Away Match Day Thread 09/12/2023 L1 : Peterborough United v OUFC

[Northstandboy]

The matches seem to be coming thick and fast now.

At time of writing this post, the weather is set to be a warm 12oC!

 

[pommy80]

Big few weeks up until the new year now. Would say the fixtures look favourable, however who’s going to put the ball in the net?

Hopefully Des brings the axe and drops Harris, and maybe see what Perkins can do, who’s all but guaranteed to leave in January anyway.

 

[Deanroger]

I'm hoping this is a joke comment!

I'm hoping this is a joke comment!

Hands in pockets could also mean casual confidence so let's hope this is the reason.

 

[McXal]

Given that he essentially outright stated that Murphy is starting against Reading - is he going to finally pull the trigger and rest Harris?

Bodin can play up front, Harris can come on later against tiring opposition and use his pace and direct-ness. (And gets taken out of the firing line)

And with Harris on the bench it gives us an extra option with pace to play slightly wider given that Murphy may break down at any moment and Mills’ performances haven’t been great either.

 

[Scotchegg]

As some have said, 4 pretty favourable games coming up where we would take performances like we saw against Carlisle if it brought 4 wins. If we win all 4, they we would be on 48 points at the half way stage during a season where we have had to do some major rebuilding and change the manager already. Things may not be perfect, but I suspect that every one of us would have ripped your arm off if offered this in the summer.

 

[notThisWayButThat]

Hands in pockets could also mean casual confidence so let's hope this is the reason.

Could also mean it was a cold day.

 

[QR]

Could also mean it was a cold day.

Or pocket snooker.

 

[Didox]

If we lose to reading I’m gonna think Des is a very bad appointment. I’m really not sold on his demeanour. If you can’t get a positive bounce from second place then the dream is not gonna happpen

 

[greatunclekip]

I'm going to try and offer an honest view. That was s**t, utter s**t, but there are mitigations and a few points of discussion.

1) I'm not Des out and I want him to do well, I advocated an experienced, solid manager to steer us through and I stand by that.

2) bring Steve Cotterill in as assistant.

3) our squad is nowhere near Posh, Bolton, Blackpool or Pompey. We can argue it is but it isn't. After one window you wouldn't expect it to be. They were always going to click at some point.

4) Get Negru back in.

5) we had a fantastic start to the season, some really decent performances, but in terms of goals, Greg Leigh had a brilliant purple patch, he's our second top scorer from left back. That's nuts.

6) going into a season with no proven striker was madness. Absolutely genuine unmitigated madness. It was always going to cost us, the question was how much, whilst the goals were coming from elsewhere (mainly left back).

4 eminently winnable games now.

 

[werthersoriginal]

I'm going to try and offer an honest view. That was s**t, utter s**t, but there are mitigations and a few points of discussion.

1) I'm not Des out and I want him to do well, I advocated an experienced, solid manager to steer us through and I stand by that.

2) bring Steve Cotterill in as assistant.

3) our squad is nowhere near Posh, Bolton, Blackpool or Pompey. We can argue it is but it isn't. After one window you wouldn't expect it to be. They were always going to click at some point.

4) Get Negru back in.

5) we had a fantastic start to the season, some really decent performances, but in terms of goals, Greg Leigh had a brilliant purple patch, he's our second top scorer from left back. That's nuts.

6) going into a season with no proven striker was madness. Absolutely genuine unmitigated madness. It was always going to cost us, the question was how much, whilst the goals were coming from elsewhere (mainly left back).

4 eminently winnable games now.

Negru is injured apparently.

At the start of the season we were getting a lot of ‘good goals’ , skilful or long distance efforts. As these have dried up due to players being injured or losing form, or just because they dont happen every week, we don’t have anyone to get the scruffy everyday goals from a yard or two.

 

[dickwalton1964]

I'm going to try and offer an honest view. That was s**t, utter s**t, but there are mitigations and a few points of discussion.

1) I'm not Des out and I want him to do well, I advocated an experienced, solid manager to steer us through and I stand by that.

2) bring Steve Cotterill in as assistant.

3) our squad is nowhere near Posh, Bolton, Blackpool or Pompey. We can argue it is but it isn't. After one window you wouldn't expect it to be. They were always going to click at some point.

4) Get Negru back in.

5) we had a fantastic start to the season, some really decent performances, but in terms of goals, Greg Leigh had a brilliant purple patch, he's our second top scorer from left back. That's nuts.

6) going into a season with no proven striker was madness. Absolutely genuine unmitigated madness. It was always going to cost us, the question was how much, whilst the goals were coming from elsewhere (mainly left back).

4 eminently winnable games now.

Agree that the striker issue is utterly ridiculous. To have, what, four league goals by your entire strike force (O’Donkor, Harris and Perkins) by the middle of December is just pathetic and embarrassing. Des, in fairness, cannot be blamed here. He’s been handed the worst bunch of centre forwards in L1, even Cheltenham‘s strikers have more. I don’t really care who we get to solve it in January as quite literally any striker at L1 or L2 level is likely to be a considerable upgrade. I said previously we need two in and stand by that if we want a shot at the automatics, one might just give us enough to battle for a play off spot. I’d certainly consider revisiting the Marriott situation, he’s not everyone’s choice but, my god, he’s different class to the three we have. What Woltman is like is a bit of a concern if he can’t force his way in to this lightweight attack. Is he a forward even ?

 

[Oxfordpete]

I didn’t go yesterday but have just watched the goals from the game
First goal, Beadle should have done better and how could 2 Posh follow up totally unmarked
Second goal I do think Beadle should have been much quicker off his line, been first to the ball, but again where were our defenders
Third where was the marking, someone not tracking back
All that aside my sons watched the game neither impressed with our performance
Why didn’t Murphy start
Why does Harris start, oh yes no real alternative, Perkins is still out of favour, God is great if we are 1 nil up and need to hold the ball up, waste time, get throw ins or corners but as a goal scoring threat …
Perhaps a false number 9 Tyler …… but Murphy must be a starter he’s the only player who causes problems

 

[West Oxon U’s]

And in contrast Jonson Clarke-Harris and Kabongo Tshimanga barely get a kick at Peterborough given the talents of Ephron Mason-Clark, Kwame Poku and Ricky-Jade Jones.

Their lightening quick front three and Joel Randall behind were ruthless with the press - it was a masterclass in setting traps and we were suffocated.
Passing the ball around slowly across the back line on a very sticky and uneven surface facing an exceptionally quick forward line was only going to lead to one outcome and when we did get the ball out to Mills in particular he was easily dispossessed by Harrison Burrows . McGuane in central areas on two occasions was guilty of giving up the ball cheaply. It gave Peterborough impetus after an even first fifteen minutes. They then easily worked us out.

Posh’s tight marking and notable extra power meant it was a very difficult afternoon. We simply could not build play and created nothing in the first half. Bodin, Harris and Mills just weren’t in it.

If it wasn’t for Beadle we could have been 4 down at the interval. At HT I was concerned we could get done six but the change at the break with Murphy improved us
but seldom did we look like scoring. I didn’t like the negative body language from certain individuals at times yesterday in a game where we were well beaten.

Buckingham got the selection wrong at the start today and a lot of positive work needs to be done before Tuesday evening. I think Des needs help quickly from an experienced number two. Are there any good ones available ?

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

Strange that, when we were searching for Manning’s replacement, all we heard on here is what an attractive proposition we were as a team, near the top of the league and doing well, likely to be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. I never heard these people saying ‘To be honest the new manager has very little chance, the wheels are already falling off, we’ve flattered to deceive, he’ll be lucky to win a game or even score a goal in his first three league games’

‘The wheels were falling off’

Last three league games before Des: 7 points, scoring 7 goals and conceding 4.

Des’ first three league games: 1 point, scoring 0 goals and conceding 5.

I see now how politicians are how they are, they’re just the same as people on here - facts will get spun and stretched and squeezed to fit whatever narrative the person wants them to, and retrospectively we go from a decent side under Manning who, while absolutely not perfect, won more games than they lost or drew and generally looked threatening, scoring goals and creating chances, to a side who were somehow in a massively false position and were lucky not to be in the relegation places.

Or, to put it another way:

In 15 league games under Manning, we only had two properly bad performances - Cambridge away and Wigan away. We’re halfway to that total already in three games so far…

 

[Swaby39]

I understand yesterday was alarming at times but I really don’t understand the Desy pile-on. The issues that haunted us today have haunted us well before he got here and were giving us difficulties in games under Manning - the injuries were there (and now worse for Des) and the gaps in the squad always needed addressing in January. I’ll also add that Manning hardly got a fraction of what we’ve seen of Murphy so I’m thankful that Des has at least managed to extract a 7 out of 10 from him on a regular basis - that’s encouraging. I’d expect Manning to have faired a little better yesterday, sure, but he’s gone. I never bought in to the idea this was just a case of Des picking up the baton and carrying on. This was a very difficult job to pick up when he did for many reasons.

Time for a tactical change? Almost certainly and I wouldn’t be so reliant on certain individuals as he has been. There is no doubt in my mind we are a better side with Moore and Brown together for starters and Bennett looks a very cool head with a nice combination with Murphy. Mills looks shot and downtrodden by Manning’s exit.

Whilst I fully understand the criticism earned by a poor performance, to my mind a bit of empathy and patience is required. It’s a fantastic job for Des but far, far from an easy one.

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

Did we at any point under Manning this season have a run of three league games where we didn’t win a game or score a goal?

Did we at any point in his tenure here?

 

[Swaby39]

Strange that, when we were searching for Manning’s replacement, all we heard on here is what an attractive proposition we were as a team, near the top of the league and doing well, likely to be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. I never heard these people saying ‘To be honest the new manager has very little chance, the wheels are already falling off, we’ve flattered to deceive, he’ll be lucky to win a game or even score a goal in his first three league games’

‘The wheels were falling off’

Last three league games before Des: 7 points, scoring 7 goals and conceding 4.

Des’ first three league games: 1 point, scoring 0 goals and conceding 5.

I see now how politicians are how they are, they’re just the same as people on here - facts will get spun and stretched and squeezed to fit whatever narrative the person wants them to, and retrospectively we go from a decent side under Manning who, while absolutely not perfect, won more games than they lost or drew and generally looked threatening, scoring goals and creating chances, to a side who were somehow in a massively false position and were lucky not to be in the relegation places.

Or, to put it another way:

In 15 league games under Manning, we only had two properly bad performances - Cambridge away and Wigan away. We’re halfway to that total already in three games so far…

I can’t disagree with a lot of this and it’s partly why I find the weird revisionism and bashing of Manning in the aftermath of his exit quite bizarre. Boring at times? Yes. Disloyal? Perhaps, if you ignore the life changing circumstances he was presented and our failure to lock him down sooner. But nonetheless a fantastic manager for us and I think if he had navigated January and seen out the season he’d be at the wheel of a very good championship proposition in yellow rather than red. Even if we’d only got play offs, I wouldn’t want to play Manning over two legs. But he’s gone and a stumble was always likely in my eyes, but we really do need to see what Des is made of now.

 

[uptheus]

He needs a decent run in the team

And he’s got to want to play and work as a team player

 

[Jster]

Yes, we're stumbling, but can hardly blame a manager who has barely had time to stamp his mark at all. Fans are so impatient these days. Give him a bit of time.

 

[uptheus]

Did we at any point under Manning this season have a run of three league games where we didn’t win a game or score a goal?

Did we at any point in his tenure here?

Was he here for 3 games?

 

[uptheus]

If we lose to reading I’m gonna think Des is a very bad appointment. I’m really not sold on his demeanour. If you can’t get a positive bounce from second place then the dream is not gonna happpen

I just think injuries to key players and not having a natural striker is having an impact. Teams had sussed us out re; Leigh, so once this was nullified and Edwards got injured we look half the team we were. Edwards made a difference in the first half against Bolton, but once he went off our performance dropped off.

We need to offload players like Henry, O’Donkor, Perkins (he he’s no good), Browne etc and replace them with Edwards type players (hopefully injury free). The depth in the squad has been found wanting in these last few weeks.

And what is it with hamstring injuries. Something must be wrong with the training/stretching routines.