Fan's View Fan's View - No.15 20/21 - Crewe at home

Agree with everything you say Paul. Clare looks very effective further up the field.Why Karl took off Sykes I have no idea.
 
A fair assessment, if somewhat depressing in its accuracy. For what it’s worth I agree with you about Clare. Mainly because he’s played his entire career in midfield before this season.

IMO: Robinson would do well to just sign round pegs to go in round holes a bit more often. Not every player needs to be “retrained” to play a different role, or a different position entirely. Either sign the players to fit the system, or change the system to fit the players. It’s one or the other. What you don’t do is smash the two things together like they’re a couple of children’s action figures. Watching Clare have no idea how to be a full back is one thing, but seeing Matty Taylor run around on his own, trying to play like a target man and hold the ball up, is heartbreaking. He’s one of the best out and out six yard box poachers outside of the Championship, and he’s being asked to spend his time fighting two blokes half a foot bigger than him while none of his team mates get within 20 or 30 yards. We’ve gone back to witnessing this absolute obsession that Robinson has with the 4-2-3-1, which is exactly what happened at the beginning of the last two seasons when we started poorly, and because of it we’re no longer getting people up alongside the striker, nor do we have wide men running at the defenders and slipping passes through / putting balls across. Other teams don’t have to defend or keep their wits about them anymore, because we have one isolated striker trying to be something he isn’t and that’s our lot. Press outlets can present the lineup however they want on the social media diagrams - you can see the team shape on camera and you can watch the way they lineup from goal kicks. If this is going to happen every season then at what point are we going to at least sign players who fit into that system? As it stands the ‘recruitment team’ seem to collect a bunch of players that they like the look of in isolation, and then Robinson tries to cram a bunch of them into a pre-determined shape come hell or high water. It’s all a bit, “I want to play this shape, in this way, and I want to get these specific players on the pitch no matter what.” He usually drops it eventually and we immediately improve, so let’s see.

Frustrating, but already I’m looking ahead to Saturday and thinking, “Surely this is winnable... right?!”
 
A fair assessment, if somewhat depressing in its accuracy. For what it’s worth I agree with you about Clare. Mainly because he’s played his entire career in midfield before this season.

IMO: Robinson would do well to just sign round pegs to go in round holes a bit more often. Not every player needs to be “retrained” to play a different role, or a different position entirely. Either sign the players to fit the system, or change the system to fit the players. It’s one or the other. What you don’t do is smash the two things together like they’re a couple of children’s action figures. Watching Clare have no idea how to be a full back is one thing, but seeing Matty Taylor run around on his own, trying to play like a target man and hold the ball up, is heartbreaking. He’s one of the best out and out six yard box poachers outside of the Championship, and he’s being asked to spend his time fighting two blokes half a foot bigger than him while none of his team mates get within 20 or 30 yards. We’ve gone back to witnessing this absolute obsession that Robinson has with the 4-2-3-1, which is exactly what happened at the beginning of the last two seasons when we started poorly, and because of it we’re no longer getting people up alongside the striker, nor do we have wide men running at the defenders and slipping passes through / putting balls across. Other teams don’t have to defend or keep their wits about them anymore, because we have one isolated striker trying to be something he isn’t and that’s our lot. Press outlets can present the lineup however they want on the social media diagrams - you can see the team shape on camera and you can watch the way they lineup from goal kicks. If this is going to happen every season then at what point are we going to at least sign players who fit into that system? As it stands the ‘recruitment team’ seem to collect a bunch of players that they like the look of in isolation, and then Robinson tries to cram a bunch of them into a pre-determined shape come hell or high water. It’s all a bit, “I want to play this shape, in this way, and I want to get these specific players on the pitch no matter what.” He usually drops it eventually and we immediately improve, so let’s see.

Frustrating, but already I’m looking ahead to Saturday and thinking, “Surely this is winnable... right?!”
You've perfectly expressed what I and no doubt most fans who watched that debacle are thinking. Robinson has completely lost the plot. He must have known that putting Winnall on was a risk, so why take Taylor off? Taylor was ineffective throughout the game for exactly the reason you state. Having them both up front in the circumstances was the obvious choice. When it was needed neither was there. Every game is winnable. I'm not at all confident Saturday's game is winnable by us.
 
I daresay that KR is waking up this morning thinking how lucky he is that the stadiums are empty for matches.

That total lack of performance from his team would have had the crowd looking for a lynching.
 
Great read Paul. I'm not going to dispute whether Clare is a good footballer or not, but I could have played ok in our midfield last night, and I haven't kicked a ball for years...
 
I daresay that KR is waking up this morning thinking how lucky he is that the stadiums are empty for matches.

That total lack of performance from his team would have had the crowd looking for a lynching.
I think you are right and that KR has had an easy ride by the crowd not being in the stadium. It would surely have been made very clear to him by now that playing poor Clare at right back was a failure, that playing Taylor as some sort of unsupported target man was wasting one of our best assets and that (for some bizarre reason) waiting until 55 minutes to make any changes after last night's disastrous first half performance was not acceptable.
Unfortunately that may be making him sleep a little easier, but it means he can keep plugging away at the same old for longer than he did at the start of other seasons.
 
I daresay that KR is waking up this morning thinking how lucky he is that the stadiums are empty for matches.

That total lack of performance from his team would have had the crowd looking for a lynching.
Even my wife said that it was lucky there was no-one there to watch this.
 
I think you are right and that KR has had an easy ride by the crowd not being in the stadium. It would surely have been made very clear to him by now that playing poor Clare at right back was a failure, that playing Taylor as some sort of unsupported target man was wasting one of our best assets and that (for some bizarre reason) waiting until 55 minutes to make any changes after last night's disastrous first half performance was not acceptable.
Unfortunately that may be making him sleep a little easier, but it means he can keep plugging away at the same old for longer than he did at the start of other seasons.
You could be right with the, more or less, carte blanche shown to KR. I wonder how many players are now contemplating how they can engineer a move away from OUFC. Careers are on the line for some although others, Taylor being a candidate, must be utterly frustrated that they fell for the storyline they were given. What a way to see out the last few years of competitive football! Others may be thanking their lucky stars that they have found another pay packet.

KR has got to react to what's happening on the pitch. It was obvious to everyone that Shodipo was ineffectual and should have been replaced. Agyei would have brought a physical presence to the position. Replacing Taylor with Winnall was a complete waste of a sub. And why pull Sykes off? Along with Gorrin, he was at least chasing for the ball.
 
Spot on Paul. It was probably the worst 90 minutes I have watched live for a long, long time & I was ashamed at the lack of effort.
I will be surprised if Sam Winnall makes more than a handful of appearances & even more surprised if he scores any goals - he is a crock these days & makes for poor recruitment from our lot.
Wonder what Tiger thinks now of his decision to give KR four more years?
 
Good rant Paul. And good to read your positive comments amid all the knocking of Sean Clare. He's absolutely not alone in the occasional costly defensive blunder, but he looks streets ahead of others in his quality going forward
 
Nobody and i mean Nobody on here had access to the conversations regarding recruitment, it may be possible that KR provided a "Realistic" list of players that for various reasons did not find themselves here.

Most on this forum were happy-content with the business done with the way our model works in mind.

I have said it many times that sometimes just sometimes because of the way we operate things will not always pan out as expected and if you are happy and accept our model then you also need to accept what on the odd occasion may follow.

I will keep coming back that for various reasons we have not been able to name a settled side,in particular the back 5----6 with the much needed and undervalued Gorrin who is the vital cog to how we play.

Fans will always have differing opinions on players but what i find odd is that when certain players are in the team they are critizised on here yet when we lose a game of football questions are asked as to why those same players were not in the team/squad as though by some miracle that was a solution. Sam Long has had much criticism on here by some yet those same people want him returned to the same position where some were so critical of him.

We win as a team and lose as a team but fans have their favorites who go beyond even the slightest worry or concern for how they are performing because it's so much easier to blame certain individuals and the Manager included.

Most will accept that yesterday was a poor "Team" performance but you then also have to understand how vital it is to be able to play asettled back 5 / 6 which keeps being overlooked...We are in the 3rd tier and will not always have like for like replacements in every position.

Many keep referencing how fortunate we were to reach the Play off final yet appear not to accept how unfortunate we have been with injuries and being unable to namea settled side.

As stated fans have differing opinions but if deep down anyone truly believes that either as individuals or a squad we are a relegation side then i for one have to disagree.
 
Agree regarding Clare. He is not a right-back. Demonstrably not. Not an attacking wing-back, nor the advanced option in a back 5, nor a classic right-back. Can't tackle, doesn't do the tracking back like Long, stands off his man and gives them an option, every time. He will never be one, you can see it every time he gets the ball in the final third...looks up and thinks "ooh, I'll have a run here", and then realises once again that if (when) he loses it the team will be in the sh*te. So he then stops and passes backwards, again. Or dinks it up the line. Or loses the ball. Further up the pitch the dynamic is different, the opposition are on the back foot rather than the front foot and this is where he gets his head up, passes forward or takes on his man. This is where he needs to play, if at all. A second half reshuffle yesterday with Mous (surely enough for 45 minutes) and Moore in the centre, Ruffles left with Obita ahead and Long right with Clare ahead would surely, surely have been better?
 
As stated fans have differing opinions but if deep down anyone truly believes that either as individuals or a squad we are a relegation side then i for one have to disagree.

On paper, I agree. In reality and on the pitch I certainly see relegation candidates at the moment.
 
@horseman

That's very reasonable - but I think *especially* given your comments, a manager at L1 level needs to show flexibility and to be creative in what they do.

As you rightly say, you cannot tell how every signing will turn out. But there are two things there.

Firstly, especially with the limit on the number of senior players, was signing Winnall a good idea given his injury record? Many on here DID point to that at the time he signed. As was already pointed out by another poster we do also have among that 'senior' grouping others who seem to be on the treatment table an awful lot (Hanson, Hall, Obita), a player/coach who might be on the subs list but doesn't even get changed, a youngster (Atkinson) who apparently failed a medical elsewhere, etc. All of these things have been said on here for months.

Secondly, if a signing does not work out then sticking to the same plan despite that seems obstinate. You know what I am going to say! Nobody who has watched us would claim that Clare is a right back, even though he was signed as one. That hasn't worked. So surely the manager has to admit that and play someone else in that position and then use Clare in another role?

I do agree that after a performance like that players who didn't play suddenly seem better! Someone has mentioned Kelly - personally I'd have him nowhere near the squad if he plays as he has been doing.

I'm not sure how anyone could have watched last night's debacle and be confident that relegation is not, at the very least, a possibility.
 
Spot on @Paul B

something isn't right at OUFC that's obvious after last nights woefully poor performance
Wonder if it could be anything to do with the replacements bought in on the coaching side of things
( and those who have departed from coaching roles leaving a gaping chasm, as yet unfilled, nevermind being sealed )

so far this campaign OUFC seem to have fallen (err) Short of the standards set in previous seasons (IMO)
 
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