League one forever Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 42 minutes ago, yarddog73 said: There's nothing to suggest Mellon is building a team like Parkinson, Williams or Cook for that matter but to be fair he inherited a squad which was way short of what was required. Parky is completely different to cook and Willams. First half- we are awful. Second half- we score to two goals and their manager said we didn’t test Hudson once. Id say Mellon is transitioning us into a Parky type side. When it’s bad - it’s really dire. When it’s ‘good’ we’re effective at scoring goals and not conceding- which is the whole point winning games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzlatic Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 14 minutes ago, League one forever said: Not at all. I meant every word. Parky took Wrexham up being exactly that, and it sounds like Mellon disagrees with you, he thinks we’re gritty, hard working, who aim to score goals and not concede. We won’t be pretty or easy on the eye but we’ll be effective. Your ‘pragmatic’ is my dominating ugly. I was agreeing with you, not saying you were the one shitposting! Didn't make that clear, sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzlatic Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 12 minutes ago, League one forever said: Agreed. We don’t. I’m saying that IF we dominated ugly, by competing, looking at it, winning second balls, etc etc that is a more than acceptable way to win games. What we do, is neither play expanse or bully. We’re somewhere in between when we play ok, and absolutely nowhere when we are poor. IF Mellon can turn us into a side similar to Parky at Wrexham I’m fine with that. It sounds like Mellon has accepted that that is the way to go now. He's probably been assessing/experimenting etc for a while now and come to that conclusion. It's still really early in his reign. His interview might also have an element of expectation management to it when it comes to the fans to try and unite in some way... ie stop worrying about us playing entertaining football, playing with style or the expectation of passing teams off the park. Lets just focus solely on results for now. That way he has something tangible to deliver on rather than the vague idea of what entertainment or attractive football is to different people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L1onheartNew Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 I went for an angiogram today because what seemed to be a blockage appeared on a recent heart stress test after telling my doc that I was feeling run down. The cardiologist kept asking if I had any chest pains and how often they occurred. I replied no and never. So what are you doing here? He asked. How did it all start? I replied I watched Oldham at home to Ebbsfleet. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deyres42 Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Wrexham steamrollered teams with their intensity and physicality, you could hold your nose and take it if we were doing the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
League one forever Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 12 minutes ago, nzlatic said: I was agreeing with you, not saying you were the one shitposting! Didn't make that clear, sorry. Ah, with you- no bother. 9 minutes ago, nzlatic said: It sounds like Mellon has accepted that that is the way to go now. He's probably been assessing/experimenting etc for a while now and come to that conclusion. It's still really early in his reign. His interview might also have an element of expectation management to it when it comes to the fans to try and unite in some way... ie stop worrying about us playing entertaining football, playing with style or the expectation of passing teams off the park. Lets just focus solely on results for now. That way he has something tangible to deliver on rather than the vague idea of what entertainment or attractive football is to different people. Yep, totally agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disjointed Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 3 hours ago, nzlatic said: I was surprised about the move away from the back 3 once Hogan came back. I would have understood it more if it had happened in the games he was suspended. But that back 3 was integral in our best run of form of the season. Kitching also looks better starting from a higher position up the pitch. And our strikers do a better job of bringing him into play when he’s already in the opposition half rather than having to come from deep when he plays full back. I thought Hammond was better last night although still a long way to go. Lundstram for me is still disappointing. Is it a confidence thing? If a risky pass is on or if someone has a marker anywhere near him he seems to turn that pass down in favour of the safe one. But it’s not just him who does that. We’ve had a fair bit of disruption over the last few weeks with new signings, injuries and postponements. Forget the 442, it’s in the past and we don’t have the players for it. Stick with the 352 and get better at it. It won’t be tika taka but the football will improve with familiarity and we will start to get more convincing performances and wins again. I get what you say about Lundstram, the one time he was pro active and took the game to Boreham Wood we scored our 1st goal. He needs to be this player. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
League one forever Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 5 minutes ago, deyres42 said: Wrexham steamrollered teams with their intensity and physicality, you could hold your nose and take it if we were doing the same. Spot on, and I’m hoping in time we can become this. We ain’t ever playing the Williams way under Mellon- so we need to get used to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disjointed Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 I'd say Garner fits the MM model, what a nasty fucker he is. I'm hoping some of our players learn from him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafc1955 Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 We’ve got 11000 turning up next week against Kidderminster which will include 4500 ‘floaters’ who rarely come or don’t come at all. It is a chance to show them that the football in this league is worth watching. If, which is more than likely, we produce our usual offering it will be an opportunity missed! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Only Blue Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 2 hours ago, deyres42 said: Not sure anyone is suggesting that, I'm certainly not, I'm just don't buy into the idea that we still have to act and play like plucky underdogs. You are absolutely right we definitely shouldn't play like plucky underdogs but the problem is that the team isn't good/strong enough especially when the game is physical. That is because we are weaker than other teams and the referees just allow a lot of the jostling to go on. It was like a rugby match sometimes, but I am not criticising the ref for that because he allowed it both ways but I know there would be a lot more fouls given in League 2. Overall the matches have been poor for several years and so I understand people are crying out for change but at least now we are starting to win and once that becomes a habit the performances will improve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafcmetty Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 13 hours ago, LightDN123 said: Get use to 5 at the back. We didn't have 5 at the back yesterday. Fair play to MM, he got the first half wrong, he's said as much himself. Made the changes at half time and they barely had a kick. I'm glass half full today, thought we were the better team throughout, even playing poorly in the first half particularly. Their goal was the typical sucker punch we seem to concede against these sorts of teams, and was worried that'd be that. But bringing on Hobson was the right choice, he's the only one at the back who can play a pass that breaks the lines. And Green gave us someone to aim for. Can barely recall them getting in our half after the change in formation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarddog73 Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 42 minutes ago, Only Blue said: Overall the matches have been poor for several years and so I understand people are crying out for change but at least now we are starting to win and once that becomes a habit the performances will improve. I'm not disagreeing with much of what you say but there's nothing to suggest performances will improve because we win a few, in to the New Year many of us felt this would have been the case after four straight wins but we then regressed almost inexplicably and that for me is the frustration. When we get in the playoffs I just hope that we turn up and have one of our better days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
League one forever Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 45 minutes ago, oafc1955 said: We’ve got 11000 turning up next week against Kidderminster which will include 4500 ‘floaters’ who rarely come or don’t come at all. It is a chance to show them that the football in this league is worth watching. If, which is more than likely, we produce our usual offering it will be an opportunity missed! Do you not see/accept that what you want is never going to happen under Mellon? No matter how many times you say you don’t like the football, Mellon is not going to change to an expansive - easy on the eye style. As long as we compete- I think plenty will love the opportunity to see us win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluehobbit Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 It's funny people calling for better football. Reminds me slightly of the Ronnie Moore era. Getting results but not by any means playing "attractive football" For now, I just want wins and I don't care how they come. Last night is a game we normally lose. MM makes sensible changes Hobson shuts down the space they were getting between Sachdev and the centre-backs and Green gives us an outlet. Defensively we are OK, 3 decent centre-backs for this level and a good LWB when we can get him up the pitch. Playing devil's advocate though the football isn't brilliant which seems odd with the money spent. I still feel recruitment is a bit odd. Crying out for RWB we signed someone else's youth team player, sounded promising but he's given us the same as Sutton going forward i.e. virtually nothing and he's easily bullied. Boreham played in his area all first half when they came forward last night. Walker and Dalls have come in both quick something we lack and both seemingly crocks. Unfortunate? Hammond another strange loan. Doesn't seem to give us much we don't already have - although I think he will improve to a decent standard in time. Ward looks like a lot of other players who get injured for lengthy spells at a new club - hasn't played much, couldn't tell you want he's supposed to be and we could have taken him off after 10 mins and not missed him. Garner puts himself about and his experience will help - I doubt you can play him and Norwood up top but i'm glad to see him score hopefully he can add a few more. His layoffs didn't always work but you can tell there was a footballing brain there. Fondop I still don't rate him, couldn't hold the ball much last night but one big chance and he took which is what we need in games like that. Lundstram - nearly always gets the ball with his back to the opposition goal, and can drive forwards but is rarely doing. Plays far too deep and leaves a massive gap between himself and the rest of the midfield (which isn't his sole fault) Conlon did OK but can't help feel he needs help in the centre. He can be our playmaker if he gets support to often the other 2 would either drop backwards or hide. His set pieces were very good tho a nice weapon to have. 2 tough away games now - but they are winnable if we can give ourselves something to defend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_b_100 Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Another game of two halves .... another 3 points ..... Another twitter (X) meltdown on 45 mins ... two goals scored by strikers. Had we have lost .. I may have been unhappy but I can ponly see positives there after a really dour openong 45 mins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzlatic Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 51 minutes ago, oafc1955 said: We’ve got 11000 turning up next week against Kidderminster which will include 4500 ‘floaters’ who rarely come or don’t come at all. It is a chance to show them that the football in this league is worth watching. If, which is more than likely, we produce our usual offering it will be an opportunity missed! You're only going to be disappointed if you're expecting a great show to be put on. Not only are we unlikely to play in the way you want, Kidderminster have won their last 4 games so it won't be the pushover some will expect either. It'll be another tough game and if we get another 3 points I'd be chuffed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_b_100 Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 One thing I did notice is that both Garner and Fondop going for the same ball can only end in what it did ... nothing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_Og Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 17 minutes ago, bluehobbit said: Hammond another strange loan. Doesn't seem to give us much we don't already have - although I think he will improve to a decent standard in time. He's a permanent signing isn't he? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemel latic Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 2 minutes ago, Dave_Og said: He's a permanent signing isn't he? Yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightDN123 Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 20 minutes ago, bluehobbit said: It's funny people calling for better football. Reminds me slightly of the Ronnie Moore era. Getting results but not by any means playing "attractive football" For now, I just want wins and I don't care how they come. Last night is a game we normally lose. MM makes sensible changes Hobson shuts down the space they were getting between Sachdev and the centre-backs and Green gives us an outlet. Defensively we are OK, 3 decent centre-backs for this level and a good LWB when we can get him up the pitch. Playing devil's advocate though the football isn't brilliant which seems odd with the money spent. I still feel recruitment is a bit odd. Crying out for RWB we signed someone else's youth team player, sounded promising but he's given us the same as Sutton going forward i.e. virtually nothing and he's easily bullied. Boreham played in his area all first half when they came forward last night. Walker and Dalls have come in both quick something we lack and both seemingly crocks. Unfortunate? Hammond another strange loan. Doesn't seem to give us much we don't already have - although I think he will improve to a decent standard in time. Ward looks like a lot of other players who get injured for lengthy spells at a new club - hasn't played much, couldn't tell you want he's supposed to be and we could have taken him off after 10 mins and not missed him. Garner puts himself about and his experience will help - I doubt you can play him and Norwood up top but i'm glad to see him score hopefully he can add a few more. His layoffs didn't always work but you can tell there was a footballing brain there. Fondop I still don't rate him, couldn't hold the ball much last night but one big chance and he took which is what we need in games like that. Lundstram - nearly always gets the ball with his back to the opposition goal, and can drive forwards but is rarely doing. Plays far too deep and leaves a massive gap between himself and the rest of the midfield (which isn't his sole fault) Conlon did OK but can't help feel he needs help in the centre. He can be our playmaker if he gets support to often the other 2 would either drop backwards or hide. His set pieces were very good tho a nice weapon to have. 2 tough away games now - but they are winnable if we can give ourselves something to defend. Hammond isn’t a loan, unfortunately. I believe we actually paid a fee for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluehobbit Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 2 minutes ago, Dave_Og said: He's a permanent signing isn't he? Sorry thought he was a loan. Maybe he has time yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemel latic Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 20 minutes ago, bluehobbit said: It's funny people calling for better football. Reminds me slightly of the Ronnie Moore era. Getting results but not by any means playing "attractive football" For now, I just want wins and I don't care how they come. Last night is a game we normally lose. MM makes sensible changes Hobson shuts down the space they were getting between Sachdev and the centre-backs and Green gives us an outlet. Defensively we are OK, 3 decent centre-backs for this level and a good LWB when we can get him up the pitch. Playing devil's advocate though the football isn't brilliant which seems odd with the money spent. I still feel recruitment is a bit odd. Crying out for RWB we signed someone else's youth team player, sounded promising but he's given us the same as Sutton going forward i.e. virtually nothing and he's easily bullied. Boreham played in his area all first half when they came forward last night. Walker and Dalls have come in both quick something we lack and both seemingly crocks. Unfortunate? Hammond another strange loan. Doesn't seem to give us much we don't already have - although I think he will improve to a decent standard in time. Ward looks like a lot of other players who get injured for lengthy spells at a new club - hasn't played much, couldn't tell you want he's supposed to be and we could have taken him off after 10 mins and not missed him. Garner puts himself about and his experience will help - I doubt you can play him and Norwood up top but i'm glad to see him score hopefully he can add a few more. His layoffs didn't always work but you can tell there was a footballing brain there. Fondop I still don't rate him, couldn't hold the ball much last night but one big chance and he took which is what we need in games like that. Lundstram - nearly always gets the ball with his back to the opposition goal, and can drive forwards but is rarely doing. Plays far too deep and leaves a massive gap between himself and the rest of the midfield (which isn't his sole fault) Conlon did OK but can't help feel he needs help in the centre. He can be our playmaker if he gets support to often the other 2 would either drop backwards or hide. His set pieces were very good tho a nice weapon to have. 2 tough away games now - but they are winnable if we can give ourselves something to defend. Agree with most of what you say bar the criticism of Fondop, and you're not alone in not rating him. Last night he scored the first and won the free quick for the second. He provides a physical challenge for whoever as the difficult job of marking him, he is the one player on our books who can hold the ball up, When he holds the ball up he nearly always plays the ball to a team mate facing the opposition goal. Very good in the air, he wins countless defensive headers as well as those in the other half. Is it perhaps time for Oldham fans to stop asking what has Mike Fondop ever done for Oldham Athletic? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Only Blue Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 21 minutes ago, yarddog73 said: I'm not disagreeing with much of what you say but there's nothing to suggest performances will improve because we win a few, in to the New Year many of us felt this would have been the case after four straight wins but we then regressed almost inexplicably and that for me is the frustration. When we get in the playoffs I just hope that we turn up and have one of our better days. There is an element of desperate hope in there that they improve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz_Oafc Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Just a reminder for those that are in Mourning at the sad and tragic passing of Mr Sexy Football (not that you've seen him at BP in god knows how long) We are 4th in the form table, only 3 points behind champions elect Chesterfield. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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