Hands on

We have gone beyond the point of 'must wins'. Dickov needs a change and so do we. The question is what instructions does SC have? Does it matter to him if we go down? The evidence so far is that he does understand the position we are in but his brief is to do nothing about it. The value of the land is the value of the land. I suspect he wants us to do well but in reality it makes no difference.

Went to Mossley today. They won 7 0. Played the passing game. Long kicks by the goalkeeper last resort. Passed the ball so players were running on to it. Great performance. Dickov would do well to go and watch them play!

I'll win today as I'm going to watch a club that can win - Mossley (top of Evo-Stik Division One North) - with pint in my hand and a pie that is cheaper and better.

Whatever we say or think Dickov will keep the team looking over their shoulder so I can't see Baxter in the midfield although that is where I would like him to play every game as the front of a diamond. We could then have Smith and Derbyshire up front who have looked a good combination - Smith would learn so much playing with Derbyshire.

Started reading the gospel according to Dickov but couldn't finish .... "We are not a bad team" We certainly are not as good a team as those players should be!!! You don't have to be bad or unlucky to be relegated you just have to fail to score enough goals. I don't want to be the best team, I just want us to be the team that wins and cutting out the mistakes is not the answer. Goals we need goals.

I know we all want to progress in the cup but would you take a win in the cup and one point from the two league games? (This is better than our recent results would suggest)

Seem to have lost Doncaster away on the 27th from your list. We are on target for 49 points at the moment and just the 4 points from Hartlepool and Shrewsbury this month puts us on target for 48 points. That is not what we need. Corney knows we need to be well placed by Christmas to weather the inevitable slump in the New Year. I like what he said but if he is really trying to protect their 'investment' I would have thought league 2 football is the last thing he wants and that undoubtedly is the direction we are going in. Please God and Dickov prove me wrong!

Tranmere came to win, played without fear and with confidence. They were sure they could beat us so we were allowed to play where it didn't matter. Bury desperately needed a result and were set up to stop us playing and we let them do that - the win was a bonus for them. Being allowed to play our game does not make us a good team unless by so doing we can win. Would I swap they way the played for the way we played? Of course I would!

Spot on - an old fashioned tackle getting the ball first and then the man. I don't buy the idea that this team goes out game after game and ignores what PD tells them to do. Because of the stupid mistakes that have been made our defence and midfield are all a little bit too careful. The Montano mistake against Bury was met with an early substitution and PD ignored him when he came off. I suspect there is too much talk about mistakes. Even with the mistakes we have one of the best defensive records in the division. It is the lack of goals that has cost us.

Our problem is not defending! Our problem remains goals for. If, as we expect, MD and Jose leave in January it will be any two of Simpson, Smith and Taylor so if PD is right, that Smith and Taylor should not start a game, strikers is what we will need. Furman will stay put and go for a better contract at the end of the season. How much does anyone one think a club in 19th spot can get for their second string goalkeeper? In my view, showing my age, Croft has been our best player these last two games - well that is until Smith came on. I will never understand why Simpson starts before Smith. Our best spell was with Jose as central midfield, could we have called that a diamond(?), and Smith up front.

Can anybody justify the claim that all is well. Well managed with spot on tactics. Six points from the last four gains should have been a minimum. Don't be fooled by beating no league Kidders. I'm a 'these players are good enough' but the direction is wrong supporter now.

Wonderful to perform so well in losing again!

There are no positives when you don't win again and again! They had four clear chances and only managed to score once. We had no clear chances. We lost! Dickov stumbled into the best formation when he petulantly replaced Wes with Smith only to change what worked well by taking our best player, Croft, from the field. 1 point out of 12 when we should have taken 6. I'm negative but only in response to what I see - we flatter to deceive.

Baxter should have been withdrawn but he was asked if he wanted to stay on and he did. Unless he is 100% he should not play today because we can't run the risk of losing him for longer. I think he will be on the bench and we will have another Simpson falling down masterclass!

You have just provided the money for Derbyshire to stay longer and then see your team failing to play to his strengths and losing a game which put us firmly back into the relegation battle. Corney knows as do we all that this team without Derbyshire and Baxter doesn't have the goals to stay up so we have to have the points in the bag when they go. Annoyed, angry, pissed off ............

I don't subscribe to the idea that we lose to better tactics. Did we really give the passing game a chance? It doesn't have to be high tempo, we just have to keep the ball. The long ball has to be used but not so often. The job of our manager is not simply to keep the players happy. Players will be happy if their team is winning. Derbyshire was clearly unhappy about our failure to use his potential. An injured Baxter was left on the pitch and once again, because of the long ball, we improved when Smith came on. I'm unhappy because we are back in the relegation battle rather than six points higher up the table which with these players is where we should be. The most obvious ability in our coaching staff is how to stop our players playing to their potential. Our "goals against" is not bad at 17 in 15 games but "goals for" 16 in 15 is dire particularly when you take into account that Baxter and Derbyshire have 9 of these. 6 from the rest of the team, one own goal, is not good enough. January to the end of the season is going to a very long time.

We started one man away from our best side, I was going to say team but I'm not sure they are, and what did we do? HOOF! We have Derbyshire who is no long ball specialist, Simpson who wins nothing and spends far too much time falling over and an injured Baxter up front. The ball needed to be on the ground. GET IT DICKOV - you have a passing team as you refuse to play Smith until we are behind. Of course with the tactics, HOOF, Smith makes a difference because at last we have someone who can win the ball. Just like at Carlisle, this was a game we lost with a good squad and only one man is to blame - Paul Dickov.

Interesting! Any group in the majority (i.e. white male) can not be discriminated against. So no white this or that but black is OK. The point that has been missed in the Rochdale case is that non muslim white girls were the target because Islam stopped the perpetrators from going after anyone but the infidel! Terry could not be found guilty by the courts because of the gap in lip reading which the FA decided to ignore. I fail to understand why you can join a 'black' grouping and be upset by someone calling you black! Should I be upset by someone calling me white even though I would suggest my skin colour is just as far from white than most 'black', by there own definition, players are from black. Football is no worse than society it is so badly regulated and led by the FA and the Football League who seeing a band wagon jump on. Finally the FA has opined that it is not the intent, i.e. you don't have to be racist, but simply the use of the word black that is wrong so why not white, spanish, french and so on.

Well done Dickov

Strange that in life the only place you can safely touch is the head (or hands) whereas in football the only place you can't touch is the head! It is typical of the way the game is run that a push with open hands to the head is dealt with in the same way as a punch - the administrators like to make it simple but end up making it unfair. Just like two players can spend the entire game swearing at each other but if the word 'black' is mentioned, would 'white' be the same, it is off with your head. It is all because so few people have any common sense.

Traditional treatment often fails and it is often the complementary or natural healthcare that can finish off the job. Much like Craig I had an operation and physic but remained in great pain until I turned to the other side. Don't mock what you don't understand and don't be foolish enough to believe that your doctor even understands how our minds and bodies work and interact.

Furman did make one delightful pass forward to Croft but he was part of a team that didn't appear to think it had to exert itself to win. I am a Furman fan but I also thought Simpson should have kept his place. Furman is now on the verge of playing in a major tournament for his country and although I don't doubt his commitment to Latics I'm sure this will have an impact - he will have an edge of being careful which might take the drive out of his game which we need - it might also get him injured, I hope not.

The problem we have is that Furman will now expect to be picked and despite himself will not play in the same way. I'm not saying he will deliberately pull out of tackles and take it easy but he won't want to miss out and I don't blame him for that.

Does this mean that the police will now take action against those who made the allegation and wasted their time?

As one of the 249, the person who had the greatest impact on the game was the Ref and after that their striker - I could describe him with the language used by the Oldham 'fan' behind me but it's time people stopped behaving in that way. The few times we played we were better than them but we were lethargic and their constant niggling, obviously all short of fouls, stopped us. Although I am a Furman fan I think it was a mistake dropping Simpson. I also hope we are not starting another streak of giving away stupid goals. The game was over when Jose hit the post and Dickov went three at the back. On the bright side found a good pub (Linton Holme) with Yates beer (£2) and free pool!