Neil Kilkenny has admitted that the team is much stronger than it was when he was last on loan at Boundary Park back in the 2004-05 season. He told Latics World, "The players are better as individuals, and we've got a lot more experience. Back when I was last here on the loan the average age was about 23. The only thing we need to do this time round is gel and start winning games. The manager's brought in about ten players and they are all good, and on paper we have three of the best strikers in the league. Now they just need to start scoring. We're also well covered in central midfield with four or five players that would get into most other teams in this division."
"I said myself that I would not have come back if the club hadn't progressed, and we certainly have under Shez. It says something that when I came in originally we were in a relegation fight, and now people are expecting play-offs and promotion from us."
New goalkeeper Mark Crossley (pictured) has confessed that the rest of the squad are "embarrassed" by their current situation and admits that the game at Walsall in a "must-win" game. He said, "We are all frustrated, disappointed and we know we should be doing better. We understand that the supporters are frustrated but so is the management, because we expected to be doing well. Apart from the Hartlepool game I don't think we've played that badly and we've just not been getting the right results. That said, there's a lot of room for improvement."
"I've seen the manager's notes where he apologised for the performance at Hartlepool, and it's our responsibility to perform as players. We're working as hard as we can on the training ground to put things right. It's the early stages of the season and everyone has a bad patch at some point, but we're sitting at the foot of the table and that embarrasses us as professional footballers and affects our personal life as well. Now the only way is up. I said at the beginning of the season that anyone can beat anyone, and only Leeds and Leyton Orient have really shone so far. Come Christmas hopefully we'll be in a position for that promotion push we all want. Saturday is a must-win game. We've got to get our season off and running soon rather than later and it hasn't started yet."