Home Match Day Thread 5/10/2021 PJT: OUFC v Stevenage

[Bath Yellow]

Listened to KR on way home, for once totally agree with what he had to say, he picked a strong side with league 1 experience who let him down badly against an average league 2 side.

 

[Followtheox]

Bye bye Dan, apart from the goal you didn’t seem to want it at all. Each time you get a chance you don’t seem to try. Williams, you seem to be a better right back than a winger you gave the ball away so much and this lead to the equaliser. Joel, sorry you are not ready.

 

[ljs]

Look it’s only the Pizza Cup but what a diabiolical second half. Missed Gorrin most, no strength in the middle of the pitch.

Some have played their way out of the club on that showing. Young Davis completely out of his depth. Didn’t like the team attitude tonight, complacent and unprofessional.

Freed up additional training and rest time for the matches that really matter I guess so not all bad.

Out of all the poor performances tonight the only one you pick out is Davis, who actually did ok... incredible.

 

[Bath Yellow]

1712 ( 42 away )

 

[m]

What scoring and then getting very little service? Why does Henry start games as he did very little? Sykes? Neither played well

Sykes and Henry as part of a midfield 3 is not something you'd repeatedly do in the real world.

Not if you wanted to win football matches.

 

[Junior_1]

Nah I think Eastwood did well tonight. Few important saves, and he’s perfect backup for Stevens.

Despite being at fault for at least one of the goals?

He’s past it and it was a very strange call to give the deal KR did.

 

[Essexyellows]

Some right 'characters' (weirdos) in the East Stand tonight

They were "right siders".................

 

[dabigfella]

t

I think you mean league two don't you?..though Cooper did ok against Oxford City..have no doubt KR knows already and also how hard it is to secure decent front men for what we can spend. But yes it is worrying to be so reliant on MT.

You are right. Modified

 

[Eaststanding]

Davis looked out of his depth, struggled to get with the pace of the game and when he tried to compete he was outmuscled more often than not. When you compare him to the type of player we want and need, ie Brannagan, Kane, Henry etc, he’s got a long way to go to attain that level. Let’s give him time though.
We got our arses spanked tonight, fair play to Stevenage, they looked bright, inventive and well up for it.

 

[dabigfella]

Listening to Robinson afterwards I can't remember him being so totally pissed off.

 

[Mad Dog]

Despite being at fault for at least one of the goals?

He’s past it and it was a very strange call to give the deal KR did.

Disagree.

He’s still a very good keeper, and most teams at this level would be lucky to have him as their first choice keeper, let alone number 2.

 

[unification]

Listening to Robinson afterwards I can't remember him being so totally pissed off.

Funnily enough I remember him being raging after another EFL Trophy match when we lost 5-2 to Bury and he offered fans who had travelled a refund.

I don’t think anyone minds losing. It’s the manner of it and the lack of professionalism from players who should be playing their part in first team affairs that rankles.

 

[Thomas/Brock/Jones]

Davis looked out of his depth, struggled to get with the pace of the game and when he tried to compete he was outmuscled more often than not. When you compare him to the type of player we want and need, ie Brannagan, Kane, Henry etc, he’s got a long way to go to attain that level. Let’s give him time though.
We got our arses spanked tonight, fair play to Stevenage, they looked bright, inventive and well up for it.

Completely disagree , after an obvious time to find his feet as a young player making his debut he showed , wanted the ball and looked to have a bit of skill about him .
Amazed he is singled out with Ageyi, Cooper , Williams, were poor .

 

[Jolteon]

After sleeping on it I'm still in disbelief at how inept our attack was yesterday. People are constantly clamouring for Agyei to get more minutes, me included, but goal aside (which Winnall and Taylor both would've scored as well as one or two other chances he had) he was really quite poor. Every single time the ball went into his feet we lost possession, and he made no attempt to run in behind despite this wicked pace and strength he's supposed to have. After tonight I'm firmly in the "new striker needed" camp for January, whereas in the summer I thought Agyei was good enough backup. A real shame because in his purple patch at the end of last season he looked like he was about to become a beast of a player. I don't know if it's a case of trying too hard or letting the want to do well get to him mentally, but I'm genuinely gutted with how he's performed this season because he seems a lovely bloke and the talent is in there deep down somewhere.

Cooper tried really hard. You could see how badly he wanted to do well and impress. And I think the occasion got to him quite badly and the resultant performance was conference level at best. For a tricky winger, I don't recall him successfully beating his full back once the entire game. Consistent misplaced passes and positionally took up some weird positions and at times you could see Seddon stop in his tracks on the ball because the wing option was nowhere to be seen.

As much as I really want Cooper and Agyei to come good, they aren't young prospects with a bright future anymore. Agyei is 24 and Cooper is 25, at this age they should be impacting games at this level. Our squad is full of players around the same age - Moore, Thornily, Seddon, McNally, CamBran, Sykes, Holland, Whyte, Stevens, Kane and McGuane are all in the 22-25 age range and all bar McGuane have had big impacts on games this season. That's the level that Agyei and Cooper should be at ability and consistency wise, and neither are there. Get them both out on a League 2 loan in January, give them a few months to try and show what they can do, if they do well throw a contract in front of them and hope, if they don't then let them go end of the season so they can try and make a playing career for themselves elsewhere. I so want both to do well here - but the target is the Championship and I don't think either has shown enough to suggest they can be options when we get there.

For some balance so it doesn't look like I'm just targeting those two (really not my intention!), I thought the link ups on both sides were really poor. Seddon/Cooper just seemed to have no chemistry and Seddon gave the ball away a lot, and on the other side I never want to see Forde and Williams link up on the wing again. I think both are really good players and will play big parts this season, but bloody hell they were rubbish last night and gave the ball away consistently. Maybe they're too similar of a player and got in each others way? Whatever the issue, Whyte and Sykes ahead of Williams for now please.

I also think that the midfield didn't seem to know what positions they were playing. Given his positioning against Wednesday, I didn't really question how often CamBran was attacking the opposition box, but with a midfield three of him, Sykes and Henry, surely CamBran was supposed to be in the holding role? Whatever the midfield setup, it meant the CBs weren't protected enough for the two goals by the midfield and that's on all of them. Maybe the dominance in the opening 30 meant they were all chasing the attacking prospects too much and forgetting that, despite being a L2 side, Stevenage could still attack us.

Last word for Easty - weirdly I thought he had a pretty good game. Made some excellent stops in the first half and made sure we went in 1-0 up when a weaker keeper would've meant we went in potentially even behind. But his positioning for the first goal - I have no clue what he was doing so far out the goal. All the attacker had to do was hit the corner and Easty had no chance of saving it because the ball was past him before he could get down to save it. Bizarre positioning. I think giving him the long term contract was a good move - as a backup keeper he's more than adequate and it keeps our little group of keepers together to help Jack keep growing and learning. But I don't think he'll be unseating Jack any time soon - which if I'm honest is a good thing because Jack is a quality keeper who will only improve.

Blimey, didn't think I'd have so much to say after a meaningless Pizza trophy game, but that performance was proper crap and KR was rightly pissed off. If that was a league game I'd be seething - as it is it's a strong perturbed but not upset.

 

[BigAlan]

Well what a rubbish performance, Ageyi is a let down, scored in 10 minutes, missed a sitter then went home.

Cooper, shows he has skill but no muscle, simply gets pushed off the ball every time and about a foot to short.

Williams, as the Pompey Fans said, lots of flair but no end product.

Davis, looked to pass the ball straight away, I am still out on him.

All in all a bad night, lets hope the rest will do some good as if we continue like that “we’re doomed”.

 

[oufc1991]

Well I for one am happy I fell asleep and didn’t watch that shower of s**t performance

 

[bazzer9461]

Without trying to defend Agyei as he was poor after his goal, we as per pass out from the back and keep it and around the back so our forward line up don’t get much chance with the ball very rarely go long. Yesterday Stevenage played out of the back but went forward in doing so rather than pissing around with tippy tappy football In defence. Gillingham went long most of the time and had a forward pairing who could win the ball and on occasion make something with it…..why don’t we?especially batter that P**s poor performance last night.

 

[Bigfella72]

What scoring and then getting very little service? Why does Henry start games as he did very little? Sykes? Neither played well

I’ve said it before Dan, you’re not a striker, you’re a wide attacking forward and mainly useful as a sub to come on with 20 or so minutes remaining.

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

Nah I think Eastwood did well tonight. Few important saves, and he’s perfect backup for Stevens.

Did well?!

He made some good saves in the first half, sure - but was totally at fault for the goals. Absolutely guarantee that Jack Stevens or a decent keeper saves the second goal, and I think there’s a good chance the first as well.

 

[Swaby39]

Without trying to defend Agyei as he was poor after his goal, we as per pass out from the back and keep it and around the back so our forward line up don’t get much chance with the ball very rarely go long. Yesterday Stevenage played out of the back but went forward in doing so rather than pissing around with tippy tappy football In defence. Gillingham went long most of the time and had a forward pairing who could win the ball and on occasion make something with it…..why don’t we?especially batter that P**s poor performance last night.

Let’s not go over this again - the style is not the problem, it is the execution which will not be perfect every game and granted last night, it was a hard watch due a lack of energy and determination. We got two excellent wins last week from that style and it worked for us just fine then. If every time we lose we’re going to blame the type of football, it’s an absolutely pointless debate. You can just as easily lose games playing any other way.

Yesterday just came down to mentality and personnel. We didn’t want to win, we didn’t care about first balls let alone the second and third and it was as if those players thought it was a dead rubber. Maybe it was. But some have blown a good opportunity to show they should be playing so they can’t have any arguments if they remain in the cold until the FA cup comes around.

We’ve had people harping on about Agyei non-stop and we all got a glimpse of why he doesn’t play - he’s a different type of player to what we’re used to but he simply isn’t good enough. After his goal he may as well have gone home yet people want KR to trust him in a promotion chase. It’s down to him to get involved, make the right runs, demand the ball etc etc. Plenty of players in there to pick him out if he got on his bike.