Latics 0-1 Shrewsbury (JPT)

[eyres_28]

ill agree he aint match fit and thus his ability to perform to his best will be affected I dont doubt it, but that doesnt FOR ONE MINUTE excuse the lack of fight to win any ball all game, to bust a gut to get up the pitch and into the box and to do the very least of staying in his allotted position of LW and do his job i.e. deliver a cross - poor Blacky had to do the job of 2 players because that 'ticket out of our division' was at one point stood playing defensive midfield and too gormlous to realise where he should be.

 

Stephens tried to find him countless times to spread the play, where was he? left back.

 

If i werent match fit I would be running my arse off all game to get fit and to get used to playing to my maximum and quick as possible, not pussy footing around - thats his problem, coasted for way too long in that because he is an oldham fan he can put in half arsed displays and get away with it - not for much longer, im sure LA will be in as soon as he is back if this waste of space, at present, doesnt buck his ideas up fast. I'd be ashamed to have come off that pitch tonight and done absolutely nothing of note AT ALL - the one chance he gets with time and space to pcik his spot he finds the RRE

 

And yes, we should expect players to play at a certain level as much as possible - United do with Rooney, Liverpool with Gerrard/Torres etc - if there are no high standards we settle for mediocrity and I personally would want us to do and be the best we can in all that we do, not the time-old 'so-so' mentality that has held this club back for god knows how long - im sure PD expects the best from his players every game and if not then they at least put a shift in.

 

Ill give him another month of playing to show me he is worth involving at all in the 1st team before I truly write him off, same goes to smalley

 

 

We shall see.........

 

how is the comparison to how Smalley played keep being made, two different players with majorly differing abilites struggling for form and fitness, one touches the ball about 3 times all match, yet Taylor attempted to get the ball run at players and for a player who is so diabolically lazy has got in the positions to have our 3 best chances over the past two matches, obviously a coincidence of being lucky to be in the right place, did bembo, feeney, smalley or kelly have any shots run at players or look dangerous at all ove these two games??

[ah_oafc]

I don't actually think Taylor played that badly if you want me to be honest. If we keep him fully fit, he'll help us alot this season

[adrianpshaw]

I don't actually think Taylor played that badly if you want me to be honest. If we keep him fully fit, he'll help us alot this season

 

He was affective in the 1st half, but didnt see much out of him 2nd, think we were more down the right in the second.

[shefflatic]

how is the comparison to how Smalley played keep being made, two different players with majorly differing abilites struggling for form and fitness, one touches the ball about 3 times all match, yet Taylor attempted to get the ball run at players and for a player who is so diabolically lazy has got in the positions to have our 3 best chances over the past two matches, obviously a coincidence of being lucky to be in the right place, did bembo, feeney, smalley or kelly have any shots run at players or look dangerous at all ove these two games??

 

No they didnt, but strikers need service, provided by said midfield and wingers.

 

Smalley and Taylor have ability, they simply cant be arsed to work hard and then use it, they once were good, hence my frustration but both have totally lost it, taylor more than smalley with regard to the levels of their said abilities in relation to how far backwards they have gone.

 

I say again, get CT on the right FOR GOOD and we may have him back to his best and force him to get past the full back and cross, if i were one of our strikers id hate playing with him for fear of not knowing what the hell he was going to do next with the ball - so far, nothing.

[edhunteruk]

No they didnt, but strikers need service, provided by said midfield and wingers.

 

Smalley and Taylor have ability, they simply cant be arsed to work hard and then use it, they once were good, hence my frustration but both have totally lost it, taylor more than smalley with regard to the levels of their said abilities in relation to how far backwards they have gone.

 

I say again, get CT on the right FOR GOOD and we may have him back to his best and force him to get past the full back and cross, if i were one of our strikers id hate playing with him for fear of not knowing what the hell he was going to do next with the ball - so far, nothing.

 

there isnt any guarentee that if you do bang him on the right he will be anybetter than at present..where is the evidence to suggest he would be more effective on the opposite flank???,you really gonna move jones as well???

 

couldnt go due to having to work,my lad went with his stepdad who is a leeds fan,my lad said it was same as saturday,his stepdad said he thought it was pretty even in first half but we lacked ideas in the second...

 

so is this honeymoon period over then,or have we just been forced into playing last seasons crap again to cover cracks?????

 

if mcdonald didnt look out of place tonight could there be a case for putting jarrett in midfield,he can pick a pass is no slouch,and has seniority and an older head on his shoulders....

 

cant get too pished off witha tinpot cup exit,yup wembly would have been a great day out..but its gone,id rather stay up in this league,what we dont want is to carry on the form of the last 2 games...otherwise these knobs booing will get louder n louder,and before you know it they will be hounding out another manager...

[Hometownclub]

taylor and smalley a disgrace to the Latics fans and the whole club.

 

Not one ounce of effort, ability and common sense of their jobs was shown again tonight.

 

To both of them - you are :censored:ing wingers, STAY WIDE, BEAT the man and CROSS!! Not THAT hard!!

 

 

If I were Dickov, whilst Lewi is in injured (and he is a shoe in when he comes back to fitness at LW) id have:

 

Brill

 

Lee

Hazell

Jarret

JACOBSON

 

MILLAR

Furman

Jones

Black (at LW - can cross a ball and best a man)

 

Tounkare

Kelly

 

Subs: Gerrard, Mvoto, Holdsworth, Dikaba, Stephens, Bembo, Feeney

 

Dale not on his game these past 2 weeks, think he needs a week out of the side to get himself focused again, need actual width til Lewi is back as Taylor and Smalley should be out of the club for having done :censored: all for the past 12 months.

 

Kelly has a brain (in football terms) and i think he would link up well with the tank given time.

 

Give DJ a break and feeney needs to stop playing for NI and get himself fit and settled and doing his job for the club that pays his wages having played 18 games in 18 months!

 

The urgency has gone, needs changing whilst we are still well placed rather than letting the rot set into players.

You've not seen enough of Millar if you think he is ready to be starting first team games, he is a young player who to me has looked pretty lost when he has got first team playing time.

Edited September 1, 2010 by Hometownclub

[Stitch_KTF]

there isnt any guarentee that if you do bang him on the right he will be anybetter than at present..where is the evidence to suggest he would be more effective on the opposite flank???

 

There isn't any, and nor will there ever be if they don't try it.

[beag_teeets]

We have a team that would have Gary Glitter dripping with anticipation yet expect them to be world beaters.

 

Brill - Pulled off a good save, not sure about the goal as it was at the other end, beaten at near post?

 

Lee - A makeshift right back is still learning the position yet is growing in stature each game.

Hazell - Had more bad games than good last season is currently our defensive rock and our only experienced centre back.

M'Voto - Will give oppo forwards nightmares. Currently giving home fans nightmares, still raw but learning, needs to z row it rather than try fancy stuff. - Was interesting to see him play as a centre forward as we pushed for an equaliser last night. Marshall???

Black - Great going forwards, getting better at the back but prone to leaving his man with too much space at the back stick, getting better though.

 

McDonald - Looked assured filling in for Rubes, got dragged out of position for their goal though which left is stretched at the back, someone should have dropped in.

 

Taylor - Getting there, a touch of the Beckhams about him in that instead of getting chalk on his boots he does come inside. Continuing the England theme, when he does come inside we have 3 players in 5 yards of each other reducing Taylor's options resulting in a short 2 yard ball to a man who already has a defender closing him down. When he had been able to work the ball into a shooting position he hasn't been far off, needs the proverbial one off his arse and he'll be on his way.

Stephens - Not Xavi yet, keep it simple lad and keep running, start the season as well as you have done and oppo managers tell their guys to close you down, you need to add a few more strings to your bow to outfox these 3rd div cloggers.

Furman - See Stephens.

Smalley - Not had enough "game time" can't expect a performance from a tampax player.

 

DJ - Wins headers he has no right to but we will never get to see his best when we persist in firing balls in the air to him to win against big ugly 6 footers. Sometimes does pull out of challenges, you are going to get hurt in this game lad, that's what the wages are for.

Kelly - Some good touches, like DJ this level is a step up for him, he seems to be adapting and Rome wasn't built in a day.

 

Tounkare - I'm glad I'm sat in the stands when he's on the pitch and not having to defend against him. He's going to cause some bruises this lad, the kind of player other teams have brought on at BP and even Greegs has winced. When he can add experience to what he already has he should be able to score for fun at this level and championship.

 

While I'm at it

 

Jarrett - Not a centre back, doing well but a wily striker and manager will expose the deficiencies in his game. Hopefully by that time the back 5 will be operating as a unit so we can cope with it. Having said that, we have missed him.

Jones - Looks versatile which is good, would like to see him swapping wings with Taylor during the game but I've being saying this since Liddell's days yet no manager appears to want to try and mix it up a bit during a game. Need to see more of him to make a proper judgement,

Lewis - Devastating injury, I really like the lad and was pleased for him to be given his chance on the left, hope he recovers quickly and starts pushing all our forwards for a spot.

Dikaba - Showed a little of why Dickov wants him, different to our current wide men.

 

The fans - Can't really fault them so far this season. Why people have booed at half time and full in both our home games is beyond me - kids picking up bad habits last season? As for people shouting "shoot" whenever we got the ball in the edge of their box last night have clearly been watching too many programmes on the assassination of JFK - the magic bullet theory has nothing on these guys. If we have a player on our books who can get the ball to clear the man 2 yards in front of him then dip under the defender behind him, swerve past the keeper and then hit the back of the net I think Billy Smart would like to see him too.

 

Fingers crossed Hazell's injury isn't too bad and we can thank our lucky stars we are out of this poxy, ridiculous, time waste of a reminder of the :censored: league we're in.

[MaskedOwl]

Another disappointment last night was that those people who don't normally go (and only turned up cos it was a fiver) but turned up....won't prob come back.

 

Some people might think this is a good thing and we don't want these fickle fans. However, we need all the cash we can get.

 

I took my Dad last night. He was a big fan during the glory years but gradually lost interest and won't pay the prices anymore. He said he was glad he went but he won't be going again. He thought we might have a spark this season but that performance said it all. He also got bored pretty quick.

 

Wonder how many more there are like this.

[thelaticsfan]

Hi guys, Im one of these fickle fans who only went because it was a fiver!

I dont normally go because of the expense of getting me n my gf in and transport and food/drink etc. but ffor a fiver thought it was worth a look.

 

heres my opinion on the match:

 

in a few words: good but lacking something

 

in more detail:

 

I was impressed with the youth of the team looking fairly stable, we passed around well and had a bit of pace which helped, although I couldnt help but think we were letting them attack us too much, we would rather try and intercept the passes than stop them from making the pass in the first place which wasnt working for us.

 

we were also slightly too rushed when on the ball, we needed someone to create space to give players a chance to think, although to say how quickly we had to get the ball under control and pass again i think we did well under the pressure.

 

seemed to be a lot of frustration in the side to, possibly because they didnt have much time on the ball, we needed to take a stepback and get a foothold on the game and things could have improved.

 

tounkare and new congo lad (not even going to attempt to pronounce his name) came on and they made an impact, looked lively and caused a few problems, although the congo lad got into a few good positions is crosses were quite wasteful with one going straight out of play.

 

good start,

mediocre middle,

lively finish.

 

crowd in rocky road end: please dont start swearing at our own players, its embarassing in front of away fans.

also seems to be a large section of the rocky road end (next to away fans) is made up of teenagers who cant make up their mind if they want a mohawk or a shaven head so go for a bit of both, also cant make up their mind on the team, calling several players then doing an immediate u turn into "stand up if you love oldham!"

 

bembo had some excellent touches but could do with toughening up,

brill looked good and couldnt fault him for the goal,

smalley and lee was looking lively at times,

Mvoto messed up a bit, needs some more games to get sharp.

 

that is my opinion from that game, but still enjoyed it and will try to get to a few others this season

[ah_oafc]

I got feddup at the kids in the RRE shouting.. 'SHOOT, SHOOT' when our players were at the half way line.

[biggie21]

I got feddup at the kids in the RRE shouting.. 'SHOOT, SHOOT' when our players were at the half way line.

 

maybe that was the only way we would have or could have scored.. shocking!

[ah_oafc]

haha spose.

[thelaticsfan]

to be honest, I think with a full squad, jarrett back, jones back and allessandra back there could of been a different outcome, they need to get themselves hyped up again, something they couldnt manage last season

[thelaticsfan]

to be honest, I think with a full squad, jarrett back, jones back and allessandra back there could of been a different outcome, they need to get themselves hyped up again, something they couldnt manage last season

[slystallone]

We have a team that would have Gary Glitter dripping with anticipation yet expect them to be world beaters. <snip snip>

 

Fingers crossed Hazell's injury isn't too bad and we can thank our lucky stars we are out of this poxy, ridiculous, time waste of a reminder of the :censored: league we're in.

 

 

That in bold.

Seems to have been overlooked by most.

 

After Reuben went off; who was the oldest player; Brill? Taylor?

No-one older than 24 years old I make it; with 2 18 year olds in the mix. Even with Hazell; the starting line up must have had an average of 22/23?

 

Such a young side; there are bound to be ups & downs as they learn as they play. MacDonald, Bembo, Black et all will benefit from games like last night and Saturday’s one too. A team sets up nice & resolute against you; how do break them down? Over to PD and his management team to work in training with them.

 

We miss Jarrett, Feeney & Gregan; not just from a playing ability point of view; more from an experience point of view. We really are a very; very young team at present.

 

 

[rudemedic]

Was very similar to Saturday for me. Lee had a good game at the back (again- I had my doubts about him but he's proving me wrong and great for him). I'm a little bit worried about Hazell's injury (there was no way that was a substitution to stop him getting sent-off, it was in injury time FFS), it looked like it might have been a metatarsal. I did think Mcdonald did well though and would prefer him over Mvoto more times than not. Brill a few errors (one which was nearly costly) but he is a better keeper than he was this time last year- although the Effing is interesting.

 

Stephens and Furman much the same, they had a few opportunities where I thought they were going to shoot but tried to play some intricate passes instead. Furman would be my man of the match, my Dad (for whom it was the first game of the season) pointed out that he had passed to a blue shirt every time after about 30 minutes.

 

Kelly and Bembo (I really want to call him Bembo-lita but I'm guessing he's gone off that name), showed some nice touches my Dad (who hasn't seen Bembo play) was very impressed with him. Kelly has shown why he was picked up from relative obscurity and promoted up about 5 levels, he doesn't look fit yet (considering he was playing semi-pro at best in Ireland I'm not surprised). However, at this level you can't play them both together unless you also play a big man, both of them won balls in the air they had no right to but it was meat and drink for their centre halfs over 50% of the time (the bigger of the two looked about 6ft4).

 

Now, let's move on to Smalley and Taylor, I'm getting fed up with the stand managers who say "You're a winger get out wide" to Taylor;

1.) He's not a winger he's a right footed left midfielder- if he was playing wide right it would be more understandable but his right is definately his stronger foot (his left foot isn't a swinger but it ain't his preferred foot) so he is naturally going to come inside a lot. Its up to the full back or someone else to provide width in that situation (Kelly came out wide quite a bit but I didn't hear many shouts of you're a centre-forward get in the middle to him).

2.) I can't count how many times Taylor wouldn't have scored if all he had done was stay out wide, are you going to shout at him for coming inside then?

3.) How many wingers did Spain, Holland, Germany and Uruguay play, how many of you were calling for Joe Cole (who often comes inside when playing wide-left) to play for England, if its good enough for the all conquering Spanish, its definately good enough for us.

 

Smalley is a good out ball at the moment but that is all he seems to offer, he doesn't look a shadow of the player that turned Leighton Baines inside out at Everton 30 months ago and I would have expected him to have improved (despite his problems with injury) since then. Smalley needs to either hit a peach of a cross for someone to tap in or have one go in off his backside to get his confidence up. He looked better after a spell in the reserves last season, and I'd be wondering if the same could be said this time round. To replace him, you could play Jones but I'd be tempted to give Holdsworth, or Purdie a go (if they are fit- Holdsworth is I think), thus giving Kieran Lee a lot more freedon to go forward (or play Holdsworth/Dikaba RB and play Lee further forward).

Edited September 1, 2010 by rudemedic