Oldham - Scouting Report

Notts County visit Boundary Park on Saturday as the magpies prepare to take on Oldham Athletic. The Latics have only won one of their last six games, which was against Fleetwood Town. They have lost four and only drawn one. So, Notts find themselves against another team in similar form to themselves, another chance for points to be added to the scoreboard.

Oldham Athletic will be seeing this as a game whereby their home advantage might sway things in their favour, however Notts must put out all the stops.

Run down of their last six games.

Saturday 13^th December – Oldham Athletic 0 Yeovil Town 4

Saturday 20^th December – MK Dons 7 Oldham Athletic 0

Friday 26^th December – Oldham Athletic 1 Crewe Alexandra 2

Saturday 10^th January – Oldham Athletic 2 Doncaster Rovers 2

Saturday 17^th January – Fleetwood Town 0 Oldham Athletic 2

Saturday 24^th January – Gillingham 3 Oldham Athletic 2

The Players – Fact Sheet

Highest Goal Scorers; Jonathan Forte 13, Danny Philliskirk 5, Mike Jones 4 and Dominic Poleon 3.

Persistent Foulers; Joseph Mills 1 Red Card and 1 Yellow Cards, Jabo Ibehre 1 Red Card 1 Yellow Cards, James Wilson 7 Yellow Cards and Liam Kelly 3 Yellow Cards.

The Key Players.

Jonathan Forte, Danny Philliskirk, Jacob Mellis, Mike Jones and Carl Winchester.

The former magpie forward Jonathan Forte is likely to be a doubt, however he's found form during his time at Oldham and they play to his strengths which has seen him notch up quite a few goals. The lively player may see a return and if so, he will be one of their key players.

Danny Philliskirk is a player who is hard working, this allows him to find time on the ball and he has the ability to finish half chances when presented with a chance.

The on loan Jacob Mellis is a box to box midfielder who brings creativity, strength and versatile defending to the ranks of The Latics.

Mike Jones and Carl Winchester are the heartbeat within the Oldham play, if these two gain a stride opposition teams can have quite the headache on their hands. However, Mike Jones is also a player which Oldham rely upon to pull play together which either sees him play well or disappear within important games.

Style of Play, Strengths, and Weaknesses.

Oldham Athletic look to mix dropping high balls with forward runs down the side of the flanks, often rushing into space created within the centre of the park. They place close passes, usually into areas whereby their players can gain ground over their opposition effectively allowing them to advance forward.

They set-up themselves up to be offensive, however against good teams they drop their defensive line back to counter any fallout from their attacking game.

Their main strengths come from the type of balls they choose to play, which allows them to get behind the defenders they face and into key areas. The Latics invite chances for themselves by delivery high balls to their strikers who are quite tall.

The link-up play which Oldham can put together can be difficult for teams to defend against, they have won quite a few free kicks in positions as a direct result to this which is another area they like to have a try from.

Weaknesses are mainly found from stray passes and a lack of awareness within their defence. If sides seize onto their mistakes, Oldham tend to be drawn into areas whereby they fail to mark or restrict chances.

Although they have quite an experienced keeper in Paul Rachubka, he tends to struggle with far placed shots aimed high into the top of his netting.

Their midfield often fails to pick up lose play, which invites pressure back onto their defence and if teams can quickly burst towards their penalty box – Oldham Athletic tend to allow players to run on passes or are drawn into making fundamental challenges.