Home Match Day Thread 18/5/2021 Play Off L1 OUFC v Blackpool

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Reading their managers assessment of how they watch other teams and stop them playing should ring alarm bells for KR
Blackpool produced a carbon copy performance of what they did here in the league.
Pressed us and scored two first half goals and job done.
How did we not learn and then set up to combat this? Did our players not watch a re run of that game?
Yes Blackpool are a superior team but perhaps we should have played a different formation with Gorrin the side and leave Agyei as the striker with pace for the ball over the top as we soak up pressure and hit them on the break, more like an away game.
Maybe not what the fans want but could be a different outcome
Why should it be down to the players how they “set up”? This is the job of the manager. Ours is incompetent.
 
IF KR sticks to the same team and same tactics on Friday, he'll get the same result! Forde - the more attacking full back has to play (Hanson never overlapped with Lee so he couldn't come inside and offer a threat and support to Taylor). Taylor had little support or service. Gorin too is an experienced and proven 5th defender. Agyei has the pace up front to trouble them if played as a striker rather than abandoned on the wing. Blackpool in the main went 4 4 2. Why didn't we match that?. Their counters were quick, decisive and direct with usually a minimum of 5 in or around our box every time and their centre backs sat back with cover in front of them waiting for any counter. A couple of times Henry split them with a quick pass through the middle but otherwise it was an isolated Barker and the midfield was swamped with a lot of high pressing by them when we tried to play the usual crab style; thus putting the whole team on the back foot with nowhere to go. It appears nothing was learnt from the league meeting when it was a 2 nil loss. If KR and his team can't fathom how to deal with them and put THEM under pressure then I suggest they look at videos of exactly how other teams HAVE beaten them. That said they do have good players and are well organised BUT they are not unbeatable.
 
So what do we actually do to change things then? We've been caught out time and time again because we have one way of playing, and when that works we look brilliant and when it doesn't we look completely hopeless. If we didn't change or line-up or formation for Blackpool then can you tell me what Karl and the staff did change to combat the threat they posed?

And I don't think it's a case of Blackpool completely changing their style game-to-game, they have a solid defensive record so we know how they play and it's not like the go from backs against the wall to all out attack depending on who they're playing. When you're a football manager you have to maximise your returns and work with what you have, and exploiting opposition weaknesses isn't something we do enough.
I'm no football manager so couldn't possibly start to analyse how we tweak our style to accommodate differing styles.

I can imagine the response on here if we'd changed how we played and still lost because there always appears to be a few waiting for an opportunity to criticise, KR and JR seem to be the favourites last night and today.
 
So what do we actually do to change things then? We've been caught out time and time again because we have one way of playing, and when that works we look brilliant and when it doesn't we look completely hopeless. If we didn't change or line-up or formation for Blackpool then can you tell me what Karl and the staff did change to combat the threat they posed?

And I don't think it's a case of Blackpool completely changing their style game-to-game, they have a solid defensive record so we know how they play and it's not like the go from backs against the wall to all out attack depending on who they're playing. When you're a football manager you have to maximise your returns and work with what you have, and exploiting opposition weaknesses isn't something we do enough.
That's the key question for sure. @RyanioBirdio posted many pages earlier contrasting the two teams last night and stressing importance of building up from a solid defence with adequate cover and a consistent playing identity. That's where we're off and has been all season. We're lopsided and without any margins for error or tactical flexibility where it matters most. We got where we did with swashbuckling displays against the weaker or more naive teams. And what fun those games were! We're the pirates of league 1, but a chaotic band with a volatile leader. Blackpool just came at us like a warship with a tidy crew.

Having said that Blackpool's performance last night was exceptional. They held defensive shape better than either team in the Chelsea/Leicester game I watched after getting back and supported one another brilliantly. Even against that machine we still carved a fair few chances and could've sneaked a couple. Hopefully next season we can get more balance to the squad and more appreciation for getting the basics right. Preferably with enough of the sparkle and attacking flair retained to keep the blood pumping.
 
Ha. I just want to see the 'penalty' incident.

Couldn't see fk all from where I was sat. 😡
Have to say, the 'handball' incident was not that far away from our 'wonderful' vantage point in the North stand away section. It looked like hand to ball and the arm looked to be outstretched but, it all happened so quickly that we would have been hard pushed to confirm. I recall, at the time, leaping to my feet and screaming 'penalty' but the itinerant assistant in front of us saw nothing and neither, apparently, did the ref. A lot of players shouted for a penalty but play went on.
I have heard of another shout from the East stand end but we had no chance of seeing that end from our 'wonderful' seats.
 
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Have to say, the 'handball' incident was not that far away from our 'wonderful' vantage point in the North stand away section. It looked like hand to ball and the arm looked to be outstretched but, it all happened so quickly that we would have hard pushed to confirm. I recall, at the time, leaping to my feet and screaming 'penalty' but the itinerant assistant in front of us saw nothing and neither, apparently, did the ref. A lot of players shouted for a penalty but play went on.
I have heard of another shout from the East stand end but we had no chance of seeing that end from our 'wonderful' seats.

Semantics maybe but the ref definitely saw it, he clearly reacted with a 'no penalty' gesture.
 
Lots of people saying last night that we were outplayed. If we don't make the final, I see this as a good thing. So much less painful than losing to a bunch of cheats with the footballing ability of lemons. They showed why they came third and we came sixth, fair play to them.

Of course its easy to look at the game in hindsight and make judgements about where we went wrong. Looking at our side going into the game I thought it was the best side we could put out. Trouble was, we really missed Long. One thing I kept noticing was Moore and Atkinson looking to play it out wide (as if to Long) and not making the pass as Hanson wasn't where they expected. He was also very nervy looking going forward, again as many have said. Should we have played Forde at RB? It certainly might have been an idea in terms of free kick accuracy. If Longy isn't back for Pt 2 I reckon we need Forde in the side, we can't keep wasting set pieces. Even Kelly does better on set pieces than Henry was yesterday.

Barker? Excellent going forward but didn't do a thing unless the ball was at his feet. Sykes I thought deserved MOTM for his work rate if nothing else, he looked like he gave more than one flying flamingo. Centre backs, solid enough but left exposed by the midfield. Agree with whichever poster it was that said Brannagan's move to almost a quarterback position said something about our confidence. Simms and the other bloke were given far too much room to play with.

Winnall. Christ me. I've never been a fan of his but Jesus wept what a waste of space yesterday! Taylor did nowt wrong for the hour he was on, apart from perhaps getting into a few too many Argie-Bargies with the keeper, but he hardly got a sniff of the ball. Maybe his positional play could have been better but not entirely his fault. As soon as Winnall came on I knew things would start to go to pot, and lo and behold, on he comes, does naff all for a few mins and then wastes another substitution with a soft injury. Story of his season. Having to bring on a CDM chasing a game? Would never end well.

Lord Sir Duke King Dan Agyei had a glimmer of something but as usual was a bit too careless with the ball at his feet. If we'd brought him on for Lee and left old Mr Sicknote on the bench I think that would have been a much better tactical play, as I do think he offers a lot. Quite a few people saying Ruffels looked as though he didn't care - I disagree. He actually saved our bacon a couple of times, with blocks and challenges. Can you really see him getting seven goals, seven assists, helping his team to the playoffs and then giving up? Odd suggestion, I think.
Really disappointed with Henry. Again, unfair to suggest that he's a busted flush as he has helped us a lot this season after he recovered from his temporary mental breakdown but I wonder if he just can't cope with pressure. He seems rather rattled in high-stakes scenarios.

So, what to change? Well, Taylor for me needs to play. Agyei can come on, sure, but for me there's no way he can be starting ahead of Taylor. I know this is blindingly obvious but he needs the delivery to be able to score. I think we need to just go all out attacking, if we lose we lose, we're 3-0 down at 'half-time' anyway. Not the attitude I wish I had but we've got a mountain to climb and we're not going to reach the summit if we stand at the bottom for an hour and a half. To quote Kate Bush, we need to be running up that hill, and we need to go hell for leather. This is the case for all teams to a certain extent, but I think Blackpool are very much a side that play with great confidence as long as they're ahead. You saw how scrappy the first twenty minutes were before they got their goal. If we score early, then we're in with a chance. Who expected us to beat Crewe, a side that play passing football, six nil?

It's doable. But we have to attack it.
 
So, what to change? Well, Taylor for me needs to play. Agyei can come on, sure, but for me there's no way he can be starting ahead of Taylor. I know this is blindingly obvious but he needs the delivery to be able to score. I think we need to just go all out attacking, if we lose we lose, we're 3-0 down at 'half-time' anyway. Not the attitude I wish I had but we've got a mountain to climb and we're not going to reach the summit if we stand at the bottom for an hour and a half. To quote Kate Bush, we need to be running up that hill, and we need to go hell for leather. This is the case for all teams to a certain extent, but I think Blackpool are very much a side that play with great confidence as long as they're ahead. You saw how scrappy the first twenty minutes were before they got their goal. If we score early, then we're in with a chance. Who expected us to beat Crewe, a side that play passing football, six nil?

It's doable. But we have to attack it.

Karl won't do this but I would. A 3 5 2 formation, Atkinson Moore Hanson, brannagan, sykes, Henry, shodipo, Barker, agyei and Taylor as a front 2.
 
Simms and Yates are Championship level together. A nightmare for our very good centre backs, who are still very good centre backs by the way.

Main issue for me was Bran coming way too deep. He can't pick the ball up between our (ball playing) CBs and the just pass it sideways to our completely ineffective sidebacks, offensively, in Ruffs and Hanson. I know Ruffs has lots of stats blah blah- but he's not a Cadden or a Baldock. He can't carry the ball up the pitch and he has no pace so the shape just doesn't work.

But taking Bran out the game to do NOTHING in between our two CBs when we have possession makes no sense.

Sykes played very well. Well done him.

Got spanked by a Championship level team. So sad that Friday is now a non event. Robbed me of one of my few joys losing like that in the first leg!
I wouldn’t slate the team for exactly that reason. Having watched Blackpool 3 times now they’ve been very well organised and they make you look bad.
A press cannot work if there is always an outlet ball and their midfield yesterday worked so well to ensure there was always an option. Also they have players who as we’ve seen take their chances few as they might be. My pulse didn’t even raise 1bpm when Sykes was clean through as I didn’t expect him to score.
Other things I noted. We break down our own possession by giving away stupid fouls, mainly Matty Taylor. Just needlessly giving away free kicks but there were others. They play so high up we have / had to move the ball through midfield and slot the ball through into space.
 
It amazes me still the ignorance of comments like this, there are strict instructions given in the lead up to a game by the management and Stevens would have been told to go short to the centrehalfs and ignoring such instruction(s) at this level just would not be accepted.

Problem we have with this, from my personal view is we have one centre half that actively wants the ball and another that seems to clearly not and automatically gives it back whether pressured or not.

Think claiming Stevens was dithering on the ball is more that of a frustrated fan that’s annoyed. it’s clear we struggle to compete for any high balls that originate from the keeper or defence at length due to our lack of height and I personally think it’s more a problem with the midfield not showing for direct passes into their area via a short pass from the keeper or defender, hence the ball goes back. But this maybe us the fan base expecting PL ability from League One players.
Dithering? Yes, clear instructions yes, in that case the coaching staff need a ticket up their a**e. Football you have to use your brain if the keeper has the ball and holds onto it for a short time that gives the opposition time to face up and mark uo and more than likely snub out any potential threat we may have. If the club say to our forward(s) winger(s) to get ready for a quick clearance and catch them on the break, but obviously we don’t do that we sit back and invite them to challenge which believe it or not actually works and makes us look poor.
maybe give Stevens a rest in Friday and give Easty another go m, looks like Cam and Winnall won’t be available so start Forde and tbh I would start Agyei and Shodipo. You never know but highly unlikely we may come out in top.

And no it’s not ignorance it’s what we see never dress anything it makes people look stupid tell it as you see and be honest.

oh and the ref was an absolute joke.
 
I wouldn’t slate the team for exactly that reason. Having watched Blackpool 3 times now they’ve been very well organised and they make you look bad.
A press cannot work if there is always an outlet ball and their midfield yesterday worked so well to ensure there was always an option. Also they have players who as we’ve seen take their chances few as they might be. My pulse didn’t even raise 1bpm when Sykes was clean through as I didn’t expect him to score.
Other things I noted. We break down our own possession by giving away stupid fouls, mainly Matty Taylor. Just needlessly giving away free kicks but there were others. They play so high up we have / had to move the ball through midfield and slot the ball through into space.

This is where Marcus McGuane (or another player of the same type) would have made a difference for me as they would have had to change their tactics as we'd have had an alternative. This is bourne out by runs through the middle caused them problems when we did it yesterday.
 
This is where Marcus McGuane (or another player of the same type) would have made a difference for me as they would have had to change their tactics as we'd have had an alternative. This is bourne out by runs through the middle caused them problems when we did it yesterday.
Absolutely! Exactly what I said last night.
 
Have to say, the 'handball' incident was not that far away from our 'wonderful' vantage point in the North stand away section. It looked like hand to ball and the arm looked to be outstretched but, it all happened so quickly that we would have been hard pushed to confirm. I recall, at the time, leaping to my feet and screaming 'penalty' but the itinerant assistant in front of us saw nothing and neither, apparently, did the ref. A lot of players shouted for a penalty but play went on.
I have heard of another shout from the East stand end but we had no chance of seeing that end from our 'wonderful' seats.
Is it safe to say you didn’t like your seat?
 
Have to say, the 'handball' incident was not that far away from our 'wonderful' vantage point in the North stand away section. It looked like hand to ball and the arm looked to be outstretched but, it all happened so quickly that we would have been hard pushed to confirm. I recall, at the time, leaping to my feet and screaming 'penalty' but the itinerant assistant in front of us saw nothing and neither, apparently, did the ref. A lot of players shouted for a penalty but play went on.
I have heard of another shout from the East stand end but we had no chance of seeing that end from our 'wonderful' seats.

Mark Sykes asked the Ref about the handball just afterwards and the Ref said it had come at him too quickly to be deliberate according to MS's interview on RadOx. As an aside MS sounded utterly crestfallen and he did on the pitch as well. I suspect he was blaming himself for not taking that chance in the 2nd half.
 
Is it safe to say you didn’t like your seat?
It was an unusual place to sit, three rows up from pitch level, block 27. The view wasn't bad, different for sure but you lost sight of the East stand goal and the perspective meant you were never sure where the ball was really going.
Good job we had some wet wipes with us as well, the seats were filthy dirty covered in who knows how many years of grime. The toilets were still displaying evidence of last seasons usage and no hand dryers or paper towels. We've seen worse in other grounds but, this is our home stadium. Stadco should be ashamed and any talk of 'maintenance' is a joke. Even the numbers and row markings had worn away so it was very difficult to work out which seat was which.
Under normal circumstances this would be 'just one of those things' and something to laugh about but we were instructed to sit in our allocated seats, like everyone else and, if you can't identify your allocated seat, what do you do? (we tried asking the stewards - they didn't know either)
It begs the question, what do OUFC pay Stadco for?
 
It was an unusual place to sit, three rows up from pitch level, block 27. The view wasn't bad, different for sure but you lost sight of the East stand goal and the perspective meant you were never sure where the ball was really going.
Good job we had some wet wipes with us as well, the seats were filthy dirty covered in who knows how many years of grime. The toilets were still displaying evidence of last seasons usage and no hand dryers or paper towels. We've seen worse in other grounds but, this is our home stadium. Stadco should be ashamed and any talk of 'maintenance' is a joke. Even the numbers and row markings had worn away so it was very difficult to work out which seat was which.
Under normal circumstances this would be 'just one of those things' and something to laugh about but we were instructed to sit in our allocated seats, like everyone else and, if you can't identify your allocated seat, what do you do? (we tried asking the stewards - they didn't know either)
It begs the question, what do OUFC pay Stadco for?

The toilets hadn't been cleaned in the East Stand either.
 
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