Away Match Day Thread 01/03/22 L1: Portsmouth v OUFC

[Mellowyellow]

3-2 not a bad result, considering the back line was a bit make shift.

We move on, and look to get back to winning ways on Saturday.

Safe journey home yellows.

That was a terrible result, illustrating our inconsistencies, played our by a poor defence. How can we be threadbare after a couple of injuries, crazy.

 

[jambon46]

One to forget tonight, coming out of the ground a Pompey fan was singing the praises of Luke McNally and rightly so, hopefully his enthusiasm won't be taken away by senior players moaning at him' being out of position or you shouldn't do that' at the end of the day he was our best player tonight, constructive criticism for him is what's needed.

 

[dickwalton1964]

Stevens is a worry. I think he could perhaps have got nearer to all three. Not obvious mistakes but a looping header, another one across him and a 30 yarder at a nice height. He made one sensational save to deny the goal bound header late on and his kicking from his hands was pretty good tonight so a bit of a mixed bag but he’s got to be making more general saves than he is doing at the minute.

Thought McNally was pretty good tonight and Long and Brown did ok too. On the down side, Kane was again poor and careless with their second goal. Holland was awful in the first half but got going a bit in the second. Taylor struggled though.

 

[tonyw]

While Kane is capable of some impressive stuff, he’s been off it for a while and looks like he needs a rest.
Karl’s prematch comments on fatigue give vague justification I suppose for the rotation. Starting Browne was a good idea, Holland less so, but he too can never be discounted as he is a serious talent when on his game, for me more of an impact sub, though he does often seem to track back quite well at home I’ve noticed.
Stevens is shipping a lot of goals, Burton might be a good opportunity to give Easty a game. Mind, Jack tends to come up with at least one wonder save per game, pointing towards problems elsewhere.
Defence? Well, 3 at the back seems sensible given our admittedly limited options, Moore is a big loss. Midfield? No bite. Of course Brannagan is undroppable at the moment, McGuane at least might provide a bit more physicality whilst giving us another forward glider. He is preferable to Kane at the min for me, potentially an unpopular opinion. The sooner Bodin is back the better too, I think he is underrated defensively, always puts in little blocks and that.

Whilst I agree that Kane looks like he needs a breather - the problem is who else do we have to play at the base of the midfield?

You can certainly play Cam there, but I think you blunt him as an attacking threat. And he's certainly been a big threat the last couple of months.
We tried McGuane there once before (home vs. Wigan) and it is not his position. Doesn't quite have the positional sense or the workrate you need to play there.
And none of the other midfielders (Henry, Sykes, Bodin etc.) are suited to a deep-lying role.

Maybe Forde, but actually I would like to try him at RWB. It's tough to justify playing Seddon at any position at the moment because he's so bereft of confidence - so slide Williams over there (where we know he can play) and try Forde on the other side who should be a good fit.

Stevens is a tricky one. He hasn't made many (any?) howlers, but he's also shipping a lot of goals. And some of his handling has been a bit dodgy even if it hasn't cost him.
Maybe time to rotate back to Eastwood for a while.

Suspect that Holland won't get another start for a while. So many options for the front three, and he didn't exactly take his chance tonight (after the good ball for the 1st goal)

 

[Hackney Jack]

Not long got back. I always enjoy the trip to Pompey, and although we lost, tonight was no exception.

The team is too soft, and massively missed Moore. We farted around with the ball too much, and looked vulnerable at the back.

Our fans were good for most of the match, and although I hate Pompey, their fans are some of the best in the land, really.

We'll do well to to stay in the playoffs.

Stevens seems to have had a switch go off in him.

We miss Gorrin.

Let's hope the stadium gets the go ahead, that's where the fulcrum of us moving forward as a club will stem from.

 

[tonyw]

Stevens is a worry. I think he could perhaps have got nearer to all three. Not obvious mistakes but a looping header, another one across him and a 30 yarder at a nice height. He made one sensational save to deny the goal bound header late on and his kicking from his hands was pretty good tonight so a bit of a mixed bag but he’s got to be making more general saves than he is doing at the minute.

I don't think any goalkeeper in the world saves the first goal. It was a perfect looping header.

But the other two? Tough saves no doubt, but it feels like Stevens hasn't made many tough saves from range for a while now.

That being said, neither did Eastwood really before the switch.

 

[Mad Dog]

I'm simply blaming Wandering Yellow for saying Kane shows touches of Premiership class before the game[emoji1787]

Wandering yellow is right though, Kane does show touches of premiership class….weak in the tackle.

Play him further up the pitch, where he can be absolved of all defensive responsibilities, or drop him.

 

[unification]

I don't think any goalkeeper in the world saves the first goal. It was a perfect looping header.

But the other two? Tough saves no doubt, but it feels like Stevens hasn't made many tough saves from range for a while now.

That being said, neither did Eastwood really before the switch.

Looking at the goals here and none of them are in howler territory. The second especially is similar to Curtis’s goal against us in the home fixture and Sam Smith’s second at the weekend - losing the ball high up the field and then having a lopsided defence against a counter attack. If you’re going to expose the ‘keeper that way, you’re going to let in goals because there’s no one to narrow the angle for the goal scorer.

Stevens is shipping goals but so is the defence and midfield who are losing the ball too often in dangerous areas. I find the criticism of him in particular to be unfair and targeted. The errors are collective ones - not down to one individual.

 

[Oxymoron]

One to forget tonight, coming out of the ground a Pompey fan was singing the praises of Luke McNally and rightly so, hopefully his enthusiasm won't be taken away by senior players moaning at him' being out of position or you shouldn't do that' at the end of the day he was our best player tonight, constructive criticism for him is what's needed.

For the third, it was McNally who had to charge out of the box to try and close down the shot and it was McNally who was remonstrating with Holland (I think) who was much closer to Carter but made no attempt to put in a challenge.

 

[duckyellow]

Stood right behind the goal with a lot of 'youth' behind me. Yes there was a flare when we scored but not once did I hear the alleged racist remark. Not sure why some on here are quick to assume it happened. There were though 'You Fat Bast@rd' chants from Pompey fans by the corner flag and a response from Oxford of ' You Fat Ginger Bast@rd' aimed at one of their more rounded fans.

 

[dickwalton1964]

Looking at the goals here and none of them are in howler territory. The second especially is similar to Curtis’s goal against us in the home fixture and Sam Smith’s second at the weekend - losing the ball high up the field and then having a lopsided defence against a counter attack. If you’re going to expose the ‘keeper that way, you’re going to let in goals because there’s no one to narrow the angle for the goal scorer.

Stevens is shipping goals but so is the defence and midfield who are losing the ball too often in dangerous areas. I find the criticism of him in particular to be unfair and targeted. The errors are collective ones - not down to one individual.

I agree, none of them are howlers but every good shot or header shouldn’t equal a goal. A goalkeeper is a goalkeeper because he’s supposedly good at saving good shots and good headers. It’s crazy to keep saying, well, it was a great shot. My answer to that is go and make a great save then.

One of the most over used and tiresome churned out lines in football is ‘no goalkeeper in the world saves that’ - absolute rubbish. Plenty of keepers in L1, let alone worldwide, are keeping some of those out last night. You cannot keep giving Stevens the excuse that it was a great strike - deal with it then, or at least deal with more than you have been recently.

 

[m]

Stood right behind the goal with a lot of 'youth' behind me. Yes there was a flare when we scored but not once did I hear the alleged racist remark. Not sure why some on here are quick to assume it happened. There were though 'You Fat Bast@rd' chants from Pompey fans by the corner flag and a response from Oxford of ' You Fat Ginger Bast@rd' aimed at one of their more rounded fans.

Certainly nothing came through on iFollow.

Given the reaction to homophobic chanting at Wycombe - the reaction from our own support - I'd like to think that racist chanting would be similarly publicly condemned.

Maybe Pompey fans trying to throw mud and hoping some sticks?

 

[Junior_1]

What a whopper of a birthday. Work all day, can't see anyone as still recovering from Covid, chicken for dinner didn't defrost so rubbish dinner, no messages from any of my mates, just family, and now an OUFC loss and our rivals all win. Bloody hate birthdays.

One of those nights, unfortunately. Strange refereeing performance, but other than the no pen call on Taylor didn't actually affect the result. Win the next 2 and it won't matter too much, still in our hands. Night all.

Didn’t you have your mate round who left on 40 kind and you blamed him for what happened after!!!??

 

[Junior_1]

Didn’t you have your mate round who left on 40 kind and you blamed him for what happened after!!!??

If he was at the game, I stand corrected..

Happy belated birthday btw..

 

[dickwalton1964]

No story re any abusiveness crowd wise. The odd individual with the usual cheap jibe at their fans in the corner and any collective singing/chanting was just trading like for like with theirs. The ‘you fat b*stard’ etc chants, yes you wouldn’t say it to one of their fans one to one in the street but it’s just the sort of collective nonsense fans sing and surely we aren’t reaching a stage when even this is off limits - are we ?

I heard nothing racist whatsoever - either individually or collectively.

 

[christenedinjericho]

No story re any abusiveness crowd wise. The odd individual with the usual cheap jibe at their fans in the corner and any collective singing/chanting was just trading like for like with theirs. The ‘you fat b*stard’ etc chants, yes you wouldn’t say it to one of their fans one to one in the street but it’s just the sort of collective nonsense fans sing and surely we aren’t reaching a stage when even this is off limits - are we ?

I heard nothing racist whatsoever - either individually or collectively.

On the subject of saying it in a one to one situation in the street even my granny if she was still alive would have done as they were all around the grand old age of seven or eight. C'mon then.

Poor day at the Fratton office.

COYY'S

 

[Horse]

Both Eastwood and Stevens get beaten by every shot that goes across the body to the far post. I’d be looking at the coaching and looking to bring in a consultant. There must be contacts in the game who can analyse the problem and help rectify it.

 

[Eaststanding]

No story re any abusiveness crowd wise. The odd individual with the usual cheap jibe at their fans in the corner and any collective singing/chanting was just trading like for like with theirs. The ‘you fat b*stard’ etc chants, yes you wouldn’t say it to one of their fans one to one in the street but it’s just the sort of collective nonsense fans sing and surely we aren’t reaching a stage when even this is off limits - are we ?

I heard nothing racist whatsoever - either individually or collectively.

There was a brief rendition of the pathetic ‘sex offender’ chant, but that quickly died a death, certainly no racist chanting that I heard.

 

[Eaststanding]

A disappointing night.

Stevens conceded another goal across him tonight. It’s a common theme.

We conceded another goal from that 18-22yard range tonight. It’s a common theme.

We conceded another 2/3 tonight. It’s a common theme.

Seddon had another poor game tonight. He lacked decisiveness in defence and offered a couple of dreadful balls when I’m attacking areas. It’s a common theme.

Based on our current goals against trend for the season we will concede 60+ goals. When was the last time a team won promotion conceding so many goals?

Ref - fussy
Away fans - quiet second half

Just about sums the evening up for me.

 

[West Oxon U’s]

Portsmouth Goals Analysis from the highlights above;

We give a soft free kick away out wide and Pompey‘s Hume is allowed work the ball across to Morrell out wide
Seddon does not work hard enough to stop the cross from Morrell and Raggett out jumps Long in the box and
nets a good header but it’s too easy. Pompey were not threatening but had a spell of dominating the ball - helped
in part by poor refereeing from Allison who allowed some poor challenges to go unpunished.

Kane then loses the ball in a very dangerous area centrally and Harness advances past Kane and passes out wide for
Hirst to finish low past Stevens. Long appeals in vain for off side.

For the third , centre-half Carter is allowed to bring a ball down , advance ten yards unopposed , no one comes out to close the space
and Carter pings a 30 yard drive past the despairing Stevens.

The attention to detail with our defending is shocking. - no pressure on the ball, no blocking or closing down
and we look open in transition. No surprises we conceded three goals so easily again.

Contrast that with Portsmouth who blocked crosses and shots far better than we did overall.