Away Match Day Thread 05/04/22 L1: Morecambe v OUFC

[Mellowyellow]

Who will get this squad over the line and why?

A manager with the tactical nouse to play players in the correct position.
A manager who doesn't see collecting wingers as a prudent pastime.
A manager able to react and make the correct decision when using subs.
A manager who realises what is so blindingly obvious in a transfer window.
A manager who shows he has the ability through the season to beat higher level teams and those struggling.

 

[Coffin dodger]

A manager with the tactical nouse to play players in the correct position.
A manager who doesn't see collecting wingers as a prudent pastime.
A manager able to react and make the correct decision when using subs.
A manager who realises what is so blindingly obvious in a transfer window.
A manager who shows he has the ability through the season to beat higher level teams and those struggling.

Chances are he's already managing in the Championship or Premier already

 

[Oufcrealist]

Robinson keeps on rolling out the bluster after a game about an unsettled back 4, having to play players out of position etc etc - the truth is it's his poor recruitment and his stubbornness to acknowledge the fact he didn't build a squad properly or get a decent defensive midfielder in, once Gorrin was out, that has contributed to us throwing away this season. And he could have played a 'recognised' back 4 last night, players in their true positions, but it was makeshift yet again. Brown is not a left back, Williams is not a full back so why not play Seddon, play Brown centrally and Long in RB?
As has been said above, lack of defensive cover (to have no proper full back cover is criminal!) and the lack of quality recruitment is his fault. No one else, just KR.
Yes McNally has been a real find, yes Whyte has assisted a lot, but was the signing of Browne prudent and necessary? Was Kane worth the extra fee? Was Holland the right fit for us? His insistence on signing all these attacking players and setting the team up to attack, not to be solid and balanced is his fault. Yes we've scored bucket loads which is lovely to watch but you cannot achieve anything conceding the amount we do and defending the way we do.
Other teams will be laughing at how we have thrown away a promising position and we only have ourselves to blame. I for one am very disappointed about how things have turned out.

Spot on. He also got very short with Nathan Cooper when he questioned him saying 'what do you expect me to do' He mentioned Thorniley a few times as well, Karl that was a while ago.
I'll tell you what I expect you to do, sign a balanced squad at the start of the season. If your preferred back line is a 4 you sign 2 for each position, I don’t think he's ever done that!! Instead he tries to be clever and shoehorn in wingers who 'may' be able to do a bit of a job there. The squad is too middle heavy with not enough attention paid to the back. He always thinks he can get away with it but invariably he gets caught out.
Let's just hope that somehow we click for the rest of the season!!

 

[ECYellow]

Anyone able to post a link to his interview after the game with BBC Radio Ox? I didn't hear it as i was walking back to our dump of a B&B in the p1ssing rain, while pissed off with our inability to stop teams scoring against us!

 

[RyanioBirdio]

Anyone able to post a link to his interview after the game with BBC Radio Ox? I didn't hear it as i was walking back to our dump of a B&B in the p1ssing rain, while pissed off with our inability to stop teams scoring against us!

BBC Radio Oxford - Wasn't At The Game, 05/04/2022

Morcambe v Oxford United post-match reaction from the manager, the players and you.

www.bbc.co.uk

Skip to just after 14 minutes.

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

The lack of a replacement for Gorrin is the key one I think. A real oversight that, given that we knew he was out for the season and had a chance to replace him.

This again indicates that a more pragmatic approach from the coaching and recruitment teams is needed and adds to a general sense that we are entertainers but not ruthless enough.

We need more bastards, basically!

The stats bear that out to an extent. Gorrin has featured in 13 League games this season (starting 11) in which we have conceded just 13 goals. We only conceded 2 or more goals in 2 of those games (and 1 of them, Wimbledon away, he had been subbed off prior to goal 2 and goal 3)!

However, our relative solidity continued after his injury (early November) through to New Year (with the exception of Wigan at home). The likes of (brace yourselves) Hanson and Forde came in and did a job in that time, so the formation/set-up could be argued to be working even post-Gorrin.

That clearly didn't last though, and I think that may have more to do with the changing of formations and arguably shoe-horning wide attacking players into the starting XI.
I like Ryan Williams (and his work-rate especially) but his promotion into the team (from a regular substitute earlier in the season) roughly correlates with the downturn in defence. I'm in no way blaming RW here though - he's done a good job for sure - it's more that his promotion to the starting XI is a symptom of the wider change of formation/shoe-horning, which again in fairness probably stems back to the loss of Gorrin.

 

[BigLad]

Will Easty be reinstalled as oxfords no 1 keeper? Sorry but Jack has been quite awful since his return from illness.

Just back home after an overnight stay in MoreCum. What a frustrating night that was, overall we didn't play bad and obviously were the better team but we ALWAYS have 2 or 3 games like this a season - painful.


Stevens - 5 - Didnt have much to do, and what he needed to do wasn't good. I prefer Eastwood.

Mcnally - 5 - His worst game for us, looked slow and cumbersome.

Long - 5.5 - Meh. Wears his heart on his sleeve, passion for the badge etc, but he's never been good enough for us. Definite improvement required

Brown - 6 - 3 for the first half but 8 second. Not sure how I feel on him overall. Maybe a good squad player.

Holland - 8 - Excellent, looked confident and a threat every time he had it. Start him more!!

Mcguane - 6 - One of our better performers in the first 20 but again flashed in and out of things.

Sykes - 6 - Centrally, first 20 he was great and his passing was top drawer. Went out to the left in the 2nd half and went invisible. If you ask me honestly, I think he's chucked it.

Kane - 5 - He's not a defensive midfielder so let's not play him there any more. Blows hot and cold and sadly the cold cost us last night.

Williams - 4 - Awful, never got in it, crossing way off. Looked tired.

Taylor - 6.5 - Hell of a finish and that was about it. Can hardly be blamed for our failures.

Whyte - 7 - Build up play and running off the ball was next level, sadly his decision making is poor. Kept trying


Subs didn't do too much of note, just camped in their half passing sideways and checking back. Dull.

KR - 2 - I rarely rant at Robbo and I trust he is the right man for us. But those substitutions last night were baffling. Holland and Whyte were our only threatening players, so why take them off? Morecambe were getting deeper and more narrow as the game went on so why take off the 2 players who gave us width? To replace them with Henry and Bodin who sat in the middle getting blocked off and not having pace to get in behind. Furious.

Opinions are fine as its what a forum is about but your comments on Stevens show I am afraid you are a bit clueless when its comes to goalkeeping, prefer Eastwood by all means thats you right as a fan/supporter but Stevens did nothing wrong last night as he had no chance with both goals, made a decent save in second half and distribution was very good, infact if Matty had timed his run the keepers quick kick late in second half was almost pin point.

 

[MiddleBartonYellow]

I am not apologising for Robinson but injuries have killed us. When you have big players missing like we have it does make the difference. I expect he will get a kicking though if we fall short which is looking likely.

 

[The mighty Aldo]

Just looking back to some of our defeats this season especially away from home and you can see where we fall down

Home
Plymouth pretty even game but they were just too good in the end
Wigan we were COVID hit but put up a good show and definitely didn’t deserve to lose
Bolton could have gone either way

So not too shabby


Away
Cheltenham shocking
Wimbledon shocking after taking lead
Accrington after good start shocking
Wycombe after good start shocking
Lincoln shocking
Portsmouth shocking after taking the lead
Plymouth good start poor after their goal
Bolton shocking after taking the lead
Morecambe poor after taking the lead

So in four games we took the lead and in two others we were on top but didn’t take chances

I would suggest that the MK’s Rotherham’s Plymouths and Wigans don’t lose many when they go in front, we need to consolidate and not give goals away

When you look at that list we should be beating most and if not grinding out a draw
We can do this look at Wigan Sunderland Ipswich really gutsy performances but against teams who play football
Other than Pompey and Plymouth and Bolton we really need to look at team selection

 

[bazzer9461]

Opinions are fine as its what a forum is about but your comments on Stevens show I am afraid you are a bit clueless when its comes to goalkeeping, prefer Eastwood by all means thats you right as a fan/supporter but Stevens did nothing wrong last night as he had no chance with both goals, made a decent save in second half and distribution was very good, infact if Matty had timed his run the keepers quick kick late in second half was almost pin point.

Problem is he has also conceded far to many since he’s been back, certainly not clueless Jack needs a rest. I don’t care who’s in goal for us but you have to go with who is doing the best at the time and at the moment that is Easty.

 

[WuTang]

I am not apologising for Robinson but injuries have killed us. When you have big players missing like we have it does make the difference. I expect he will get a kicking though if we fall short which is looking likely.

It makes an even bigger difference to an imbalanced squad, one without cover for certain positions such as centre back, full back and defensive midfield. Then to suffer injuries in those positions and not even fix that issue in January suddenly makes the injury issue an avoidable problem rather than pure bad luck.

 

[Yellows1]

Opinions are fine as its what a forum is about but your comments on Stevens show I am afraid you are a bit clueless when its comes to goalkeeping, prefer Eastwood by all means thats you right as a fan/supporter but Stevens did nothing wrong last night as he had no chance with both goals, made a decent save in second half and distribution was very good, infact if Matty had timed his run the keepers quick kick late in second half was almost pin point.

Really, last season Stevens would have had one of those goals, our keepers never seem to have worldly games, the opposition keepers do AKA last night! - Results don’t lie,

 

[werthersoriginal]

Just looking back to some of our defeats this season especially away from home and you can see where we fall down

Home
Plymouth pretty even game but they were just too good in the end
Wigan we were COVID hit but put up a good show and definitely didn’t deserve to lose
Bolton could have gone either way

So not too shabby


Away
Cheltenham shocking
Wimbledon shocking after taking lead
Accrington after good start shocking
Wycombe after good start shocking
Lincoln shocking
Portsmouth shocking after taking the lead
Plymouth good start poor after their goal
Bolton shocking after taking the lead
Morecambe poor after taking the lead

So in four games we took the lead and in two others we were on top but didn’t take chances

I would suggest that the MK’s Rotherham’s Plymouths and Wigans don’t lose many when they go in front, we need to consolidate and not give goals away

When you look at that list we should be beating most and if not grinding out a draw
We can do this look at Wigan Sunderland Ipswich really gutsy performances but against teams who play football
Other than Pompey and Plymouth and Bolton we really need to look at team selection

This is like Brian Horton's team, great and exciting at home but sometimes feeble away. They played with wingers too - maybe for away games we need to stiffen the midfield rather than play with pure wingers. We won at Sheff Wed (and kept the season alive) with Forde on the right.

 

[The mighty Aldo]

This is like Brian Horton's team, great and exciting at home but sometimes feeble away. They played with wingers too - maybe for away games we need to stiffen the midfield rather than play with pure wingers. We won at Sheff Wed (and kept the season alive) with Forde on the right.

And for that what we got was “ Horton Out”

 

[werthersoriginal]

And for that what we got was “ Horton Out”

My theory was that the hard core went to away games and got fed up with poor performances, while saps like me just saw exciting home wins with Joey on the wing. Could also possibly account for some of the different views on here at the moment.

 

[OxfordYankee]

I’m hopeful that as he now has Browne, he won’t approach the next transfer window trying either to capture him or replace him.

Not a sure thing, though.

I think he’s earned next season, but if we end the summer window with our usual squad imbalance, I don’t believe he’ll be OUFC manager come the end of it.

 

[stokeu]

"sometimes feeble away"..... Accrington, less said the better. We got lucky at Crewe, we were pretty poor that night. Shrewsbury, well, if not for Eastwood I reckon we would have been down and out but pulled through somehow. And last night, the better team but didn't do the primary essential. That's all the games I've been to this year, not managed a home fixture. Sometimes feeble doesn't come close, at least not recently.

 

[werthersoriginal]

"sometimes feeble away"..... Accrington, less said the better. We got lucky at Crewe, we were pretty poor that night. Shrewsbury, well, if not for Eastwood I reckon we would have been down and out but pulled through somehow. And last night, the better team but didn't do the primary essential. That's all the games I've been to this year, not managed a home fixture. Sometimes feeble doesn't come close, at least not recently.

However we’ve frequently been brilliant at home, or at least been in thrilling games.

 

[Oufcrealist]

I am not apologising for Robinson but injuries have killed us. When you have big players missing like we have it does make the difference. I expect he will get a kicking though if we fall short which is looking likely.

All teams get injuries. KR'S problem is he puts together an imbalanced squad, one with not enough defenders from the start. We then get one or two and we are in big trouble. He then has to start playing wingers as full backs, full backs as centre backs etc. He also failed to bring in defensive midfield cover for Gorrin in Jan when it was glaringly obvious it was needed. You can have bad luck but you can also bring it on yourself by bad planning.

 

[tonyw]

All teams get injuries. KR'S problem is he puts together an imbalanced squad, one with not enough defenders from the start. We then get one or two and we are in big trouble. He then has to start playing wingers as full backs, full backs as centre backs etc. He also failed to bring in defensive midfield cover for Gorrin in Jan when it was glaringly obvious it was needed. You can have bad luck but you can also bring it on yourself by bad planning.

Agreed - I actually don't think that KR has been particularly unlucky with injuries this season; I think he was more lucky with injuries in the previous two seasons.

Last year, Atkinson, Moore & Ruffels all played 40+ league games, and Sam Long played 36 (most of the rest of the RB starts were the ill-fated Sean Clare saga).
In 2019-20, we played 38 league games total (including the playoffs); Josh Ruffels played all of them and Rob Dickie played 37 of them. Chris Cadden handed over to Sam Long at RB, and either Mous or Moore made the rest of the defensive starts.

Basically, we had no long-term defensive absences for two years, and so KR was able to get away with not having recruited enough defenders.
But that is not normal - usually the wear-and-tear of a league two season is going to take its toll on your defense. Which is why it's standard practise to have 7-8 specialist defenders to provide capable cover. And of course it's been compounded this season by the fact that the guy he brought in to replace Josh Ruffels is really not a great defender.

I don't think this season has been a disaster by any means, and I also don't think it's over yet - win on Saturday, and we still have a chance.

But it does stick in your craw a little hearing KR complain about injuries, when it's his squad construction which is really the root cause of our troubles.
As I mentioned at halftime - that's now 52 goals we've conceded in 41 games. It's been four years since anyone got promoted from League One having conceded more than 46.......