Mawson and Anguissa are still out. Oldham are certainly up for this one and something like 4000 are travelling to the Cottage. Caretaker manager Peter Wild will be without Ishmael Miller after the striker's short-term contract came to an end and defender Rob Hunt is doubtful with a foot injury. However they're full of confidence, sitting comfortably in 10th place in League 2 having won their last two games. This will be their third game in the Cup playing away. They went to Richmond in Round 1 and had a 2-1 win, followed by a 2-0 victory at Maidstone.in Round 2. Waited to see th U23 line up for their game this afternoon and a couple of notables - Steven Sessegnon, Luca de la Torre and Matt O'Riley - don't feature. Suspect they will feature in Sunday's game but Ranieri will start with a strong team. That said, reckon he will rest Mitrovic. Also that we'll see him go more offensive in a 4-3-3 formation. ..............................Bettinelli..... ...S. Sessegnon...Odoi..Le Marchand...Bryan.. ...........de la Torre....Chambers...R. Sessegnon... ........Ayite.................Kamara...................Kebano... Good chance he'll start with Cairney instead of de la Torre however. Trying to get bit of that Tom "pizazz " back.
Tomorrow we have Anthony Taylor. The man supports Altrincham, only 26 miles from Oldham. Sure the Mancunian won't be biased in any way whatsoever, though !! We've seen him twice this season in the League. In our return to Wembley when we lost 3-1 to Spurs and that horrible trip to Huddersfield when we shambled to a 1-0 defeat. In happier times Taylor's first Premiership match (in 2010) was a 1-0 win over Portsmouth at the Cottage, and of course he was in charge for that first visit to Wembley for the Play Off Final (in 2018). He's been a busy person this season has Mr Taylor, having done 25 games already. Of that lot, 17 have been Premiership fixtures where he has handed out 54 yellows and 0 reds.
Absolutely. Powder Puff the lot of them. Only Odoi had a proper game. The rest were shameful. And the Manager doesn't come away with any credit either. Didn't someone tell them we were playing at the Cottage, and in the Cup !?
What should be done is that a lot of these players should be loaned free of charge to Oldham, so each day they can be reminded that the lower under paid team who are now their team mates were able to beat so called Premier class players, might give them the backbone they were missing today (that's if the Oldham manager would pick them).
Sounds the most likely cause to me, other than the ball was round and you have to kick it with something called "effort".
Waited until the dust had settled to see if I'd tempered my opinion and the answer is .. no! Things is, yesterday I lost all respect for Tom Cairney, certainly as our Captain. There was his dive. Yes, despite VAR upholding ref Taylor's original decision, I believe he dived. There was the moment, with Odoi lying in a heap just outside their box, Cairney turned his back and strolled away. And that appeared to be his general attitude throughout the game - strolling and disinterested. Don't know if he just doesn't like playing with Seri but it's simply not acceptable. Worse than any of that though, was even before the game started. He completely ignored the little girl Mascot happily dancing around trying to get his attention. Totally out of order from the Captain and Club Ambassador. Had I the power of my disgust would have left the ground there and then!!!
From hero to zero .................. well it's looking much like it. The Arsenal game he didn't consider defending, he also drifts where he pleases leaving gaps and treading on others toes from time to time. I don't believe Ranieri has taken to him too much either, he might go this January. A massive pity.
