Away Match Day Thread +++ 18/01/20 Gillingham v OUFC L1 +++

You have to remember that we're now in the second half of the season, where we are playing sides we have already played. The reverse fixture. So the managers of those sides have who have already seen how we have played and have had time to consider how to block our attacking play. Very few teams do as well in the second half of the season as they do in the first. Unfortunately their task has been made easier because Robinson has set up the side so there is only one way it can play. It doesn't matter what system he plays (1-1-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 4-5-1, or 5-3-2) they all rely on one thing, get the ball to the wings for them to cross. The last 5 or 6 games have all shown the same. The opposition set out to stop the wingers by fair means or foul. hence the drop off in the number of goals scored. It's a tactic I expect from almost every team from now on to the end of the season.
 
Some people making some proper fools of themselves on here. I didn’t listen to the rad ox callers but sounds like we had some real clowns on there as well.
We played a lot better than recent weeks today against a s**t house team and manager with key players missing, away against an in form team.

If Gorrin hadn’t have tripped the guy we’d have all been chuffed to bits with a 1-0 win. They never really threatened the whole game otherwise.
I don’t think we were noticeably time wasting, we launched about 4 decent assaults on their goal late on and were unlucky not to score particularly the header from ruffles.
Agyei was excellent when he came on and caused them a lot of problems. Far more effective than Mackie for me.
 
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We will put together a winning run soon and make the play-offs. Not sure we are good enough to warrant an automatic promotion slot.
It would really help if KR could get over his perverse insistence on playing Mackie (at any stage let alone as a starter). If he doesn't rate Agyei enough and Taylor is injured, play a centre-back up front...do a Matty Elliott.
 
It’s extremely worrying that Karl Robinson continues to start Mackie over both Taylor and Agyei. They are both miles better than him. I honestly don’t know what Mackie brings to the team. It’s clear to see that Karl Robinson has favourites and chooses his team based on who he likes rather than ability. In the 30 minutes Agyei played today, I was extremely impressed with how well he holds up the ball with his strength, he’s got good ball control and pace. Agyei needs to get the opportunity to lead the line for a few matches, he’s never had a fair chance to lead the attack. Our team are at risk of missing the playoffs unless he bucks up his ideas

Agree, just said in my last ost Agyei looked excellent and think he will be a solid starter if given a regular run
 
Just been reading some of the posts on this thread, are some people morons who know nothing about football or just morons?

I just can't decide...

Not saying we won’t turn things around and make the play offs or automatics, but no matter how you look at it we’ve not been playing to the level of football we had been playing or getting the results/points of late.

This may be down to injuries, fatigue, new players bedding in (Browne not included in that comment as he’s already hit the ground running) or losing Cadden, so hopefully we get back to the form we were accustomed to earlier in the season.
 
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My opinion (FWIW) is that we certainly do need some perspective here. We're still at the right end of the table this season (which makes a change!), and the truth is that we were always going to have a blip sometime.....just look at Wycombe, they had a bad patch (one point in five games which is worse than us!), and now it's our turn, we're just having a bad patch.

We need to have faith that the injured players (who we're so obviously missing) will come back and boost us, new players WILL come in, and yes we're only 6 points off the top of the league.

Still 54 points to play for, we've got to keep the positivity bus going chaps!⚽

I understand what you ‘re saying, but we had a blip at the start of the season.

Not saying we’re going to suddenly drop through the ranks, but this league is so tight we could find ourselves around mid table in a few weeks which could have a negative effect from a psychological perspective, especially when there’s been so much belief/accolades, so hopefully this blip doesn’t last too long as we rightly deserve to stay at the top end of the table.
 
Not saying we won’t turn things around and make the play offs or automatics, but no matter how you look at it we’ve not been playing to the level of football we had been playing or getting the results/points of late.

This may be down to injuries, fatigue, new players bedding in (Browne not included in that comment as he’s already hit the ground running) or losing Cadden, so hopefully we get back to the form we were accustomed to earlier in the season.
Cadden has been a huge loss. I have never been Sam Long's biggest fan. But yesterday he was OK. He covers for his lack of pace (I can only assume KR was joking when he said he was the second fastest player in the club btw) by good positioning. But whereas Cadden would bomb forward, playing 1-2's, and finding angles, Long tends to hit a line ball, which (at best) is 50/50. Just like Mackie (separate thread) we need a better RB as a starter if we really hope to go up this season
 
There has been an overreaction by some re the recent form and I say that as someone who wanted KR out earlier in the season.

A couple of weeks before the next league game gives us the chance to get a couple of our key players fit (Brannagan and Henry) and a chance to integrate the new signings. With the new signings it will almost be a ‘season of 2 halves’ and we may be going through a ‘mini pre season for the 2nd half of the season’.

To me it looks like we need 3 more signings / options. 1) A centre forward an absolute necessity for the obvious reasons stated on many threads. 2) A left back to challenge / give Ruffles a rest - he has already played 34 full games this season. 3) New right back of the Cadden mode to give KR a choice of styles.

Let’s enjoy a great free hit at Newcastle and then continue to back the team in the league. How many of us thought we’d be in this position - not many I reckon.
 
Watched the whole game on Ifollow, I thought Agyei looked very good when he came on, not only was he much more threatening than the largely anonymous Mackie with his pace, he held the ball up well and laid it off to an Oxford player almost every time. If Taylor isn’t fit I think he should definitely be starting games now.

Fosu, Agyei and Holland with Browne in midfield is an incredibly pacy and skilful lineup which will give defenders nightmares at this level.
 
I was not there yesterday but I have completed the obligatory watch of the match on iFollow.

It seemed quite a poor game and I don't have much to say on the tactical side. The ball again spent far too long in the air, especially in the first 45-60 minutes. It made sense against Ipswich, and maybe again with the poor pitch at Gillingham, but it is not to our strength by any means. Perhaps we just have to acknowledge that, with the injuries and the conditions, January really is not to be our month. We may have less excuses up in Newcastle, and even if we do end up losing to top flight opposition I hope we are able to play more football than we have elsewhere recently.

Agyei coming on seemed to force the Gillingham defence to sit a bit deeper. This gave some of our midfielders the time and space to get the ball down, and our wingers to pick up speed and run at defenders a little bit more. Coupled with some excellent hold up play, I think Agyei has earned a closer look as the second choice and may benefit from the flying wingers he now has around him.

Nearly all of our big chances involved Fosu, and he also worked diligently on the defensive side. If you look at the match as a whole, then I thought Sykes did really well also. He was much more active in the game, looking to come towards the ball, drifting out to the right wing to create overloads, and also stronger in the challenge. Much improved on his last CM performance that I remember, at MK Dons.

Long looked fine defensively, as he usually does, but really struggled in possession. Gorrin also gave the ball away a few times.

If we are to press ahead this year with two more defensive full backs (and two more 'traditional' wingers), my main questions are:
  1. Whether our midfield can start to take hold of the ball again and play passes ahead of our wingers on the ground. Brannagan will be key to this and in his absence/with defenders pushing up against Mackie, we're chipping the ball down the flanks to our front line - it's not their game.
  2. How Taylor will adapt to the change. The Rotherham game showed some promise, it is impossible to take anything from the Tuesday night game.
  3. How Henry fits in, as he has been a top performer for us this year. However, his style was complemented by a more attacking RB.
 
Very few teams do as well in the second half of the season as they do in the first.

Sorry, I was bored ploughing through this thread and I noticed this interesting comment. I haven't studied the matter in depth but I'd have thought about the same percentage of teams would do as well is the second half of the season. Do you have any figures to prove this?
 
Sorry, I was bored ploughing through this thread and I noticed this interesting comment. I haven't studied the matter in depth but I'd have thought about the same percentage of teams would do as well is the second half of the season. Do you have any figures to prove this?

I would guess that many team do significantly better in the second half, as we did last season. Or have equal halves.

Fatigue, injuries, cup runs, managerial changes, transfers can all have an impact as much, or greater, than teams being found out. As with so many things, its picking statistics to somehow make a fact when it rarely actually happens. Fact!
 
I don’t think there is any need to panic, we have a couple of weeks to get players back fit and then we are in a great position to secure our place in the playoffs or even better. A long way to go yet.
 
Injuries to key players and fatigue.
It’s just the way it is I suppose but we seem to get more injuries than most. This is the third season running as well.
 
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