Away Match Day Thread 18/03/23 L1: Morecambe v OUFC

[YellowSubmarine]

Morecambe goal is all Sam Long’s fault.

He gives him a few yards. Let’s Hunter come in on his stronger side & get a shot away.

It’s horrendous one on one defending. He should be straight to him when the ball is played in to him, showing him down the byline.

 

[Cotswolds Cowboy]

The three performances since the change of manager have all been better than before
You can see all the players are positive and up for the fight
With a calm and sensible management team in place I expect this to continue
Of course we're handicapped by the mess of a squad left by the previous incumbent but I think we'll get some surprise results
The bookies still only make us a 6/1 shot to go down with most of the teams below us odds on
Fans often take the most pessimistic view of their own team especially immediately after a disappointing result

 

[RyanioBirdio]

I saw it said recently that our players are miles better than those of the clubs around us. I think what yesterday confirmed for me is that this is patently not true. We are very poor.

Aside from the league table itself telling the truth by this point, let’s look at what we’ve actually taken from teams around us this season, in terms of points and results against them:

Burton
Home: W 2-1
Away: L 2-0

MK Dons
Home: L 2-1
Away: D 1-1

Accrington
Away: D 1-1

Morecambe
Home: D 1-1
Away: D 1-1

Cambridge
Home: W 1-0
Away: L 1-0

Forest Green
Home: D 1-1

Of the ten games played against the five teams below us and the one immediately above us, we have won just two. We were lucky to beat Cambridge at home with a wonder goal from a child in the last minute, and of the draws we should’ve been battered by MK before we equalised, while Forest Green should’ve beaten us at home as they missed two great chances between equalising and the final whistle. To contrast we did not play well, get unlucky or miss a host of chances to put the game to bed in any of these fixtures. We’ve been lucky to take points, never unlucky not to. That’s the key.

We are factually and provably not miles better than any of these teams. That’s just not true and needs putting to bed.

Most of these players and the vast majority of this squad are not good enough, and I include many of the players who have been here before this season. Good players drag those around them up a level; average ones play to the levels of those around them. Apart from Ciaron Brown, who is all heart and leaves everything out there every week, who comes out of this season with any real credit?

Bate has been okay, but he doesn’t impact games in terms of goals and assists. Brannagan has scored some goals but looked a shadow of his former self all season, despite earning more than half a million pounds per year. Tyler Goodrham tries his best and might be a decent little player in 12-18 months. O’Donkor is trying his best but should be in the National League playing against Solihull, not in L1 playing against Sheffield Wednesday.

Is that it? Is that the best we can do? Christ. The POTS vote is going to be like asking people to choose their favourite sexually transmitted infection. I’m going genital warts, btw.

I will be at every home game and try to get to as any of the away ones as I can between now and the end of the season, by my God, we are in trouble and have been for a good half a year. That we did not bomb Robinson out before November, let Mousinho take over on an interim basis and give literally anybody else deemed worthy of the role the January window to at least make sure we didn’t end up where we are, is a genuine disgrace.

Even the amazing, world famous “unbeaten run” that people were soiling themselves over did nothing to move us up the table, because they were nearly all draws. Draw every game across a season and you will get relegated, despite being unbeaten. Three points gets you safe, not draws, and if we couldn’t even manage that yesterday then we are in seriously deep s**t. The entire football club has been arrogant, naive and completely asleep at the wheel this season, from the board room to the press box and the dressing room to the terraces.

I don’t know what the answer is, but I’m praying that our new manager and his faithful assistant can figure it out. Some of these players just aren’t good enough but they need to at least try, and those that used to be (or who think that they still are) need to start showing it.

 

[Sharp Edges]

I agree, we need to get something out of the Peterborough and Sheffield Wednesday games. So either a win from one of them or 2 draws.

Port Vale away is huge, I think we have to win there. We do seem to do well against Wednesday, lets hope we can get something from them. Bolton are wobbling, hopefully we can take something from them, although Derby are wobbling, Rovers were in freefall and Cambridge..... Other teams form (or lack of) hardly seems to be helping us.

There is a positive though, Forest Green are down, Cambridge will go down, Morcombe have MK next week then have Plymouth, Barnsley, Wycombe and Pompey in their next four, if we get 6 more points it may be too much for them to overtake us. That leaves one place, Accrington have Port Vale, Fleetwood, Cambridge! and us, MK run in looks easier on paper. I think both of those two have to overtake us to send us down, I really hope we are safe before the last game of the season.

 

[Beast]

Such a poor goal to concede, no one closed him down, should have never been allowed to get the shot away! I really hope we have enough to get the points we need, but what worries me the most, we don’t have an out and out goalscorer to win games and we can’t keep clean sheets, not good if your trying to win games to stay up! Our only hope as well is That Accrington and morcambe are as bad as us, if not worse. FG are down, as are Cambridge I believe, unless they put a good run together, but I can’t see it.

 

[Yellow River]

That was 2 points dropped I’m afraid, it could be vital, but as a previous manager used to say, ‘ we go again’. The season’s not over yet but playing In League 1 next season just got less likely.

I’ve been calling for 3-5-2 and the use of wingbacks for some time, mainly because I feel it suits the players we have at our disposal.

If we choose to go 4 at the back then a specialist defensive central midfielder (like Gorrin) is a must.

Clearly from the lineup Manning was keen to put out the most physical team he could, the back four, plus Smyth, Wildschut, and O’Donker all big units. He smaller lighter less physical players such as Bate, Goodrham, Fleming, Murphy, Anderson all on the bench.

This follows on from Craig Short’s comments about us lacking physicality and strength particularly in midfield. So Manning appears to be on the same page as Short because they’ve both used Smyth whlist the previous manager froze him out.

The lineup could also have been partly tactical, to combat Morecambe’s style of play?

If we go 3-5-2 it means fewer physical players, as it introduces Fleming and Anderson.

Why didn’t either CS or LM play Smyth deeper and Brannigan further forward is a fair question, I think we have to remember that Smyth is still very inexperienced at this level and some way off being match fit yet, so it could be that while Smyth is getting up to speed it’s felt that any rusty mistakes would be better happening further away from our goal? Did Smyth play DCM in Ireland? I’d be interested to know.
Many of us have been calling for formation and tactical changes for sometime, but to be fair to Manning he may feel that he doesn’t want to implement too many changes at once. The introduction of Smyth though is clearly one change, as was the more robust, physical looking side.

I think it’s also fair and not too much of a criticism to question why Smyth wasn’t substituted after 70-75 mins.

One of the few good things about yesterday was that Smyth, and Browne both got valuable minutes, as did Murphy although he still has a lot to prove in my eyes.

We miss a fit Henry on the pitch, both for his ability but also his experience, anyone know if we’ll see him again anytime soon?

LM won’t get everything right, he’s inherited a right mess, but I feel we can trust him to do what he thinks is right for the good of the team and our club, that couldn’t be said for the previous manager.

 

[bazzer9461]

Not suggesting we should fear them, but we won’t beat them. Posh have so many dangerous players that will be too good for our defenders… unless we fill the space. Defend like we did for morecambe’s goal and we’ll be punted in to next week. We’re going to need Eastwood to make saves as we’ll face more than one shot or two there. Can’t see it, myself.

Barnsley are probably the best side in the league right now when you look at their results and what they’re doing to teams around them.

Port vale were fine without Taylor so that’ll be a tricky game but much like Lincoln, we have to beat them. No good getting draws now - we’ve missed the opportunity for that to be OK.

As I’ve said before, Forest Green will be down by the time we play them. That game will be dangerous - they’ll be under no pressure.

Why is that? Ah yes the posh have a DOF

 

[werthersoriginal]

Not suggesting we should fear them, but we won’t beat them. Posh have so many dangerous players that will be too good for our defenders… unless we fill the space. Defend like we did for morecambe’s goal and we’ll be punted in to next week. We’re going to need Eastwood to make saves as we’ll face more than one shot or two there. Can’t see it, myself.

Barnsley are probably the best side in the league right now when you look at their results and what they’re doing to teams around them.

Port vale were fine without Taylor so that’ll be a tricky game but much like Lincoln, we have to beat them. No good getting draws now - we’ve missed the opportunity for that to be OK.

As I’ve said before, Forest Green will be down by the time we play them. That game will be dangerous - they’ll be under no pressure.

I think we’ll either get it together a bit and manage wins against higher placed teams, or stay rubbish and lose to FGR! It’s more about us than them

 

[Yellowmania]

The other issue with Henry out is that we’re back to issues delivering corners and dead balls. Smyth’s were okish but much the same as Bate’s were, just chipped up into the area with no real pace or trajectory. In his brief spell back Henry’s were better and much missed yesterday.

 

[Osei Yaw]

Morecambe goal is all Sam Long’s fault.

He gives him a few yards. Let’s Hunter come in on his stronger side & get a shot away.

It’s horrendous one on one defending. He should be straight to him when the ball is played in to him, showing him down the byline.

It was certainly not all Long's fault. That would be excusing the defensive disaster that comes before it.

After Joseph makes first contact, a Morecambe player hopefully flicks it up in the air, another wins an uncontested header, then another wins another uncontested header. That is already bad enough. Then Watts has time and space to drift horizontally across our final third with it. That is a big no no in any game at any stage, but with 5 minutes to go in a relegation 6 pointer there should be someone to meet him. Neither Long nor Eastwood cover themselves in glory but there was a lot of damage done before the ball gets there.

This was from our throw in on the left hand side of the pitch. 12 seconds later and we've conceded a shot on our goal from the other side of the pitch. A proper defensive midfielder would be stamping their authority somewhere in the build up to that. In the absence of one of those then we just need to be more switched on and I daresay if we had some fresher legs in defensive positions by that point then that would have also helped.

I completely accept that Manning is not at fault for the lack of a defensive midfielder and the unbalanced squad, but it feels to me that some changes could've been made before that chance was given away. Unlike KR, I trust that Manning will learn something from it. I certainly hope he does.

 

[Swaby39]

It was certainly not all Long's fault. That would be excusing the defensive disaster that comes before it.

After Joseph makes first contact, a Morecambe player hopefully flicks it up in the air, another wins an uncontested header, then another wins another uncontested header. That is already bad enough. Then Watts has time and space to drift horizontally across our final third with it. That is a big no no in any game at any stage, but with 5 minutes to go in a relegation 6 pointer there should be someone to meet him. Neither Long nor Eastwood cover themselves in glory but there was a lot of damage done before the ball gets there.

This was from our throw in on the left hand side of the pitch. 12 seconds later and we've conceded a shot on our goal from the other side of the pitch. A proper defensive midfielder would be stamping their authority somewhere in the build up to that. In the absence of one of those then we just need to be more switched on and I daresay if we had some fresher legs in defensive positions by that point then that would have also helped.

I completely accept that Manning is not at fault for the lack of a defensive midfielder and the unbalanced squad, but it feels to me that some changes could've been made before that chance was given away. Unlike KR, I trust that Manning will learn something from it. I certainly hope he does.

It’s fair comment. I did hold Long largely responsible because it’s just inexcusably bad defending and I can’t be the only one who saw exactly what was coming when Hunter picked up the ball and I’m thinking ‘just don’t let him take a step inside’… Show him wide. Failing that, get tight and knock him off balance. Worst case scenario, foul him. But no, Long obviously thought he wasn’t good enough to score from there. It’s so bloody basic. Sam is a great lad and a brilliant servant to the club but that was a pathetic individual error and not his first.

I’ve run out of words for Eastwood. If he whips it in the far corner there’s not a lot you can do. But for God’s sake don’t let him see the near post… But the theme with him is utterly infuriating. Similar goals have cost us at home against Morecambe, at Accrington, Fleetwood, Burton and a load of others. It’s been a problem all season long and not addressed. Serious questions need asking of Wayne Brown and if it’s jjst that Eastwood can’t get to them, play McGinty. Eastwood faces 2 shots a game and concedes… may as well try something else. Even if McGinty makes a mistake, what have we lost? We concede anyway.

Manning got it just about right as far as the last 10 mins where we tried to cling on with tired legs and they’re throwing fresh bodies on. But even then, we looked relatively comfortable and he’ll now know it’s not just tactics if we can’t even show a right footed player down the left wing… Even he probably didn’t expect it to be that bad… He’s got his hands full.

 

[Jster]

In his brief spell back Henry’s were better and much missed yesterday.

Bodin's can be decent - hopefully he's back for the next match.

 

[Grumpy Git]

The next two weeks will be massive. Manning has seen players in an actual game and they’ve picked up a point. I think the players will be feeling two points dropped, so the next two weeks without a game is a real help. Henry and Bodin, how far away from being available?

 

[RgYellows]

It was an interesting decision to have Smyth playing in the advanced role instead of CB.

Hardly round pegs in round holes.

Draw every game across a season and you will get relegated, despite being unbeaten.

Not last season.

 

[Made-in-Jericho]

Just looked at the table for the first time in 6 months. Ouch!
It’s like opening your bank statement when you’ve been on holiday for a month in Spain and spunked it all up the wall partying. Spending like there’s no tomorrow. Finally face the music only to find you’re deep into overdraft and no plans to save your house from repossession.

I don’t know if there’s an analogy in there somewhere but we certainly need to get back to some hard graft and start earning.

 

[LowerSouth]

Just looked at the table for the first time in 6 months. Ouch!
It’s like opening your bank statement when you’ve been on holiday for a month in Spain and spunked it all up the wall partying. Spending like there’s no tomorrow. Finally face the music only to find you’re deep into overdraft and no plans to save your house from repossession.

I don’t know if there’s an analogy in there somewhere but we certainly need to get back to some hard graft and start earning.

It’s the same solution for both the banking and the team- they need to go/get smart- manage the balances and the lead when they have one .

 

[Dilla]

How many of the current squad will start next year if we stay in league one? I would only have Brannagan. Madness really what a mess Robinson created over the last few years and big job for Manning in the summer.

Should be exciting at least to see what squad we can assemble with our budget.

 

[ChamonixOx]

Just been looking at the fixtures again in April; it's frightening, to put it bluntly. Based on yesterday's performance, although better than under Robinson, it was still poor (against a really poor Morecambe side) and you have to wonder where the points will come from to get us out of trouble.

We are such a poor side and probably a mid-table League 2 squad at best. I thought, apart from his cross for the goal, Wildschut was disappointing; how was he signed for £7m? O'Donkor tries hard but is not the answer now; very much WiP. Murphy has talent somewhere, but I doubt we will ever see it. Joseph, effort but limited substance. A midfield that is ok, although McGuane, is not the player he was at the start of the season, and Smyth is raw (we need Bate back asap). And in defence, two centre-halves playing as full-backs, and Eastwood is a good reflex keeper but can't play out from the back.

Tim Williams needs to answer the question, as the CEO since October, how did you not see what so many of us saw that Autumn, that Robinson had assembled a shockingly poor, disjointed squad? What was his reason for letting Robinson continue, least of all, letting him have control of another transfer window? A transfer window where not one of the three signings got any game time yesterday (one injured, I know - but from what I've seen, he wasn't probably missed), and we let the one natural goal scorer we had, Matty Taylor (he may be off form - but who wasn't under Robinson), go, allegedly because of a manager fallout? Incompetence, and that's before we get to late February, where the sacking of Robinson only came after his 8th game without a win (1 point out of 24). Williams speaks well - but I do not think, on this showing, he is the man who should be running our (or anyone else's) football club as CEO!

 

[bazzer9461]

How many of the current squad will start next year if we stay in league one? I would only have Brannagan. Madness really what a mess Robinson created over the last few years and big job for Manning in the summer.

Should be exciting at least to see what squad we can assemble with our budget.

Not many with a bit of luck.
Hopefully the budget that we were told that will be available will reap its rewards just hope we can get a DOF/HOR in before the end of the season to identify the targets we need and jot targets we’re not going to get as Robinson and in some ways Davis as well seemed to look for.

 

[bazzer9461]

Just been looking at the fixtures again in April; it's frightening, to put it bluntly. Based on yesterday's performance, although better than under Robinson, it was still poor (against a really poor Morecambe side) and you have to wonder where the points will come from to get us out of trouble.

We are such a poor side and probably a mid-table League 2 squad at best. I thought, apart from his cross for the goal, Wildschut was disappointing; how was he signed for £7m? O'Donkor tries hard but is not the answer now; very much WiP. Murphy has talent somewhere, but I doubt we will ever see it. Joseph, effort but limited substance. A midfield that is ok, although McGuane, is not the player he was at the start of the season, and Smyth is raw (we need Bate back asap). And in defence, two centre-halves playing as full-backs, and Eastwood is a good reflex keeper but can't play out from the back.

Tim Williams needs to answer the question, as the CEO since October, how did you not see what so many of us saw that Autumn, that Robinson had assembled a shockingly poor, disjointed squad? What was his reason for letting Robinson continue, least of all, letting him have control of another transfer window? A transfer window where not one of the three signings got any game time yesterday (one injured, I know - but from what I've seen, he wasn't probably missed), and we let the one natural goal scorer we had, Matty Taylor (he may be off form - but who wasn't under Robinson), go, allegedly because of a manager fallout? Incompetence, and that's before we get to late February, where the sacking of Robinson only came after his 8th game without a win (1 point out of 24). Williams speaks well - but I do not think, on this showing, he is the man who should be running our (or anyone else's) football club as CEO!

A lot have asked that question and it’s a question he can’t answer.

Think having listened to him at the meeting at the training ground he seemed more interested in telling us of his time at Inter Milan and Manchester Utd.