Another lack lustre performance compounds Athletics worries

Last updated : 16 March 2005 By Dave Moore

Scott Fitzgerald, the player who was recently on trial at Boundary Park, bagged two goals for Brentford to further compound Athletics mysery in the basement of League One. They were two sloppy goals to concede and the Latics never really looked like getting anything from this match. They did have a penalty appeal turned down, Cooper and Haining hit the crossbar, but it was a very disappointed crowd who booed off the players at the end of the game.

Manager Ronnie Moore told the official site, “It showed today why myself and John Breckin are here. I think they've kidded us a bit in the last 3 games. Tonight, we got dragged into the long ball and we wanted them to get it down and play and I can see now why Brian had a lot of trouble. We certainly need new players, I've said that since I came in, what we've got out there isn't good enough to stay up, it's as simple as that. I thought the strikers were poor, never committed, never got in behind and never looked like scoring a goal. Their first goal's a joke, we know they play the long ball. I've put all the corners and free kicks up in the dressing room and we got caught by a flick on and the keeper should have done better with it. I thought first half we were okay but the second goal is a pub goal, it must have bounced 7 times before anybody reacted to it and the back four are stood still."

"When a new manager comes in, you get a bit of a lift but after a while, because they're the same players you level off but we've levelled off a lot earlier than I thought we would do and it's obvious that we need new players. It's catch 22, nobody wants to come to a side that's struggling, I must have made 40 calls to get players in and they'd rather play reserve team football than come and play. That type of performance today, you'll certainly go down playing like that and we need to do something about it.”

Moore is being brutally honest but I hope he doesn’t go the same route as his predesessor did by publically slagging off the players after every poor performance. It didn’t work before and it certainly won’t work again. It does nothing for confidence and Moore should be astute enough to know that. What next, “If we go down it won't be my fault?”

If the players aren’t up to playing for the club with pride and passion, put some of the reserve side out. They might be kids but they will try. The Latics fans are notoriously hostile at Boundary Park and it’s a bit unfair to chastise the manager after just more than a week. Give him a chance for goodness sake. It’s not Moore’s fault that we are in this position, it’s the circumstances that were here before he came that are to blame. It’s now down to the players and some of them unfortunately don’t seem interested in playing. They are there for a pay packet. Come on team, the supporters need something to cheer. They pay hard earned money so start giving value for money or please move on!