Ex-Staff Liam Manning

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

he’s not good enough. He’s a utility squad player.

Which is it? They're mutually exclusive.

If he's not good enough he shouldn't even be a squad player.

Building a squad isn't (or at least shouldn't be) about filling spaces with those who aren't good enough (even if deemed flexible) - every space should be for a player more than capable of being regular starters should they earn the place or in the event of injuries or suspensions.

Hopefully this is something that Manning will understand better than Robinson ever did.

No squad fillers. No passengers. No mercy.*

*(there's your next crowd surfer).

 

[werthersoriginal]

Which is it? They're mutually exclusive.

If he's not good enough he shouldn't even be a squad player.

Building a squad isn't (or at least shouldn't be) about filling spaces with those who aren't good enough (even if deemed flexible) - every space should be for a player more than capable of being regular starters should they earn the place or in the event of injuries or suspensions.

Hopefully this is something that Manning will understand better than Robinson ever did.

No squad fillers. No passengers. No mercy.*

*(there's your next crowd surfer).

In any squad some players will be better than others and I’m glad we’ve got Sam. People said similar about Ruffels and he’s holding down a place in a team spunkily defending their place in the championship.

 

[Swaby39]

Anderson is poor at defending but it’s not an issue when he’s competing with Sam Long. Who can’t defend either.

At fault for the goal saturday. Again. Massively overrated. Just like he was at fault for Derbys first and third goals.

Strip away his link with Oxford & he’s not good enough. He’s a utility squad player.

3 year deal though, lol.

At least Anderson has the pace to recover from a mistake. He’s not an out and out full back but a wing back with proper defensive cover? Yes please. Great little player. Let’s not forget Martinelli hardly troubled him. He’s more than capable but we’ve just never played to his strengths or given him the sufficient cover to free him up to affect games. Not a him problem, it’s us. With a bit of coaching he could be immense. Instead, he finds himself parked as we’ve got no idea what to do with him - it’s easier to play safe Sam.

Long is simply not a concern to the opposition, nor is Brown. Quite straight forward to play against a team where there are only 2 or 3 players that can hurt you.

 

[Wallop]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1637831508500131842

Why am I worried that I might need to pay to watch this fixture on IFollow?

 

[Twiggy85]

At least Anderson has the pace to recover from a mistake. He’s not an out and out full back but a wing back with proper defensive cover? Yes please. Great little player. Let’s not forget Martinelli hardly troubled him. He’s more than capable but we’ve just never played to his strengths or given him the sufficient cover to free him up to affect games. Not a him problem, it’s us. With a bit of coaching he could be immense. Instead, he finds himself parked as we’ve got no idea what to do with him - it’s easier to play safe Sam.

Long is simply not a concern to the opposition, nor is Brown. Quite straight forward to play against a team where there are only 2 or 3 players that can hurt you.

Let’s face it any player currently not playing looks better at the moment and is ‘the answer’ When we had Taylor playing people were saying ‘GoD’ was the answer then it was Findlay is the answer. I was one of the people thinking this as well.
At the moment anyone out the team looks a good option because we have been so poor but realistically there is not one player who is going to turn this round.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Let’s face it any player currently not playing looks better at the moment and is ‘the answer’ When we had Taylor playing people were saying ‘GoD’ was the answer then it was Findlay is the answer. I was one of the people thinking this as well.
At the moment anyone out the team looks a good option because we have been so poor but realistically there is not one player who is going to turn this round.

Old saying, in the land of the shite he who does not play may be the messiah.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

LM certainly has a rebuild to do!
It is clear how he wants to play but doesn’t have the players to do.
I’d move on Findlay, Moore and loan out Long, put Brown CB with 1 other and bring in a couple of quick, attacking full backs.
Midfield is less of an issue for me but lose Bate at the end of the season and we will need to bring in a couple but McGuane, Brannagan and Smyth certainly look a good 3.
We need a new striker or 2 and a couple of new wingers.

Overall, I think it is going to be a busy summer.

 

[holdsteady]

Let’s face it any player currently not playing looks better at the moment and is ‘the answer’ When we had Taylor playing people were saying ‘GoD’ was the answer then it was Findlay is the answer. I was one of the people thinking this as well.
At the moment anyone out the team looks a good option because we have been so poor but realistically there is not one player who is going to turn this round.

This is pretty much true, all the players have had a chance and we haven’t been convincing or got a run of wins going all season, we had that run where we didn’t lose but had a lot of draws and you were never left thinking this is going to turn the season round.

Still fancy a break from the back four all being centre backs, it can’t make it any worse to try something different and would rather we had a real go at staying up than just went down with a whimper.

 

[tonto]

We desperately need players in the team that can pose a threat to the opposition like Browne Anderson Bate and Goodrham. And give them the ball! Without them we are far too easy to play against. Poor subs and poor timing of those subs really cost us on saturday. If only Bate and Goodrham had come on at 80 minutes we would have won that game.

 

[Osleroad]

We desperately need players in the team that can pose a threat to the opposition like Browne Anderson Bate and Goodrham. And give them the ball! Without them we are far too easy to play against. Poor subs and poor timing of those subs really cost us on saturday. If only Bate and Goodrham had come on at 80 minutes we would have won that game.

 

[Osleroad]

In our current OUFC we could have lost it too

 

[holdsteady]

We desperately need players in the team that can pose a threat to the opposition like Browne Anderson Bate and Goodrham. And give them the ball! Without them we are far too easy to play against. Poor subs and poor timing of those subs really cost us on saturday. If only Bate and Goodrham had come on at 80 minutes we would have won that game.

Bate and Goodrham have played plenty of games and been ineffective a lot of the time, might be due to the players round them but whoever said that as soon as players are out of the team they become the answer is right, no one with the exception of Smyth and Jones hasn't had a run.

We have to just accept the squad isn't good enough, we will probably go down unless we get lucky/bit of a miracle.

I think the amount of expectation placed on Goodrham and O Donkor shows how poor this lot are, they are no where near ready, juries out on whether they ever will be, yet players who should be on loan no higher than the national league at best are supposed to save us.

 

[West Oxon U’s]

I noticed that Short and LBS were doing the pre match drills at Morecambe . For those that were at Morecambe was Chris Hogg involved too?

 

[bazzer9461]

LM certainly has a rebuild to do!
It is clear how he wants to play but doesn’t have the players to do.
I’d move on Findlay, Moore and loan out Long, put Brown CB with 1 other and bring in a couple of quick, attacking full backs.
Midfield is less of an issue for me but lose Bate at the end of the season and we will need to bring in a couple but McGuane, Brannagan and Smyth certainly look a good 3.
We need a new striker or 2 and a couple of new wingers.

Overall, I think it is going to be a busy summer.

As long as it’s not like recent transfer windows slow. Laboured and last minute signings

 

[OxfordYankee]

I noticed that Short and LBS were doing the pre match drills at Morecambe . For those that were at Morecambe was Chris Hogg involved too?

Yes, he was out there.

 

[Cotswolds Cowboy]

Bate and Goodrham have played plenty of games and been ineffective a lot of the time, might be due to the players round them but whoever said that as soon as players are out of the team they become the answer is right, no one with the exception of Smyth and Jones hasn't had a run.

We have to just accept the squad isn't good enough, we will probably go down unless we get lucky/bit of a miracle.

I think the amount of expectation placed on Goodrham and O Donkor shows how poor this lot are, they are no where near ready, juries out on whether they ever will be, yet players who should be on loan no higher than the national league at best are supposed to save us.

I'd guess Manning is giving everyone a chance after the stupidly of what was happening before
He'd seen the two matches under Craig Short and I suppose wanted to look at all the options
Perhaps he did keep Smyth on a bit too long bearing in mind his complete absence of game time under the unmentionable
Hopefully he will use the two week break well

 

[RyanioBirdio]

I think the amount of expectation placed on Goodrham and O Donkor shows how poor this lot are, they are no where near ready, juries out on whether they ever will be, yet players who should be on loan no higher than the national league at best are supposed to save us.

People often get carried away by ‘their own’ and think that youth players are better than they are. I saw people after the Palace game saying that we should be playing the kids every week. If we had done that we would be bottom of the league.

As I said nearly six months ago, we will be lucky if just one of the current crop is playing at this level three years from now. Although the way it’s going, we won’t need any of them to be L1 level any time soon. Perhaps one or two of them might be okay in L2 next season. Goodrham and O’Donkor should’ve been loaned out to a National League club in January (as youth loans, so that they were able to be recalled if need be) and told to go and rip it up until summer. They need regular games away from this environment, not to be struggling to make an impact while the club sinks deeper and deeper into the s**t.

Given the amount of money that the club puts into the Academy and youth setups, they really should have somebody acting as a Loan / Development Manager, who establishes routes and pathways for young players. We should have links with several National League clubs who we can look to for this sort of thing. It’s a very draconian way of working to think that our recruitment and scouting teams should only be looking at who to bring in, rather than looking at who to place where.

I would be very interested in asking Liam Manning about his opinion on youth development and how we maximise that moving forward, given he comes from an academy background.

 

[holdsteady]

People often get carried away by ‘their own’ and think that youth players are better than they are. I saw people after the Palace game saying that we should be playing the kids every week. If we had done that we would be bottom of the league.

As I said nearly six months ago, we will be lucky if just one of the current crop is playing at this level three years from now. Although the way it’s going, we won’t need any of them to be L1 level any time soon. Perhaps one or two of them might be okay in L2 next season. Goodrham and O’Donkor should’ve been loaned out to a National League club in January (as youth loans, so that they were able to be recalled if need be) and told to go and rip it up until summer. They need regular games away from this environment, not to be struggling to make an impact while the club sinks deeper and deeper into the s**t.

Given the amount of money that the club puts into the Academy and youth setups, they really should have somebody acting as a Loan / Development Manager, who establishes routes and pathways for young players. We should have links with several National League clubs who we can look to for this sort of thing. It’s a very draconian way of working to think that our recruitment and scouting teams should only be looking at who to bring in, rather than looking at who to place where.

I would be very interested in asking Liam Manning about his opinion on youth development and how we maximise that moving forward, given he comes from an academy background.

If we had a head of recruitment or director of football this is the sort of thing they could oversee, but we don't even though we knew the first role was going to be vacant ages ago and the transfer window opening is starting to get nearer and we need a squad overhaul.

Least Tim got to go out with his mate Karl for a few pints though.

 

[bazzer9461]

If we had a head of recruitment or director of football this is the sort of thing they could oversee, but we don't even though we knew the first role was going to be vacant ages ago and the transfer window opening is starting to get nearer and we need a squad overhaul.

Least Tim got to go out with his mate Karl for a few pints though.

Totally agree over the DOF/HOR.
The question to be asked is Tom Williams up for the job?

 

[Northernyellow]

Agr

People often get carried away by ‘their own’ and think that youth players are better than they are. I saw people after the Palace game saying that we should be playing the kids every week. If we had done that we would be bottom of the league.

As I said nearly six months ago, we will be lucky if just one of the current crop is playing at this level three years from now. Although the way it’s going, we won’t need any of them to be L1 level any time soon. Perhaps one or two of them might be okay in L2 next season. Goodrham and O’Donkor should’ve been loaned out to a National League club in January (as youth loans, so that they were able to be recalled if need be) and told to go and rip it up until summer. They need regular games away from this environment, not to be struggling to make an impact while the club sinks deeper and deeper into the s**t.

Given the amount of money that the club puts into the Academy and youth setups, they really should have somebody acting as a Loan / Development Manager, who establishes routes and pathways for young players. We should have links with several National League clubs who we can look to for this sort of thing. It’s a very draconian way of working to think that our recruitment and scouting teams should only be looking at who to bring in, rather than looking at who to place where.

I would be very interested in asking Liam Manning about his opinion on youth development and how we maximise that moving forward, given he comes from an academy background.