Oldham Story — December 2011

Hello everyone, welcome back, and sorry for the slight delay, I haven’t been feeling too good recently. However, I’m better now, so on with the story. After a good period in October and November we were second, two points behind Arsenal, I was delighted with our start, but we had a difficult run of games coming up, let’s see how we got on.

The first game of the month was away at West Ham, they were struggling in 17th and didn’t look confident. However they were on top in the first half, only some heroic blocking saved us from going behind. We went ahead in the 34th minute against the run of play, centre back Neill Collins, in for the suspended Nicolas Otamendi smashed in a penalty after a push in the box. West Ham continued to be the better side, but they couldn’t break through our solid defence, and we sealed the win when Guilherme beat Green to the ball and nodded in. It was a good win for us, I was pleased with how we looked in defence, especially as we were under pressure for much of the game.

The next game was sure to be tough, top of the table Arsenal were travelling to Boundary Park. We got off to a dreadful start when young full back Jason Stevenson (who was playing due to a minor injury to Matthew Briggs) conceded a penalty by fouling Theo Walcott. Van Persie stepped up and stuck away the spot kick, and we were in deeper trouble in just the 13th minute, Cesc Fabregas hammered in a long range strike. I expected the floodgates to open, but thankfully that didn’t happen, we looked very solid after going two down. We managed to pull one back in the 71st minute, Otamendi headed home from a corner. We pressed Arsenal for the remainder of the game, but we just lacked the ability to carve them open one more time, and the Gunners clung on for the victory. I was pleased with the effort though, we put up a good fight.

Next up we had a trip to St James’ Park, we were facing mid table side Newcastle. We started poorly and Newcastle took a deserved lead through Artem Milevskyi in the 39th minute. We responded well after half time and we hit back through Adeilson 8 minutes after the break. Newcastle were still dominating but we looked dangerous on the counter attack, we were creating chances. In the 78th minute we took the lead, Andrew Driver pounced on the rebound from Jo’s shot to give us all three points, despite us not playing very well.

Rafinha picked up an injury during the game, but it was only a dead leg so he wasn’t out for long.

We faced Aston Villa next, they came to Boundary Park in decent form having won their last three games. Once again we didn’t play particularly well, Villa were the better side, but we went ahead in the 22nd minute through a cool finish from Guilherme. It was all Villa after that and they got a deserved equaliser when John Carew scored in the 55th minute. I would have been happy with a draw as we really weren’t playing well, but this season we have managed to create chances despite being on the back foot. We did it once again, a poor backpass from Curtis Davies allowed Guilherme to run through one-on-one, and he kept his composure to grab an undeserved win for us. I wasn’t complaining though, we had three more points in the bag and confidence was high.

We had a tricky game next, we travelled to Anfield to face the other team I support, Liverpool. They had started off badly but had rapidly climbed up the table after a good run of form. This time we actually played quite well, but we went behind in the 15th minute when Balazs Dzsudzsak scored. We kept our heads up though, and we hit back on the stroke of half time, that man Guilherme was once again the source of our inspiration. We doggedly fought all game, but just as I thought we were going to nick a draw it was snatched away from us as Dirk Kuyt headed in from a corner. We had played quite well, I was pleased with our efforts, but it seems that if we play well we lose and if we don’t we win, which is a bit strange.

That was the last league game of the month, and of the year, we have slipped to 3rd after a couple of defeats, but overall I’m pleased with our form, I would never have expected us to be so high at the halfway stage.

We had one more game to play, the last game of 2011 was an away trip to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal in the FA Cup. It was a tough draw for us, and with a few tired players I decided to send in a few sub players. I expected a defeat but the backup players performed admirably, after going behind in the 27th minute we equalised through Adeilson not long after. We were under pressure for most of the game but the defence held firm, it is a testimony to them that Arsenal didn’t create a clear chance all game. I was pleased with the result, it means that the confidence is still pretty high, we may even sneak past them in the replay.

Here are some player stats for the first half of the season, sorted by average rating:

I have been really pleased with Guilherme, he is the top scorer in the league and has really excelled since joining us. Marco Verratti continues to progress and impress and once again is the top assist maker in the whole league. I have also been pleased with Nicolas Otamendi and Andrew Driver, they have slotted in well and chipped in with some important goals too.

At the other end of the scale, Rafinha has been disappointing since arriving here, I hope he can improve his form once he’s well and truly settled. Michael Woods and Chris Taylor have been poor, both will be sold but probably not until the summer. The same can’t be said of Martyn Waghorn, he will be sold in January, he isn’t up to Premier League standard, indeed, I have already offered him to clubs.

Next month will be quite tough as well, we start the year with a trip to Stamford Bridge, and we also have to face both Arsenal and Man City, the Arsenal game is, of course the FA Cup Replay.

Well then, that’s all for now then friends, thanks for reading!