Home Match Day Thread 17/08/21 L1: OUFC v Crewe Alexandra

[Big Ronaldo]

Very early days of course but we have started pretty well so far.
There will be bumps in the road ahead of course. We will have to try and deal with them as they arise but there is a look about this team. A steeliness that will hold us in good stead. We can play a bit too.
I don’t want to get ahead of myself but we look to me like a very good side.

 

[Tomox]

Bodin has some serious tekkers

 

[QR]

On my way home last night I drove past several cars who's car windows had been smashed.

Many years ago my old car was taken for a joyride while I was at the game and burnt out so I've never chanced it again.

Are you referring to persisting with a lone striker or playing Taylor in that role?

 

[WhyteMustard]

Are you referring to persisting with a lone striker or playing Taylor in that role?

Just wanted to make people aware because there were quite a few cars.

My view on the match is its a great sign we didn't play very well but grinded out a win.

I was very impressed with McNally again who looks a great find and you can see why Lincoln were so dissapointed to miss out on him.

Also it's great to see Cam back to his best!

Roll on Saturday!

 

[derek]

Serious question: should we stop away fans bringing in drums? Sometimes if the away fans are loud it helps build an atmosphere like with Charlton last week. But having some bang away at a drum with no sense of rhythm at random moments made tonight worse.

It was just horrible.

But on another note- have you hit on the new 'talent' TV format in an increasingly desperate market?

 

[Oldman159]

My thoughts on last night.

IMHO If they can reproduce the sort of performance we did v Charlton we will benefit and do well. if we play like we did second half yesterday it’s mid table at best. and that will probably depend on the injuries toll going forward.

Good (ish) first half for us. Not brilliant - but some pleasing football played. However… injuries to 3 key players forced Robbo to make subs he perhaps would have preferred not to, I’m sure. Williams - a right winger by trade is he not? - had already been put in the right back position to fill a gaping hole. He played very well as an occasional wing back on Saturday and carried on in that vein that last night. Then got himself injured (overstretch ?) So ….no right back again. ‘Near pensioner mouse ‘ plugs the gap, but he is not an attacking player. Two other attackers were also injured leaving us no options really. - Try and hold the crudités out. Not nice to watch and very nervy for us mostly quiet SSU old boys. Which of course meant that the high press we played first half, couldn’t be continued. Nonetheless Even though we stopped pressing, Crewe couldn’t put two passes together and had the finishing attributes of a bastard file. From our viewpoint the only player who had anything in Alex was the kid from Citeh. Played very well.

Woteva, a win is a win. We gratefully take all 3 points and move on.

 

[Jolteon]

Good 3 points, playing poorly and still getting the win is what the teams who get promoted do. Bodin had some nice moments, good feet, needs to just tweak that final decision making sometimes as a couple times he beat two players then got closed down by two more which left spaces for others but he tried to run through them too. Love the idea, but a killer pass in those situations gives a goal. Hopefully his injury isn't bad as with time on the pitch he'll be a better player than Lee was and surpass his impressive goal/assist tally. CamBran is ridiculous at this level and we are unbelievably lucky to still have him with us. McNally had a decent game too. The rest were poor at times but no one gave up which was great to see.

As for Dan... Man he can be frustrating. The moment he snaked in behind the defender and nearly lifted it over the keeper into the net was excellent, as was the cross for the pen. But outside of that he was so poor. It felt like every time the ball came to his feet and he had the chance to turn and run he managed to get it caught under himself and eventually lost possession. I also can't really remember him winning a header or a tackle, although the Crewe defenders were allowed to get away with manhandling our attackers on every long ball (I distinctly remember one of their CBs with both hands pushing down on the back of Taylor's neck on a few occasions). I think we all want him to do well and we can all see he has the base attributes to do so, but last night he was sluggish and ponderous for 80% of the game. That's not being "played out of position", that's a poor performance. Williams gets played RB, puts in 110%, CamBran too when in CDM, even Sykes wherever he's put never gives up even if the red mist descends when it doesn't go his way.

Also 4 games in and we're down to our 5th choice RB. You just can't write that kind of bad luck.

 

[Big Ron]

I thought the Crewe left back (Adebisi) looked very useful and was their best player. Missed their best chance of the game right near the end of the match but he defended pretty well throughout and used the ball well. Only 20 as well.

Wouldn't mind if we were having a look at him.

I thought that Watson, the right back from Crewe, was their best player. He did his best to get up and down the flank, showed some real pace which on a couple of occasions stopped Agyei from getting away.

 

[Wandering Yellow]

On my way home last night I drove past several cars who's car windows had been smashed.

Many years ago my old car was taken for a joyride while I was at the game and burnt out so I've never chanced it again.

Blackbird Leys is to joy-riding what Silverstone is to motor-racing.

 

[Wandering Yellow]

Having youtube'd Blackbird Leys it seems it has an emerging music scene. Not quite the Jam or the Who but at least they're continuing our supporters tradition of using smoke bombs.

 

[Leysboy]

I said before the season started. Looking at these first 10 games they aren’t that bad. If we are in the top six after the first 10, then we will be challenging for the top two spots.

We have a squad that should be able to see off Bolton without any bother. I predict 10 points on the board by 16:55 Saturday.

 

[derek]

Were KRs comments on Rad Ox last night? I can’t find the ‘listen again’ on the fairly useless BBC website so if anyone has the link to it, that would be appreciated.

They don't have an after-match programme mid-week, except for big matches. The complete RadOx programme, commentary plus the 10-15 minutes after, comes under the 'licensing' embargo, meaning there isn't anything to find online after the event.

Saturdays are different. The "wasn't at the game" post-game programme is easy to find. Last season you could also find the pre-game programme, after the event, but that doesn't seem to be there this season.

 

[uptheus]

Dan has showed time and time again what he offers and where his failings are.

People call for him to be given more minutes on the pitch and when he does get them it's KR's fault still when he stands out for the wrong reasons.

I guess you’d love your boss over looking your shoulder and criticising everything you do and I bet you wouldn’t perform as well.

You need 5-10 games on the trot to get up to match fitness and in tune with your colleagues.

If Henry, Taylor, Bodin, Callum make mistakes Karl claps his hands and gees them up, not throw his toys out of the pram in frustration.

 

[uptheus]

They don't have an after-match programme mid-week, except for big matches. The complete RadOx programme, commentary plus the 10-15 minutes after, comes under the 'licensing' embargo, meaning there isn't anything to find online after the event.

Saturdays are different. The "wasn't at the game" post-game programme is easy to find. Last season you could also find the pre-game programme, after the event, but that doesn't seem to be there this season.

Not if we play like last night.

 

[horseman]

I think to be fair to KR he berated Dan for turning back to the right and into trouble when there were players running into space to his left who would have had goal scoring opportunities to seal the game, a question of getting your head up and being aware.

For those saying Dan probably blew his chance last evening, i think we all know that he was always likely to be back on the bench regardless.

One telling factor for me is when he chipped the keeper and it went wide is the nervous look towards the bench, i've noticed this on several occasions

I've given my opinion and observations on Dan for 2 seasons now and like Ryan there is little point keep debating it as things are unlikely to change.

 

[brassmonkey]

It's weird how we scrutinise Dan each match. Yesterday he was 6 or 7 out of 10, same as most of our other players. He even assisted the pen and made our best chance through his pace but people are making out he was awful and should be shipped out etc.

 

[Marked Ox]

I like Taylor. He's a natural goalscorer and give 100% in all games but when he's played alone, upfront, against tall strong defender he gets little change despite his scrapping abilities. (Against lesser defences he's fine, the problem is there are too many bully boy defences in this league to play him on his own up there) What did his efforts create on Saturday and last night? If only we had a strong, tall, fast player we could ask to play the lone striker role if that is the style we choose to play.

He has scored or assisted in 45 goals (36 goals/9 assists) in 91 appearances according to transfermarkt for Oxford, all pretty much as the point man of the attack. Last season was 22 (18 goals/4 assists) in 46 appearances in Lg 1. I'd say pretty much 1 in 2 a game is far better than "little change". He can play the role.

 

[unification]

They don't have an after-match programme mid-week, except for big matches. The complete RadOx programme, commentary plus the 10-15 minutes after, comes under the 'licensing' embargo, meaning there isn't anything to find online after the event.

Saturdays are different. The "wasn't at the game" post-game programme is easy to find. Last season you could also find the pre-game programme, after the event, but that doesn't seem to be there this season.

Ah, thanks for that. That’s what I was getting at. On Saturdays, they add the whole post match show online. I thought they did the same for the 10 mins or so they have at the end of midweek matches too but seemingly not.

 

[Marked Ox]

I said before the season started. Looking at these first 10 games they aren’t that bad. If we are in the top six after the first 10, then we will be challenging for the top two spots.

We have a squad that should be able to see off Bolton without any bother. I predict 10 points on the board by 16:55 Saturday.

Bolton will be a tricky game, they've had a decent start to the season and beat Lincoln last night 1-0 away. Apparently they aren't the best at defending crosses into the box though.

 

[ttg17]

I think we all want him to do well and we can all see he has the base attributes to do so, but last night he was sluggish and ponderous for 80% of the game. That's not being "played out of position", that's a poor performance. Williams gets played RB, puts in 110%, CamBran too when in CDM, even Sykes wherever he's put never gives up even if the red mist descends when it doesn't go his way.

This is it for me. I do think it’s weird how, as a forum, people generally don’t hold back from sticking the boot in (sometimes pretty unreasonably), but for some reason are willing to bend over backwards to excuse poor performance after poor performance from Agyei. He’s not the first player to have been (justifiably) dug out by KR and hes not the first player to be asked to play slightly out of position, and he certainly won’t be the last. But there are still minimum standards of tenacity and urgency that players should be expected to reach, and he just does not hit them.

And it’s as you say - he is so nearly there. He’s got everything. Everyone wants to see him just put in that 10% more and be the player we see in only one or two flashes a game. But he’s had two years to show that now and he just hasn’t.