Home Match Day Thread 14/8/2021 - L1: OUFC v Charlton Athletic

[tonyw]

Just echoing everyone else, really.....

......but that was really good.
Brannagan and Gorrin were superb, and absolutely bossed the midfield, giving us a platform - and from it we played some really lovely stuff.
The defense - McNally in particular - looked a bit shaky in the first half, but settled down really well in the second, with Thornily absolutely immense.
And I think Jack Stevens is getting better and better. His shot-stopping has been excellent since he first came into the side, but he's really starting to round off some of the rough edges now - his handling is cleaner, his decision making is better and he's starting to look an all-round top class keeper.

The only criticism was our play in the opposition box. I lost count of the number of times that we played some beautiful, intricate passing triangles to get someone breaking free into the area - only for them to make the wrong choice or play a poor ball (and it wasn't just one person - Sykes was guilty of the most obvious one, but on other occasions Whyte, Henry & Holland all should have done better as well).

Put another performance like that in on Tuesday, and it will be the best ever start in the KR era!

(I would still like another fullback though, please, Karl. As well as Williams did back there, I'd still rather have him further forward and a genuine specialist defender coming in if Long can't play......)

 

[Foley]

Don't let anyone play down that performance or result. That's one of the best performances I've seen from a KR team.

We started with a makeshift defence, Williams was MOTM with Thorniley, but McNally slotted in like he was an experienced League One centre half.

Going forward, Brannagan bossed the midfield with the security of Gorrin. The forwards and midfield all linked up with lovely passing, same for the subs who came on.

Oh and how good is Seddon?! Oozes class.

Get the beers in, roll on the next one.

Totally agree.
A terrific performance and 4 1 would have been a fairer result.
We wobbled a bit just after their penalty but I the second half there only really looked like one team was going to score.
My one criticism was that at times we tried to walk it in.
Charlton were disappointing and relied on hoofing it forward to Stockley. McNally and Thorniley were excellent. Cam looks back to his best and Gorrin must play to allow him to play further forwards.

 

[UTM]

And on to the Tuesday and the massive Crewe .....

 

[Golden Dr Otto]

Great result. Did not see that when the team news came out- well done!

You normally have to wait until the end of the game for the result.

 

[Marked Ox]

Lovely stuff. Just as well KR signed all those wingers.

 

[BeechRoadBokelberg]

Did KR give any indication on what the Forde and Williams injuries were post match?

 

[oufc1991]

That Seddon is some player I would argue on that performance top 3 LB In lg1 Williams was a very clever signing Whyte will get better the more he plays Stevens was decent I’m abit shocked we only scored two it could have been 5 roll on Tuesday when we play crewevid

 

[brassmonkey]

Very entertaining game. Charlton looked very strong first 20 then we bossed them for the rest of the match. Our passing and movement was top notch today.

 

[Swaby39]

Just home and was just a great feeling to be back and see a great performance.

Pleased to see comments are positive as I wondered how much focus there would be on Winnall’s sitters and McNally getting a bit of a run around from Stockley at times - but I thought he coped well, was brave enough to talk him in to the book with the ref and he continued to challenge every chance he got and that little battle will have done his education the world of good because that’s one of the top target men around this level. It certainly stuck it to a few who endlessly criticise our squad - that was a long way from our best team and bar a ridiculous penalty decision we’ve just made a fellow promotion chaser look very average… Though we do still need one or two .

I think today we saw the benefit of Brannagan further forward - he was outstanding. I thought Gorrin looked his old self again and we looked solid without compromising the style of play.

Again, ruthlessness is needed as that really could and should have been 3 or 4 but isn’t it great to have a side that create so many opportunities. It was great to watch.

On to the next.

 

[OX14]

Was so good to be back in the stands, great performance from the lads and the atmosphere in the stadium was probably the best I've heard since the man City game. Shame I'm away in Blackpool on Tuesday so will miss the Crewe game.

 

[Yellow There!]

That was properly good.

First match back since losing to Sunderland in a wet, windy mess of a game, and having something so amazing to celebrate is VERY satisfying.

Ryan Williams 100% deserved Man of the Match, played with one job to do and was committed and did it brilliantly. Plus he got a goal, well done to him. On the other side Seddon looks amazing and between them Thorniley and McNally looked surprisingly comfortable and did very well.

Stevens didn't really have all that much to do but made one unbelievable save early on to stop what I thought was a nailed on goal. Brannagan and Gorrin were strong in the middle and Sykes and Whyte had good games. Henry came out of himself today, sticking his foot in and leading the charge more than once. Even Winnall, apart from his two errors, was vaguely helpful in places and 'Super Super Matt' did what was needed at the end.

Really interested to see what happens now, but a terrific performance and what a way to get back to live football!

 

[Dilla]

How quiet were the Charlton fans. Couldn't hear them all game [emoji6]

 

[Essexyellows]

How quiet were the Charlton fans. Couldn't hear them all game [emoji6]

Due credit to them they got noisy a few times on the Rad Ox commentary, being opposite the sound travels a fair bit.

 

[Scotchegg]

A fantastic result, and one that shows just that we can play great football, but also work really hard when needed.

Williams looked more comfortable at right back than I thought he would, and although positionally naive at times, his work rate was incredible. Nicking the ball away on the edge of the box and knocking in a rebound 10 seconds later shows real desire, and I'm not sure that's something we were expecting when he signed.

Brannagan was back on the top of his game, and he looked like a kid when he scored! Proper made up and it lifted his game even more.

McNally is very much ready for league one football, and looked more than good enough alongside an excellent Thorniley. Considering he's only been at the club a couple of weeks he already looks like a real leader and one that battles for absolutely everything. Seddon also looks like a real player. You can see why we made him our key target at left back.

Winnall did all the ugly stuff well, and was ridiculously unlucky to give a penalty away when the ball looked to hit him in the face. But there's no excuses for the miss other than he perhaps checked his run not to be offside, but he has to score there!

And that would have been far reward to the excellent work you Sykes, who has really looked to focus on his delivery. Having Whyte back at the club might just give Sykes the confidence he needs. Both were talking a lot during the game, and will be some pair if we get them both playing to the full potential.

But with so many great performances, I also thought that James Henry played a captains role today. He did the hard yards and tracked back far more than I've seen lately, but also was unlucky not to score.

So, overall lots to be positive about, especially as I think we've still got a couple more gears in us and plenty of players to come in to keep things fresh.

 

[Jason N]

I think Stockley and Washington are two of the best strikers in the division and are both a real handful. At the begining of the fist half Stockley won most of his headers vs Thorniley but then moved to the opposite side and had very little joy against McNally. Thorniley got stronger and stronger as the game went on and was key to us not conceding in the second half.

The whole left side was imense in the second half, some of the link up play between Seddon, Brannagan and Whyte was exceptional and that didn't change when Holland came on.

Following on from the Burton fixture it shows that McNally who is very raw at the moment IS good enough to be backup to Moore and Thorniley. He should definitely play ahead of Mous'. Wheel Mous' on with a minute to go to penalties!!

A special mention for Williams for whom was outstanding at right back. I've been worried that he would eventually be third or maybe fourth choice winger behind Whyte, Holland and Bodin, but I think we should give him a run at rightback until Longy is back and fit. For me Williams is much better at ratting, nibbling away and winning the ball than Forde.

Seddon's set pieces and crossing where very good and I nearly crapped myself when he went down for so long. We do need a backup leftback more than any other position.

Brannagan in his more natural position will definitely score and create double figures. Sorry to say but I think we won the game despite Winnall, who seemed very ineffective in the first half, It looked a penalty to me from the North Stand. Even if it wasn't, a player of his experience should know not have his hands that high when defending in the penalty area. When Sykes had put a goal on a plate for Winnall I had turned around celebrating our third goal and could not believe it when there wasn't a goal!!!

I was worried about the team selection, but when you then see the strength of the bench, who were arguably better players than some of those who started, I was confident of a positive result.

Charltons centre halves were terrible on the ball but very strong. I think Charlton will be challenging for the playoffs with their setup.

So we look like we may have improved and beaten a top club, if we can do as we did last season a smash the lesser teams we could be in for another exciting season. COYY!!

 

[Northstandboy]

What a great performance! This was a huge result. Bring on Crewe!

 

[psquared]

Hope you’re not setting off from the Eynsham/Witney direction, by the time you get here and find somewhere to park, you’ll be lucky to make kick off!!

I was indeed coming in via Eynsham, didn't know the A420 was closed. Parked up in Sandford and strolled in from there. Timed to perfection in the end.

 

[West Oxon U’s]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1426587246891868173

 

[ttg17]

Well f**k me that was enjoyable. I was lucky enough to go to the Northampton and Hull games in December and England Croatia in June but, while they were obviously great given then context, there’s just nothing that beats a full stadium for some club football. The people who think streaming every match on iFollow will stop people coming to games are absolutely mad. It simply doesn’t compare.

It’s amazing how much more you see being actually at the ground, as well as how much less. For example, I was critical of Henry last week, and I still think he’s not yet back to his best, but you can see, when you’re sitting behind the away goalie, just how effective he is in the press, and how cleverly he knits things together. Similarly, Gorrin was just everywhere. The debate as to who should start at CDM is surely over - CB can play there, but Gorrin makes the whole side so, so much more secure. It says a lot that Charlton’s only real chances came from long balls knocked to Stockley, bypassing the midfield completely. Also, Gorrin being in allows CB to play as the 8 he needs to be, and he was absolutely first class. Incredible performance. I confess I’d forgotten how good he can be. He was absolutely running the show all game. I saw someone describe him as a ‘workhorse’ on Twitter and I don’t think that’s fair - he’s so much more than that. There was one moment on the left touchline in the second half where he absolutely twinkle-toed his way through about three Charlton players. Thought it was Whyte initially.

On ‘things you can see at the game you can’t on iFollow’, whyte’s ball to (Sykes?) in the buildup to the second was sublime. He had a quiet game I think, but played a key role in both goals. There was also a lovey moment first half where Williams broke infield and fired a ball across to Seddon who was in space further up the pitch because Whyte had drifted inside, creating the space. A really lovely bit of interplay and a good sign of the team developing an understanding already.

Thorniley looks exactly like Dickie from behind, except about a head shorter. Same square shoulders on the top of a yellow shirt with #4 on the back! Got some deja vu a couple of times. He’s brilliant though, big fan. Thought McNally was top top quality, to the extent that I wonder whether we might not have seen out that game if Moore was playing. McNally’s pace was needed at times, and pace is the one attribute EM conspicuously lacks. Seddon a revelation at LB and Williams so impressive at RB, although how he won MOTM over Brannagan is baffling.

thought the subs played an important part. Holland I was slightly less excited about than the general reception he got when he was announced, but he impressed me, some of his forward runs off the ball were clever. Taylor though I think won us the game. A master class in shithousery. Constant needling off (and on) the ball, helped us to kill the game.

The two caveats, or slight dampeners, on what was otherwise a pretty perfect afternoon for me were that, firstly, the standard of opposition has to be taken account: Charlton were really very poor. Stockley’s a good player, the #10 looked useful at times, but that was not the performance of w side that’s going to be troubling the promotions spots. Perhaps it’s just a good time to play them, and I’m sure they’ll improve (the signing of Kirk should give them a bit more of the attacking threat they desperately needed), but it may be important to take the response to today’s performances from our guys with a pinch of salt. Secondly (and this relates to the things you don’t see from being at the game), but I wanted to see more from Winnall. I thought he put himself about reasonably well, and there was one moment in particular second half where he did really well to knick under a bouncing ball and touch it onto Whyte, but Taylor showed in his brief cameo a lot more than Winnall did in his time on the pitch imo. I’m not sure what happened with the Sykes moment, I didn’t really see it, but I’m willing to chalk that up as one of those freak moments. About three minutes before that, though, he’d had a free header from a set piece and absolutely skied it. That for me was more egregious: if you’re a ‘poacher’, a ‘fox in the box’ striker, that needs to go in, or at least on target. Perhaps signs that he’s getting back to his best, but still some way off for me - especially when compared to Taylor.

Ref completely lost the plot second half. Not sure whether it was a pen or not - looked harsh, but appreciate I didn’t have a great view - but there was a period of about 20 minutes where I thought he was just guessing. Both sides got away with a lot, while also getting some ridiculous decision in their favour. One thing that really annoyed me was the Stockley elbows - he was rightly, eventually, booked for them, but then about 5 minutes later caught a defender with an elbow again - and only got a talking to! What’s the point of a yellow card if not for a ‘final caution’?

Sorry for the essay but god that was great. Absolutely loved it. So good to be back, and a really compelling game to come back with. I’ll be there Tuesday night hoping for more of the same. COYY

 

[West Oxon U’s]

What a performance from Willo at Fullback. Power, pace, strength and very good on the ball.
Also played with a lot of intelligence and a well deserved MoM performance.