Thread by @tomhwilliams23

🆕🧵A few days ago #oafc added midfielder Mark Shelton to their ranks

At 26 he’s just entering his prime, but the Nottingham born lad has plenty of experience at this level already, having won promotion from this division on 2 occasions

Here’s a thread on Oldham’s new signing

Shelton is a box to box midfielder, one who contributes to both phases of play. He’s energetic, and often starts moves from the base of midfield, before building through the phases of play. Here he continues his run, providing a foil by making a run to the front post

Here’s another perfect example of Shelton building from the back, being involved in the continuation of play at all stages. He makes strong runs into space, constantly making himself available for passes. His strong physicality allows him to make driving runs

Shelton is a fantastic striker of the ball, one who possesses great technique. If he’s given time and space to shoot from range he can take advantage of the situations. This strike is a peach, although it was a while ago for Salford

This clip is more recent, and it once again shows his striking technique. He catches the ball well, testing the keeper, and at this level he will get more time to shoot. He ain’t always get it right, but he should get goals for Oldham

He’s very good at picking up pockets of space which allow him to get a shot away. He takes a half step off here, opening the gap enough. However, he does tend to shoot rather often. Sometimes the better choice would be to pass, like in this situation

Shelton also possesses an underrated range of passing. His technique is equally impressive when passing, and it allows him to play slightly deeper if needed. The pass unleashes the attacker here, and against sides that come to play Shelton could pick these types of pass

He’s also a footballer who’s very aware. Here he checks back, before opening up the space by releasing a pass out wide. He’s very comfortable in the middle, and has a commanding presence too

His technique is on full display here, at his very best. He’s under pressure and brings the ball down sumptuously. He also has the awareness to thread the pass, setting up an easy chance. He’s extremely effective in the opposition box due to his combination of size and quality

This season Shelton has been deployed at RB and RWB for Hartlepool. While it’s not his natural position he has performed well. His versatility is certainly an asset to Oldham. From RB he put this cross in, due to the extra space afforded to him, and scored a cracker too twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Defensively there are some question marks over Shelton. Here he’s slightly lightweight, and comes out on the wrong side of the 50/50. You’d probably hope he’d make a better recovery run than he does here, and whilst it’s not a major issue it’s something to consider

Again here he lets his man get the wrong side of him, and he never really makes a strong enough run to recover. If his defensive run is stronger here he could cover the space left, but instead the attacker gets the run on him, and ends up scoring

We will end on a high note, and Shelton also possesses a threat from direct set pieces. His technique extends to shooting from a dead ball situation, and whilst these goals were some time ago now he does have the ability to add goals to his game from these opportunities twitter.com/i/web/status/1…