Home Match Day Thread 20/02/2024 L1: OUFC v Northampton Town

[Northstandboy]

Post Match Discussion

Interview - Des Buckingham

Interview - Will Goodwin

Interview - Jon Brady

Match Highlights

Match Report

Ref Watch

Fans View

 

[38yearsofpain]

As much as some like to blame Des for everything, the players have to take responsibility for that.

Not having that cutting edge when 1-0 up, giving up possession to make it 1-1, then that absolute mess to make it 2-2.

Blame whoever decides that once we go 1-0 up that tactically we should just pass the ball around at the back. Bodin made the mistake but Brannigan nearly got caught 5 minutes earlier. Our players are not good enough to do it. Make a mistake in that area the chances are you conceed. I understand that doing it to try and pull your opponents team forward to create space but the pace at which we do it and the lack of control when we do it, makes the tactic niave.
When we attacked at pace we created so many opportunities, but when we play this awfully boring passing at the back the only option appears to be a long diagonal to the winger and hope something happens.

 

[Wandering Yellow]

Stevens and Moore and we would've won that

 

[m]

Both the leaders- Moore and Brannagan -were off the pitch.

I don't know if that's intended as excuse, explanation or partial mitigation but it's weak in any case.

 

[Chorn17]

Like most people very frustrated tonight after that. Just seems the lack of a plan once they have done the nice passing around and then create bit of space to go into they don’t with any purpose or they do then turn back out. You can’t go forward all the time but the amount of times they beat a press or create the space but then don’t utilise it. If you’re a forward you give up making the runs cause they keep turning back out.

You could see we looked dangerous anytime we went forward, wide and crosses in or pass through them. Think that is the frustrating thing as you as a fan can see and sense the opportunity is there to go and kill the game and it’s almost like the players don’t sense it or think we will do it later let’s keep the ball for now.

Still 57 points, if do make playoffs the hope would be we will have had to have a run of sorts over last 10 games or so, so should be playing well which gives us a fighters chance - just seems to have been shame that this felt like a real chance for autos this year so if don’t make playoffs would be real disappointment

 

[chromeyellow]

I don't know if that's intended as excuse, explanation or partial mitigation but it's weak in any case.

it's a fact. We missed our captain and our talisman- no-one marshalled the team.

 

[WEYellow]

Haven't read back the thread for my own sanity so apologies if I repeat anything that has already been mentioned.

I thought we were good going forward tonight, we showed a good mix of possession play but also going long and direct when needed - but we absolutely threw the game away due to calamitous defending, which has been a staple this season when holding on to a lead - I just don't think we have the quality at the back to see out games consistently, and it will be our downfall. The starting 11 was spot on, and the left side really stifled Bowie and Leonard who are their danger men - Rodrigues and Bodin (bar his mistake) had a good half and dictated play nicely, the heavy focus on wing play didn't help Harris though who was very quiet all night. Murphy played some lovely passes and one hell of a cross but I thought the keeper should have done better for his goal. If I'm being picky for their first goal, then Cumming has to come out and claim the cross for me, he was stuck to his goal line and the header was really close range and you always look at the goalkeeper for those, not saying he should save it, but think a bigger presence claims it.

Second half was very stop start not helped by Cam's injury and the fourth official not knowing how to work his board but we played some nice stuff at times. Credit to Des for the subs which came at the right time, Dale was fantastic when he came on and Mceachran gave us so much more control and assurance in the middle, a great header by Goodwin which gets me very excited for when/if we have Murphy and Dale providing crosses for him for a full 90. Their 2nd goal was a shambles all round and started with Long hoofing the ball needlessly back into our half when we had it in a good position, that being said, Negru has to either lash it out or play it back to the keeper, it's criminal what he did and we got punished big time. Matete has to do a lot better at tracking the man too, I had serious doubts about his defensive ability before he signed and that hasn't changed - think he's good in a high press but we are definitely missing the old fashioned defensive midfielder we've needed for years.

Boos at the full time whistle were really disappointing and overall we didn't deserve them, it was a good performance against a very capable Northampton side. Rather than saying they're "ordinary" or "average" maybe lets give some credit to Des for setting us up in a way that completely shut off their threat - I've seen enough in the last 3 games to know he can read how a game is going very well and but for defensive errors he'd rightly be getting a lot of praise for the way we set up and the substitutions he made tonight.

It was evident around me tonight that the fan base are now in agreement that Long is a major weak link, but to me it's been obvious for a very long time. He has a fantastic attitude but he's a conference level defender, and Negru isn't much better currently. Our whole defensive system needs a huge overhaul in the summer, Leigh and Moore would be the only ones with a chance of staying in the side for me. Brown is solid and dependable but there is better out there for sure. Also not quite sure on Cumming although we have been very spoilt with Beadle this season.


Final point, the ref was really good I thought. Didn't want to be centre of attention, was consistent and let the game flow. Gives me hope that there are some good ones out there maybe

 

[Bicester Yellow]

FFS Des picked him to play when he shouldn’t be anywhere near the first team as he is too slow to play at this level.

I’d rather have fresh air playing at RB than Sam Long. It would do a better job.

 

[ECYellow]

Murphy was withdrawn for Dale. Dale was excellent and set up the goal.

Dale was. I said as much.

I thought Murphy could have gone wide left when Bennett was withdrawn.

 

[carefreeoufc]

At times it was better and decisive, certainly better than the first half performance against Wigan, same against Bristol etc.

Unfortunately though, Long is no where near good enough. If Buckingham doesn’t know it, Dale is certainly making it known. He’s balled (quite rightly) Long out tonight and during the first half last week. I actually thought Long looked ok going forward, however, he’s completely out of position for huge swathes of the game and his decision making is poor.

Brown is another one, he pretty much refuses to play the ball forward. Opting to heap pressure at the back by his passing across or back to goal. When he does eventually go forward he looks slow and devoid of any vision or idea.

Loss of Brannegan was unfortunate and it was clear the knock had taken its toll almost as soon as he returned to the pitch.

The win against Wigan and draw tonight papers over cracks with this team. We’re conceding way too many goals. It’s easy to forget how Beadle was a game winner in his own right. That said, there’s some poor defensive errors and some consistently poor performers. That first 60+ minutes with their number 16 summed up how poor Northampton were.

 

[m]

Northampton were absolute s**t, the worst team weve played this season by far.They basically sat there and asked to be thrashed.

Well no, that's not true. They were no great shakes but they were disciplined and took their gifts well - better then I think we would have.

 

[Yellowarmy]

2 more points dropped tonight. What is Des’s win % looking like now and how does it compare to what we will need to achieve 75/76 points?

I’d imagine we are currently a fair bit short of what is required.

Murphy was excellent. Superb intent for the goal and he showed glimpses of real class. It was a shame he was withdrawn when he was. I do wonder if the data driven analysis of when to make subs is hindering us a touch. Surely sometimes players can push through for a bit longer?

Brannagan had a good game, albeit from a deeper role which imo stifles him but with that starting Xl, he had to fill in.

Goodwin took his goal well and Dale did great to work the opening.

Negru I thought was poor compared to Saturday and RR once again flatters to deceive. How many tangible goal contributions has he had during Buckingham’s reign? He doesn’t seem to be having the same impact as he did under Manning.

Decent crowd against an unglamorous bunch of limited footballers. Shame we gifted them two goals.

Not mention of Murphy improving 10 fold under Des then.

 

[ttg17]

Are you serious ? The football we see now does not, in the slightest, resemble what we saw under Robinson. KR lost the plot, professionally and privately, in the end but don’t insult the bloke any further by drawing comparison with this tripe we see from Des.

See I think it’s a different feeling of frustration now to a KR season. With KR we were classic ‘glass cannons’ - would put away the dross of the league but got badly exposed against the better or more physical sides.

Now I feel, and to be fair even under Manning felt, like we are a side that’s boxed in and playing with the shackles on. We never get badly beaten, and we never really batter anyone. Were close to being a really good league one side - closer I think than we largely were under Robinson - but it’s still frustrating not to see us turning more of these lax draws into wins (and that’s been an issue since before Manning left).

 

[Followtheox1]

Dale was. I said as much.

I thought Murphy could have gone wide left when Bennett was withdrawn.

I thought it was right to put Goodrham there, he almost scored.

 

[Wallop]

Dan Agyei plays for Leyton, he’ll notch his first hatrick of his career.

Doubt it, he’s out injured.

 

[Bicester Yellow]

I'm not so sure about that,the wheels were well on their way to coming off with Manning too.

Spot on.

 

[Manorlounger]

Still seething over the way we gifted that to Northampton. Far too many mistakes and naive play. The second goal we gifted was horrendous to watch. It really appeared to be that none of our players wanted the responsibility of clearing the ball. It should never have gone back to Negru in the first place but, as it had, why did everyone stand still and watch?

I hope Buckingham sits the team down and plays them the video of that second goal and rips them all a new A*****e because that was criminal.

 

[m]

it's a fact. We missed our captain and our talisman- no-one marshalled the team.

Explanation then.

My point about weakness still stands I think.

 

[ECYellow]

I thought it was right to put Goodrham there, he almost scored.

Murphy had scored and been a constant threat first half. I didn’t think he’d done enough to be withdrawn.

 

[Bicester Yellow]

I thought it was right to put Goodrham there, he almost scored.

Should have smashed the ball with the chance he tried to chip of the keeeper. He had a clear chance to slide it under the keeper, gave the keeper a chance by lifting it.

 

[AbsoluteZero]

There is not really that much difference between DesBall and ManningBall, maybe Des is a bit slower with the play but overall not too much in it. Except Manning seemed to find a way of winning games whereas Des doesn't. Which is a bit of a critical point and is one that is now really starting to hurt.

Oxford have not done clean sheets for a good 2 or 3 years now, so it would make sense to keep the ball away from your own goal as much as you can. We can moan about individual errors and we have to take into account they are League 1 players for a reason, but them are the tactics that they are told to do otherwise why else would you choose to pass the ball very very slowly among the back 4 and keeper and have a first instinct of looking back rather than going forwards. That is Des. And it was Manning. And it is many other teams nowadays too, and many of them actually aren't very good at it. We have the players to be competent in a 442 with Goodwin and Harris up front and maybe actually keep the ball in the opposition half a bit more. The more the ball is nearer their goal the less chance the other team have of scoring.

A shame that Long's radar was off when he tried to put the ball in the corner but chose our defensive corner. It was an inexcusable error, even more baffling why he was so far up the pitch and not in a defensive area to be solid to see out the match.