Away Match Day Thread 12/12/2023 L1: Reading v OUFC

[Bath Yellow]

84. First game.
Headington United v Chelmsford City,
Southern League ( Now Conference ) Won 2-0.
Boxing Day 1949. 75yrs ago

The last 6 games v Reading:

W: 1
L: 6

07 Nov 1999	Reading v Oxford United	W	1-2	League Division 2
07 Mar 2000	Oxford United v Reading	L	1-3	League Division 2
28 Oct 2000	Reading v Oxford United	L	4-3	League Division 2
17 Apr 2001	Oxford United v Reading	L	0-2	League Division 2
24 Sep 2003	Oxford United v Reading	L	1-3	League Cup
25 Aug 2004	Oxford United v Reading	L	0-2	League Cup

 

[Sarge]

What world do we live in where a manager gets judged after less than half a dozen games with only one of his own signings?

It's easy to say a manager is the wrong one given pretty much EVERY manager gets sacked eventually. Even when you're wrong for a while eventually you'll be right, so it's not big or clever to say 'I told you so' - even less so this soon.

His first signing looks more than decent to me- I wouldn't mind Bennett getting a contract till the end of the season . He's a decent defender- links well with Murphy, and takes a good FK too

 

[Deanroger]

I’m yet to be convinced by Des but we are 2 points off second. I’m pretty sure we all would have taken that at the start of the season.

Things can turn quickly, we just need to stay within touching distance into January. Then we can sign a striker or two and get the injured players back.

Maybe, but we have thrown away a really good automatic promotion position.

 

[ECYellow]

Any shoots of hope? I’ll take anything realistic

 

[Made-in-Jericho]

We scored.

 

[Eric Blair]

That's nonsense. Say what you want about structure or tactics, but there was no lack of desire from that team tonight.

Agreed - they all put a shift in

 

[unification]

Disappointing. Reading were garbage and we should have had created more.

We don’t create anything of note. A Murphy turn and shot and something similar for Bodin. Reading created some chances that actually tested Beadle. Button had nothing to do.

Atmosphere went very flat. Also it was typical dickhead’s day out. Some doing coke in the toilets. Grow up.

 

[Jster]

We haven't thrown anything away. We are very much up there still. Bad spells happen in a season, but we've previously made the playoffs from far worse positions at this point.

 

[Swaby39]

Unlucky?! We had 1 shot on goal.

We had 9, the same amount we had at home vs Exeter where we won 3-0 having hardly had a kick of the ball.

Need to do better, but we also need our match winners back and more of them around the squad. We really are labouring this too much considering what’s missing and how important they are to scoring the goals that win you games. Do you honestly think the result is the same tonight if we have Edwards, Browne, Rodrigues and Leigh available? That’s all our pace and power sidelined. We’re lucky Murphy has reared his head when he has but that’s all Des really has to win him games… he’s hardly got all the tools to make a fair judgement.

One thing I will say is he got the defence wrong again today. Hopefully the second half makes the decision easier for him on Saturday.

 

[werthersoriginal]

I'm just confused as to what Des is trying to do. Going to give him the benefit of the doubt due to injuries. But I genuinely can't tell what the game plan is or what style he is trying to implement.

Passing it sideways around the back?

I don’t understand the slow passing at the back, they seem to be doing it for the sake of it rather than actively probing for gaps. Maybe Des feels that ‘bright young coaches’ have to play that way. But we’d look a lot different with a strong striker and maybe an extra midfielder. We’re really well placed for the second half of the season and some of the wailing on here is ridiculous.

 

[pommy80]

It’s a long season. Unfortunately we couldn’t keep relying on our defenders winning us games.

Huge few weeks before the window opens. Just need to get that next league win to increase the confidence again.

 

[Leysboy]

no you wouldn't, You wouldn't win the Orkney island reserve league

Hi Des

 

[unification]

We had 9, the same amount we had at home vs Exeter where we won 3-0 having hardly had a kick of the ball.

Need to do better, but we also need our match winners back and more of them around the squad. We really are labouring this too much considering what’s missing and how important they are to scoring the goals that win you games. Do you honestly think the result is the same tonight if we have Edwards, Browne, Rodrigues and Leigh available? That’s all our pace and power sidelined. We’re lucky Murphy has reared his head when he has but that’s all Des really has to win him games… he’s hardly got all the tools to make a fair judgement.

One thing I will say is he got the defence wrong again today. Hopefully the second half makes the decision easier for him on Saturday.

If Bennett can play a full 90, he’s our LB until Leigh is back.

The defence of Stevens - Moore - Brown - Bennett was so much better than having Brown at LB. Far more dynamic and balanced.

 

[bashamwonderland]

Disappointing. Reading were garbage and we should have had created more.

We don’t create anything of note. A Murphy turn and shot and something similar for Bodin. Reading created some chances that actually tested Beadle. Button had nothing to do.

Atmosphere went very flat. Also it was typical dickhead’s day out. Some doing coke in the toilets. Grow up.

Who does coke on a Tuesday night lol.

 

[Deanroger]

We had 9, the same amount we had at home vs Exeter where we won 3-0 having hardly had a kick of the ball.

Need to do better, but we also need our match winners back and more of them around the squad. We really are labouring this too much considering what’s missing and how important they are to scoring the goals that win you games. Do you honestly think the result is the same tonight if we have Edwards, Browne, Rodrigues and Leigh available? That’s all our pace and power sidelined. We’re lucky Murphy has reared his head when he has but that’s all Des really has to win him games… he’s hardly got all the tools to make a fair judgement.

One thing I will say is he got the defence wrong again today. Hopefully the second half makes the decision easier for him on Saturday.

How many league games has Murphy won us? 4 assists and 0 goals in 33 appearances.

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

How many league games has Murphy won us? 4 assists and 0 goals in 33 appearances.

How many games has he been voted MOTM on here in, say, the last 5?

 

[Deanroger]

How many games has he been voted MOTM on here in, say, the last 5?

Explains why we have got hardly any points from them then.

 

[Deanroger]

How many games has he been voted MOTM on here in, say, the last 5?

Explains why we have got hardly any points from them the

Explains why we have got hardly any points from them then.

There are classy players that catch the eye and there are effective players that make and score goals.

 

[OX14]

How many games has he been voted MOTM on here in, say, the last 5?

Let's be honest apart from Beadle and Murphy the rest of the squad have been way underperforming the last 6 games. Questions need to be asked why that is the case.

 

[JayOx88]

It feels like our start to the season has set unrealistic expectations of this team. It's always been a work in progress - at our best we're absolutely capable of making the play-offs, but it's easy to get dizzy about a team in those optimistic late summer days when the sun shines, the pitches are perfect, and all the players are fresh. We've always lacked the real depth to guarantee a challenge and were always susceptible to hitting a rocky patch if we picked up injuries and suspensions and that's how it's panning out - the winter months were always going to be the real test of our promotion mettle and it feels that now we're seeing a realistic portrayal of the team's ceiling, as it stands.

The polar opposites of how we ended last season and started this season made it easy to park KR's shambolic kamikaze job as a distant memory, but the embers of his friendly arson job are still floating around the squad and Manning didn't fan them all out - most rational fans said it would take at least 2 windows to sort this squad into something resembling a promotion contender and that hasn't changed.

There was certainly no lack of effort tonight. It's absolutely crazy to see people trying to write Des off when he's only just arrived and hasn't really had his best team available to him. It's also not his team, and he's come in at a time when performances were just starting to slip as the squad was stretched... We're still in a good position and let's wait and see what he's got up in his sleeve in January. I'm sure the first few games have left him under no illusions about where we need to improve and he deserves to at least be allowed one window to give people an idea of how he wants to shape his team at least!

Finally, kudos to Josh Murphy - delighted to see him start showing the talent we all thought we were getting. Really impressed with not just how sharp he looked but how hard he worked - with a confident striker on the end of his work it may have been a different result.

 

[chromeyellow]

been looking through @Deanroger's posts. Has he ever made a positive post about OUFC on here? i f anyone finds one please share it and I will make a donation to the helen house appeal