Home Match Day Thread 09/03/2024 L1: OUFC v Cheltenham Town

[Northstandboy]

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Interview - Des Buckingham

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[greatunclekip]

How little you know has been apparent to the rest of us for some time

Blimey. Low blow.

 

[Chippy]

How little you know has been apparent to the rest of us for some time

So being serious, aside from the last 8-10 mins when we were forced to try and get another goal and the great piece of play from Dale, were you happy with the performance for the other 80 mins, the tactics of some description and the entertainment value given from a supposed playoff team against a relegation fodder side?

At 1-1 I was thinking do you know what, we have been so bad today I’m not sure I can be bothered to come again and make the effort to watch such utter dross.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Steve, honest question, do you know Des?

Yes I do but that doesn’t mean anything when it comes to understanding the way he wants to play.

I’ve also said that Des has got it wrong when it comes to being too slow to put his stamp on the team but also understand why he didn’t do straight away.

I also understand the difficulties he had when he came in to the job (staffing and injuries) so that is why I am willing to see what he does and will judge him as a manager once he has had another transfer window and a full pre season.

 

[Victor1986]

How much is Des paying you Steve?.
Honestly that was the biggest load of rubbish - but we got 3 points. If we get into the play-offs then it will be because of the incompetence of the teams currently above us. Let's plan for next year.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

How much is Des paying you Steve?.
Honestly that was the biggest load of rubbish - but we got 3 points. If we get into the play-offs then it will be because of the incompetence of the teams currently above us. Let's plan for next year.

If we get into the play offs then it’s because we have earnt it over 46 games.

 

[ljs]

Trying to concentrate on positives:

Dale and Brannagan were brilliant. Wish more of our squad had their attitude.

The winner was one of our classiest pieces of play all season.

Crowd up for it in last 15 minutes. Really helped the team I’d say.

Centre backs assured , apart from that horrendous equaliser.

Murphy, (when he gets in the game., quite a rare occurrence), is dynamite.

Just about deserved the win against, let’s face it, relegation fodder.

Plenty to moan about as well. but I’ll leave that to the negativity experts..

Agree with most of that, apart from the dig at Murphy, who over the last month, or so, has consistently been one of our better performers and been involved as much as anyone.

 

[chromeyellow]

So being serious, aside from the last 8-10 mins when we were forced to try and get another goal and the great piece of play from Dale, were you happy with the performance for the other 80 mins, the tactics of some description and the entertainment value given from a supposed playoff team against a relegation fodder side?

At 1-1 I was thinking do you know what, we have been so bad today I’m not sure I can be bothered to come again and make the effort to watch such utter dross.

There were things I was happy with and things I was less happy with.

Cheltenham were a horrible side. I don't know how one team are supposed to provide entertainment when the other are doing everything they can to prevent a game of football occurring

There was a lot of off-the-ball stuff, (Murphy was bodychecked at least three times. If we'd had the referee we'd had against Port Vale they'd have been down to 9 men.

Both Murphy and Dale were a threat. Rodrigues dropping back offered a great out ball. I think where we need work is in midfield. Brannagan occasionally plays a fantastic 45 yard pass, sometimes we just need to get the ball to Murphy or Dale.

Harris worked very hard but had a slightly off game, On another day he might have got a couple - their keeper made a couple of very good saves.

 

[LowerSouth]

Did

I've heard somewhere that he's from Oxford.

He’s Canadian?

 

[tonyw]

Three months on Lincoln are now one of the form teams in League 1 unbeaten in 11 games and are the outside late runner in the play and today won 5-1 at Barnsley. We play them next at the Kassam, so will be interesting to see to compare the 2 rookie League 1 managers progress.

Eh, probably not - that's international weekend, and we'll likely have at least three away (and if we don't, Lincoln may do themselves).
With a bit of luck, they'll have calmed down by the time the fixture gets rearranged!

Most likely our next home game isn't until Easter Monday/April Fools Day.

 

[WALLY OX]

Firstly, like everyone I’m relieved we got 3 points but if Des thinks this team can hold on for 45 mins he’s deluded and I strongly question - for the first time TBF - his tactics and football knowledge.
We are not capable of holding on and needed to stretch ourselves to get the second and third early into the second half. He obviously told them not to push forward.
Cheltenham were as bad as Carlisle but we gave them a chance due to our lack of belief that we can score more goals.
I’ve continually said he needs time when I’ve seen comments about getting rid of him and I stand by that. Too many managers in the modern game are not given time. However, yesterday was very poor tactically and the result overshadows a very poor performance with the odd few exceptions; Moore, Brown and Dale.

Also, I’ve seen enough of cumming to know that I wouldn’t want us to sign him permanently. He’s just not comfortable enough playing out the back and his distribution is woeful at times.

Bolton on Tuesday is going to be a huge challenge and would be delighted with a point but think they will have far too much for us. Sincerely hope I’m wrong.

 

[ChamonixOx]

Exactly this, last week no one cared we played well because we lost and that’s all that mattered.

This week we play ok but not great and get the win and now it’s the performance that matters.

I also didn’t think we played as badly as some are making it out to be.

Last week I felt most people were heartened and excited by how well we played. Good structure, a reasonable press, and very unlucky to lose. This week, chalk and cheese. If you go back to the posts for the Portsmouth game I’m pretty sure that will be the consensus. To suggest otherwise is changing history to suit one’s narrative!

 

[dickwalton1964]

Yes I did watch the game and yes I did see a system and tactics that Des is trying to get the team to play.
It still needs tweaks as we are too slow on the ball at the back and need to play it into midfield quicker. Overall though the way Des wants to play has been clear for a few games now, play into the midfield then they will play it to the wingers to run at the full backs and get crosses in, you also have the late runners and the ones that hang on the edge waiting for the ball to come out.
We weren’t brilliant but we weren’t terrible either.
Overall we were the better team but then we should be at home against a bottom 4 team but as @dickwalton1964 pointed out before the game, it wasn’t going to be as easy as some were thinking and Cheltenham set up to frustrate us and waste time.

You must be the only one seeing any sort of emergence of a system. It’s too simplistic to just say we play into midfield, out to the wings and cross it in. I see as many balls played down the sides as I do into midfield and I also continually see Brannagan hitting 45 yard diagonals from deep - completely bypassing the midfield. I agree we move the ball too slowly but it’s not so much the pace when defenders have it, it’s that their instinct has become to use Cumming rather than progressing the ball through midfield.

There were a few times yesterday when our defenders had it and you could see their comfort pass was back to the keeper but the crowd urged a forward pass and they turned around and played a ball forward but it was obvious it wasn’t what they were instinctively wanting to do.

I suppose there is a system of sorts, sadly I’m not seeing the same one that you are though. I see you say you know Des, that explains an awful lot of what you post.

 

[Jster]

A problem we definitely do still have is a seriously unbalanced squad, which gives us precious few options to bring on to change a game. We basically only have one injury now (Goodrham), discounting the two (Browne, Edwards) that even in January we knew we'd be lucky to see again this season.

And yet, given yesterday's starting line-up, as outfield bench options we have 7 basically defensive players: Long Negru Bennett Thorniley McEachran Matete Smyth. This leaves only 3 that could be called properly attacking - Henry, whom I have loved over the years, but his best is now very much behind him. Bodin - again I have a lot of time for him, but think he does better as a starter when he has time to get on the ball and help control the game, than in the helter skelter of an endgame. Which leaves Goodwin, legit option, but still to prove he's properly fit.

So basically just the one injury, Goodrham, leaves us with lots of players but very few real options.

 

[RgYellows]

A problem we definitely do still have is a seriously unbalanced squad, which gives us precious few options to bring on to change a game. We basically only have one injury now (Goodrham), discounting the two (Browne, Edwards) that even in January we knew we'd be lucky to see again this season.

And yet, given yesterday's starting line-up, as outfield bench options we have 7 basically defensive players: Long Negru Bennett Thorniley McEachran Matete Smyth. This leaves only 3 that could be called properly attacking - Henry, whom I have loved over the years, but his best is now very much behind him. Bodin - again I have a lot of time for him, but think he does better as a starter when he has time to get on the ball and help control the game, than in the helter skelter of an endgame. Which leaves Goodwin, legit option, but still to prove he's properly fit.

So basically just the one injury, Goodrham, leaves us with lots of players but very few real options.

Burey.

 

[RgYellows]

Overall though the way Des wants to play has been clear for a few games now, play into the midfield then they will play it to the wingers to run at the full backs and get crosses in, you also have the late runners and the ones that hang on the edge waiting for the ball to come out.

Sorry Steve, that isn’t what I saw at Orient or Northampton at all. As @dickwalton1964 says, we spent an awful lot of time hitting long diagonals in those games and failed to control the midfield. We let those teams control the game and our defence ultimately couldn’t withstand that pressure.

 

[WRox]

Slow start - took a while to come to terms with the way Cheltenham played. Moore and Brown dealt with plenty, far better than Negru and Thorniley did at their place.

Expected us to start the second half as we ended it, but came out completely flat and passive again. Good job Cheltenham scored when they did as gave us time to kick into gear again. Maybe it comes with winning games and positive the potential is there, but there has to be more urgency to our play. The quality is there.

Two wins from the next three games needed.

 

[LeftSideLarry]

In my view, our problems mostly stem from the midfield. CB was decent yesterday, but RR and MM were poor.

RR isn’t influencing the games enough. He’s clearly a talent and even during his sub-par outing yesterday, he still occasionally creates. McGuane on the other hand has become so negative in his play. His first thought is always to turn backwards and play an easy pass. He is a momentum killer. He’s so frustrating to watch, particularly as last week at Portsmouth, he was far more positive in his approach. Sadly, that is proving the exception to the rule as the season progresses.

It needs sorting out.

 

[West Oxon U’s]

 

[Symp59]

About 24/25 games in ,let's be honest we are still playing completely disjointed .The second half was shocking but we found a way to win. Well done ,but really not convinced. All the Des lovers you can't be pleased with what you are watching ? There's no press ,we are too slow ,Mcguane plays in one direction, we are predictable to say the least. We have a good squad for league 1 but it's not a coincidence we haven't beat anyone above 14th in the table. Maybe Tuesday?

 

[Thomas/Brock/Jones]

Yep all sides should just roll over and make it easy for the better one. Football is all about struggling teams going and disrupting games , making it a hard watch then grinding out points or even wins .
Wonder what the Barnsley, Stevenage, Bolton forums are saying about their matches yesterday.
Actually going into Tuesday strangely confident that we are going to pull off a result .
Winning , any way you do it , breeds confidence .
Certainly having doubts about GK Cumming , if that had been Easty or Jack S they woukd have been getting pelters on here .
COYY