Home Match Day Thread 04/05/2024: L1 Play-Off SF 1st Leg - OUFC vs Peterborough

[Northstandboy]

Post Match Discussion

Interview - Des Buckingham

Interview - Elliott Moore

Match Highlights

Match Report

Ref Watch

 

[Oxfordpete]

I would absolutely love it if we're still in charge in the 85th minute and Cumming goes down with a fake injury so that we can have a tactical break

He was ok but needs lessons from a certain Billy Turley he was the master of wasting time

 

[Bicester Yellow]

I wouldn’t have MM the way he’s playing, passing backwards and getting tackled whilst he over does things, if you mean MB he was poor last night, no threat going forward and awful tackling back
However the old MM who played the start if the season
Josh does allow Cam to go forward more and his passing is excellent

Just think we need another midfielder as always get overrun. Control the game in the centre. We look worse when we bring our subs on as they don’t work as hard. Whatever happens they are all gone in the summer, obvious to me that Des wants his team to work hard without the ball. Browne doesn’t do that for sure and Bodin doesn’t either.

 

[McXal]

Whilst I agree he wasn’t great last night, I’m not sure I agree with all of the criticism Browne is getting.

The guy has basically been injured on/off for the last 18 months. He’s spent most of this season on the treatment table and is now effectively having a pre-season-style search for fitness in the middle of some really high pressure games. His timing is off, his decision making is a little slow. That happens when you’ve barely played for two years.

And he was off it last night. That happens. But there have been games (Burton away immediately came to mind, but actually some of our best second half attacking moments at Exeter involved him too) where he has positively impacted the game with his ability to carry the ball and run powerfully with it. Unfortunately that wasn’t quite what the situation called for yesterday - and on the couple of occasions he did get it at his feet he made poor decisions.

I feel like people are judging him off the kind of performances we’ve seen from him in the past and expecting those standards, instead of realistic expectations based on where he is now.

For me - right now he’s a useful option off the bench who will blow hot and cold. And that’s how he’s been used. It’s worked well in some games and kept the pressure on teams whilst allowing us to take off one of Dale/Murphy/Harris. Last night it didn’t work (and that one pathetic flapped attempt at a volleyed clearance in our penalty area looked bad). Stick with him guys. We might need him to pull out a bit of magic in the next game or two.

 

[Nadi-]

Whilst I agree he wasn’t great last night, I’m not sure I agree with all of the criticism Browne is getting.

The guy has basically been injured on/off for the last 18 months. He’s spent most of this season on the treatment table and is now effectively having a pre-season-style search for fitness in the middle of some really high pressure games. His timing is off, his decision making is a little slow. That happens when you’ve barely played for two years.

And he was off it last night. That happens. But there have been games (Burton away immediately came to mind, but actually some of our best second half attacking moments at Exeter involved him too) where he has positively impacted the game with his ability to carry the ball and run powerfully with it. Unfortunately that wasn’t quite what the situation called for yesterday - and on the couple of occasions he did get it at his feet he made poor decisions.

I feel like people are judging him off the kind of performances we’ve seen from him in the past and expecting those standards, instead of realistic expectations based on where he is now.

For me - right now he’s a useful option off the bench who will blow hot and cold. And that’s how he’s been used. It’s worked well in some games and kept the pressure on teams whilst allowing us to take off one of Dale/Murphy/Harris. Last night it didn’t work (and that one pathetic flapped attempt at a volleyed clearance in our penalty area looked bad). Stick with him guys. We might need him to pull out a bit of magic in the next game or two.

Brownes best work has been centrally since coming back, really could do with a full pre season and injury free run of early games next season.
But wouldn’t be surprised, if he’s not the one, who’ll get us to Wembley

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1786823611774300374

 

[Oxymoron]

Great game great crowd, great result.

Slightly disappointed that we seemed to accept 1-0 and see out the last 30 mins. There is no way Boro would have wanted a two goal deficit to overcome in the second leg, so if we had continued to attack them, it would have been them sitting back determined not to concede. Instead we gave them the confidence to come forward, knowing that we weren't going for a second.

It's still on them to defeat us on Wednesday and if we defend like last night, they will have their work cut out to get two and I fancy us for a late equaliser if they go for a win in 90 minutes.

 

[TailsWeWin]

Browne is off the pace and has been recently. He is NOT a defensive player in any circumstance. We cannot afford to carry him, even as a late sub. Dale for me, all the time. We will be clinging on for 45 minutes at Boro.

 

[RgYellows]

Great performance. Quite un-Oxford like in how resilient and seemingly in control we were. I think it’s very clear from the way we retreated the moment we went ahead that a one goal advantage was what we were looking for. There didn’t seem a whole load of intent to go and get a second. Although there were a couple of hairy moments late on I never felt Peterborough were opening us up like Derby did, for example.

I thought we pushed very hard straight after the goal and Peterborough saw it out.

Des made some really interesting comments on this in the post-match. He said stats show we press the most in the league now, there are meant to be periods through the game where we stand off and it’s to conserve energy because we can’t maintain that pressure for 90 minutes. But that is not necessarily meant to mean we sit deep, more that we keep our shape and don’t close down as much to manage the game.

He also said there were a couple of things he wanted to work on, but wouldn’t say what they were on the radio.

Does show the value of having some of “his” people around him I think, with the analyst particularly.

Also think we are seeing how light we are up top in terms of wingers and forwards who can get through that sort of work when our front five tire. Goodwin would have been a great option yesterday for some fresh legs and also the chance to compete aerially for some of the longer balls when we stand off more.

If only away goals still counted

Has anyone told Bolton??

 

[Dilla]

They have to win by two goals, we only need a draw

For them to win in normal time I guess you mean, but a 1-0 win for them takes it to extra time.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1786862214793535768

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1787020822365806636

 

[yellowbow]

I thought we pushed very hard straight after the goal and Peterborough saw it out.

Des made some really interesting comments on this in the post-match. He said stats show we press the most in the league now, there are meant to be periods through the game where we stand off and it’s to conserve energy because we can’t maintain that pressure for 90 minutes. But that is not necessarily meant to mean we sit deep, more that we keep our shape and don’t close down as much to manage the game.

He also said there were a couple of things he wanted to work on, but wouldn’t say what they were on the radio.

Does show the value of having some of “his” people around him I think, with the analyst particularly.

Also think we are seeing how light we are up top in terms of wingers and forwards who can get through that sort of work when our front five tire. Goodwin would have been a great option yesterday for some fresh legs and also the chance to compete aerially for some of the longer balls when we stand off more.



Has anyone told Bolton??

I’m guessing we won’t see anything of Goodwin until next season now.

A poor piece of business in January that might ultimately cost us dear.

If Harris was a donkey (and I mean that in the literal sense) he would’ve been rescued by a charity by now.

 

[Swaby39]

While I agree that Browne offers very little I'm not sure it's a huge downgrade on Dale currently, I haven't seen a huge amount from him although I love his attitude.MacDonald 2.0 in a winger with decent feet and a hard worker but let down by a lack of pace, often he ends up just trying to retain possession when if it were Murphy he'd have been away.

Agree on Dale, he’s got fantastic feet but will only have his day against a particular full back. He actually reminds me of Goodrham out there and I wonder if we lost Goodrham whether Dale could move in to that position, I can see him excelling there. His work rate would be suited to that as well. Worth exploring.

Browne just isn’t doing enough when he comes on. He looks a shadow of his former self. Seems hell bent on running through a man rather than around him. Just not sure what future he can possibly have here, time to part ways. He’d be of more value to another club now I think.

 

[Robin Shater]

For them to win in normal time I guess you mean, but a 1-0 win for them takes it to extra time.

They still have to score two more than us. If level after extra time, they need to score a penalty more than us.

 

[Pgyellow]

What a great night. It was the first time in so long that everyone really was singing from the same song sheet.

 

[Swaby39]

A slim lead is still a lead. Ultimately if nobody manages to put the ball in the net on Wednesday, we’re off to Wembley. But I think Peterborough will go all guns blazing for an early goal and that’s where we need to be careful. If we hand them the ascendancy early, we’re in trouble. Our first counter attack needs to fire a warning and give them something to worry about. If our touches are loose and Harris becomes isolated it’s going to be a long night and let’s be honest, it won’t end with the right result. We MUST be positive with our intent and look to score again, but equally we must not concede in the first half an hour. Balance will be everything.

I can’t tell you the joy it gave me to see us score a rehearsed set piece and win a game. A BIG lesson learned as we’ve not done that nearly enough under Des and yet here it pays dividends.

If Goodwin is fit for even 20 minutes by Wednesday we must take him. It could be vital whether we need to stay in the game or chase it.

 

[isibuko]

Get the feeling out game plan will be to soak up pressure, be quick in transition and counter fast. It’ll probably feel like we’re under the cosh and ‘negative’ but there are more and less controlled ways of being under the cosh. Thought last night we were very in control despite it feeling like Posh were all over us (certainly possession-wise). I’d like to see similar on Wednesday but with a stronger transition/counter so that we give Posh something to think about.

 

[tomoufc]

I didn't think any of our front three played that well. All three were decent defensively, chasing and harrying but we created little or poor end product

Both wingers tracked back excellently in the second half to help the defence. Proper team effort.

 

[Foley]

Des has alluded to possible changes for Wednesday but I can’t really see where that’s happening. The two full back positions would appear the obvious ones, as that’s probably where we have the strongest cover, but I thought Stevens and Bennett were outstanding last night and it’s a brave man who leaves either of them out. I don’t think either Bodin or Browne did enough to warrant a start either. If we could guarantee seeing the early season McGuane then he’d be the obvious one - maybe for Goodrham (thought he was very good last night too!) and play Brannagan a bit further forward. McEachran possibly, although looking at how they were breaking through midfield late on they had some real energy and we will need to plug some gaps. Tough call for Des but he got it pretty much spot on last night, so same again Wednesday!

I think that the change maybe relating to not pressing as high so much.
RR, Harris and Tyler were shattered after an hour.
I suspect that the press will be a little less full on and we will try and hit them more on the brake.
I can't see him changing full backs after the last 2 games.

 

[East Stand Fan]

Great performance and result. Wont likely be enough but it gives us something to build on. We simply cannot sit on a 1-0 lead though as if we concede one, we'll likely get steamrolled if we start too defensive. Just got to play our normal game and it'll be interesting to see how Peterborough approach it.

Last night was a perfectly fair result - best team for a good 70 minutes although didn't create much, got the goal and then weathered a little storm towards the end but stood firm. We defended really well and Cumming made a couple of key saves. Moore was absolutely solid and Finn Stevens is in exceptional form last couple of months.

 

[Northstandboy]

I’m guessing we won’t see anything of Goodwin until next season now.

A piece of business in January that might ultimately cost us dear.

If Harris was a donkey (and I mean that in the literal sense) he would’ve been rescued by a charity by now.

Goodwin deserves to be no where near the first team until next season.