Home Match Day Thread 26/12/23: L1 - OUFC v Cambridge

Who was your MOTM?

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Northstandboy

Northstandboy

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As I said in the build up thread, we need a good performance and result in front of a big crowd.
 
greatunclekip said:
He's here! Just got back to Sheffield, and to be honest, drove home with more doubts about Des than ever before. That first half My God! Against Cambridge at home. Utterly utterly abysmal. Tactics, shape, game plan all non existent.

Second half better but against a decent team with strikers we are losing that game badly, let's not kid ourselves.

We are bad. Really really bad. The length of time to get Des some support is an absolute joke, it's doing him a huge disservice given how much we paid for him. What the heck is going on there?!

But, the caveat is we have some really key players out. Most teams struggle without Leigh, Browne, Edwards, Bodin, Murphy, and without a striker.

This season could still happen, but people at all levels in the club, from Des upwards, need to get their arses in gear this January.

Absolutely shocking.
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Better than your prediction though Kip.
You said that you thought that we would lose.
We were very poor for 45 minutes, but showed bottle and has 4 more shots on target than Cambridge in the end.
 
Golden Dr Otto said:
Agree on this point. He literally volleys out wide from a ball that came from the right touch line. It actually catches their full back off guard who was then leggy in reaching for it. He over extends, clears it poorly and suddenly Tyler is away in the space behind

I’d be interested to see Jack Stevens positioning from behind Tyler’s view to see whether he should have done better with the first goal too. Very deja vu from his time with us.

I agree on second. And whilst his save v Cam Bran from 7 yards out was phenomenal, his kicking is still shaky too
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I'm surprised we took so long to shoot low left at Jack Stevens.
 
Theox07 said:
Brown has more goals than Harris 😅
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31% of our League goals this season (excluding OGs and Pens) have been scored by one of our left-sided defenders (i.e. Leigh or Brown).

Someone who understands football better than you or I will be along shortly to explain how each of these goals was as a result of the space created by the intelligent runs of the aforementioned No.9.
 
Osei Yaw said:
I actually thought Cambridge looked good in the first half and were exactly what you'd expect from a Neil Harris side. They were direct without hoofing, physical and worked hard. We were poor regardless in the first half, but Cambridge's approach did us no favours.

I thought we tried going a little more direct towards the end of the first half. Beadle took a couple of goal kicks long and McGuane played a 40 yard speculative long ball, so there must've been a change in instructions from Buckingham because that's definitely not his game. One goal kick from Beadle was well taken by Harris who in turn fed Mills, and it ended up with a chance for Goodrham. Pleasing to see some success from getting it forward more quickly and it looked to me like we kept that up in the second half.

I think our first goal came from Rodrigues pinging the ball out to the wing first time. It actually didn't come off but the defender couldn't get it under control and Goodrham drifted into the space he'd left. Just goes to show that moving the ball more quickly has it's merits, but one positive is that it appears Buckingham made that change. Presumably he watched the same shower we did for the majority of the first half and wasn't stubborn to make a change that we needed.

I agree that McEachran was a positive change. He has an ability that nobody else in our squad has in that deep midfield position and that's to play tidy and progressive passes between opposition players. On that point, I didn't think McGuane was anywhere near his best today, he really needs to be receiving the ball 20 yards further up the pitch. Today he was often so deep that he didn't want to take a risk carrying it forward, whilst also not being able to offer the defence much support. We basically nullify all the best parts of his game playing him like that and I think there is a good case for starting McEachran at the base, with McGuane further up and Brannagan further still.

I thought Stevens played pretty well for 90 minutes for Cambridge today. His kicking is still iffy but, despite a very good save from Brannagan, he ultimately showed why he wasn't the answer for us. You can't parry shots back into the middle of a busy penalty area. We were fortunate today, but that was a costly mistake from him.
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McGuane was a revelation under Manning. His silky skills moving the play forward and creating scoring chances for others with great passing was the hall mark of the way the team then played . That's now all gone. Today, he was clearly in a defensive midfield role and was the reason we were not organised in moving the play forward. That seemed to me on instruction from DB and when he was substututed went straight down the tunnel. This lack of an attacking midfielder playing the ball forward at pace meant that that our play was slow and lacked movement. At times it seems the majority of players were static and unaware of what they should be doing and where. I guess this sort of thing happens when a team transitions between a new coach and the last one. If DB had all the players who are out injured available to him (now also it aeems including Murphy who was beginning realise his potential on the left wing) then this would be less of a baptism of fire. He will need time to get the team playing as he (and we) want and that will need a good transfer window getting in the players we undoubtedly need and saying goodbye to those who aren't cutting it.
If LM had stayed I think we may have got promoted this season and whilst I think he will do so eventually, it's now a big ask for DB to achieve.
 
Oxford84 said:
he was easily offside i was inline at the time.
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I thought that live, but it is very clear from the replays (which Otto and I and other exiles get to watch on iFollow) that Brophy was well onside.

Bennett was behind him and at least 1-2 yards closer to the goal when the ball is struck.

It was a shocking miss, that we should be very thankful for!
 
tonyw said:
I thought that live, but it is very clear from the replays (which Otto and I and other exiles get to watch on iFollow) that Brophy was well onside.

Bennett was behind him and at least 1-2 yards closer to the goal when the ball is struck.

It was a shocking miss, that we should be very thankful for!
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Yes but that camera is from the halfway line,it doesnt show you the move in line.
 
I’ve been really happy with Bennett’s contribution. No idea why he was even available for us. Maybe injury prone?

My other favourite thing this season is that Tyler has developed some beef to his play. Even a year ago he would never get pulled up for fouls on defenders the way he does now (Gatlin was definitely). It puts more fear into the defenders - not only do they have to worry about his quick feet, he’s going to be harrying them hard too.
 
MJB said:
Is that thing where people think the opposition can kick-off if a team is all off the pitch celebrating? Absolute B*****s if so.
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In all my years, I've never heard that before - what's the supposed rule?
 
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