Just back

The we are building for the future is an easy way out !

Up until an hour fans were generally positive. No Sladeball and some skilful football. If I have a criticism with that I think we tried to over play it even when we were inside their area. We restricted them to a few long range shots and the game was quite entertaining. Then it all went wrong defence backing off and once again an attacker cutting in from the left finishes clinically into the bottom corner. To make matters worse within a minute the same thing happens again. The last goal in injury time was a free header by their sub who ran 20yards into the area to get his head onto the cross. By then I think the stuffing had been knocked out of us. Clearly results are very poor and it is a results industry but I do believe we have some decent players and that MJ will find the right formula.

Started off fairly brightly, and dominated for half an hour, but once Embleton missed a 'golden' opportunity, it was a sense of Deja Vu, highlighted by the loss of our most influential player at the time (Cook), and as a result Oldham finished the half stronger. Never got going 2nd half, and once we conceded two quick soft goals there was no way back. Defensively we are very poor, and Collins is now the weak link, his 'leg's have gone' and he's constantly getting turned inside out. Vernam left Thomas isolated up front, and we completely lost our shape, and were well beaten in the end. Again another strange line-up particularly at the back , and it's going to be a long slog turning our current form around, as we seem mentally and physically 'weak', conceding too many goals and not scoring enough....UTM

Played well for an hour against a very good Oldham side in my opinion. Good passing and movement off the ball which led to us creating a few good chances. Their keeper makes a very good save to deny Embleton in what was an excellent piece of football. Not sure why people are saying we only had 1 up top, we had Cook and then Vernam buzzing around Thomas all game.

Danny Collins clearly can’t defend 1v1s anymore, he has no pace at all but even his positional sense let him down for their first and second, he didn’t know which way to turn. And that was that really, game over. He has to come out of the side for me and be replaced by either Whitmore or Famewo.

I thought both full back played well and Davis looked good despite the bit of stick he seems to get. I thought it was odd that Woolford played centrally and Hess wide, it didn’t really come off for either although Hess did cause them a few problems early on. Embleton played well, he’s a neat and tidy player with 2 very good feet and looks to play and create, does look like he lacks a yard of pace though. Thomas battled well but he’ll have better games than that today, there 2 centre halves handled him well. We missed Cook when he went off, I felt like him and Wes might be able to muster something for us but Vernam did ok when he replaced him, although I think he holds on to the ball a little too long sometimes. Pringle looked decent when he came on and has a good set piece delivery on him, he’ll improve us once he’s fully fit.

Didn’t feel like that was a 0-3 game at all, but obviously we need to improve. Having said that we’ve played a lot of good sides and I still think we’ll be fine against the lesser teams in the league.

Is to a coincidence that we've conceded 7 goals in 2 games since Collins returned to the side?

Quoted from Mighty_Mariner

Is to a coincidence that we've conceded 7 goals in 2 games since Collins returned to the side?

No it isn't. Whitmore isn't fantastic but he wouldn't back off like that.

Disappointed I wasn't able to make it today, despite the result.

It would be nice to have an idea of the formation to be played and the team line-up before you reach the game because, this season, you'd have to say that the selections have been Bignot-esque. A different line-up and formation every game though obviously the line-up has to vary due to available players.

Not too difficult to see where the problems lie when you consider that we've conceded 10 league goals since we last scored one! In other words, we're missing the chances we do create but let them in too easily at the other end.

I think there is enough ability in the squad to start picking up some results but not until we select a formation and stick with it to give the players more of a chance to settle. Hopefully, the longer-term injured will be back soon and I'd be happy to see Cardwell bunged in straight away to provide some sort of a focal point up front.

Quoted from Maringer

Disappointed I wasn't able to make it today, despite the result.

It would be nice to have an idea of the formation to be played and the team line-up before you reach the game because, this season, you'd have to say that the selections have been Bignot-esque. A different line-up and formation every game though obviously the line-up has to vary due to available players.

Not too difficult to see where the problems lie when you consider that we've conceded 10 league goals since we last scored one! In other words, we're missing the chances we do create but let them in too easily at the other end.

I think there is enough ability in the squad to start picking up some results but not until we select a formation and stick with it to give the players more of a chance to settle. Hopefully, the longer-term injured will be back soon and I'd be happy to see Cardwell bunged in straight away to provide some sort of a focal point up front.

Side note to that - had a chat with Elliott Whitehouse before the game - all going to plan but not expecting to play this season. Nice bloke.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

No it isn't. Whitmore isn't fantastic but he wouldn't back off like that.

Well he did at Biry and that was nothing to do with Collins, both of them have the tendancy to back off.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

No it isn't. Whitmore isn't fantastic but he wouldn't back off like that.

Erm he did exactly that at Bury.