Home Match Day Thread 07/10/2023 L1: OUFC v Bristol Rovers

[Concretebob]

The multicam setup at the Portsmouth game is nice.

Probably still got the camera positions leftover from the Premier League days.

 

[brokeandobscure]

Pugwash and Irene vanquished. Great days!

 

[SteMerritt]

Reading concede in the 90th minute, 2-1 down at Orient.

 

[notThisWayButThat]

All over 2-0 portsmouth

 

[uptheus]

Thought Smyth’s first yellow was harsh!

 

[unification]

Swindon lost too.

Imagine being two divisions above them next season. We could draw them as one of those ‘little’ teams in the first round of the League Cup …

 

[bert]

 

[brassmonkey]

Thought Smyth’s first yellow was harsh!

Agree the rovers player ran into him

 

[oufc1991]

I have to keep checking the league table I'm still waiting for us to fall away from the top two ... I know nothing is won in October but we have the most wins in league one we have the best GD is league one and we are only a point of top with a game in hand ..... it's about time the people of Oxford got out and supported their local team we should be selling out against Blackpool no excuses

 

[brassmonkey]

Hope we're looking for a speedy striker to challenge Harris for a starting place in the next window. Still not convinced by Harris. Makes some decent runs but doesn't seem to have that ruthless scoring ability.

 

[bazzer9461]

Just in apparently their goal that was disallowed was a wrong decision they should have had a penalty oh sorry that was Barton’s response.
Wasn’t a great game Bodin and Long two good goals. We did ride our luck a bit and apart form Longs goal wasn’t that impressed with him today. A stupid piece of kicking the ball away from Smyth and Manning didn’t think Mills was a sending off but he wants to look before defunding especially as their player looked to lash out.
Beadle was immense today, Moore solid as well as was Brown McGuane and Brannagan worked hard Rodriguez works to make things happen but Harris has got to look to shoot more often.

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Randoms.

Running out of superlatives for Beadle, he makes everything look so easy, ( including dropping corners).

Brown, Moore and Leigh very polished with their defending. Our captain is having fhe season of his life.

Rodrigues had his best match of the season, the top between the lines operator in the league. Every pass is considered, every slice of space is engineered carefully.

Harris played like it was a 3pm kick off.

Aaron Collins , helluva player, had Long on toast, But the gaps got plugged at half time, great substitution Manning,

Barton is frankly intimidating. What a boor. His County Lines operations manager shtick was however completely ignored by Moneyball
Manning, who doesn’t come from Liverpool , and who, I bet hadn’t read Barton’s book.( Unlike our previous incumbent..)

Smyth totally brain dead. No eye contact between manager and player as he went off to turn the showers on.


No idea on Mills incident. Mills dies not help himself by collapsing in a heap at the first sign of opposition tackling. I admire his directness though.

And Murphy.. he mesmerizes the left back like Kaa doing a number on Mowgli and then promptly boots the ball over the goal line. Get this player right half the time though and we win the league by 10 points.

Main point though our defence is FANTASTIC .

 

[Yellows9]

Great result, thought Moore and Brown were solid. At 2-0 felt we could have controlled the game better and there were some careless passes putting us under unnecessary pressure. Should’ve been out of sight in the second half but overall it’s 3 more points and a win going into the break. COYY!

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Thoughts on the game:

Manning got the formation wrong in the first half. They had two wide players who stayed wide and had far too much space, which put us under pressure - it also meant they had a out ball whenever they needed it. I applaud the change in the second half, but think he could have done it sooner.
Both Mills and Murphy made a very positive difference when they came on.
Our shooting/finishing is bloody awful. There were at least three very very presentable chances to extend our lead before that last mad 15 minutes, we didn't even make much of a decent attempt at them.
Smyth was an idiot - the ref had already (correctly) booked someone for kicking the ball away. With a ref as card-happy as that one, you knew what was going to happen as soon has he kicked it.
I thought we looked pretty stodgy in the first half - we moved the ball quite slowly at times - second half better.
Awful ref (see the ref thread!) - are they actually getting worse? We've had some stinkers this season.

Still, a game in hand and five points clear of the team in 3rd after about a quarter of the season. Nice!

Edit - forgot to say that I liked seeing both teams in their proper kit rather than the away team wearing some sort of 'alternative'.

 

[Grumpy Git]

Just in apparently their goal that was disallowed was a wrong decision they should have had a penalty oh sorry that was Barton’s response.
Wasn’t a great game Bodin and Long two good goals. We did ride our luck a bit and apart form Longs goal wasn’t that impressed with him today. A stupid piece of kicking the ball away from Smyth and Manning didn’t think Mills was a sending off but he wants to look before defunding especially as their player looked to lash out.
Beadle was immense today, Moore solid as well as was Brown McGuane and Brannagan worked hard Rodriguez works to make things happen but Harris has got to look to shoot more often.

Barton is a Liverpudlian, he’ll want a replay

 

[Yellow Submarine]

Thought the Mills red was harsh. He won the ball initially and then caught the player with the scissor. But it was clumsy rather than malicious or dangerous. Typical wingers challenge. It won't be overturned though as he did jump in and catch the man so wil be deemed as out of control and endangering an opponent.

I would like to see us go all out for a top quality striker in January. I wouldn't want to rely on Harris and O'Donker all season. Harris hasn't totally convinced me yet and GOD never looks like scoring. Although his work rate and efforts in running down the clock are top notch.

Definitely rode our luck today but promotion winning sides have to win ugly from time to time.

 

[ChamonixOx]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1710651852692349118

How is that a red.

Finley thought he was about to be red carded for the kick and push hence he took the throw quickly and then came across to Mills. Mills overreaction to try and get Finley carded may have made the situation worse. If he had got up and both then played on the referee may have seen it for what it was (something of nothing - situation diffused). Whilst I certainly thought the Rovers player was most at risk, perhaps anyway it should be a lesson and turning point. I.e. As a club we stop rolling around as if we have been poleaxed (when we haven’t been) and get on with the game.

 

[bazzer9461]

Barton is a Liverpudlian, he’ll want a reply

Well he also said he can’t wait till we go back their ground

 

[West Oxon U’s]

Randoms.

Running out of superlatives for Beadle, he makes everything look so easy, ( including dropping corners).

Brown, Moore and Leigh very polished with their defending. Our captain is having fhe season of his life.

Rodrigues had his best match of the season, the top between the lines operator in the league. Every pass is considered, every slice of space is engineered carefully.

Harris played like it was a 3pm kick off.

Aaron Collins , helluva player, had Long on toast, But the gaps got plugged at half time, great substitution Manning,

Barton is frankly intimidating. What a boor. His County Lines operations manager shtick was however completely ignored by Moneyball
Manning, who doesn’t come from Liverpool , and who, I bet hadn’t read Barton’s book.( Unlike our previous incumbent..)

Smyth totally brain dead. No eye contact between manager and player as he went off to turn the showers on.


No idea on Mills incident. Mills dies not help himself by collapsing in a heap at the first sign of opposition tackling. I admire his directness though.

And Murphy.. he mesmerizes the left back like Kaa doing a number on Mowgli and then promptly boots the ball over the goal line. Get this player right half the time though and we win the league by 10 points.

Main point though our defence is FANTASTIC .

Great summary.

Can’t disagree too much but I felt Ruben tired after the break and has a tendency to want too much time on the ball and this scrambles his thinking.
McGuane bizarrely felt he could flick and back heel the ball in the ‘heat’ of the midfield battle. Twice they counter-attacked with menace.

Sam Long had a torrid 107 minutes - Collins tormented him for fun but that’s not surprising given that he’s probably the most valuable player in L1. What a talent.He will be in the Prem come February 1st 2024.

Manning got the HT call correct with Mills for Stevens and Stanley did well. Did not see the incident at he end but Adrian Durham on TalkSPORT
said he had seen the ‘foul’ by Mills and that he got the ball and he felt the red would be overturned.

From a position of control at 2-0 against ten men, we attempted the unthinkable - almost wilfully and criminally surrendering two vital points.
Smyth selling himself like that in front of ‘that‘ ref was naive in the extreme and he was blanked by the exasperated Manning.
We were rabbits caught in the headlights at the death but thankfully young James Beadle plays with such calm authority and has huge belief in his ability and was a major reason why we achieved the three points against the best opponent I’ve seen this season. Fullback Jack Hunt pinging 60 yard diags over Long to Collins
was pre-planned. It was a major part of their armoury.


That was a massive win - nine in eleven is sensational -but some lights are starting to flash red on the dashboard In my view.
Glad we’ve two weeks to work on things.

 

[Followtheox1]

Rovers were best team at Kastad this season. Last season and previous seasons we lose that match. This season we just know how to win. We still had a couple of gears to go up if we needed too. They were clearly targeting our right side so good call from Manning to change it at half time. Stevens looked knackered. Long had a mixed game, some great defending but some poor defending and distribution at times. Mills needs to learn from today. Came on and impacted the game but then let the team down. I don't mean the red, he was unlucky with that. Their goal he was rolling around looking for a foul when it wasn't, when if had just got to his feet to pressure their player, there was a good chance they don't score. Overall can't complain, great three points.