HARRY Kewell insists he is not afraid to shuffle the pack to get a reaction out of his Latics side.

Having pulled no punches following the midweek defeat against Mansfield at Boundary Park, the Oldham boss made seven changes for Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Walsall.

Only Ian Lawlor, Harry Clarke, Alfie McCalmont and Conor McAleny survived from the Stags display with a host of alterations including a debut for Coventry City loanee Marcel Hilssner after just one training sessions with his new team-mates.

Kewell needed to change things again in the second half with substitute Davis Keillor-Dunn’s goal ensuring Latics had something to show for their improvement after the break at the Banks’s Stadium.

“First and foremost these players have got to know I love competition,” the Oldham head coach said.

“I even have it in my own household! Players can’t come here and allow themselves not to be competitive or think that they’re just going to start, that’s not going to happen.

“I have a good squad, we’re working hard, we’re trying to play the right way, we’re trying to entertain, we’re trying to score goals.

“Creating competition is good for them because I’ll see a reaction.”

Kewell now has more decisions to make ahead of second-placed Newport making the trip to Boundary Park on Saturday, Latics looking to complete a league double over Michael Flynn’s men after the 4-2 win at Rodney Parade a month ago.

The Australian admits however that he longs for a time when team selection is a little more straightforward.

“In a way I’m sick of making decisions, I just want the consistency,” he added.

“But, it was fantastic to see. Ben (Garrity) and Davis came on and gave us that energy. Ben was excellent I thought and it’s a shame we didn’t get another one.”

That Latics finished the stronger against the Saddlers, having also threatened an unlikely late leveller against Mansfield a few days earlier, was of little consolation to Kewell.

“I’m struggling to understand why it takes so long for us to get going,” he said.

“Why do we have to go a goal behind, why do we have to start slow, why do we give momentum to the opposition and then think ‘now we’re going to play’?

“That’s not the way that I want to play. I want to play like that from the start and put teams on the back foot straight away and run over teams.

“I think we can do that to some teams. It’s very difficult against other teams but you can work on your tactics, you can find ways to hurt them.

“I felt we did that in the second half.”