Home Match Day Thread 11/03/2023 L1: OUFC v Derby County

[uptheus]

3rd was Long OG

I think this was harsh so I’d give that to the striker, as his initial header is heading towards the goal, but with the slightest of ricochets off of Long.

Weirdly, in real-time I thought Long had headed it straight in in an attempt to clear the ball!

 

[uptheus]

Encouraging yesterday I thought. Manning will have seen frailties for sure but I thought there were signs we can start to pick up a bit. Play like that in the next two and we will come away with at least 4 points.

On a separate note, I was a bit surprised there was no formal introduction of him to the crowd. To be fair, it could have been on his say so in respect to everyone staying focussed on the game. It reminded me of a time I found myself in one of the lounges post match a day or so after Waddock had been appointed and Lenagan was doing a speech and went to hand the mic to Waddock to say some words and he went bright red, looked as shy as they come and declined to speak ! Had my reservations about him from that moment onwards to be honest.

My concern is, we looked the better team last week against Lincoln too, but in both games we come away with nothing, so a worrying trend, especially as we always look like conceding and not scoring. The only positive from yesterday was, we actually scored a couple of goals, so hopefully gives them some belief that they can score.

We just look weak defensively, and look like we’ll concede too easily. We panic defensively, almost trying too hard, thus over committing ourselves and then leaving spaces in behind. Also, we don’t clear our lines with conviction. When Derby cleared the ball they put it beyond our defenders meaning our defenders have to turn to retrieve the ball, thus giving them time to reset etc, whereas, when we clear the ball we tend to play it in front of them meaning they can come onto the ball quicker leaving us less time to reset/get organised.

 

[RgYellows]

Extended match ’highlights’ :

Shambolic defending for their three goals. First goal I think Henry gives away a soft for-kick , Long heads it into a dangerous area, they win the second
ball and recycle it out wide. Long is miles away from his man and does not do enough to block the low ball in. Browne fails to track Sibley who easily gets in front of Moore.

Whilst Long does probably get caught a bit too central, we are a few seconds away from defending a free kick and he is playing RCB rather than RB. Long should have responsibilities between the posts in those situations, because he's one of our best aerial presences.

The man who puts the cross in is the free kick taker, which for me makes him the responsibility of the player in the wall for at least some of what follows.

The second is slapstick after Brown gives away a needless free-kick and Henry misses a tackle as Sibley bamboozles him and shoots high past Eastwood with his weaker right foot.

Also not sure what happened to Findlay re-watching that on TV?

The third goal - wow.

Terrible pass to Findlay , Poor clearance, we turn it over for fun and the defence is too deep , no pressure on the cross from the right where Long and Moore allow Collins a free header in the box. It’s a giveaway.

Bate also had a bad pass intercepted that forced a very good save from Easteood in the first half. This one really did no favours, on Findlays weaker side as well.

I'm not sure Findlay could have physically put any more on the clearance from that position so his error is really in decision making - could have gone back to Eastwood (which none of our defence likes to do) or just hit out for a throw.

Bate and AN Other giving the Derby player that much space to put in a cross was awful. Long and Moore similarly allowing Collins to get to the ball. Moore sometimes plays with fire (shouting at refs) but rarely with aggression in the challenge, which we really need from a senior player of his stature.

 

[sonofivan]

Warning re: Cheltenham match in a couple of weeks. A truly brilliant goal from Alfie May at Peterboro today.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1634576513256554496

Great hit! And lovely to see the Cheltenham players celebrate with all 7 of their fans afterwards

 

[uptheus]

Whilst Long does probably get caught a bit too central, we are a few seconds away from defending a free kick and he is playing RCB rather than RB. Long should have responsibilities between the posts in those situations, because he's one of our best aerial presences.

The man who puts the cross in is the free kick taker, which for me makes him the responsibility of the player in the wall for at least some of what follows.



Also not sure what happened to Findlay re-watching that on TV?



Bate also had a bad pass intercepted that forced a very good save from Easteood in the first half. This one really did no favours, on Findlays weaker side as well.

I'm not sure Findlay could have physically put any more on the clearance from that position so his error is really in decision making - could have gone back to Eastwood (which none of our defence likes to do) or just hit out for a throw.

Bate and AN Other giving the Derby player that much space to put in a cross was awful. Long and Moore similarly allowing Collins to get to the ball. Moore sometimes plays with fire (shouting at refs) but rarely with aggression in the challenge, which we really need from a senior player of his stature.

Firstly, it’s a poor ball by Bate which puts Findlay under pressure, but I felt at the time Findlay could have played a simply ball out to Brown on the touch line, but as we all know Findlay lacks composure on the ball, especially if he’s under pressure/being closed down. He also lacks the ability at times to open his body up by looking to his left and playing a simple ball to Brown.

 

[uptheus]

Great hit! And lovely to see the Cheltenham players celebrate with all 7 of their fans afterwards

And more worryingly, picking up a great result before they play us!

 

[holdsteady]

Findlay might be alright as a defender but he is comically bad as an actual footballer, his passing is no better than the average Sunday league footballer.

If he is going to play then you have to miss him out of the passing and just have him there to defend, he makes a simple 10 yard pass look hard work.

A strange situation with how long we chased him for, we have signed a lot better centre backs than him from all over the British isles with pretty minimal effort, we could of just got better for cheaper without the fuss.

 

[Northstandboy]

Encouraging yesterday I thought. Manning will have seen frailties for sure but I thought there were signs we can start to pick up a bit. Play like that in the next two and we will come away with at least 4 points.

On a separate note, I was a bit surprised there was no formal introduction of him to the crowd. To be fair, it could have been on his say so in respect to everyone staying focussed on the game. It reminded me of a time I found myself in one of the lounges post match a day or so after Waddock had been appointed and Lenagan was doing a speech and went to hand the mic to Waddock to say some words and he went bright red, looked as shy as they come and declined to speak ! Had my reservations about him from that moment onwards to be honest.

I’m sure the club looked at social media and saw the underwhelm and maybe worried of a few grumbles from the fans?

 

[OxfordYankee]

I’m sure the club looked at social media and saw the underwhelm and maybe worried of a few grumbles from the fans?

If that was the case, they should’ve introduced him, identified the grumblers and banned them from returning.

Anyone who can’t get behind the man, whether he was their choice or not, has no place inside the stadium at a point the club needs its fans to actually support the team.

 

[Yellow River]

My concern is, we looked the better team last week against Lincoln too, but in both games we come away with nothing, so a worrying trend, especially as we always look like conceding and not scoring. The only positive from yesterday was, we actually scored a couple of goals, so hopefully gives them some belief that they can score.

We just look weak defensively, and look like we’ll concede too easily. We panic defensively, almost trying too hard, thus over committing ourselves and then leaving spaces in behind. Also, we don’t clear our lines with conviction. When Derby cleared the ball they put it beyond our defenders meaning our defenders have to turn to retrieve the ball, thus giving them time to reset etc, whereas, when we clear the ball we tend to play it in front of them meaning they can come onto the ball quicker leaving us less time to reset/get organised.

I’d say we usually make a decent initial clearance, but too often don’t win the 2nd or 3rd ball as it bounces round, the opposition recycle it quickly and we’re all out of position.

Not helped by the non replacement of Gorrin since November 2021.

 

[RgYellows]

If that was the case, they should’ve introduced him, identified the grumblers and banned them from returning.

Anyone who can’t get behind the man, whether he was their choice or not, has no place inside the stadium at a point the club needs its fans to actually support the team.

Will you cover the lost ticket revenue or are you thinking that the owners should pick up that bill for you?

 

[OxfordYankee]

Will you cover the lost ticket revenue or are you thinking that the owners should pick up that bill for you?

I’m sure the owners would agree with me.

If you can’t get behind the club now, you serve no purpose to it.

 

[RgYellows]

I’m sure the owners would agree with me.

If you can’t get behind the club now, you serve no purpose to it.

I don't think you understand how billionaires think.

But if you're right then I have no doubt that we will soon see an announcement limiting free speech in the Kassam and banning hundreds if not thousands of paying punters.

If we don't, you can probably assume it's a bad idea.

 

[OxfordYankee]

I don't think you understand how billionaires think.

But if you're right then I have no doubt that we will soon see an announcement limiting free speech in the Kassam and banning hundreds if not thousands of paying punters.

If we don't, you can probably assume it's a bad idea.

Are you a bit thick or just obtuse?

I’m not suggesting that people should be forced to think in a certain way, but simply suggesting that anyone who would think it to be constructive to shout their displeasure at Manning’s appointment before he’s actually taken charge, would be less than useful to a team in need of support.

 

[Shaun Rice]

IMO A much improved performance yesterday. Still so much to work on.
The 3rd goal just about sums us up. Under little pressure the ball is played into Bate who takes an age to get the ball under control with a very poor first touch, it’s played back to nobody and Findlay picks it up on the byline again under little pressure. He could‘ve played an easy pass into Eastwood or Brown but no he plays a ball into nobody. Browne should easily be first to the ball but allowed the Derby man to go past him. The ball goes down the channel we don’t stop the cross and Moore fails to get anywhere near it. It was difficult to see who got the last touch but it’s been given to Long as an OG. Poor all round.
In contrast every ball we played into the Derby box they seemed to be first to it. It’s why we had so many corners. They hardly gave the ball away. More importantly they worked really hard all game. They were working on getting it down the channels and crossing during the warm up and two of their goals came from just that.
On a positive on that display we should begin to pick up some points off of lesser teams.

 

[RgYellows]

Are you a bit thick or just obtuse?

I’m not suggesting that people should be forced to think in a certain way, but simply suggesting that anyone who would think it to be constructive to shout their displeasure at Manning’s appointment before he’s actually taken charge, would be less than useful to a team in need of support.

Where did I say that you were talking about how people thought?

You didn't say it was "less than useful". You said they should be banned. Your exact words were "banned (them) from returning". You're rowing back from that terrible opinion, and I respect that.

 

[OxfordYankee]

Where did I say that you were talking about how people thought?

You didn't say it was "less than useful". You said they should be banned. Your exact words were "banned (them) from returning". You're rowing back from that terrible opinion, and I respect that.

Nah, I stand by it.

 

[Scrongo]

If that was the case, they should’ve introduced him, identified the grumblers and banned them from returning.

Anyone who can’t get behind the man, whether he was their choice or not, has no place inside the stadium at a point the club needs its fans to actually support the team.

Hahahaha I don't think there'd be many fans left then???? A lot have grumbled, & some support the appointment,but I think the majority are sitting on the fence. Waiting to jump to the side they see fit , in time. Weather that's in 10 games time, or end of 23/24 season

 

[yellowbow]

IMO A much improved performance yesterday. Still so much to work on.
The 3rd goal just about sums us up. Under little pressure the ball is played into Bate who takes an age to get the ball under control with a very poor first touch, it’s played back to nobody and Findlay picks it up on the byline again under little pressure. He could‘ve played an easy pass into Eastwood or Brown but no he plays a ball into nobody. Browne should easily be first to the ball but allowed the Derby man to go past him. The ball goes down the channel we don’t stop the cross and Moore fails to get anywhere near it. It was difficult to see who got the last touch but it’s been given to Long as an OG. Poor all round.
In contrast every ball we played into the Derby box they seemed to be first to it. It’s why we had so many corners. They hardly gave the ball away. More importantly they worked really hard all game. They were working on getting it down the channels and crossing during the warm up and two of their goals came from just that.
On a positive on that display we should begin to pick up some points off of lesser teams.

Browne infuriated me with his lethargy for the third goal. I would’ve dragged him off instantly. He’s got form for it. It wasn’t the first time in the game yesterday and the Wycombe game at Wembley also springs to mind.

We haven’t got time for passengers anymore. It’s not like he did a huge amount of positives in the game anyway. The amount of times he was in a good position to put a decent cross in and just hit the first defender with it. Sorry if I’m being hash but we need players fighting for the jersey now. Not sure who else we have though? Wildschut I guess

 

[uptheus]

I’d say we usually make a decent initial clearance, but too often don’t win the 2nd or 3rd ball as it bounces round, the opposition recycle it quickly and we’re all out of position.

Not helped by the non replacement of Gorrin since November 2021.

Derby’s 3rd goal, but most definitely missing a CDM.