Away Match Day Thread 01/01/24: L1 - Charlton Athletic v OUFC

Who was the MOTM?

  • Total voters
    175
  • Poll closed .
Status
Not open for further replies.
Leysboy said:
We desperately needed that win, after the implosion against Derby.

I’m still not sold on Des, but today we came up against a very poor Charlton side, that are low on confidence. So a win was a must, we get a free hit at Coventry, before we go on that long away trip to Carlisle, and to be honest, another game we should be looking to win.

Now let’s get some staff in, and some bloody good signings, and maybe just maybe we can maintain a top six spot.
Click to expand...
With the squad we've got at the moment you can't claim we "imploded" against a decent (but not as good as made out by some on here) Derby team and then almost write off our win today because the team we were playing are also suffering with injuries. You can't have it both ways.

I'm all for criticism when justified and think there are some who go too far the other way in giving him basically a free pass so far (similar to how people said Manning would have been blameless if he had taken us down last year) but this comes across as trying to twist things a little to suit your narrative that he's not the man. I don't think he's done everything right by any stretch and we should probably be a couple of points better off even with the injuries and fixtures we've had but there have also been a few signs of him making some positive changes in terms of getting the ball forwards a bit quicker.

Overall it's too soon to judge either way, especially as he's still without some staff. My ire is more directed at the board for allowing that to happen, he's been here for a month and a half now and we're still trying to get him an assistant and an analyst.
 
Just think

If we hadn’t conceded that 97th minute goal v Northampton we would have 2 wins one draw and one defeat over the Xmas period.
Considering Derby will finish top 3 with Peterborough and Bolton (Pompey will fall away) that isn’t too shabby
 
tonyw said:
As well as the setup, the Bodin for McEachran substitution was perfect.
Click to expand...
Came here to say the same. He hasn’t got everything right but generally I like what I see from Des’ in-game management, and the Bodin sub was exactly what we needed and timed well. Forced Charlton to sit back and that was their undoing ultimately.
 
What a banging start to the new year. Had a good feeling about today and we didn’t disappoint.

I LOVE 3 at the back and wingbacks at this level. Warne’s sides always do it and I think it just works so well. You get to pack the middle of the park and control games without sacrificing width, and I love the positions wingbacks can take up between the lines. It worked for us under KR, it worked for us under Manning and today was the best performance of the DB era by a distance for me.

I also think that with our squad, jt just makes sense and gets the most out of our players (even allowing for our absences). Stevens is a wingback, not a fullback. He benefits from a reduction in defensive responsibility and more license to get forward. Similarly Bennett and Leigh on the left (although both are admittedly better defensively). Moore was quietly class again as the ball-winning central defender. Harris gets closer to the two CAMs and is more effective, made up for him to get his goal, looked extremely well taken. And Brannagan always has a wide option to ping jt around and stretch the oppo (he had an absolute blunder today imo, despite the attentions of the excellent Dobson). Smyth I am coming to below. It all just seems to work. I’d like to see us commit to this formation going forward, because I think, while it can be a little flat and slow, it gives us control and will see us win games.

Smyth was an absolute revelation. That’s not hyperbole. He seems taylor made for a RCB role in a 3. He was pretty defensively solid today, he’s a unit of a guy so has the physicality, he’s athletic enough and good enough on the ball to bring it out from the back (and conversely I don’t think is quite good enough on the ball to play CM), which gives us such an edge to our possession, and boy can he pick a pass. The goal was just the icing on the cake, and I absolutely loved his celebration. Clearly meant the world to him. If it’s Des who’s spotted that and put him in there fair ducking play because that is a genuinely brilliant piece of selection.

He’s had a tough ride so far and I’ve not been overly impressed, but Des absolutely nailed that today. I always think the sign of a good manager is when they can mix up their preferred style when the situation demands, and he pulled a rabbit out of the hat today. I loved how all the subs were coherent - I literally guessed each one before it happened - and weren’t made for the sake of it. Brannagan dropping deeper for Bodin to come in ahead of him allowed Bran to absolutely run the game second half. I know Charlton aren’t great right now and we still needed a thunderbastard to win it, but it was the most impressive performance I’ve seen from us in a long long while.

Charlton were absolute dog. I think our controlled passing absolutely killed them and the gaps that opened up second half must have been from pure exhaustion. We ran them ragged. Reminded me of us on Friday. You could also see that they’re clearly a side built around Alfie May. Get the ball out to the dangerous wingers, get balls in the box and give him half chances to stick away. There was a real conspicuous lack of cutting edge up top, so we perhaps played them at the right time. But still, hugely unimpressive (with the exception of Dobson in the middle, who I thought was superb. Singlehandedly playing Brannagan and MacGuane at times, he’s a class player).

I know I’m gushing and I’m probably a bit overexcited but I really was impressed by that today. A really tough festive period but one we’ve emerged from without too much collateral damage, now alls said and done. Free hit next weekend and a cup game in the week where we can rest some key players, and hopefully we can hit our next league game refreshed and with a couple of reinforcements.
 
Did not expect that! After they scored was prepared for a very long afternoon. But we took control in the second half.

Brannagan was a rolls Royce today in the middle with McGuane. With all those injuries you need senior pros like that to really step up, they delivered today.

Performance like that seemingly out of nowhere from Smyth. Capped with an absolute screamer!

Hate to mention it but one massive negative for me today was a fan in a black moncler jacket trying to intimidate an older man because he criticised Rodrigues.

Continuing to harass him with stupid sarcastic "sub Ruben off" comments was embarrassing. I left the section to stand elsewhere.

If you want to go to football to antagonise people to make yourself feel like an alpha male at least do it to the opposition fans. It was absolutely pathetic and whoever you are I hope you had the good sense to apologise to him after the game.
 
But we must also thank the board for there massive support, they will be the ones nearly single handedly that can get us to the next level.
 
Not going to lie I did doze off at times watching that but woke up just in time for Oysin Smyth to instantly cure my raging hangover. Great response to the Derby game and with a threadbare team, we have a plan B! Well done to Des and the team for getting the W.
 
tonyw said:
As well as the setup, the Bodin for McEachran substitution was perfect.

The first fifteen minutes of the second half were pretty dour and even - they were getting super-tight to Cam all game (who was getting frustrated) and McEachran was getting plenty of space, but not doing a great amount with it.

But once Bodin came on, his movement is just that little bit cleverer that he was able to find pockets of space despite the close attention (not a slight on Cam - Bodin's movement is cleverer than almost anyone in the division). Meanwhile with Cam sitting deeper, they were no longer able to get super-tight to him, and he just ran the show (I could watch him fire those Hollywood passes out to Stevens all day long).

We utterly dominated from that point on, and the three points were more than deserved.



Smyth was truly excellent - my only concern is that his defending wasn't that secure when Charlton's left wing ran at him. He backed off too much and invited him into the area over and over again....at which point he couldn't tackle him any more for fear of giving away a pen.

Suspect his best position would be holding midfielder - which is unfortunately the one position where we're already stacked! But certainly deserves some more playing time somewhere after that performance and that goal.
Click to expand...
I think he done well against Tyler Blackett didn’t commit and showed him the line, may not always looked comfortable but stood his ground.
Have said for a while to put him rch, would say he has the best passing range at the club.
And like you say could do that holding role if given the opportunity.
Really pleased for him today
 
tonyw said:
Suspect his best position would be holding midfielder - which is unfortunately the one position where we're already stacked! But certainly deserves some more playing time somewhere after that performance and that goal.
Click to expand...
As luck would have it, half our squad are injured!
 
Steve Gilbert said:
Appleton helping his relationship with the Charlton fans by cupping his hand behind his ear after the game. He has never been that great at PR to be fair to him.
Click to expand...
Did he get a good reception from us and vice versa? Will always have time for Appleton think we're one of the few clubs that will.
 
ttg17 said:
I always think the sign of a good manager is when they can mix up their preferred style when the situation demands, and he pulled a rabbit out of the hat today.
Click to expand...
Yes, Managers like clotet sound clever in interviews because they have such a well worked out and inteligent sounding flash system; unfortunately often they then love the system so much they have no idea how to do anything else. No natural flair or gut instinct of how to change.
 
ttg17 said:
What a banging start to the new year. Had a good feeling about today and we didn’t disappoint.

I LOVE 3 at the back and wingbacks at this level. Warne’s sides always do it and I think it just works so well. You get to pack the middle of the park and control games without sacrificing width, and I love the positions wingbacks can take up between the lines. It worked for us under KR, it worked for us under Manning and today was the best performance of the DB era by a distance for me.

I also think that with our squad, jt just makes sense and gets the most out of our players (even allowing for our absences). Stevens is a wingback, not a fullback. He benefits from a reduction in defensive responsibility and more license to get forward. Similarly Bennett and Leigh on the left (although both are admittedly better defensively). Moore was quietly class again as the ball-winning central defender. Harris gets closer to the two CAMs and is more effective, made up for him to get his goal, looked extremely well taken. And Brannagan always has a wide option to ping jt around and stretch the oppo (he had an absolute blunder today imo, despite the attentions of the excellent Dobson). Smyth I am coming to below. It all just seems to work. I’d like to see us commit to this formation going forward, because I think, while it can be a little flat and slow, it gives us control and will see us win games.

Smyth was an absolute revelation. That’s not hyperbole. He seems taylor made for a RCB role in a 3. He was pretty defensively solid today, he’s a unit of a guy so has the physicality, he’s athletic enough and good enough on the ball to bring it out from the back (and conversely I don’t think is quite good enough on the ball to play CM), which gives us such an edge to our possession, and boy can he pick a pass. The goal was just the icing on the cake, and I absolutely loved his celebration. Clearly meant the world to him. If it’s Des who’s spotted that and put him in there fair ducking play because that is a genuinely brilliant piece of selection.

He’s had a tough ride so far and I’ve not been overly impressed, but Des absolutely nailed that today. I always think the sign of a good manager is when they can mix up their preferred style when the situation demands, and he pulled a rabbit out of the hat today. I loved how all the subs were coherent - I literally guessed each one before it happened - and weren’t made for the sake of it. Brannagan dropping deeper for Bodin to come in ahead of him allowed Bran to absolutely run the game second half. I know Charlton aren’t great right now and we still needed a thunderbastard to win it, but it was the most impressive performance I’ve seen from us in a long long while.

Charlton were absolute dog. I think our controlled passing absolutely killed them and the gaps that opened up second half must have been from pure exhaustion. We ran them ragged. Reminded me of us on Friday. You could also see that they’re clearly a side built around Alfie May. Get the ball out to the dangerous wingers, get balls in the box and give him half chances to stick away. There was a real conspicuous lack of cutting edge up top, so we perhaps played them at the right time. But still, hugely unimpressive (with the exception of Dobson in the middle, who I thought was superb. Singlehandedly playing Brannagan and MacGuane at times, he’s a class player).

I know I’m gushing and I’m probably a bit overexcited but I really was impressed by that today. A really tough festive period but one we’ve emerged from without too much collateral damage, now alls said and done. Free hit next weekend and a cup game in the week where we can rest some key players, and hopefully we can hit our next league game refreshed and with a couple of reinforcements.
Click to expand...
Nobody listens to me
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Jster
  • Locked
  • Poll
Away Match Build Up 01/01/24: L1 - Charlton Athletic v OUFC
2 3 4
Replies
71
Views
5K
Dolly 51
Dolly 51
Northstandboy
  • Poll
Home Match Day Thread 26/8/23 L1: OUFC v Charlton Athletic
24 25 26
Replies
505
Views
29K
MarkG
MarkG
MarkG
  • Poll
Home Match Build Up 16/8/23 L1: OUFC v Charlton Athletic
2 3 4
Replies
69
Views
7K
RgYellows
R
Northstandboy
  • Locked
  • Poll
Home Match Day Thread 13/02/2024 L1: OUFC v Wigan Athletic
31 32 33
Replies
640
Views
30K
IsleofWightYellow
IsleofWightYellow
Northstandboy
  • Poll
Home Match Build Up 13/02/2024 L1: OUFC v Wigan Athletic
2 3 4
Replies
76
Views
5K
Eric Blair
Eric Blair
Back
Top Bottom