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The Season Ahead


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Amidst the euphoria of the London Olympics, the 2012/13 football season seems to have crept up all of sudden, as Latics travel to MK Dons for their League One opener on Saturday.

 

The Olympics gave rise to a departure from the usual fixture programme, meaning that Latics were knocked out of the League Cup even before kicking a ball in the league – or a week earlier than usual - defeated 4-2 by Sheffield Wednesday in Monday night’s televised clash.

 

Latics’ first half performance in that game showed a great deal of promise, with the blues taking a deserved two-nil lead into the half-time interval. However, just as convincingly as the opening period showed the team’s strengths, the second half exposed many of the shortcomings. And many of these are issues that were present last season too.

 

The mysteriously stark difference between first and second half performances has blighted Paul Dickov’s term as manager. It is uncanny the regularity with which his team put in a impressive shift in before the break, only to emerge afterwards and let their earlier work go to waste. Dickov’s teams seem very prone to letting heads drop when they are up against it.

 

Again, like last season, there are some promising signings but, again, the squad looks both incomplete and paper-thin. Jonathon Grounds, signed from Middlesbrough looks an improvement on last term’s left-back options. Cliff Byrne adds some much needed experience and Lee Croft is a very decent replacement for the departed Filipe Morais.

 

Two men who really have not been replaced are Chris Taylor and Shefki Kuqi. Despite a loss of form in the latter half of last season, Kuqi finished as the club’s top-scorer by some distance but chose not to remain at Boundary Park. The two strikers drafted in – Dan Taylor and on-loan Jordon Slew – are unproven youngsters and should not be expected to carry the burden of leading the line. Left-wing options, following Taylor’s move to Millwall, are slim and there is no question that a replacement is still needed in this position.

 

Even if the two key signings are made to plug these gaps, there is no escaping that, just like last season, Latics will struggle to cope with injuries and suspensions, as there is so little depth to Dickov’s squad. Whilst he is of course working within the constraints of a very tight budget, it is disappointing that the Scot has repeated one of last season’s mistakes of not having his squad properly assembled ahead of the new season.

 

 

Prediction:

Dickov still needs to complete his squad building for the new season, and early form may suffer for that. Latics at full strength, however, appear to have a team who will be capable of competing with most teams in this division. But as the season takes its toll on the squad, in terms of injuries and suspensions, the over-reliance on youngsters and hit-and-miss loanees is inevitable and will see Latics well in the bottom half of the table. The hope is that key players will be available for the majority of the campaign and relegation can be avoided more comfortably than last time around.

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It is going to be a :censored: season, some highlights some low points. The games at home will be played in awful atmospheres and foul weather. Our young an inexperienced squad are going to drop clangers and show glimpses of the players they could become. People sitting near the dugouts will shout "helpful advice" to the management team and people sitting near the away fans will "intimidate" the away fans.

 

Crowds will drop further as the recession bites harder which will hit the clubs budgets over the next few years.

 

In summary, a struggle.

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