Away Match Day Thread 01/03/22 L1: Portsmouth v OUFC

[Mellowyellow]

3-2 not a bad result, considering the back line was a bit make shift.

We move on, and look to get back to winning ways on Saturday.

Safe journey home yellows.

That was a terrible result, illustrating our inconsistencies, played our by a poor defence. How can we be threadbare after a couple of injuries, crazy.

 

[jambon46]

One to forget tonight, coming out of the ground a Pompey fan was singing the praises of Luke McNally and rightly so, hopefully his enthusiasm won't be taken away by senior players moaning at him' being out of position or you shouldn't do that' at the end of the day he was our best player tonight, constructive criticism for him is what's needed.

 

[dickwalton1964]

Stevens is a worry. I think he could perhaps have got nearer to all three. Not obvious mistakes but a looping header, another one across him and a 30 yarder at a nice height. He made one sensational save to deny the goal bound header late on and his kicking from his hands was pretty good tonight so a bit of a mixed bag but he’s got to be making more general saves than he is doing at the minute.

Thought McNally was pretty good tonight and Long and Brown did ok too. On the down side, Kane was again poor and careless with their second goal. Holland was awful in the first half but got going a bit in the second. Taylor struggled though.

 

[tonyw]

While Kane is capable of some impressive stuff, he’s been off it for a while and looks like he needs a rest.
Karl’s prematch comments on fatigue give vague justification I suppose for the rotation. Starting Browne was a good idea, Holland less so, but he too can never be discounted as he is a serious talent when on his game, for me more of an impact sub, though he does often seem to track back quite well at home I’ve noticed.
Stevens is shipping a lot of goals, Burton might be a good opportunity to give Easty a game. Mind, Jack tends to come up with at least one wonder save per game, pointing towards problems elsewhere.
Defence? Well, 3 at the back seems sensible given our admittedly limited options, Moore is a big loss. Midfield? No bite. Of course Brannagan is undroppable at the moment, McGuane at least might provide a bit more physicality whilst giving us another forward glider. He is preferable to Kane at the min for me, potentially an unpopular opinion. The sooner Bodin is back the better too, I think he is underrated defensively, always puts in little blocks and that.

Whilst I agree that Kane looks like he needs a breather - the problem is who else do we have to play at the base of the midfield?

You can certainly play Cam there, but I think you blunt him as an attacking threat. And he's certainly been a big threat the last couple of months.
We tried McGuane there once before (home vs. Wigan) and it is not his position. Doesn't quite have the positional sense or the workrate you need to play there.
And none of the other midfielders (Henry, Sykes, Bodin etc.) are suited to a deep-lying role.

Maybe Forde, but actually I would like to try him at RWB. It's tough to justify playing Seddon at any position at the moment because he's so bereft of confidence - so slide Williams over there (where we know he can play) and try Forde on the other side who should be a good fit.

Stevens is a tricky one. He hasn't made many (any?) howlers, but he's also shipping a lot of goals. And some of his handling has been a bit dodgy even if it hasn't cost him.
Maybe time to rotate back to Eastwood for a while.

Suspect that Holland won't get another start for a while. So many options for the front three, and he didn't exactly take his chance tonight (after the good ball for the 1st goal)

 

[Hackney Jack]

Not long got back. I always enjoy the trip to Pompey, and although we lost, tonight was no exception.

The team is too soft, and massively missed Moore. We farted around with the ball too much, and looked vulnerable at the back.

Our fans were good for most of the match, and although I hate Pompey, their fans are some of the best in the land, really.

We'll do well to to stay in the playoffs.

Stevens seems to have had a switch go off in him.

We miss Gorrin.

Let's hope the stadium gets the go ahead, that's where the fulcrum of us moving forward as a club will stem from.

 

[tonyw]

Stevens is a worry. I think he could perhaps have got nearer to all three. Not obvious mistakes but a looping header, another one across him and a 30 yarder at a nice height. He made one sensational save to deny the goal bound header late on and his kicking from his hands was pretty good tonight so a bit of a mixed bag but he’s got to be making more general saves than he is doing at the minute.

I don't think any goalkeeper in the world saves the first goal. It was a perfect looping header.

But the other two? Tough saves no doubt, but it feels like Stevens hasn't made many tough saves from range for a while now.

That being said, neither did Eastwood really before the switch.

 

[Mad Dog]

I'm simply blaming Wandering Yellow for saying Kane shows touches of Premiership class before the game[emoji1787]

Wandering yellow is right though, Kane does show touches of premiership class….weak in the tackle.

Play him further up the pitch, where he can be absolved of all defensive responsibilities, or drop him.

 

[unification]

I don't think any goalkeeper in the world saves the first goal. It was a perfect looping header.

But the other two? Tough saves no doubt, but it feels like Stevens hasn't made many tough saves from range for a while now.

That being said, neither did Eastwood really before the switch.

Looking at the goals here and none of them are in howler territory. The second especially is similar to Curtis’s goal against us in the home fixture and Sam Smith’s second at the weekend - losing the ball high up the field and then having a lopsided defence against a counter attack. If you’re going to expose the ‘keeper that way, you’re going to let in goals because there’s no one to narrow the angle for the goal scorer.

Stevens is shipping goals but so is the defence and midfield who are losing the ball too often in dangerous areas. I find the criticism of him in particular to be unfair and targeted. The errors are collective ones - not down to one individual.

 

[Oxymoron]

One to forget tonight, coming out of the ground a Pompey fan was singing the praises of Luke McNally and rightly so, hopefully his enthusiasm won't be taken away by senior players moaning at him' being out of position or you shouldn't do that' at the end of the day he was our best player tonight, constructive criticism for him is what's needed.

For the third, it was McNally who had to charge out of the box to try and close down the shot and it was McNally who was remonstrating with Holland (I think) who was much closer to Carter but made no attempt to put in a challenge.

 

[duckyellow]

Stood right behind the goal with a lot of 'youth' behind me. Yes there was a flare when we scored but not once did I hear the alleged racist remark. Not sure why some on here are quick to assume it happened. There were though 'You Fat Bast@rd' chants from Pompey fans by the corner flag and a response from Oxford of ' You Fat Ginger Bast@rd' aimed at one of their more rounded fans.

 

[dickwalton1964]

Looking at the goals here and none of them are in howler territory. The second especially is similar to Curtis’s goal against us in the home fixture and Sam Smith’s second at the weekend - losing the ball high up the field and then having a lopsided defence against a counter attack. If you’re going to expose the ‘keeper that way, you’re going to let in goals because there’s no one to narrow the angle for the goal scorer.

Stevens is shipping goals but so is the defence and midfield who are losing the ball too often in dangerous areas. I find the criticism of him in particular to be unfair and targeted. The errors are collective ones - not down to one individual.

I agree, none of them are howlers but every good shot or header shouldn’t equal a goal. A goalkeeper is a goalkeeper because he’s supposedly good at saving good shots and good headers. It’s crazy to keep saying, well, it was a great shot. My answer to that is go and make a great save then.

One of the most over used and tiresome churned out lines in football is ‘no goalkeeper in the world saves that’ - absolute rubbish. Plenty of keepers in L1, let alone worldwide, are keeping some of those out last night. You cannot keep giving Stevens the excuse that it was a great strike - deal with it then, or at least deal with more than you have been recently.

 

[m]

Stood right behind the goal with a lot of 'youth' behind me. Yes there was a flare when we scored but not once did I hear the alleged racist remark. Not sure why some on here are quick to assume it happened. There were though 'You Fat Bast@rd' chants from Pompey fans by the corner flag and a response from Oxford of ' You Fat Ginger Bast@rd' aimed at one of their more rounded fans.

Certainly nothing came through on iFollow.

Given the reaction to homophobic chanting at Wycombe - the reaction from our own support - I'd like to think that racist chanting would be similarly publicly condemned.

Maybe Pompey fans trying to throw mud and hoping some sticks?

 

[Junior_1]

What a whopper of a birthday. Work all day, can't see anyone as still recovering from Covid, chicken for dinner didn't defrost so rubbish dinner, no messages from any of my mates, just family, and now an OUFC loss and our rivals all win. Bloody hate birthdays.

One of those nights, unfortunately. Strange refereeing performance, but other than the no pen call on Taylor didn't actually affect the result. Win the next 2 and it won't matter too much, still in our hands. Night all.

Didn’t you have your mate round who left on 40 kind and you blamed him for what happened after!!!??

 

[Junior_1]

Didn’t you have your mate round who left on 40 kind and you blamed him for what happened after!!!??

If he was at the game, I stand corrected..

Happy belated birthday btw..

 

[dickwalton1964]

No story re any abusiveness crowd wise. The odd individual with the usual cheap jibe at their fans in the corner and any collective singing/chanting was just trading like for like with theirs. The ‘you fat b*stard’ etc chants, yes you wouldn’t say it to one of their fans one to one in the street but it’s just the sort of collective nonsense fans sing and surely we aren’t reaching a stage when even this is off limits - are we ?

I heard nothing racist whatsoever - either individually or collectively.

 

[christenedinjericho]

No story re any abusiveness crowd wise. The odd individual with the usual cheap jibe at their fans in the corner and any collective singing/chanting was just trading like for like with theirs. The ‘you fat b*stard’ etc chants, yes you wouldn’t say it to one of their fans one to one in the street but it’s just the sort of collective nonsense fans sing and surely we aren’t reaching a stage when even this is off limits - are we ?

I heard nothing racist whatsoever - either individually or collectively.

On the subject of saying it in a one to one situation in the street even my granny if she was still alive would have done as they were all around the grand old age of seven or eight. C'mon then.

Poor day at the Fratton office.

COYY'S

 

[Horse]

Both Eastwood and Stevens get beaten by every shot that goes across the body to the far post. I’d be looking at the coaching and looking to bring in a consultant. There must be contacts in the game who can analyse the problem and help rectify it.

 

[Eaststanding]

No story re any abusiveness crowd wise. The odd individual with the usual cheap jibe at their fans in the corner and any collective singing/chanting was just trading like for like with theirs. The ‘you fat b*stard’ etc chants, yes you wouldn’t say it to one of their fans one to one in the street but it’s just the sort of collective nonsense fans sing and surely we aren’t reaching a stage when even this is off limits - are we ?

I heard nothing racist whatsoever - either individually or collectively.

There was a brief rendition of the pathetic ‘sex offender’ chant, but that quickly died a death, certainly no racist chanting that I heard.

 

[Eaststanding]

A disappointing night.

Stevens conceded another goal across him tonight. It’s a common theme.

We conceded another goal from that 18-22yard range tonight. It’s a common theme.

We conceded another 2/3 tonight. It’s a common theme.

Seddon had another poor game tonight. He lacked decisiveness in defence and offered a couple of dreadful balls when I’m attacking areas. It’s a common theme.

Based on our current goals against trend for the season we will concede 60+ goals. When was the last time a team won promotion conceding so many goals?

Ref - fussy
Away fans - quiet second half

Just about sums the evening up for me.

 

[West Oxon U’s]

Portsmouth Goals Analysis from the highlights above;

We give a soft free kick away out wide and Pompey‘s Hume is allowed work the ball across to Morrell out wide
Seddon does not work hard enough to stop the cross from Morrell and Raggett out jumps Long in the box and
nets a good header but it’s too easy. Pompey were not threatening but had a spell of dominating the ball - helped
in part by poor refereeing from Allison who allowed some poor challenges to go unpunished.

Kane then loses the ball in a very dangerous area centrally and Harness advances past Kane and passes out wide for
Hirst to finish low past Stevens. Long appeals in vain for off side.

For the third , centre-half Carter is allowed to bring a ball down , advance ten yards unopposed , no one comes out to close the space
and Carter pings a 30 yard drive past the despairing Stevens.

The attention to detail with our defending is shocking. - no pressure on the ball, no blocking or closing down
and we look open in transition. No surprises we conceded three goals so easily again.

Contrast that with Portsmouth who blocked crosses and shots far better than we did overall.

 

[Essexyellows]

Another 5 goal thriller, rather that than a dull 1-0 but there we are!

Defence is rather flaky but we are scoring for fun.

Onwards and upwards.

 

[headingtonoldboy]

Second goal offside, surely??

 

[Yellow There!]

Second goal offside, surely??

Are you Sam Long?

 

[TailsWeWin]

Comments about our glaring defensive frailties have been done to death, but it remains a fact (evidenced by many comments above) that we have lost a number of games we would have won if we had more defensive nous.
Yes, Kane is not playing as well as earlier in the season, but he needs that midfield defensive toughie playing with him in the centre of the pitch. Robinson failed to buy one. Seddon is not good enough as it stands and needs a replacement. Robinson failed to buy one. Our central defence doesn’t have sufficient cover.
Yes, we have great attacking options, and yes, it’s fun to watch, but our feeble defence will cost us promotion.

 

[Sheik Djibouti]

The game was crying out for Gorrin and Moore.

The fact we have nobody who can adequately do either of their jobs could be a decisive factor when we come to to pick over the bones of this season.

I say could because there is obviously a lot of football still to play and being in the play offs at the end of it is still very much within our gift. One loss at Pompey does not change that!

Play offs are an absolute lottery from there, but may just favour a "he who dares, Rodney" approach that KR seems to relish.....

Plenty of twists and turner's on the OUFC rollercoaster to come, no doubt!

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Pompey were good last night; we seem to have problems with teams bigger and stronger than us. I agree with an earlier poster; it’s not so much the back 3 that was at fault but the softness and lack of pace in the middle of the pitch.

Taylor should have been benched; he’s run out of gas. Holland was lamentable; can’t knock the skin off a rice pudding. I do not want to see him in a starting 11.

Missed Sykes a lot. Missed Moore even more.

On the plus side we have a lot of talent . McNally looks like a real star.

Wouldn’t get too cut up about tonight though; Pompey are decent.

 

[m]

Pompey were good last night; we seem to have problems with teams bigger and stronger than us. I agree with an earlier poster; it’s not so much the back 3 that was at fault but the softness and lack of pace in the middle of the pitch.

Taylor should have been benched; he’s run out of gas. Holland was lamentable; can’t knock the skin off a rice pudding. I do not want to see him in a starting 11.

Missed Sykes a lot. Missed Moore even more.

On the plus side we have a lot of talent . McNally looks like a real star.

Wouldn’t get too cut up about tonight though; Pompey are decent.

Agree that Pompey were decent, not enough credit has been given to them. Bang up for it too.

Also agree that we lost that game in the middle rather than as a result of our defenders per se.

 

[Isle of Wight Yellow]

I was at the game, sat on the halfway line high up so had a good view. Tiger was sat just in front of me for the first half, looking cold!

We were very poor first half - after a really bright start, where we should have been two up really, after Browne’s great ball across from the right which just failed to pick anyone out. They couldn’t live with him at first, although he faded later in the game, which is to be expected I guess. We certainly have quite a player there at L1 level (not sure why people on here are putting teams for Burton without him in them, unless it’s a fitness issue? For me he has to play if fit).

For some reason though we didn’t play our usual game after going up and let Pompey back in. We seemed to somehow be both rushing things, trying to find a killer through ball… as well as wasting time constantly! Which just put us on the back foot and seemed to make us nervous. It was like we were trying to see the game out with 10 to play. I’d have liked to see us keep going at them, knocking the ball around and waiting for a chance… although having said that Kane should have just chipped it forwards for their second goal, rather than overplaying. We basically just seemed uncomfortable and low in confidence for the second half of the first half. I don’t know why.

Second half we were better. Could have nicked a point maybe when the ref blew up early when the ball was pinging into their box, but overall we didn’t really deserve it. Pompey were the better team on the night, although away from home we certainly caused them a few problems.

Speaking of the ref, he was absolutely awful - made constant bad, inconsistent decisions, for both sides, and lost control of the game somewhat. He also somehow only found 2 minutes added time in the first half and 5 in the second when it should have been far more. 4 and 7/8 wouldn’t have been unreasonable. I didn’t get a good look at our penalty shout but it looked reasonable. For the record I also didn’t hear any racist chanting, which is obviously absolutely unacceptable and pathetic if true.

Player ratings:

Stevens: 5 - I’m not sure if any of their goals were really that saveable but he only made one decent save all game, which was right at him. His kicking was a mixed bag, he can play a great quick through ball from hands (as he did to Browne at one point) as well as just shank it completely out of play. He’s inconsistent at the moment. Overall I’d still have him over Eastwood though, at the moment.

McNally: 7 - He was decent enough, as were all of our centre backs. Well taken goal (happily for me I had him to score any time at 11/1) and a couple of good runs forward, although he failed to pass on one (after being fouled, which the ref should have brought it back for). I’m glad he’s getting a run in the team.

Long: 6 - I think I prefer him at the right of the back three rather than in the middle. He played the Portsmouth player onside for their second goal. Apart from that though he was good on the ball and made a few clearances. I don’t think Moore would have been that much better, or enough better to have won us the game.

Brown: 7 - I think there’s no issues at all with this guy in a back three. He looks very comfortable in that system and played pretty well. He also put in one of the only decent crosses we managed all night (seriously, our crossing was abysmal all game), and has a decent long pass on him. It was noticeable how much more comfortable he was once Seddon went off.

Williams: 6.5 - A game of two halves for him - first half he was quiet, played within himself, barely got forwards. Second half he was much better.

Seddon: 4 - He was once again very poor. He never wanted the ball short, instead just making hopeful runs forwards, a sign to me of a player who is shot of all confidence and doesn’t want the ball. He was constantly way out of position and the highest player up sometimes. His crossing was bad. We improved once he went off.

Kane: 4 - The guy needs a spell out of the team, or at least to only play on good pitches, in good weather, against teams where we’ll dominate the ball and need to break them down. He was at fault for their second goal and arguably the third as well, as the defensive central midfielder he should be closing that space down. His passing is immense but he can’t tackle - he was struggling to get close to Pompey’s midfielders. He lacks physicality, pace and agility. I know we don’t have many others but I’d rather see Brannagan or Forde there.

Brannagan: 7 - Worked hard, tried to take control of the game and didn’t do a huge amount wrong, but didn’t have his best performance for us. One of our better players for sure though. I like seeing him as captain.

Holland: 4 - He was pretty anonymous, lightweight, didn’t really run at the defence. The referee didn’t help him by giving him no protection from constant fouling. I generally think Holland is better as a left winger where he knows what he’s going to do each time - cut inside and shoot. Nothing wrong with that - it works. What he did last night didn’t. I’d personally only play him LWB in this formation, against weaker teams where we don’t need him to defend too much.

Browne: 7 - Great work for the goal and looked a level above for the first 15-20 mins. Faded after that. I think Baldock is great so I’d play Browne in the hole behind the two - can’t see any better player at the club for that role. A potential matchwinner.

Taylor: 4 - I was really disappointed in his performance. Worked hard (as always) but almost nothing he tried worked. One terrible short layoff stopped a promising counter attack for us. One cross from the right second half was ballooned over. His touch was all over the place. Very poor. Again, the referee gave him very little to be fair, but if we been able to make 5 subs like last season I’d have been surprised to see him last the 90 minutes.

Subs:

Baldock: 6.5 - Some clever movement and neat layoffs. Needs to be starting if fit. Seems to do very little wrong. Tidy player.

Whyte: 5 - Looked good as a right wing back, then was moved centrally and disappeared from the game. He can play well centrally against teams where there’s space to run into, but Pompey were dropping deep and we needed a technician in that central position, not a speedster.

Forde: N/A - I have no idea why Forde was brought on when chasing the game, I’d think of him as a more defensive RWB. One poor touch let him down at the end when Brannagan had pinged a superb crossfield ball to him.

Manager

Karl Robinson: 4 - I don’t usually grade the manager but I think it’s pretty clear he got it wrong last night. Holland wasn’t the right choice as number ten, I think McGuane would have done better there. The early timewasting (if that was his idea) seemed to put us on the back foot. Seddon should never have been anywhere near the pitch. And the subs were baffling, Whyte came on as right wing back and was doing well, getting in down the right and looking dangerous, we then take Holland off (which was the right decision) but put Forde on? Whyte was immediately less effective and the defenders on Pompey’s left side breathed a sigh of relief as they didn’t have Whyte’s pace to deal with, Forde offering no real threat. An odd choice when Forde hasn’t been trusted to play a single minute for weeks.

Final Thoughts

Oh well, onwards and upwards and on to the next one. We didn’t play well but nearly nicked a point against a side who clearly have good players and are no mugs at home. We clearly have some very, very good players. Could be worse.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

I thought McNally was our best player. Long did OK and Brown was steady. On that basis our defence wasn't bad. But they have absolutely no protection. Kane is not a defensive midfielder (neither is McGuane, so no point in swapping them really), Seddon is AWOL far too often, and he is not alone in being stranded up the field when we are on the defence.

It's a mixture of the type of player we have, the tactics that are being imposed upon them and (to be fair) a few injuries in key positions which were not really covered in January. I can't really see how it can be changed.

 

[werthersoriginal]

I thought McNally was our best player. Long did OK and Brown was steady. On that basis our defence wasn't bad. But they have absolutely no protection. Kane is not a defensive midfielder (neither is McGuane, so no point in swapping them really), Seddon is AWOL far too often, and he is not alone in being stranded up the field when we are on the defence.

It's a mixture of the type of player we have, the tactics that are being imposed upon them and (to be fair) a few injuries in key positions which were not really covered in January. I can't really see how it can be changed.

There must be someone who can play the holding midfield role?