Home Match Day Thread 18/4/2023 L1: OUFC v Portsmouth

[Older Shotts]

Not sure. His age and the need to offer him a much reduced wage would probably scupper it I imagine.

Darrell Clarke being sacked probably reduces the likelihood of him signing for Vale somewhat (assuming he hasn't already penned a deal with them to kick in from the Summer).

My assumption is that Manning will want a fresh start and it will of course be really affected by what division we're in!

Reduced wage and as backup to a decent new, younger, striker would be ok.
Whether he'd be happy with that, who knows.

 

[holdsteady]

Wildschut coming on cost us more than O’D coming off.
No sarcasm intended. Manning’s the manager and he sees the squad in action every day in training. We don’t.

You don't think O Donkor was completely blowing out of his a**e for his last ten minutes last night? He was struggling to get near the ball.

He hasn't got 90 minutes in him as a lone centre forward, which is fair enough at 18, no point pretending otherwise and keeping him on.

 

[bazzer9461]

Is he not getting the picture?

Oops

 

[PottersRightBoot]

You don't think O Donkor was completely blowing out of his a**e for his last ten minutes last night? He was struggling to get near the ball.

He hasn't got 90 minutes in him as a lone centre forward, which is fair enough at 18, no point pretending otherwise and keeping him on.

You’re not getting it. A totally spent O’D was still better value than the ponderous number 30 .

 

[oufc1991]

I actually feel sorry for yanic he's passed it you could see last night he can't run he reminds me of Jamie Mackie when his legs went it's a shame because there was obviously a talented player in there once

 

[bazzer9461]

I am just so angry that Matty Taylor is still not with us. When he was here he got no service, if he was here IMO we would already be pretty safe. That bloody clown really stuffed us and it's even more annoying that he was allowed to do so by our leaders.

And they’re still here

 

[Sheik djibouti]

You’re not getting it. A totally spent O’D was still better value than the ponderous number 30 .

But Didn't Billy replace GOD and Wildschut replace Joseph?

Even so, Joseph would be more effective running on his hands than Wildschut is fully fit. He left us horribly exposed in defence down the left and took so much momentum from us.

Donks was on for 10 minutes too long (4 of those when we just couldn't get the ball out of play, because we couldn't get near it).

The effort and energy levels from Jospeh, Donks, Tyler, McGuane, Browne and Brannagan were all next level last night. I see a few people have commented how poor Pompey were and yes, they are not word beaters, but don't take anything away from how much our endeavour made them look a poor side last night!

I also think Pompey were quite fortunate to still have 11 on the pitch by the end, the way the ref wish dishing the yellows.

 

[Roge]

Interesting reaction from the Pompey fans at the end. John Mousinho 's record as manager P 20 W 9 D 7 L 4 34pts. What do they expect.? We played well on the night, at least we are creating chances now ,even if we are struggling to finish them off.

 

[JOHN BOY]

If Smith isn't going to get on, give someone else the opportunity on the bench.

Like who?

 

[East Stand Fan]

You don't think O Donkor was completely blowing out of his a**e for his last ten minutes last night? He was struggling to get near the ball.

He hasn't got 90 minutes in him as a lone centre forward, which is fair enough at 18, no point pretending otherwise and keeping him on.

He was struggling from the 70th onward I felt and had already missed a couple of good chances during the game. Should've been taken off a little sooner IMO as he was clearly spent but it's just a shame that our options are so light on who to bring on. Cannot understand why Smith isn't given a chance because Pompey were on the ropes and any half decent forward would've kept them under pressure at the back for the remainder of the match.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

Donks was on for 10 minutes too long (4 of those when we just couldn't get the ball out of play, because we couldn't get near it).

He was stretching and limping in the centre circle by 70. The longer he stayed on the more likely he was to injure himself. At this stage being out for a fortnight with a muscle strain means missing the rest of the season.

Manning understands the basics on that front. The last bloke didn’t.

 

[The mighty Aldo]

I feel that if we keep playing like we have in the last two games we will score 3/4 goals in a game.
I don’t expect that to be against Barnsley where we will have to scrap to pick up a point.
However in the remaining three fixtures we will score goals. We have done it v Port Vale,Exeter,Charlton and Bolton and it will come right if we continue to play like we have.
If this was earlier in the season we would all be saying someone will get a drubbing from us soon. We have had no luck since Manning has arrived but I have a feeling that will change,as I say it probably won’t be against Barnsley but it will come good in the remains three fixtures.

 

[Joey]

But Didn't Billy replace GOD and Wildschut replace Joseph?

Even so, Joseph would be more effective running on his hands than Wildschut is fully fit. He left us horribly exposed in defence down the left and took so much momentum from us.

Donks was on for 10 minutes too long (4 of those when we just couldn't get the ball out of play, because we couldn't get near it).

The effort and energy levels from Jospeh, Donks, Tyler, McGuane, Browne and Brannagan were all next level last night. I see a few people have commented how poor Pompey were and yes, they are not word beaters, but don't take anything away from how much our endeavour made them look a poor side last night!

I also think Pompey were quite fortunate to still have 11 on the pitch by the end, the way the ref wish dishing the yellows.

And the rest. We had Bodin stripped off and ready to go and our throw in right by the touch line but left G'OD on, meaning he had to play another few minutes as the ball didn't go out. It was stupid, as much as I like him and think he could have a good future he was useless to us for the last quarter of an hour or so he was on the pitch last night.

 

[Joey]

Wildschut coming on cost us more than O’D coming off.

Agree that Wildschut doesn't offer much but Bodin replaced G'OD. O'Donker was actively hindering us for 15 minutes or so prior to his subbing, simple touches bounced off him and he cost us a great opportunity by passing straight to their centre back when we had a break on. Well before he was subbed off he was doubled up on the halfway line with his hands on his knees trying to get his breath back and he couldn't run. I don't think anyone is saying Tyler Smith is a world beater but you have to question why he can't get 25 minutes rather than playing with a man down.

Last night backed up what most have been saying that O'Donker would have been far better served out on loan this season playing regularly. He shows great flashes and is already strong enough to move defenders around which is great but he can't play more than 60 minutes and snatches at chances. It's ok at youth level where he's so much better than everyone he gets time to set himself but being critical if he were a 25 year old who was born in Birmingham and signed for us in the summer we'd be complaining about his end product, even with his form this season Taylor would have scored at least one last night which is the difference between a draw and an extra two points. Being hyper critical he doesn't always seem alert to a chance, have a watch of Brannagan's free kick straight after their goal and the chance where Browne broke and played it to Joseph, on both occasions the ball has gone across him about 8 yards out and he's not tried to hit it, in the case of the free kick he actively tries to get out the way. Part of this might be being a young player not wanting to take something from a senior player in Brannagan but an experienced striker like Taylor just throws something at it, probably scores and if not takes the heat after and moves on. A season, or even 6 months, of playing regularly would have helped him get used to the intensity of men's football and hopefully help him learn to stop snatching at chances.

No sarcasm intended. Manning’s the manager and he sees the squad in action every day in training. We don’t.

This is true, but is also the argument plenty of people used when Robinson was picking Mackie every week, often ahead of Taylor and always ahead of Agyei despite being useless every time he played and us almost always getting immediately better when he came off or worse when he came on. These guys aren't infallible and it's ok to trust what you see with your own eyes on a matchday. You've been pretty scathing of Wildschut but Manning sees him in training every day. If he's making a mistake playing him then is in inconceivable that he makes other mistakes like not playing Smith?

*edit - going back to the G'OD point I think most agree he's a great prospect but being young, local and likely to improve doesn't get us points on the board now. In a silly hypothetical if football were played by a bunch of footballing robots, all built in the same factory at the same time with differing attributes and abilities but absolutely no emotional attachment to them individually from the fans, we'd be fuming with the one that missed at least two golden opportunities last night when we have other robots on the bench who have shown to be better at taking their chances. It's also far from the first time he's missed good chances, against Derby he had the ball in the 6 yard box but fell backwards and didn't connect, away at Lincoln he had a free header from 6 yards straight at the keeper and another awkward one that he hooked over from 6 yards with the keeper on the deck, as well as our best chance at Port Vale. Everyone misses chances but there have been enough in there that we should have had at least another couple of goals and an extra four points or more. I get that players get extra credit when they are youth products and I'm glad to hear the chanting for him to keep his head up but imagine if it were Taylor, Tyler Smith or, God forbid, Josh Murphy missing those chances last night. Pretty sure they wouldn't have got a standing ovation as they left the pitch.

 

[dickwalton1964]

Cambridge are definitely the biggest threat to us,after Plymouth on saturday they've got 3 winnable games left.We NEED to win a game asap.....Barnsley aren't Barcelona so maybe that long over due win is on the horizon

Admittedly on paper but no team has three cushier last three games than us - Cambridge included. We could barely have hand picked three better with the easiest team - again on paper - being our only one away. If we go down from here it's our own fault. Maybe swapping Cheltenham for, say, Morecambe - and we are hardly talking a massive difference - would be the only way those three could be any better.

 

[holdsteady]

Admittedly on paper but no team has three cushier last three games than us - Cambridge included. We could barely have hand picked three better with the easiest team - again on paper - being our only one away. If we go down from here it's our own fault. Maybe swapping Cheltenham for, say, Morecambe - and we are hardly talking a massive difference - would be the only way those three could be any better.

Cambridge's run in is pretty similar to us, both play Accrington and FGR just swapping Burton for Cheltenham, although we have two at home and one away and them the reverse. They go into it in much better form than us though, you can't completely ignore the fact that we haven't won for 16 games, that first win is proving to be a massive hurdle for us.

I could actually see all of the bottom teams losing this weekend to turn it into a real scrap between a couple of teams over those last last 2/3 games.

 

[oufc1991]

There are going to be alot more twists and turns to come yet I'm sure there will also be some surprising results aswel I wouldn't be surprised to see Cambridge win against Plymouth or us to win against Barnsley on Saturday... forest green are down but you can bet your last pound they will still be a git to play against.... Cheltenham isn't going to be easy next Tuesday either but last night had given me alot more confidence than I was expecting

 

[Pete Burrett]

You can't completely ignore the fact that we haven't won for 16 games, that first win is proving to be a massive hurdle for us.

This is the point that some contributors to this thread seem to wish to ignore. To win a game - just one game - we need to score more goals than the opposition, yet we are toothless up front. Combine that with our abysmal recent form and we should all be worried.

 

[uptheus]

You’re not getting it. A totally spent O’D was still better value than the ponderous number 30 .

He was gone Tim and needed to be substituted. As to whether it should have been Yanic is another question, but I would have tried Smith. Then again, I don’t think I would have taken Joseph or Goodrham off either.

 

[notThisWayButThat]

This is the point that some contributors to this thread seem to wish to ignore. To win a game - just one game - we need to score more goals than the opposition, yet we are toothless up front. Combine that with our abysmal recent form and we should all be worried.

For the last 3-4 years in league 1, the teams that have gone down have about our current win percentage and points. 1 more win should seal our future. These draws have been useful.
I am also worried but I know we have the right Manninger to get us back to league 1.