Home Match Day Thread 09/03/2024 L1: OUFC v Cheltenham Town

[Northstandboy]

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Interview - Des Buckingham

Interview - Greg Leigh

Interview - Darrell Clarke

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[Jster]

Burey.

Hah, true. Which really does suggest something is up there, because he's desperately needed on the bench.

 

[Osleroad]

Yep all sides should just roll over and make it easy for the better one. Football is all about struggling teams going and disrupting games , making it a hard watch then grinding out points or even wins .
Wonder what the Barnsley, Stevenage, Bolton forums are saying about their matches yesterday.
Actually going into Tuesday strangely confident that we are going to pull off a result .
Winning , any way you do it , breeds confidence .
Certainly having doubts about GK Cumming , if that had been Easty or Jack S they woukd have been getting pelters on here .
COYY

Even seeing it late Beadle would likely have got to that being 5 inches or so taller - one of the great let downs of the season

 

[Scotchegg]

All the Des lovers you can't be pleased with what you are watching ?

It's these comments that are embarrassing.

I'm an Oxford United fan first and foremost, and I was happy to see a battling win yesterday.

It wasn't the free-flowing football that we'd all want to see, but it's 3 points and that is the most important thing right now. In the two games I've seen Portsmouth play, I've not seen anything particularly entertaining from them. But they are top of the league because they've had plenty of performances like ours yesterday.

And its not like yesterday was even that bad. In the first half we created several chances, particularly thtough Dsle. His link up play with Rodrigues gave him a really good chance but he blazed over. Harris cut through the middle and forced a good save from their keeper. Brannagan had a couple of decent efforts and I think Murphy too had one saved before his goal.

The second half wasn't as good, but both Murphy and Dale were bring targeted on and off the ball and neither got any protection. Yet both still looked dangerous in possession and twice Murphy had chances to put it on the plate for others to finish but the final ball couldn't quite come.

But on any other day, had be been 2 or even 3 nil up before Cheltenhams goal then it wouldn't have been a surprise.

Bolton's form has been iffy for a while and they were held by the mighty Exeter yesterday. They have also drawn against Barnsley, Charlton and Northampton recently as well as being beaten by Blackpool and Wigan. So absolutely no reason why we can't get a result there. We then have Port Vale and Shrewsbury to play before the end of March (assuming that the Lincoln game is moved) and there's no reason why we can't get 7 points from these 3 games.

We would then go into the final month of the season with 4 out of 6 games at home to cement that play off place.

There's so much to play for, and the outcome is so much more important that a few people loving or hating the manager!

 

[Thomas/Brock/Jones]

Even seeing it late Beadle would likely have got to that being 5 inches or so taller - one of the great let downs of the season

Yes , so far . Had extremely high hopes when we signed him.
Still enough time to find so good form though

 

[Upthecowboys]

Huge win, and keeps the season alive. Some random thoughts..

It is a results business and I’m not as obsessed as some seem to be re ‘What is Des’s style’? However we saw Mannings style only after a full preseason and if there is an answer to that question we’ll see it in August. One thing I would say about Des is I think he has been more flexible than other managers re his willingness to change formations.

I understand some of the flack he’s been getting as I feel he seemed to do well over Christmas when we had all those injuries. Then more recently when we had an almost full squad to choose from the results have been disappointing.

If we do make the play offs then I think we’ll be a real contender as we’ll be going into them in form. Plus we may have a couple more options available, I know they seem injury prone but even if one of Edwards or Browne are fit then there would be another potential match winner in the squad.

I wonder if we’ll see fresh legs in midfield on Tuesday. Matete hasn’t had the impact I expected but I’d be tempted to start him and Bodin. It is a tough fixture but Stevenage have Posh away on Weds.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

It's these comments that are embarrassing.

I'm an Oxford United fan first and foremost, and I was happy to see a battling win yesterday.

It wasn't the free-flowing football that we'd all want to see, but it's 3 points and that is the most important thing right now. In the two games I've seen Portsmouth play, I've not seen anything particularly entertaining from them. But they are top of the league because they've had plenty of performances like ours yesterday.

And its not like yesterday was even that bad. In the first half we created several chances, particularly thtough Dsle. His link up play with Rodrigues gave him a really good chance but he blazed over. Harris cut through the middle and forced a good save from their keeper. Brannagan had a couple of decent efforts and I think Murphy too had one saved before his goal.

The second half wasn't as good, but both Murphy and Dale were bring targeted on and off the ball and neither got any protection. Yet both still looked dangerous in possession and twice Murphy had chances to put it on the plate for others to finish but the final ball couldn't quite come.

But on any other day, had be been 2 or even 3 nil up before Cheltenhams goal then it wouldn't have been a surprise.

Bolton's form has been iffy for a while and they were held by the mighty Exeter yesterday. They have also drawn against Barnsley, Charlton and Northampton recently as well as being beaten by Blackpool and Wigan. So absolutely no reason why we can't get a result there. We then have Port Vale and Shrewsbury to play before the end of March (assuming that the Lincoln game is moved) and there's no reason why we can't get 7 points from these 3 games.

We would then go into the final month of the season with 4 out of 6 games at home to cement that play off place.

There's so much to play for, and the outcome is so much more important that a few people loving or hating the manager!

Exactly this.
It is getting a bit tiring seeing people try and create a division with this whole ‘Des lover’ thing just because some of us are willing to give him a bit longer to prove himself.
I haven’t seen one person say everything is all ok at the moment.
Stevenage still have to play Peterborough, Orient, Bolton, Barnsley and us in their last 10 games.
Orient, before yesterday were seen to be a side that might threaten the play offs, a loss yesterday means they are now 7 points off it and probably got too much to do to there now.

Oh and one last point which @dickwalton1964 mentioned, just because I know Des means very little considering I am sure a lot of people on here know Des given he grew up in Oxford.

 

[Swaby39]

Overall though the way Des wants to play has been clear for a few games now, play into the midfield then they will play it to the wingers to run at the full backs and get crosses in, you also have the late runners and the ones that hang on the edge waiting for the ball to come out.

He’s been here two thirds of a season Steve, it’s plainly not good enough to see that group of players winging it one game to the next. That might not be what it is, but that’s what it’s looked like in his every game in charge bar Portsmouth where, shock horror, we played forward as a team with tempo and upstaged them on their own soil. Yesterday’s performance suggests it was a complete flash in the pan as we reverted to type - making football look remarkably difficult.

Every team plays in to midfield (yes, even long ball Cheltenham did). Every team tries to find their wingers. And every team tries to put crosses in. What makes our way anything special? We have some of the best players in the division so what’s our excuse to be s**t at those things… Is that really the product of c.£1m fee, nearly 6 months, a very well-backed transfer window and 30 games in the job? It’s pathetic. We should be much further along.

What I see is a team that trickles out of the blocks every week, passes the ball around in areas of no danger waiting for a moment of individualism to spark something. 9 times out of 10 that then culminates in a long pass that skids off the field, a rash shot from distance or a nervous backtrack and possession lost. We aren’t assertive in games.

Last 3 home games we’ve been deeply troubled by better-coached sides who are playing ugly football but to the potential of what they have. That’s what good coaches do. We’re miles from being able to say anything of that nature as we continually churn out well below par displays. Bolton will be bang up for it on Tuesday with cameras on. Turn up like we did yesterday and we’ll get mauled.

 

[Symp59]

I have supported Oxford for over 50 years ,iam hoping Des turns us into a really good team so apologies if I have upset anyone. We all want us to be successful, we have a board that are certainly backing us and a fanbase that loves thete team .And certainly like most fans like the community that your own team brings. Also it's more real than the premier league so I shall definitely be hearing home and away ,Des and his yellow and blue army.

 

[Oxford84]

Greg Leigh I bloody love you!!!! Brilliant work from Dale to make the winning goal.

But let’s not hide away from the fact, that for large parts of that game it was bloody awful. It was poor slow and lethargic and turgid. Yes it’s 3 points and yes that’s what matters, but we’ve just played a team, that has been in the relegation zone all season, and we’ve scrapped a win, and I mean no disrespect to Cheltenham when I say this, but we really should be beating these far more easily. I thought the ref missed a few bookings, and possibly even a sending off for them.

Luckily results around us went our way. I’m not sold on Buckingham at all, and if he is to last, then things need to improve in terms of performances/results because it wasn’t a great watch!

ok, but Cheltenham have beaten Portsmouth and Blackpool and have only lost by a goal away at Derby and Bolton, also drawn away at Portsmouth and drawn at home to Derby. so although they are crap they are much more difficult to play against than people may think. They are a team to get past rather than a team you want to play against.

 

[Jster]

I think maybe people watch too much Premier League football or something*. League one sides are typically very up and down, and often have to win games through having a couple of good moments. This obsession with "Des' style" is peculiar. What does that even mean? Yesterday we didn't play at our best against a very physical side, yet we were able to raise our game when it mattered. If an opponent had done that to us, we'd be saying how effective they were.

* I basically watch none at all - only really care about Oxford.

 

[Oxford84]

Yes that take down and pass forward when he was 20 yards out was fantastic. I hope they stay up they battle well.

I hope they go down, f*****g horrible team to play against.

 

[Bitter]

Don’t want Des out, but I do want to see more front foot football, fed up with all this passing backwards too much. In the second half when one nil up, we had a break away from a Cheltenham attack, got to the half way line, did some pretty triangle passing, then went back to Cumming! Does my head in.

 

[Coffin dodger]

Ñ

Wow, that's going to take some working out. But when you consider Appleton, Wilder, Jim Smith (the real one, I mean, not Baldy), were all from up north I'd guess our average manager is from somewhere north of Birmingham. So I'm anxious to hear the answer, BTCW

I'm guessing somewhere off the south west coast of Cornwall. Ramon Diaz will skew the average significantly.

 

[Swaby39]

This obsession with "Des' style" is peculiar. What does that even mean? Yesterday we didn't play at our best against a very physical side, yet we were able to raise our game when it mattered.

To pick up the last bit first, being reactionary in football generally gets you nowhere. The modern day managers all seek control of games in their own way for that very reason. Then factor in that we are in the top handful of clubs for our playing budget with some of the best players in the league and there is an inherent expectation that you assert yourself on games. Des doesn’t appear to know how to do that consistently.

With regards the style debate, it’s not a throwaway wishy washy topic. It’s discussed regularly by pundits particularly around Man Utd recently. Most teams have an identity and a clear structure to their play - that isn’t to suggest there’s a right or wrong but it does enable you to be more patient as you can see a pattern developing and what kind of team we’re striving to be. Do you know what you’re going to get when you play Oxford United? Is it a game to fear? The improvements from one game to the next are unnoticeable so I’m at a bit of a loss as to what a week in training with Des Buckingham is really producing - where are we heading? Or is this it and he just needs a team of galacticos to get better? Other coaches are bringing teams to play us that look a far superior unit with a lot less at their disposal. In the early days I described Des’ football as ‘ad-hoc’ and I’ve seen nothing that alters that.

 

[MiddleBartonYellow]

Buckingham’s style.
Pragmatic I would say, keep possession, patient build up, play out from the back. Maybe not a lot else from what I can see.
There has to be more going forward though.

 

[East Stand Fan]

Very happy with the win although it wasn't a great display. Can't underestimate Cheltenham too much as they've had some strong performances this season but we should've done more. There was just no urgency for large parts and we only showed this after they equalised. Luckily there was just enough time to carve out the winner. One of the biggest issues at this moment stems from the back and a general lack of movement. It just seems so slow and pedestrian from Cummings to get the ball moving and even when we finally do, there's barely any options. More fluidity and urgency needed like we showed against Pompey. We seem to do this against the bigger teams but when it comes to poor ones, we can't seem to get anything going.

 

[holdsteady]

Burey.

Should of been on the bench yesterday, he would have given us a different option to what we had on there.

 

[Nox]

So 20+ games into Des’ term as manager (almost half a season) we are still too slow, still need tweaks and still need to play the ball forward quicker? And only in the last few games it’s become clearer to you at least the way Des is trying to play. I’m honestly not trying to be awkward or deliberately negative but doesn’t that set the alarm bells ringing and tell you something? Even in Mannings first game we could see a change and a proper system from the previous manager. That system seems to have been what Des has tried to maintain but we no longer high press, no longer defend as a unit, and look like 11 individuals told to just get on with it.

Appreciate your view and clearly mine is different, but honestly as happy as I am with 3 points we were simply shocking and not a team with any sort of coherence or tactics or system. I’d love Des to lead us to success, but other than the odd glimpse (like some of last weeks performance) I’m just not seeing it. I expected to build on a great performance from last week but we didn’t. We got 3 welcome points thanks to Cheltenham being so poor, we barely deserved them though despite what the statistics might say. I’ve enjoyed 80 minutes of watching paint dry more than I enjoyed most of todays game.

Criticise my negativity by all means but I’m being realistic rather than trying to paint a false picture of optimism as we managed a win at last after only 1 in the 10 previous games.

Let’s hope we get something at Bolton on Tuesday, a point at least would be most welcome and something I’d take right now.

A decent post on the reality of how things stand at the moment.

 

[yellow rose of Texas]

Poor today but we'll take the 3 points. Points are important but you also need to look at how you get there. We wer excellent against Pompey but poor today bar a couple of spells, all well and good when you're playing Cheltenham but against the better teams it won't fly. Purkiss made the point on The Dub that the best teams set the tempo regardless of the opposition, we raised it against Portsmouth but against some incredibly limited cloggers we dropped right off again.

Dale clearly man of the match and I wish a few more had his attitude. Watch him before the game geeing his team mates up and he also plays to the crowd a bit, it's such an easy win but not many do it. Brannagan did well and Rodrigues was involved in the spells when we played some good stuff at the end of the first half but overall not involved enough. Moore was also good as usual and you can see the extra composure and quality on the ball he has above all our other centre backs.

McGuane miles off it, Stevens was really poor too. Cummings is a concern, if that were Eastwood who conceded that goal then he'd have got pelters and it's far from the first time he's cost us. Southwold looked alright, anyone know if he's local?

McGuane just refuses to offer any positivity and always sends us backwards. And then he never looks for the ball. I could count on one hand the times there is any interplay between Brannigan and McGuane. The only blame I would attribute to Des is not hooking him

 

[MiddleBartonYellow]

Should have been on the bench yesterday, he would have given us a different option to what we had on there.

Obviously a fall out.