Latics diary: Walsall double-header won’t define the season, but the January transfer window might

The January transfer window is, to say the least, tricky for Latics and for manager Micky Mellon.

Latics are mid-table and look a bit like a side who might stay there. Against the top seven in the league as of today, they’ve beaten Bromley and Cambridge United and lost to everyone else. Their other victories came against the current bottom three of Newport County, Harrogate Town and Cheltenham Town.

At the same time, Mellon will feel that, with one or two additions here and there, his side could make a decent challenge for the play-offs, where he is an acknowledged grandmaster.

Mellon was speaking to the board during his post-match interview on Saturday when he correctly identified “quality” and “budget” as the difference between his side and Milton Keynes. He did a similar thing (talking to the board in a hackneyed interview on the official website) in the late summer when he was trying to sign Michael Mellon on loan from Burnley. When he said words to the effect of “the owners have been fantastic and I couldn’t ask any more of them”, he was very much asking them for more. That’s no slight on him. They all do it. The good ones anyway.

Before the opening of the window, he has two matches against top-of-the-heap Walsall to navigate, along with a busy festive programme. The first meeting with Walsall is tomorrow night at Boundary Park (7.45pm kick-off) and the second is on Monday 29 December at the Bescot Stadium. These fixtures won’t define the season, and don’t even provide a meaningful benchmark, but they will inform the board’s disposition towards the transfer window.

How far does the board want to back a manager who is out of contract in the summer? If they back him, does he bring in high-quality ringers of the type who got us promoted last season (the type he prefers) or does he get hold of some younger players around whom he can build next season’s squad and the one after that, even at the expense of Latics’ chances of promotion this season? Mellon will have his targets. One or two of them might even overlap with the club’s targets.

Walsall didn’t spend big in the summer and don’t have players that are better than anyone in the division – not really. They substantially rebuilt the squad after losing in last season’s League Two play-off final, but have done so on a budget that won’t be dissimilar to Oldham’s. They are top of the league because of prosaic winning qualities: they are physical (they look like they can handle a tear-up, and they have running and pace throughout the side); and they are brilliantly organised by manager Mat Sadler. They won away at Gateshead in the FA Cup on Sunday night in no-nonsense fashion, scoring two unanswered goals and never looking troubled.

Last time out in the league, Mellon picked a side that made no sense. He sent them out in a formation that made things no clearer. There’s a feeling abroad among the Latics support just now that the team could compete better if only they had their best XI on the field once in a while, which at the moment would include Kane Drummond, who’ll provide plenty to think about for Walsall’s forward-minded midfield, and Mike Fondop, who’ll relish the physical battle against Walsall’s giants at the back.

Whatever the result, the difference between Latics and Walsall isn’t quality or budget. It’s starker than that. The difference between Latics and Walsall is 12 points and 15 places after 18 games.