Oldham Athletic (H) League 1 Tuesday 13/9/11.

[Wyrley_saddler]

Very poor last night, and my early season optimism is beginning to wane!

Their goal started from them literally walking through the middle of the park. We have two defensive midfielders and quite honestly they chased shadows last night.

We are reliant on scoring goals from 25 yards as that is where most of our efforts came from last night. Yet the one decent effort we had was from Grigg with a header from about 5 yards. We need a fox in the box. Jarvis is the least effective striker I have ever seen. Most of his passes and runs are backwards and away from goal.

Our depth in squad is chronic, highlighted by bringing on Nicholls and Paterson who have the combined weight of a Quaver against a back four for Oldham who ate everything we launched (in the air!) up. If I was manager and turned round to see Nicholls looking back at me as an option, I would get the white flag out, yet people still think he will turn a game!

Big changes needed, for me I would bring back Walker, and Macken (if fit ), drop Taundry and bring Peterlin in. That way we have Walker, Butler, Chambers and Macken in the spine of the team, which is what Smith surely would have been building his squad around in the Summer? If that doesn't work then serious questions need to be asked.

In all fairness, we were far more of an attacking threat when Nicholls and Paterson were introduced as we had added pace which was what we were screaming out for. Although, they were still pretty ineffective, it did improve us slightly

[King Crimson]

Spoke to a Derby fan at work. Said we'd taken Dave Martin on loan. He laughed. I didn't. :(

[tinned]

Very poor last night, and my early season optimism is beginning to wane!

Their goal started from them literally walking through the middle of the park. We have two defensive midfielders and quite honestly they chased shadows last night.

We are reliant on scoring goals from 25 yards as that is where most of our efforts came from last night. Yet the one decent effort we had was from Grigg with a header from about 5 yards. We need a fox in the box. Jarvis is the least effective striker I have ever seen. Most of his passes and runs are backwards and away from goal.

Our depth in squad is chronic, highlighted by bringing on Nicholls and Paterson who have the combined weight of a Quaver against a back four for Oldham who ate everything we launched (in the air!) up. If I was manager and turned round to see Nicholls looking back at me as an option, I would get the white flag out, yet people still think he will turn a game!

Big changes needed, for me I would bring back Walker, and Macken (if fit ), drop Taundry and bring Peterlin in. That way we have Walker, Butler, Chambers and Macken in the spine of the team, which is what Smith surely would have been building his squad around in the Summer? If that doesn't work then serious questions need to be asked.

In all fairness, we were far more of an attacking threat when Nicholls and Paterson were introduced as we had added pace which was what we were screaming out for. Although, they were still pretty ineffective, it did improve us slightly

Nicholls may have pace but so what? He doesn't use it. As soon as a full back dares square up to him he checks and passes it sideways. What's th epoint of pace if you don't use it to at least attempt to beat the full back?

[ToeJoe Jnr]

Very poor last night, and my early season optimism is beginning to wane!

Their goal started from them literally walking through the middle of the park. We have two defensive midfielders and quite honestly they chased shadows last night.

We are reliant on scoring goals from 25 yards as that is where most of our efforts came from last night. Yet the one decent effort we had was from Grigg with a header from about 5 yards. We need a fox in the box. Jarvis is the least effective striker I have ever seen. Most of his passes and runs are backwards and away from goal.

Our depth in squad is chronic, highlighted by bringing on Nicholls and Paterson who have the combined weight of a Quaver against a back four for Oldham who ate everything we launched (in the air!) up. If I was manager and turned round to see Nicholls looking back at me as an option, I would get the white flag out, yet people still think he will turn a game!

Big changes needed, for me I would bring back Walker, and Macken (if fit ), drop Taundry and bring Peterlin in. That way we have Walker, Butler, Chambers and Macken in the spine of the team, which is what Smith surely would have been building his squad around in the Summer? If that doesn't work then serious questions need to be asked.

In all fairness, we were far more of an attacking threat when Nicholls and Paterson were introduced as we had added pace which was what we were screaming out for. Although, they were still pretty ineffective, it did improve us slightly

Granted, but the point still stands, it is ineffective, you can be Usain Bolt, but if you have limited footballing ability then the outcome is still the same.

I would like to see more of Paterson, but reading other areas of this board, it seems we are ready to pin our hopes on a kid with a handful of sub appearances, and that is a lot of pressure on talent we should be nurturing.

[Sadsfan]

Feel sorry for Smith, dire budget and having to scrape the barrel of cast offs. only the leech to blame for that.

sorry never ever will agree with that. Smith has exactly the same budget Hutchings had, no one felt sorry for him. I'm not saying that Smith is a bad manager but this is his team and if im honest i reckon i could have signed better players than what smith has.

Hmmm. Amazing how many people on here to seem to know all the inside workings of WFC and all the financial dealings. Not sure if anyone knows what the playing budget is this season compared to last. Don't recall that on the official website. And how on earth can you say you could sign better players? Obviously you have every players wages, signing on fee, bonus requirements and agents fees on an Excel spreadsheet. And anyway I can feel sorry for Smith if I want cos Hutchings was a twerp and Deano isn't.

[Ancient Moaner]

My question is this:

How can this be basically the same set of players that made Sheff United (champions still regardless of last nights result)
look like relegation fodder, we were passing, running off, stringing substantial attacks together and looking brilliant at times, so much so that the home fans were giving thier team the bird!

So, what has gone wrong......discuss?

Trust me to have picked the Scunthorpe match to come to! I'm REALLY looking forward to witnessing our third defeat on the trot, probably about £100 quid it will cost in petrol/parking/entrance fee/pop etc what a wally I am. :oops:

[WFC_Rob]

My question is this:

How can this be basically the same set of players that made Sheff United (champions still regardless of last nights result)
look like relegation fodder, we were passing, running off, stringing substantial attacks together and looking brilliant at times, so much so that the home fans were giving thier team the bird!

So, what has gone wrong......discuss?

It's not the same team though, is it? Nicholls and Smith were both on the bench and that in itself makes a difference. You could also say that perhaps Peterlin added more to our game than Chambers does.

I realise I give Manny Smith a hard time, but how are two midfield players supposed to have any impact on a game of football whwn they're playing in front of a bloke who can't pass the ball to them?
Similarly, how are the strikers supposed to get on the end of crosses when they never beat the first man?

For me, Dean Smith has been too patient with peripheral players who, in his heart of hearts, he realises aren't good enough. The sooner he grows some balls and casts aside the players who clearly can't hack it, the better.

[Pedagogue]

Hurst plays on the right wing each week, even though his right foot is so weak, he can hardly stand on it.

:?: :?: :?: :?: :?:

You telling me he can play with both feet ?

I think Peddy was questioning your left and right, as opposed to the one footed element. Hurst plays on the left every week despite being totally right footed, ...

Correct! :D

[Deano_Saddler]

Feel sorry for Smith, dire budget and having to scrape the barrel of cast offs. only the leech to blame for that.

sorry never ever will agree with that. Smith has exactly the same budget Hutchings had, no one felt sorry for him. I'm not saying that Smith is a bad manager but this is his team and if im honest i reckon i could have signed better players than what smith has.

Hmmm. Amazing how many people on here to seem to know all the inside workings of WFC and all the financial dealings. Not sure if anyone knows what the playing budget is this season compared to last. Don't recall that on the official website. And how on earth can you say you could sign better players? Obviously you have every players wages, signing on fee, bonus requirements and agents fees on an Excel spreadsheet. And anyway I can feel sorry for Smith if I want cos Hutchings was a idiot and Deano isn't.

Smith's budget is not gonna be much difference to what Hutchings had, off course it isn't. And i agree with you that Hutchings is an idiot and Smith aint but even still we have lost our last 3 games and i don't care who the manager is, it simply is not good enough. Smith needs to work out what is going wrong and fast.

[Aldridge_saddler]

My question is this:

How can this be basically the same set of players that made Sheff United (champions still regardless of last nights result)
look like relegation fodder, we were passing, running off, stringing substantial attacks together and looking brilliant at times, so much so that the home fans were giving thier team the bird!

So, what has gone wrong......discuss?

Trust me to have picked the Scunthorpe match to come to! I'm REALLY looking forward to witnessing our third defeat on the trot, probably about £100 quid it will cost in petrol/parking/entrance fee/pop etc what a wally I am. :oops:

We miss Macken more than I thought, and Tuesday proved it! For me he is probably the reason for, say, 80% of our possession in games? I would like to see Peterlin instead of Taundry. Old RT needs to have a look at his game because, even though he switched play a few times, he was so slow to react and telegraphed everything! Even when his pass did come it came with such pace that the recipient couldn't control it perfectly first time.

I was chatting with the old man and we both agreed that, barring Gray, we haven't had an exciting winger since Ishy.

[Fray Bentos is God!]

We've started to hoof.

Not good

[brummie saddler]

My question is this:

How can this be basically the same set of players that made Sheff United (champions still regardless of last nights result)
look like relegation fodder, we were passing, running off, stringing substantial attacks together and looking brilliant at times, so much so that the home fans were giving thier team the bird!

So, what has gone wrong......discuss?

Trust me to have picked the Scunthorpe match to come to! I'm REALLY looking forward to witnessing our third defeat on the trot, probably about £100 quid it will cost in petrol/parking/entrance fee/pop etc what a wally I am. :oops:

We miss Macken more than I thought, and Tuesday proved it! For me he is probably the reason for, say, 80% of our possession in games? I would like to see Peterlin instead of Taundry. Old RT needs to have a look at his game because, even though he switched play a few times, he was so slow to react and telegraphed everything! Even when his pass did come it came with such pace that the recipient couldn't control it perfectly first time.

I was chatting with the old man and we both agreed that, barring Gray, we haven't had an exciting winger since Ishy.

zabooub (?) he had a good spell at the end of his last (only?) season

[WFC_Rob]

We've started to hoof.

Not good

As simple as it sounds, the problems all stem from that.
Smith spent an entire pre season changing our brand of football and three or four games into the season, that work appeared to have paid off. As confidence continues to drop though, that brand of football soon begins to unravel. It's a really difficult cycle to break too.

[Darth Vader]

My question is this:

How can this be basically the same set of players that made Sheff United (champions still regardless of last nights result)
look like relegation fodder, we were passing, running off, stringing substantial attacks together and looking brilliant at times, so much so that the home fans were giving thier team the bird!

So, what has gone wrong......discuss?

Trust me to have picked the Scunthorpe match to come to! I'm REALLY looking forward to witnessing our third defeat on the trot, probably about £100 quid it will cost in petrol/parking/entrance fee/pop etc what a wally I am. :oops:

We miss Macken more than I thought, and Tuesday proved it! For me he is probably the reason for, say, 80% of our possession in games? I would like to see Peterlin instead of Taundry. Old RT needs to have a look at his game because, even though he switched play a few times, he was so slow to react and telegraphed everything! Even when his pass did come it came with such pace that the recipient couldn't control it perfectly first time.

I was chatting with the old man and we both agreed that, barring Gray, we haven't had an exciting winger since Ishy.

zabooub (?) he had a good spell at the end of his last (only?) season

Zaboub was a real decent, tricky winger, so was Steve Jones until his legs completely wasted away.

We've got some right dross going on atm - I mean, Hurst & Nicholls? Where the hell is that going to get us down the flanks?! Really hope this Martin turns out to be a good winger who can whip a mean ball in, make a change...

[Neuromantic]

Richard Taundry in playing cack for 8 games and good for 2 shocker! Imagine my surprise! :shock: