In to them!

Straight in to them Latics!

Our season can so far be sectioned in to three distinct parts, all linked with International breaks.

Part I)

Start of the season, pre September international break – Underwhelming but early days.

Part II)

Post September international break – Much better, starting to click. Solid defensively, add goals and we’ll be away.

Part III)

Post October international break – what’s happened?

How will Part IV go ?

Latics and in particular Shaun Maloney needs it to be a lot more like Part II rather than Part III.

There are now no more distractions until March, this is where the bulk of league points will be earned and it’s a relentless looking programme. Particularly with the festive season peeping around the corner.

So what do we expect from Latics over the next few months? Well put simply.

Ball. In. Back. Of. Net

It’s that simple, yet the most simple part of the game can often be the most difficult. We won’t be the first club to struggle in front of goal and we won’t be the last but it is what is absolutely killing us now.

Earlier in the season we weren’t creating that much now we’re creating plenty (if you look at the chances from Carlisle, Wycombe and Nottingham Forest) chance creation isn’t the issue it was in September but converting those chances continues to be our biggest problem.

This can be down to a number of reasons, we’ve replaced four senior forwards with decent goal scoring records in their careers with two young lads just beginning their careers but at the same time the rest of the squad aren’t popping up with goals.

We know the reasons for this and we don’t need to go over them again but someone with a bit more experience up top must be first in line come the January transfer window, indeed Maloney has alluded to this in recent weeks and it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see midnight tick along on December 31st and Latics post up that scarf pick on the website but New Year and January is still a while away, what can we do before then?

Josh Stones has gone on loan to Oldham again with the message from Maloney that he needs to come back and be ready to fight for the number nine shirt? I wonder if the club believed that young Josh was further ahead than where he is in his development when they decided to go in this season with only Taylor and Hugill as our senior forwards, again reading between the lines it seems that Stones hadn’t reached the level expected by the management at the start of the season.

Indeed in the matches he played he looked miles off the pace, which is disappointing. Will a renewed spell at the other Latics mean we get a refreshed player ready to come here and score goals in January? Perhaps but again it takes him out of the picture for the next couple of months. We’ve missed the creative spark offered by Callum McManaman greatly in recent weeks, hopefully he’ll be a step closer to returning.

Chris Sze is back in the picture but expecting that young lad to carry a lot of our striking threat on his own isn’t fair but could well be where we turn if Hugill and Taylor continue with their lack of goals.

Over to the Pennines on Saturday and a trip to Oakwell. Not happy with trying to get us to pay for their legal representation at our points hearing in 2020 Barnsley also took one Stephen Humphreys from us in the summer. Humphreys like Jones were offered deals to remain at Latics and both waited for the last possible minute of the summer transfer window before signing for clubs, Jones in League Two and Carlisle and Humphreys at Barnsley but intriguingly – only for one year.

Humphreys blew hot and cold through his time with us, I don’t think it’s unfair to say that he went off the boil post-Christmas last season but he’s also a talented forward and as with Josh Magennis I’d rather have him in our team at the moment than face him. The key to success at Oakwell will be for us to get an early goal(s) we simply have to capitalise when we’re on top.

It’s going to be a tough match but Latics really need to get back to winning ways, and as soon as possible.

Sean Livesey

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