The big boys next; yes, it's the Scousers away in the new year for the victors
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TEAM NEWS
Jean-Paul Kalala; the one player we're certain will not play Tuesday
At the moment the only obvious no show at Boundary Park for the Essex boys is midfielder JP Kalala who cannot face his former club after picking up his fifth yellow card at the weekend.
And what a weekend; trouble free trip, (getting on the wrong train back aside, I was tired), plenty of good beer, and a hammering!
Not much you can take from the Robins debacle bar some decent fancy dress outfits, they were the better team, and it will be one of the great turnarounds in Shrimpers history if Luggy can get something from this, but with Liverpool the prize one hopes the players don't need too much pursuading to raise their game a touch above Saturday.
Luggy has told the Echo: 'There will be several changes to the team tomorrow. A freshness is needed and that some players are out of form. On Saturday, we were second best all over the pitch all afternoon. It was very disappointing.'
We have heard this before, we will see if he keeps his word this time, what can he do at the back? Not another experiment with Prosser I hope.
Still, he can tighten the midfield for starters, Grant and Leonard deserve a start, maybe give Ferdy a rest; up front Harris for Dickinson for me, maybe Bilel in the centre to liven things up, Hall wide and hopefully causing damage once again.
Scoreline; I had us to lose this one a week ago, and it's still all about Friday night and Bradford for me, but Liverpool in the new year would be nice, I still reckoned Dalgish cheated for his goal all those years ago at Anfield, clear push, be good to see him again!
To lose three in eight days would not be good for morale so even a draw and a loss on spot-kicks would be something to take from the match, but how about a sneaky 1-0 win on a freezing cold night, and that wind across the pennines can really bite, (a top of 3 C's but it will feel a lot colder), with no evidence to give for this at all.
Then again, that's the scoreline I predicted for Saturday.
FA Cup Third Round Draw: www.southendunited-mad.co.uk
Jean-Yves M'voto; fit again to face his former club
The Latics could call on Jean-Yves M'voto for their Cup replay with the Shrimpers on Tuesday evening.
The centre-back looked set for a spell on the sidelines after suffering a hamstring injury in Saturday's 2-0 defeat at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday, but has reported for training on Monday trouble-free and should feature if a precautionary scan doesn't show any damage.
Midfielder James Wesolowski and defender Nathan Clarke will return to the squad after they served one-match bans at the weekend and will hand Oldham manager Paul Dickov a selection poser.
Striker Chris Taylor will also feature in the squad after missing the last three matches with a hamstring injury.
Robbie Simpson's loan deal from Huddersfield expired on Saturday, though the striker is still training with the Latics ahead of a potential move in January.
PLAYER TO WATCH
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Shefi Kuqi
The 'flying finn' is certainly a player to watch, even though he doesn't always deliver, Shefi has been in fine form with 13 goals in 19 starts for Oldham.
Museshrimper again, from his very useful look at the Latics last game, see above, writing on www.shrimperzone.com;
'Kuqi was the clear focal point of Oldham's attacking play. He dropped deep to receive the ball to feet, looking to drag the opposing centre-back out of position and bring advancing midfielders into the attack, and had a very good first touch when doing so.
He was also the target of long, ariel balls and looked to flick on to Simpson and Scapuzzi when possible. What surprised me most was the amount of running he did - whilst being slow, he was still chasing down defenders and the goalkeeper in the latter stages.
He's a clever striker but also appeared to get frustrated too. If we can prevent supply to him we should nullify his threat'
And that review seemed to be spot on for the Roots Hall tie, but both games were away, will boss Dickov play a different formation at Boundary Park?
Anyway, both manager and team mate, midfielder Tom Adeyemi are full of praise for the Latics hitman, at the grand old age of 35!
Adeyemi said: "Shefki is one of those players who can score at any time. He gets in the right positions. That's something that maybe I can learn from him. As a midfielder, I want to be getting as many goals as possible. I think it's really good to have someone like him who can just pop up with a goal whenever."
While Dickov added: "Shefki keeps doing the right things. That's how he's played at the top level for most of his career - he scores goals. Whether he's playing well, whether he's having an indifferent game - regardless of what's happening in a match he will pop up and get a chance. That's why we keep Shefki on the pitch because he will score you a goal."
(For more info on the player: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shefki_Kuqi)
PREVIOUSLY
The ground at the moment is comprised of just three sides as the Club had planned on the building of a new stand on the Broadway side of the stadium, but this has been shelved as the Latics look to moving to a new site altogether.
At one end is the comparatively new Rochdale Road End, a good sized all seater covered stand with an excellent view of the pitch. It has windshields to either side of it and an electric scoreboard on its roof. Part of this stand is given to away supporters.
The other end, the Chadderton Road Stand (also known as the 'Chaddy End'), is a medium sized all seater covered stand. Again there are windshields to either side, but the elderly nature of this stand is apparent from the supporting pillars running across the front of it.
On one side there is an old two tiered Main Stand. This used to have terracing in front, since filled with seating. There is still some old unused terracing on one side of this stand.
Opposite is currently a building site as a new stand is being constructed. The ground also benefits from four large floodlight pylons, leaving the visitor in no doubt that this is a football ground.
The Club has a mascot called 'Chaddy The Champion Owl'!
Away fans are housed in the Rochdale Road Stand at one end of the ground. This stand is split between a larger section on side, which houses 3,000 fans and a smaller section on the other side which houses 1,600 supporters.
The smaller area will be allocated to Shrimpers. The sections are kept separate by a large moat like gap, which certainly makes for a lot of banter? The facilities in this newish stand are fairly good, as are the acoustics.
(Ground information supplied by www.footballgroundguide.com)
Since the late-1990s Oldham Athletic have grappled with poor performance, a high turnover of managers and an aging stadium. The club's limited company was formed after a period of insolvency in 2003–04.
In February 2004, the club's immediate future was secured when a group of United States-based expatriate British businessmen, led by Simon Blitz, bought the club, forming Oldham Athletic (2004) Association Football Club Limited.
Graeme Sharp took over as Oldham's player-manager on the departure of Joe Royle in November 1994, but he was unable to mount a promotion challenge and the pressure continued to build up a year later when Oldham narrowly avoided relegation. Relegation to Division Two happened at the end of the 1996–97 season, just after Sharp had resigned to be succeeded by Neil Warnock.
As one of the biggest clubs in Division Two for 1997–98, and being managed by Warnock who had achieved no less than five promotions with other clubs in the last 11 years, Oldham Athletic were tipped for an immediate return to Division One, but they finished a disappointing 13th in the league and Warnock resigned. Veteran striker Andy Ritchie took over as player-manager, but he too failed to mount a promotion challenge and was sacked in October 2001 to be succeeded by Mick Wadsworth.
In 2001, Oxford based businessman Chris Moore purchased Oldham Athletic, vowing to take the club back to Premier League football within five years. Wadsworth quit as manager in the summer of 2002 to make way for Iain Dowie, who transformed Oldham's fortunes on the pitch as they made their first serious challenge for promotion in Division Two.
Oldham finished fifth and their promotion dreams were ended in the playoffs, and their fans were furious when Moore decided to end his interest with the club—leaving behind large debts and a weak squad, and after selling the better players at a fraction of their market value at the time. For a while it looked as though the club would go out of business, but a takeover deal was soon completed.
In 2004–05, Simon Blitz and two other partners, Simon Corney and Danny Gazal, purchased Oldham Athletic, trying to rescue the club from possible liquidation. While trying to repay debts, Oldham struggled for several seasons—barely avoiding relegation once more in 2004–05. In the 2006–07, Oldham's fortune turned for the better once more as the club narrowly missed out on promotion —losing to Blackpool 5–2 on aggregate in the play-off semi-final.
After two years with the club, manager John Sheridan was sacked on 15 March 2009, immediately being replaced by former manager Joe Royle. After being offered the job on a permanent basis, Royle rejected the offer and announced that he would be leaving the club after the final game of the season, his last game in charge at home was the 1-1 draw with the Shrimpers. Were you in fancy dress that day?
Darlington F.C. boss Dave Penney was announced as Royle's successor on 30 April 2009, though Royle still was in charge until season's end.
Penney was dismissed as Oldham manager on 6 May 2010, with his assistant, Martin Gray, taking over as caretaker manager for the final game of season 2009–10.
During June 2010, Paul Dickov was named as Oldham Athletic player-manager signing a one year rolling contract. Dickov's style of football has seen the club's performances improve from the previous season.
| 10 | Preston North End | 20 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 17 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 15 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 32 | 36 | 27 | -4 |
| 11 | Bury | 20 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 15 | 18 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 26 | 31 | 27 | -5 |
| 12 | Colchester United | 20 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 19 | 16 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 30 | 31 | 26 | -1 |
| 13 | Hartlepool United | 20 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 18 | 15 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 25 | 28 | 26 | -3 |
| 14 | Bournemouth | 20 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 13 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 23 | 26 | 26 | -3 |
| 15 | Tranmere Rovers | 20 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 15 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 20 | 23 | 26 | -3 |
| 16 | Oldham Athletic | 20 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 18 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 27 | 31 | 26 | -4 |
| 17 | Leyton Orient | 20 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 15 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 14 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 22 | 29 | 22 | -7 |
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