Just back

I'm going to be fair to some of our players even after the 3-0 defeat today. There were six or seven that put a shift in and did their jobs well. They don't pick the team, the formation or tactics. When three or four don't play well and are poor we're going to get turned over by what was a pretty average Oldham side.

Mckeown - Did ok, not at fault for the goals, couple of decent saves and looks like he's been working on his punching but forgot about his kicking drills

Hendrie - Played well did his job, I like him as a player

Famewo - Distribution poor first twenty minutes but did not let his man past him. Understand the change of formation when he was substituted but why him? Surely you keep your players that are playing better on the pitch. Should have been slotted into centre half

Davis - I know he has his detractors but he had quite a solid game. Won his headers and only got beat twice on the floor all game. At least he took responsibility for marking his man out of the game

Collins - So, we were looking quite tight at the back before MJ fast tracks him back into the team, then we concede seven in two games to two very average sides. Didn't like him playing for us last season, hate him playing for us this season. My heart sank when Whitmore was dropped and DC kept his place today. Yes, Whitmore made a couple of costly errors last week but he has been quite a solid, strong front foot defender for us this season. Collins makes several errors every few minutes. Now I don't mean just missing a header, or shanking a clearance, I mean his positional play, his unwillingness to get tight to a forward, his unwillingness to even mark a forward, his constant backing off and his constant setting of our line far too deep. At least today he stopped berating his fellow defenders because he knew deep down it was he who was culpable. He's finished, totally finished, his body has stopped working so much that he isn't even self confident enough to use his brain properly anymore. What's scary is that he's helping with the coaching and not leading by the example or standards on the pitch that he should be setting at Cheapside.

Rose - Battled valiantly today but a victim of Jolley's team selection. Our best player who looked all on his own in centre midfield as Hessenthaler was shifted wide for Woolford to play more centrally. WTF!!

Woolford - A couple of passes and a nice shot near the end. Contributed f all else in yet another ineffectual performance.

Hessenthaler - Much less effective out wide. Why?!!!

Embleton - A couple of nice touches and that was it. Didn't make too much of an impression on me on his debut. Far too early to form an opinion on him.

Cook - Did well in a pairing with Thomas before he was injured. A very industrious player, just don't know whether he's got the goal instinct in him

Thomas - Did his job really well. Was a handful for their defenders and tried to fashion himself a chance or two from very slim pickings. Starting to like him as a player

Vernam - Did well first half. faded like the team second half. Would like to see him take more responsibility in dragging the team forward when the going gets tough.

Pringle - Looked off the pace when he came on and I was past caring by then

Hooper - So Jolley still thinks he's got the ability to change a game? One nice turn and shot followed by crappping himself when he had a free header from six yards out near the end. Flinched and missed the ball completely because he thought he might get flattened by the keeper. Sums him up. Let's get him out to Boston and get Ahkeem back. Lets work with a pacy young player with an eye for goal that wants a career in football

And so to Jolley. I'm beginning to think he's all mouth and presentation. Tinkers more than Ranieri too. He's got decent players at his disposal but seems to undermine any chance of us progressing by poor team selection and tactics. I'm losing patience. Why he persists with Collins, Woolford and JJ Hooper I do not know. Why he plays players in different positions every week I do not know. How the hell can they form partnerships or patterns of play? He's either trying far too hard and overcomplicating things or he is a fast talking fraud. I haven't made my mind up yet.

Wholesale lack of movement and composure on the ball today, less so first half, but even then, still nowhere near good enough..

Agree with Bigdog's report, especially concerning JJ being our 'threat' from the bench. Either of the lads at Boston would have run their socks off to turn the Oldham defence. Collins looked in good nick in preseason but he stays too deep and the replay of the first goal shows why he should not be a regular now.
Vernam was unlucky to be excluded for Embleton and could have been a strong support for Cook and Thomas from the off.
If you can't be good be lucky they say. At this rate, Ahkeem or Max will get clobbered and join the walking wounded thus reducing options further. Bring them home.

The hunchback of Notre Dame has a healthier looking spine than us without Welsh. James McKeown - catch the flipping ball please, it’s a sign of a keeper low of confidence and that radiates to the rest of the defence. Collins was almost at Riby Square by the time their 9 got the shot off for the first goal and should’ve never been allowed to walk straight into a defence that had shown signs of developing.

Quoted from Bigdog

I'm going to be fair to some of our players even after the 3-0 defeat today. There were six or seven that put a shift in and did their jobs well. They don't pick the team, the formation or tactics. When three or four don't play well and are poor we're going to get turned over by what was a pretty average Oldham side.

Mckeown - Did ok, not at fault for the goals, couple of decent saves and looks like he's been working on his punching but forgot about his kicking drills

Hendrie - Played well did his job, I like him as a player

Famewo - Distribution poor first twenty minutes but did not let his man past him. Understand the change of formation when he was substituted but why him? Surely you keep your players that are playing better on the pitch. Should have been slotted into centre half

Davis - I know he has his detractors but he had quite a solid game. Won his headers and only got beat twice on the floor all game. At least he took responsibility for marking his man out of the game

Collins - So, we were looking quite tight at the back before MJ fast tracks him back into the team, then we concede seven in two games to two very average sides. Didn't like him playing for us last season, hate him playing for us this season. My heart sank when Whitmore was dropped and DC kept his place today. Yes, Whitmore made a couple of costly errors last week but he has been quite a solid, strong front foot defender for us this season. Collins makes several errors every few minutes. Now I don't mean just missing a header, or shanking a clearance, I mean his positional play, his unwillingness to get tight to a forward, his unwillingness to even mark a forward, his constant backing off and his constant setting of our line far too deep. At least today he stopped berating his fellow defenders because he knew deep down it was he who was culpable. He's finished, totally finished, his body has stopped working so much that he isn't even self confident enough to use his brain properly anymore. What's scary is that he's helping with the coaching and not leading by the example or standards on the pitch that he should be setting at Cheapside.

Rose - Battled valiantly today but a victim of Jolley's team selection. Our best player who looked all on his own in centre midfield as Hessenthaler was shifted wide for Woolford to play more centrally. WTF!!

Woolford - A couple of passes and a nice shot near the end. Contributed f all else in yet another ineffectual performance.

Hessenthaler - Much less effective out wide. Why?!!!

Embleton - A couple of nice touches and that was it. Didn't make too much of an impression on me on his debut. Far too early to form an opinion on him.

Cook - Did well in a pairing with Thomas before he was injured. A very industrious player, just don't know whether he's got the goal instinct in him

Thomas - Did his job really well. Was a handful for their defenders and tried to fashion himself a chance or two from very slim pickings. Starting to like him as a player

Vernam - Did well first half. faded like the team second half. Would like to see him take more responsibility in dragging the team forward when the going gets tough.

Pringle - Looked off the pace when he came on and I was past caring by then

Hooper - So Jolley still thinks he's got the ability to change a game? One nice turn and shot followed by crappping himself when he had a free header from six yards out near the end. Flinched and missed the ball completely because he thought he might get flattened by the keeper. Sums him up. Let's get him out to Boston and get Ahkeem back. Lets work with a pacy young player with an eye for goal that wants a career in football

And so to Jolley. I'm beginning to think he's all mouth and presentation. Tinkers more than Ranieri too. He's got decent players at his disposal but seems to undermine any chance of us progressing by poor team selection and tactics. I'm losing patience. Why he persists with Collins, Woolford and JJ Hooper I do not know. Why he plays players in different positions every week I do not know. How the hell can they form partnerships or patterns of play? He's either trying far too hard and overcomplicating things or he is a fast talking fraud. I haven't made my mind up yet.

Wholesale lack of movement and composure on the ball today, less so first half, but even then, still nowhere near good enough..

Pretty much on the button for me. Thanks for taking the time.

We are going backwards, 2 ,seasons back in the league and it's the same old same old, can't defend and can't score...
For as much as I thought bringing in a fresh, young, hungry manager was the right thing to do and that it is what we needed/wanted I'm genuinely thinking it was a mistake...
For as much h I so want MJ to succeed I don't think he will, his legacy is  keeping us out the conference yet in reality it's 2 wins in 17 league games...not that awe inspiring really is it??....

So not read anything above before posting but had a bit of thinking and disappointment time on the way home. First thing that springs to mind in over 40 years going to
BP I don't think I've seen a side that is so different on both half's. Is that a good thing? Maybe, at least we are getting something right and that was illustrated in the first half.

I thought the first 10 minutes was scrappy but Town appeared to settle first and looked promising with some decent cameo's of play and a couple of good chances after good interplay, passing and creativity, I also thought that going forward we used the space and channels better and looked to get the ball down and play it. Though from coming on to half time Verman looked very lively I think that when Cooke went off it did disrupt us a bit as Verman looked to play a bit deeper behind Thomas who BTW when fully fit might just come good.

In the second half it felt like recent weeks when things have gone to pot, we couldn't win or keep the ball the center mids disappeared and ultimately we invited them on which in the space of 5 minutes meant game over after some really poor organisation and technique on our right hand side. We never looked like scoring in this half and the lack of cohesion up front clearly leads to a lack of belief. Once again for the 2nd week in a row we where just going through the motions for the last quarter if the game which left me feeling short changed.

So I get it was never going to work perfectly early in the season but I am concerned as this side is absolutely a split personality good one half poor the next. We have some encouraging talent in the shape of Verman, Famewo among others but my biggest concern is that at the back we don't know our @rse from our elbow and up front we are a jigsaw in that we go to pieces in the box.Though I don't want to admit it I'm not convinced that MJ knows how to use the meager talent he has at his disposal. The available players at the moment might not be the "first 11"but  I'm not 100% sure they're being utilized and set up in a way to make us "hard to beat" at least.    

My biggest worry is this, in the last couple of games we have gone behind and our in ability to score appears to have led to the players mentally buckling leading to a good hiding. This a real bad sign as in reality footballers never take accountability for anything instead you get the "lose the dressing room scenario" I hope this dons't happen as getting off the EFL canvas will be a huge challenge and MJ and each and every supporter deserves better than what the players and in reality the manager delivered today.      

  

Quoted from Bigdog

I'm going to be fair to some of our players even after the 3-0 defeat today. There were six or seven that put a shift in and did their jobs well. They don't pick the team, the formation or tactics. When three or four don't play well and are poor we're going to get turned over by what was a pretty average Oldham side.

Mckeown - Did ok, not at fault for the goals, couple of decent saves and looks like he's been working on his punching but forgot about his kicking drills

Hendrie - Played well did his job, I like him as a player

Famewo - Distribution poor first twenty minutes but did not let his man past him. Understand the change of formation when he was substituted but why him? Surely you keep your players that are playing better on the pitch. Should have been slotted into centre half

Davis - I know he has his detractors but he had quite a solid game. Won his headers and only got beat twice on the floor all game. At least he took responsibility for marking his man out of the game

Collins - So, we were looking quite tight at the back before MJ fast tracks him back into the team, then we concede seven in two games to two very average sides. Didn't like him playing for us last season, hate him playing for us this season. My heart sank when Whitmore was dropped and DC kept his place today. Yes, Whitmore made a couple of costly errors last week but he has been quite a solid, strong front foot defender for us this season. Collins makes several errors every few minutes. Now I don't mean just missing a header, or shanking a clearance, I mean his positional play, his unwillingness to get tight to a forward, his unwillingness to even mark a forward, his constant backing off and his constant setting of our line far too deep. At least today he stopped berating his fellow defenders because he knew deep down it was he who was culpable. He's finished, totally finished, his body has stopped working so much that he isn't even self confident enough to use his brain properly anymore. What's scary is that he's helping with the coaching and not leading by the example or standards on the pitch that he should be setting at Cheapside.

Rose - Battled valiantly today but a victim of Jolley's team selection. Our best player who looked all on his own in centre midfield as Hessenthaler was shifted wide for Woolford to play more centrally. WTF!!

Woolford - A couple of passes and a nice shot near the end. Contributed f all else in yet another ineffectual performance.

Hessenthaler - Much less effective out wide. Why?!!!

Embleton - A couple of nice touches and that was it. Didn't make too much of an impression on me on his debut. Far too early to form an opinion on him.

Cook - Did well in a pairing with Thomas before he was injured. A very industrious player, just don't know whether he's got the goal instinct in him

Thomas - Did his job really well. Was a handful for their defenders and tried to fashion himself a chance or two from very slim pickings. Starting to like him as a player

Vernam - Did well first half. faded like the team second half. Would like to see him take more responsibility in dragging the team forward when the going gets tough.

Pringle - Looked off the pace when he came on and I was past caring by then

Hooper - So Jolley still thinks he's got the ability to change a game? One nice turn and shot followed by crappping himself when he had a free header from six yards out near the end. Flinched and missed the ball completely because he thought he might get flattened by the keeper. Sums him up. Let's get him out to Boston and get Ahkeem back. Lets work with a pacy young player with an eye for goal that wants a career in football

And so to Jolley. I'm beginning to think he's all mouth and presentation. Tinkers more than Ranieri too. He's got decent players at his disposal but seems to undermine any chance of us progressing by poor team selection and tactics. I'm losing patience. Why he persists with Collins, Woolford and JJ Hooper I do not know. Why he plays players in different positions every week I do not know. How the hell can they form partnerships or patterns of play? He's either trying far too hard and overcomplicating things or he is a fast talking fraud. I haven't made my mind up yet.

Wholesale lack of movement and composure on the ball today, less so first half, but even then, still nowhere near good enough..

About right, but I think its hard to judge Oldham as once again a side has beaten us by sticking to a "get through the first half hour" game plan if we could put together a cohesive performance for more than half a game things might be different.  

Really like Jolley as he "gets it" but a combination of him (relative rookie) and the manager that got Woking relegated need to deliver quickly otherwise it will not end well.    

Really sad watching Collins perform currently. It was embarrassing how easily he got turned by a player who wasn’t even that quick.

Positives - Rose first half, most of the play first half (especially Embleton’s chance).

Negatives - the second half, Collins, Thomas’ tireless task, missed chances, weak defending, McKeown’s abilities other than shotstopping.

At the end of the day, if you can’t score (we can’t), then you have to defend (we aren’t). Sort it Jolley. I’d say you’ve got 3/4 more games like that and it’s curtains, I’m really sorry to say.

Why did we drop Whitmore who has been our best defender at the start of the season. Davis was terrible. One move in particular in the second half when he just let a man run past him into the box in the second half to be saved by a last ditch Hendrie block (the ONLY man to come out of this performance with any credit).
1st half we matched them and should arguably been in front had their keeper not saved point blank from Embleton. With 2 up top we looked a threat then cook goes off injured then we glue Vernum and Hess to the wings again and leave Thomas chasing shadows.
2nd half they go into 2nd gear and we fold at the back. Defenders back off and in a blink of an eye we are 2 down.
We huff and puff but the 3rd is just embarrasing. A free header on the edge of the 6 yard box with neitger goalkeeper or defender present. Another blank, another 3 shipped.
We need to find our best 11, best formation and quick as we will be adrift by october and IF like Jolley says we have reinforcements lined up in January (Swedish?) we have to make sure that A) he still has a job here by then and b) we are in a reasonable position to attract them here in the first place.
We need to end this run quickly or this can AGAIN be a very uncomfortable season for town fans

Quoted from Stew0_0

Why did we drop Whitmore who has been our best defender at the start of the season. Davis was terrible. One move in particular in the second half when he just let a man run past him into the box in the second half to be saved by a last ditch Hendrie block (the ONLY man to come out of this performance with any credit).
1st half we matched them and should arguably been in front had their keeper not saved point blank from Embleton. With 2 up top we looked a threat then cook goes off injured then we glue Vernum and Hess to the wings again and leave Thomas chasing shadows.
2nd half they go into 2nd gear and we fold at the back. Defenders back off and in a blink of an eye we are 2 down.
We huff and puff but the 3rd is just embarrasing. A free header on the edge of the 6 yard box with neitger goalkeeper or defender present. Another blank, another 3 shipped.
We need to find our best 11, best formation and quick as we will be adrift by october and IF like Jolley says we have reinforcements lined up in January (Swedish?) we have to make sure that A) he still has a job here by then and b) we are in a reasonable position to attract them here in the first place.
We need to end this run quickly or this can AGAIN be a very uncomfortable season for town fans

He wasn't..