Think he had two decent games then looked exactly like the bloke who brought Wilkinson down because he couldn’t catch him in the Tranmere game last season, a once decent defenders whose legs had gone and he knew it.
If he goes though we go back to being short at the back.
Little bit strange. One loan and two players gone. Defender and reserve keeper. He probably needs game time, or something else. Or maybe he lost what is needed in this position.
Flynn seems pretty ruthless, which could be a good thing. Probably got plans for January but we have a lot of games before then and we are more than a bit short. Would have thought Clarke was more use sticking around as back up and experience around the dressing room.
Hopefully it’s indicative of a Manager who feels confident in his and the coaching team’s ability to set standards and ‘run the dressing room’. All too often in previous years we have relied on senior players who are quite clearly past it on the pitch and were seemingly unable to have much influence away from match day.
I think it’s a good thing that Flynn has recognised this and hopefully it puts us in a decent position to strengthen in January. As @el_nombre says, we are really short at CB, especially with Daniels’ recent injury and McEntee only just coming back.
Fair play to Clarke though, it’s some career and hopefully he can finish it by helping Oldham make their way back to the EFL!
Closer to home for him? So we’ve not only let go our back-up keeper, but also our back-ups back-up. Odds on Evans getting sent off tomorrow?
Loved his performance at Newport, fake fights with Evans and giving special cuddles to the ball to waste time but didn’t have the authoritative displays since. Bit of a disappointment tbh and again shows the supermarket sweep approach to recruitment throws up more duds than gems.
I thought Clarke looked decent pre season and the first few games of the season but his performances dropped off and looked like he lost an extra yard of pace. Good deal for all involved.
Got a feeling January might be more busy than i thought.
Players of his age need to be playing every week if not their match fitness/ sharpness declines very quickly ,as demonstrated in his drop off of performance when he was not in the starting line up.
The Manager obviously thinks McEntee is good enough and ready to play a part. We also have Comley to play at the back if needed. The midfield area now looks strong so we are not short there. I think we simply have to trust the Manager on this.
I understood that Clarke wanted more game-time than Tranmere could guarantee him, which was part of his reason, surely, for rejecting their contract offer.
He seems to have found himself in the same situation here.
Twice voted Player of the Year for Oldham.