Home Match Day Thread 20/03/2021 L1 OUFC v Blackpool

[bazzer9461]

Probably agree with that which makes the situation even worse
Don’t want to be Wycombe
Coventry were a really good side last year and look where they are. It is a huge jump and at the moment we are way off

Luton have done pretty well sailed close to relegation last season but this season seemed to have improved and their budget is one of the lowest in the championship

 

[Followtheox1]

Probably agree with that which makes the situation even worse
Don’t want to be Wycombe
Coventry were a really good side last year and look where they are. It is a huge jump and at the moment we are way off

Yes agree, we are more likely to go the way of Wycome than Luton and Coventry. Having said that, it is difficult to know who we would bring in etc. I would say atleast one of Atkinson, Moore or Brannigan will be sold at the end of season. That is, of course, unless there is promises of new investment etc

 

[The mighty Aldo]

Luton have done pretty well sailed close to relegation last season but this season seemed to have improved and their budget is one of the lowest in the championship

Barnsley are also going well after a bad season
If we could model ourselves on Brentford that would be great

 

[PottersRightBoot]

We really missed Henry yesterday. He has the craft and cleverness that too many others in the squad lack. We also really needed Sam
Long. Because the physical battle was lost in the first 30 minutes. He has faults but he’s a warrior.

Hanson is not and never will be a ‘cultured passer’. He has a good engine, some pace and bags of attitude. But nowhere near good enough for higher echelons of league 1.

We also clearly dropped a ricket by recruiting an unfit Elliot Lee.

Amazingly we are still in the hunt which just shows how mediocre a league this is.
Predict we will have decent results in next two games and will then get tonked by the Mackems.

 

[behindthegoal]

A win and we're good and a good chance to make the playoffs.
A loss and we're crap... we've no chance of play offs.
.
What we think of Blackpool , I bet Doncaster were saying the same about us
FFS ,it's football, let's wait and see

 

[werthersoriginal]

We really missed Henry yesterday. He has the craft and cleverness that too many others in the squad lack. We also really needed Sam
Long. Because the physical battle was lost in the first 30 minutes. He has faults but he’s a warrior.

Hanson is not and never will be a ‘cultured passer’. He has a good engine, some pace and bags of attitude. But nowhere near good enough for higher echelons of league 1.

We also clearly dropped a ricket by recruiting an unfit Elliot Lee.

Amazingly we are still in the hunt which just shows how mediocre a league this is.
Predict we will have decent results in next two games and will then get tonked by the Mackems.

Indeed. Henry is our cleverest and most skilful player and Sam our most dynamic. Hanson is a donkey but tackles like a beast which can be useful as long as he doesn’t give the ball away too disastrously

 

[DevilsAvocado]

Interesting points, I am not actually convinced Hanson does have the quality you speak about on the ball. I have never seen it. Our lack of goals from midfield is a real problem.

Thanks,

Thought he was pretty decent v Doncaster, he hit a couple of long diagonals that were pinpoint and
had 1 excellent 40 yard pass up the right to Shodipo that really had the defence scrambling. With time
and space he is reasonable enough, press him and he falls apart.

If the midfield keeps that up until the end of the season we might be in the running for a pub quiz
question along the lines of In the entire history of football which team has the lowest contribution in
terms of goals and assists from a midfield for an entire season at any level ! Like you said, a real problem.

 

[OxfordNondie]

34 pages and we talk about individuals

Again its Tinker man KR

Stick with a winning side please and only change when that fails

The only trouble we have changed it so many times be like pre season before they get to know how to play together as a team.

 

[Scotchegg]

34 pages and we talk about individuals

Again its Tinker man KR

Stick with a winning side please and only change when that fails

The only trouble we have changed it so many times be like pre season before they get to know how to play together as a team.

You're ramblings would have more validity if we hadn't started with 10 of those that battered Doncaster 4 days before!

 

[Concretebob]

Win on Tuesday and as long as Blackpool don’t beat P’boro, we go sixth do we not?

Don't you be coming on here with your bloody optimism! We've choked!

 

[Concretebob]

I can't believe I didn't notice that the season had finished!

Yeah that was quick...

 

[RyanioBirdio]

Don't you be coming on here with your bloody optimism!

Sorry mate, can’t help it. It’s this damn confidence train that somebody told me about recently. Game changer. The positive bus was crap and filled with sandwich munching anoraks, but this train is excellent. You can buy a Yorkie for £1.50 and a can of Strongbow for a fiver. It’s a proper treat.

 

[Daviddidcotexile]

Blackpool had a shot wide and Stevens dived so late the ball had virtually gone into the stands before he took off. Not sure what that was all about. Is that poor reflexes or did I miss something

 

[Common Villager]

When teams press us high we need to play longer balls in behind quicker. We have pace in the team with Barker and Agyei (when he plays), and we need to make the most of it. The former would beat every single right back in this league in a foot race, so we should just put it into the corner and let him go after it.

As others have said, none of our midfielders have the ability to carry the ball forward (the injured McGuane aside), and our full backs are not the best on the ball, so we become very predictable and easy to nullify. The side to side passing followed by an aimless chip onto the heads of the opposition centre backs is hard to watch.

I'm a big Taylor fan, but against the better teams throughout the run in I think we must start with Agyei, or perhaps even better play the two together. Matty's hold up play is decent and he wins a lot in the air for his size, but Agyei can push the opposition defence back 10 yards or so just through his pace and power. Our midfield needs space to operate at its best and at the moment they're not getting it.

 

[DevilsAvocado]

Blackpool had a shot wide and Stevens dived so late the ball had virtually gone into the stands before he took off. Not sure what that was all about. Is that poor reflexes or did I miss something

Think he was guilty of pushing the i will go for everything concept a bit too far on this occasion, great attitude but seeing him fly through
the air as the ball is about to bounce back to him from the stand behind was not a great look, if it happened at the other end i probably
would have laughed.
10/10 for effort though, love the they shall not pass attitude even if its a lost cause.

 

[bazzer9461]

Barnsley are also going well after a bad season
If we could model ourselves on Brentford that would be great

Would be good but we would need to increase our attendance to justify spending a lot of money on quality, and once we were in the championship then we could start paying northwards of £750k on a single player to sustain ourselves in the championship

 

[OX14]

Having said that, it is difficult to know who we would bring in etc. I would say atleast one of Atkinson, Moore or Brannigan will be sold at the end of season. That is, of course, unless there is promises of new investment etc

Can't see any teams in the championship coming in with an offer we can't refuse on any of them 3 this summer, Moore has had a decent season but not championship standard yet in my opinion, Atkinson is still learning and is not experienced enough, Brannigan hasn't hit the form he was at before the eye injury.

If anything the only player I see that was going to get pinched was Stevens but his new contract has probably stopped that possibility now.

We are clearly short in quality in some areas of the pitch and I would say this will be Robbo's job to address in the summer.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

When teams press us high we need to play longer balls in behind quicker. We have pace in the team with Barker and Agyei (when he plays), and we need to make the most of it. The former would beat every single right back in this league in a foot race, so we should just put it into the corner and let him go after it.

As others have said, none of our midfielders have the ability to carry the ball forward (the injured McGuane aside), and our full backs are not the best on the ball, so we become very predictable and easy to nullify. The side to side passing followed by an aimless chip onto the heads of the opposition centre backs is hard to watch.

I'm a big Taylor fan, but against the better teams throughout the run in I think we must start with Agyei, or perhaps even better play the two together. Matty's hold up play is decent and he wins a lot in the air for his size, but Agyei can push the opposition defence back 10 yards or so just through his pace and power. Our midfield needs space to operate at its best and at the moment they're not getting it.

What Agyei gives you is somebody who can make things happen on his own up front. His pace and power and willingness to get on the turn means that he can receive the ball and push you up the pitch, and doesn’t need things putting on a plate. If you don’t have a supply line he is more than happy to be the one causing problems on his own, which means the opposition naturally starts to drop back to deal with him once he has a couple of runs at the defence. If you’re being pressed he’s ideal because he’s willing to spin someone and just run forward, as well as run the channels at pace, so you can move the ball up the pitch and push the game into the other half. You need an out ball if you’re being pressed - it has to be able to stick and then you need a way to turn that into a forward movement to drag their players deeper. Taylor is top dog and rightfully so, but penalty box poachers aren’t often effective when trying to overcome teams that are shutting down the supply lines. Taylor needs feeding; Agyei is willing to rummage for scraps. If you want to overcome a press then you have to prevent it if you can’t break it. We’re very quick to say that teams pressing us cuts our supply lines, but we don’t seem to do much to nullify the press.

 

[werthersoriginal]

What Agyei gives you is somebody who can make things happen on his own up front. His pace and power and willingness to get on the turn means that he can receive the ball and push you up the pitch, and doesn’t need things putting on a plate. If you don’t have a supply line he is more than happy to be the one causing problems on his own, which means the opposition naturally starts to drop back to deal with him once he has a couple of runs at the defence. If you’re being pressed he’s ideal because he’s willing to spin someone and just run forward, as well as run the channels at pace, so you can move the ball up the pitch and push the game into the other half. You need an out ball if you’re being pressed - it has to be able to stick and then you need a way to turn that into a forward movement to drag their players deeper. Taylor is top dog and rightfully so, but penalty box poachers aren’t often effective when trying to overcome teams that are shutting down the supply lines. Taylor needs feeding; Agyei is willing to rummage for scraps. If you want to overcome a press then you have to prevent it if you can’t break it. We’re very quick to say that teams pressing us cuts our supply lines, but we don’t seem to do much to nullify the press.

Yes that’s why always think about Agyei, he can make things happen even though he won’t poach as many goals as Taylor

 

[Paul Cannell]

You're ramblings would have more validity if we hadn't started with 10 of those that battered Doncaster 4 days before!

Sorry for this, but the reason we battered Doncaster is because they let us play our way. It was a schoolboy error. They gave us control from the off, thus the raised tempo.

Thinking Blackpool would do exactly the same wasn't very clever either.

We have a decent defence (far better with Long) and 3 excellent attacking players: Taylor, Barker and Agyei, plus a fairly pedestrian midfield that lacks guile (if only Lee or Henry was fit we'd be better).

As long as we only set up with Taylor up front we're asking to be fucked. The reason we can't pass it out is because there's no movement forward and no threat apart from Barker and Taylor who can be nullified by doubling up on them.

Switching our attack around by playing Agyei and Taylor alternately and even together with Barker and his help mate Shodipo is the only way at the moment to give the opposition fear, and doing that switch regularly will make their manager (if he watches football at all) have to pick his system to meet an undefined threat rather than the same old thing we go with every time.

Props to @PottersRightBoot and @RyanioBirdio who seem to watch the same matches I do. God knows what half the posters here do during games.