Home Match Day Thread 01/11/2022 L1: OUFC v Fleetwood Town

[bazzer9461]

If that gate was declared at over 6,000 we must have borrowed MK Dons calculator.

Well my ST was there in my wallet in my trousers sat at home

 

[werthersoriginal]

Well my ST was there in my wallet in my trousers sat at home

We don't want to think about your trousers Bazzer.

BTW last night I spotted a guy who sits near me posting on here! I think I might have worked out who it is but I won't be outing you, don't worry.

 

[The mighty Aldo]

We don't want to think about your trousers Bazzer.

BTW last night I spotted a guy who sits near me posting on here! I think I might have worked out who it is but I won't be outing you, don't worry.

Must be a female because as my wife keeps telling me men can’t do two things at once

 

[oufc1991]

Must be a female because as my wife keeps telling me men can’t do two things at once

To be fair not many people were watching the first half

 

[bazzer9461]

We don't want to think about your trousers Bazzer.

BTW last night I spotted a guy who sits near me posting on here! I think I might have worked out who it is but I won't be outing you, don't worry.

At home mate I have covid

 

[oufc1991]

At home mate I have covid

Lucky you I wish I had a good excuse


Ps:as long as your well with it

 

[AbsoluteZero]

Should have been one down after 10 seconds, was one down after 90 seconds. Eastwood hopeless again. His clean sheet record as a proportion of total games played must be amongst the worst of any goalkeeper ever in the game. Always makes one terrible error per game that leads to a goal. But looking at McGinty in the warm up he looks a long way off so the need to score at least twice in a game to get a win will continue with Eastwood between the sticks for a while longer yet. Needed a number 1 keeper to come straight into the side, not sign a prospect like McGinty. Good keepers in a promotion side can easily win a side 10-15 points per season. We are in negative points with our keeper.

Marcus Browne for the price we paid and the wages he is on has been hopeless.

McGuane can knit together the play quite nicely if you like sideways passes, but do we need him to do it stood between the two central defenders? He needs his starting position to be at least 10-15 yards further forward. At the moment it is 'nice' but totally ineffective, not in any way decisive or game changing, slow, and basically completely unnecessary in the area of the pitch that he plays in as it contributes very little other than it adds another pass in the stats when an uninterrupted pass between the 2 CDs would have done the job anyway. He did actually have a long range shot on target against Fleetwood so maybe things can change.

To scout the whole of Europe for a right back, plump for Anderson, even get Lazio to put him on their bench to get his work permit ticked, and then not play him at right back when he is needed having already waited almost 2 months for him to get fit is atrocious. So maybe he is a RWB. So that still doesn't mean Seddon plays RB in a 4, it means Anderson plays RWB in a 5 and find someone to play LWB (not Seddon). I thought we paid a decent fee, probably decent agents fee, and decent wages to get him as we were desperate for a right back. So not playing him there basically is an admission that our manager messed up with his recruitment again. It is very easy to get a list of right backs in the UK and Europe. Anyone could have done a better job than our manager and recruitment team finding one that actually fitted the job description of 'Plays Right Back'. I have cut KR a bit of slack the last few weeks and said we should wait until the end of November. But this ever depressing right back debacle is turning into yet another big negative to beat our manager with.

And just to point out that our best performance over the last few weeks has happened when our manager was sat in the stands.

 

[The mighty Aldo]

To be fair not many people were watching the first half

True, I even went early for a tea and a pee

 

[windmill]

Egg seems to have gone off the boil.

 

[Oxford1996]

Egg seems to have gone off the boil.

To be fair to @Scotchegg he said Karl needs to go about 10 days ago & isn’t wrong.

The sooner he goes the better as the fan base can get behind a new man (hopefully Critchley) and get this club moving forward.

 

[Thomas/Brock/Jones]

I suspect the new board are just lining up the ducks before pulling the trigger .

 

[OX14]

100%.

There was no way there was 6k+ in there last night.

Season ticket holders are counted regardless. Atleast 10 were missing near me last night that are regulars.

 

[OX14]

We don't want to think about your trousers Bazzer.

BTW last night I spotted a guy who sits near me posting on here! I think I might have worked out who it is but I won't be outing you, don't worry.

 

[cecantena]

Have been hesitant to post recently due to the anti KR regime, lies being spread and only being able to make a few games this season due to ill health.

I went up expecting a tough game where we struggled to break down the away side and it's exactly what we got - as bad as we were in the first half, I thought Fleetwood were excellent. They harried us in midfield and shut off the passing angle to our wings all the time, quick to get the ball up to their front 2 (number 7 was the best player on the park) and allowed their wide centre backs to burst forward. We couldn't cope with it at all and the two left footers on our right (Seddon + Bate) weakened us hugely, making us too predictable. A change should have come way sooner than half time, even tactical, but it never happened, so the first half was a write off.

Second half we came out firing and Gatlin gave their centre backs something to think about with his pace and raw talent. Good tenacity to nick the touch for his goal. Then the 5 minutes after that were great, we were running with pace at them, passing quicker, winning the second ball, and I thought we'd win comfortably from there. Then, for some reason, we hit panic mode - passes were going astray and Cam was smashing it from all sorts of distances trying to score a screamer. f*****g infuriating. Took way too long for Henry + Goodrham to get on the pitch, Anderson and Bate were notably knackered by the 60th minute.

Fleetwood then started getting threatening on the counter and the last 30 minutes were 50/50 in terms of who was going to win, in truth they had the better chances and a good save from Easty kept us in it. Overall a very frustrating night, we were miles off it IMO, and a draw was the fair result. Credit to the 69 Cod army who came down, that's dedication for you.

Player ratings -

Eastwood - 6 - Could have done better for their goal but a good save late on to keep us level, kicking was improved and looked more assured on set pieces.

Seddon - 3 - He's barely capable at left back let alone right back, a constant weak link for us all night, nicked a header off Brown when he was in a much better position to head on target.

Moore - 5 - Got the run around from Mendes Gomes all night to be honest, done for pace all the time and looked weak.

Findlay - 6 - Definitely the better of the centre backs, he looks a lot more assured and I think he is fantastic at his job - DEFENDING! - but struggles in a high line.

Brown - 6 - You always know what you're getting with Brown, it'll always be a 6 at minimum and an 8 on a good day, I like his attitude and work rate.

Bate - 5.5 - First half he was poor and struggled to get across the pitch or have an effect but first 15 of the second half he was good, can see why he's highly rated for his technical ability but don't think he has a 90 minutes in him yet which is worrying.

Mcguane - 7 - Other than GO'D he was our best player, his work rate is top notch and he pushed us forward, there's a case for him being MOTM in every game so far this season, our POTY elect.

Brannagan - 5 - Outfought in the first half and frustrated in the second, took way too many pot shots when a pass was the better option, needs to get his head up, calm down and play himself back into matches.

Anderson - 6 - Weird one with Djavan, he looked miles off it when we were out of possession, but when he had the ball at his feet he created things, ran at players and won a few corners. Didn't help he had to play with his back to goal, he looks like a perfect RWB to me, shocked he didn't move to RB in the second half. Tired by an hour.

Browne - 3 - Not sure whether he was injured or not but that first half was completely unacceptable, a lack of work rate, fight and was about to get himself sent off. He's a player who turns up once every 5 games and whilst on his day is arguably our best player we cannot afford to carry passengers.

Joseph - 6.5 - Deserves a higher rating than Anderson purely for his heart and fight but not much came off for him on the ball, noticed he was hobbling late on so hopefully nothing serious. Maybe earned himself a rest on Sunday anyway.





Gatlin - 7 - Changed the game when he came on, gave us a target and had some good link up play, took his goal well and had a few decent shots after that too. Nathan sounded embarrassed to read his name out for MOTM, but in truth the players should be more embarrassed that an 18 year old who came on at HT outperformed and outfought them.

Henry and Goodrham - 5 - Should have been on the pitch way earlier than they were and can't recall either doing much.

Jones - not on long enough either but noticed he looked a lot more bulked up than in pre season

Would like to see you post more often. Well done!

 

[Sarge]

To be fair not many people were watching the first half

I did ..... twas a shitstorm (for me) from 5.15pm onwards.... took 68 minutes to travel from OX3 to the 'bird, Headley way, London road (H'ton), Old Road, The Slade and especially Hollow way all moving at sub snail pace- got to the 'bird, to find they'd run out of my usual choice of pre match tipple in there- arrived at the turnstitle my plastic season ticket refused/ declined! luckily ( or not as the first half turned out, a friendly steward 'vouched' for me and told the turnstile operator to let me through- it turned out, my dad had lost/ misplaced his plastic ST card, he sits 4 seats away from me, ticket office issued him a paper/card ticket for the game, but not for His seat, instead for MY seat!)- get into the breeze block to find wi-fi signal is even worse than it usually is, up n down like a f*****g yo-yo...... then the game kicked off, .... that had to be one of the poorest first half performances Ive witnessed from an OUFC team in a long time

thank God for GO'D- and a much more cohesive, battling 2nd half showing

 

[bazzer9461]

To be fair to @Scotchegg he said Karl needs to go about 10 days ago & isn’t wrong.

The sooner he goes the better as the fan base can get behind a new man (hopefully Critchley) and get this club moving forward.

But he also started to revert in the past couple of days to backing him.

 

[Oxymoron]

Season ticket holders are counted regardless. At least 10 were missing near me last night that are regulars.

Half a dozen missing from our row - turns out the M40 was shut between J4/J5 and they couldn't get to the game

 

[Yellowmania]

I don’t think I’ve seen another team master off the ball tactics quite like Fleetwood did last night. There players constantly obstructed both Gatlins and Joseph’s runs off the ball. Also holding a player down on the ground “accidentally”.
It’s a tactic they were well drilled in, difficult for the ref to see everything but the other officials could have helped him out.

 

[werthersoriginal]

I don’t think I’ve seen another team master off the ball tactics quite like Fleetwood did last night. There players constantly obstructed both Gatlins and Joseph’s runs off the ball. Also holding a player down on the ground “accidentally”.
It’s a tactic they were well drilled in, difficult for the ref to see everything but the other officials could have helped him out.

Obstructed and in some cases wrestled to the ground! I really hope they go down soon and vanish, they're always a horrible bunch though they did play some decent football last night too.

 

[Swaby39]

Agree with most of that but not Eastwood last night.

I was in the East Stand directly behind that shot and it dipped and swerved at the last minute. Nothing else Eastwood could do. However Findlay and Moore should have done much better in closing the player down. We were all over the place in the first 15 minutes.
After that Eastwood kept us in the game with two cracking saves

My criticism of Eastwood is not so much the isolated incident as such. But a pattern has emerged with him that shots outside the box give him much more trouble than they should. I can accept last night’s mishap if it were a freak. But it’s not, it’s happening time and time again.

I have to remind myself this is L1 sometimes and not to expect too much of players - they will make errors at this level. But I think you’re being generous to him and if you’re brutally honest with yourself, should a 30 yard shot he doesn’t need to dive for be causing him that much trouble. I’m not suggesting he should catch it… But that ball shouldn’t end up where it did.

But as I say, last night can happen. But he is so incredibly vulnerable from long range efforts that I think fleetwood planned that, to their credit. They did it again later in the game in an almost identical position. Sorry to say he is a weakness in this side, among others.