Away Match Day Thread 01/02/2022 L1: Wigan Athletic v OUFC

[Robie]

That’s a long way… still Accy will be quicker right..

 

[LowerSouth]

That’s a long way… still Accy will be quicker right..

No, Accy further North.
But never mind, like tonight I’ll be there.
Off to bed !

 

[dickwalton1964]

It’s more than a good point, it’s a great point. I think we maybe settled for a point a bit too early, we seemed to get a bit too desperate around the 60-65 minute mark and allowed them to get a bit of a foothold. Stevens didn’t have much to do though, one great save, gathered a couple from long range and dealt with a few high balls.

It’s one of, if not, the toughest game of the season ticked off and we’ve come away with something. Of course you want three, you always do, but a point away at those around you keeps you right on course.

 

[Thomas/Brock/Jones]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1488608814836371463

Hylton started for Luton tonight and looked back to his old self!

Wonder if an injury or co vid meant that Hylts was needed to play therefore scuppered a transfer ?
Would have loved to see him have come on as sub for us last 20 yesterday, absolutely loved it.

 

[windmill]

At least the letters B U G G E R, FFS. and X2 were not used last night. I sometimes dread looking at the Forum on match days!!!

 

[itsoneofthem]

The problem is like my father in law he disagrees with sending offs he says the clubs should be able to replace with a sun which is a crazy notion.

Bright idea…

 

[QR]

The problem is like my father in law he disagrees with sending offs he says the clubs should be able to replace with a sun which is a crazy notion. But laws are in place and none of the laws which no one bothered with tonight or in other games other players approaching the ref and whinging it’s only supposed to be the captain and if need be the offending player. The rilles need to be looked at but if you fob off at the officious you should be booked and if Moore fibbed if and booked because the refs failure to give us a free kick then I’m sure Langs gobbing off was more fruitful.

Buck too you're beast @bazzer9461 !

 

[TailsWeWin]

Buck too you're beast @bazzer9461 !

I think Bazzer’s written musings should be the subject of a thesis on linguistics. There’s plenty of material there for investigation.

 

[Big Ron]

I think Bazzer’s written musings should be the subject of a thesis on linguistics. There’s plenty of material there for investigation.

It's a bit like my mother-in-law complaining about the 'presumptive' text on her phone - Bazza seems to be in the same league!

 

[ECYellow]

What a point that could turn out to be! An excellent defensive display second half. A few observations:

Marcus McGuane - I just don't see it against the better teams in this league. When he has time and space he can look devastating. However, in his attempt to continually draw fouls from the opposition, he ends up on his a**e and inevitably out of position. Last night he fell over umpteen times in a soft fashion and quite righty, the ref wised up to it during the first half. Fair play to the ref i'd have done the same! If McGuane stayed on his feet, used some of that stature of his and took one less touch on most occasions, we'd have a player. As it is, i believe he is a luxury player when up against the street wise, decent teams in this league and i think his style might explain why Forest and Barca were happy to relinquish his services. I'm not writing him off but he needs to be better.

I like the idea of him in the 8 or 10 and Cam/Herbie in the 6.

McNally and Moore were outstanding. McNally is going to become the player that Moore already is.

Seddon had a very difficult first half but he was excellent in the second period.

Stevens - unreal save at the end!

Cam - i thought he was isolated in the more advanced role. Like others have said, i think i prefer him in a deeper role where he can dictate play - ala Lundstrum.

Our fans - Top class from the 571 that travelled. Our journey back got me back to the South West of our county at 1.55am and i'm sure many others had similar difficulties on the M6. Kudos to all of you.

Onto Saturday...if you haven't purchased a ticket yet, then do so if you possibly can! Win Saturday and we will have had an outstanding week.

 

[Sheik djibouti]

It's a bit like my mother-in-law complaining about the 'presumptive' text on her phone - Bazza seems to be in the same league!

Richard Brinsley Sheridan would be turding in his grave

 

[werthersoriginal]

Wonder if an injury or co vid meant that Hylts was needed to play therefore scuppered a transfer ?
Would have loved to see him have come on as sub for us last 20 yesterday, absolutely loved it.

Sounds like Hylton and Thorniley would be with us if their clubs hadn’t had injuries.

 

[Grumpy Git]

The problem is like my father in law he disagrees with sending offs he says the clubs should be able to replace with a sun which is a crazy notion. But laws are in place and none of the laws which no one bothered with tonight or in other games other players approaching the ref and whinging it’s only supposed to be the captain and if need be the offending player. The rilles need to be looked at but if you fob off at the officious you should be booked and if Moore fibbed if and booked because the refs failure to give us a free kick then I’m sure Langs gobbing off was more fruitful.

Presumptive text is my worst enema.

 

[Leysboy]

One of the best counter attacking goals I’ve seen for sometime. Brilliant from Sykes and Brannagan. Taylor does, well what Taylor does.

 

[Jolteon]

Crucially for me - last two seasons we without question lose that game. We've grown a bit of a knack of grinding out games against the other top teams in the league which is something that historically under KR we've been poor at. We beat Wednesday both home and away, something very few teams this season will do, grabbed away draws against Ipswich, Sunderland and now Wigan, and also got home draws against Wycombe and Rotherham, with the latter being with a madly depleted squad due to Covid. Probably 11 points we wouldn't have gotten last season which puts us in a really good spot.

We need to average a PPG of just under 1.5 to get to 75 points, which 90% of the time is enough for playoffs. We've averaged just over 1.7 in the first 29 games. Personally looking at the remaining fixtures I don't see why we can't get 30 points, which leaves room for a small blip or two too. 80 points would be comfortably in the playoffs and most likely top 4.

 

[Mojofilter]

Can my heart take another playoff battle?

 

[WEYellow]

That was a great point all things considered. The worst ref I have ever seen, completely ruined the game with his inconsistencies, stop-start boring game management which completely played into Wigan's hands. Under the cosh at the end, but resolute on set pieces which is something quite new for us.

Stevens - 7 - No chance with the goal. A great save from Whatmough in the 2nd half, one of the reasons we look more solid on defending set pieces is his reintroduction to the team.

Long - 6 - Not a night for attacking and after the first 20 minutes McClean had him pinned back for the whole game. One thing I have noticed is that McClean had a hell of a lot more time on the ball than Lang on the opposite side, whether this is a tactical thing but I have noticed in Long's game recently is that the gap between him and his winger is massive. We could possibly be defending in a back 3 now hence the space, but still a worry.

Moore - 7 - Some great blocks and composed play in the first half. Marshalled Humphrys and then Magennis well. Thought he was getting sent off for dissent at one point.

Mcnally - 6 - Down a point for some frankly bizarre defending for their goal, close him down! Won nearly everything and has frightening pace. Still looks raw and not sure left side of defence suited him.

Seddon - 6.5 - Better tonight, looked fresher and after an initial dodgy 20 minutes he had a good game. Goal was a breakdown of communication between him, Mcguane and Sykes but as the defender he should have been plugging the space.

Bodin - 6.5 - Was an 8 until the 2nd half, tired very quickly and disappeared, still managed a great turn which was a lovely piece of skill, he's such a classy player and technically our most gifted, if only he had the body of Sykes.

Kane - 8 - Terrific i thought, won the battle vs Shinnie, first half especially. Some great penetrating balls into Taylor's feet which is what we've been missing. Got stuck in and managed to somehow keep his head.

Mcguane - 7 - Blows hot and cold so much, but there is an incredible player in there. Got 0 help from the ref which could only dent his confidence, must have been fouled 10 times in the first 30 mins. Some great bursting runs.

Brannagan - 5.5 - Thought it was his worst performance of the season, played higher up didn't suit him and passes went astray, also got too involved with Wigan's antics. That being said, a great contribution for our goal of the season.

Sykes - 6 - Not as effective on the left but worked his B*****s off, that's all we can ask, like Cam, cool and composed for the goal.

Taylor - 7 - What a finish, considering he was up against a back 3 which never helps, put himself about well and gave them something to think about. Tired quickly and hopefully his injury isn't too bad.



Williams - 5 - Not the game for him to be honest, we was defending 20 yards into our half at point of his introduction, didn't really offer an attacking outlet

Winnall - 5 - Put himself about, but the ball just wouldn't stick, looked rusty and didn't offer much.

 

[Sheik djibouti]

One of the best counter attacking goals I’ve seen for sometime. Brilliant from Sykes and Brannagan. Taylor does, well what Taylor does.

And just goes to show how important it was that we held on to Sykes and Branners in this window!

Kane looked half a yard off for a fair amount of the game and was running on empty at then end. Not that surprising really and we know the level he is capable of playing at.

Plenty more to come from this squad, and plenty of seriously good quality attacking options to come back in the next few weeks.

Our remaining games in Feb are against clubs currently 12th, 14th, 11th, 15th, 22nd and 13th. Quite possible we could come out of Feb without a loss...and there's a few teams in really poor form, pretty poor goals for/against that are there for the taking......IF we can stay injury and suspension free....especially at the back!

It's the hope that kills you

 

[bashamwonderland]

Player ratings:

Stevens: 7 - One great save and his distribution wasn’t bad at all

Long: 6 - Fairly quiet, no massive errors. Nowhere near his best of last season

Moore: 8 - Strong at the back, a captains performance

McNally: 8 - Could have done better for the goal but did so many things well; tackled, headed, dribbled. I don’t think he’s better than Atkinson just yet but he’s got huge potential

Seddon: 6 - An improvement on recent abject performances and made some good tackles but at fault for the goal with his insane, inane positioning and didn’t offer too much going forwards

Kane: 7.5 - Some superb passes. Faded as he tired on a tough pitch

McGuane: 7.5 - Another who tired after a superb start. Wigan fouled him out of the game somewhat and the ref gave him no protection. One brilliant flick and some great runs. He’s now played 3-4 good games in a row but still criticised on here. Our most underrated player for me.

Brannigan: 6 - Started off very poorly but grew into the game. Early on he gave the ball away 3-4 times which isn’t like him. I think a deeper role where he can be a quarterback, pick the ball up from the defenders and ping long diagonals and also get stuck in with a tackle or two actually suits him better than tonight’s advanced role.

Sykes: 7 - Did some things well, some things poorly. Great play for the goal. Looks a lot more comfortable on the right in previous games than tonight on the left.

Bodin: 6.5 - Started brightly when he had the ball but faded, as he has last couple of games. Clearly a good player in good form, but he has no pace so doesn’t offer much on the wing. Needs to play centrally behind the striker.

Taylor: 7 - Took his goal well but did little else of note. Battled manfully as usual.

Neither sub offered anything much.

Agreed that McGuane deserves some praise - top top effort yesterday in the first half.

 

[PottersRightBoot]

McGuane was again good, well done lad. Our coaches seem to be sorting him from a work rate and involvement perspective after that woeful Wednesday performance

But someone needs to remind him he shouldn’t be going to ground every two minutes like a poundland Jack Grealish. It was getting embarrassing at certain stages.

6 out of 10, you what? McNally was Ox man of the match by miles. Followed by Kane; that deliberate trip in first half was worth the streaming fee .