Absolutely zero no nipple-tweaking of the Footballing Gods will be done in this week's preview as Dale make the short trip to Boundary Park to face Oldham Athletic.
Date: Saturday 29th January
Kick-off: 3.00pm
Venue: Boundary Park
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THE DALE:
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For a season in which we seem to have been almost permanently stuck in around 17th place in the League Two table, there really has been plenty of twists and turns so far in this campaign.
From early season optimism after impressive away wins at Northampton and Port Vale to the disappointment of home defeats to the likes of Crawley and Oldham, Dale have been occasionally brilliant, occasionally woeful, but essentially always inconsistent this term.
And the rollercoaster nature of the campaign has been replicated by Dale's business in the January transfer window. After a week or two, the likes of Aaron Morley and Jake Beesley had left the club, while Corey O'Keeffe's loan ending left the squad looking a little short.
However, since then no fewer than three new players have arrived and although Luke Charman will still be missing for this derby match, Max Clark and Paul Downing will hope to build on their fine displays against Bradford City last time out.
Dale were perhaps unlucky not to take all three points from that fixture against the Bantams. Although the stats say that the Bantams had more attempts at goal, the truth is that Dale enjoyed the majority of the play and keeper Joel Coleman wasn't required too many times in the game.
That's not to say that Bradford stopper Sam Hornby was forced into action too much either. The closest Dale came to breaking the deadlock came through a first-half chance for Connor Grant and a late free-kick from Alex Newby, but the need for options in attack was made obvious by Dale's lack of killer instinct in front of goal once again.
Those options will be even thinner on the ground this weekend. With Charman still suspended (but whetting the fans' appetite with a hat-trick in the Central League win over Bolton Wanderers for the reserves in midweek) and Josh Andrews likely to miss out after leaving Spotland on crutches last weekend, it could be left to Matt Done to lead the line again here.
Connor Grant, Abraham Odoh and Alex Newby will battle it out for the two inside forward spots, although Odoh could also be preferred at right wing-back as he performed the role well in the latter stages of the stalemate against Bradford after George Broadbent moved into midfield.
The Sheffield United loanee will expect to start in either one of those roles, but Stephen Dooley and Liam Kelly will hope to continue as the other central midfield options, while Max Clark will expect to start after a fine debut display where he was forced into action for an injured Aidy White in the first-half.
The back three probably chooses itself after that clean sheet with Eoghan O'Connell skippering the side with Jeriel Dorsett to his left and last week's Man of the Match Paul Downing to his right.
Coleman will keep the gloves and start against his former club and there may even be a late addition to the squad in midfield or attack prior to Saturday's game, while supporters of course will be hoping to see Corey O'Keeffe arrive on a permanent deal before the window shuts next week having not yet secured a move away from Mansfield.
Several supporters will be travelling to Boundary Park on foot under the banner of 'Fans Together' to help publicise plans to fight legal action that has been launched against all the club's directors. To sign up to join the walk and help raise some money in the process, head to the link below:
https://www.daletrust.co.uk/2022/01/urgent-appeal-for-supporter-involvement-apol
On the pitch, those supporters will hope to see a much better performance from Dale than they were treated to in the reverse fixture at Spotland, when Oldham earned an unexpected 0-1 victory thanks to a fine strike from Davis Keillor-Dunn.
But isn't this the exact sort of game we normally lose, when everyone who doesn't support Dale expects us to win? Thankfully, we know better than to expect anything at this stage. ________________________________________________________________________
THE OPPOSITION:
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It's been a sorry season for Oldham Athletic as the battle for the club's off-field future has unsurprisingly affected the on-field form in a disastrous way.
As things stand, Latics are sitting bottom of the table in 24th place, with seven points separating them from the relative safety of 22nd place, where Colchester currently sit.
However, perhaps more alarming have been the off-field issues suffered at Boundary Park this year, with the club's support understandably growing increasingly frustrated with their struggles under Abdallah Lemsagam.
Thankfully, the unpopular owner now seems ready to finally step aside and sell the club if he can find a suitable buyer and supporters will be happy with the decision to bring the ever-popular John Sheridan back to the club to try and oversee an escape from relegation in the final stages of the campaign.
Including caretaker spells, this is the sixth time that Sheridan has taken over as manager at Boundary Park and for the work he's done in helping the club avoid relegation in a handful of those spells before, he remains a popular figure among the Latics fanbase.
But this might be the biggest job of his career as not only do Oldham sit bottom of the table, but their form has been particularly bad of late.
After last week's 3-0 away defeat to Harrogate Town, unhappy supporters made their opinions clear as the team left the field at Wetherby Road and the team's winless run was extended to eight league games.
What's more, Latics have failed to score in each of their last four league games and the only arrival so far in this window has been Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Alex Hunt on loan with no more attacking options coming into the club.
There are still some quality players in Sheridan's squad though. Wingers Davis Keillor-Dunn and Dylan Bahamboula can cause problems for any defence on their day and Dale fans will be aware of the likes of Sam Hart, Harrison McGahey and Nicky Adams from their time at Spotland.
But those better players will need to start showing some consistency in order to drag the club out of relegation trouble but there may be some light at the end of the tunnel following Sheridan's hire and the news that Abdallah is willing to sell the club may give the team and fans motivation to try and pull off a great escape this year.
Given that information, this may be the worst possible time for Dale to play Oldham. Football Gods, do your thing.
FORM BOOK:
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Oldham Athletic:
26th December - Oldham Athletic 1-3 Scunthorpe United - League Two
29th December - Barrow 0-0 Oldham Athletic - League Two
1st January - Hartlepool United 0-0 Oldham Athletic - League Two
4th January - Oldham Athletic 0-6 Wigan Athletic - EFL Trophy
22nd January - Harrogate Town 3-0 Oldham Athletic - League Two
Rochdale:
8th December - Hartlepool United 2-1 Rochdale - League Two
11th December - Bristol Rovers 4-2 Rochdale - League Two
18th December - Rochdale 3-0 Newport County - League Two
15th January - Tranmere Rovers 2-0 Rochdale - League Two
22nd January - Rochdale 0-0 Bradford City - League Two
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HEAD TO HEAD:
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GAMES - 61
ROCHDALE - 18
DRAW - 19
OLDHAM - 24
22 Apr 2017 - Oldham Athletic 1-1 Rochdale - League One
18 Nov 2017 - Oldham Athletic 3-1 Rochdale - League One
17 Apr 2018 - Rochdale 0-0 Oldham Athletic - League One
11 Dec 2018 - Rochdale 2-0 Oldham Athletic - Football League Trophy
25 Sep 2021 - Rochdale 0-1 Oldham Athletic - League Two