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oafc1955

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Everything posted by oafc1955

  1. Couldn't have been more frustrating than Davies!!!!
  2. Would be nice to have a big strong target man, something that we have needed since we lost Porter....but how can the board sanction the signing of yet another striker. I can't believe we can't perm two, from Hughes, Allesandra, O'Grady, Davies, and Wolfenden. The problem is we have to much in potential and not enough in proven strikers!! If we do get a striker in then Davies and O'Grady will have to go out on loan and play some competitive games.
  3. For gods sake your complicating things, regardless of the amount of matches played, forget the bad pitches etc.etc.,................The point I made was..."Players playing in the premiership are 'generally' fitter, than those playing at our level.
  4. There will be exceptions, that's why I omitted the likes of Berbatov, and I said 'Generally speaking'... I don't think it has to do with the pitch or squad rotation etc.etc. The reason that Gregan can play at our level is because the game isn't as quick so fitness becomes less of a factor.
  5. I think as you move up the leagues players are naturally fitter the higher you go...you look at the likes of Man U...with the exception of Berbatov!!!! they pass and move for 90minutes, Evra, Park, Tevez, Rooney...they never stop running for 90minutes. Look at the premiership games shown week in week out...unlike 25years ago the players are now super fit athletes!! You certainly don't see that in our team so I would suggest that generally speaking, the higher the league the fitter the player.
  6. According to a club SMS Stam will have a scan today to discover the extent of his latest injury. My guess is that he'll be out for quite a while. He's looked a brilliant player here at times but hasn't played well for the last couple of seasons probably due to a never ending succession of injuries. Perhaps he should been called Stefan Scan!!!!!! Regardless of the results of the scan I think it's time to cut ties and release him at the end of the season. There's no doubting Stam's ability when fully fit but I doubt he's been 100% for a while now...certainly not this season!! We need a solid pairing at centre half and since Trotman left we've struggled for consistency in this department. Gregan's value to the side is obvious and to maintain our promotion push then we have to keep him on the field as often as possible, however, if promoted, could he do it in the championship?... where players are fitter and quicker........would we be able to keep him fit?........probably not. Hazell and maybe Byrne could do a job next season but after that we're a bit thin on the ground. No time for sentiment here. We need to start planning now, for next season..whether it be in this division or at Championship level. Anybody agree????
  7. To be fair he was short of fitness when he first came and because the team have been performing well and getting results he hasn't really had much of a chance. He has a good pedigree and is a very experienced captain. Shez pushed the boat out to sign him and he'll be on a fair salary. Hopefully, when he does get into the side he'll take some shifting!!!
  8. Monitoring diets is one thing but Maher gettin a burger when named as one of the substitutes is slightly overstepping the mark...Don't you think!!!!!
  9. Let's give him a bit more time before making a judgement. You can count his playing time in minutes since he came so to be fair, he really hasn't had enough time to make any impact. The coaching staff had been watching him for a while and I'd like to think the've seen something that they can work on. Don't forget we paid a fee for him and we aren't a club who can afford to take too many risk's where fee's are concerned. To me he's always looked pretty sharp, like when coming off the bench at Tranmere, he held the ball up well and kept possesion when we needed to in the final quarter. I reckon he could turn out a better player than Davies and will reserve making a judgment on him just at the moment.
  10. He is quick, and doesn't get bullied when in possesion. However what really peeves me is that in Davies and O'Grady we had two quick strikers on Friday night but 99% of the time they collected the ball with their backs to goal or were out wide. They should be on the shoulder of the last man waiting for that killer pass threaded through from midfield...their pace should do the rest. We should be frightening defences to death with those tactics but it just never happens. Problem is we need a Paul Scholes type to deliver the pass and strikers with half a brain knowing when to make the run and I'm afraid at the moment we seem to have neither. Kieran Lee and Dale Stephens might have the vision to open the door but until they're fit and in the side we will have to rely on Whittaker who at the moment is playing too deep to be much of a threat. I think we have to sacrifice a winger (Liddell) and bring in Maher to bolster the midfield with Allott. This would allow Whittaker much more freedom to do his best work much closer to our opponents penalty area.
  11. ???? We couldn't have gone any lower than 5th unless Walsall had hammered Hereford!
  12. Hughes maybe a little cocky but... selfish........he most certainly isn't!!!! I think you'll find he has by far the most assists this season. Butcher just needed to put in a bit of effort and didn't help himself by coming out in those ridiculous white boots thinking he was Beckenbauer, Forbes, after a bad start just got worse and worse and was probably the most consistently bad performer I've ever seen in an Oldham shirt. Players have always took stick over the years for poor performances but times have changed and some of these guys have a great lifestyle and are earning a couple of grand a week. I agree some supporters are over the top, especially towards the younger players but I think it's only right for fans to have a go when experienced pro's are under performing.
  13. Correct...He let himself down, the team and more importantly the fans. He deserved his punishment and to miss the international game. However judging by last nights display it hasn't made the slightest difference...he's still playing football by himself.....if he had anything upstairs he'd be playing in the Championship.
  14. We may have a bigger and better squad this year but the simple fact is...without Gregan, Hughes and Taylor we would really struggle to make an impact in this division. No Gregan = No clean sheet...and No Hughes = No attacking threat. What you have with those three players is where our problem lies...intelligence..football nouse. They have more brains than the rest of the team put together. I really thought Davies would have been a revelation after his enforced absence but I saw nothing last night to suggest he's improved. He's totally,totally, unaware of what's going on around him on a football field..what you see is what you get..he will not change ... end of!!!! O'Grady is similar in that respect but given time I think potentially he will be a far better player. We definitely need to shore up the midfield as Allott and Whittaker are being overun. It happened against Hudds on Saturday, and again last night. We can't play two wingers when one is Liddell as he's a liability out wide...The only reason Shez has kept him in this formation is that we were winning games but lately we have been found out...Big Time!! I would like to see Taylor in a front three and have Maher in with Allott and see Whittaker doing his work further up the pitch where he would be more of a threat. We've had a great start to the season and have to be satisfied so far, but we now need to change our game plan and quickly before we end up back in mid table and chasing the pack!
  15. Well what can you say after that!!!!....We were so much on top in the first half it must have been embarrassing for em! The problem is when we are on top like that we need to score and if we had got a second we would have gone on to win comfortably. The way we surrendered in the second half was alarming.... just what was said at half time...God only knows! We had to lose sometime but against County..it's so flaming frustrating. We battered em first half but all we had to show for it was a a fluke goal direct from a corner. Davies and O'Grady were causing all sorts of problems but not where it mattered...In the box!!! Without Hughes we just don't look like scoring a goal...Davies and O'Grady are too similar in style and I doubt they would score 15 between them all season. At the back we miss Gregan so much and it's now beginning to tell...All in all too many changes tonight and although Lomax has not been at his best of late, to be dropped at the expense of a last minute loanee who I expect hadn't even met his new teammates, must have been a real kick in the teeth!!!...... however, Sheridan does have a habit of making some very strange decisions. Taylor was again superb tonight, and probably the best player on the field but I'm sorry...Crossley at 6ft 3in beaten twice in the 6 yard box and chipped from close range for the third has to take some blame for all the goals. When playing away we can't afford to play 2 wingers, especially if one of them is Liddell as he's just not a threat anymore. Our midfield pair are too far away from the strikers and so most of our promising attacking moves come to nothing. I'd rather play Taylor in a front three and throw in an extra midfielder like Stephens as they had so much room there in the second half. It's not all doom and gloom as we've had a brilliant start...much better than I expected but, I feel that unless we change our formation, especially away from home, we're going to have a few more reverses like this, especially against the better footballing sides in the division.
  16. If Maher plays as is likely I would play Davies or O'Grady alongside Hughes and give Smalley a start at the expense of Liddell as I think it would give us more of an attacking threat. A Liddell, Stephens, Byrne, and Davies/O'Grady bench would give us plenty of options. We could even start with Byrne at full back as the defence has looked a little leaky of late. This is definitely a game we can win and we should be really going for it!!!
  17. I think it's more likely that Lomax will lose his left back berth especially if Byrne plays well. I can't see Eardley not getting his place back after international duty. It wouldn't be a bad thing as Lomax has looked a little poor in the last two fixtures and being young he probably needs a break.
  18. He's not a scapegoat and has a bright future but he's young and inexperienced and needs a break. He was woeful today and he won't play on Friday!!
  19. He's 50% better than last year and if he continues to improve we are going to have an awesome player on our hands!!
  20. It was kicking off all the way up Sheepfoot Lane and unless the police get a grip we'll have more neutrals staying away. There's absolutely no need for it at all...Keep the away fans in at the end for 5 or 10 minutes and it's problem solved!!! Hope the club don't get blamed for it again!!!
  21. Everybody would have taken that at the begining of the season but our form is slowly starting to dip. We have one or two young players like Allesandra and Lomax who really need to be rested. Lomax is a good prospect but he is still a right back playing on the left...I thought today he had an absolute mare, the longer the game went on, the worse he got...I thought he was going to give Huddersfield a goal on his own.Allesandra has generally done well but today he was poor and kept the ball far to much when quick distribution was needed. It's time to start with O'Grady as he deserves his chance,he's a very similar player to Davies but holds it better, and is better in the air. Davies will get his chance and I applaud Shez for leaving him out after his petulance at Rochdale. I hope he's learned a lesson and when he does get back in, I think you'll see a very different player. It's getting very tight at the top and we could really do with 6 points from the next couple of games, however if we continue to play as we did today we'll not be top much longer. Shez has to make some tough decisions for the next match and if Byrne is ready I'd slot him in at left back as at the moment we need a little bit more composure in defence. Gregan was badly missed today and if he'd been playing I think you'd have seen Dickinson hauled off early in the second half as he would have had him in his pocket!!! It was typical Latics today...whenever we get a decent crowd we just seem to freeze. I heard one or two people make similar comments today...like...'"How the hell are we top of the league" and "I've not been for a while and it'll be while longer before I come again" However, you have to give some credit to Huddersfield as they made it very difficult for us and closed us down very quickly whilst we gave them far to much space, especially in midfield. On another day we could easily have lost this match, however we didn't, and we're still top. It's a very good sign when you play badly and still keep picking up the points 7400 today...surely it was more than that.....I was in the Chaddy and looking around the ground 1550 from Hudds, about 1300 of ours in RRE and almost capacity in the main stand 2500...was there really room for another 1700 in the Chaddy...it sure didn't seem like it!!!
  22. Just looking outside the weather is great, a perfect sunny windless day. We're unbeaten and are scoring plenty of goals. There can be no excuses today if we can't get a decent crowd for a local derby then we never will. It surely must be 8000+!! I just hope we put in another good performance to keep them coming back...... Fingers crossed!!!!!
  23. Just ordered my ticket from the club....apparantly very few left in the main stand and was told around 1,800 or more expected from Huddersfield. Even allowing for ST Holders, it's got to be approaching 8000 if that info is correct.
  24. We've only played 3 home games and have had steady if not spectacular increases each time....It will take a while longer to get the floaters interested so I wouldn't form any hasty conclusions just yet. Saturday is a key game however and we must keep the extra's wanting more, with another good performance. If we can keep our form with 7 points from our next 3 games then I think we could have a near sell out against Leicester in a couple of weeks time. If we were to win that one too.........They'll be coming out of the woodwork!!!!!!!!!
  25. We've got to be looking at 7500+ for a local derby considering our start. The only negative could be that Huddersfield have had a poor start and may not bring many, by all accounts the majority seem to think the game is already lost!! I would be dissapointed if home fans totaled much less than 6000. We have a chance to impress a few more floaters but you know what usually happens when we are in this position!!!
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