The Oldham keeper

[Bentley Bullet]

Selby. I haven't counted how many scoring chances Mandeville's missed, that's why I said 'occasional'. If he'd scored at every opportunity he'd be better than Messi! The same applies to Marquis and Williams - and Alfie May!

Until we can afford gold dust we'll have to give cheap prospects like Alfie a chance.

[RedJ]

I think we should also remember that May will have been rusty having just come back from a couple of months' layoff.

[Bentley Bullet]

I think we should also remember that May will have been rusty having just come back from a couple of months' layoff.

Absolutely!

[selby]

  Sorry B.B. couldnt resist, I am not bothered which one of our players score, but we do need to have a run of results, and a bit if luck.
  In Marquis we have our best hold up/link player we have had since Brown, and he also chips in with a fair share of goals.
  We need the ball in the box quicker,and the mid field players to support better to give our strikers a chance. Rowe,Coppinger and Rodney have shown glimpses of this, Rowe especially in the last three games, We now need someone to start converting our chances

[selby]

  Hound,where at and when?

[selby]

    So he didnt miss a sitter on Saturday, and if he did we can forgive him because he has not played for a while,
  If  Williams and some of our other strikers read this forum, I bet they think thats bloody hilarious.

[drfchound]

  Hound,where at and when?

Because I don’t go to Chaka Khan games I can’t tell you where or when, BUT, I do recall people on here saying that Mandeville missed from the spot in shoot outs.

Maybe someone else can fill in the details.

[BillyStubbsTears]

BB

Shall we just agree on the fact that, possibly through rustiness, May’s first touch, with no defender within 2 yards of him, was less than ideal and resulted in him having to snatch at his shot before the incoming defender could get there?

Agree with that?

[selby]

  Hound, I have looked back and he missed at Grimsby, he has scored two out of three in shoot outs this season, but they do not count as goals scored in first team games.
  Goals scored in open play do count to a players first team record.

[selby]

  Billy, if Williams had been out for six months,and it was his first kick at a ball in all that time, and he missed that, and put his hands anywhere near his head in frustration, he would have been bloody slaughtered on here

[BillyStubbsTears]

Selby. I’m not trying to slaughter anyone. Or start a row. I was simply pointing out the obvious. May’s first touch was poor. There’s not much to argue about that. Whether it was from rustiness or from basically poor technique is a different question.

Personally, I think the lad has a certain something about him in those situations so I’m happy to cut him some slack. But it WAS a poor first touch and that is what gave the keeper the chance to make a save. A touch to the left and a Heffernan-esque scuffed shot rolling into the corner was required. Not a slide to the right and a rushed stab a keeper’s shoulder height.

[selby]

  I agree entirely, I  admire his drive, tenacity, and enthusiasm, and he is not a bad player to go with it.
  His weakness is his first touch, and the fact that he has to take a touch,when others would not have to.
  If he works on that, which I am sure they are doing, he would be a lot more dangerous in the box.
  And if he plays with Marquis,one or the other has got to stay more central, and play off the shoulder,we cannot have both of them trying to be everywhere at once. Standing still on a football field,at the right time, and in the right place, can create time and space, that's what separates the great from the ordinary.
   And if Mandeville or Williams had missed that chance, I would have said that they had missed a sitter, not try and defend them by saying they were rusty.

[Bentley Bullet]

BST

I've already said that perhaps May made the wrong decision and should have hit it low, even though his effort was still on target and required a good save from the keeper. But to say that any of our other first-team strikers would have buried it is a bit far fetched. I'm not even sure any of them would have created a shooting position from it.

Selby

 I for one wouldn't have accused Mandeville or Williams of missing a sitter in that situation because it wasn't a sitter. We're not all like Billy.

[drfchound]

  Hound, I have looked back and he missed at Grimsby, he has scored two out of three in shoot outs this season, but they do not count as goals scored in first team games.
  Goals scored in open play do count to a players first team record.

I am well aware that those pens do not count as goals scored in first team games.

I was merely pointing out that Mandy had missed pens in shoot outs.

Also, i am on the side of the fence that thinks Liam is not the player this season that he appeared to be becoming when he picked up his injuries last season.
His contribution on Saturday was poor.

[selby]

  The service from midfield had dried up, he was told to stay on the half way line,and we defended much deeper on the edge of our box.
   He had no service nor did Marquis in the last quarter, with tired players and a disrupted mid field, thats where we lost the goal,in mid field.
  He was inside Rowe in the clear when Rowe got brought down for the goal free kick, that would have been his moment, thankfully we scored anyway and a good well worked goal at that.

[NickDRFC]

Mandeville also famously missed a penalty at Plymouth last year after which Copps got sent off. That said (and I've no idea what his penalty miss was like in the trophy), he's still a very good penalty taker from what I've seen and I'd far rather have him take one than any other of our players. That miss at Plymouth was unfortunate in that a few inches inside and it would have crashed off the post, whereas most of Marquis' penalties could have been a few inches either way and they'd still have been dreadful!

[dickos1]

Bit silly this,
Yes he should've done better, but my god the marquis Miss at Wigan was one of the worst I've ever seen, Williams has also missed some horrific sitters this season.

It seems people have said may wanst good enough from day one so now they're just going overboard at a miss.

All strikers miss chances, all of them

[IDM]

Small differences with massive consequences.

If Alfie's effort had literally got a few extra centimetres then he's chipped their keeper and everyone celebrates a well taken goal.  Keeper gets his fingertips to it and it's a miss where Alfie should have smashed it!

Last week, Tommy's effort on the inside of the post - another half inch inside and it bounces in.

Of course, we have benefited from similar things too, Butler's goal on Saturday the most recent. 

[drfchound]

  The service from midfield had dried up, he was told to stay on the half way line,and we defended much deeper on the edge of our box.
   He had no service nor did Marquis in the last quarter, with tired players and a disrupted mid field, thats where we lost the goal,in mid field.
  He was inside Rowe in the clear when Rowe got brought down for the goal free kick, that would have been his moment, thankfully we scored anyway and a good well worked goal at that.

"That would have been his moment".

How can you be sure he would have scored ?
It is impossible to say isn't it.

Irrespective of where he was instructed to play, Liam played a number of passes straight to Oldham players.

[selby]

  I dont know that he would score, and sorry if you took it to mean that. You may be surprised to know I would start Alfie on Saturday, I think we would  benefit from making as few changes as possible, although if Coppinger is fit he would be in for Beestin.
   If we struggle to score against one of the weakest  defences in the division, I would bring Mandeville on after an hour, and bring on Blair as well if fit, and go for a win.

[Bristol Red Rover]

Being as the topic came up here, my view of May is he is almost certainly a little rusty but it goes further than that. He has great energy, gets in good positions both with the ball and in order to receive the ball but he tends to snatch at the end. I think he will improve and would become a great player if he does.

It's like he get's disracted in the hustle and bustle especially when it's time to shut out the rest of the world for a split second to focus and make the right contact with the ball. Similar is true for most players but Alfie is particularly hyper in front of goal. I think with match experience, within a year he'll be hitting quality shots at the target more.

[BillyStubbsTears]

BST

I've already said that perhaps May made the wrong decision and should have hit it low, even though his effort was still on target and required a good save from the keeper. But to say that any of our other first-team strikers would have buried it is a bit far fetched. I'm not even sure any of them would have created a shooting position from it.

Selby

 I for one wouldn't have accused Mandeville or Williams of missing a sitter in that situation because it wasn't a sitter. We're not all like Billy.

BB

He couldn’t hit a low shot. Because he had to snatch at his shot before the defender came across him.

He had to snatch at his shot because of a poor first touch.

Do you agree with the above, because if you do, we can put that discussion to bed.

If you don’t, just tell me what part you disagree with.

PS. I was there on Saturday too. If you like, I’ll sit next to you next time and point these things out to you.

[Bentley Bullet]

BST

It wasn't a perfectly good first touch, but that's not the point. The point is he recovered enough composure to shoot on target and force a good save from the keeper.

The argument is that you say any of our other first-team strikers would have buried it. Marquis has missed far easier opportunities that that one. Sitters in fact. And had it been Williams he'd probably have stopped playing and looked up to the sky after a similar first touch, resulting in no attempt at a shot at goal.

Regarding sitting next to me next time, you're welcome to learn the finer points of football from me anytime. I'll try and make it simple for you.