Pawel is the key to success

[The Oldham Insider]

Penney a goal: Pawel is the key to success

2009/10. Already, a season Oldham Athletic fans will be glad to see the back of.

 

Even aside from much off-the-field disgruntlement, this has been a depressing campaign. Many a question has been raised over the current owners’ intentions and their position; the role of the Trust and the status of its Chairman and club board member, Barry Owen; and, most of all, the planned move to a new stadium in Failsworth. And, on the pitch, Dave Penney’s men have done little to lift the mood. There has been one shining light, however, providing hope that Athletic can avoid the drop and that next season may well be better.

 

The Athletic manager will have breathed a huge sigh of relief after the weekend’s win at Prenton Park, over relegation rivals Tranmere Rovers. The win came courtesy of the club’s top goalscorer, Pawel Abbott. The Polish striker, who followed Penney from cash-strapped Darlington in the summer, is one of the few redeeming features of a most forgettable campaign. Since none of his teammates has managed more than two league goals, without Abbott you have think that Athletic would be certainties for relegation. It is unfortunate, therefore, that he has spent a considerable spell on the sidelines after a hernia operation. No thanks to that, Athletic are by no means out of the woods yet, in terms of relegation. Saturday’s ‘six-pointer’ saw them climb out of the bottom four, but only on goal difference and a very difficult and, thanks to postponements, congested run-in beckons.

 

Abbott’s fitness could well be the deciding factor in Athletic’s bid to retain their League One status. Without him, Athletic simply cannot find goals. In twenty-six games they have managed a paltry 21 goals and 8 of those have been scored by Abbott. On twelve occasions so far this season Athletic have drawn a blank in front of goal. It is a most basic fact of football that if you cannot score, you cannot win.

 

Certainly, the Athletic defense would feel aggrieved to take too much of the blame for the club’s lowly league position. They boast nine clean sheets this campaign and have conceded just thirty goals in total; a very respectable figure, especially after Dean Brill’s difficult start to life at Boundary Park. A series of errors from the goalkeeper saw Athletic concede some calamitous goals. To his credit, Brill has bounced back and is currently back in starting line-up and on good form, after being dropped mid-season.

 

Given the numbers, it is difficult to criticise the defensive aspects of Athletic’s game but there is a debate as to whether Penney’s tactics are excessively cautious, at the expense of goals and, in turn, points. It would be over-simplifying, however, to suggest that this is the sole reason for Athletic’s lack of goals is their defensive outlook. One of team’s main attacking threats, Chris Taylor, has been plagued by niggling injuries and, even when he has played, he has seldom appeared to be at full fitness. When his and Abbott’s absences coincided, it presented a stark reality that, those two aside, the club simply do not have the necessary quality of offensive player. Keigan Parker has proven to be a poor signing, as has Joe Colbeck; Chris O’Grady found form on loan at Rochdale but was then sold to the League Two leaders; and Deane Smalley and Lewis Alessandra have both failed to live up to expectations. Penney will hope to have gone some way to addressing this issue with the loan signing of Jason Price.

 

Athletic fans are frustrated at knowing what Taylor is capable of, based on previous campaigns, and at having a forward player in Abbott, whose height, strength, hold-up play and intelligence is often wasted on lesser teammates. The key to improvement, and perhaps also to Penney remaining in a job, is to build a forward line around Pawel Abbott. Any out-and-out goalscorer would relish having the big Pole as a strike-partner. If Penney can find one of those, as well as the right attack-minded midfielders, given the mean defense he has managed to construct, it could well bring about a complete transformation in Athletic’s fortunes.

 

Abbott’s shoulders are broad enough to take the weight of Athletic’s survival hopes. If he can carry those home, Dave Penney’s success depends upon building a team around him.

[JohnnyPimp]

How's the book going Tony?

[Diego_Sideburns]

Abbott’s shoulders are broad enough to take the weight of Athletic’s survival hopes. If he can carry those home, Dave Penney’s success depends upon building a team around him.

 

Abbott has the ability but needs to find his shooting boots.