LJ - Some positivity..

LJ garnered 43 pts as Oldham manager last season, and 24 as our manager. That's 67 points and would have meant a 7th placed finish.

Had the season started when LJ was appointed here, we'd have finished 5th, Oldham would have been relegated.

 

7th and 5th!!! Booooo. If we don't win the league then LJ needs sacking.

 

And he is ickle and sounds like Joe Pasqbuale. Let's not forget that.

 

And we have some cracking L1 signings lined up.

Plenty to be positive about!

 

and the england u21 game so we have £21 extra to spend on player wages

 

Am I the only one underwhelmed?!? Same old, same old.

If we're not top 6 by Xmas the vultures will be out. I hope we do it, but .......

 

Am I the only one underwhelmed?!? Same old, same old.

If we're not top 6 by Xmas the vultures will be out. I hope we do it, but .......

 

Underwhelmed? We've only been going for a promotion since last season, did you not watch us in the Championship?

 

Yes

 

Going to have to question all that. Johnson was appointed on 25 Feb. We've won 5, drawn 6 and lost 3 of the 14 games we've played since he took over, adding another 21 points to our total. His combined total is, therefore, 64, leaving us in 8th.

Table when he took over is here: http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/league-one/2014-2015/table/2015-02-24
Final Table is here: http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/league-one/2014-2015/table

Bristol City have gone from 67 points to 99 = 32
Preston 59 to 89 = 30
Mk Dons 62 to 91 = 29
Chesterfield 42 - 69 = 27
Rochdale 41 - 63 = 22
Peterborough 41 - 63 = 22
Coventry 33-55 = 22

Had the season started when LJ took over, we would have also finished 8th.

 

Nope. I don't feel anything other than a slight feeling of déjà vu.

 

I'm not looking forward to new season at all to be honest, put any stats you like up, the football isn't going to be enjoyable regardless of the results, if we spend most of season in the top six, it'll definitely soften the blow of watching ***** boring negative football, but in my mind the only thing that's certain for me is ***** football not a top six finish and for that reason I'm not looking forward to the new season, but I'll be there week in week out home and away supporting the team because I'm a Fu'cking idiot

 

LeeJay gone by crimbo

 

It's getting quite lonely in this room of optimists, my echoing footsteps are the only noise I hear. Ah, well. I don't mind being the only one looking forward to the coming season. Billy No Mates, that's me.

 

Just cos you cannot see or hear any others does not mean they are not there.

 

That's an excellent point.
'Like'

 

I can confidently predict that next season we will win some games, draw some games and lose some games. I can also predict that we will score goals and concede goals. Hopefully, we'll score more than concede and win more than lose.

 

At this point in between seasons, I'm with the "happy clappers". [As Arthur Scargill once said: "It was like the conversion of St Paul on the road to Damascus!"] I like the cut of LeeJay's gib. He talks a brilliant game and has some very sound ideas. And I like what I see of Scottish Tommy!

We've very nearly finally got rid of all the dross, and I'm very excited to see who Lee and Ben can bring in.

 

As far as what I've seen out on the pitch is concerned, I'm massively underwhelmed. Other than a very good final half hour against both Walsall and Rochdale, and a positive attitude against Preston, the performances have been very disappointing. In my opinion they've got worse since Johnson took over and have ranged from dull but efficient to absolutely awful. Even during the undefeated run, when those who wanted Wilson out were claiming a miraculous improvement in our performances, we were attacking very little and managing very few of efforts at goal in the games, with a good deal of our goals coming from the reliable set piece delivery of Hourihane. When the undefeated run came to an end we didn't manage a single shot on target against Sheff Utd. In the run of 4 games against Preston, Bristol City, Sheff Utd and Colchester we had 22 efforts at goal and managed just 6 on target. 1.5 per game. It's difficult to believe a football team can play for 360 minutes+ and only manage to kick the ball at the nets 6 times. Fortunately for us, 4 of those went in. In the reverse fixtures under Wilson we had 37 efforts at goal and 15 on target.

Then there's the players Johnson brought in. Stewart and John were abject failures, and while Ibehre was OK, much better than I expected, he's not got the quality required to be in a team wanting promotion. If we intend to consolidate our position in the league then he'd be perfect, but all the talk emanating from the club is that we want much more than that. I understand perfectly that it's very difficult to sign decent players at the stage of the season when Johnson took over, but if you can't find better than we've already got, don't bother. George Smith was performing admirably, yet his place in the team was taken by Declan John who wasn't a patch on him. I've no idea what Cameron Stewart was supposed to offer. As I've said previously, Ibehre did OK, but he wasn't as good as Waring. He was nowhere near as good as Winnall who Johnson stuck out on the wing to accommodate him. Best goal scorer we've had for years and Johnson plays him on the wing.

Then there's the results. On paper they look decent, but we went 9 games without a win. We weren't unlucky, we deserved everything we got. We were offering virtually no attacking threat at all during any stage of Johnson's tenure: no efforts at all on target v Sheff Utd, 1 on target v Preston, 2 against Bradford, Colchester and Leyton Orient, 3 against Peterborough and Bristol City. 7 matches to get 13 efforts on target and score 5 goals. That's 50% of Johnson's games. It wasn't that much better in the majority of the other games: 4 efforts on target against Gillingham, Coventry, Oldham and Notts County. In the home game against Bradford under Wilson we had 22 efforts at goal, got 8 on target and scored 3 goals. At home to Gillingham it was 13 efforts at goal, 6 on target and 4 goals.

I'm being selective, I know I am, choosing Wilson's best performances, but even when we failed to win we were having a go: 20 efforts at goal, 9 on target when we lost at home to Crewe in the cup; 11 efforts at goal and 5 on target when MK Dons stuffed us, we managed 11 efforts at goal and 5 on target in the home fixture against Fleetwood, the game that got Wilson sacked. More efforts on target than in 11 of Johnson's 14 games. Things were far from perfect under our previous manager, but at least he showed he could set up a team that was capable of having a go at the opposition and that we could entertain.

Of Johnson's 3 other games we managed 5 efforts on target at home to Chesterfield, 6 at home to Walsall and the one result that really bucks the trend, the 5-0 victory over Rochdale where we had 11 efforts on target. I enjoyed that game a lot, but it would be hard to argue against the fact that Rochdale's 10 men simply gave up. The catalyst for that victory was Rhys Oates. We scored all 5 goals after his introduction, he played a large part in a few of the goals and caused the Rochdale defence all sorts of problems. We then released him.

There's a caveat to all the above: it wasn't Johnson's team. He suffered from exactly the same problems as Wilson: there was no one in the team who could pick up the ball, run with it and beat a man. Wilson thought he had his men in Jennings and Treacy, but they both preferred the taste of a pie. Williams got injured, while Blackburn blocked the move for O'Sullivan. Johnson identified the problem area too, but neither Stewart nor John produced.

If we're going to form our expectations on what has gone before then we're in trouble; it's been ****. But Johnson has an infectious personality, he talks a great game and you can't fail but to be inspired by him. I know I've just spent far too long banging on about what happened last season, but I'm now going to forget that and give him the chance to put in place what he believes he's capable and what he is telling us he will do. He'll have his own pre-season, his own players and his own team. I'm looking at it as a fresh start and my opinion of him will be formed on what is to come, not on what has already happened. Even if we're still ****, I won't be calling for his head. This summer will be his first transfer window, he might not get it right first time, and I hope the club offer him a lot more patience than they did the last manager. Time will tell if he's any good, we don't know yet, but he deserves the chance for us to find out and that will take a lot longer than Christmas 2015.

 

Summed up nicely. Just as I don't think it was fair to pile on Wilson for the spell he was in charge when we got relegated, it's not fair to pile it all on Johnson for the back end of last season.

All I will say is that in my opinion Oldham under Johnson were one of the most uninspiring sides I've watched.

I'm slightly pessimistic about next season - which means we'll be champions on 100 points.