Home Match Day Thread 28/11/2023 L1: OUFC v Bolton Wanderers

[Malc]

COME ON YOU YELLOWS

 

[Foley]

Moore has been our best player this season by a distance and he showed again last night just how valuable he is to the team. His ball playing has improved immeasurably and his calming influence is not to be underestimated.

Moore has got better and better, as you suggest and I agree that he has been our best player this season.
Cheltenham showed us how much he us missed when not playing.
I think that McGuane managed to win free kicks and take the pressure off us a number of times last night. When there was nothing on for him and he had a couple if players on him , he kept the ball and helped us.

 

[Yellow Mustard]

It was a very high quality game of football for league one, I can't remember watching the ball stick to the floor for that amount of time in forever at this level.

Compare that to Cheltenham which was nearly offensive in how rudimentary the play was. Horrible that was; beautiful this was.

Bolton were clearly the better side in my book, which is fine. With that glut of chances second half they should have won the game. Beadle was a titan.

Is Edwards OK? Worried about the sub. He is comfortably a good championship player, we all saw that early in the season and saw it again last night for 45 mins. Him and Browne, with Rodrigues and Leigh, make us auto spot quality. Our best side is basically- but the depth isn't quite there.

Finishing with a front 3 of Tyler, GOD and Murphy is very lower end league one (as good as Tyler will become) unfortunately.

Well done Des for changing that shape as it saved us- and I think there was clearly the instruction to go into a 'low block', no? We sat uncharacteristically deep, even if Bolton were drilling us at that point.

 

[Yellow Mustard]

Also- Moore is SO important to us. Nobody had a bad game really although I thought Stevens and Brown struggled a bit.

 

[Foley]

Oh, and I do hope the recruitment team have begun negotiations with Posh for JCH in January or Al Hamidi at Wombles. We need a striker in early in January and not a last minute dash in the final few days.

AFC Wimbledon are rumoured to be after £1.5m for Al Hamidi and Championship clubs are after him.
JCH is not in the Peterborough team.
I.hope that the recruitment team have a few possibilities and don't put their eggs in these 2 baskets!

 

[ECYellow]

AFC Wimbledon are rumoured to be after £1.5m for Al Hamidi and Championship clubs are after him.
JCH is not in the Peterborough team.
I.hope that the recruitment team have a few possibilities and don't put their eggs in these 2 baskets!

I wasn't actually suggesting that they should be the only two eggs in the basket but i couldn't be bothered to list of a wish list of players that extended beyond these two. One thing is for sure, one hopes we don't just settle for a Prem loan, but instead go out and actively pursue a player with a decent track record of goal scoring in the football league (not a Harris or Perkins, basically).

JCH is not in the Posh team as they expect to sell him in January and recoup a fee for him, rather than him walking away for free next summer. Typical Darragh Mac is protecting his asset.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

AFC Wimbledon are rumoured to be after £1.5m for Al Hamidi and Championship clubs are after him.
JCH is not in the Peterborough team.
I.hope that the recruitment team have a few possibilities and don't put their eggs in these 2 baskets!

You can guarantee whoever we go after they'll be people saying '"oh no, not him!"

 

[Eric Blair]

Also- Moore is SO important to us. Nobody had a bad game really although I thought Stevens and Brown struggled a bit.

I think Stevens struggled because Mills wasnt tracking back (he was knackered). Agree 100% on Moore and also Branagan was imperious. Both provide a solid spine to the side. McGuane draws a lot of fouls which was useful to take the pressure off ahead of Negru coming on.

Lots of positives - Des' changes, he was more animated on the touch line and seemed to get his ideas across (some criticised him for this at the Cheltenham game which I wasn't at so I was looking out for it), we were good despite missing Rodriguez and Leigh (and a recovering Edwards). We're not the finished article but we're on our way.

 

[bazzer9461]

AFC Wimbledon are rumoured to be after £1.5m for Al Hamidi and Championship clubs are after him.
JCH is not in the Peterborough team.
I.hope that the recruitment team have a few possibilities and don't put their eggs in these 2 baskets!

But we could go after Al Hamidi as I think the money would be available. It would certainly be a massive upgrade on Marriott. As for JCH I thought he was scoring quite freely for the Posh maybe I’ve got that last bit wrong, but the Gas are more likely to sign him.

 

[bazzer9461]

I wasn't actually suggesting that they should be the only two eggs in the basket but i couldn't be bothered to list of a wish list of players that extended beyond these two. One thing is for sure, one hopes we don't just settle for a Prem loan, but instead go out and actively pursue a player with a decent track record of goal scoring in the football league (not a Harris or Perkins, basically).

JCH is not in the Posh team as they expect to sell him in January and recoup a fee for him, rather than him walking away for free next summer. Typical Darragh Mac is protecting his asset.

Don’t think they would get the million they were after in the summer window, with only5 months or so left in his contract.

 

[Big Ron]

I wasn't actually suggesting that they should be the only two eggs in the basket but i couldn't be bothered to list of a wish list of players that extended beyond these two. One thing is for sure, one hopes we don't just settle for a Prem loan, but instead go out and actively pursue a player with a decent track record of goal scoring in the football league (not a Harris or Perkins, basically).

JCH is not in the Posh team as they expect to sell him in January and recoup a fee for him, rather than him walking away for free next summer. Typical Darragh Mac is protecting his asset.

That's exactly what is happening with JCH - they are protecting their 'asset' but also preparing to play without him. A friend of mine involved with Wycombe was at Peterborough a few weeks back and Barry Fry told him exactly what the club intended to do in terms of winding down JCH's game time.

 

[WEYellow]

I thought that was a scrappy game with brief moments of quality but ultimately a point was probably fair, and both teams would have taken that beforehand. Ref tried to ruin the game as best as he could, thankfully Bolton didn't get involved in shithouse tactics and theatrics like a mid table side (Wycombe, Port Vale) would have, maybe a bit of naivety on their part? I thought they looked like us under Robinson, clearly some very good players and some decent attacking play but don't think they had that killer instinct and conceded a lot of chances - I can't see them getting promoted automatically. Personally I thought the game was crying out for Mceachran, the amount of times (especially 2nd half) we could have been behind their midfield line with one forward, progressive pass was untold. I would have taken Mills off for Josh, and pushed Brannagan into the number 10. But, to his credit, Des' subs did make a difference, although I thought they came about 10 minutes too late. Rodrigues and Leigh are clearly huge misses but I thought Brown was excellent on the left, noticed he interchanged with Thorniley quite a lot when defending and it worked well, I can't recall much threat from Bolton's right. I was relieved to see Dion Charles get taken off, his pace and alertness was causing mayhem and we managed his replacement a lot better. Their number 19 tired quickly but was the standout player on the pitch for me.

Beadle - 8 - Assured, some great saves and catches from corners which relieved a lot of pressure. It's hard to believe he is so young and I have no doubt he will pick up a couple of England caps in the future.

Stevens - 7.5 - Thought he coped very well considering the lack of support from Mills and was always a threat going forward. Really beginning to like him and it would be a shame if he was to get recalled in January.

Moore - 8.5 - Colossal, our MOTM, so much more assured with him at the back and complimented Thorniley well.

Thorniley - 7 - Lost a couple of aerial battles with Charles which was concerning, but showed good pace at times. A lot better than Saturday's debacle.

Brown - 7.5 - Solid as ever although looked like his hamstring was going to disintegrate later in the game

Mcguane - 5 - His worst performance of the season, he did some of his usual good stuff but my god some of the bad stuff was really bad, needs to get out of the habit of trying to win fouls, just release the ball man! Struggled with the physicality of the game.

Brannagan - 7 - Did well defensively I thought, and the game suited him down to the ground. Scrappy, niggly, open. Much better.

Mills - 6 - If he had a good footballing brain he would be playing for Everton week in week out, had quite a poor game individually but actually think he was our best outlet and we died down as an attacking threat when he was substituted.

Bodin - 6 - Pretty much the opposite of Mills, if he had a bit of pace about him, he would be at a higher level. Missed two decent chances but did a decent job in the RR role. Needless yellow.

Edwards - 7 - Our best player in the first half and I hope he was taken off as a precaution only, I'm so excited to see him and Leigh down that left hand side when both fully fit.

Harris - 7 - Worked tirelessly for the team and ran in behind with success often. Hold up play was actually decent against their lump Santos - will never be a true number 9 but is key to how we would like to play.


Subs;

Goodrham - 6.5 - Battled well but his performances have sort of flat-lined from earlier in the season. I suppose that is to be expected of a 20 year old lad, he will have his say again this season.

Murphy - 7 - Bright again and ran us out of trouble a few times, definitely has something to offer although I'm not sure anyone knows to what extent it'll be.

GOD - 6.5 - Some neat link up and held it up well at times, looked lively.

Negru - 6.5 - Came in and shored it up, burst forward from the back a couple of times which was good to see.

 

[chromeyellow]

A 5 for Mcguane? be serious

 

[Yellow River]

I’m glad that Buckingham’s first game, and now his first home game are both out of the way now. Understandable though it was there’s been too much attention focused on the new manager and his homecoming and the unnecessary extra expectation and pressure that brings.

We also mustn’t lose sight of the upheaval and disappointment of losing Manning and staff has had on the club. Let’s get back to concentrating on the job in hand, ie winning football matches.

Last night’s performance was pretty decent against a very good Bolton side, especially when you consider their current form.The best visiting team to come to Grenoble Road this season so far, I expect them to go up as champions. Overall I was quite encouraged by our performance .

We’re not the finished article, it’s clear we need reinforcements in January especially up front. I think most supporters were in agreement post Robinson that it would take 3 windows to sort out the shambles he left on and off the field.

To their credit Manning and the recruitment team exceeded expectations on the rebuild, but there‘s still more to be done. If anything I think we over achieved a little in terms of league position for the first third of the season.

We‘re quite capable of going toe to toe with Bolton, beating Barnsley and Derby away, but we also have it in us to lose and perform poorly at Cambridge, Wigan and Cheltenham.

Up to date I don’t think we’re a top two side, despite it being a lower standard league this season. Consistency is the key for a playoff finish as well as keeping our better and most influential players on the pitch. ie, Beadle, Moore, Leigh, Brannigan, and Rodrigues.

 

[Theox07]

I still don’t trust thorniley as are centre back always doesn’t look like he’s gonna win the header compared to brown and looks weak

 

[Horse]

I was impressed with how Tyler lead the forwards in defending last night. He was organising GOD and Murphy in closing down and had them working as a unit. Hadn’t seen that in him before.

 

[Siho]

We beat most teams that play a "decent" style of football, but have lost to teams that resort to bullying/ long ball/ dark arts.

We're always going to lose some games, and if you're going to lose, it's better to lose to bottom half teams so as not to give points to promotion rivals.

Considering we were without some of our best players, and.the situation with the manager, I'm happy being an oxford fan right now

 

[Pompeyyellows]

My take on things are, 1st 20/25 mins we played really well, should of been at least 1 up. Then they started to take control. We hung in there and with a bit of luck maybe could of had a 2nd. Second half they look really good and dominated us a bit to much for my liking, but we hung in there.
Overall i think a draw was a fair result. If they are the best team in our league then we are not that far behind them.
We need to take our chances when we are on top, thats the key for me. If that means spending big on a striker to do that then thats what needs to be done.
Very enjoyable game though.

 

[Big Ron]

I still don’t trust thorniley as are centre back always doesn’t look like he’s gonna win the header compared to brown and looks weak

He was good last night - obviously very different to the physical barrage suffered on Saturday and benefitted from being back with Moore.

 

[OUFCwaffle]

I gather Edwards was taken off at half time as a means of easing him back in rather than another issue?

 

[Jster]

Yeah, the commentators said that he was always going to play between 45 and 60 mins last night.