Away Match Day Thread +++ 9/3/19 Gillingham v OUFC Matchday Thread +++

[Scotchegg]

Most have spoken for weeks about being tighter at the back and being hard to beat. We played that way today and whilst it wasn't good to watch, we were only a few minutes away from getting the point many would have taken. Beyond the penalty (clumsy) and the goal, we didn't give much away. You've only got to go back a few weeks before we could have struggled far more in a game like that.

It's a point lost, but no more. Beat Rochdale and Bradford in the next week and this result will be long forgotten.

 

[PottersRightBoot]

3 points would be better

Couldn't agree more, some of the things he was saying about being in the relegation zone all season and it not being acceptable, and robinson being allowed to come up with the same old excuses for far too long, f***ing scandalous. It was when he said that the clubs treatment of fans is unacceptable, I just had to turn off.

You’re one and the same person though aren’t you?

 

[BD Yellow]

I did turn off, we need support not moaners on the Radio.

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Should have got a point. Not slagging either team off too much as wind made it very difficult. Graham disappointed with lack of final product. Kashi stood out for me, he’s a good passer of the ball.

Eaves very impressive. A poundland Zlatan. Probably the best L1 forward I’ve seen this season. Gills game but basic, thought their centre backs played well.

Brannagan, Mackie and Whyte to start on Tuesday please.

Most important game of season.

 

[River plate]

With how other results have gone they mean f**k all

With how other results have gone they mean f**k all

With how other results have gone they mean f**k all

Put out a defensive team that has no ambitions than to draw and thats what u get
. just one win in 2 must be better than 1 draw not rocket science .






just c what c what what was

 

[bashamwonderland]

3 points would be better

Oh how we dreamt...

 

[River plate]

Put out a team that only wants a desperate draw only one man up front that's what u get nothing we got lucky at Blackpool all our best players on the bench today desperate Manager that has no conference in his players to win a game.

 

[ljs]

Most have spoken for weeks about being tighter at the back and being hard to beat. We played that way today and whilst it wasn't good to watch, we were only a few minutes away from getting the point many would have taken. Beyond the penalty (clumsy) and the goal, we didn't give much away. You've only got to go back a few weeks before we could have struggled far more in a game like that.

It's a point lost, but no more. Beat Rochdale and Bradford in the next week and this result will be long forgotten.

Going into a game against a team down there with us and hoping for 1 point at best?
It's 3 points lost... that's how many Gillingham pulled away from us by.

 

[Scotchegg]

Going into a game against a team down there with us and hoping for 1 point at best?
It's 3 points lost... that's how many Gillingham pulled away from us by.

I haven't said that I or anyone else was hoping for a point at best, but that was what we were realistically looking at. We never had 3 points, so we couldn't have lost them.

 

[Oldham]

Should have got a point. Not slagging either team off too much as wind made it very difficult. Graham disappointed with lack of final product. Kashi stood out for me, he’s a good passer of the ball.

Eaves very impressive. A poundland Zlatan. Probably the best L1 forward I’ve seen this season. Gills game but basic, thought their centre backs played well.

Brannagan, Mackie and Whyte to start on Tuesday please.

Most important game of season.

I thought Eaves was a handful in the first half, quick feet for a big lad but imo he faded after Easty saved his pen.

 

[Northernyellow]

I thought Eaves was a handful in the first half, quick feet for a big lad but imo he faded after Easty saved his pen.

Down in London for the weekend, so went to Gillingham.
Agree re: Eaves. Very good. Best CF in L1 imo is Marquis of Doncaster, but Eaves runs him close.
Sinclair could take a good look at how Eaves played...he (Eaves) was a constant nuisance until he ran out of puff in the last 15-20. He fights for every ball, holds it up and was the focus of most of the good things that Gillingham did.
Sinclair, on the other hand, has pace, power, ability on the ball, but simply doesn’t scrap for anything. I have now seen him three (four?) times, and I would think that he has won 20% (if that) of his 50/50 challenges. At Accrington, I am pretty sure I saw him pull out of a couple of challenges. Shame, because he has real ability, but just doesn’t seem to want to get involved.
I thought we were average today, but not terrible.
We don’t seem to be very well coached. We lack any structure, and I honestly don’t think players know where they are supposed to be, and what job they are supposed to be doing. The better coaches (ie not Robinson) have their teams playing in a clear framework, where every player knows what is expected of them.
We have 7-8 players who would get into most of the better L1 teams, but we are just not properly organised.
We have no shape at the back, we constantly let in sloppy goals, and despite the fact that we have players with pace (Whyte, Graham) we don’t attack with any purpose or confidence. It’s all a bit of a mess.
Robinson must take a lot of responsibility for this. I don’t for one minute believe that he has had the backing from Tiger that he was promised (another discussion for another day), but he has produced a lop sided team, far too many loanees, some decent players, but which has absolutely no cutting edge.
Will we go down? 50/50 from what I can see. I struggle to see where the goals will come from. Despite his two goals last week, Sinclair must improve. Mackie works his socks off, but his legs are gone. Our best bet will be from midfield. Whyte is our stand out player (why Robinson didn’t start him today was baffling), and if we are to survive, goals will have to come from the likes of Whyte, Henry, Graham, Brannigan.
Final word on Sykes. His debut at Accrington (where we did not play well) was outstanding. And today, he played the best passes of the day, never hid, and will be a really decent player next season. Whether he (and Whyte) are still with us is another matter.....

 

[Northernyellow]

Down in London for the weekend, so went to Gillingham.
Agree re: Eaves. Very good. Best CF in L1 imo is Marquis of Doncaster, but Eaves runs him close.
Sinclair could take a good look at how Eaves played...he (Eaves) was a constant nuisance until he ran out of puff in the last 15-20. He fights for every ball, holds it up and was the focus of most of the good things that Gillingham did.
Sinclair, on the other hand, has pace, power, ability on the ball, but simply doesn’t scrap for anything. I have now seen him three (four?) times, and I would think that he has won 20% (if that) of his 50/50 challenges. At Accrington, I am pretty sure I saw him pull out of a couple of challenges. Shame, because he has real ability, but just doesn’t seem to want to get involved.
I thought we were average today, but not terrible.
We don’t seem to be very well coached. We lack any structure, and I honestly don’t think players know where they are supposed to be, and what job they are supposed to be doing. The better coaches (ie not Robinson) have their teams playing in a clear framework, where every player knows what is expected of them.
We have 7-8 players who would get into most of the better L1 teams, but we are just not properly organised.
We have no shape at the back, we constantly let in sloppy goals, and despite the fact that we have players with pace (Whyte, Graham) we don’t attack with any purpose or confidence. It’s all a bit of a mess.
Robinson must take a lot of responsibility for this. I don’t for one minute believe that he has had the backing from Tiger that he was promised (another discussion for another day), but he has produced a lop sided team, far too many loanees, some decent players, but which has absolutely no cutting edge.
Will we go down? 50/50 from what I can see. I struggle to see where the goals will come from. Despite his two goals last week, Sinclair must improve. Mackie works his socks off, but his legs are gone. Our best bet will be from midfield. Whyte is our stand out player (why Robinson didn’t start him today was baffling), and if we are to survive, goals will have to come from the likes of Whyte, Henry, Graham, Brannigan.
Final word on Sykes. His debut at Accrington (where we did not play well) was outstanding. And today, he played the best passes of the day, never hid, and will be a really decent player next season. Whether he (and Whyte) are still with us is another matter.....

Ps....when I talk about a team having a ‘clear framework’, I am thinking of Wilder (before he got bored) and Ian Atkins. They both worked with limited players (arguably Robinson has more talent at his disposal) but they produced really well organised (if slightly dull) teams where every player knew what he was supposed to be doing. Appleton had the best squad we have had for 20 years, but again, you could see that each player knew his role. I don’t get that sense (at all) with this team that Robinson has produced.

 

[greatunclekip]

Most have spoken for weeks about being tighter at the back and being hard to beat. We played that way today and whilst it wasn't good to watch, we were only a few minutes away from getting the point many would have taken. Beyond the penalty (clumsy) and the goal, we didn't give much away. You've only got to go back a few weeks before we could have struggled far more in a game like that.

It's a point lost, but no more. Beat Rochdale and Bradford in the next week and this result will be long forgotten.

your optimism is fantastic! Beyond the winning goal, which was nearly two, we didnt give much away, correct!

To be fair, this whole season weve not given much away bar a few winning goals. Other than that weve been pretty damn solid.

 

[tonto]

I was there and that was a gut wrenching defeat we did not deserve. I couldnt knock any of the players they tried their hardest with a system ie hoof it up to sinclair and try to pick up the knock downs. We look so much better when we play through midfield and it plays to our strengths with two top quality wingers. One has to assume that this is the managers fault. With the right directing this group of players are easily good enough to be challenging at the other end of the table so come on Karl give the players the freedom to play in the way they want to in the context of each match more flexibility needed. Still optimistic!

 

[yellowbow]

After sleeping on yesterday’s events, I’ve woken up this morning feeling more pissed off than I thought I would. I will admit that I didn’t go yesterday but I did listen to RO and also to Robinson’s comments afterwards. I don’t think my feelings are because of what happened yesterday in isolation but more an accumulation of what’s been happening over the whole season. Robinson said yet again that we were the better side, or words to that effect, but they really do sound like the words of a desperate man with no answers. Directly after the game, having listened to the commentary, I tended to agree with him, but on reflection, we could easily have been down to 10 men and a goal down a lot earlier in the match, and who knows what the score would’ve been then?! Our failing, yet again, as they have been all season, is that despite our ‘pretty’ If mostly harmless football in the middle third of the pitch, we again lost the battles where it matters most - in both penalty boxes. To be fair Robinson did admit to this, but admitting it is one thing but why does it keep happening without him being able to resolve the issues? Despite a few decent performances this season we’ve been in and around the relegation zone the whole season and that really worries me. If one looks at 50 points being the benchmark for survival, simple maths tells us that, as one of four teams still yet to reach 40 points, we’re starting to look like one of the favourites to go down. I will admit things can change quickly but haven’t we been saying that all season? To me it’s starting to look like one of those horrible seasons..

Robinson’s post match interview, for all its bravado and bluster leaves me asking this question: How many times can you wrap a turd up in pretty paper before people see it for what it actually is. A turd..?

 

[West Oxon U’s]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1104538611851112448

After needlessly conceding the late corner Sam Long is then beaten in the air by Max Ehmer at the back stick from the deep flag kick.

 

[YellowTaxi]

Gavin Whyte came on in the 59th minute. 230 seconds later we won our first corner. 28 minutes later their agwing Fullback who was unable to handle him was booked. unfortunately that was three minutes before the 90 minutes.

Imagine if the defender had been on a yellow 28 minutes into the game.

Unfair to single out Long who generally played well. Very good corner routine. Eastwood at least at fault as Long. If Eastwood deserves some credit for saving the penalty earlier (and he does) so does Long for his excellent defensive work especially in the first half.

 

[West Oxon U’s]

Reaction: A gutsy three points

Gillingham boss Steve Lovell was delighted to see his men produce a different kind of win on Saturday.

www.kentonline.co.uk

Local match report and some good pics - Dickie being in the wrong position and holding
Hanlan for the pen. Good photo.

Reading the comments is interesting - this from one Gills fan:

“ Our tactics and formation was deplorable. We looked like the away team.We were on the back foot from the start.
Oxford played the better build up play throughout the game and actually played the ball on the ground rather than
our hoof ball system. How long has the new pitch been down Steve (Lovell)? “

https://twitter.com/x/status/1104452842159509504

 

[Oldham]

“We didn’t deserve to lose that game yesterday”?, how many times did the ball go across their penalty area begging to be put into the net? Four? Five maybe? After Whyte came on all we needed was a Danny Hylton and we’d have won the game comfortably but we haven’t got that sort of striker. If we don’t take our chances we don’t win games, so in that respect we did deserve to lose. On the plus side young Sykes was very good as was Kashi, who grew into the game and made some good passes.
PS the chicken balti pie at half time was spot on! ?

 

[West Oxon U’s]

Gavin Whyte came on in the 59th minute. 230 seconds later we won our first corner. 28 minutes later their agwing Fullback who was unable to handle him was booked. unfortunately that was three minutes before the 90 minutes.

Imagine if the defender had been on a yellow 28 minutes into the game.

Unfair to single out Long who generally played well. Very good corner routine. Eastwood at least at fault as Long. If Eastwood deserves some credit for saving the penalty earlier (and he does) so does Long for his excellent defensive work especially in the first half.

I actually agree that you could be critical of Easty for the goal when the ball comes back across the box or could he have come
for the corner?

Long did do well defensively but the small details are key and the concession of the corner so late on was a mistake.
He was then beaten in the air for the header back across goal. Hanlan was not marked very well either.

Oxford should not have lost that game - only one team was likely to win the match as the game wore on.

It was not the Gills but we made the fatal match defining mistakes at the death.