Oldham August 2011 — The Latics Debut In The Premier League

Hello everyone, welcome back! We had been very busy in pre season, we signed a lot of players and spent a lot of money. Now we started our Premier League campaign, and we had a very tough start, we had to face Chelsea and Man City in the first two games!

The first game of the season was against Chelsea, I was expecting a very difficult match, but I was hopeful the adrenalin of playing in the top division could spur the players on. We came out of the blocks quickly, we looked very lively in the  opening stages. In the 29th minute Boundary Park erupted, Marco Verratti crossed and new signing Andrew Driver leapt to head into the top corner, we were ahead! After the goal the game changed, Chelsea began to come forward and really press us. I thought a goal was coming and it was…. but not for them! The goal came from another new signing, and it was another header, this time Lucas thumped in the header, we were in dreamland! After the break it was all Chelsea, we didn’t have another shot on target, but with Drogba injured Daniel Sturridge missed a couple of good chances. I honestly thought we’d concede at least one, but Chelsea didn’t break through, the ref blew his whistle and we had beaten Chelsea! We probably didn’t deserve it, but it was a battling display from the players, I was delighted with their determination.

Next up we had an even more difficult game, champions Man City were coming to Boundary Park. We were on cloud nine after the victory over Chelsea, and it showed in the opening stages, we were on top. In the 9th minute things got even better for us, Verratti found Guilhermeand the Brazilian hammered in his first goal for the club, 1-0! The match was very even until half time, we were playing much better than we did against Chelsea. We went into the break ahead, but that didn’t last long in the second half, Carlos Tevez made it 1-1 in the 53rd minute. We reacted in stunning fashion, just 5 minutes later we were back in front, Guilherme got his second of game when he nodded in Rafinha’scross. City began to really press, but they put too many men forward, and with 8 minutes to go it was all over, Guilherme broke forward and his rebounded shot fell to Lucas, who scored his second in two games, we had won again! I was absolutely delighted, and we had deserved this victory, that made it even more special.

After those two fantastic wins we had our first away trip of the season, we were going to Reading, they came up with us from the Championship last season. We were very confident, but that gave way to complacency in the early stages, we looked poor and Reading went ahead in the 21st minute. After that we started to play better, but it was 2-0 before half time when Shane Long scored. I laid into the players at half time, and that seemed to have an effect, we looked much better and we got a deserved goal when Guilherme placed in. With 20 minuted to go I was confident that we could equalise, we had many attempts but no clear chances, it was disappointing that we couldn’t create better chances. We couldn’t break through, and we slumped to our first defeat of the season, that was very disappointing considering our good performances against the bigger sides.

After the game we made our final signing of the summer. I mentioned in the last post that we were in negotiations to sign free keeper German Lux. I am pleased to say that he accepted our offer, he will be my first choice keeper as he is slightly better than Charles Itandje.

We took a break from the league for the next game, we had a League Cup game against League One side Tranmere to play. I decided to rest the whole first team, I sent in some sub or backup players. One of them, Martyn Waghorn gave us the lead in just the second minute with a placed shot. It was 2-0 after just five minutes, Chris Taylor beat two players and passed it into the back of the net. I thought it was going to be a rout, but we took our foot off the gas and cruised through the rest of the game, Tranmere offered almost no attacking threat at all. We were through to the next round, I was pleased with the comfortable win.

We had one more game to play this month, we were back in the Premier League for a trip to Stoke. Once again we started well, we looked very lively, it seemed that the players had forgotten the loss to Reading. In the 21st minute Guilherme’s shot was saved but the rebound fell straight to Andrew Driver, who rolled it into the empty net. We weren’t ahead for long though, in the 31st minute Matt Derbyshire equalised for Stoke. We then got a huge slice of luck, we went 2-1 up in very fortunate circumstances. Guilherme made a good run down the left, his shot from a tight angle was saved but the ball hit one of Stoke’s defenders and trickled in past the helpless goalkeeper. It was very lucky, but quite funny, and things got even better just 3 minutes later, Andrew Driver got his second, he really has been on fire since joining. It was all over just after half time, Pablo Hernandez got his first for the club to seal an emphatic win and continue our great start to the season.

Here is the league table then, incredibly we are top! It’s only on goal difference and there are teams with games in hand, but it’s been a very good start. You can also notice that Bristol City are up there, the newly promoted sides have started well.

Next month sees us play just four games, one of those is in the League Cup. Hopefully we can continue our excellent start progress further in the cup, that’s something I’m aiming to do this season, as we havent’ got past the second round in any cup under my management yet.

That’s all for now then friends, thanks for reading!