Londonboy

15 minutes ago, TheBigDog said:

Top post

 

The key difference between the two halves was down to the tempo of our play.

i went with two mates and each of us summed up the first 45 in a single word:

 

Pedestrian.

Ponderous.

Poor.

 

The second half brought a great improvement - we pushed Lundstram and Sheron further forward and adopted a faster, more direct approach.

 

Interesting to note that Stones was about to be subbed when he scored. The lad was running on fumes after 60 minutes but continued to work hard.

 

Worryingly he had a large bag of ice strapped to his knee at the end of the game…hopefully just precautionary.

 

One final comment:

I had Latics to win 3-1 with Coral (18-1) but cashed out on 86 minutes as I was convinced we’d score a fourth…

Nice cash out!

I saw a stat 3 weeks ago that we would be 15th if all our games finished at 60 mins...

I'd say nothings improved since then. 

MM just needs to find a way to get us going from the off. I'm baffled at the pace we start most games....

3 minutes ago, yarddog73 said:

Difference second half was we played further up the pitch Sheron, Lundstrum and even Hogan, McGahey and Hobson drove us on which they needed to do as that's where the gaps were. 

Lundstrum was absolutely wank for most of the game.

Hardly broke a sweat for 60.mims.

Better for the last 3rd as SM tired but not the player we were led to believe in my view

Matt Longstaff ex Newcastle is a free agent!

Only 23 and looking for a new start after some bad injuries.

Would be worth a pay as you play punt in midfield....

Scored a cracker on his debute v Man Utd!!

Played on loan at Mansfield land Colchester last I think but did his knee last Christmas 

A couple again for Garrity tonight for Vale.....god we gave him some shit when he played for us....

supporter.services@oldhamathletic.co.uk

FAO Adam ticket office manager

3 hours ago, TheBigDog said:

No tickets in the post yet  ... but details on the OAFC App with a message saying that the QR Code becomes active on Event date ... happy if this works but I did pay £2 to have them posted...

I emailed Adam at the ticket office and he said he reposted mine today. Not entirely sure they got posted out in the first place but as long as they arrive Tues/Weds it's fine.

He's been pretty responsive so give him a go.

I don't disagree with much of the above, but as I've said before I think our main issue is the whole squad in general is too slow and old.

Our average squad age is around 28.1 and yesterday's starting 11 was 29.4!! Hudson was our youngest starter yesterday at 25 and we had 5 30 plus players starting the game.

To put this into context only Fulham in the Prem had an older starting 11 at 29.6 than we did, and players like Ream and Willian at 36 and 35 sku'd this a bit.

I wasn't there yesterday but I'd hazard a guess Mickleover were quicker and probably younger than us all over the park.

I'm not saying you don't need experience and some older heads but it's just another huge inbalance in our squad on top of the others.

From what I've seen, there are plenty of 20 something players who have both quality and pace who would improve us significantly.

If we manage to get a replay going to their place should be fun!! Capacity of 1500

3 minutes ago, League one forever said:

Anyone there? 

Fucking shite based on the score.....

8 hours ago, TheBigDog said:

I drove last year and plan to drive this year if my paper ticket ever arrives in the post that is…

Still.waiting for my 4....

Apparently if the table was based on results after 60 mins of games we would be in 15th position...says a lot about us needing to start games more quickly, get on the front foot and get ahead in games.

Apparently the ref left it up to managers.....this fucking Tim pot league....

1 hour ago, oafc1955 said:

His comments are bordering on slanderous. If I was on the end of it I would be considering legal action!

Just dont read it. Block him and and you will feel more Zen!!

He's not worth it and as we all know is a c*nt of the highest order

1 minute ago, Bobledgersheart said:

No supporter would reject an upgrade in any of our players, it's the progressive thing to do, but until those better players actually sign we need to shelve the pointless criticism of certain players. 

There are at least three positions we need to strengthen before we address the shortcomings of Sheron or the goalies. 

100% agree

1 hour ago, Ritchierich said:

Nah, we have plenty of front players and if we creat chances we will score enough to win our fair share of matches…Norwood should be the difference between “normal” goals scored for a mid table squad and turn us into a play off possibility 

Norwood has scored 11 in 1753 mins played (1 every 160 mins played) so not bad.

Kurt, Fondop and Nuttall have scored 2 in 1772 combined mins played....1 goal every 886 minutes.

I don't share your optimism unfortunately...

5 hours ago, BerlinBlue said:

This. Plenty of players can do this.

Sheron's contributions to breaking up play get way overblown because he makes a few sliding tackles here and there and runs around a bit. As long as he is starting in our midfield, we will not get promoted. He'd be ok as a backup, that's it. 

I'd love it if you could help me out here and name a few of the "plenty" that will come and play for us in the National League for the next couple of seasons.....

17 hours ago, BerlinBlue said:

Which promotion side has he played in?

 

In the next game, just watch how many times he passes sideways or backwards. How many times he stops our attacking play from developing. He sits too deep, can‘t take the ball on the turn, and can‘t pick a forward pass. Not a very good midfielder.

Sheron is not the main problem.

Every team needs someone doing the dirty work and keeping things simple.

If we had the right players to play 4:5:1 with 2 proper attacking wide midfield men, a good baller in the middle 3 (and not DG) and a better right back Sheron would be fine.

Our issue is an aging, static team without the legs to create enough space going forward for the likes of Sheron etc to play more meaningful attacking passes, particularly when we are at home.

Take him out and we are worse than we are today....fact

Is anyone else worried that if Norwood gets injured we currently have pretty much fuck all goals in the players currently fit?

Think Nors has 11 then the next best 2 are Reid and Dicko with 5 each...but are both injured. 

After that its Green with 3 and Hope and Sheron with a couple each as our top shooters!!

Big Mike, Kurt and Nuttal only have a couple between them!!

So much for our stellar strike force...keep fit Jamesand no you can't have a rest!!

21 minutes ago, LaticsEddie said:

My point was if those two had a run of games Mellon has had, we might have been starting to see a shift away from Rhinoball. 

To say its bollocks ST and NR didnt get more out of the squad after ending a run of 1 win in 9 under Unsworth with 3 wins on the bounce just doesn't stand up to the facts. There was something there the players clearly bought into, be it tactically and/or mentally. Gardner came out in the Oldham Times and backed him, Reid said on the phone in there was a lot more work on the Opposition.

Dont take this as a criticism of MM, he is 100% the right man. I was just pointing out we dont know what a week or 2 working on a Thompson/Redfearn style might have come up with

Doesn't matter really does it. We will never know so let's move on from the ST/NR conversation....

20 hours ago, wiseowl said:

 

Yes - I would have given ST/NR longer and I said so at the time - why wouldn't that have been a sensible move after the pair instantly "stopped the rot" and went 6 unbeaten? Not a bad footing on which to have given them the rest of the season was it?

 

The club took the decision to part ways - thereafter, I have no problem with the MM appointment. Hope that clarifies.

 

I think our "management" timings have been awful i.e. should have binned off DU at the end of last season and given a new manager time to implement ideas during the close season. Equally, don't chop and change too rapidly like we have this time in mid-season; just doesn't work.

 

Ultimately, I suspect "relationships" had far too much sway in a) the initial appointment of DU et al  b) the delay in sacking him/them and c) the subsequent premature binning of the unbeaten duo of ST/NR (and this left a bad taste for me).

 

It can't be denied that ST/NR got more out of this squad than anyone else - including MM to date. We'd never have got a Fylde or Ebbsfleet hammering under them, in my opinion. Most people are now accepting that MM needs fresh players in. Let's hope the money is found for that. I desperately want us to get out of this league ASAP because it's a bloody awful standard to watch. I also want the home attendance for the club to be maintained/improved and you can feel it starting to ebb away (this Sat's true attendance will be interesting).

 

I hope the right people are now making the right decisions, based on objective criteria.

I'm not sure L2 standards are much better than in the NL?

Stockport Wrexham and Notts C are all in the top 6 and Chesterfield would be up there I'm sure.

Most teams relegated from L2 seem to struggle initiallty in the NL, and bar the newly promoted teams from NLN and S most I think would hold their own in L2, bar one or two....

1 hour ago, Hemel latic said:

I'm not getting too excited or upset about the defeat. I don't think there's much between teams in this division and @nzlatic has highlighted a couple of other occasions where we've disappointed after a big result - we get up for the big games and perhaps underestimate opposition lower down the league.

 

Add in that we played Barnet away on Wednesday rather than Tuesday. Players will have got home in the early hours of Thursday morning so Thursday would have been a write off. Where there isn't much between teams that sort of thing can make a big difference, not surprising if our lot looked leggy after two big away performances.

 

December looks like a big month, aren't they all? Four home games out of six, no midweek fixtures until the end of the month. This month could see us really make a move on the play offs, no excuses for inconsistency.   

Doesn't that make it all the more frustrating though?

You say there isn't much between teams in this division, however bar Chesterfield our investment over the past 12 months and what we pay our squad is probably light years ahead of most, so we absolutely SHOULD be better than the likes of Ebbsfleet, and not roll over like we did.

Not blaming MM for any of this, but questions must be asked of Darrens judgement both on the Unsworth and co appointment, and the sanctioning of the signing players that can't do what we need them too and just are not up to it.

I've said earlier our squad is too old and slow and some pace and enthusiastic youth is urgently required.

Surely between the board and our manager some decent loans should be available. We are now a better bet than most for Prem/Championship clubs to give some of their young stars some valuable game time.

We need to utilise the loan system far better than we do in my view. Just don't get our reluctantly to do so....

2 hours ago, Summerdeep said:

^ Interesting perspective, but I still think that leaving an end completely empty gives an impression of dereliction, which can associate itself with the ground as a whole and not just one section.

 

I believe that the demise of the Chaddy probably started with the installation of seating in 1992-93 or whenever, though I suppose this was inevitable for legal reasons. Pretty much destroyed the atmosphere there though. They made the Lever End at Bolton all-seater in 1978-79: was it entirely a coincidence that Wanderers were heading for relegation less than a year later? I remember attending a couple of matches at Burnden Park in 1979-80, and much of the atmosphere in the ground was gone. The experience of watching a home side attacking an end packed with thousands of standing spectators was unbeatable in my view.

 

Perhaps you could make an appearance Summerdeep? Think you have previously said there's no way you would pay 20 quid to do in there??

5 hours ago, GlossopLatic said:

 

It's the same group of players that spanked Barnet on Wednesday. It's not a lost cause. Going into the last 3 fixtures I would have seen 6 points as a satisfactory return. The last 10 minutes yesterday does no doubt put a sour taste to what overall was a good week and if they got a rocket from Mellon and Brabin they will have no excuse.

 

Yes Chesterfield are a far better side all round they will win the league by atleast 10 points, that leaves 1 place left for us to compete for. Our aim is to fight for that spot with a few tweeks we might just get there. 

 

Stockport Wrexham and Notts Countys promotions came off the back of missing out in the play offs in the previous season, Chesterfields likely return will have come from being a penalty shooutout away from promotion. While the opportunity to get in the play offs is there we should aim for it. If we fail to go up this season then I would rather the summer rebuild be done from missing out in play offs than finishing mid table.

Don't disagree with anything you say Glossop.

Let's see how far MM can take us with this crop of players over the next 10 games or so andbtakebot from there

3 hours ago, Dave_Og said:

Fylde were lower ranked 

On 11/21/2023 at 7:55 PM, TheBigDog said:

It’s more than just a game - it’s my team. There is no way that I can look at it objectively.

 

Surely - If the team being successful can lift you up then by the same reasoning, the team being unsuccessful can bring you down?

Deffo some truth in this.... 

2 hours ago, GlossopLatic said:

 

The majority of them are good enough to make up a squad that challenges for promotion.

 

We don't need wholesale changes we just need a few tweeks.

I really don't think they are and we need more than a few tweeks.

Compare us to recently promoted sides, Stockport, Wrexham, Notts County and Chesterfield this season, and we are way off them. They rarely get beaten by bottom 4 sides and had/had exceptional home records.

How many of our stating 11 today would get in theirs the season they got promoted?

Maybe Norwood and Hobson on current form and that's it!!

We are an aging squad with an average age of 28/29.

We have no quick and hungry wide players like we see at most NL sides and are still woeful creatively in midfield.

We may yet squeeze into the playoffs if MM can add a few bodies where it's glaringly obvious we need them, but I'm almost resigned to another season in the NL, and a proper tilt at winning it next year.