Oldham(home)predictions

[AucklandRover]

Full time 2-2, fight back from 0-2 down inspired by mowbray sub's, but for me we were 0-2 down owing to his tinkering.

2 points dropped for me owing to the manager.

So starting with a particular XI is tinkering, but putting two subs on ISN'T tinkering. Have I got that right?

[Saxo1man41]

So starting with a particular XI is tinkering, but putting two subs on ISN'T tinkering. Have I got that right?

We started with a defensive formation at home to the leagues bottom form team aucks. What is that all about ffs?!

[Saxo1man41]

Mowbray is to blame aucks. He has form for this at former clubs, and sadly hasn't learnt his lessons.

Can only see play offs now and I doubt we'll be entering the games in form.

[Saxo1man41]

And no, putting those sub's on was desperation(going off his usual approach). Nothing to lose.

[Saxo1man41]

Worst thing in the world was January, giving him so many options to adjust the line up every game. It may cost us promotion.

[Despair]

Having said all that, the mighty ‘invincible’ Wigan an Shrews go marching on.?
But no mention whatsoever of their failure today and hence the ‘inevitable’ downturn that is to befall them! Or is this just reserved for BRFC?

Ups and downs, twists and turns are pretty much the norm over a season and this today is simply a demonstration of that.

Yes it would have been nice to capitalise, but it appears it was not to be.

So on to next game. We’re still ‘in the hunt’.

[Saxo1man41]

Having said all that, the mighty ‘invincible’ Wigan an Shrews go marching on.?
But no mention whatsoever of their failure today and hence the ‘inevitable’ downturn that is to befall them! Or is this just reserved for BRFC?

Ups and downs, twists and turns are pretty much the norm over a season and this today is simply a demonstration of that.

Yes it would have been nice to capitalise, but it appears it was not to be.

So on to next game. We’re still ‘in the hunt’.

Our players are good enough comfortably. Our manager currently is not.

[Saxo1man41]

How many times will Wigan and Shrewsbury give us opportunities? Their fans must be elated tonight.

[AucklandRover]

Worst thing in the world was January, giving him so many options to adjust the line up every game. It may cost us promotion.

Saxo - you leap on to the cliches and just don't stop to look around. ("Tinkerman"!!!)
If you went through every team in every league, you would see the old-style "play the same team every week" pattern just doesn't exist any more.
It is a squad game now. Managers try to form a group that can be flexible - both in terms of names on the team-sheet, and positions played.
You are one of those who says the manager is responsible for everything. To be honest, that's nonsense. Bell looked excellent in the previous two games. He was poor against Oldham - even in a defensive sense. Mowbray's first-half selection looked unbalanced. He was responsible for that, but he also rectified it. When we equalised, I thought we were certain to go on and win it.
The line you take means that the players are never blamed for poor performances. We made one-on-one defensive errors for both goals. That was not down to the FORMATION!
I think Lenihan will be in contention now, because he brings an aggressive approach we have sometimes missed.
We are third, not 13th or 23rd, for heaven's sake! Don't jump on this "It's all the manager's fault" bandwagon. Football just isn't that simple. (Or ARE you saying that the defeats for Wigan and Shrewsbury today MUST have been down to the managers?)
If we don't get promotion, Mowbray may well be asked to walk. Fair enough, but this ongoing blinkered view that the players are robots, operated by off-field control is just ludicrous. It's not a video game.

[AucklandRover]

We started with a defensive formation at home to the leagues bottom form team aucks. What is that all about ffs?!

Mowbray started with a team clearly designed to play a fast counter-attacking style. This has sometimes worked well for us. Today, it was a failure, largely because Bell played his role very poorly. (Don't forget, though: lots of fans last week were saying he looked ideal for that position!)
It turned out that Oldham's formation and surprisingly positive style negated Mowbray's plan. He realised he'd got it wrong and made the necessary adjustments, although I thought Bell should have been taken off.
I want you to be honest. You seem to have suddenly taken a strong anti-Mowbray line. If we had played an all-out-attack formation, and lost 3-2, would you really be on here, saying, "Happy with that. Don't mind losing when we've gone for the win."?
I suspect that - like many in the Mowbray-is-crap brigade - you would have found something else to blame him for in those circumstances.
It must be great to be a player these days: "Yes - I had a terrible game, but it was all the boss's fault, because of the decisions he made before the match."