palmer1 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 with Slew back at Blackburn for treatment it looks like Matt Smith is going to get the chance to start tonight He has not done too bad in his last few appearances but IMO not only does he need to produce a strong performance tonight more importantly win lose or draw he has to hit the onion bag! he needs to show he can be trusted to start up front, i don't know how long Slew is out for but if he is deemed fit for the next game which is now a few weeks away who is he bound to start? the £1 million loanee or our own non scoring forward.......... Come on Smithy time to step up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twisbrogan Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Should be a starter tonight but I think he's done enough in his last couple of appearances to get a run beyond just tonight's game. I was going to say I don't think he'll ever be prolific but as long as he makes use of his size to become a major irritant to defenders to the benefit of others, I'm not too worried. However, though he's not made the most of them, he seems to have always managed to get into scoring positions in the past and a few goals here and there would only improve his confidence which is what he's needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec1954 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Play him and Taylor up front. Give Simpson a rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laticdickovarmy Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Simpson will get a 11 day rest after tonight anyway, we have to go out impose ourselves win the game then take him off I think this could be smith's night, really want the guy to do well and think he will Im actually going 2-1 Latics Smith 1st goal and Montano 2nd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafcprozac Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 (edited) Having seen Smith's performance on Saturday and his performances at Chesterfield and Scunny last season, we need an effective partner with him. Smith will hold the ball up, drag defenders out of position and generally be a pain in the arse. He will never be prolific at FL level imo but if someone can exploit the problems he causes - namely Simpson getting his arse into the box and a midfielder that can pop in there, then he'll make the impact we all want. Smith if given a run would be good for 6-8 goals this season imo, if we can get quality balls into the box then revise that to 10-12, but it's how much Dickov trusts him. Personally, I think Slew is all wrong for this side, we played all pre-season holding the ball up and getting players running in beyond the strikers - look at Furman at Fleetwood for example. Bite the bullet, apologise to Slew and Blackburn and cut our losses. It's not worked and I've seen enough to know it won't. We've got Croft, and Montano to run the channels along with overlapping full-backs, Slew will just get on the way. What we need is someone to get in the box. Smith will score more over a season than Slew. MIllion quid or not. If PD doesn't trust Smith, then hound Corney for the Clarke deal to come to fruition…. Edited September 4, 2012 by oafcprozac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafcprozac Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Play him and Taylor up front. Give Simpson a rest. Taylor imo is not ready yet, he's too lightweight and his positional sense is poor and often on the periphery of the game. If we can bring a loanee in, young Dan would benefit from a stint at Barrow or similar. I'm not writing him off, he looked a neat player in pre-season but he needs to fill out and to toughen up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laticdickovarmy Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I always remember Shearer once being interviewed and asking him how he scored goals, his response was simple something along the lines of i have been taught hold the ball up and always keep yourself in the box but inbetween the line on the posts and you will score goals, he said he never scored a lucky goal as luck does not put you in the postions to score goals you do I have so much admiration for Shearer dont think people ever realised how good he was Anyway my point is if we get Smith holding the ball up and in the box he will create or score a fair few, he has to do nothing else for me other than heading away the ball in our box from set-peices as well. Play to the big mans strengths. Echo Prozac feelings that Smith will score more than Slew would much better suited game to Latics than someone who wants to run in behind and cant see how they can play together. Im 90% sure if you ask Simmo who he would rather play with would say smith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafcprozac Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 (edited) Yep, running in behind is different to running in beyond. One will fail miserably in this league given how deep teams defend - especially at BP. The other is bloody hard to defend against. My team tonight Bouzanis Winchester Byrne M'Voto Grounds Croft M'Changama Mellor Montano Smith Simpson Tarky is still on the bench, a good 25 minutes or not I think we have to encourage the notion of overlapping fullbacks, Winchester will do that better than Byrne and he was superb in the middle on Saturday alongside JYM. I'd like to see young Connor get a run out but I think that both wingers still need game time. So perhaps he might get 20-25 minutes. The rest of the attacking players need goals, especially Simpson so it stays as it is. Having said that I expect Cisak Byrne Tarky JYM Grounds M'Changama Croft Winchester Montano Smith Taylor Edited September 4, 2012 by oafcprozac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oh Heck C-Beck Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 IMO playing Smith encourages the long ball but maybe that is just because i always see him thrown on when we are desperate. If Slew is injured fair play but I don't see why people are so quick to write him off yet happy to give Smith loads of chances, even if one is our player and the other is a loan player. Slew is clearly a better footballer than Smith and for once I want to see us get the best out of a player rather than another team, which happens time and time again. That said good luck to Smith if he is starting tonight - hope he takes his chance and happy to be proven wrong if he has a blinder. At the end of the day we need competition to get the best out of the players so I hope Slew comes back and Smith does enough to keep him out of it so he has to up his game to get back in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafcprozac Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Loads of chances? How are 3 starts in his entire Oldham Athletic career, loads of chances? You've said yourself we hoof it up to him as a panic measure when he's usually thrown on with the game already gone. As he proved at Chesterfield last season and on Saturday, when used correctly he's a massive asset when we're simply not panicking and chasing the game. As for Slew, Stevenage thought him lazy - he offered very little at MK was particularly poor at home to Walsall and clearly not fit at Portsmouth. In fact the first half an hour or so when he was clearly fired up v Wednesday he's offered little. I hope he improves, but we need someone in the box not another channel runner. My other gripe is he's only here until January anyway, we changed our system for him and we looked crap. We reverted to holding the ball up and running beyond on Saturday and looked a threat…. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshgaz Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 In what way is slew a better footballer than smith? In what I have seen of slew, I'm shocked that he is even labelled a footballer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oh Heck C-Beck Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 haha I would say the same about Smith - lets just agree to disagree and hope they both improve. To be honest the fact that we are debating who is the best out of these two highlights the serious lack of quality we have up front in general! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshgaz Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Totally agree. However after Saturday smith is the new messiah! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafcmetty Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Ole ole! 1 start, 1 goal (so far!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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