Away Match Day Thread +++ 13/02/18 ROTHERHAM V OUFC MATCH DAY THREAD +++

[yellowbow]

The longer it goes without bringing a new manager in, the danger is that we’ll get sucked closer to the drop zone and so the the calibre of candidate will drop. The sooner they come in, the more chance they’ll have of turning things round

 

[OxfordBoy]

2 man city loaniees were dire, Ruffels hasn’t offered anything in a long time, Mousinho poor again

Napa final ball not there but he was direct and tried, he has to start next game

Dickie lookef good defensively but not passing

 

[eraser]

When does the window close....Oh....Only 7 points from the drop, not to worry.

Looking at the numbers - Shrews, Wigan and Blackburn will finish top 3 but who knows what order.
Rotherham and Scunthorpe will make the playoffs
After that any one of seven could take 6th place. Oxford are out of the running bar a massive winning run.
At the bottom based on PPG Bury, Rochdale and MKD will go
I think Oldham, Northampton or Winbledon will fill the final spot.

 

[battman]

Have we ever signed a player before who has left without actually playing a game?

Quite a few if you count players who were in the match day squad. Eastwood didn't play a single time in his first spell here, and Shwan Jalal & Jon Henly were sub goalie options in the 2013/14 season who never played a single game between them.

 

[eraser]

2 man city loaniees were dire, Ruffels hasn’t offered anything in a long time, Mousinho poor again

Napa final ball not there but he was direct and tried, he has to start next game

Dickie lookef good defensively but not passing

So what would you do? You can't get new players - you want to bin most of the current team. If you're going to criticise then make it constructive and offer an alternative! It really annoys me when people sledge players when we lose but think they're hereoes when they lucke a win - which is what we've done all season

 

[OxfordBoy]

Quite a few if you count players who were in the match day squad. Eastwood didn't play a single time in his first spell here, and Shwan Jalal & Jon Henly were sub goalie options in the 2013/14 season who never played a single game between them.

I think Eastwood and Jalal both played in cups

 

[OxfordBoy]

So what would you do? You can't get new players - you want to bin most of the current team. If you're going to criticise then make it constructive and offer an alternative! It really annoys me when people sledge players when we lose but think they're hereoes when they lucke a win - which is what we've done all season

Well start Ricardinho, Napa and Carrol is who i’d change them for, we do have options

And if you can’t understand why i’d criticise players after yet another loss then thats your problem

EDIT: And Martin in for Mous

 

[captainox]

Fullbacks too narrow
4-2-3-1 with that personnel doesn't work
Final ball is horrendous
For too much playing 5yard passes to a man under pressure

More in the morning.

 

[malcolmsmoustache]

Ruffels needs to be dropped surely. When was the last time I he had a decent game? Not really sure what his game is, he doesn’t break up the play or get assists. Granted he had a purple patch at the start of the season when h scored a few but he has been poor since then.
So easy for teams to get at our back four with him and Ledson in there.

When was the last time Ruffels had a good game?Charlton. Ten days ago.......

 

[lerekdilley]

Reading some of the posts above regarding the midfield has hit the nail on the head for me. I’ve been saying this amongst friends for a while. It’s too lightweight and lacks quality and is often dominated by teams only playing 2 in the centre. Ledson offers a bit of steel in there but is far too inconsistent, as is most of our squad, and seems to have been given the Lundstram role which doesn’t suit him.

Unlike last year I don’t recall us dominating many games this season, apart from early on but even then then most were one half performances. I don’t buy into this attractive football myth, I don’t feel we play any more attractive football than the majority of other teams in this league. We had a good spell of playing attractive football under Mapp but this didn’t continue under Pep. It’s clear we don’t have the players anymore to play this way. The team is lacking quality and character. What I’d give now to have Nelson, Dunkley, Maguire, Baldock, Lunny, Johnson and Sercs back!!

 

[eraser]

Well start Ricardinho, Napa and Carrol is who i’d change them for, we do have options

And if you can’t understand why i’d criticise players after yet another loss then thats your problem

EDIT: And Martin in for Mous

I'm not getting shirty with you. Just asking for fans to make constructive, not destructive, criticism. I'd start Ricct left midfield tomorrow. IMO he should have always played there. So what do you think Carroll can offer and where? Napa was good in a false 9 at Charlton but how would you use him? Just be a football manager and quantify your opinions. Nothing personal..

 

[OxfordBoy]

I'm not getting shirty with you. Just asking for fans to make constructive, not destructive, criticism. I'd start Ricct left midfield tomorrow. IMO he should have always played there. So what do you think Carroll can offer and where? Napa was good in a false 9 at Charlton but how would you use him? Just be a football manager and quantify your opinions. Nothing personal..

Carrol to replace Ruffels in central mid, this one I can understand why it’s unlikely but just showing the option is there

Napa and Ricardinho as straight swaps for the city lads

Apologies if I got a bit short with you, been a long, disappointing day

 

[Deleted member 222]

Without seeing a game for a long time I wouldn’t start Ricci at left mid but left back. I’d play 4411 with the following;
Eastwood
Ricci, Mous, dickie, Kane
IBR, ledson, Ruffs, Napa
Rothwell
Thomas

We badly need Hall and Nels back plus Brannagan to replace ruffs.

 

[Upthecowboys]

If we were to repeat that level of performance for the rest of the season then we will be in serious trouble. We can only hope whether it is Faz or someone else in charge, that they can start rectifying some of our basic problems. Clotet has a lot to answer for because we are relying on young loans signings to get us out of this because the majority of players that came in on his watch have been no where near good enough.

We were lucky to come in 2-1 at half time. Rotherham dominated possessions and chances. I felt Eastwood should have done better for the first goal, but he made up for it with a brilliant save from a header. We then got back in to it late on with an excellent goal out of no-where. 2-1 at half time was a good position to be in, but a combination of poor defending / poor game management almost gifted them a 3rd just before the break.

Early on in the 2nd half I thought we had a chance of nicking a 2nd, unfortunately we didn't and their 3rd killed the game off.

In terms of individual performances I thought Dickie did OK tonight, and played better than Mousinho. Overall I wasn't that impressed with the loanees and thought that Napa offered at least as much when he came on. If anyone thinks Mehmeti is the answer then you are deluded. Too many pointless flicks and not strong enough to hold the ball up. I wouldn't blame Thomas for feeling a bit narked off playing up top on his own, can only remember 1 time when someone gambled on him winning a flick on and it created a chance. He was too isolated and had no supply line.

We lost the battle in midfield, struggled to get our attacking players in the game particularly in the first half, made too many individual mistakes, lacked game management and just looked a little soft all over the pitch.

Surely we need to start setting up so we are hard to beat, and can we be a bit nastier please? Rotherham had a very easy ride tonight.

 

[eraser]

Carrol to replace Ruffels in central mid, this one I can understand why it’s unlikely but just showing the option is there

Napa and Ricardinho as straight swaps for the city lads

Apologies if I got a bit short with you, been a long, disappointing day

No problem - that;s what passion for the game does...that's why it's the beautiful game until VAR destroys the talking points for the benefit of rich Premier League businesses...
I don't see anywhere for Carroll at the moment - potential to be good but just being "one of our own" isn't the right philosophy at L1 level.
Don't rate Riccy at LB - he has the potential and Brazilian trickery to cause any RB problems - in an overlap with ASB could be lethal - but only my opinion.
I like Napa as I think he can cause central defenders problems - he makes intelligent runs drawing centre halves out of position which makes space for others. Don't see him as a winger per se. Until Hall is fit I'd stick with IBR down the flank.

 

[makv]

good to hear the fans singing hats off to all of them.

I don’t know that one?

 

[Lincoln.yellow1]

Been back home from the game for an hour or so and feel dejected with almost everything to do with our club, a small minority of idiotic supporters who started disrespecting the players who were soon put in their place, 360 yellows that seemed to be there just to make the numbers up rather than trying to raise the players spirits and a team on the pitch that were waiting for things to happen rather than forcing the game and making things happen.....
If you don’t change anything, nothing will change.....
Chasing the game is not our strong point, we are a team that believes, thinks, and are probably told that they are better than they really are...
We obviously start games thinking we can win the match by just tuning up, things don’t happen that way..
Are we too nice, do we give too much respect to the opposition....!
It’s time we changed our mentality and start playing as underdogs and the only way we CAN win games is by being ugly, committed to the tackle and launch the ball into the opposition penalty area, forget the tippy tappy, side to side pretty football that seems to get us nowhere, just put the ball in the box and let the opposing teams defenders worry about clearing it and pick up the 2nd balls.....
We are going nowhere with the current mentality.....
The last five away games I have witness as follows -
* Bradford - could and should have lost 7 or 8 - 1, yes we were that poor, Simon Eastwood kept the score down...
* Walsall - 2-0 down before we started playing, poor finishing let us down to either get the draw or snatch the win, however Walsall are a poor side who will probably only just stay in this league this season.....
* Chelsea U21’s - Again showed too much respect to a bunch of kids and in the blink of an eye the game was over before the 20 minute mark, a very lack lustre performance.
* Charlton Athletic - stalemate in the first 45 minutes and a 2nd half that will live long in the minds of the 1400 or so yellows witnessing one of our best comebacks in recent history, THE HOPE AND THE BELIEF WAS BACK....
* Tonight, Rotherham - 11 individuals wearing the yellow shirt who couldn’t really string two passes together, again, 2-0 down before we knew it, a spot of brilliance to half the arrears then switching off again as the 2nd half starts and game was over long before the final whistle....
What we need is the season to end now, rebuild the team and set our stall out, which is, staving off relegation, cementing a mid table position, aiming for the playoffs or striving for automatic promotion, at present we haven’t got a clue at which target we are alluding to.......
Onwards and upwards, COME ON YOU YELLOWS........

 

[Salaghaf]

Carrol to replace Ruffels in central mid, this one I can understand why it’s unlikely but just showing the option is there

Napa and Ricardinho as straight swaps for the city lads

Apologies if I got a bit short with you, been a long, disappointing day

Agree with Napa and Ricardinho straight swaps, but are we obliged to play the City players? Is there a "must play " term in their loan agreement? I really hope not, as both were quite poor today, and far too physically weak.

 

[jambon46]

Hmm. Outclassed on the night. Dickie was OK but no better than Martin. The first two goals came on our left. ASB just isn't better than Ricci. IBR & Napa did OK but the formation just isn't right. And it was hellish cold. A*se.

Thought he was poor again, often out of position and lacked any offensive desire. as you say he's no better than Riccy, who at least can offer an assist here and there. Mous works hard in defence and wins a lot of balls but it's just what he does after he's won them worries me! Other than that I thought Henry worked hard from start to finish.

 

[TailsWeWin]

Yet again we invited pressure by passing/heading balls out of defence which were picked up by their midfield in 4 out of 5 cases. I actually think we played better than we did against Bristol Rovers but Rotherham showed the value of a pacy attack who can break with speed. We don’t have an attack; there was little threat from our wide men and none from Thomas.
The midfield needs strengthening with fast, energetic runners and a centre mid who can control/pause/ pass. We still get bullied.
I thought Rotherham were one of the best teams we have played this year. 3-1 was a let-off - it could have been 5 or 6. Two close range misses and numerous balls fizzed across the box inviting a tap-in. I hold out no hope for the Plymouth game: another in-form team licking their lips at a trip to Grenoble Road.