Away Match Day Thread 02/01/2021 L1 Burton Albion v OUFC

Was a great win , but we shouldn’t fool ourselves Burton are very , very poor and going on this game, have no chance of staying up . But 4 wins on the bounce ,great .
Plymouth weren't push overs, we managed a win there, we drew against teams near the top.at Portsmouth, Blackpool,.... we're not fooling ourselves,
 
We have played 10 teams above us W1 D3 L6 and 10 teams below us W7 D1 L2. Lets hope the recent improvement in performance will help us achieve good results against the better teams in the league.
 
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We have played 10 teams above us W1 D3 L6 and 10 teams below us W7 D1 L2. Lets hope the recent improvement in performance will help us achieve good results against the better teams in the league.
Our form is generally improving.
We have drawn with Hull and Pompey and Ipswich recently. These are all decent sides and it suggests that we can get results against the better sides.
 
Team of the week pretty meaningless if Henry gets in rather than McGuane they're obviously not watching the whole games before selecting
 
Our form is generally improving.
We have drawn with Hull and Pompey and Ipswich recently. These are all decent sides and it suggests that we can get results against the better sides.
It was ipswichs reserve team but your point about hull and pompey stands
 
I guess the same excuse applies to the first 10 games where we could only put out a reserve team with several players injured?
So would you class ipswichs reserve team as one of the better sides which was the context of the reply.
 
Why can’t we re-arrange one of our postponed fixtures for w/c 11th Jan? e.g. 12th or 13th?
 
My player ratings: (for context, the way I score 5/10 is a performance with equally good and bad points, 6/10 is above average and 10/10 is the almost impossible perfect game)


Stevens: 7 - This guy should have been in the team weeks before he was. He's not just cut out the mistakes and been solid, he's come in and excelled. Didn't have much to do today and nothing he could do about the goal, but he's excellent under the high ball which you can see gives the centre backs so much confidence. His kicking was good on a rutted and difficult surface as well. I think his role in our recent upturn in form has been undervalued.

Long: 9 - Just about shaded MOTM for me. Great engine, up and down all game but played the right pass, the right cross and also defended well when he needed to. At one point late in the game someone passed the ball wide right to someone who was out of shot on iFollow. It couldn't be... yes! Sam Long, high up the pitch yet again, when he'd been defending just moments earlier!

Moore: 7 - He was solid and commanding when he needed to be, but possibly slightly out of position for their goal - I felt he could have been more central rather than so far out to the right

Atkinson: 8 - I still think he's an underrated defender, he gets at least one vital block in a game (and was unlucky with the goal) and isn't scared to put his head in where it hurts. He also made another brilliant, marauding run. He's quickly becoming one of our best players

Ruffels: 9 - Brilliant assist for the first goal. Made one defensive error but who can fault a fullback who scores two and assists one?

Gorrin: 7 - Possibly out of position for the goal as well, he'd been dragged to the right and when you see an opposition player given the freedom of the edge of your area, centrally, you perhaps expect to see your CDM closing him down. Overall he was neat and tidy however and made a few good interceptions

Forde: 6 - Recently he's just been a bit anonymous on the ball in the middle, it's not like he made massive mistakes or gave the ball away loads but I guess when you're playing next to someone in the form that McGuane is you can look a little ordinary

McGuane: 8 - If only he could shoot as well as he can dribble then we'd win every game when he's in this form! Seriously, I hope he works on his composure and relaxes a little bit in front of goal as it seems to be weighing on his mind. Again though he was great on the ball, drove us forward and picked up free kicks all over the pitch. Once derided by fans, he's now undroppable in this form.

Henry: 7 - His best performance for us for weeks? Yes. A great performance? Not for me, no. Early on he overhit a few passes to the overlapping Sam Long straight out of play. He also put some pretty average set pieces in, a couple being easily caught by the keeper. Then there was the open goal miss. He did grow into the game later, yes, and knocked a couple of nice passes around, but I think people are looking for him to do well and so seize upon what should be an average performance for someone of his quality. I hope he builds on this performance but at present I still think a Sean Clare or Gavin Whyte would offer us more pace, dynamism and threat down that right hand side.

Shodipo: 8 - He's a strange one as he blows so hot and cold, and in a game like that he can give the ball away or fall over himself one minute then bend one into the top corner the next. He hasn't yet hit the heights of a Fosu or Browne in a game where you feel like he's absolutely got the fullback on toast and can beat them at will, he's never really fizzed in 5-10 superb crosses or shots in a row, but he seems to a) have that vital knack of scoring goals and b) be working really, really hard. If the former isn't just a purple patch of form and he keeps it up then he has to play every week. If he keeps up the latter then he deserves to at least be in the squad. He does seem better as a starter rather than a sub, surprisingly. Maybe he takes a while to get used to the pace of the game? But given how well Obita seems to manage a game when he comes on, at the moment I'd start Shodipo and bring on Obita for when he inevitably (and excusably, given how hard he's working now) gets tired.

Taylor: 7.5 - Took his goal well and pressed well for the Henry chance. It was an odd game where he wasn't the one getting in on the balls our fullbacks were fizzing in - but he was still in the right positions, it was just that we actually had other players getting into the box, which is vital for the way we play and hadn't been happening on our poor run.

Subs:

Hanson: 5 - Made an error which nearly led to a goal and maybe seemed a little too eager to impress

Winnall: 4 - All I saw him do was give away fouls and be offside

Brannigan: 6 - Great to see him back, played within himself which is understandable, few nice touches

Obita: 7 - You can tell he's experienced and has played at a higher level, good game management

Hall: 3 - Didn't have long but couldn't really do anything right
 
Henry has 1 good game and suddenly he is our saviour.
Forget how good he was in 2018 and 2019

This season he has been very poor at best.

We must seriously think about replacing
Very much the sentiment with Eastwood and look what happened when we did
 
Henry has 1 good game and suddenly he is our saviour.
Forget how good he was in 2018 and 2019

This season he has been very poor at best.

We must seriously think about replacing
Very much the sentiment with Eastwood and look what happened when we did
I have to say, I completely agree. I know his link up play was okay on Saturday but more often than not, he has been completely anonymous in games. It’s all well and good having an okay game against Burton but against better opposition, he has been well off it, and it shows.
 
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