Hyde match

[daniel]

1 minute ago, yarddog73 said:

9 penalties though

Does a penalty count for less? 

[yarddog73]

1 minute ago, daniel said:

Does a penalty count for less? 

Not in my book, I hope Monty is right with his prediction though and I'll eat the humble pie.

[LaticsPete]

30 minutes ago, yarddog73 said:

9 penalties though

I'd take that.

[Hemel latic]

I thought it looked as though Nuttall and Reid were beginning to form a promising partnership towards the end of the season. Reid looks like one of those guys that's only really at his best when 100% fit so I think the options up front will benefit him, we don't have to run him into the ground. Having his pace and skill in the team causes panic in the opposition. Timmy had lovely raw pace but Reid has greater skill and finishing ability to go with it.

 

I think we'll start 442 with those two up top, although recognise things could change over the next three weeks.  

[deyres42]

8 minutes ago, Hemel latic said:

I thought it looked as though Nuttall and Reid were beginning to form a promising partnership towards the end of the season. Reid looks like one of those guys that's only really at his best when 100% fit so I think the options up front will benefit him, we don't have to run him into the ground. Having his pace and skill in the team causes panic in the opposition. Timmy had lovely raw pace but Reid has greater skill and finishing ability to go with it.

 

I think we'll start 442 with those two up top, although recognise things could change over the next three weeks.  

Unless he drops the captain then three at the back looks more likely.

 

Can't see Willoughby not starting given the fuss they've made over him, is Reid someone who will be satisfied appearing from the bench?

[daniel]

18 minutes ago, deyres42 said:

Unless he drops the captain then three at the back looks more likely.

 

Can't see Willoughby not starting given the fuss they've made over him, is Reid someone who will be satisfied appearing from the bench?

This is the thing which intrigues me the most. Whats the preferred formation? We seem top heavy with strikers and centre halfs. Strength in depth is all good but how do you fit Hobson, Raglan and Hogan in to the side, along with Reid, Nuttall, Willoughby and Fondop, all of the above would get in to majority of sides in the league. You can play 4-3-3 and potentially fit in 3 forwards, but then one of the centre halfs misses out. You can play 3-5-2 but then strikers miss out. It’s a good problem to have. 

[aaronoafc]

1 hour ago, daniel said:

This is the thing which intrigues me the most. Whats the preferred formation? We seem top heavy with strikers and centre halfs. Strength in depth is all good but how do you fit Hobson, Raglan and Hogan in to the side, along with Reid, Nuttall, Willoughby and Fondop, all of the above would get in to majority of sides in the league. You can play 4-3-3 and potentially fit in 3 forwards, but then one of the centre halfs misses out. You can play 3-5-2 but then strikers miss out. It’s a good problem to have. 

 

Yep, agreed Daniel very good problem to have.

 

I'll be surprised if it's not 3-5-2 more often than not, at least initially:

 

Norman

Raglan Hogan Hobson 

New RWB, Lundstram Sheron Ward Kitching

Willoughby Nutall 

 

That's what I expect on the opening day/opening few games. I'm a big fan of Reid but I think Unsworth will stick with Nuttall and I see Willoughby being given a good go initially - barring a marquee signing like Dallas coming in. Maybe Shelton for Ward as I believe Ward has said he's more of a winger/drift into CM type player and Shelton runs around a lot (Unsworth loves that). 

[yarddog73]

1 hour ago, aaronoafc said:

 

I'll be surprised if it's not 3-5-2 more often than not, at least initially:

 

Norman

Raglan Hogan Hobson 

New RWB, Lundstram Sheron Ward Kitching

Willoughby Nutall 

 

 

I'd go with this with Shelton occupying the RWB role and Hogan on the left of the three with Hobson through the middle, it doesn't have to be rigid and could easily switch in to a 4-4-2 with Shelton right midfield and Raglan at RB, not Nuttalls biggest fan but it's a clean slate for all the strikers, any 2 from 4 and they could be easily changed if it's not happening for them.

[JoeP]

6 hours ago, League one forever said:

 

The only time I would caveat that, is if a manager has had real success and then struggles- so if he took us up and had a bad run id be more willing to give more time because he’s got credit in the bank. 

 

 

Indeed.

 

He's still unproven.  We got some good results from March onwards, while the football played wasn't good to watch.

 

The club's progress thanks to Frank and the board has been phenomenal - who'd have thought we'd be second favourites for the league this time last year?  I still think Unsworth has some catching up to do in terms of what he's bringing to the party.

 

And - I'm probably in the minority here - I don't think a bad start is acceptable.  We don't want to be playing catch-up.  Unsworth's been backed, he's not a rookie any more and we need someone who's going to take us up.  I have actually warmed to him and hope we don't have to start all over again with a new manager, but he's got to have us prepared to hit the ground running against Southend.

[Steve_R]

In a league where only the winner goes up automatically I think it’s vital we make a decent start. Once the league starts to take shape after 10 or 12 games I expect to be firmly in the mix and to stay there so we can have a right crack at winning the league. A slow start, while not fatal, could seriously hinder this.

[GlossopLatic]

The important thing is that we stay in touch with the teams at the top of the division if it's not us. The league table only really begins to form by around October time so being nowhere near the top won't be a problem because it's unlikely we will be much more than 10 points away from the team at the top. Although by that time we want to find some consistency in our play and results begin to come if they haven't already. If you have any aspirations of winning the league then you can't be outside the top 7 by Christmas so being inside the top 7 by then should be an expectation. It will be more important to be strongest in the 2nd half of the season than the 1st. I think we will have more strength in depth than other club's and that will really benefit us after Christmas. 

 

Having said all that and all that I've said previously a really good start where you hit the ground running and win a minimum of 6-7 of your first 10 would really put a marker down to the rest of the division.

Edited July 11, 2023 by GlossopLatic

[League one forever]

5 hours ago, JoeP said:

And - I'm probably in the minority here - I don't think a bad start is acceptable.  We don't want to be playing catch-up.  Unsworth's been backed, he's not a rookie any more and we need someone who's going to take us up.  I have actually warmed to him and hope we don't have to start all over again with a new manager, but he's got to have us prepared to hit the ground running against Southend.

It depends what we define as a bad start? 
 

As long as he’s in touch (top 8 ) by October then I’m happy to see if he can kick on. 
 

If he’s lower mid table (14th) by October he’ll be under pressure. 
 

I think he’ll start ok though and I expect us to be around the former and not the latter by October. 

[Lee Sinnott]

6 hours ago, League one forever said:

It depends what we define as a bad start? 
 

As long as he’s in touch (top 8 ) by October then I’m happy to see if he can kick on. 
 

If he’s lower mid table (14th) by October he’ll be under pressure. 
 

I think he’ll start ok though and I expect us to be around the former and not the latter by October. 

The minute he drops below 4th, he should be bombed out...

[peanuts2]

14 minutes ago, Lee Sinnott said:

The minute he drops below 4th, he should be bombed out...

so 1-0 win at southend and four other teams win by 2 and you would want him gone ?  harsh !

[JoeP]

6 hours ago, League one forever said:

 

As long as he’s in touch (top 8 ) by October then I’m happy to see if he can kick on. 
 

 

It depends how far (worst case scenario) 8th is from the top of the league.  We want to match the pace-setter punch for punch.

 

I hate it when pre-season quotes come out of clubs (not just Latics..) that they should be "aiming for the play-offs".  No!  You want to win every game, surely, therefore you should be aiming to win the league!

 

For us - for the first time since 90/91 - there is no excuse for us not to be setting the highest ambition.

[Steve_R]

14 minutes ago, JoeP said:

 

It depends how far (worst case scenario) 8th is from the top of the league.  We want to match the pace-setter punch for punch.

 

I hate it when pre-season quotes come out of clubs (not just Latics..) that they should be "aiming for the play-offs".  No!  You want to win every game, surely, therefore you should be aiming to win the league!

 

For us - for the first time since 90/91 - there is no excuse for us not to be setting the highest ambition.

Exactly. Anything less than aiming to win the thing is unacceptable in my eyes. The play offs should only get mentioned if the top spot becomes out of sight. 

I’m not saying I expect us to win it because many things can happen over the course of a season, but we should at least aim for that.

[Monty Burns]

l think the pints total for winning the league will be amongst the lowest it has ever been, with lots of closely contested encounters.

a fast start is not mathematically essential in achieving this demand we are almost demanding. but if we are fighting the opposition and our own fanbase after 45mins we won't be winning anything.

l really wish anybody that booooo'd at hyde wouldn't come anymore but everybody at the club is in no doubt they are there now, including the new guys. Rhino best have addressed it in a 'look how many are out there and look what a pre season draw does for them, this is a big club with big expectations and the squad is big enough to only pick the lads that will win for me' type speech at full time. southport need proper smashing on saturday then he can say 'its pre season the result means absolutely nothing'.

l'm so excited for this season.

[Lee Sinnott]

1 hour ago, peanuts2 said:

so 1-0 win at southend and four other teams win by 2 and you would want him gone ?  harsh !

He should be sacked if we only beat Southend 1-0. They're in complete disarray...

 

[oafc1955]

52 minutes ago, Monty Burns said:

 

l think the pints total for winning the league will be amongst the lowest it has ever been,

 

If we win the league Monty my’s total will probably be amongst the highest it has ever been!

[nzlatic]

I have zero insider knowledge, but I'm pretty confident that the aim of everyone within the club is to win the league, whether they say that in public or not.

[DarkStar]

11 minutes ago, Lee Sinnott said:

He should be sacked if we only beat Southend 1-0. They're in complete disarray...

 

I don't think we've won our first game for about ten years. Let's hope.

[League one forever]

1 hour ago, JoeP said:

 

It depends how far (worst case scenario) 8th is from the top of the league.  We want to match the pace-setter punch for punch.

 

I hate it when pre-season quotes come out of clubs (not just Latics..) that they should be "aiming for the play-offs".  No!  You want to win every game, surely, therefore you should be aiming to win the league!

 

For us - for the first time since 90/91 - there is no excuse for us not to be setting the highest ambition.

Of course I want us to win the every game, and I’m expecting us to. But we all know football doesn’t work like that. There’s a difference between expectation and realism.
 

For example- I don’t think he’ll be under pressure by board if we’re 8th in October. 

[League one forever]

6 minutes ago, nzlatic said:

I have zero insider knowledge, but I'm pretty confident that the aim of everyone within the club is to win the league, whether they say that in public or not.

I was going to ask this, as I’d love to know what the board expect and what isn’t acceptable. 
 

I think they’ll want us to challenge for the title, but as long as we finish top 7 he won’t get the boot. 

[oafcmetty]

9 minutes ago, DarkStar said:

I don't think we've won our first game for about ten years. Let's hope.

Correct - Stevenage away, won 4-3, 2013

[nzlatic]

10 minutes ago, League one forever said:

I was going to ask this, as I’d love to know what the board expect and what isn’t acceptable. 
 

I think they’ll want us to challenge for the title, but as long as we finish top 7 he won’t get the boot. 

I agree. I think he was given a 3 year deal as that's what they thought would be reasonable time to give someone to turn the club around and be serious promotion challengers. If he does it in year 2 it's probably overachieving on their initial plan. If we're playoffs then that's sufficient progress and he'll be given the 3rd year to seal it.