support, the bottom 6 will become the more realistic prospect for future seasons.

I'm not normally one to criticise individuals but ........ Have to agree with pretty much everything in that post. Shefki needs to buuton it for the sake of the team, OK, things aren't going for him at the moment and his frustration is showing almost from the kick-off but surely he must realise that the more he complains, the less likely the referee is going to listen. There were a couple of occasions last night when I felt the ref would have given us a free kick for an infringement against Shefki but for his previous rants. Calm down, be more composed (in temper and on the ball), accept a subs position and hopefully the early-season Shefki might re-emerge.

Football's a simple game.... ... you win by scoring one more goal than the other team. Chesterfield - bottom of the league, bring in four or five players; they beat us in the first leg and that starts a 4 game winning sequence. Oldham stick with the squad that's been firing blanks for the last few games (I'm discounting the lad we've just brought in as, based on what I've seen of him tonight, he's another Scapuzzi - seemingly offering good skills but no consistent delivery). Result - another game without a win. We are rapidly heading for a repeat of last season's second half performance - the worry I have is that this time, we will drop into the relegation zone and before anyone mentions it - it's not a doom & gloom attitude - merely a reflection on reality. Our season is now dead in the water. It'll be interesting to see the impact on Saturday's attendance - sub 3000 definitely.

Absolutely, but..... the way things are shaping up is reminiscent of the second half of last season and if we don't start improving soon, then 17th might be an unachievable target!

No doubt we'll have the usual 'we were unlucky to lose' comments. Seems like we're the only team in our division who can't get a result at Chesterfield. IMO these cup competitions have been a serious distraction and the sooner we get them out of the way the better. Back to the usual problem - can't put the ball in the net when it matters.

every cloud has a silver lining....... .....was worrried that our ticket allocation and Latics usual approach to ticket arrangements might make it difficult for non season ticket holders to get one but the Friday night arrangement should ease that worry. Only real question is whether to go on official coach or drive.

Their first half performance was woefully short of expectations, even allowing for the sending off, but their effort in the second half couldn't be faulted and, for that reason, the end-of-game applause was deserved and I for one, was happy to join in. As for the game itself, I would have preferred to sacrifice TA from the midfield after the penalty save and brought on another defender and pushed Mellor forward to close down the wide play that Bury enjoyed. As a manager, you sometimes have to consider the probability of defeat rather than the exptancy of victory and set your team and tactics accordingly. On this occasion, PD got it wrong (imo) and sacrificed the possibility of a 0-0 result.

The new Milligan/Henry partnership perhaps?

I've not read through the entire thread so apologies if my point has already been stated. It seems to me that much of Latics's predicament has been caused by the owners pre-occupation with the provision of a new stadium. Their focus (and what little money was available) has been squandered on trying to deliver the impossible dream of a championship-standard football ground and in doing so have seemingly forgotten that you need a championship-standard football team to achieve it. However, all is not yet lost. Now, having finally accepted the inevitability of failure in the ground development stakes (a half promise to redevelop one stand is imo, a failure), perhaps they will refocus on what matters most - a promotion winning football squad. Hopefully, Paul Dickov will get that elusive balance of skill, tenanicity, youth & experience into the squad and, add to that the copious amount of good luck that we've wbeen sadly missing over the last few seasons and who knows what might happen. Here's hoping.....

Can you add a 'None deserved' entry to the list of players because that's where my vote would go. Taking the game as a whole, none of the payers performances came remotely close to a mom performance (as I would describe a mom award) and imo, the only thing coming close to meriting a mention was Kuqi's goal.

I have to agree - our midfield contributed very little to the game - totally outplayed & out-thought but in saying that, the opposition didn't fare much better in converting posession to chances. Neither goalie had much to do and the referee was probably the niggliest one I've seen at BP for quite some time - too many times he stopped play when he could have let the game flow and, worst still (from a Latics perspective), dismissing two good shouts for penalties. All in all a pretty miserable game - but at least it wasn't a category A game so saved a few quid on entrance fee.

Totally agree - basic problem with Latics is that all too often we don't play as a team and the thread illustrates the consequence - individuals blamed instead of the team's overall performance. In yesterday's game, the first quarter apart, we were poor in midfield - chased when we should have covered and held back when we should have pushed on. We gave posession away too easily and didn't support each other. I don't like to single out individuals but I thought Wesolowski in particular had a difficult game - it seemed to me as though he was trying to be both ball winner and player (in the style of Furman) but failed. Given that he's a relative newcomer and was partnered with the new lad from Norwich, I would have expected Taylor & Morais to be more proactive in supporting the two middle men but they didn't seem willing to move away from their designated wider positions. It also made it easire for Huddersfield to exploit the channels and their goal came from a position that should have been defended by Morais (imo). Still, early days. We didn't lose and hopefully the team will improve as they get more playing time.

Amazing what a well-cast net will pull in. In the words of a more well-known grandad ....."Calm down dear, it's only a ........"