Interim Assistant Coach, Conor Marlin delivered his views ahead of the visit of Scunthorpe United (3pm KO) for a Sky Bet League Two fixture at Boundary Park.
Head of Academy, Marlin has been situated in the dugout over the course of the past few weeks as he maintains the role of Interim Assistant Coach alongside Benachour, and he provided an in-depth analysis of his responsibilities, so far.
“I’ve loved it and I’ve thrived under the challenge of working with the first-team and the challenge of trying to win on a matchday. They’re a set of good players and they’ve responded really well to myself and Selim, everything's going in the right direction in my opinion.
“I think that the results will come with the process of working on the training pitch and continuously discussing with the player what we demand and expect from them on a regular basis.
"We only had one session before the game against Salford City, which wasn't ideal, obviously. And then we've had a free week to prepare for the upcoming fixture, so that's a massive boost and helps us to deliver important detail to the players how we want to play.”
The 35-year-old states that there have been plenty of positives throughout recent performances with the Forest Green Rovers fixture highlighting an emphasis on building effective patterns of play in the final third.
“I strongly believe that as time goes on, you'll see even better progress in terms of how we operate on the pitch as well as the results which will follow.
“The performance against Tranmere Rovers deserved three points, but we lacked a clinical edge, and then, Forest Green Rovers, we were excellent going forward, just a few sloppy mistakes at the back that cost us." He commented.
"However, to score five goals against the top of the league after they’d previously conceded 15 in 20 games, I can't remember Oldham scoring five goals at home in my time at the club.
“So, hopefully on Sunday, the fans will see a good attacking team and a team full of confidence with the way that they’re playing at the moment because the players are really enjoying it.”
Marlin, born in Northern Ireland, reiterates that the club is strictly following the provided guidance in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19 amongst the players and staff in these challenging times.
“We've got two protocols red and green, obviously, it’s red at the minute because of the virus being so rife, so we're just following normal procedures in terms of face mask, limited meetings, contact inside and social distancing just to try and make sure that we have as little of it as possible in our camp.”
A former Analyst at Latics, he provides an insight into his vast amount of knowledge on the Iron and claims that it’ll be a tough test for the team in such an important game for the club and its supporters.
“Keith Hill’s got them passing the ball around the field quite well, so it’ll be a good football match. He’ll have their team very motivated for the fixture because it's a huge game for both sides. We expect that a tough game, but again, we really want to need to and feel we can go on win the encounter against them.
“Do I believe in the term ‘six-pointer’? Yes and no because it’s massive from our point of view, but there are so many games left in the season that we're not even at the halfway point, so there's loads of time to get ourselves out of this situation." He added.
"We’ve got quality in the group, I'm not concerned, I think that with a couple of additions in January, we’ll be in a very good place because we'll have more training time with them and we’ll keep building on what we've done, so far, so I'm not worried.
“It's an entertainment business, and the Forest Green game provided them lots of entertainment. I think that you'll find that with Selim and myself where we want the team to play.
"We'll be energetic and there'll be lots of enthusiastic and high-speed running and a nice, controlled game. I would like to think that they've been entertained, so I hope we'll be the entertainers this season, and we'll fly up the division.”