Expectation

[yarddog73]

After reading all the comments on the hash tag and all those getting all precious because Unsworth has told us he's going to need a year to steady the ship I wondered what the average fans expectation is?.

 

He's really between a rock and a hard place at the minute and I think it's fair to say his early optimism when he took the job has all but evaporated, he's tried to bullshit and cajole the fans onboard but I think he knows along with the rest of us that he is flogging a dead horse at the minute.

 

Who honestly believes that this group will have us anywhere but bottom half National League at best if not relegated, there are probably half a dozen fit to wear the shirt and that's being generous, this will be the last club for several because they are fucking awful and wouldn't catch at Curzon or Ashton United, so why do our fans think we have any right to be anywhere near the play offs? 

 

If the board are putting out the message that the play offs is the aim they are frankly (excuse the pun) deluded. We are a million miles away from just being competitive, I wrongly thought we had enough to be top half easily but I was wrong and when you look at the squad it's full of ageing journeymen, fragile kids and serial losers, we've missed Hogan as there isn't a leader on the pitch, we have a squad full of players who don't fight for each other and are as quiet as a mouse in the game, Maynard and Sheron shouldn't be anywhere near the armband and the fact they are walking out with it speaks volumes.

 

You'd think some of these players would come to terms with the fact that they are playing for their futures, there isn't much further down for them to slide and the fact they've been rolled over so easy today should be an embarrassment, weirdly they probably don't give a fuck and it shows when they pull on the shirt.

 

I literally do not care where we finish this season and Unsworth gets a free hit because of this, has he made mistakes - undoubtedly, is he stubborn - yes, tactically naive - probably, but you wouldn't send a carpenter to work with a knife and fork but that is what we are asking Unsworth to do.

 

I think we are at the stage now where some players for the good of the club going forward should be turning out for our B team if they want to stay and pick up their final pay cheques with us. Honestly don't see the point of playing Clarke every week when we have a prospect like Kilner itching to get his chance, Leutwiler wouldn't get on the bench for me after today same with Maynard, I'm sure it's not true but they play like they don't care, can't be arsed to jump or challenge at times, you see more passion and commitment on the park on a Sunday morning from U9's, I think it's about time we just accepted where we are at, working that defence on the training ground is fucking pointless because I only really saw two or three of them putting their foot in today and that was Cooper and Sheron, if they've got no desire in front of a national audience and a full stadium there's fuck all chance they'll show any at Wealdstone on a cold Tuesday night in front of a 1000 fans.

 

Get the kids in or some loanees who want an opportunity, many of this squad have had chance after chance and are just embarrassing themselves now, same mistakes from minute one despite flying in training, it just kills us week in week out.

 

Sacking Unsworth would be pointless if we have enough to stay up, weird thing to say I know but it's where I'm at and I'll judge him when it's his team out there.

[latics22]

Keepers shit, but one is an international player, mcgadey and Clarke both have played at higher levels, hogan seasoned pro at this level and  with promotions . Maynard knows the league inside out. Toilet injury set him back, Apparently good player at this level. Gardner hope played higher. The list goes on we should be doing better!! 

[latics22]

Keepers shit, but one is an international player, mcgadey and Clarke both have played at higher levels, hogan seasoned pro at this level and  with promotions . Maynard knows the league inside out. Toilet injury set him back, Apparently good player at this level. Gardner hope played higher. The list goes on we should be doing better!! Unsworth gets a free ride because of the previous shit show!

[Careca9]

Just watch Torquay or curzon today. They run work hard and get stuck in. This team as a min have that in them. He has no track record can’t motivate them and tactically isn’t setting them up to get best out of them. He clearly can’t improve or get best out of poor players so should he be the man we keep hold of to turn it round? Not for me unless he shows some promise. Few more games. As long as we are above bottom four he keeps his job, drop in and he goes for me 

[LightDN123]

Lose to Barnet and he should be gone, let’s not mess around with the wrong man like we did with Selim. 

[League one forever]

1 hour ago, yarddog73 said:

After reading all the comments on the hash tag and all those getting all precious because Unsworth has told us he's going to need a year to steady the ship I wondered what the average fans expectation is?.

 

He's really between a rock and a hard place at the minute and I think it's fair to say his early optimism when he took the job has all but evaporated, he's tried to bullshit and cajole the fans onboard but I think he knows along with the rest of us that he is flogging a dead horse at the minute.

 

Who honestly believes that this group will have us anywhere but bottom half National League at best if not relegated, there are probably half a dozen fit to wear the shirt and that's being generous, this will be the last club for several because they are fucking awful and wouldn't catch at Curzon or Ashton United, so why do our fans think we have any right to be anywhere near the play offs? 

 

If the board are putting out the message that the play offs is the aim they are frankly (excuse the pun) deluded. We are a million miles away from just being competitive, I wrongly thought we had enough to be top half easily but I was wrong and when you look at the squad it's full of ageing journeymen, fragile kids and serial losers, we've missed Hogan as there isn't a leader on the pitch, we have a squad full of players who don't fight for each other and are as quiet as a mouse in the game, Maynard and Sheron shouldn't be anywhere near the armband and the fact they are walking out with it speaks volumes.

 

You'd think some of these players would come to terms with the fact that they are playing for their futures, there isn't much further down for them to slide and the fact they've been rolled over so easy today should be an embarrassment, weirdly they probably don't give a fuck and it shows when they pull on the shirt.

 

I literally do not care where we finish this season and Unsworth gets a free hit because of this, has he made mistakes - undoubtedly, is he stubborn - yes, tactically naive - probably, but you wouldn't send a carpenter to work with a knife and fork but that is what we are asking Unsworth to do.

 

I think we are at the stage now where some players for the good of the club going forward should be turning out for our B team if they want to stay and pick up their final pay cheques with us. Honestly don't see the point of playing Clarke every week when we have a prospect like Kilner itching to get his chance, Leutwiler wouldn't get on the bench for me after today same with Maynard, I'm sure it's not true but they play like they don't care, can't be arsed to jump or challenge at times, you see more passion and commitment on the park on a Sunday morning from U9's, I think it's about time we just accepted where we are at, working that defence on the training ground is fucking pointless because I only really saw two or three of them putting their foot in today and that was Cooper and Sheron, if they've got no desire in front of a national audience and a full stadium there's fuck all chance they'll show any at Wealdstone on a cold Tuesday night in front of a 1000 fans.

 

Get the kids in or some loanees who want an opportunity, many of this squad have had chance after chance and are just embarrassing themselves now, same mistakes from minute one despite flying in training, it just kills us week in week out.

 

Sacking Unsworth would be pointless if we have enough to stay up, weird thing to say I know but it's where I'm at and I'll judge him when it's his team out there.

 

All of which is fine. . . but no one can tell me the players are as bad as they’re showing.
 

I think any half decent manager would get this side to where it belongs- 13-18th in this league. 

 

Even if we add a few more,  if Unsy stays - we’re going down. 

[JoeP]

I thought the overall message from the board has been that we're in a rebuilding phase this season.  I think Frank talking about making the play-offs on the tele today was a bit off the cuff.

 

Our (sensible) fans aren't expecting the play-offs, but I think we expect stability and at the moment that minimum expectation is looking a big ask.

 

As long as it's above the bottom four, I don't care where we finish either.  There's a real danger here that we might get pulled into a relegation scrap which, if we went down, would be a disaster and a real set-back.

 

I have no sympathy for Unsworth.  It's tough fucking shit that the players aren't good enough.  He's said he's been to games incognito before taking over, so he knew what he was letting himself in for. If he didn't think he could make things better with what he saw, he shouldn't have taken the job.  We're worse than what we were under Shez and the tactics are over-complicated and the players look demotivated.  

 

No one's demanding a successful season, but we are demanding stability, which isn't unreasonable.  The signs aren't good that even such a minimal ask is going to be achievable at the moment.

[oafcmetty]

2 minutes ago, JoeP said:

 We're worse than what we were under Shez

Are we?

[oafc1955]

55 minutes ago, latics22 said:

Keepers shit, but one is an international player, mcgadey and Clarke both have played at higher levels, hogan seasoned pro at this level and  with promotions . Maynard knows the league inside out. Toilet injury set him back, Apparently good player at this level. Gardner hope played higher. The list goes on we should be doing better!! Unsworth gets a free ride because of the previous shit show!

That post makes no sense whatsoever!!

The international is bobbins…Norman is definitely good enough for this league. McGahey has been injured for weeks and along with Clarke were released by Scunthorpe who along with us were relegated. Maynard has been on the treatment table for weeks, Tollit is ‘apparently a good player’…what does that mean? Hope has been out for 2 months and Gardner is an absolute walking sick note!!!

You ‘re right, the list does go on!!!

A handful are just OK, the rest are absolutely shite.

Unsworth has had 8 games? For me he gets this season and a fair chunk of next before he can be properly judged….firing people at this stage will get us relegated again for sure but crack on!!

 

 

[JoeP]

2 minutes ago, oafcmetty said:

Are we?

 

Are we not?

[oafcmetty]

1 minute ago, JoeP said:

 

Are we not?

Well we were wank under Shez and we're still wank. Seems about right given the quality of the players available.

[Andyt84]

If he watched games incognito then he should able to see that using the same tactics as Shez with these players won't work.  

[Littlemoor Lad]

The player's you'd of thought would have ripped this league up with their combined league experience, are a bunch of unreliable crocks and everything now seems to hinge on a load of loaned out youngsters who haven't been together long enough to know each other's game.

Time is fast running out, the board and the management team need to find a solution before it becomes terminal, start learning from the blaring mistakes and show some fight.

We didn't expect miracles but we didn't expect this either, it's fight or flight now.

 

 

 

[JoeP]

3 minutes ago, oafcmetty said:

Well we were wank under Shez and we're still wank. Seems about right given the quality of the players available.

 

I mean I agree, but Shez got 3 wins in 9.  Unsworth has 1 in 10. That's a better points yield.

 

The point is, you'd expect a new manager to come in and make things better.  Unsworth hasn't.

[daniel]

2 minutes ago, JoeP said:

 

I mean I agree, but Shez got 3 wins in 9.  Unsworth has 1 in 10. That's a better points yield.

 

The point is, you'd expect a new manager to come in and make things better.  Unsworth hasn't.

A win is a win absolutely, but lets be clear, those 3 wins under Shez were games we didn’t deserve to win either. 2 last minute winners at home to Eastleigh and Aldershot, and then Dorking who were better than us too. 
In all honesty we could and should be cut adrift near the bottom of the league.

[Littlemoor Lad]

Will the board come out and let the fan's know what the plan is here, because it sure ain't what they thought it would be, today was the angriest I've been in many a year and I'm certain some even more so.

We got our club back, now can we have some pride to go with it?

 

 

[JoeP]

11 minutes ago, daniel said:

A win is a win absolutely, but lets be clear, those 3 wins under Shez were games we didn’t deserve to win either. 2 last minute winners at home to Eastleigh and Aldershot, and then Dorking who were better than us too. 
In all honesty we could and should be cut adrift near the bottom of the league.

 

The point is, you'd expect a new manager to come in and make things better.  Unsworth hasn't.

[BP1960]

1 minute ago, JoeP said:

I thought the overall message from the board has been that we're in a rebuilding phase this season.  I think Frank talking about making the play-offs on the tele today was a bit off the cuff.

 

Our (sensible) fans aren't expecting the play-offs, but I think we expect stability and at the moment that minimum expectation is looking a big ask.

 

As long as it's above the bottom four, I don't care where we finish either.  There's a real danger here that we might get pulled into a relegation scrap which, if we went down, would be a disaster and a real set-back.

 

I have no sympathy for Unsworth.  It's tough fucking shit that the players aren't good enough.  He's said he's been to games incognito before taking over, so he knew what he was letting himself in for. If he didn't think he could make things better with what he saw, he shouldn't have taken the job.  We're worse than what we were under Shez and the tactics are over-complicated and the players look demotivated.  

 

No one's demanding a successful season, but we are demanding stability, which isn't unreasonable.  The signs aren't good that even such a minimal ask is going to be achievable at the moment.

 

 

I'm really clutching at straws now.

 

Norman

 

Kilner

Okagbue

Kitchener

Couto

 

Turner

Wellens

 

Vaughan

Abrahams

 

Fondop

Carty

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flemboy]

I wasn't expecting play offs or miracles but I was expecting our players to play with pride and to make an effort.

Far too many don't seem to care about going 3-0 down or the fans who have paid a lot of money to watch them.

Now it's a case of surviving this season as a goal.

Why do we sign players on long term contracts without proper checks .

It's about time now that we saw a big improvement and if no drastic improvements  to get rid.The tv cameras  have shown that  we see week in week out so some of our so called experienced  players can't hide behind the truth.

Which other clubs would want most of our squad .Other teams have seen us and know we are a soft touch and give soft goals away all the time.

Unsworth has to get a grip of some of them and as soon as possible  get rid of the dross.

Our new fans will soon drift away .and I don't blame them.

[yarddog73]

14 minutes ago, Littlemoor Lad said:

Will the board come out and let the fan's know what the plan is here, because it sure ain't what they thought it would be, today was the angriest I've been in many a year and I'm certain some even more so.

We got our club back, now can we have some pride to go with it?

 

 

I think this is a fair point, time to reset and go again, like you say be nice if there was a plan going forward, Unsworths magic wand hasn't worked.

[GlossopLatic]

The expectation should be Improvement from where we are now. It's a very low hurdle to get over.

 

We can all see the issues with the formation and the set up. We sit too deep which means when we get possession there are very few forward passes available to our players so it goes side to side before the inevitable lump forward to Fondop or Abraham. One of the few chances that we created 1st half fell to Abraham he had 2-3 Wrexham players and no support which meant he had no other option but to try a speculative shot which didn't trouble the keeper. But whatelse does he do when no Latics player is within 20 yards of him.

 

Last week on Suzanne's twitter Q&A he said he says he prefers 4-3-3. Why not just go play it? Alright some will struggle to play it but we have a front 3 of Tollit Fondop and Abraham. Even if we just spent the game just sending the ball upto them atleast we'd have 3 players in their half of the pitch who could make something of it and atleast they would have each other for company.

 

While I get why he'd want a year to get the team playing the way he wants he can make improvements before then and we should expect them I expect us to finish higher than 19th in the 5th tier. I still believe that will happen. We won't go down either.

 

 

This last bit of on the pitch bottoming out is still to be complete and it will probably feel like the most painful, dare I say it, it may even require us to change manager again, Im not advocating it now and I want the current one to succeed but we can't rule it out. But once through this period we are going to start rising. It doesn't feel like it now but it will change for the better at some point.

[GKing521]

The only thing that has shocked me throughout this dreadful NL experience was witnessing the slightly giddy optimism on here just before the season started. I got slammed, as per, for my "doom and gloom" prediction but alarm bells should have been ringing when we were seriously struggling in pre-season. 

The players aren't good enough, simple as. We've all become so used to the hiring and firing culture at this place it almost feels like another sacking is due. However, times are different now and I'm willing to give Unsworth all the time he needs to get this right.

It's fair to say the season almost feels like a write-off but we need to make sure we don't slip further down the pyramid...

[Littlemoor Lad]

6 hours ago, GKing521 said:

The only thing that has shocked me throughout this dreadful NL experience was witnessing the slightly giddy optimism on here just before the season started. I got slammed, as per, for my "doom and gloom" prediction but alarm bells should have been ringing when we were seriously struggling in pre-season. 

The players aren't good enough, simple as. We've all become so used to the hiring and firing culture at this place it almost feels like another sacking is due. However, times are different now and I'm willing to give Unsworth all the time he needs to get this right.

It's fair to say the season almost feels like a write-off but we need to make sure we don't slip further down the pyramid...

The only thing we should be getting used to is winning a few more game's and not seemingly writing off season after season, even when there's still more than enough left of it, to get something out of it.

[LaticsLegend]

Expectations:

Effort and desire

Ability to string two passes together

Learn from mistakes

A bit of attacking intent with the tactics

 

Is that too much to ask?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[yarddog73]

5 minutes ago, LaticsLegend said:

Expectations:

Effort and desire

Ability to string two passes together

Learn from mistakes

A bit of attacking intent with the tactics

 

Is that too much to ask?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No I think they should be a given, those not displaying those basics shouldn't be associated with Oldham Athletic.