Home Match Day Thread 01/01/2023: L1: OUFC v Exeter City

[holdsteady]

It is down to the Kassam Stadium. No one wants to be there..no one ever did. Three sided stadium does not help at all. Huddersfield Town's new stadium started with three sides but they soon rectified the matter. We must be out by 2026. Supporters are not to blame at all ......it is all wrong from the bottom up. And while I am at it, no more criticism from Peter Rhodes Brown.

Rhodes Brown criticises people who have paid to go to the game as if they are responsible for this season yet will not utter a word of criticism at the man who is responsible and who is paid very well for it, people say he can’t say a word against the club because it employs him but then it’s very strange that that doesn’t employ to it’s paying customers, makes you wonder how badly people who work at the club actually take us mug punters for granted, certainly starting to look that way.

 

[Joey]

I thought we were alright in the first half today and probably had the better of t, although they had a couple of chances themselves. Wildschut had some odd moments but also looked a good option at times although his final ball was often lacking, with the notable exception of the cross to Tyler.

Second half was absolutely woeful. I though Cam did ok today, especially in the first half where some of his passing to Wildschut and Anderson was fantastic, but he had to bring that guy down today off their goal or just wrap him up, it was clear it would be three on one of he got past him. Like the cup game I was impressed by their number two.

As is often the case the subs made us worse and because we didn't think to sign another striker we can't really change formation so Taylor is stuck playing a game that doesn't suit him while miles out of form. In the end we were lucky Exeter only got one. It looked like pre planned subs, there's never a change of shape or any tactical guile from Robinson. I noticed he did cop some boos today whilst applauding the fans but still it's not that vocal against him.

I thought McGinty made a couple of decent saves but also my heart was iny mouth a bit when he pulled out that Cruff turn 45 yards out and then played a blind pass, plus he seemed to spill a cross that lead to a scramble that we only just got clear in the second half.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Player ratings -

McGinty 6
Anderson 6 Moore 7 Long 8 Brown 5
Bate 7 McGuane 7 Brannagan 6
Goodrham 6 Taylor 3 Wildschut 5

Subs: Findlay/Murphy/Bodin/O’Donkor all poor.

 

[Theox07]

Player ratings -

McGinty 6
Anderson 6 Moore 7 Long 8 Brown 5
Bate 7 McGuane 7 Brannagan 6
Goodrham 6 Taylor 3 Wildschut 5

Subs: Findlay/Murphy/Bodin/O’Donkor all poor.

Brown 5 brown stopped 2 goals and defended well

 

[tonyw]

Taylor got 20 goals in the league last season. I don't think he's suddenly lost it after one summer. He does his best work in the opposition box and he needs support and players round him that can beat a man and cut it back for him. He will never score goals (or look useful) if the ball is smashed into him at pace when he's 50 yards from the opposition goal.

You've got to admit he's badly out of form at the moment though, surely?

At Accrington, he got a perfect pull back from Anderson onto the penalty spot and blazed it over.
At Wednesday, he got a juicy rebound from the Wildschut shot, but rather than taking it first time cut back onto his right and hit it weakly into the centre of the goal when he scores with a shot that's nearer the corner.
And today, he got a lovely feed from McGuane in space between the CBs, and just stabbed at it unconvincingly.....little unlucky it was deflected onto the post, I guess, but I'm not sure it's beating the keeper without the deflection.

I think an in-form Matty T from the last several years buries all three, rather than just scoring the one goal in his last five that he knew absolutely nothing about.

Not saying that he can't get back to his best.....but it's also not beyond the realm of possibility that this is the start of a permanent end-of-career decline for him.

We will see over the coming months, but it would be madness not to at least be exploring striking options, especially given that he's OOC in the summer.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Brown 5 brown stopped 2 goals and defended well

Thought he struggled to deal with Caprice at right wing back.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Player ratings -

McGinty 6
Anderson 6 Moore 7 Long 8 Brown 5
Bate 7 McGuane 7 Brannagan 6
Goodrham 6 Taylor 3 Wildschut 5

Subs: Findlay/Murphy/Bodin/O’Donkor all poor.

I don't quite agree with a couple of those.

Brown had a decent game and saved one what looked like a certain goal with a great tackle/block. I think I'd give him a 7.

Anderson was good going forward when we were on top. But he is just not defensively capable. So a bang average 5 for me as I like a right back to be able to do a right back's job especially when we don't really have a hard tackler in defensive midfield or a player in front of him who will drop back and cover.

Goodrham tried hard and put the effort in, but he needs to get his head up sometimes and went down too many blind alleys. Probably a 5 as well, with the caveat that between him and our senior striker I know which one I'd like on the pitch at the start of a game!

I'd also bump McGinty's score up a point or two. I though he (along with Brown and Moore) probably save us conceding more and he even got a hand to what turn out to be the only goal of the game - maybe unlucky it fell to their man.

 

[Theox07]

Thought he struggled to deal with Caprice at right wing back.

Caprice done nothing all game what game did u watch

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Caprice done nothing all game what game did u watch

I thought Caprice was the best player on the pitch.

 

[CCYellow]

Caprice done nothing all game what game did u watch

Well not the MK Dons game like you watched.
Will your parents keep taking you when school's back on?

 

[Theox07]

I thought Caprice was the best player on the pitch.

I thought Caprice was the best player on the pitch.

Josh key was their best I thought caprice was one of their worst kept giving ball away and not marking our wingers

 

[brassmonkey]

Taylor needs 4 or 5 chances to score his shooting is abysmal.

 

[Osei Yaw]

You've got to admit he's badly out of form at the moment though, surely?

At Accrington, he got a perfect pull back from Anderson onto the penalty spot and blazed it over.
At Wednesday, he got a juicy rebound from the Wildschut shot, but rather than taking it first time cut back onto his right and hit it weakly into the centre of the goal when he scores with a shot that's nearer the corner.
And today, he got a lovely feed from McGuane in space between the CBs, and just stabbed at it unconvincingly.....little unlucky it was deflected onto the post, I guess, but I'm not sure it's beating the keeper without the deflection.

I think an in-form Matty T from the last several years buries all three, rather than just scoring the one goal in his last five that he knew absolutely nothing about.

Not saying that he can't get back to his best.....but it's also not beyond the realm of possibility that this is the start of a permanent end-of-career decline for him.

We will see over the coming months, but it would be madness not to at least be exploring striking options, especially given that he's OOC in the summer.

I think we can all agree we should be doing more than exploring striking options... many of us were saying we'd be lucky to get 20 games out of Baldock this season and we needed another option.

I do think Taylor is out of form but I also think the two things are likely linked. A lot of footballers thrive on consistency. Taylor was getting more of the ball last season and was getting more shots off as a result, I daresay the change in style (it's gone from purposeful, attacking football to hit-and-hope) has had a big impact on his numbers. I've said it before, but we miss the energy and pace in the squad that the likes of Williams, Sykes and Whyte gave us last season. In particular I think it was useful for getting the best out of the older pros like Taylor and Henry as it helped stretch the opposition and make the space they couldn't create for themselves. Robinson is normally reliant on pacy wide players doing the business for him and we've not really had any available up to now (apart from Browne who has been wasted as a 10 and Jones who has been dumped).

The composition of the squad as a whole is a mess and it needs a massive overhaul, however, a bigger and more mobile centre forward would be a good start in this window.

 

[Wallop]

Appeared to blame the players
When asked what he was going to do about it said 'January'
Perhaps others can watch it to see if I'm being unfair?

‘I‘m here to protect my players’ - Karl Robinson in most of his recent interviews - oh dear.

 

[uptheus]

When I see our captain (Moore) strolling slowly out of defence with the ball with no idea what he’s going to do early in the 2nd half, then to me that sets the tone.

He’s the captain, supposedly leader on the pitch, but his play/demeanour when he’s in this stage of play suggests the opposite. It needs to be done at a higher tempo/urgency and with purpose. The other frustrating thing with him is, he never wins an arial battle at set pieces, so not sure whether it’s better to use Brown as the target. Other than that his defensive duties are generally very good (great block by the way, equivalent to a goal), but just wish he’d show a bit of urgency/leadership to his game.

I’m not sure how ill Anderson was today, but when he came off we have to make 2/3 positional changes which disrupted the dynamics of the team. I think I would have left him on if he could have continued, but felt Karl made the change because he couldn’t trust the defensiveness of Anderson and Murphy on one side. I would have also gone 2 up top.

 

[Yellows1]

Did he throw Bodin and Murphy under the bus for not changing the game.
Like he did Sykes and Agyei

Yep, he sure did.

 

[ECYellow]

Moore MOTM for me. Single handed he kept us in it with a block on the line and another just before it about 4 yards from goal. Had he not done so, the score line could would have been ugly.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Moore MOTM for me. Single handed he kept us in it with a block on the line and another just before it about 4 yards from goal. Had he not done so, the score line could would have been ugly.

Agreed. He alongside Long at centre back looked solid. The Findlay for Anderson sub completely fucked up the back 4.

 

[tonto]

Well that put a right downer on my weekend! We lost because our subs did nothing useful.I certainly thought they seemed like a good move but then none of them produced. Its becoming a bit of a habit that we always seem to get worse in the second half quite what Karl says to them is a bit of a mystery. Such a shame because a lot of our performance was excellent. Bate and TG were unplayable at times,Mcguane was imperious Cam everywhere Wildschut showing a lot of potential Anderson electric and yet no goals.... Definitely need somebody up front should have given GOD a bit more time this afternooon but having said that he didnt exactly set anything alight in his short cameo. Still Ive seen enough potential to not give up on this season completely!

 

[uptheus]

We should have been out of sight by half time. A good performance. But, what woeful finishing. Taylor, ( i’m very sad to say) , has almost run his race at OUFC; never mind needing support, he needs replacing.

Second half, awful positional discipline led to their goal. I’m not surprised Bran and Bodin got called out. Bram should have professionally fouled the breaking player.

Plusses. The midfield, Goodhram, the mighty Long. Keeper wasn’t bad as well.

Negs: all the subs, our set pieces, the Ex keepers time wasting, that ludicrous fake injury in the 24th minute of every game that creates the first quarter time out. I do not pay my money to watch frantic finger jabbing from our coaching staff in front of the team and some water bottles. I come to watch some football being played.

They had the better chances first half, and the player that went down with the fake injury came off minutes later with injury!