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

[Northstandboy]

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Interview - Des Buckingham

Interview - Greg Leigh

Interview - Darrell Clarke

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[WRox]

McGuane just refuses to offer any positivity and always sends us backwards. And then he never looks for the ball. I could count on one hand the times there is any interplay between Brannigan and McGuane. The only blame I would attribute to Des is not hooking him

There were plenty of occasions where he tried to drive us forward, but got us in trouble with how congested it was at times. If you play football the Darrell Clarke way, it makes it easy to make those midfield areas busy and Brannagan’s diagonals were key at times.

My hope for Tuesday is that they’re unshackled a bit and that there’s more space to work with.

 

[RgYellows]

I couldn’t attend yesterday but I heard the build up in the car before I lost signal. Hearing RadOx on the Burey issue was odd - they asked who we should drop from the bench and pretended that the thought of not having Henry and Bodin shouldn’t be taken seriously.

 

[Oufccraig45]

What a horrific watch. Horrendous performance!!

But with results around us going our way, a win is all that matters.

Get the F in.

I agree the football on offer is just total boredom it's going to be awful to watch on sky Tuesday if its anything like this of late

 

[PottersRightBoot]

McGuane was terrible. He should have been hooked. Still think he’s playing with an injection. Rodrigues flitted in and out; there’s a player in there but we don’t see it very often . Bran had to do double the workload to keep us in the contest - against poor opposition.

Think we’ll get into top 6 and then thwacked home and away in semis by Peterborough . Our midfield is not robust enough.

 

[holdsteady]

I couldn’t attend yesterday but I heard the build up in the car before I lost signal. Hearing RadOx on the Burey issue was odd - they asked who we should drop from the bench and pretended that the thought of not having Henry and Bodin shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Do you need Henry and Bodin on the bench? I think the idea that Henry who has hardly played in over a year and is at the end of (a very good) career is undroppable from the bench is just a strange suggestion and really reaching.

He may have fell out with Burey but we are a league once club with a limited squad, not every one need me to be best mates, we seem to go through this with every manager, the job isn’t who the manager likes, it’s about getting results.

 

[WRox]

Do you need Henry and Bodin on the bench? I think the idea that Henry who has hardly played in over a year and is at the end of (a very good) career is undroppable from the bench is just a strange suggestion and really reaching.

He may have fell out with Burey but we are a league once club with a limited squad, not every one need me to be best mates, we seem to go through this with every manager, the job isn’t who the manager likes, it’s about getting results.

You certainly don’t but it’s a convenient narrative to hide behind if something has happened with Burey that the club don’t wish to air in public. Whether personal or professional, it seems clear that the club don’t wish to comment externally on it at this point and seeing as we don’t actually have a clue what the issue is, that seems fair enough to me.

 

[Swaby39]

McGuane just refuses to offer any positivity and always sends us backwards. And then he never looks for the ball. I could count on one hand the times there is any interplay between Brannigan and McGuane. The only blame I would attribute to Des is not hooking him

We’ve seen what happens when he doesn’t play. We look much worse. Des needs to find the balance in midfield. It’s an embarrassment of riches to have Brannagan, Rodrigues, McGuane and Matete. Some would even give their left arm for McEachran’s eye for a pass. If there’s one area of the pitch we should be fluid, it’s in the middle, but at times it feels like we have no midfield at all.

Brannagan thrives in chaos and appears to have license to do what he wants. It doesn’t necessarily suit others and I think McGuane is being asked to play the more disciplined role and Rodrigues fill the gaps. That trio should be lighting games up on the ball - all are championship level at anything near their best but it doesn’t look well rehearsed or telepathic. It’s stodgy with a lot of backwards passing to avoid a risk.

 

[sideshowrob]

I think giving McGuane a rest on Tuesday and playing Matete would be a sensible move. For all of McGuane's backwards passing he did actually have a shot on target yesterday and scored one screamer this season. Sadly, I think his shot yesterday would have comfortably saved by most contributors to this forum.

 

[Marked Ox]

Of all the highlights, they show the Cheltenham backpass in the 1st half but don't show Gregly's first header/the good save by Southwood. Also, not showing any of his saves in the 1st half.

 

[chromeyellow]

Next week we're away at Bolton, Stevenage away at Peterborough. then we have Vale away and they play Orient. If we get 4 points from that we'll have done very well.

I'm not sure the McGuane narrative is entirely borne out by events and we are much better side when he plays

He had a couple of shots on target as I recall. I think Brannagan’s Gerrard influenced long diagonal passes and desire to shoot from distance means that we don’t always play the shorter incisive ball. Would love to see him releasing Murphy more often

Rodrigues played a couple of great balls into space on the counter which looked promising

 

[Marked Ox]

I hope they go down, f*****g horrible team to play against.

Looking a good possibility.

 

[Barbadosyellow]

Cheltenham are actually above Oxford in the form table for the last 25 games even after our win yesterday. Might provide a crumb of comfort to some.

 

[LowerSouth]

Here’s a friend’s critique of the match :

The second very poor home performance in a row. The difference this time was that Cheltenham were a little worse. Same team as last week so we were all hoping for something better.

Precious little happened in the first half. Any half decent play from Cheltenham was down their right side so Leigh was kept on his toes. The visitors congregated players in the middle and their midfield press stifled United and reduced play to a walking pace. With McGuane being out of sorts, Brannagan deep, United resorted to the longer pass forward. Dale and Murphy were willing runners but the passes to them, particularly to Murphy, were mostly inaccurate. Glimmers of hope came from Rodrigues and his ability to turn with the ball and spring forward was out of place in this game. Harris' inability to make meaningful challenges was a real disappointment.

It took Stevens 40 minutes to use the space offered to him and give Dale support. When he did so, gaps opened and United had a purple patch - all 5 minutes of it - with shots coming in from Harris, Dale, Brannagan twice and then the goal from Murphy.

So a 1-0 half time lead changed the moans to some sort of acceptance.

The second half was just a little better for 30 minutes but not by much. Cheltenham used all 5 substitutes as they gingerly went in search of an equaliser. Even with the changes I did not really see a goal in them. The problem once again was United not seemingly aware of whether a second goal was the target or whether it was a case of holding firm at 1-0. As so often happens, United did neither and the equaliser crept in when Cumming was untroubled for nearly the whole game.

Those substitutions then proved to be Cheltenham's undoing. The midfield press had gone and United had the freedom and eventually the desire to hit Cheltenham hard in those final 15 minutes. Fortunately there was enough time for Leigh's headed winner. It didn't make him my MotM though. That was Dale again and his display was capped by a determined run to the goal line and a perfect cross for Leigh.

I need to say that Dale and Leigh are the best signings, permanent or loan, this season and the effort and no shortage of ability is what we need to see from the rest of the team.

It could well be 3 away games on the spin now but at least the season is still alive for a little longer.

 

[Scotchegg]

Bolton will be bang up for it on Tuesday with cameras on.

How do you know this? Bolton have been stuttering themselves recently and will be feeling the pressure as much as we are. They needed a last minute goal themselves yesterday to rescue something against a pretty average Exeter side. They have also dropped points off several lower teams in recent weeks and have dropped out of the auto places when they were looking nailed on to go up.

I'm also sure that we will have players who will equally be "bang up" for it. I'm sure Murphy will love to show others that he still has the ability to destroy teams. He is out of contract in the summer and being in the shop window will do him no harm. McGuane was brought up at clubs where there was greater media attention. Brannagan thrives in the bigger games. Mark Harris will be pushing for more games within the Welsh set up. Cumming will be considering his next move in the summer. Greg Leigh is hardly shy and loves the cameras. And then we have a team who are far more united than many want to present. They will know that a decent result against Bolton will push them further towards the playoffs.

So there's no reason to think that Bolton will be up for this and we won't.

 

[Johnf]

After scoring late in the first half I just wish we had started the second half in a similar fashion to after Cheltenham equalised, as I believe had we done so and got the second it probably would have been a much much more comfortable win. It’s frustrating that when we get a lead we seem to try to protect what we have rather than going full tilt to try and build on that lead, especially against teams at the lower end of the table. Having said that the final result was all that mattered in the end. Tuesday will be very different and the likes of Mcguane and Brannagan will have more room to operate and I think we have a great chance of a good result

COYY

 

[Bath Yellow]

Neil Warnock has walked out in Aberdeen,,
Get him here until the end of the season to work with Buckingham

 

[Peterdev]

I’m pleased with the victory yesterday even though it was harder than it should have been.
Bolton will be different. Many would be happy with a point but I’m sure we could get a win as they’ve have been far from their best of late. Not sure if Tyler Goodrham is available yet but with him to come off the bench will be great.
Nobody mentioned Tyler Burey of late

 

[Bath Yellow]

How do you know this? Bolton have been stuttering themselves recently and will be feeling the pressure as much as we are. They needed a last minute goal themselves yesterday to rescue something against a pretty average Exeter side. They have also dropped points off several lower teams in recent weeks and have dropped out of the auto places when they were looking nailed on to go up.

I'm also sure that we will have players who will equally be "bang up" for it. I'm sure Murphy will love to show others that he still has the ability to destroy teams. He is out of contract in the summer and being in the shop window will do him no harm. McGuane was brought up at clubs where there was greater media attention. Brannagan thrives in the bigger games. Mark Harris will be pushing for more games within the Welsh set up. Cumming will be considering his next move in the summer. Greg Leigh is hardly shy and loves the cameras. And then we have a team who are far more united than many want to present. They will know that a decent result against Bolton will push them further towards the playoffs.

So there's no reason to think that Bolton will be up for this and we won't.

So were Pompey, look how we played against them,
, thats the Oxford team we want to turn up.

 

[Bath Yellow]

I’m pleased with the victory yesterday even though it was harder than it should have been.
Bolton will be different. Many would be happy with a point but I’m sure we could get a win as they’ve have been far from their best of late. Not sure if Tyler Goodrham is available yet but with him to come off the bench will be great.
Nobody mentioned Tyler Burey of late

Believe Des said Tyler Goodrham should be back for Port Vale next Saturday

 

[dickwalton1964]

How do you know this? Bolton have been stuttering themselves recently and will be feeling the pressure as much as we are. They needed a last minute goal themselves yesterday to rescue something against a pretty average Exeter side. They have also dropped points off several lower teams in recent weeks and have dropped out of the auto places when they were looking nailed on to go up.

I'm also sure that we will have players who will equally be "bang up" for it. I'm sure Murphy will love to show others that he still has the ability to destroy teams. He is out of contract in the summer and being in the shop window will do him no harm. McGuane was brought up at clubs where there was greater media attention. Brannagan thrives in the bigger games. Mark Harris will be pushing for more games within the Welsh set up. Cumming will be considering his next move in the summer. Greg Leigh is hardly shy and loves the cameras. And then we have a team who are far more united than many want to present. They will know that a decent result against Bolton will push them further towards the playoffs.

So there's no reason to think that Bolton will be up for this and we won't.

What’s your point ? We needed a last minute goal to beat a team worse than Exeter - at home. If Bolton are rocking a bit how the heck do you explain what we are like ?