KEITH Curle believes his Latics side benefited from having a better balance in their goalless draw at Bradford.

Oldham controlled large spells of the game but could not turn their superiority into goals and had to settle for a point at Valley Parade, the third draw of Curle’s four games in charge.

Dylan Fage was among those to impress at right wing-back with the Frenchman not having been short of critics during his time at the club.

Curle believes his attributes compliment those of experienced campaigner Nicky Adams on the other flank.  

“He’s got the flexibility to play left or right where we see the natural threat and there’s Nicky Adams as well who can play left or right,” the Latics boss said of Fage.

“It’s having that balance, a youthful exuberance and sometimes naivety and then you’ve got the machine on the right-hand side Nicky who knows his role, knows his position, knows the game.

“That is vitally important, getting that balance in the team and the squad.”

That extends to the back three where Harry Clarke returned from injury having spent time back at Arsenal doing some of his rehabilitation.

That allowed Kyle Jameson to switch over to his natural left-hand side with captain Carl Piergianni again impressing in the middle.

“I like them as a three,” Curle said.

“We’ve got that balance, we’ve got that physicality, we’ve got that height, and also then we’ve got the willingness to step in.

“If you want to be a passing team and a team that dominates possession, you’ve all got to be prepared to have the ball, be brave enough and make good decisions.

“The more that we work with the players the more accustomed they will be to the passing lanes we want to try and produce and if you make a mistake it’s one of those where everyone makes mistakes.”

Looking to play out from the back and have more control of the ball is something Curle has carried over from Kewell’s time in charge.

With Callum Whelan and Alfie McCalmont driving Latics forward from the middle of the park at Bradford, the Latics boss says it is simply a case of trying to play to his squad’s strengths.

“When you walk into a football club, very quickly you’ve got to pick up what’s in the changing room,” he said.

“There’s no transfer window, we’re not able to bring players in, you’ve to make sure you’re getting the best out of the players you’ve got in there.

“I had it previously when I’ve walked into football clubs and we’ve had to go a bit more direct because we didn’t have the ball mastery and technicians in midfield but you walk into this football club and see an abundance of technicians here so we need possession of the ball.

“When we get in to the final third we just need to be a bit more clinical.”