Home Match Day Thread +++ 11/1/2020 OUFC V Rotherham United L1 +++

[MC Yellow]

We got beat by the better side today but the second half shows we still have the ability to get out of this division.

I'm excited for what the rest of the season holds.

Oddly, I’m not feeling down after today. 1st half was just a bad day at the office and a decent Rotherham side picked us off.

But based on that 2nd half I am looking forward to the second half of the season with excitement and optimism.

Had we been as clinical in the 2nd half as Rotherham were in the 1st , 3-3 wouldn’t have been unreasonable.

 

[Roge]

When they lined up before kick-off, I thought they looked tall. A little research shows 9 of their starting line up over 6 feet and three at 6 foot 4 inches! A tall, physical team who pressed us hard in the first half and my opinion out fought us. Still that meant nothing in the second half when we took the game too them and looked what we are, a great team. If we do manage to get promoted our style of play will be well suited to the Championship

Obviously disappointing, but all to play for. At this stage last season, the gap between first and twelve in League one was 22 points this year it is only 8!

 

[Lincoln.yellow1]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing however KR showed loyalty today to players which backfired, you have to pick your best team possible to win the game from the start, not trying to salvage something it it all goes wrong, if players are fit and ready to go you must play them.....
Mackie over Taylor........ NO
Moore over Mous........NO
Fosu over Browne or Holland....... Fosu been out of form for over a month........ NO
Long over ??????...... no competition for RB at present
Cam obviously not 100%........ other midfielders raring to go...
.
Get your money on the yellows scoring a goal in the first 20 minutes against Ipswich because the starting 11 on the pitch and KR will want to prove so much to put this performance to bed and get in front as early as possible. Tuesday now has the potential to one of those nights under lights at the Kassam... I also expect the starting line up to be more like the team that finished the game today with Mous also coming in.............!

 

[horseman]

i don't think it's a time to be picking out individuals but then we always get it when we lose a game of football, sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say we were outclassed by a far superior team on the day who did to us what we've done to other sides. Rather than say x y z were poor show some class and accept Rotherham were a better side and give them the credit they deserve just as fans of other clubs have done with us this season.

 

[jambon46]

I have to say tactically they were spot on and credit must go to Warne, in which I think they have a top coach in the making.
When we played them at their place I thought we matched them physically I haven't bothered to look back who was in our team that day, but I suspect mous was in the team which gives a bit more stability, I rather half a dozen sideways passes from him to control the game than give it away in the middle of the park as we did today.

Back on track Tuesday!

 

[silverox]

A bad day at the office today against a very good side. Great improvement in the second half, but once again, and what feels like forever OUR CORNERS ARE PATHETIC. Anyone can float a corner in (yes even me) but where are the Joey Beauchampesque driven corners with top spin. Even more, where is the near post flick on especially when you have the tallest man on the field in your side. It seems like that for so many years we never look like scoring, but the opposition always do. I live in hope!

 

[ljs]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing however KR showed loyalty today to players which backfired, you have to pick your best team possible to win the game from the start, not trying to salvage something it it all goes wrong, if players are fit and ready to go you must play them.....
Mackie over Taylor........ NO
Moore over Mous........NO
Fosu over Browne or Holland....... Fosu been out of form for over a month........ NO
Long over ??????...... no competition for RB at present
Cam obviously not 100%........ other midfielders raring to go...
.
Get your money on the yellows scoring a goal in the first 20 minutes against Ipswich because the starting 11 on the pitch and KR will want to prove so much to put this performance to bed and get in front as early as possible. Tuesday now has the potential to one of those nights under lights at the Kassam... I also expect the starting line up to be more like the team that finished the game today with Mous also coming in.............!

Thing is, it wasn't hindsight, as plenty thought Taylor should have been starting, and at least one, if not more, of the new lads.

KR sticking with previous players that have played well would have been sound.... Apart from the fact that they haven't been playing all that well in the last month.

 

[holdsteady]

I'm not so sure it showed weaknesses in our squad, just that we got it wrong today against a side who worked us out.

Eastwood was back maybe a week earlier than he would have liked, and in addition to Mous being out, it made our whole defence look nervous. But Moore has played well when in the team and I'm not sure Stevens would have been any better in goal.

Midfield was where we were caught out, but few would have changed Gorrin, Bran and Bap in the middle. Brannagan wasn't fit enough, but it was maybe worth a gamble. Gorrin got an early booking and that affected his normal game, and Baptiste was trying to do too much.

Then you look at the front three, and we know that Taylor, Browne and Holland were better but you can at least understand the reasoning for starting Mackie, Fosu and Sykes even if it didn't work.

We will play much better than that, and will win more than we lose. We beat Ipswich and Gillingham and we're right back in the mix for the autos.

I am struggling to see the reason for starting Mackie now to be honest, he is ineffectual and his best days are behind him, playing him over Taylor is starting to look strange, get the goal scoring threat on from the beginning rather than a player who is using “shithousery” to mask the fact that centre backs are not bothered by him.

 

[Anthomic]

KR is totally to blame for this defeat, My first thought when I saw the team on my way to the ground was "does he not want to win this game". Taylor one of our top scorers
on the bench and Mackie who I believe has scored twice this season up front. All the new players that he has made such a fuss about signing on the bench. As for Eastwood
who many on here say had a bad game I believe that he has had a bad season and has gone downhill since the start. We should have got rid and kept Archer.

 

[QR]

I am struggling to see the reason for starting Mackie now to be honest, he is ineffectual and his best days are behind him, playing him over Taylor is starting to look strange, get the goal scoring threat on from the beginning rather than a player who is using “shithousery” to mask the fact that centre backs are not bothered by him.

Totally agree. With his best days behind him his strength is when he comes on to help see out a win or try and turn a defeat /draw into a draw /win. We had no attacking option in the first half. Shows we desperately need cover for Taylor.... who himself could be recalled at any moment this month. We also missed KR in the dugout. #12thman

 

[OX14]

Did anyone else think the atmosphere was really poor today? I remember 5k crowds in the conference making more noise. Think the club really need to look at the overall match day experience. There is nothing to get the crowd going before the match, play some uplifting music and turn the volume up, we are not all in the south stand upper and in are retirement. We need a singing section preferably the east stand as half in the east stand half in North doesn't work at the wind tunnel. Someone have a word or give me the contact details to someone at the club,

 

[horseman]

KR is totally to blame for this defeat, My first thought when I saw the team on my way to the ground was "does he not want to win this game". Taylor one of our top scorers
on the bench and Mackie who I believe has scored twice this season up front. All the new players that he has made such a fuss about signing on the bench. As for Eastwood
who many on here say had a bad game I believe that he has had a bad season and has gone downhill since the start. We should have got rid and kept Archer.

i would virtual Guarantee that your preferred option would have been in exactly the same place for the 2nd goal

As for blaming KR, Had he of made those changes and we lost people would say why change a side that got us to where we are

We lost a game of football to a better side on the day and we lost as a team just aswe win as a team.

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Got to give Millers a lot of credit; they took us on in the engine room and won the battle. You can see why they gave a good account of themselves in Championship last season. They are big, strong and athletic. We are not the biggest team and also looked rather callow at times today, especially Baptiste. And what’s happened to Dickie?
Mous badly missed and Mackie sadly looked past it.
On the credit side, Sykes carries the ball excellently and links up with Long. Problems today came down our left where Fosu’s defensive work sadly lacking recently.
All the subs played well and Browne is quite the player. I agree with another poster that it’s his power that is impressive rather than his speed. One headed challenge in the middle of second half was particularly spring heeled.

Robinson outsmarted tactically today though and his touch line absence didn’t help did it?

 

[Robie]

Did anyone else think the atmosphere was really poor today? I remember 5k crowds in the conference making more noise. Think the club really need to look at the overall match day experience. There is nothing to get the crowd going before the match, play some uplifting music and turn the volume up, we are not all in the south stand upper and in are retirement. We need a singing section preferably the east stand as half in the east stand half in North doesn't work at the wind tunnel. Someone have a word or give me the contact details to someone at the club,

Are you serious?

Contact Us - Oxford United

www.oufc.co.uk

 

[OX14]

Are you serious?

Contact Us - Oxford United

www.oufc.co.uk

Yes first half I had to agree with Rotherham fans when they were singing this is a library. Second half obviously we started singing abit as we were playing better. Away games are completely different and we sing so many different songs and get behind the team but at home it's a bit lacklustre.

 

[Mellowyellow]

i would virtual Guarantee that your preferred option would have been in exactly the same place for the 2nd goal

As for blaming KR, Had he of made those changes and we lost people would say why change a side that got us to where we are

We lost a game of football to a better side on the day and we lost as a team just aswe win as a team.

We lost the game to a team who knew exactly how we were going to play. Warne's post match interview alluded to this. They aren't necessarily a better team than us. We beat them up there remember.

We beat ourselves, by KR worrying more about how Rotherham might play, rather than us playing to our strengths. If we had started the game with the side that finished it, adding in Mous and Kelly, I'm convinced we could have won it. Look at how more mobile we were in the second half, and the chances created. If Taylor's shot had gone in with 15 mins left, it might all have been different.

The one concern, that KR has said he is going to address after Gillingham, is the Left and Right Back position. Today neither Long or Rambo Ruffles had a good game. Why wait though when he has already said he has a umber of options lined up?

The three new guys, Mous and Taylor should start Tuesday hopefully. Hopefully Eastwood will be sharper, and Brannigan's situation is sorted.

 

[RgYellows]

When we played them at their place I thought we matched them physically I haven't bothered to look back who was in our team that day, but I suspect mous was in the team which gives a bit more stability

Moore and Mousinho, with Dickie not involved.

Out thought and out fought today, well beaten. I will try and find time to rewatch tomorrow.

 

[Hackney Jack]

New striker please KR. Can't rely solely on Taylor - we need another striker to help him out. WHat happens if Taylor gets suspended? Mackie, time to hang your boots up son.

 

[OX14]

There was a few instances in the first half that really bugged me, we was given a free kick in the middle of their half. Instead of waiting and bringing the big guns up and pumping the ball in their box we instead took a quick free kick and passed back to easty ultimately relieving any pressure every time. I get quick free kicks if going sideways or forwards but not going back to are goalkeeper.

 

[Thomas/Brock/Jones]

My take was that we came up against a well organised, physical team who , with the wind behind them knocked us out of stride, Brannagan not fit, gorrin early booking but the goals were all defendable but we failed to challenge/make correct decisions. The third was the killer but they didn't create anything apart from the goals.....go in 2 down we had a real chance....even 3 down had as many shots as they had. Team selection quesionable but excited by our wingers ....win Tuesday and this forgotten