Home Match Day Thread 18/12/2021 L1: OUFC v Wigan Athletic

[m]

Or a profession at the universe of rafael.

 

[Oxford1996]

Just watched the highlights: https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/oxford-united/12499283/oxford-2-3-wigan

Have ti say I'm a little disappointed in Eastwood for letting their winner in, looks like that should've been saved to me. Poor defending for their first and second which left a mountain to climb. Which we nearly did

Eastwood?

Moore should go out to McLean and get tight instead of backing up like a lorry.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Haven’t seen the haterz and the ‘Robinson’ guys for a while, odd that. Maybe they’ve all got Covid.

 

[The mighty Aldo]

If you were a neutral and knew nothing of the teams out there you would have to say Oxford played the better football and Wigan were more clinical
You would say Oxford defensively were poor and vulnerable to set pieces but Wigan were also poor in defence as we cut through them with ease
If we had played like that at home against most teams in this division we would have won
With our best team out I still think we look shaky in defence especially against the better teams.
What this tells us is we need in January is good defensive cover and of course a back up to Taylor but we were saying that back in July

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Unfortunately, I think our first choice defence is also shaky. How many clean sheets have we kept this season? We have *had* to score a lot of goals because if we only score one, we are very unlikely to win! It drives me potty when I see our defenders backing off and off and off until the opposition player is in the penalty area and a challenge becomes fraught with danger.

As for Saturday's game, the final whistle left me with feelings of both pride and frustration.

 

[Wallop]

Really battling performance with a squad decimated by injuries and our main midfield pairing out.

McLean's goal was class and that's what a player who is on almost twice the wages of our top earners can do, those sort of moments can be the difference between autos and play-offs. Big January ahead and a real test of the new owners.

 

[Foley]

Unfortunately, I think our first choice defence is also shaky. How many clean sheets have we kept this season? We have *had* to score a lot of goals because if we only score one, we are very unlikely to win! It drives me potty when I see our defenders backing off and off and off until the opposition player is in the penalty area and a challenge becomes fraught with danger.

As for Saturday's game, the final whistle left me with feelings of both pride and frustration.

Only four teams have conceded fewer than us this season.
Wycombe, Plymouth, Sunderland, MK have conceded more.
Now I am not suggesting that our defence couldn't be better but based on the goals conceded and the fact that on Saturday we had Thorniley and McNally out ( we would have been better on set pieces with one of those alongside Moore) , I am not sure about the comments on our defence after a game against a top 2 team with a very makeshift defence/ team.

 

[SteMerritt]

Unfortunately, I think our first choice defence is also shaky. How many clean sheets have we kept this season? We have *had* to score a lot of goals because if we only score one, we are very unlikely to win! It drives me potty when I see our defenders backing off and off and off until the opposition player is in the penalty area and a challenge becomes fraught with danger.

As for Saturday's game, the final whistle left me with feelings of both pride and frustration.

6 Clean Sheets (Crewe, Wycombe, Shrewsbury, Rotherham (H), Ipswich, Sunderland (A) ). 5 Failed to score (Wycombe, Rotherham (H), Cheltenham, Ipswich, Sunderland (A))

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Only four teams have conceded fewer than us this season.
Wycombe, Plymouth, Sunderland, MK have conceded more.
Now I am not suggesting that our defence couldn't be better but based on the goals conceded and the fact that on Saturday we had Thorniley and McNally out ( we would have been better on set pieces with one of those alongside Moore) , I am not sure about the comments on our defence after a game against a top 2 team with a very makeshift defence/ team.

It's not about the goals conceded in total IMO, it's the frequency. We have kept a total of six clean sheets (that's all matches, including cup games against teams from lower divisions and U21 teams) - which (as I said) has meant that in the other 23 games we needed to score at least twice to win. It's not a comment on our defence on Saturday specifically - although the constant backing off from the first choice players in the team certainly does apply.

 

[bazzer9461]

Really battling performance with a squad decimated by injuries and our main midfield pairing out.

McLean's goal was class and that's what a player who is on almost twice the wages of our top earners can do, those sort of moments can be the difference between autos and play-offs. Big January ahead and a real test of the new owners.

I would say he is more than that, Power is supposed to be in 10k a week

 

[Foley]

It's not about the goals conceded in total IMO, it's the frequency. We have kept a total of six clean sheets (that's all matches, including cup games against teams from lower divisions and U21 teams) - which (as I said) has meant that in the other 23 games we needed to score at least twice to win. It's not a comment on our defence on Saturday specifically - although the constant backing off from the first choice players in the team certainly does apply.

Before Saturday ( which we can agree was with a very makeshift side) we had conceded 4 goals in 6 games- including against Rotherham, Ipswich, Sunderland.
So I think that our defence has generally been decent (and the overall goals conceded seems to agree).
I agree to a certain extent that more clean sheets would be useful (but we also seem to miss a lot of chances which could also be improved).

 

[Wallop]

I would say he is more than that, Power is supposed to be in 10k a week

I happen to know what McLean is on and it's less than the figure you've quoted above (but not much less).

Of course goal and win bonuses might get it closer to your quoted figure.

 

[bashamwonderland]

Haven’t seen the haterz and the ‘Robinson’ guys for a while, odd that. Maybe they’ve all got Covid.

Well this is KR's Oxford. We've just gone 10 games unbeaten - strap in for the typical fall from grace followed by late storm back up the table.

 

[tonyw]

Eastwood?

Moore should go out to McLean and get tight instead of backing up like a lorry.

I'd say that the winning goal was very, very similar to the MK Dons goal the week before in terms of who could have done better.

In both cases, the RB has been caught hopelessly out of position because they're pressing higher than is sensible
In both cases, none of the midfielders have dropped back to fill in, or do the high press themselves (admittedly, we were playing two attacking midfielders and a winger in central midfield, so this is not exactly surprising - but although he is limited in terms of what he provides going forwards, Alex Gorrin has by far the best defensive instincts of anyone in our squad, and I think we do miss him against the best opponents)
In both cases, Moore has failed to get tight to the forward and therefore not been able to stop the shot or even make it difficult for them
And in both cases, Eastwood has failed to get something on a ball that's not been placed in the corner (though it has to be said that McLean's strike was much cleaner than the MK Dons player......so Easty had less chance than he did the week before).

In neither case was it one person's howler - just a collection of players that could have done their job better during those particular twenty seconds

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Before Saturday ( which we can agree was with a very makeshift side) we had conceded 4 goals in 6 games- including against Rotherham, Ipswich, Sunderland.
So I think that our defence has generally been decent (and the overall goals conceded seems to agree).
I agree to a certain extent that more clean sheets would be useful (but we also seem to miss a lot of chances which could also be improved).

I think we sort of agree - this is illuminating https://footystats.org/england/efl-league-one/clean-sheets-table

The teams at the top are (unsurprisingly!!!) generally those who have kept the most clean sheets. It is of course not the be all and end all and how many you score obviously makes a difference - it's just more difficult to win football matches if you are always going to have to score 2 to do so.

 

[bazzer9461]

I happen to know what McLean is on and it's less than the figure you've quoted above (but not much less).

Of course goal and win bonuses might get it closer to your quoted figure.

Just read somewhere Wigan we’re getting all these guys in with estimated earnings. Apparently Wyke is on 10k as is Power.someone was questioning there FFP

 

[Shaun Rice]

Proud! So Proud.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Can you show me where you have read this other than on some social media forum because it just isn't true.

Wigan's new owners were given certain conditions when they bought the club allowing us to come out of administration one was financing the club and keeping within a 5 million pound budget over two years, our CEO has categorically stated that we are living within that budget despite claims, usually from opposition managers.
We had 5 senior contracted players last summer all academy lads apart from one senior, that is the reason we have signed so many players, not to buy success as is often suggested as per you asking about FFP.
Nobody was posting on social media about a team being ripped apart and the firesale that took place where received a fraction of the true worth of players, to name a few, Moore (Cardiff), Robinson(Fulham), Kipre(WBA), Lowe(Bournemouth), Morsy and Evans (Ipswich) , and the really galling ones our academy stars Geldhart (Leeds), Weir(Brighton), Devine (Spurs), Joseph (Swansea) the list goes on and on of other proven Championship players all sold for a fraction of their cost, did you read any of that or even about oue administration where the only person or business that was owed anything g was the owner in Hong Kong who had purchased Wigan days before he placed them into administration.

Why did the Hong Kong owner place the club into administration just days after buying it?

 

[Wallop]

I am a Wigan fan who has registered on this board because of your post, you are not telling the truth as you have no idea whatsoever what McLean earns, if you did you would mentioned the fact that Stoke City still pay the bulk of his wages so they could get him off their books, McLean has stated in our local press he would not have left Stoke to earn less money, as he does now, for any other club, he still lived in the area after he left us to go to Stoke and made a £5000 donation to keep us afloat during administration, his wife commented in the press recently he is happier now than at anytime since he was here before..

Sorry but I do know what he earns as I know people in the game who are very close to it. I didn’t however state who pays which element of it.

 

[Wallop]

Can you show me where you have read this other than on some social media forum because it just isn't true.

Wigan's new owners were given certain conditions when they bought the club allowing us to come out of administration one was financing the club and keeping within a 5 million pound budget over two years, our CEO has categorically stated that we are living within that budget despite claims, usually from opposition managers.
We had 5 senior contracted players last summer all academy lads apart from one senior, that is the reason we have signed so many players, not to buy success as is often suggested as per you asking about FFP.
Nobody was posting on social media about a team being ripped apart and the firesale that took place where received a fraction of the true worth of players, to name a few, Moore (Cardiff), Robinson(Fulham), Kipre(WBA), Lowe(Bournemouth), Morsy and Evans (Ipswich) , and the really galling ones our academy stars Geldhart (Leeds), Weir(Brighton), Devine (Spurs), Joseph (Swansea) the list goes on and on of other proven Championship players all sold for a fraction of their cost, did you read any of that or even about oue administration where the only person or business that was owed anything g was the owner in Hong Kong who had purchased Wigan days before he placed them into administration.

So did Charlie Wyke who scored an impressive 25 goals at Sunderland and was voted their player of the year last year where he would have been well paid come to Wigan and take a pay cut?