Home Match Day Thread 02/9/23 L1: OUFC v Port Vale

[Malc]

IT'S SATURDAY!

 

[MiddleBartonYellow]

Going to be critical here. We don’t create enough chances close in and don’t work the Keeper enough. Just an opinion of course.

 

[Chippy]

We again started slowly in each half of the match. At the start of the 2nd half in particular the opposition again (like Charlton last week) slightly tweaked their formation, tactics and personnel and we didn’t act or get going quickly enough. Shooting towards the east stand at 0-0 we should have been piling the pressure on from the word go, but never really got going with any sustained pressure, having totally dominated the first half again.

Aside from the referee and dark arts tactics of the opposition we do need to look at ourselves, have more in the locker in terms of game adjustments and be quicker with substitutions when things aren’t working.

When things come off we’re almost there but it’s that final pass and being in the right place at the right time that we haven’t got right yet, which seems a strange thing to say with 4 wins from 5. Early days but we do need to start each half much better and be more alive to actually make things happen and not just expect them to happen. Promising but just hope we have enough in the locker to consistently unlock these stubborn tough to beat sides.

 

[Tomox]

Going to be critical here. We don’t create enough chances close in and don’t work the Keeper enough. Just an opinion of course.

We do when there’s space, but we still haven’t quite clicked when we need to break teams down. Decision making is still a problem.

 

[Osei Yaw]

I’d agree with that.

Supporters that love our energetic pressing will have to accept that there will be errors due to inexperience alongside it - important thing is for Harris to learn from it.

Should be the easiest thing in the world for a striker to dish it out back to a defender - how much do you make a week, no one knows who you are, weren’t good enough to play a proper position, your goalkeeper clearly cries himself to sleep about not being good enough for us etc.

Oxford players should be made aware of Ripley because I think there’s a shade of Vigoroux about him.

One thing I will say on a different note, I am still liking the vibe of quiet competence and a bit of underlying steel from Manning this season.

I agree. I think Harris' naivety in reacting is a combination of his age and his experience playing in that role.

When you're a 'play anywhere across the front line' type as Harris is, you've probably played a fair chunk of your minutes out wide where you're not in constant contact with your opposite number. As a centre forward, you're going to be in close contact with a centre back throughout the entire game. And they're going to push and pull you around, hold onto you, pinch you and say who knows what to try and put you off, and that's all that happened yesterday. Harris was getting the treatment all game from Smith and Iacovitti and he let himself boil over.

I have never been impressed by Smith whenever I've seen him for Port Vale. He's not particularly big or imposing, he's very one paced and he's technically pretty limited. But he must have something about him to have played so much professional football and it's fairly obvious that he's a gritty player who revels in being a bit of a shithouse. I'm sure he was loving it when he was being booed after the red card.

What impressed me about Harris before now was how he learnt from being hesitant to shoot against Carlisle. He acknowledged himself he should have pulled the trigger earlier in that game, and then he followed those words up by scoring 2 very well taken goals against Derby 3 days later. He's going to have a bit longer to reflect on this but hopefully it's another that he learns from in terms of how you play the lone forward role. As soon as you've reacted the way he did yesterday you have lost your individual battle.

It's a shame that GO'D was unavailable yesterday as I think he would've only needed 5 minutes to ragdoll Smith a couple of times and then things could've been very different. But it is what it is and we can only learn from it now. At least with Manning in charge you trust everyone will take the lesson away with them. If it had been Robinson yesterday then all they'd be hearing was how bent the ref was and how unlucky they all were.

 

[Northernyellow]

I just loved Greg Leigh. At last we have a worthy successor to Mateo Corbo at left back. Both technically good, but also very physical. He needs to calm down a bit (the second yellow was very silly), but I'm sure he'll be very entertaining this season.

 

[Mad Dog]

We do when there’s space, but we still haven’t quite clicked when we need to break teams down. Decision making is still a problem.

Yes, I think we'll shine against teams who also want to play football and take the game to us, as there will be space for us to play our game.

But it's these dull, scrappy, defensive sides, that set themselves up to not lose that we will struggle against.

I'm a big fan of Manning for a number of reasons, including his style of play, but that's twice now already this season, that we've come up against well organised, defensive sides, and we've struggled to come up with a solution and ended up losing the game, and he needs to come up with a counter formation and tactical approach to deal with these types of sides, otherwise it's gonna cost us.

 

[m]

Yes, I think we'll shine against teams who also want to play football and take the game to us, as there will be space for us to play our game.

But it's these dull, scrappy, defensive sides, that set themselves up to not lose that we will struggle against.

I'm a big fan of Manning for a number of reasons, including his style of play, but that's twice now already this season, that we've come up against well organised, defensive sides, and we've struggled to come up with a solution and ended up losing the game, and he needs to come up with a counter formation and tactical approach to deal with these types of sides, otherwise it's gonna cost us.

Agree.

I think the difference is that Manning will recognise this, and attempt to fix it.

Rather than shrugging his shoulders and blaming the ref and individual players.

(Of course that last sentence should still apply to days like yesterday where the ref did have a material impact on the result)

 

[OX14]

That’s a rather depressing list of centre forwards.

Connor Wickham or Lyle Taylor would be decent in this squad.

 

[ThatSlopesATwelfthMan]

A home loss against Vale will always mean frustration on here but am a bit surprised about the degree of negativity directed at individual players. I thought the overall performance was very good yesterday. Miles better than I would have expected a few weeks ago. Move over Scotch, let me take the wheel of the positive bus for a few minutes...

Stevens looked defensively solid at RB but didn't have that much to do until very late on. Transformed us going forward though. He played more quality balls into the box in one half from that position than we managed the whole of last season.

Harris was superb until the red. His work rate was off the scale and Vale had to sacrifice a defender to man mark him the whole game. Even then he came close a couple of times to breaking free with (unpunished) fouls needed to stop him.

Leigh looked a top player and adds a whole new level of energy and technique to our play at LB. He played very high against a limited Vale attack so time will tell on his wider defensive qualities but did have to do a fair bit in the air yesterday and looked good. Biggest and most obvious weakness was going to ground. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of the cards neither of those sliding tackles he got booked for were necessary or sensible. A full back shouldn't be going to ground more than a few times a season in my view and only when absolutely make or break.

Beadle continues to look like a seasoned pro not a teenager. Very clearly has the trust and respect of his team mates.

Negru, with his full back partner now further away and without Brown as a wingman, had to adapt pretty quickly and did so. His positioning and general defending was excellent again and once he cottoned on that the simple ball to Moore was often the best option under pressure was rock solid.

McGuane was several levels above everyone else on the pitch. Was interesting to see how Vale gave him license to shine though. Almost like they'd done their homework and decided they weren't going to be able to contain him so invested all their destructive energy elsewhere. Because he is very rarely the creator or taker of chances I wonder if other teams might do this too. Is there an argument for adding a more direct attacking role to his play occasionally to keep the opposition guessing?

Rodrigues looks technically brilliant and although it didn't quite come off for him on a few occasions he was always looking to create and open up the play. I agree with others that he is still not up to the speed and physicality of L1, gets caught on his heels quite often. Another ten or so competitive games will hopefully sort that out.

Edwards looked direct, positive and skillful. By the time he came on we were 10 men chasing the game so hard to judge. The way we play places massive responsibility on our wide attackers to drive at defenders, cut in to score goals and track back - time will tell whether he's that player or an impact sub.

Bodin had moments of brilliance but pace and aggression are an issue. Two of those zingers across the box in the first half really should have been his. Also wish he'd follow up his technical tricks and turns with a few more 'percentage' balls rather than looking for the perfect pass.

Mills must be a nightmare to play against. Attack, attack, attack. Looking forward to seeing how he might impact game earlier on versus as a sub. Would surely exhaust most L1 left backs by 60 mins.

Cam was pretty good and his long range passing beautiful but, as we've seen so often down the years, has a tendency to let heart rule head. Yesterday was a weird one so can't obsess over this but I do think we need a calm but forceful head in the centre sometimes. Moore seems such a reserved and almost passive captain. This was an under appreciated quality James Henry used to bring to the team. Henry would have taken the ball after the equaliser, wandered off with it, had a word with the whole team, calmed things down before the restart.

Funny to read so many on here complaining that we were reckless and too gung ho after the equaliser. I agree. Reality is that the one player trying to retain possession and slow the game down was Josh McEachran whose every sensible ball in the dying minutes was met with groans, abuse and yells of 'forward!' from the stands

Frustrating to concede from a set piece. Doubly so because the free kick was dodgy. Must mention the quality of Vale's delivery though - it was a bloody good free kick.

The whole game turned on that red of course and for that reason we'll never know what might have been but I'm convinced that we were close to the breakthrough and would have won comfortably.

The ref was weak and inconsistent. The lino was simply incompetent and far too hasty getting involved. A bad combo all round.

Vale were relegation candidates for many at the start of the season. They are a very limited side for sure but that was a top quality pragmatic performance and credit to them and their manager for finding a way to win. They look to have made some unglamorous but sensible signings too. Could well end up overachieving at mid table if they can manage that level of discipline consistently.

We're a long way from perfect but LOADS to be positive about in the way we're playing.

 

[Grumpy Git]

These games happen. I remember playing Morecombe years ago, we had 20 odd shots and couldn’t score, they had one shot at goal, yes one, and scored.
Vale were stubborn and defended well, but weren’t battering us, even after the sending off.
I think the ref was wrong to book Leigh in the first half, it was a slip, but the Vale player made the most of it. To be honest we’d have done the same, but this ref is pretty s**t as we’ve seen before. The assistants…. Jesus, I’ve seen treacle run quicker. I bet there are octogenarians who could man the line better, with their zimmer frame.
This will give the management and team a wake up call. Teams won’t always be easy to beat and teams like PV will create problems. They won’t play open footy and will use the dark arts, cheat, feign injury etc. They have to because they’re limited. Yesterday, the came and mugged us. Let’s learn by it.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

Going to be critical here. We don’t create enough chances close in and don’t work the Keeper enough. Just an opinion of course.

And not enough clean sheets which are key if chances are few and far between.

 

[Jakehodgson51]

Maybe a natural number 9 is gonna cost us this season. Time and time we got the ball into good areas but there was no one in the box. I love Harris and I think his work rate is excellent but I don’t think he’s gonna bag you 20+ a season. I hope I’m proved wrong. Other than Mcguane I thought leigh was outstanding. Hard done by with the first yellow which wasn’t even a foul. Bodin and Rodrigues frustrate me so much. Show moments of brilliance but they slow the game down so much. Bodin is not a winger. Rather see Edwards or Mills have a run now. Both look very direct and quick. I would love to see a midfield 3 of JM CM and MM. Mcguane has been excellent but he’s wasted when dropping between the 2 centre backs to get the ball. Would rather Mceachran do that and have Mcguane further ahead. Mcguane has looked at his best driving forward gliding past players. We can’t play Bodin outwide if we’re gonna play with a 10 I’d rather rotate between Bodin and Rodrigues. I probably edge Bodin ahead at that role. Rodrigues sometimes take 3/4 touches before he releases it and you aren’t gonna get that time at this level. I think Browne will be a big miss until he’s back. Overall that’s a game we need to forget about quickly. Learn and move on.

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

In the whole Long vs Stevens debate, I genuinely think they’re about the same - I can’t see how anyone would either think Stevens is a huge upgrade, or that we’re desperate to have Long back and he will make things much better…

 

[Symp59]

A friend of mine who supports the Vale said Smith must get more players sent off compared to anyone with his clever play .

 

[Symp59]

Connor Wickham or Lyle Taylor would be decent in this squad.

One of these strikers would be class Harris and God and Perkins would learn alot from either of these lads.

 

[OxfordNondie]

A hiccup at worse

To me LM took too long to make the subs, needs to be more proactive rather than reactive

To me Bodin and Goodram could easily have been replaced at half time or just after.

These type of tactics are those that are a difference from a good manager to a really good/ great one.

Time on his side though

 

[Oxymoron]

 

[The mighty Aldo]

Haven’t read all the posts but some of the negativity on here does my head in.

Looking at the game as a whole I think Vale had one shot which Beale had to deal with until Harris was sent off.
Yes we were not on top form and Vale made it difficult but we were on top.
After Harris got sent off, Rodrigues showed great skill with that chip and a foot lower and we are winning.
After they scored we had about ten minutes where we weren’t sure what we were doing but Manning adds the two wingers and Perkins and we looked the better team with ten men and duly got our reward.The sending off of Leigh meant we should have brought everybody back and defended.
Unfortunately with such a young team there were no old heads to calm things down and the penalty was unnecessary
However what this tells me is that we will learn from this and we have to go after teams who come to sit back and get an early goal or two which forces them to come out which will leave more space.
Frustrated yes but if we keep playing this style of football we will make the top 6

 

[Symp59]

From where we were when KR was sacked to now is a different team there's a long way to go and we will have some ups and downs it's getting to January and being in touch is the most important thing. So I think we have got to be patient the board have backed us unbelievabley and let's try and enjoy the team growing

 

[Golden Dr Otto]

Good video very fair.

Perfect angle to show their opening goal was offside. Small margins this funny old game . Think they know they got away with one.

We’ll be up at the very top come May.

Days like that are what it’s all about …Vale just had one of their best days out all season. Our turn another week