Home Match Day Thread 03/02/2024 L1: OUFC v Reading

[Carpy]

POST-MATCH PACK

Post Match Discussion

Interview - Des Buckingham

Interview - Cam Brannagan

Interview - Reading manager

Match Highlights

Match Report

Ref Watch

Fans View

 

[Upthecowboys]

I see lots of comments on here about reading being only second to Swindon in our rivalries well yesterday that was crap for a derby match I think there is more of an atmosphere when we play Bristol rovers or Wycombe.


As for what's going on on the pitch it's not very good is it Des is clearly out of his depth BUT he needs/needed an experienced assistant and what did the chicken brothers provide him with an inexperienced assistant Very helpful . Imo we aren't going up we won't make the play offs which is disappointing.

I'm not going to call for Des to get sacked personally I think the idiots above him ( T.W G.F ) should hand in their resignations

I thought the atmosphere was decent yesterday. It will never go back to the way it was, football has changed.

But no way are the atmospheres v Wycombe or Bristol Rovers typically better than yesterdays.

I was in the North Stand and it was good in there. There were plenty of songs, old and new (Jim Smith and Constable songs got a rendition). The north stand are more vocal than the East Stand.

30 odds years ago when I started going the atmosphere was more vitriolic and edgy than currently. Yesterdays atmosphere was good.

I always hope the people moaning about the atmosphere are the ones trying to get it going.

 

[Eaststanding]

I’ve been going for 45+ years, but it’s boring and same old stuff. And we never learn.

Is it so hard to get a team to play football for 90mins. See wingers going down the wings, fullbacks overlapping, forwards getting on the end of crosses, midfielders shooting, defenders defending and goalkeepers making great saves etc!

We go to be entertained. Yes, they’ll be better teams that come here, but we dig in, make a fist of it. If we come away from the ground and have lost, but see that the players/team have given it a good go, then we hold our hands up and say fair enough, but we’ve seen too often where we don’t get everything off of a player/team, like 2nd half today.

Football’s dying in my eyes with all the bullshit e.g. dark arts, play acting, game management (water breaks), analysis, pretending to be injured and bloody VAR (luckily we haven’t got that)

The game has evolved and changed massively since you started watching, some for the better, some not, but it’s still football, and this obsessive, compulsive ridiculously beautiful game is still there and is why we go week in week out isn’t it? Frustrating and bloody annoying when it goes badly yet brilliantly rewarding when it goes well. I hope you stick with it.

 

[jackmc]

If Smyth had been on the bench I think he would of gone to right back at half time given how badly Negru was fairing there.

Negru i taught was solid yesterday , playing out of position ,bar a bad clearance which eventually resulted in goal he defended superbly (there was phase after clearance that could been defended better by keeper and brown )

I feel he needs run of games beside Moore in CB position like he had in september when he was in league 1 team of month

I think we have hell of player here if we use him in right way and give him chance

I honestly think we have best young CH in league and we are not helping his development

 

[uptheus]

we simply cant see out a 1 , or for that matter 2, goal lead, why bother trying to , and why sit deep inviting the opposition to attack in waves? inevitably the inevitable happens

Especially at home.

Entertain your customers!

 

[The mighty Aldo]

Especially at home.

Entertain your customers!

You are Tim Williams and I claim my £5

 

[Bicester Yellow]

There's still a third of the season to go. I know that we've been poor during this second third, but it's madness to write off any hope with 16 games to play.

We could set up like this next weekend,

View attachment 17719

And we could have the likes of Goodrham, Dale, McGuane and Murphy on the bench.

I'm not saying that things are perfect, but I also can't understand the defeatist attitude.

Not being defeatist scotch, I just don’t see how we win 10 games of football playing the way we are. We hardly look like scoring more than 1 a game & we can’t keep clean sheets. I hope I’m wrong but everyone above have games in hand and we are points behind now. I can’t see us making top 6. That’s all

 

[mooro]

In reality, I think they can only afford to lose 1-2 more games this season.

As long as we win games 47, 48 & 49....

 

[Mad Dog]

The atmosphere in the Manor days was amazing, it was a cauldron at times, a real lions den.

But this was helped by the fact the players really played with their hearts on their sleeve, which doesn’t really happen these days, with the exception of Brannagan, who would’ve been a real fans favourite in the Manor days!

But also in those days, we got the ball to the wingers, who really attacked the full back and got crosses in, for players who were bombing into the box, we had players shooting on site, creating chances, flying into crunching tackles, and generally going for the throat of the opposition right from the first minute, it was exciting to watch, and got the crowd going, so the singing and atmosphere was loud and intimidating for opponents and we regularly out sang their fans.

Modern football is by its very nature a lot more boring, very languid and passy passy, with slow build up play, it’s actually quite uninspiring and dull to watch, and that is reflected in the stands, at every level, the home crowds struggle to lift themselves, and it’s often the away fans who are the loudest these days.

But it’s a two way street, if the players want the fans to create an atmosphere, then they’ve got to give them something to sing and shout about.

 

[Symp59]

How many seasons have Mcguane and Cam played together we need a change ,maybe the last 7 minutes yesterday is the future because it hasn't consistently got us to where we need to be .So often we do not win the midfield battles.

 

[Bicester Yellow]

Reality is, sitting in the North Stand as I do, it's pretty obvious that teams have been targeting our right side for most of the season. It's consistently been our weakest area defensively whoever has played there. While Negru was our fourth choice RB, there have been huge holes whoever has played there.

Defensively we are so narrow. Time and again we get found out with teams who play with proper width.

 

[Sarge]

Defensively we are so narrow. Time and again we get found out with teams who play with proper width.

loading our penalty box with 11 men, leaving no outlet defending set pieces and throw ins is ridiculous, the ball gets cleared then comes back time and time again

 

[Bicester Yellow]

loading our penalty box with 11 men, leaving no outlet defending set pieces and throw ins is ridiculous, the ball gets cleared then comes back time and time again

Yep, spot on sarge. Naive & even then we don’t win the first ball with every player in the box defending.

 

[werthersoriginal]

The atmosphere in the Manor days was amazing, it was a cauldron at times, a real lions den.

But this was helped by the fact the players really played with their hearts on their sleeve, which doesn’t really happen these days, with the exception of Brannagan, who would’ve been a real fans favourite in the Manor days!

But also in those days, we got the ball to the wingers, who really attacked the full back and got crosses in, for players who were bombing into the box, we had players shooting on site, creating chances, flying into crunching tackles, and generally going for the throat of the opposition right from the first minute, it was exciting to watch, and got the crowd going, so the singing and atmosphere was loud and intimidating for opponents and we regularly out sang their fans.

Modern football is by its very nature a lot more boring, very languid and passy passy, with slow build up play, it’s actually quite uninspiring and dull to watch, and that is reflected in the stands, at every level, the home crowds struggle to lift themselves, and it’s often the away fans who are the loudest these days.

But it’s a two way street, if the players want the fans to create an atmosphere, then they’ve got to give them something to sing and shout about.

Nah, plenty of dull games then, and far more skill now, though granted the slow technical passing can be dull.

 

[Oxford84]

Just goes to show what a decent manager can do.

Reading in the bottom 4 all season!

 

[Swaby39]

There's still a third of the season to go. I know that we've been poor during this second third, but it's madness to write off any hope with 16 games to play.

We could set up like this next weekend,

View attachment 17719

And we could have the likes of Goodrham, Dale, McGuane and Murphy on the bench.

I'm not saying that things are perfect, but I also can't understand the defeatist attitude.

He’s very unlikely to start Goodwin having just returned from injury. He’s shown how cautious he is with this in the past and I’d suggest unless he radically overhauls the shape, Matete will also remain benched and the pair of them will contribute 15/20 mins next week at most.

It feels to me like the plan is to get everyone fit and play the season in the last 10-12 games when hopefully we’re still within reach.

The defeatist attitude, or rather just an honest acceptance of where we are as a football team, comes from a lack of reasons to be more positive. The squad looks solid on paper now and a week away from being even better, but our manager appears to be well behind the curve and it’s a real worry to see some of the best players in the division struggling for any rhythm in his style of play. We’re seeing players like Rodrigues, McGuane, Brown actually regressing.

I agree with you that 16 games is plenty but we aren’t half burning through them and we’re not just asking for a bit of luck to go our way soon. In the next 16 games we need a load of people to come back from injury and stay fit, to find an identity, a formation, our strongest line up and probably a minimum of 8 wins to give ourselves a chance of play offs. That’s a heck of a job for Des now, we aren’t a settled side that’s just in a bad spell.

I think Des could have us up there next season from the lessons learned this year and a reshuffle in the squad and the dugout. But I can’t see him getting anything out of this season, he’s just not learning quickly enough.

 

[Big Ronaldo]

While you do get the sense that Promotion is slipping away, the joke of it is that even automatic promotion is still well within reach.

A run of wins would catapult put us back into the mix.
Not so sure we are likely to see it but it’s there.

 

[Oxford84]

Same **** each week. Take the lead at HT, come out, pump the ball long, watch it come back and eventually concede.

Reading deserved all 3 points imo. A season that looked so promising is evaporating quickly.

No way did Reading deserve to win, the only way they scored was an own goal. Both sides were terrible.

 

[Oxford84]

we simply cant see out a 1 , or for that matter 2, goal lead, why bother trying to , and why sit deep inviting the opposition to attack in waves? inevitably the inevitable happens

That was happening under Manning as well.

 

[Sarge]

That was happening under Manning as well.

and KR too

 

[Followtheox1]

Defensively we are so narrow. Time and again we get found out with teams who play with proper width.

It's been far to easy to get crosses in from the wings for opposition. To an extent from both sides of the pitch but worse in my view from the right. If you put enough crosses in, at some point you will score.