I hate to say this...

[tangerinedreams]

Why keep the lad on the sidelines for all the friendlies though? He's under no obligation to sign him. If he isn't going to play, he may as well have been sent on his way.

 

 

He wasnt on the side line for all the friendlies, I dont know whether he played at Macc but he did get a run out at Halifax.

[RoytonBlueLad]

He wasnt on the side line for all the friendlies, I dont know whether he played at Macc but he did get a run out at Halifax.

 

He was definitely out warming up against Bury, Boro and was warming up again on Saturday. Unsure if I spotted him against Sunderland but I expect he was about.

[mikejh45]

:

 

I see your another one who cant grasp football is a team game. Of course Gregan makes mistakes, of course the other defenders do, but our whole team was a let down in terms of defending last year and yes that includes the midfield.

 

I was intending to stay quiet on this but then thought what the hell and remind you of some facts I've put out before that nobody has commented on.

 

Season before last we had a midfield for large parts of the season consisting of Smalley, Taylor, Allott & McDonald in front of centre back partnership of either Trotman/Stam or Hazell/Stam withing the stats showing a goals against per game of 0.8/1.0 respectively. The midfield then was hardly a tough-tackling quartet so to blame last season's debacle on the midfield is, in my opinion, nonsense. However, we defended better in 07/08 because we had teamwork and mobility and nobody giving out unnecessary arse-kickings.

 

So, if anyone can tell me why I'm wrong in saying we did so much better defensively two years ago without Gregan than with for last season, I'd like to hear it because nothing I've heard so far has convinced me that bringing him was nothing short of plain stupid and detrimental to teamwork.

 

And yes, I'm back on my anti-Gregan bandwagon.

[mikejh45]

I like gregan but i dont think he has it anymore to be honest, doesnt look like the same gregan from 2 years back, at the mo latics fanss are really apreciative of what he did for us, but im afraid if he doesnt improve or leave in the upcoming season this idea of him will change into one of just another ex star looking for a pay cheque

 

I'm not appreciative, I largely hold him to blame!!!

[mainstandmoaner]

Where are all the gregan fans that were so against my comments when we signed him back?

 

I dont want to say it but I TOLD YOU SO he's a fat waster and we would be better off putting a training cone in the back 4 instead of him. At least the strikers might trip over that, they cant miss gregan.

 

He@s too slow and all he can do is hoof it up field and head it into the rochdale road end.

 

[Stitch_KTF]

I was intending to stay quiet on this but then thought what the hell and remind you of some facts I've put out before that nobody has commented on.

 

Season before last we had a midfield for large parts of the season consisting of Smalley, Taylor, Allott & McDonald in front of centre back partnership of either Trotman/Stam or Hazell/Stam withing the stats showing a goals against per game of 0.8/1.0 respectively. The midfield then was hardly a tough-tackling quartet so to blame last season's debacle on the midfield is, in my opinion, nonsense. However, we defended better in 07/08 because we had teamwork and mobility and nobody giving out unnecessary arse-kickings.

 

So, if anyone can tell me why I'm wrong in saying we did so much better defensively two years ago without Gregan than with for last season, I'd like to hear it because nothing I've heard so far has convinced me that bringing him was nothing short of plain stupid and detrimental to teamwork.

 

And yes, I'm back on my anti-Gregan bandwagon.

 

I've said this before - that is hardly the only variable. Who were the goalkeepers? The opposition?

[mikejh45]

I've said this before - that is hardly the only variable. Who were the goalkeepers? The opposition?

 

You can't state opposition in your argument as the stats are based over several months and not individual matches cherry-picked to suit one's argument.

 

The main goalkeeper for that season was Crossley, someone who was blamed for a lot of last year's problem.

 

So you tell me, you being a Gregan fan, what positives does he bring to the team because for the life I don't see a one!!!

 

[wozz_oafc]

I was intending to stay quiet on this but then thought what the hell and remind you of some facts I've put out before that nobody has commented on.

 

Season before last we had a midfield for large parts of the season consisting of Smalley, Taylor, Allott & McDonald in front of centre back partnership of either Trotman/Stam or Hazell/Stam withing the stats showing a goals against per game of 0.8/1.0 respectively. The midfield then was hardly a tough-tackling quartet so to blame last season's debacle on the midfield is, in my opinion, nonsense. However, we defended better in 07/08 because we had teamwork and mobility and nobody giving out unnecessary arse-kickings.

 

So, if anyone can tell me why I'm wrong in saying we did so much better defensively two years ago without Gregan than with for last season, I'd like to hear it because nothing I've heard so far has convinced me that bringing him was nothing short of plain stupid and detrimental to teamwork.

 

And yes, I'm back on my anti-Gregan bandwagon.

 

One reason we defended well then was the form of Allott I think. I have no problem with Gregan been in the squad, I do think we need some competition at the back though.

Edited August 4, 2009 by wozz_oafc

[boundaryblue80]

Gregan...Branston...

 

A comparison I've been making with worrying frequency from Oct 2008 onwards...and that doesn't even touch on the blame it on everyone else but himself trait...

 

Bringing him back? Making him Captain?

 

Even more worrying...

 

Can I ask at what points does "boo-boy" become "blatantly not capable anymore???" I think the answer lies with Andy Liddell...like last season, with Gregan, I expect by October those stucking up for him will be starting to be as worried.

[oafc1955]

I think(hope!!) you will see a different Gregan when the real business starts on Saturday. Yes, he hasn't much pace and is a little long in the tooth but he has bags of experience and on his day he is he is without doubt up there with the best defenders in this division.

 

These two will be given a few weeks to show their worth as a pairing but if they fail to form a decent partnership Penney will sort it...I have no doubt!!

 

With new recruits Jacobson and Brill in the back four it's going to take time to get a settled defence but for god's sake get off their backs....the season hasn't even started yet and boo boys are already in full swing!!!

 

Trust Penney on this...he will have alternatives and I still think we'll have a new defender in during the next week or so! KTF.

[Hometownclub]

Amended.

Hundreds of people voted for him in the MoM polls hence he finished joint top of the overall poll, just because you don't agree doesn't make you right and hundreds of others wrong.

 

Maybe you need to get to more games from your London base.

[Hometownclub]

I'm not appreciative, I largely hold him to blame!!!

For what?

 

How many of these pre season friendlies have you attended to make your judgement?

 

If you had been there Saturday you would have seen abject displays from Lomax, Hazell and Brill which cost us at least 3 of the 4 goals.

[Hometownclub]

Gregan...Branston...

 

A comparison I've been making with worrying frequency from Oct 2008 onwards...and that doesn't even touch on the blame it on everyone else but himself trait...

 

Bringing him back? Making him Captain?

 

Even more worrying...

 

Can I ask at what points does "boo-boy" become "blatantly not capable anymore???" I think the answer lies with Andy Liddell...like last season, with Gregan, I expect by October those stucking up for him will be starting to be as worried.

Gregan v Branston just shows your ignorance.

 

Do you think Hazell mis-kicking and slicing every ball, Lomax constantly out of position and costing us goals in the process and Brill rooted to his line as if he had been nailed to it, were not in some massive way responsible for the 4 goals conceded on Saturday.

 

Blaming Gregan for everything is just stupid, he was caught out for pace and a quick turn twice and was forced to bring the player down, that is his achilles heal.

 

Have a close watch of Hazell in a game, who by the way you have spent months praising and defending to the skies, he is absolutely dire and thats were you maybe should be making your Branston comparison.

 

 

[Zorrro]

Hundreds of people voted for him in the MoM polls hence he finished joint top of the overall poll, just because you don't agree doesn't make you right and hundreds of others wrong.

 

Maybe you need to get to more games from your London base.

 

Maybe you need to stop taking me so seriously. And start paying for me.

 

Anyway, football's subjective. No one's right or wrong.

[Hometownclub]

Maybe you need to stop taking me so seriously. And start paying for me.

 

Anyway, football's subjective. No one's right or wrong.

So has all your anti Gregan bilge just all been tongue in cheek?

 

I agree its very subjective, just look at some of the stuff we have to read on here.

[Zorrro]

So has all your anti Gregan bilge just all been tongue in cheek?

 

I don't like him, but my stance is exaggerated slightly to counter yours and Stitch's sycophantic "bilge"

[Hometownclub]

I don't like him, but my stance is exaggerated slightly to counter yours and Stitch's sycophantic "bilge"

Honestly I was nowhere near as big a fan of Gregan as I am now, I too took a strong stance to counter some of the unjustified anti Gregan stuff I was reading from daznathe and mike45, which to me was unnecessary and uncalled for.

 

I now find myself defending and supporting him at every turn, I too can see his limitations regarding speed and mobility but he still has his strengths at league 1 level, he reads a game very well and is an excellent header of a ball and a no nonsense tackler.

 

See there I go again.

[mikejh45]

I think(hope!!) you will see a different Gregan when the real business starts on Saturday. Yes, he hasn't much pace and is a little long in the tooth but he has bags of experience and on his day he is he is without doubt up there with the best defenders in this division.

 

If he is as good as you say, why haven't other clubs in the division offered him a contract?

[BigfinLatic]

If he is as good as you say, why haven't other clubs in the division offered him a contract?

 

 

Errr...because he plays for us?

 

Silly statement... we do not know the offers he got/would have got. In pre-season terms he still resigned for us pretty early.

[mikejh45]

Honestly I was nowhere near as big a fan of Gregan as I am now, I too took a strong stance to counter some of the unjustified anti Gregan stuff I was reading from daznathe and mike45, which to me was unnecessary and uncalled for.

 

I now find myself defending and supporting him at every turn, I too can see his limitations regarding speed and mobility but he still has his strengths at league 1 level, he reads a game very well and is an excellent header of a ball and a no nonsense tackler.

 

See there I go again.

 

You are in the wrong job, mate!!! You should have been a solicitor. So if daz and myself hadn't have taken our very public position against Gregan you would have remained a Gregan non-fan grumbling quietly into your post match pint! Sounds like solicitor-babble to me!!!

 

My comments are totally justified. I willl counter your points:

1) He may well read the game but is too slow now to react to problems and is consistantly bypassed by pace and strength.

2) Name me a big forward that he has gone toe to toe with and come out on top. During the game against Leicester last year, he was not as effective against Howard as Hazell was.

3) He wins every header when he doesn't have to jump and can only outmuscle smaller forwards.

 

Roll on Saturday!!!

[Hometownclub]

You are in the wrong job, mate!!! You should have been a solicitor. So if daz and myself hadn't have taken our very public position against Gregan you would have remained a Gregan non-fan grumbling quietly into your post match pint! Sounds like solicitor-babble to me!!!

 

My comments are totally justified. I willl counter your points:

1) He may well read the game but is too slow now to react to problems and is consistantly bypassed by pace and strength.

2) Name me a big forward that he has gone toe to toe with and come out on top. During the game against Leicester last year, he was not as effective against Howard as Hazell was.

3) He wins every header when he doesn't have to jump and can only outmuscle smaller forwards.

 

Roll on Saturday!!!

I was pretty indifferent to Gregan TBH, I just thought he was a very decent Centre Half at our level.

 

It was to counter the ludicrous and totally unjustified stupidity I was reading that I felt the need to balance the arguement, wherever I see injustice i will act.

 

Also I'd say he did a more than decent job against 34 goal man Beckford twice last season.

Edited August 4, 2009 by Hometownclub

[Stitch_KTF]

So you tell me, you being a Gregan fan, what positives does he bring to the team because for the life I don't see a one!!!

 

What's the point? If you can't even see the not so subtle positives he brings then what chance have you of seeing the subtle ones? I think if I was an anti-Gregan poster I'd be piping down now.....in light of the fact that, at 35, the third Latics manager on the trot has just backed him to the degree of giving him a new contract and not bothering to sign any competition.

 

 

 

 

My comments are totally justified. I willl counter your points:

1) He may well read the game but is too slow now to react to problems and is consistantly bypassed by pace and strength.

2) Name me a big forward that he has gone toe to toe with and come out on top. During the game against Leicester last year, he was not as effective against Howard as Hazell was.

3) He wins every header when he doesn't have to jump and can only outmuscle smaller forwards.

 

Roll on Saturday!!!

 

 

1) So he doesn't read the game well enough to make up for his lack of pace? Fair enough, that's a matter of opinion, but to say he is consistantly bypassed by pace and strength is, well, ridiculous.

 

2) Not that I totally agree, but so what?! Do you think that if we signed one of your beloved pacey (and so no doubt generally rubbish) centre halves he wouldn't be outpaced by opposition forwards a few times a season?? I reckon it would happen more than Greegs getting out-muscled does, unless we find a new Earl Barrett.

 

3) Or, "Greegs wins the majority of his headers without having to jump, no doubt because the weak, inferior opponents rarely bother to make a proper challenge, and he out-muscles the majority of forwards he faces."

 

 

 

 

I put some (factual?) thoughts down about Greegs on the Lomax thread, I think most of you must have missed it, along with the chance to bleat that he's too slow that it presented...

 

 

I thought OWTB established that it was the midfield which badly failed last season? From where I'm sitting it would seem that DP summised the same.

 

In Gregan and Hazell we have the two players who topped the OWTB Player of the Year poll (for what it's worth). Sure, Hazell didn't look good the second half of last season but then neither did Taylor, or most of the team for that matter, bar Greegs. I think most will agree that prior to that Hazell was always a model of consistancy and a good all-round defender, with no real strenghs or weaknesses. I think most would also agree that, aside from the rocky month leading up to his dropping, Gregan's performances consistantly ranged between acceptable and excellent last season.

 

Badly failing defence?!? We didn't even lose that many games last season........especially up until Royle's cameo, when, interestingly, Hazell was injured, the likes of Hines, Supple and Budtz were on show......and Gregan was the only fella coming out with any credit and looking like he gave a :censored:.

 

In short, it's a load of rubbish to right off our chances this term on the strength of having Gregan and Hazell at the back, though there is always room for improvement........and desperation for competition.

[slystallone]

 

For my two peneth on the subject of Gregan:

 

For me, every team needs a “Gregan”, and by that I mean a no-nonsense, committed, swaggering presence. Every team has a go-to man who adds to the team physicality & strength and for the last couple of seasons that has been Gregan for us. In the sides of the last couple of seasons; we’ve been far too lightweight & often been bullied out of games due to the meek nature of some of our players – that accusation could never be levelled at Gregan; far too often he has been the only player who has looked to get into the thick of games, try to dominate & stand up and be counted.

 

Whilst I am an admirer of what Greegs brings to the team; I’m not 100% clouded in some of his failings. I do understand the ‘lack of pace’ that gets thrown in all the time by his detractors. But, in fairness to the man; he wasn’t exactly Usain Bolt when he arrived; nor has he been throughout his career. When he arrived; if we’re all honest; we new he wasn’t the pacey type centre halves you see at the top Premier clubs; if he was he simply wouldn’t have been with us. He was & still is the old school CB type, who wasn’t the quickest then & still isn’t.

 

BUT, I don’t think his pace should be used to hang him with. Across the leagues, right from the Prem down to the Unibond; there are tonnes of players who lack pace; but bring lots more to sides apart from the ability to beat a cheetah at the 100m – and Gregan falls into this category.

 

Someone earlier levelled that Greegs is unable to win any headers that require him to jump – I really strongly disagree with that. More often than not; he has already “manoeuvred” the striker out of the way which means he doesn’t have to jump; he has already won the battle meaning he has a comfortable header that he can take with his feet planted on the pitch. When he has had to jump; I can only recall Howard & Becchio consistently giving him some aggro – not bad over a season IIRC.

 

Gregan will be more than fine this season for us; doing exactly what he has done in all his time with us; I have no worries about him. It’s the form of the other CB that worries me; Hazell is in a slump & needs taking out of the firing line; so a new CB is required – but it’s certainly not to replace Sean Gregan IMO!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stitch_KTF]

For my two peneth on the subject of Gregan:

 

For me, every team needs a “Gregan”, and by that I mean a no-nonsense, committed, swaggering presence. Every team has a go-to man who adds to the team physicality & strength and for the last couple of seasons that has been Gregan for us. In the sides of the last couple of seasons; we’ve been far too lightweight & often been bullied out of games due to the meek nature of some of our players – that accusation could never be levelled at Gregan; far too often he has been the only player who has looked to get into the thick of games, try to dominate & stand up and be counted.

 

Whilst I am an admirer of what Greegs brings to the team; I’m not 100% clouded in some of his failings. I do understand the ‘lack of pace’ that gets thrown in all the time by his detractors. But, in fairness to the man; he wasn’t exactly Usain Bolt when he arrived; nor has he been throughout his career. When he arrived; if we’re all honest; we new he wasn’t the pacey type centre halves you see at the top Premier clubs; if he was he simply wouldn’t have been with us. He was & still is the old school CB type, who wasn’t the quickest then & still isn’t.

 

BUT, I don’t think his pace should be used to hang him with. Across the leagues, right from the Prem down to the Unibond; there are tonnes of players who lack pace; but bring lots more to sides apart from the ability to beat a cheetah at the 100m – and Gregan falls into this category.

 

Someone earlier levelled that Greegs is unable to win any headers that require him to jump – I really strongly disagree with that. More often than not; he has already “manoeuvred” the striker out of the way which means he doesn’t have to jump; he has already won the battle meaning he has a comfortable header that he can take with his feet planted on the pitch. When he has had to jump; I can only recall Howard & Becchio consistently giving him some aggro – not bad over a season IIRC.

 

Gregan will be more than fine this season for us; doing exactly what he has done in all his time with us; I have no worries about him. It’s the form of the other CB that worries me; Hazell is in a slump & needs taking out of the firing line; so a new CB is required – but it’s certainly not to replace Sean Gregan IMO!

 

[Hometownclub]

For my two peneth on the subject of Gregan:

 

For me, every team needs a “Gregan”, and by that I mean a no-nonsense, committed, swaggering presence. Every team has a go-to man who adds to the team physicality & strength and for the last couple of seasons that has been Gregan for us. In the sides of the last couple of seasons; we’ve been far too lightweight & often been bullied out of games due to the meek nature of some of our players – that accusation could never be levelled at Gregan; far too often he has been the only player who has looked to get into the thick of games, try to dominate & stand up and be counted.

 

Whilst I am an admirer of what Greegs brings to the team; I’m not 100% clouded in some of his failings. I do understand the ‘lack of pace’ that gets thrown in all the time by his detractors. But, in fairness to the man; he wasn’t exactly Usain Bolt when he arrived; nor has he been throughout his career. When he arrived; if we’re all honest; we new he wasn’t the pacey type centre halves you see at the top Premier clubs; if he was he simply wouldn’t have been with us. He was & still is the old school CB type, who wasn’t the quickest then & still isn’t.

 

BUT, I don’t think his pace should be used to hang him with. Across the leagues, right from the Prem down to the Unibond; there are tonnes of players who lack pace; but bring lots more to sides apart from the ability to beat a cheetah at the 100m – and Gregan falls into this category.

 

Someone earlier levelled that Greegs is unable to win any headers that require him to jump – I really strongly disagree with that. More often than not; he has already “manoeuvred” the striker out of the way which means he doesn’t have to jump; he has already won the battle meaning he has a comfortable header that he can take with his feet planted on the pitch. When he has had to jump; I can only recall Howard & Becchio consistently giving him some aggro – not bad over a season IIRC.

 

Gregan will be more than fine this season for us; doing exactly what he has done in all his time with us; I have no worries about him. It’s the form of the other CB that worries me; Hazell is in a slump & needs taking out of the firing line; so a new CB is required – but it’s certainly not to replace Sean Gregan IMO!

Excellent post, sums up the whole situation regarding Gregan and Hazell very well.