Home Match Day Thread +++ 21/08/18 OUFC v Accrington Stanley +++

[Gary Baldi]

Wouldn’t disagree with you, we need to find a formation that is much more solid, personally would consider a 3-4-3 or a 4,3,3, Robinson’s fascination with the 4,2,3,1 leaves us exposed to counter attacks, but we signed one left back and about 6 players to play behind the lone forward, it’s blatantly not working defensively.

The rest of this week needs to be spent working in defending as a team and being better organised, still think we are desperate for a left sided defender though.

The hole in the formation, for me, is the 10 role. Browne and Whyte did a decent job today with their full backs. I'm not digging at Henry in the slightest, but there is simply something not right in the connection between him and the central midfield. I might suggest that the 10 role plays deeper, or even is a less attacking player.

 

[yellowbow]

It took Tiger so effing long to get Robinson in I can’t see him being in any rush to get rid of him, no matter what happens.

 

[Victor1986]

13 goals conceded in 4 games tells the story. Defensive shambles & they looked like scoring every time the ball was in our box. Nelson is a shadow of the player he was when he arrived from PAFC & I reckon his agent has turned his head to places he could be off to next season. He is Captain FFS but he does not shout or marshall his defence & I personally think he is one of the main problems. The defence in the Cup game against Coventry looked solid - Nelson did not play - Saturday could be a defining game for KR.

 

[brokeandobscure]

I absolutely don't want to be sitting on a bus back to Wantage at 11pm tomorrow feeling like I can't be arsed to go on Saturday. I'm not going to predict a score, as I don't want to be negative. Not confident, but hope springs eternal. COYY.

I HATE this journey when we lose. Some encouraging signs tonight though, but ultimately not good enough.

 

[Common Villager]

Much improved performance from an attacking perspective (Browne and Whyte in particular), but same defencive frailties cost is again.

For me, our biggest problem is the midfield two. Brannagan just doesn't seem to suit playing there. He presses when he shouldn't press and dives in unnecessarily far too often. Is he being told to do this or is he taking it upon himself to do so? Hanson doesn't yet look like he is the answer. I'm not sure he is disciplined and positionally aware enough either. The best centre midfield performance I've seen this season was Baptiste's against Coventry - might be worth giving him another try?

Accrington really showed us the benefit of having a striker that can hold the sodding ball up (I will continue to support Obika and hope he can turn it around, but my god he's so frustrating). It allowed them to get up the pitch, especially when we were putting them under the cosh, and helped them to manage the game when they were winning.

Positives were that I actually thought the defence looked better. Mousinho and Nelson is probably our best combination, and Norman is an improvement on McMahon. Unfortunately any defence will struggle without proper protection from the midfield. We also benefited massively from having two pacey players out wide, it was just a shame we had no one to replace them with when they tired.

All in all, disappointing again, but far more tolerable than the previous showings. But we'll keep losing until Robinson sorts out the midfield.

Oh yeah, the ref was a bloody joke.

 

[Osei Yaw]

Part of the problem is that the opposition can easily take our front 4 out of the game when attacking us, and the defence then ends up all at sea. We don't look like a cohesive unit.

 

[holdsteady]

The hole in the formation, for me, is the 10 role. Browne and Whyte did a decent job today with their full backs. I'm not digging at Henry in the slightest, but there is simply something not right in the connection between him and the central midfield. I might suggest that the 10 role plays deeper, or even is a less attacking player.

I would rather Whyte and Brown were further forward and we put in a more defensive midfielder, they are our attacking threat, can’t see Robinson giving up his favourite formation though.

 

[Osleroad]

13 goals conceded in 4 games tells the story. Defensive shambles & they looked like scoring every time the ball was in our box. Nelson is a shadow of the player he was when he arrived from PAFC & I reckon his agent has turned his head to places he could be off to next season. He is Captain FFS but he does not shout or marshall his defence & I personally think he is one of the main problems. The defence in the Cup game against Coventry looked solid - Nelson did not play - Saturday could be a defining game for KR.

Do we need a new captain then ? Is Mousino better when he replaces him?

 

[McXal]

It was better. I think most are in agreement on that. Browne and Whyte were excellent until they ran out of steam in the last 20 minutes. I thought Henry was decent in offensive areas too - especially considering he’s supposedly some way off full fitness.

Norman was also a huge positive for me, and I was disappointed Robinson turned down the chance to praise him more enthusiastically when Nathan gave him an opportunity during his interview. Considering his age and the level of football he’d played before it was inevitable he’d show some inexperience - and he gave away his fair share of needless fouls and wasteful passes. But his throws were problematic for Accy, and what a difference it made having his engine and athleticism at RB.

And everyone seems broadly in agreement with where we went wrong too. How on Earth have we become quite so weak and vulnerable defensively? Let’s not kid ourselves that lots of possession means we ‘bossed it’ or ‘deserved to win’. Accy scored three, and easily could have had another three by my count as well (the first half header, the one-on-one miss and when their lad went round Mitchell and got side netting).

It was a moderate improvement, but I’m not buying that the ref cost us anything. I’m of the opinion that Stanley were clinical and decent value for their win based on clear-cut chances alone. It’s all hugely alarming. KR’s post-match interview ‘facts’ were barely that. Actual facts are four played, 13 conceded, -10 goal difference and 0 points. Dreadful and with Burton & Sunderland up next in the league we could go even further behind everyone else...

 

[MC Yellow]

After seeing that performance and effort, I’m convinced that as soon as we plug the big leaks at the back we are going to rip some teams in this league new A*****e.

Stunning goals and equally stunned at that defeat. How the hell did that happen.

We have to learn from these heavy defeats and quick. But as soon as we do, we’ll fight our way out of this pit of s**t we find ourselves languishing in. Awful start but gotta remain optimistic and hopeful.

Bring on Burton.

 

[begbrokeox]

Personally I think this all comes down to a shambolic pre-season. We have a good squad that is massively underachieving at the moment, but I think the signs are there that it will come good. However, at the moment we are running at about 60% and we seem to be a good month or so behind other teams in the division. For whatever reason, all of our transfer business was done too close to the start of the season. We looked like a squad that is starting to gel this evening, and it was a vast improvement on Fleetwood, but we’re well behind the curve still.

I echo the comments of those that say Whyte, Browne and Norman were all excellent tonight. I also think it’s no conincidence that we started to fold when Henry came off. Despite not being 100% fit, he orchestrated a lot, often going under the radar. When he started to flag, so did a lot of our attacking threat.

The weak links are sadly Obika and Ruffels. If I were KR I’d try Norman on the left and McMahon on the right. God knows what to do in the centre of the defence. Something is really wrong. Nelson doesn’t look fit. Mous was ok, but again held on to the ball too long and looked error prone. We made it far too easy for Accrington. At the back we were naive and just damn foolish.

 

[uptheus]

Personally I think this all comes down to a shambolic pre-season. We have a good squad that is massively underachieving at the moment, but I think the signs are there that it will come good. However, at the moment we are running at about 60% and we seem to be a good month or so behind other teams in the division. For whatever reason, all of our transfer business was done too close to the start of the season. We looked like a squad that is starting to gel this evening, and it was a vast improvement on Fleetwood, but we’re well behind the curve still.

I echo the comments of those that say Whyte, Browne and Norman were all excellent tonight. I also think it’s no conincidence that we started to fold when Henry came off. Despite not being 100% fit, he orchestrated a lot, often going under the radar. When he started to flag, so did a lot of our attacking threat.

The weak links are sadly Obika and Ruffels. If I were KR I’d try Norman on the left and McMahon on the right. God knows what to do in the centre of the defence. Something is really wrong. Nelson doesn’t look fit. Mous was ok, but again held on to the ball too long and looked error prone. We made it far too easy for Accrington. At the back we were naive and just damn foolish.

The central midfield two are causing the defence an issue. Like I said earlier, Brannagan is making poor decisions bybtreing to win the ball too high up field, thus leaving a huge crater in the middle for the opposition to expose. He needs to hold his position and have more composure on the ball.

 

[cassox]

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Actually thought some of our football was brilliant. High quality goals, pace and invention. Browne’s goal was a joy. In certain respects we completely outgunned Accy.

In other respects we’d struggle to match a Conference South team. Kamikaze defending, lack of defensive covering runs, headless chicken tackling, physical weakness, general lack of fitness in last 20.

To me the weakness - again was central midfield. We simply aren’t big or strong enough. Why did we flog Carroll?

it’s not all disastrous. We aim to play the right way and we have brought in some exciting talent. Norman, Whyte and Browne have bright futures.

But of course some of the other signings are a bag of shyte.

And those are ‘facts’. KR . Keep your gob shut, stop making excuses get on the training ground and sort out something resembling a defensive shape.

It was entertaining to watch though. Liked Accy’s attitude. They had a defence almost as poor as ours but kept on coming.

McConville and Kee excellent.

COYY. - still..

 

[jambon46]

The central midfield two are causing the defence an issue. Like I said earlier, Brannagan is making poor decisions bybtreing to win the ball too high up field, thus leaving a huge crater in the middle for the opposition to expose. He needs to hold his position and have more composure on the ball.

I agree, but Brannagan is/will be the engine room in our midfield when Hanson gets up to speed our midfield will be one of the best in the league. Brannagan is not the reason we lost tonight.

 

[greatunclekip]

I agree, but Brannagan is/will be the engine room in our midfield when Hanson gets up to speed our midfield will be one of the best in the league. Brannagan is not the reason we lost tonight.

Best in the league- really?!

 

[greatunclekip]

Actually thought some of our football was brilliant. High quality goals, pace and invention. Browne’s goal was a joy. In certain respects we completely outgunned Accy.

In other respects we’d struggle to match a Conference South team. Kamikaze defending, lack of defensive covering runs, headless chicken tackling, physical weakness, general lack of fitness in last 20.

To me the weakness - again was central midfield. We simply aren’t big or strong enough. Why did we flog Carroll?

it’s not all disastrous. We aim to play the right way and we have brought in some exciting talent. Norman, Whyte and Browne have bright futures.

But of course some of the other signings are a bag of shyte.

And those are ‘facts’. KR . Keep your gob shut, stop making excuses get on the training ground and sort out something resembling a defensive shape.

It was entertaining to watch though. Liked Accy’s attitude. They had a defence almost as poor as ours but kept on coming.

McConville and Kee excellent.

COYY. - still..

We did completely outgun Accy. Except in the "get more balls in the goal" sense of course. But just a trivial point.

The rest of your post spot on though.

 

[jambon46]

Best in the league- really?!

so our midfield is why we lost tonight? I love your posts

 

[greatunclekip]

so our midfield is why we lost tonight? I love your posts

It isnt no. But it didnt help matters. And i can already name 4 midfields id have ahead of ours.

Its ambitious to think theyll suddenly click and become top drawer.

 

[jambon46]

It isnt no. But it didnt help matters. And i can already name 4 midfields id have ahead of ours.

Its ambitious to think theyll suddenly click and become top drawer.

so could I, but to be honest I would think there are a few teams in our league who would be more than happy to have Hanson and Brannagan in their team. They won't 'suddenly click and become top draw' but it takes time. just get behind your team man.