Home Match Day Thread 13/04/2024: L1: OUFC v Peterborough

[Northstandboy]

COYY

 

[notThisWayButThat]

I had the notifications on my watch as was in work and at 1 nill up I was hoping we didn’t sit back. Then the second and I thought the same. Then the third went in. 4-0 we’ve nailed it and 5 was the cherry.

 

[Jster]

It still took me to 4-0 to think we were safe!

 

[Nox]

I think yesterday demonstrated the importance of discipline along side a rogue element with the ability to carry the can.
I think JayMac who is ultra disciplined in his positioning and distribution is a bit underwhelming alongside cam and mcguane, but he becomes pivotal when the guys in front of him have the ability under a bit of pressure to take a man out of the game. Rod and Goodram have a bit of street footballer about them and countless times yesterday they created the crucial overloads from the midfield for Murphy and co to do real damage out wide.
Boro are usually able to nick the ball with their intensity but we were too good technically.

Seeing us play through them properly is a real plus. Cam will have to subscribe to that too if we want to keep watching those types of performances.

Also, I’ve been critical of Sam Long as a right back. Not as a centre back though. Superb.

Hit the nail on the head Gregor.
A sitting midfielder has to be disciplined to sit and fill the gaps in front of the back four.
Unfortunately with Cam there, his natural game is to drive forward leaving the back four exposed on transition.
I'd have him in the team every game, but not as the sitting midfielder.

 

[ttg17]

You could well be right, it’s only my observation that far too much has swung since we coincidentally got our a**e handed to us at Bolton - it’s too drastic a change after months of real turgid football to just happen in an instant. The formation changed, players out of the picture overnight. It honestly feels like a new manager bounce and a totally new regime.

We didn’t threaten to do what we did to Peterborough yesterday to anybody prior to Bolton, we had players who looked lost, disengaged and largely in disarray. Only a few were looking themselves.

The new access to data could certainly be a huge part of it. But they now look like they are comfortable, confident and clear on their jobs and also look like they like & believe in Des which wasn’t obvious from the stands only a month ago. All good and well people close to the club saying how ridiculous that was at the time but that’s what it looked like to so many people, I wasn’t alone. Astonishing transformation.

For me the correlation has been since the announcement of Joe Moore on 25 March. I know there was talk that he was already in the building and working with the squad before then, but it seems like from that point we've been much more coherent and clinical.

 

[Yellowecky]

Where do I begin? ……..with an apology to Josh Murphy for not making him Man of the Match. 99 times out of a 100 he would be for that performance.

Instead that accolade goes to Sam Long. He has endured dogs’ abuse during the last few months, so to put in a performance like that in a revamped defence against one of the better teams in the division AND to take the captain’s armband AND help keep a clean sheet makes him a worthy MOM recipient in my book.

Really enjoyed the way we moved the ball at pace yesterday. It certainly flummoxed Posh, especially their keeper. We may not have dominated possession but I can’t believe we only had 30% possession!

Shame we weren’t able to sub Harris after the miles he covered, with Lincoln only a couple of days away. If he’s able to reproduce that again on Tuesday my respect for him will reach stratospheric levels.

That was truly a team performance and I wouldn’t criticise any of our players.

 

[derek]

Pick of the bunch? Did they miss our second? Not enjoyed a goal that much since Vigoroux got an assist.

No idea what you mean.

(Checks avatar)

Oh, that one

 

[Jon-ioualways]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1779434424221708610

Where I was watching the game, we had a power outage with 5 minutes to go. Normally I'd have been frantic, but not yesterday. But I missed that goal until now. Thanks so much for posting. An unbelievable goal, from the vision to pick out Bodin, who brought it under his spell immediately, to a wonderful finish.

Though I also really liked Murphy's goal a lot, too.

Oh, plus both by Rodriguez. And Sparky's pen.

What a good day it was. Just 6 more like that and we're up.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

Yesterday, 14:09...

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1779134822851506356

 

[Symp59]

Didn’t look like a 5 million pound player to me, there aren’t too many League One players, (especially defenders) worth that sort of money.

Knight (5) and Katongo (2) had absolute nightmares for the first 45 minutes, mainly due to Murphy, both got hauled off at halftime.

Mason-Clarke looked dangerous, however I thought Stevens on the whole did pretty well against him, and stuck to his task.

Ajiboye who came on at halftime caused Leigh a few problems and looked the most likely of the Peterborough players to create an opening.

Iam sure I read they want £20 million for him. Harris played so well yesterday he was a real handful. It was like watching Danny Hylton in his hay day ,that goal at Wembley against Barnsley awesome.

 

[Foley]

Iam sure I read they want £20 million for him. Harris played so well yesterday he was a real handful. It was like watching Danny Hylton in his hay day ,that goal at Wembley against Barnsley awesome.

Our pressing was so good that it got to the stage that their defenders and keeper looked shell shocked.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

 

[Barbadosyellow]

Tin Hat on…

It would have been interesting to see how we would have reacted to missing that penalty and then Borough not hitting the crossbar from 2 yards out.

4-1

 

[Yellow River]

Our pressing was so good that it got to the stage that their defenders and keeper looked shell shocked.

I don’t pretend to understand the finer intricacies of pressing, but it appears to me that we do press in a slightly different way under Des than we did previously under Manning.

It’s as if we’re waiting for specific situations and play before we press now, a bit more calculated if you like. I think what I’m trying to say is that we’re not in a ‘rush’ to press whereas perhaps under Manning that was more the tactic.

But then again I could be talking complete nonsense, football is after all a pretty simple game.

 

[oufc1991]

Still buzzing from yesterday and to top of it off my wonderful wife just told me if Oxford get to Wembley I can go instead of attending a family wedding happy f*****g days

 

[MG]

I don’t think Gregly has received enough credit on here for the sensational quick-thinking freekick to set up Bodin for the fifth goal. And this just after he’d hit the post with an absolute fizzer.

 

[chuckbert]

I don’t think Gregly has received enough credit on here for the sensational quick-thinking freekick to set up Bodin for the fifth goal. And this just after he’d hit the post with an absolute fizzer.

Agreed. Outstanding contribution, showing the attacking depth of the team.

 

[tonyw]

Definitely something in it, Cam is quality but there's a tendency for him to try and do everything. My hope is that he can see what we're doing and realises he doesn't have to do this and can just focus on a specific role rather than playing on his own, if we can get him playing to his best we'll be a threat.

When was the last time he came off the bench for us? I'm sure he has but I can't ever remember it, seems if he's fit he starts for the last several years.

He came off the bench against Wycombe in October (when he was just coming back from illness) and scored a 96th minute equalizer.

I don't see that it can be coincidence that we changed from a midfield blend of 2 holding midfielders and 1 attacking, to 1 holding/2 attacking after Bolton, and we've gone from an absolute shambles to the hottest team in the division.

With McGuane alongside Cam in the middle, everything was just too slow and ponderous. Everything was going backwards (especially from MM). But with Tyler and RR, you've got two players constantly hungry for the ball and to drive forward with it, and find the killer pass - and it's creating bags of space for our destructive forward three, Murphy in particular. I was worried what would happen defensively when we came up against a strong opposition midfield. But Posh have one, and it didn't look too bad yesterday! Will be fascinating to see how it holds up if we get another shot at Bolton (hopefully at Wembley!)

So we can't revert and play Cam & McE. I think ultimately Cam does so much for us that he is back in there for the (fingers crossed) playoffs. But McE was so good yesterday that it would be nuts to rush Cam back. If he's fit Tuesday, get him 30 minutes off the bench.

 

[tonyw]

Didn’t Peterborough value Ronnie Edwards at £5million?

If you believe the press, they turned down £4.5 million for him.

He was their best defender yesterday - but that's not saying much because Burrows is basically a winger, and Murphy humiliated and completely broke their right hand side!

 

[outsidethebox]

Wow, but who are you and what have you done with Oxford United?

 

[Leysboy]

Fernandez there right back could well be having therapy after that Murphy display yesterday.