unsworthlatic

Massively! We will miss him and struggle to replace somebody like Clarke. No leaders or obvious signs of leaders which majorly worries me.

I know the question wasn't directed at me but felt compelled to give my opinion. Presuming you were meaning Peter Clarke. Captain or not, playing or not, fit or not, Peter Clarke would have done and still will do (wherever he rocks up) lead by example and be a leader. He was a natural leader of men and we will miss him massively, I'm sure you will agree.

I didn't mind Fane. If his job was made simple, he could manage to do it. I remember us playing and beating Peterborough 2-0 at home when it was made free. Fane was really disciplined that night, won the ball (he was good at that) and played a simple 2/3 yard pass, he managed that too. He was extremely careless on the ball and as such was extremely frustrating however always, always gave 100% and played with his heart on his sleeve. As such, it's hard to be critical as his technical ability just wasn't good enough. I do personally think Sylla is better and will be better. Looked okay after a run of games near the end of the season.

I'm usually on top of this kind of thing but have been in the process of moving house and to be fair less interested than I have been in previous seasons. I know we have two friendlies in Morocco and that we play Rochdale at home on 20/07, we haven't announced any others have we? I presume Winsford and Glossop are youth team? May take these in as I've not been to either ground (god knows how I've not been to Glossop)

As much as loans can benefit the club, the stability of having the same keeper (should he be adequate) ready for the 2020/21 season is encouraging. I've always thought that you should have your own goalkeeper (Kelly, Pogliacomi), that said my opinion has changed slightly since we've had Iversen and Ripley. I've always wanted your loan players to dominate a game, a goalkeeper can't do that. Remembering loanees in years gone by, Kilkenny dictating play in midfield, Surridge scoring 1 in ever 2/3 chances etc. I also think loaning forward thinking players who can change games with flair and/or pace is where you should look to get them. 2 wingers, a centre midfielder and 1/2 strikers unless you can find your own. Just my opinion of course.

Just out a matter of interest, what calibre of player were you expecting us to sign? A keeper who has played 187 career games, all arguably at a higher level than what we currently play at (depends what your thoughts are on Scottish Football) is to me a solid signing and an encouraging one to boot. I am pleasantly surprised at the last two signings in Woods and Mills. I thought it would be extremely rare for us to sign English players and even stated that we wouldn't sign any given we had our required amount for a matchday squad already there. I am still expecting the #frenchlads to arrive and I hope they can bolster our squad with ability but we'll see.

As usual, way off the mark haha! What do I know. All aboard the Banide promotion train

I have kept quiet since Banide was appointed as to be quite honest I didn’t really have much to say. It was exactly what I expected. Somebody we have never heard of who had coached in some capacity before but would have no links to the English game. This is exactly what we have got. Is it a risk? Yes, a tremendous one. However, any managerial appointment is a risk. Penney came to Oldham on the back of a decent managerial record, was dross. We hired rookies left, right and centre yet Dowie (albeit with a load of cash) and Johnson were seemingly pretty decent so this is a risk just like any other previous managers we have had to date. English players signing? I’d guess probably not, in fact, I’d be quite confident that we will not be signing any. AL has chosen to go down this route, so let’s see what happens. Sadly, I see it ending virtually as soon as it begins, sacked in October and left scratching around, using our bingo ball machine for the next poor sod to take on the challenge of being the custodian of Oldham Athletic for the 3 months following. When he announced his vision/plan, I was willing to see whether actions speak as loud as his words do. I am still am but an appointment of a 51 year old on a one year deal doesn’t seem to enthral me sadly. I am, like with anybody, willing to give Banide the chance to prove my initial theory wrong and I would love nothing more than going into October/November bouncing our way to Scunthorpe in droves following a tremendous start to the season, sadly I don’t think that will be the case.

If it is Paco Herrera, he has quite a decent record albeit in Spain

You play with 3 in midfield whether that be Danns, Rossiter or O’Connnell complimenting the other two. I believe Rossiter got injured at Exeter? Either way and whichever one out of the 3 you play alongside Mayor and O’Shea they would be playing against a midfield 4 if we played a narrow diamond. The idea is stopping the source of over half of your goals which are these two. Of course that means there are gaps elsewhere but should we win the midfield battle then theoretically your wingbacks would do more defensively than offensively and as such the plan could work. As stated in previous post, if we don’t get it right and it doesn’t work, retreat into a flat 5 across the middle and get our wide midfielders watching the movement out wide of Adams and McFadzean and just try and nullify the threat of Mayor and O’Shea the best you possibly can. All the while trying to hit on the counter attack with pacey frontmen (if they are fit) Very tough game but hope we can give as good as we get

Weird one this...on paper it's sadly a routine home win. However, funnily enough I'm more relaxed about it following drawing with Crewe and losing to Morecambe. For me, we have to starve their midfield of possession. They have Mayor and O'Shea who basically do it all for them, so I think if we stop them, we stop Bury and they may have to resort to playing long. The way to do this, I think is, despite them playing with wingbacks and using the width, they do this to open up gaps in the middle so those two mentioned can roam. Therefore, i'd play a narrow diamond and make it a real battle in midfield. This would starve them of space and force them wide. Albeit, we may be caught 1v1 out wide, as long as you defend the box, we should be absolutely fine. I'd play: Iversen Hunt Clarke Edmundson Nepomuceno Missilou Maouche Branger Baxter Dearnley Lang The two strikers are basically to break with pace. If it doesn't work, you could always drop back into a 5, move Dearnley out one side and Branger out on the other. Just my thoughts

Exactly my thoughts on the matter.

Back to the original topic albeit it is ridiculously more tedious and boring than discussing the "down vote" saga... Anybody expecting anything today?

This is the team I would go with. Cannot for the life of me see this being the team: Iversen Hamer Edmundson Clarke Iacovotti Missilou Sylla Lang Maouche Nepomuceno Afolayan

Sam Dalby at Leeds?

Paul Gladon has been released by Wolves today. BP, didn’t you suggest him to Latics?

In all competitions, Hunt has scored 2. One at Northampton and one at Hampton. Not that it really matters, just being a pedantic fool

That's not quite true is it? We scored early, then scored right from kick off and also hit the post and had a Forte header disallowed all within the first 20 minutes. Game could have been out of sight! They did however take full control after that. They had some fantastic players. Yaser Kasim and Massimo Luongo in the heart of midfield were excellent! Toffolo at left back was solid as well! Seemed to have a disagreement with the ball boy if I remember correctly

As well as Pete Wild has done and as happy as I am for him in what he has achieved in such a short space of time, I can't help but feel taking the job on a full time basis will be a poor move for all parties. Pete Wild said himself that he wants to ensure that he is ready before stepping up into the permanent role. The job security thing for me is a worry, from one man to another, I feel that he is better off staying with the youth team, learning his trade there and his time WILL come again inevitably. I can't help but feel that it's a 'Wellens II' all over this. The real test will be when we eventually lose or get on a bad run or he comes under pressure from AL, that to a normal manager is hard enough but to be so new into the job and support the club too, I feel could really drag him down and I wouldn't want that for Wild until he feels he is ready and fully prepared to take on what seemingly looks like a poisoned chalice. If he wants it and is determined it can work then that's something separate to take into consideration, however, i'm not sure things can change that quickly in a person's head over 10 days. Especially making a decision which in 6 months time could see him removed from the club if things do not work out. I will of course support him in every way should he take the job (if offered to him) and it does have a potential to be a great success story but I am sceptical regarding the possibility of him being appointed full time.

He sent in a message to a guy on instagram that he hoped to be back on Saturday but god knows.

Albeit, it wasn’t a good performance, it was certainly a very professional one. With leaders in the back line in Taylor and Clarke complimented by the ever improving Edmundson and general 6/10 Rob Hunt we are starting to have a solid base to build on, a bit like under Steve Robinson. This is clearly aided with the fact our keeper looks extremely competent and very reliable when called into action. With having a base as solid as that to work with and build to the front on it is clear to see that we are not quite the finished article offensively. Gardner has been okay, notably first couple of games where he took the initiative to pull us through tricky periods of games. Missilou and Branger are acclimatising the English football and given how long it took some last season, I think they’re doing okay. Nepo for me has been disappointing so far but great finish on Saturday, hopefully that will spark his season into action. Up top, O’Grady, I am a big critic of however again it’s clear to see that he works his tripe off and has done an okay job in the first 5 games. Also nice to see him get on the scoresheet on Saturday and will hopefully give him the base he needs to build on (got the monkey off his back so to speak). Still think we missed Surridge but a positive that we won and were not pressurised into risking him, Bunn eluded to it being a marathon not a sprint and as such would take time on getting players back to full fitness. What has impressed me is that despite not playing that well we have picked up 8 points from 5 games, unbeaten in 4 and only lost 1 which was to the team who occupies 1st place in the division at present. As well as this, different players are contributing and scoring. Already we have had Miller, Surridge and O’Grady all score as well as Branger, Nepo and Gardner contributing so far. Baxter is yet to come back to full fitness but his quality certainly hasn’t deserted him. Improvement needed granted but plenty of positives to take from the opening 5 including a steady points tally to build from. 2 home games now coming up, Crawley and Newport. Should be looking for 6 points, would take 4 (just about) but an opportunity now to turn this from a steady start into a good start. Onto Saturday we go.

The comparison is RELATIVE to levels of football playing at. Another one would be Powell and Dack in League One to De Bruyne or Silva in the Premier League. Also think you're being slightly harsh on Fane. Judging by that he shouldn't be a professional footballer, I presume you're on that wave length? If so, then I really do hope he makes you eat your words come January and February.

You and me both!

That's fair enough. I was a keeper so enjoyed a midfield whether they had quality or not to do similar to what your post states haha. I agree with trying to have enough quality to help you create and attack, fine line and a balancing act. We'll have to see but of course, like with any opinion I respect it and can see the flip side to Fane and see why fans are not too sure of him.

Like I said, this wasn't my opinion, simply quoting what 4 separate managers described him as including our current one at the meet the manager. My obsession is not with a player who runs around a lot. What I see in Fane is potential, nothing more, nothing less and he has got to improve but I think he will improve and will offer this side something later on this season