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

[Northstandboy]

Have to say I’m not looking forward to this one.

 

[Mad Dog]

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

I agree, he performed admirably against a very tricky quick winger, who actually never got the better of him, Smyth repeatedly showed him down the outside to the byline, and dealt with him well, and then proceeded to pass the ball superbly, all over the pitch, and then pops up with a worldie to win the game!

A very composed and impressive display, from someone who will have been severely lacking match sharpness.

Can't commend him enough, he's been here a while, and has had to be very patient, having been completely overlooked by previous managers, and then he produces a performance like that, whilst technically playing out of position as well, although I think he's inadvertently now found his best position, and I feel Des may have just uncovered a gem...

 

[mooro]

Pages 4&5 of this thread are comedy gold

 

[LeftSideLarry]

Quick to judge
Quick to anger
Slow to understand
Ignorance and prejudice
And fear walk hand in hand

Alright, Yoda.

 

[38yearsofpain]

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.

We were literally forced into that formation because of the lack of fit wide players. It meant we returned to a Manning like formation and style of play. We went back to attempting to control the centre of the park to create space out wide. It just simply suits our current crop of players so much better than getting the ball wide early to create space. The players looked like they enjoyed and believe in the style.
I totally agree Charlton could not maintain the press, but if you pass quickly and well that creates doubt and teams drop deeper. Interestingly Derby had only 34% possession against Posh as an example.
Whilst the performance was the best under Des, the lack of goals in such a dominant performance is still a concern. But the performance will calm everybodies nerves.

 

[Jimmycarterxi]

To be fair you can still play wingers with three at the back in a 3-4-3:

GK
RCB CB LCB
RWB CM CM LWB
RW CF LW
​

I think we might have done that this season under Manning actually?

The problem is that it doesn’t really leave room for Rodrigues.

If playing that system you will find the RW and LW will play just off the striker and not as wingers. We had Bodin and Rodrigues in those positions earlier in the season

 

[Swaby39]

To be fair you can still play wingers with three at the back in a 3-4-3:

GK
RCB CB LCB
RWB CM CM LWB
RW CF LW
​

I think we might have done that this season under Manning actually?

The problem is that it doesn’t really leave room for Rodrigues.

That’s really what I interpreted today’s formation to be. The wingers (Bran and Rodrigues!) played more narrow than you’d expect of a winger but if they stay too wide you negate your own threat from the wing back area and that’s where we really hurt Charlton today.

Rodrigues didn’t have his best game but that role should suit him down to the ground. He will be difficult to pick up and have more forward passes on. You can then play a faster, more direct natural winger on the other side for balance. You want two players effective on the turn which Rodrigues is, and Murphy in his current form could be fantastic there. That then just leaves the striker conundrum but again it all seemed to suit Harris today.

I really liked what we did today. Everything about it. Sure, the defence needed to settle down but once they did it was such a well-balanced performance and a 35-yard strike was a fitting way to win. We’d tried the normal methods! But with more attacking options it may not have been necessary.

I sincerely hope Des doesn’t abandon this too quickly. I also don’t want Thorniley put in over Smyth for being the senior. That team has a lot of potential when others return.

 

[West Oxon U’s]

 

[chromeyellow]

was a very nice moment at the end when someone (?Ciaran Brown) brought him over to the fans at the end of the game

 

[WEYellow]

Just back home after a night and day in the big smoke, daughter's first away day which she absolutely loved - even she asked why their goalscorer was shushing us and she's 4....

A shoddy start and I thought it was gonna be a long day, after their goal they peppered us for 5/10 minutes and we looked under the cosh, much like Stevenage away. From minutes 10 to our goal I thought we played some really nice stuff and were getting between the lines at will. A superb pass from RR to Stevens who smashes it along the ground for Harris to finish - class. Then we went back into our shell a bit, it's a bloody big pitch there and thought we didn't use it all too well, Smyth/Stevens were having a torrid time from Blackett-Taylor who is one of the better wingers in the league to his credit. We saw out the first half well and a draw was probably fair at that point.

Second half was a proper performance, really chuffed with what I saw - I don't think a back 5 is necessarily the way to go moving forward, but we sure as hell need some tactical flexibility and that half showed we can play that formation in an effective way, it gives the centre of midfield so much freedom and Cam and MM took advantage of that so well. A progressive, energetic midfielder (Kamal Conteh, ahem) alongside our current 2 and we'd have one hell of a setup, with Rodrigues getting close to the number 9.

Echo the thoughts of others that the Bodin sub won us the game, he allowed us to play 20 yards further forward and they couldn't pick him up, props to Des for making a bold sub because he could have easily played it safe and gone like-for-like.

There's a real steely determination with Des I think, so calm and measured no matter what, we saw it with the snake too, but I think there's much more determination with Des and he's navigated this rocky patch pretty bloody well. It's time for the board to stand up now, give him the staff he deserves, give him the players we are crying out for, and get this play off place cemented. I really believe we have a top drawer manager on our hands.

Bloody hell, not even mentioned Smyth's goal yet - THUNDERCUNT.

Up the Ox

 

[MiddleBartonYellow]

Buckinghams record is 3-2-3 in the league, 5-2-3 if you include cups, which isn’t that bad for an injury ravaged team.

 

[SteMerritt]

Buckinghams record is 3-2-3 in the league, 5-2-3 if you include cups, which isn’t that bad for an injury ravaged team.

Didn't we lose to Cheltenham, Peterborough, Northampton, and Derby under him in the league? 4 defeats?

 

[uptheus]

What an enjoyable performance.

I was fearing the worse after a sloppy first 5 mins, but we grew into the game and then dominated the 2nd half.

Des got a lot right today, starting formation and substitutions. With the lack of wingers available 3-5-2 made sense. Stevens looked a more natural wing back than Bennett.

We’re so used to seeing Cam Bran and Marcus McGuane bossing it, I wonder what opposing fans think of those 2. They really are a class act.

It was great to see Harris get a well deserved goal, a proper strikers goal!!

As for Smyth, who saw that performance and goal coming!! Successive managers have not regularly picked him, he’s had an unremarkable loan at Solihull awhile ago, is it the fact that he’s seen as a bit of a utility player that holds him back. Although he was decent at centre back today, I think he could be a useful holding midfielder back up player.

Another enjoyable trip to the Valley!

I’ve always felt he looked a decent player with the right attributes, so not a shock to me. The only shock for me is, managers haven’t given him a proper opportunity.

 

[Gregortheox]

We are still in the mix you know! Very important few weeks now. Get the recruitment right then it’s game on.

 

[ttg17]

Interesting thoughts @ttg17.

I agree with the positives you listed. My reservation with the 3-5-2 has been the amount of our playing budget committed to the wings in Murphy, Browne, Edwards, Mills and Goodrham. Whilst they're not available, the formation today looked like a good call, but I've generally been a fan of all the wingers when they've played this season. An awful lot of our goals come from these players cutting in and looking to shoot - Tyler on Boxing Day, and Mills getting fouled for the free kick on Friday as two very recent examples.

We might be at the stage where we simply give up on hoping that Browne or Murphy are able to play enough - but I'd say that we would lose the use of Ty or Mills in their most effective positions and that does stop it being "all gain, no loss". I'm not a fan of the Karl Robinson tactic of shoving any winger in at wing back (and there wouldn't be much of an opening, at least on the left, anyway) and I have it in my head that TG can get crowded out when playing in the middle.

On the other hand, we might soon have the chance to move some of the budget about if e.g. Edwards is returning to Ipswich. If we were to sign a couple of the names being thrown about for potential strikers, then it might well be a price worth paying - and it could still give us flexibility to change things up when needed.

Point taken, but of the players highlighted, I'm not expecting to see Edwards play for us again and I'm not expecting to get more than 15 games combined out of Browne and Murphy the second half of the year. It just seems odd to me to sacrifice such a manifestly coherent and effective system to accommodate three players who are going to playing sparingly, at best, in the next few months and two 19 year olds, one of whom is on loan. They're both good players and I like them, but they're not game-changing, 'build your team around them' types. Even then, Mills I think can do a job at RWB and is a great option to have off the bench regardless, and TG can play CAM if needed (although agreed that's not where he's best).

I also think playing the WB system raises the possibility, if we bring in another striker, of playing two up top, 21-22 Taylor/Baldock style. Have to say, I'd love to see us try this at some point. Harris I think would absolutely thrive in a front two.

Lots for the management to mull over for sure!

 

[MiddleBartonYellow]

Didn't we lose to Cheltenham, Peterborough, Northampton, and Derby under him in the league? 4 defeats?

Yes, of course we did, my error.

 

[unification]

Another angle:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1741894635809595606

DeS hAs No PaShUn.

 

[OX14]

Didn't we lose to Cheltenham, Peterborough, Northampton, and Derby under him in the league? 4 defeats?

Yes.

Won 5 (including 2 cup games)
Drew 2
Lost 4

He has achieved an average 1.22 points in his 7 league games in charge.

Lets see where we are after another 7 league games.

 

[Paul Cannell]

Didn't we lose to Cheltenham, Peterborough, Northampton, and Derby under him in the league? 4 defeats?

Good god man, we're in positive mode tonight. Automatics and that. Don't bring the boys down.

 

[Jster]

Yes.

Won 5 (including 2 cup games)
Drew 2
Lost 4

He has achieved an average 1.22 points in his 7 league games in charge.

Lets see where we are after another 7 league games.

9 league games in charge. But yeah, it's going from a bad start to an ok one, and it's 9 points from the last 5 games now, which is decent actually.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

Charlton 1-2 Oxford | League One highlights

Highlights of the Sky Bet League One match between Charlton Athletic and Oxford Utd.

www.skysports.com