Home Match Day Thread +++ 15/02/20 OUFC v Sunderland +++

[IsleofWightYellow]

Reading on here I think a lot of people have very different opinions of the game than me, but for what it’s worth:

Having watched the Burton game live on IFollow and then went to this one, I was a lot unhappier after Sunderland, and thought we played a lot worse - hence why we didn’t score I guess as opposed to scoring two.

For me, and I don’t like to say this, the manager lost us that game. It was a team of talented players being put in a formation which didn’t suit, and paying the price for it.

Three at the back clearly didn’t work, and I don’t see how you can say it did - yes we dominated the game at times, but we almost always do that, especially at home. For example there was a period against Burton where we were completely dominant, much more than we were at any time against Sunderland.

We seem to often do this recently but we constantly went back to the centre backs to start an attack. That’s fine, but having three at the back seemed to stop us having options in midfield. The centre backs seemed much more frustrated with the lack of options for a pass, and therefore went long much more often. In the second half Brannigan dropped deeper and picked up the ball, and drove forwards, but that was him propping up a failing system. The wing backs were also completely out of the game, and I’d say both Forde and Ruffels were our weakest performers. At times literally the only option for a CB on the ball was to go backwards or go on a driving run into midfield. Sunderland countered us well by putting a man on each wingback, and then having two to three across the midfield meaning there was just no options for passes.

Brannigan was decent again and seems to be coming back into form after his injury, which is a massive positive. For me he’s the best player at the club. Dickie was also his usual, quality self, and I thought Agyei showed flashes of why having pace and power is so dangerous at this level. Henry put some great, clever crosses in with the wind but also made the wrong decision with passes a lot, and tried to play in some high balls when he could have put Browne or Agyei through on the ground.

Overall I was disappointed that we moved away from our 4-1-2-3 which has served us so well this season, disappointed that KR didn’t seem to realise this and change the system, and disappointed we didn’t get a bit of luck which would have allowed us to draw or win; but pleased Agyei got a start, pleased Brannigan played well and pleased that we have such talented players that even in a system which doesn’t suit, we nearly snatch a draw from a side doing well in the table.

 

[chuckbert]

In the light of the above, ambition would have been better demonstrated by preventing Baptiste’s departure until the summer.

I think that’s completely wrong. I don’t think for a second that denying SB the chance to move would have improved our team or our future prospects, or demonstrated ambition.
It wouldn’t have helped SB’s motivation one bit, and at our level everything you do that is shown to hold back the prospects of young talent counts against you in future recruitment.

 

[Eaststanding]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1228929753471750144

It wasn't rain in his eyes, it was tears of frustration at Sunderland's 89 minutes of falling over and niggly time wasting and the ref's apparent refusal to be consistent. They'll feel they managed the game to the end but overall they were bang average and very beatable; we just didn't create enough or dominate teams like we did earlier in the season because of their ten behind the ball.

 

[Bigfella72]

Reading on here I think a lot of people have very different opinions of the game than me, but for what it’s worth:

Having watched the Burton game live on IFollow and then went to this one, I was a lot unhappier after Sunderland, and thought we played a lot worse - hence why we didn’t score I guess as opposed to scoring two.

For me, and I don’t like to say this, the manager lost us that game. It was a team of talented players being put in a formation which didn’t suit, and paying the price for it.

Three at the back clearly didn’t work, and I don’t see how you can say it did - yes we dominated the game at times, but we almost always do that, especially at home. For example there was a period against Burton where we were completely dominant, much more than we were at any time against Sunderland.

We seem to often do this recently but we constantly went back to the centre backs to start an attack. That’s fine, but having three at the back seemed to stop us having options in midfield. The centre backs seemed much more frustrated with the lack of options for a pass, and therefore went long much more often. In the second half Brannigan dropped deeper and picked up the ball, and drove forwards, but that was him propping up a failing system. The wing backs were also completely out of the game, and I’d say both Forde and Ruffels were our weakest performers. At times literally the only option for a CB on the ball was to go backwards or go on a driving run into midfield. Sunderland countered us well by putting a man on each wingback, and then having two to three across the midfield meaning there was just no options for passes.

Brannigan was decent again and seems to be coming back into form after his injury, which is a massive positive. For me he’s the best player at the club. Dickie was also his usual, quality self, and I thought Agyei showed flashes of why having pace and power is so dangerous at this level. Henry put some great, clever crosses in with the wind but also made the wrong decision with passes a lot, and tried to play in some high balls when he could have put Browne or Agyei through on the ground.

Overall I was disappointed that we moved away from our 4-1-2-3 which has served us so well this season, disappointed that KR didn’t seem to realise this and change the system, and disappointed we didn’t get a bit of luck which would have allowed us to draw or win; but pleased Agyei got a start, pleased Brannigan played well and pleased that we have such talented players that even in a system which doesn’t suit, we nearly snatch a draw from a side doing well in the table.

It is weird how we see games differently, I’m guessing it’s down to where we sit as SSU or mid to high in the north imo gets a better view of the game than SSL & East stands.
I thought both FB’s where in acres of space on many occasion and with three at the back it meant that one of the CB’s could bring the ball out (tbf all 3 of our CB’s are pretty good at doing this).
I also think the reason Brannigan came deep to collect the ball was because of Sunderland defending so deep.
And id say Sunderland are a better team than Burton so you’d expect a better performance against them.

 

[MC Yellow]

I think that’s completely wrong. I don’t think for a second that denying SB the chance to move would have improved our team or our future prospects, or demonstrated ambition.
It wouldn’t have helped SB’s motivation one bit, and at our level everything you do that is shown to hold back the prospects of young talent counts against you in future recruitment.

Very fair comment and I guess I have no issue with allowing players the chance to move on and try to better themselves.

But could a deal not have been struck that agreed an immediate loan back for the remainder of the season?

I think Coventry struck a similar deal in January. So they get the sale, the player is happy to have been allowed to move on in the summer, but in the meantime he remains a part of a promotion pushing team rather bench warming for the remainder of the season.

Coventry struck a win win deal.

 

[Bigfella72]

Very fair comment and I guess I have no issue with allowing players the chance to move on and try to better themselves.

But could a deal not have been struck that agreed an immediate loan back for the remainder of the season?

I think Coventry struck a similar deal in January. So they get the sale, the player is happy to have been allowed to move on in the summer, but in the meantime he remains a part of a promotion pushing team rather bench warming for the remainder of the season.

Coventry’s struck a win win deal.

Baptiste did play the 90 mins yesterday. Brentford have strengthened their squad to push for promotion

 

[Sinner]

On a side note did anyone see the 2 Sunderland fans applaud their players off in the SSL yesterday, think there were quite a few in home end areas yesterday, not sure how that was allowed???

We sold out pretty quickly so a few of us ended up in home end, but hopefully we were discreet and polite, if not a little bit worse for wear. Frustrating game for Oxford who easily deserved at least one goal, but obviously really pleased with our defence.
Great day for us.

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

It is weird how we see games differently, I’m guessing it’s down to where we sit as SSU or mid to high in the north imo gets a better view of the game than SSL & East stands.
I thought both FB’s where in acres of space on many occasion and with three at the back it meant that one of the CB’s could bring the ball out (tbf all 3 of our CB’s are pretty good at doing this).
I also think the reason Brannigan came deep to collect the ball was because of Sunderland defending so deep.
And id say Sunderland are a better team than Burton so you’d expect a better performance against them.

I sat in the SSU, quite centralI had quite a good view of the game.

There’s no way the wingbacks had a lot of the ball, most of our play went through midfield with the defenders driving forwards or giving it to Brannigan. I mean, obviously they passed it to Forde or Ruffels quite a lot, but neither ever had the kind of space that Cadden used to get in games.

Sunderland may be the better team, but we were at home! Especially given our home form, you’d expect us to do better.

 

[Bigfella72]

I sat in the SSU, quite centralI had quite a good view of the game.

There’s no way the wingbacks had a lot of the ball, most of our play went through midfield with the defenders driving forwards or giving it to Brannigan. I mean, obviously they passed it to Forde or Ruffels quite a lot, but neither ever had the kind of space that Cadden used to get in games.

Sunderland may be the better team, but we were at home! Especially given our home form, you’d expect us to do better.

Yep, you’re definitely in one of the better view points in the SSU.
Didn’t say the FBs had slot of the ball but could have got more ball but as usual our CB’s are quite slow in releasing the ball.
Think Sunderland just defended too well but on another day we might have won that or drawn, but that’s football I guess.

 

[MC Yellow]

Baptiste did play the 90 mins yesterday. Brentford have strengthened their squad to push for promotion

Ah, fair play to him then. I had only seen that he had a few minutes for the 2 previous games.

Still feel that a deal should have been struck to keep him here.

It was Sam McCallum loaned back from Norwich, so if they can agree a deal with Coventry in their situation, I’m sure Brentford could have done the same.

As much as I am sure Baptiste will push on to greater things, at this stage I just feel that his loss is of a greater impact to us than Brentford’s gain.

And I don’t wish that to sound disrespectful, but at this stage of the season I just feel that we needed him more than Brentford.

 

[Big Ronaldo]

Let’s be honest here, we struggled to create enough chances against a very negative Sunderland side.
They scored after a minute but I don’t recall us actually registering a proper shot for the entire first half.
They effectively sat deep and invited us to try to play through them second half, but again, we didn’t ever get a head of steam up against them to break them down.
We had plenty of possession, but not enough of it in the opponents half and it is all very well having ball retention. You can knock it around all you like, in your own half but if it isn’t played into the forward positions then the chances of us scoring are negligible.

It’s not the end of the world, we can still do it, but it will take a monumental effort from here on in to reach the play-offs - a position that I really believe we should have been a certainty for just a few weeks ago.

 

[MC Yellow]

Let’s be honest here, we struggled to create enough chances against a very negative Sunderland side.
They scored after a minute but I don’t recall us actually registering a proper shot for the entire first half.
They effectively sat deep and invited us to try to play through them second half, but again, we didn’t ever get a head of steam up against them to break them down.
We had plenty of possession, but not enough of it in the opponents half and it is all very well having ball retention. You can knock it around all you like, in your own half but if it isn’t played into the forward positions then the chances of us scoring are negligible.

It’s not the end of the world, we can still do it, but it will take a monumental effort from here on in to reach the play-offs - a position that I really believe we should have been a certainty for just a few weeks ago.

Need atleast 9 points from next 12 available I reckon. Huge ask, but not an impossibility.

 

[Scotchegg]

As i've said in another thread, using your very weak argument what if it was Posh in the play offs?

Then we focus on the fact that we beat them twice at the beginning of the season, and got turned over with half our team out.

Rotherham 1 win, 1 defeat
Coventry 1 draw, 1 to play
Peterborough 1 win, 1 defeat
Sunderland 1 win, 1 draw, 1 defeat
Wycombe 1 win, 1 to play
Pompey 1 draw, 1 to play
Ipswich 1 draw, 1 to play
Fleetwood 1 defeat, 1 to play

As I've said, absolutely nothing to fear!

 

[Bigfella72]

Need atleast 9 points from next 12 available I reckon. Huge ask, but not an impossibility.

Tbh if we can’t beat Accy, Wimbledon & Sarfend ? at home maybe we don’t deserve the play off place.
I think we’ve got enough to win these next three home games but we all now it’s never as easy as it should be.

 

[Yellows1]

I think that’s completely wrong. I don’t think for a second that denying SB the chance to move would have improved our team or our future prospects, or demonstrated ambition.
It wouldn’t have helped SB’s motivation one bit, and at our level everything you do that is shown to hold back the prospects of young talent counts against you in future recruitment.

BUT........Has it helped Oxford United in our promotion push, I would argue yes it has, our squad is a tad weaker, would it have really mattered if we would have sold both at the end of the season, our board saw the monies, grabbed the chance, we were told we don’t have to sell etc etc, time will tell..

 

[Navegante]

On a side note did anyone see the 2 Sunderland fans applaud their players off in the SSL yesterday

Charlie & Stew?

 

[MC Yellow]

Then we focus on the fact that we beat them twice at the beginning of the season, and got turned over with half our team out.

Rotherham 1 win, 1 defeat
Coventry 1 draw, 1 to play
Peterborough 1 win, 1 defeat
Sunderland 1 win, 1 draw, 1 defeat
Wycombe 1 win, 1 to play
Pompey 1 draw, 1 to play
Ipswich 1 draw, 1 to play
Fleetwood 1 defeat, 1 to play

As I've said, absolutely nothing to fear!

I get your sentiment but this is also very simplistic.

Teams face each other at different stages of the season, during good spells and bad spells.

So no correlation here as to who was in a good spell or a bad spell.

Looking at that list, I would suggest our current run of form is one of the worst.

Yes, nothing is impossible, but these fixtures will be much harder second time round.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

Very fair comment and I guess I have no issue with allowing players the chance to move on and try to better themselves.

But could a deal not have been struck that agreed an immediate loan back for the remainder of the season?

I think Coventry struck a similar deal in January. So they get the sale, the player is happy to have been allowed to move on in the summer, but in the meantime he remains a part of a promotion pushing team rather bench warming for the remainder of the season.

Coventry struck a win win deal.

Shandon was the asset with the longest contract as well. I think he still had three years left as of this coming summer - that for me was what we failed to really use to our advantage. It isn’t often that you have that quality of an asset with that much interest in them, while still having that long left on their deal. I think we fundamentally underestimated the rarity and the value of that, if we even realised at all. We’ll never be able to change it now, though, so probably not worth reliving too much.

Regarding the game, I’m not sure I blame Robinson for changing the formation to fit what he had available yesterday. I don’t think Mousinho has the legs to be able to sit in and get about the midfield the way that a CDM has to now, nor do I think Forde is yet sharp enough or defensively experienced enough to play in a flat four, especially if Agyei was therefore going to need to be the one providing defensive support and tracking cover from the wing. I think he looked at what he had and put round pegs in round holes. He had three centre backs available, two energetic midfielders who can play wider and therefore cover wingback roles, three midfielders and two strikers. So he looked at the best (and most likely the only) 11 he had fit and available to start and clearly made a call that letting them all play positions they can actually play gave us a better chance, rather than forcing things into a shape that several of them don’t suit at all. Merely my opinion, but I don’t think he had much choice. I’m as annoyed as anyone that it was another defeat against a bang average looking side, that we’ve been forced into this situation with a lack of depth so late in the day etc, but I don’t know that I agree the manager screwed it all up yesterday.

Mark down the date. It isn’t often you’ll see me presented with an opportunity to whack Robinson in the balls and pass it up.

 

[Mellowyellow]

Where can I get a pair of these rose tinted specs of yours?

If there are players you want, the manager needs then you go all out to get them, as other clubs in the division did. The transfer window is 31 days, and with a “recruitment team,” players available and affordable should already have been identified well before January. It shouldn’t get to the day after the window closes for a director to try to justify we did try to get these players in. The manager asked the board for their support and to act like a big club. Neither happened.

 

[Yellows1]

Charlie & Stew?

No, proper geordies