Home Match Day Thread 12/08/2023 L1: OUFC v Carlisle

[Carpy]

and Sam Long did very little wrong

Not exactly a glowing endorsement for a team looking to get promoted though is it? And I think that's mostly peoples point, he's not good enough at RB for a team looking to challenge.

Squad player and nothing more in my opinion

 

[Barbadosyellow]

It looked to me like we followed our standard pattern of playing a steady first half and then going for it second half playing towards the East Stand.

 

[Swaby39]

Not exactly a glowing endorsement for a team looking to get promoted though is it? And I think that's mostly peoples point, he's not good enough at RB for a team looking to challenge.

Squad player and nothing more in my opinion

At the point you’re relieved a player has got through 90 mins without costing us a goal or more, it’s well past the time for a change!

The other part to this is his contract. 3 more years. To my mind that automatically defaults him to the standards of our best players because that is a sizeable commitment from the club and the basis of that has to be more than because he’s a local boy with friends in the right place at the right time… Nobody can convince me that was given to secure the future of a top L1 full back!!

In that 3 years he’s now with us, the club expects championship football to be secured so he should be judged against that standard. It seems he gets a free pass because God loves a trier. What we’re watching is a league two footballer that gives 100% every day. That’s great to have around the squad, but should not be depended on to win you regular games at L1 level.

Judging by the body language of Manning on the touchline and his team mates with some of what we endured in the first half, I hope/suspect there may be a little more urgency around getting Stevens ready to take over ASAP.

 

[SteMerritt]

You think 2012 is a long time ago? Jesus that makes me feel old, not ready to leave 1996 myself yet.

Be brave, take the plunge, and go to 1997. OK Computer alone will make your move worth it.

 

[TailsWeWin]

I'd suggest watching it back if you can because we were really not that bad, and Sam Long did very little wrong other than when overloaded on the right with Browne not tracking back.

I was at both the Cambridge and Carlisle matches. These are NOT two of the better teams we will play this season. Sam Long was awful in the first and pretty awful in the latter. It is going to be painful watching him against the likes of Barnsley on Saturday (I’m not looking forward to this one!) as I shudder every time a left winger collects the ball and sets off towards our goal. Cadden and Co must be licking their lips already in anticipation of a fun afternoon.

 

[christenedinjericho]

It looked to me like we followed our standard pattern of playing a steady first half and then going for it second half playing towards the East Stand.

As long as we win the toss it does look a little that way. However, based on this I'm going to cut my season ticket in half and give the wrong half to somebody I don't like. There will be a queue lol x

COYY'S

 

[Foley]

I was at both the Cambridge and Carlisle matches. These are NOT two of the better teams we will play this season. Sam Long was awful in the first and pretty awful in the latter. It is going to be painful watching him against the likes of Barnsley on Saturday (I’m not looking forward to this one!) as I shudder every time a left winger collects the ball and sets off towards our goal. Cadden and Co must be licking their lips already in anticipation of a fun afternoon.

It seems to be that already Sam Long is being singled out for criticism.
I actually thought Long was OK on Saturday and did pretty well in the second half ( like most of the team)

 

[Swaby39]

I was at both the Cambridge and Carlisle matches. These are NOT two of the better teams we will play this season. Sam Long was awful in the first and pretty awful in the latter. It is going to be painful watching him against the likes of Barnsley on Saturday (I’m not looking forward to this one!) as I shudder every time a left winger collects the ball and sets off towards our goal. Cadden and Co must be licking their lips already in anticipation of a fun afternoon.

Woah, one step at a time... He's got Mendez-Laing to deal with first!! That could be a grim watch. On the other hand, he may prove us wrong and have a blinder and nothing would make me happier. If he wanted to lay down a marker and show everybody he can still do it for us this season, this couldn't be a more perfect week for him. It's a huge opportunity to show he's better than the mistimed tackles/headers and aimless hoicks across the field we've seen so far.

 

[The mighty Aldo]

I was at both the Cambridge and Carlisle matches. These are NOT two of the better teams we will play this season. Sam Long was awful in the first and pretty awful in the latter. It is going to be painful watching him against the likes of Barnsley on Saturday (I’m not looking forward to this one!) as I shudder every time a left winger collects the ball and sets off towards our goal. Cadden and Co must be licking their lips already in anticipation of a fun afternoon.

Hold on a minute
Last season and this season to date Sam Long may not have been at his best when defending but you have to look at the players in front of him in that situation.When he had Sykes, Whyte or Williams there he had players who would get back track their man and help out defensively.
He hasn’t had that since, it’s frightening how many times there are two players he has to mark.Browne was abysmal at helping out on Saturday.
If we sort that out I feel you will see a better player but even Baldock or Kenny would have their work cut out with the lack of support he gets.
Can we do better than Sam, yes of course but we have to look at other players and their responsibility to defend.

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

I’d love to be a fullback with the attitudes of some Oxford fans - I remember this being said to defend Seddon as well when he was having shocker after shocker. You can let the opposition winger dance past you, breeze past you, run past you without even seemingly trying to stop him, and yet it’s never your fault, it’s always the fault of your wide teammate who should be doubling up with you every time as well as attacking, doing your job as well as theirs!

 

[Scotchegg]

Not exactly a glowing endorsement for a team looking to get promoted though is it? And I think that's mostly peoples point, he's not good enough at RB for a team looking to challenge.

Squad player and nothing more in my opinion

Squad players, steady, doesn't do anything wrong - every team that gets promoted has players like this in their teams.

No team at League One level will ever have star players in every position, and if you look through our most successful of teams at Oxford there were always those that held things together by being steady and allowing others the freedom to play their game.

No one has said that Sam Long is a superstar. No one has said that he is the first name on the team sheet. But, he doesn't warrant the criticism that some constantly fire at him. There were even a few saying that he wasn't good enough after Wednesday when he only came on after we'd conceded the 5th!

It all becomes a little 'scapegoaty' and that is what is unnecessary in my view.

 

[The mighty Aldo]

I’d love to be a fullback with the attitudes of some Oxford fans - I remember this being said to defend Seddon as well when he was having shocker after shocker. You can let the opposition winger dance past you, breeze past you, run past you without even seemingly trying to stop him, and yet it’s never your fault, it’s always the fault of your wide teammate who should be doubling up with you every time as well as attacking, doing your job as well as theirs!

Well
Not sure if you were at the game but in that first 20 minutes nobody ran past Long because there was always the option of the overlap, he had two players to mark. Every time he went to close the player down they slipped the ball to the overlapping wing back.
Not saying he couldn’t do better in other aspects of his play but you have to look at Brownes contribution here.
Taking Seddon as your other example he was brought in as a wing back not so much a left back.

 

[Osei Yaw]

Squad players, steady, doesn't do anything wrong - every team that gets promoted has players like this in their teams.

No team at League One level will every have star players in every position, and if you look through our most successful of teams at Oxford there were always those that held things together by being steady and allowing others the freedom to play their game.

No one has said that Sam Long is a superstar. No one has said that he is the first name on the team sheet. But, he doesn't warrant the criticism that some constantly fire at him. There were even a few saying that he wasn't good enough after Wednesday when he only came on after we'd conceded the 5th!

It all becomes a little 'scapegoaty' and that is what is unnecessary in my view.

To be fair Scotch, I don't think your approach does any favours. All I see is reasonable criticism of Long. Everybody likes him - he's a local lad and he has a great attitude. But people will often call it as they see it and, whilst he did do some things well on Saturday, he did also make a lot of mistakes. If you constantly try and gloss over the mistakes and push misleading stats at people who know what they saw with their own eyes, then those people will naturally try and readdress the balance. Again, not because they want to scapegoat him, just because they want to have what they think is a fair assessment of the performance.

 

[Golden Dr Otto]

To be fair Scotch, I don't think your approach does any favours. All I see is reasonable criticism of Long. Everybody likes him - he's a local lad and he has a great attitude. But people will often call it as they see it and, whilst he did do some things well on Saturday, he did also make a lot of mistakes. If you constantly try and gloss over the mistakes and push misleading stats at people who know what they saw with their own eyes, then those people will naturally try and readdress the balance. Again, not because they want to scapegoat him, just because they want to have what they think is a fair assessment of the performance.

Perfect summary. My biggest concern , which wasn’t measured in those stats, is his inability to complete progressive passes or runs. Possession of the ball is a black hole with him in a team set up to play possession football

 

[MJB]

Be brave, take the plunge, and go to 1997. OK Computer alone will make your move worth it.

You spelt Spiceworld wrong.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

You spelt Spiceworld wrong.

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Sam Long wasn’t great on Saturday, but he’s pretty defensively sound. It’s his distribution which is under par.

I dont think having Browne in front of him suits, there’s very little interplay between them. Compare with Henry , Sykes, Williams and Whyte in recent years. And Long also improved once Mills came on.

I agree with SE that there’s a touch of ‘this year’s Matt Murphy’ about the criticism.

There were others on the pitch who could have been equally criticized. Browne himself shows very little end product, Cam Bran is a shadow of his former self etc.

Following on from last week I’m loathe to predict the result tomorrow night , but reckon Derby will find it hard to break Saturday’s’ back four down. We’ll be looking for a point.

 

[MJB]

View attachment 15102

 

[SteMerritt]

View attachment 15103

Just wait until he gets to 1998 and listens to the magnificent 'Six' by Mansun...

 

[Golden Dr Otto]

Sam Long wasn’t great on Saturday, but he’s pretty defensively sound. It’s his distribution which is under par.

I dont think having Browne in front of him suits, there’s very little interplay between them. Compare with Henry , Sykes, Williams and Whyte in recent years. And Long also improved once Mills came on.

I agree with SE that there’s a touch of ‘this year’s Matt Murphy’ about the criticism.

There were others on the pitch who could have been equally criticized. Browne himself shows very little end product, Cam Bran is a shadow of his former self etc.

Following on from last week I’m loathe to predict the result tomorrow night , but reckon Derby will find it hard to break Saturday’s’ back four down. We’ll be looking for a point.

Agree with most of this except perhaps the Matt Murphy piece. I think he’s been underperforming for some time and is one of the weakest links if we wish to progress. I also think there’s been criticism of Browne, Cam etc long is just getting the most well, because, it’s hard not to see what’s in front of you