Home Match Day Thread 26/12/23: L1 - OUFC v Cambridge

[Northstandboy]

As I said in the build up thread, we need a good performance and result in front of a big crowd.

 

[Oxford84]

He was comfortably onside im afraid. I wondered same but IFollow showed otherwise

he was easily offside i was inline at the time.

 

[Golden Dr Otto]

I actually thought Cambridge looked good in the first half and were exactly what you'd expect from a Neil Harris side. They were direct without hoofing, physical and worked hard. We were poor regardless in the first half, but Cambridge's approach did us no favours.

I thought we tried going a little more direct towards the end of the first half. Beadle took a couple of goal kicks long and McGuane played a 40 yard speculative long ball, so there must've been a change in instructions from Buckingham because that's definitely not his game. One goal kick from Beadle was well taken by Harris who in turn fed Mills, and it ended up with a chance for Goodrham. Pleasing to see some success from getting it forward more quickly and it looked to me like we kept that up in the second half.

I think our first goal came from Rodrigues pinging the ball out to the wing first time. It actually didn't come off but the defender couldn't get it under control and Goodrham drifted into the space he'd left. Just goes to show that moving the ball more quickly has its merits

Agree on this point. He literally volleys out wide from a ball that came from the right touch line. It actually catches their full back off guard who was then leggy in reaching for it. He over extends, clears it poorly and suddenly Tyler is away in the space behind

I’d be interested to see Jack Stevens positioning from behind Tyler’s view to see whether he should have done better with the first goal too. Very deja vu from his time with us.

I agree on second. And whilst his save v Cam Bran from 7 yards out was phenomenal, his kicking is still shaky too

 

[yellowbow]

I actually thought Cambridge looked good in the first half and were exactly what you'd expect from a Neil Harris side. They were direct without hoofing, physical and worked hard. We were poor regardless in the first half, but Cambridge's approach did us no favours.

I thought we tried going a little more direct towards the end of the first half. Beadle took a couple of goal kicks long and McGuane played a 40 yard speculative long ball, so there must've been a change in instructions from Buckingham because that's definitely not his game. One goal kick from Beadle was well taken by Harris who in turn fed Mills, and it ended up with a chance for Goodrham. Pleasing to see some success from getting it forward more quickly and it looked to me like we kept that up in the second half.

I think our first goal came from Rodrigues pinging the ball out to the wing first time. It actually didn't come off but the defender couldn't get it under control and Goodrham drifted into the space he'd left. Just goes to show that moving the ball more quickly has it's merits, but one positive is that it appears Buckingham made that change. Presumably he watched the same shower we did for the majority of the first half and wasn't stubborn to make a change that we needed.

I agree that McEachran was a positive change. He has an ability that nobody else in our squad has in that deep midfield position and that's to play tidy and progressive passes between opposition players. On that point, I didn't think McGuane was anywhere near his best today, he really needs to be receiving the ball 20 yards further up the pitch. Today he was often so deep that he didn't want to take a risk carrying it forward, whilst also not being able to offer the defence much support. We basically nullify all the best parts of his game playing him like that and I think there is a good case for starting McEachran at the base, with McGuane further up and Brannagan further still.

I thought Stevens played pretty well for 90 minutes for Cambridge today. His kicking is still iffy but, despite a very good save from Brannagan, he ultimately showed why he wasn't the answer for us. You can't parry shots back into the middle of a busy penalty area. We were fortunate today, but that was a costly mistake from him.

Buckingham did say in the post-match interview that we moved the ball too slowly in the first half so, to his credit, it looked like he spotted a problem and solved it with a few tweaks.

 

[FatOldSun]

Was their shout right at the end, after we had gone 2-1 up, a good one? From my seat in the oxford mail it looked a lot like our defender had gone through the back of their attacker.

Reminded me of Bradford a few years ago when Maguire scored a late free kick to go 1-0 up, then Bradford caused panic in our box and claimed a penalty which could easily have been given. Today, from pitchside in the North Stand it was difficult to work out much of what was going on down the other end.

 

[WuTang]

Never felt like that to me, i thought it was a 50/50 type game which isnt so good for us as we are better than them but theres no way they deserved to be winning let alone by 3 or 4 goals.

Watch the first half back, we were properly under the cosh for a 15-20 minute spell.

 

[Oxford84]

Watch the first half back, we were properly under the cosh for a 15-20 minute spell.

Yep after the goal we were all over the place for a bit, that doesnt make it a 4-0.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

We have got to start games better than that. Until Goodrham scored his solo goal, ten minutes into the second half, we were terrible. We were then somehow a completely different team. Whether that is because Cambridge were deflated or our confidence grew (or a combination of the two), who knows. One thing is for sure, if they'd scored that sitter of a header before half time, it would have been a very different game.

We won't get away with that approach on Friday.

 

[Followtheox1]

From the various parts of the game I saw (on ski lifts), we didn’t deserve that result, but sometimes you get the rub of the green, and other times you lose out! Certainly startled a few shoppers in Super U on the way home when the second went in!

The Kassam has Ski lifts! I never knew that! Must try them out!

 

[Golden Dr Otto]

Yep, there was nothing in it, most of the shots they had were nowhere near to going in. Also im not saying we were good either.

Just off the top of my head …

On 38 minutes they had two shots from 6 yards unchallenged.

On 39 minutes Beadle tips one round the corner of the post

There was also the Brophy miss from 8 yards (go check IFollow if you think that’s offside. He’s about two yards behind brown and Bennett when the ball is whipped in from the left. It’s not even a question mark no matter what you may think you saw in the moment )

And then a ball across the face of the goal that Brown almost turned into his own net

As Jerome said “Cambridge could have been out of sight by now and probably should be”

 

[West Oxon U’s]

 

[Osleroad]

I like the fact that post match interviews are more like normal conversations with Des than the 2 sentence responses of the former bloke but some other managers don't half witter on.

 

[brightonyellow]

Normal service resumes…
Jack Stevens making a mess of anything at him from outside the box

 

[Followtheox1]

Normal service resumes…
Jack Stevens making a mess of anything at him from outside the box

To be honest we would have been saying he should have done better for both their goals.

 

[West Oxon U’s]

I agree that McEachran was a positive change. He has an ability that nobody else in our squad has in that deep midfield position and that's to play tidy and progressive passes between opposition players. On that point, I didn't think McGuane was anywhere near his best today, he really needs to be receiving the ball 20 yards further up the pitch. Today he was often so deep that he didn't want to take a risk carrying it forward, whilst also not being able to offer the defence much support. We basically nullify all the best parts of his game playing him like that and I think there is a good case for starting McEachran at the base, with McGuane further up and Brannagan further still.

It was a good substitution and as you astutely remarked McEachran was immediately able to get on the ball and he started picking passes and just kept the ball ticking over in midfield.He’s obviously not the quickest but he’s a classy ball playing centre midfielder who rarely gives it away and his introduction with 30 mins to play meant Brannagan came into his own and the midfield was transformed into a more cohesive unit. Bennett was then able to get forward because we had more control of the ball.

 

[90syeIlow]

Yep, there was nothing in it, most of the shots they had were nowhere near to going in. Also im not saying we were good either.

Rubbish. We were clueless and they dominated the half

 

[Oxford84]

Watch the first half back, we were properly under the cosh for a 15-20 minute spell.

Yep after the goal we were all over the place for a bit, that doesnt make it a 4-0.

Rubbish. We were clueless and they dominated the half

they did f**k all.

 

[greatunclekip]

Why do you think

He's here! Just got back to Sheffield, and to be honest, drove home with more doubts about Des than ever before. That first half My God! Against Cambridge at home. Utterly utterly abysmal. Tactics, shape, game plan all non existent.

Second half better but against a decent team with strikers we are losing that game badly, let's not kid ourselves.

We are bad. Really really bad. The length of time to get Des some support is an absolute joke, it's doing him a huge disservice given how much we paid for him. What the heck is going on there?!

But, the caveat is we have some really key players out. Most teams struggle without Leigh, Browne, Edwards, Bodin, Murphy, and without a striker.

This season could still happen, but people at all levels in the club, from Des upwards, need to get their arses in gear this January.

Absolutely shocking.

 

[Osei Yaw]

He's here! Just got back to Sheffield, and to be honest, drove home with more doubts about Des than ever before. That first half My God! Against Cambridge at home. Utterly utterly abysmal. Tactics, shape, game plan all non existent.

Second half better but against a decent team with strikers we are losing that game badly, let's not kid ourselves.

We are bad. Really really bad. The length of time to get Des some support is an absolute joke, it's doing him a huge disservice given how much we paid for him. What the heck is going on there?!

But, the caveat is we have some really key players out. Most teams struggle without Leigh, Browne, Edwards, Bodin, Murphy, and without a striker.

This season could still happen, but people at all levels in the club, from Des upwards, need to get their arses in gear this January.

Absolutely shocking.

So you had a good day then?

 

[Yellow Submarine]

I just think it's strange nothing has come out and they are still giving the line he is training well etc. Given how poor O'Donker has been, it just doesn't add up.

The club won't come out and publically rip in to him and damage relationships with Leeds and other potential loaning clubs

 

[Steve Gilbert]

He's here! Just got back to Sheffield, and to be honest, drove home with more doubts about Des than ever before. That first half My God! Against Cambridge at home. Utterly utterly abysmal. Tactics, shape, game plan all non existent.

Second half better but against a decent team with strikers we are losing that game badly, let's not kid ourselves.

We are bad. Really really bad. The length of time to get Des some support is an absolute joke, it's doing him a huge disservice given how much we paid for him. What the heck is going on there?!

But, the caveat is we have some really key players out. Most teams struggle without Leigh, Browne, Edwards, Bodin, Murphy, and without a striker.

This season could still happen, but people at all levels in the club, from Des upwards, need to get their arses in gear this January.

Absolutely shocking.

Good to see you enjoyed the win Kip!

The analyst is in and another 2 staff confirmed in the coming days, could be as soon as tomorrow.

For someone who always predicts defeats you would think you would enjoy the wins a bit more than you do.

Oh and Blackpool who will be replacing us in the play offs lost today to the same side that we battered the other week.

1 last thing, the sleeping giant that is Charlton also lost to Orient.

Overall, not been a good day for your predictions has it