16/08/22 - L1: OUFC v Lincoln City

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I think what makes the start of this season so frustrating is we really weren't that far away last season (nor the previous two before that). Almost to a man every fan could see we needed 2 new full backs, more muscle in midfield, more pace out wide, and a different style of striker as support/competition for Matty Taylor. We've arguably achieved one of those with the signing of Joseph... but the rest haven't been addressed. We've got a worse squad than we had last season. We've gone backwards. So frustrating.
This is the thing, he hasn't been too far away in that there are just a couple of weak points to fix. When it happens once you can think he'll learn from it, when it happens every season the you know he never will. To have a crap start every year is unacceptable, people bang on about the stability of having a long term manager but that should mean that you get off to a smooth start and have an advantage on other teams. We've got the same manager and basically the same first 11 as last season and we've dropped 6 points to Bristol Rovers and Lincoln, does anyone really see them finishing in the top half when all is said and done.

On the plus side I didn't realise you could see who voted for who for man of the match, meaning anyone who didn't say McGuane can have their opinions taken with a pinch of salt! Head and shoulders the best player on the pitch, again. I haven't checked but I see someone has voted for Findlay, I always find it interesting how people can watch the same game and have such different opinions, I'm sure there's a player there but I'm yet to see it. Does quite well winning first contact but seems slow, not as dominant as I hoped and really poor on the ball. I think he'll improve but it's been an underwhelming start from him (didn't see the Derby game where he was apparently excellent prior to his mistake for the goal).

On to Morecambe, if we don't win that then the knives will really be out for KR.
 
Paul, I actually think we played better tonight compared to the other performances. May be your initial judgement is based on the expectancy that we would beat Lincoln at home, and obviously the end result.
Really? My first live game of the season and it was dreadful.

I think though that we should distinguish between players who are bad and players who are playing badly. Most of ours were in the latter category.
 
Really? My first live game of the season and it was dreadful.

I think though that we should distinguish between players who are bad and players who are playing badly. Most of ours were in the latter category.
Kind of get your point, but how long to players have to play badly before they are considered to be just poor players...especially when the system/formation/pressure doesn't suit them.

I do think we have some talented players BUT would suggest there's a reason why some of those talented players are in LG1 - great on their day and when they play in a certain style and a certain way with the right players around them, but like fish out of water when something changes or it starts going Pete Tong.
 
Poor first half, I thought after Bristol away in that heat, there would be an improvement tonight, but no. Second half better. KR needs to sort this out or we are down. Unless the board sack him if Kr doesn’t turn things around by October. Tyler and McGuane were excellent tonight. Matty Taylor is ineffective all on his own and or playing wide. Browne our injured yet another injured player in the squad, yet again costing us. Did I hear on radox that Kr is bringing some more players?. Must win on Saturday against morecombe. COYY
 
How many meaningful saves did the Lincoln keeper make?

Long was at fault for both goals

MM looks good in that defensive role because he has so much more time in there. Get a bloody imposing holding midfielder in and get McGuane higher up the pitch with CB.

Taylor was isolated, again!

I’m sorry but Robinson is losing it. Been the better team in every game/dominated first half tonight/injuries to those injured are just unlucky.

All of the above is utter crap and if he thinks the supporters are just going to accept that ‘it’s football’ then he must be an ostrich.

This is Robinson’s squad.

- Robinson recruited Jones, who’s played next to no football for 3 years and is yet to be trusted to start a game.
- Robinson signed Baldock, despite knowing his injury record over a long period of time.
- Robinson signed Browne, who he knew had chronic knee injuries previously.
- Robinson signed Murphy who managed 10 (TEN!) games last season.

We’ve got no competition for a full back in Long, who has had one outstanding season at this level. Beyond that, he’s been bang average and in fairness to him, he’s probably playing to his natural level right now.

Seddon (who I thought was ok tonight) was recruited by Robinson, before being unceremoniously dropped by him last season, only to then get the nod again this season! He’s not good enough.

The excuses must stop.

According to Scotchegg, both Browne and Baldock weren’t injury risks at all, despite me pointing out their career stats that suggest they’re good for around 18-20 games a season tops. I couldn’t have predicted the injuries to the rest but injuries to Browne and Baldock are as predictable as night and day.
 
Why should it be that every time Findlay got the ball, my nerves jangled? Why every time the ball went back to Eastwood was it then hoofed forward with little direction or purpose?
Why do we play Taylor as a lone forward?

Why does Robinson talk so much B*****s?

At least Nathan attempted to ask some more serious questions this evening, was never going to get a straight or even comprehensible answer, but it made a change.
Absolutely right with Findlay. That triangle passing of Eastwood, Findlay and Moore had me bricking it every time. They’re all too slow on the turnover and kept playing each other into trouble. Findlay was clearly targeted by Lincoln on the close down so they were well aware of his weak points, shame Karl wasn’t.
 
Poor first half, I thought after Bristol away in that heat, there would be an improvement tonight, but no. Second half better. KR needs to sort this out or we are down. Unless the board sack him if Kr doesn’t turn things around by October. Tyler and McGuane were excellent tonight. Matty Taylor is ineffective all on his own and or playing wide. Browne our injured yet another injured player in the squad, yet again costing us. Did I hear on radox that Kr is bringing some more players?. Must win on Saturday against morecombe. COYY
He did say that yes, not sure if he mentioned when or what positions. He also mentioned what bad luck we have with injuries, which I agree with. I'm quite sure there's no way at all anyone could have foreseen Browne getting injured from something innocuous looking, Baldock breaking down, Jones not being trusted to play many minutes yet or Murphy needing to get an injury treated that he had when he signed. If only there had been some sort of warning in their history. Such rotten luck.
 
Having watched the Oxford v Lincoln game tonight and then listened to KR on Rad Ox on the way home, could anyone tell me what game he was at?

Wish I’d been there!
 
The stats, bar the goals, back up Robinsons view.

You can pass the ball sideways and backwards as much as you want but that won't win you the game. Lincoln were bang average the same as Rovers but we let them win. I find it very surprising fans saying we're too good to go down when on the 4 games we've played do far we've looked like relegation candidates.
 
Kyle Joseph and Ciaron Brown simply HAVE to start the next game. Surely…
I’d also say Smyth needs to be in the squad.

McGuane plays well, but lacks forward passing/defence breaking balls and slows things down at times! Not our biggest issue by far, but something’s lacking in the middle, it’s all so predictable.

I think Bodin would be more effective in behind Taylor, but having said that I think he’s been pretty ineffective this season so far!

If Browne’s out then we’re going to lack pace/wingers which is unbelievable when you consider Robinson loves a winger!!

And why oh why do we not put the ball in the box the first time we get the opportunity. This makes it harder for the striker to judge when to make the move as they have to readjust themselves if it goes back etc. The ball was laid back to Henry who had a great opportunity to cross the ball, but he slowed it down and passed it back to McGuane who then miss-kicked it along the floor straight to their defender, just get the bloody thing in, especially when you’re 2-0 down at home.
 
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Haven’t read back the thread yet so may be repeating things that have already been said but what a frustrating night. First half was so unacceptable and second half, whilst much better, should have been about controlling the game rather than chasing it.

Eastwood - 5.5 - Kicking in the first half was much improved from Saturday, then second half back to his standard. Could he have done better for their 2nd? From the north stand it looked like he was out of position in goal. Still a good finish though.

Long - 4 - Most of Lincoln’s good player came from his side, poor mistake for the 2nd goal. Kept going but lacking a lot of quality, hopefully we can get a right back in before too long.

Moore - 5.5 - Played quite passively tonight, I much prefer when he steps forward and asserts himself, he’s good on the ball for his height. Maybe knows he can’t step out as hasn’t got pace next to him to cover him?

Findlay - 6 - Defensively our best player tonight but still has scary moments on the ball, hopefully in time it’ll come good but not sure if you can make a no nonsense centre half into a ball player.

Seddon - 4 - Poor, again. Silly yellow to give away even though it was a lucky bounce off the corner flag, i actually thought the first 10 he looked a lot better and was contributing to our attacks but it didn’t last. Like Long, improvement needed there (Brown)

Mcguane - 8 - Rolls royce in the midfield, he’s f*****g class and has an amazing engine. Loving him in the CDM role, we just need to find the right balance elsewhere.

Brannagan - 5 - Cool penalty given the wait for it but general play was poor, outfought and out battled in the centre. Appreciate he did try and push us forward second half

Bate - 4 - I called for him to start tonight but was quite disappointed. Looked a boy playing a man’s game. Clearly has the ability on the ball but it’s getting it which is the problem, not gonna win any 50/50s is he, quite slow too I thought.

Browne - 6 - Drifted in and out but obvious is his quality, tries to make things happen. Really really hope his injury isn’t bad, would be bloody heartbreaking for him if it’s another long term one.

Taylor - 6.5 - More involved than Saturday and showed some nice touches and hold up play, once again providing the best cross of the match. Must be so frustrated up there at times.

Bodin - 4 - I was completely bewildered why he started and we were much better after he was subbed off. Work rate is off and he’s weak as P**s, can see why he was re-signed but he’s been way off it so far.


SUBS

Henry - 6 - Should have started the match, took him a while to get involved but his link up play towards the end was good, surely starts on Saturday.

Joseph - 6.5 - He reminds me of Mackie in his running style and attitude but do wonder about his quality on the ball and general striker instinct, he does bring something different though. Won the penalty

Goodrham - 6 - Definitely got something about him but not sure if he’s ready to start for us yet, had a couple of nice touches and runs winning us corners.

Brown - 7 - Such a relief to have him on the left, surprisingly handy with his feet and his throw ins are pretty good too. Like Henry, surely he starts on Saturday.


KR - 4 - Very odd decision to start with Bodin and Seddon IMO, and also to not change it straight away at half time was rather baffling. Appreciate he did make the changes quite early on but would be nice to be more aggressive. Appreciate he couldn’t do much else to change our fortunes, just one of those nights where nothing was dropping for us.

Ref - 4 - Couldn’t get much worse than the one on Saturday but still very below average, missed a lot of kick outs, pulls from Lincoln players and should have booked a few of their players a lot earlier. Probably a fair amount of injury time added in truth

Overall a disappointing night which no doubt with the injuries and performances of some will force us into the transfer market sooner rather than later. Hopefully we can learn from this and take heart from the fact the 2nd half was a big improvement, but we shouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place.
 
Really? My first live game of the season and it was dreadful.

I think though that we should distinguish between players who are bad and players who are playing badly. Most of ours were in the latter category.
You don’t know what you’ve missed!
 
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Am I the only one not at all convinced by the Moore/Findlay partnership?
Both good enough players individually but a completely different dynamic to the two previous CB partners Moore has had.

CamBran yet to spark and looks almost permanently frustrated because so little around him is working well either. Taylor also a shadow currently...and James Henry looks like he is mostly just chasing shadows...as he was for a good part of last season imho.

Bate would be fine IF he had his ability with about 5 seasons of lower league football to back it up.

McGuane is a different class and the Browne injury is extremely worrying when you consider just how few clear attacking outlets we have.

It's a bit of a shitshow isn't it....
I haven’t seen enough of Findlay to explain the we’ve been after him for 2/3 years comment
 
But will McGuane be with us by the end of the season l? Cam probably will be out of loyalty but next season? That is another question.
I said to my son we’ll be lucky to keep McGuane past January. My son replied that the way he’s started we’d be lucky to keep him past this August window…..Now that would be a killer.
 
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