TALKING FOOTBALL: The conundrum facing Ryan Lowe after the 'excellent', 'not great', and 'just okay' start to the campaign

The opening-day thrashing of Northampton Town at the Brick seemingly had some fans booking play-off hotels for next May or - even more optimistically - cancelling play-off hotels in the expectation of automatic promotion!

Then came last weekend's trip to Leyton Orient, which ticked every single box in the 'facepalm' bingo - an own goal, a serious injury to a star player, a red card, and a dismal 2-0 defeat which flattered Latics enormously.

In midweek it was all a bit 'meh' in comparison. Job done against League Two opposition in the Carabao Cup. But not really much to write home about. Oh, and another seemingly serious injury picked up to boot.

"Northampton was excellent, Leyton Orient wasn't great, and this was just 'okay'," assessed Ryan Lowe in midweek.

And in many ways, we shouldn't really be expecting much more at this stage of the season, given the huge change (again) in personnel.

Coupled with the incredible amount (again) of injuries Latics have sustained already.

It took Lowe only a matter of weeks following his arrival last March to bemoan the club's injury situation, with too many players being unavailable due to a variety of issues.

He pledged this summer to look for more 'robust' players who could deal with the demands of a League One campaign. But the treatment room has seen no let-up in business since Shaun Maloney's tenure.

Are the players being pushed too hard in training? Or even not hard enough? Is there a more deep-rooted reason behind the depressing run of injury setbacks?

Or is it just a natural result of the club now not being able to bring in 'oven ready' quality as the likes of Gary Caldwell and Paul Cook were able to do not so long ago.

With the budget now more mid-table than top of the league, Latics are having to take more risks in terms of players deemed not quite ready at other clubs, or in need of games, or desperate to prove a point after injury.

Shopping in that market will inevitably be more hit and miss than in previous years, and it's up to Lowe to make that work as he continues to mould the squad into his own.

We've seen against Northampton what this pool of players is capable of - albeit against a poor side destined to struggle this term.

At Leyton Orient - a side that was beaten in the play-off final last May - we were given a reminder of the quality that exists in the top third of the division.

Against League Two Notts County, with some of the pressure admittedly off, it was just nice to see certain individuals making the most of the opportunity to show Lowe what they can do.

Like loan recruits Ryan Trevitt and Callum Wright, who both showed glimpses of the quality that has seen them play higher up the league ladder.

Like Tobias Brenan, who could turn out to be the ‘signing’ of the summer - despite arriving from Oxford United last January - after gatecrashing the summer trip to Spain, and producing performances that suggest he could have been playing at this level for years.

And fellow youngster Leo Graham - another 'bolter' from pre-season - who came off the bench for his senior debut against Notts County, and again put down a solid marker for possible future inclusion.

Three games in, and probably more questions than answers served up so far. But a work in progress, as was always going to be the case.

Next up, Saturday's visit of Peterborough United...a struggling side described this week by their own manager Darren Ferguson as 'a really good team against mannequins'.

We all know how this dance usually goes. The challenge for Latics is to ensure they make Posh look like dummies on Saturday, and use the shop window to show the rest of League One what they're really made of.