Away Match Day Thread 16/09/2023 L1: Fleetwood v OUFC

[Northstandboy]

It’s felt like ages since that loss to Port Vale.

Fleetwood seem to be a bogey team and with the suspensions (Harris and Leigh) and international player injuries (Brown and Goodrham), it’s going to be tough!

 

[RgYellows]

Impressive yesterday, weren’t we? A very comfortable win in the end and it’s been too long since we made games look routine. Spectacular goals and hardly a mistake to speak of.

The two wide men were the difference. Edwards showing everybody what Browne doesn’t do enough and Mills shows more with every game. The fact they were so productive meant the return to our static uninventive full backs was largely irrelevant.

Rodrigues still finding his feet. He attempted a really nice trick in the second half which, on another day, makes the showboat on Soccer AM (if it were still running). He needs a couple of things like that to come off but I really like him for so many reasons. It’s going to click for him and while we’re getting results, there’s no need for panic.

Brannagan and McGuane look imperious. I still don’t particularly like Thorniley - anyone else? Going right back to his loan spell, I just don’t see it. Far rather Negru in there.

Beadle was quiet but just looks a super keeper. His mental approach to want to come off his line and take pressure off defenders at 18/19 is fantastic.

When do we start talking about Billy Bodin’s contract situation? In my mind he’s very underrated by many, injuries seem to be behind him, versatile and still only 31. Knows the championship. Wouldn’t mind seeing him extend in the near future.

Harsh for me.

I saw Long get forwards, overlap and put crosses in - particularly during the first half.

Even for the first goal, he gives the ball to Mills and then takes a defender away with his run, means Mills only has one man to beat with his cut inside.

We might argue that his crosses didn’t amount to much, but no one’s did - we didn’t have anyone who looked like a striker, so the full backs were on a hiding to nothing in that regard.

 

[m]

Impressive yesterday, weren’t we? A very comfortable win in the end and it’s been too long since we made games look routine. Spectacular goals and hardly a mistake to speak of.

The two wide men were the difference. Edwards showing everybody what Browne doesn’t do enough and Mills shows more with every game. The fact they were so productive meant the return to our static uninventive full backs was largely irrelevant.

Rodrigues still finding his feet. He attempted a really nice trick in the second half which, on another day, makes the showboat on Soccer AM (if it were still running). He needs a couple of things like that to come off but I really like him for so many reasons. It’s going to click for him and while we’re getting results, there’s no need for panic.

Brannagan and McGuane look imperious. I still don’t particularly like Thorniley - anyone else? Going right back to his loan spell, I just don’t see it. Far rather Negru in there.

Beadle was quiet but just looks a super keeper. His mental approach to want to come off his line and take pressure off defenders at 18/19 is fantastic.

When do we start talking about Billy Bodin’s contract situation? In my mind he’s very underrated by many, injuries seem to be behind him, versatile and still only 31. Knows the championship. Wouldn’t mind seeing him extend in the near future.

Hmm. It was always the case that our fullbacks could have added a different attacking dimension.

But it is amazing(!) what a difference it makes when our forwards do what they're actually paid to do!!

 

[Swaby39]

Harsh for me.

I saw Long get forwards, overlap and put crosses in - particularly during the first half.

Even for the first goal, he gives the ball to Mills and then takes a defender away with his run, means Mills only has one man to beat with his cut inside.

We might argue that his crosses didn’t amount to much, but no one’s did - we didn’t have anyone who looked like a striker, so the full backs were on a hiding to nothing in that regard.

It might be harsh if we were a team at Fleetwood’s level or aiming for similar things. But it’s quite evident now that we’re having a go in the purest sense. So I’m measuring everybody against the level of our ambition and assuming the standard at full back is (if not already) soon going be higher than a couple of over hit crosses.

We’re at risk of covering old ground with this which wasn’t my intention - it was really a compliment that we played so well without more creative players there. I think it’s obvious Leigh will play when available and Stevens is still in the process of being integrated but before the international break he really started to show up. They have the look of promotion material full backs more than the two we deployed yesterday, I don’t think that’s unfair to say.

 

[Nadi-]

The back 4 was set up not to concede.
Having confidence to give it to one’s, who can cause havoc further forward.
With Bodin not working the channels like Harris would look to do, Edwards particularly had space to exploit from Browns clipped balls. Brannagan looking to do the same with cross field balls both sides.
We are set up as a side, who will cause all teams problems away from home. Can’t lose if you don’t concede.
Just need to be more ruthless and better disciplined at home,

 

[Scotchegg]

Our "static, univentive" fullbacks did what they are paid to do. They defended and kept a clean sheet. And by doing this they gave Edwards and Mills the freedom to play the way they did upfront.

Ask Liam Manning about the performances of Long and Brown and he'll be completely made up as they played as he wanted them too. There will be games where we'll set up differently but yesterday was very much about keeping a clean sheet and building from there. Our strength at the back completely nullified Fleetwoods attack and allowed us to control the game going forward. It was a very good TEAM performance and its bordering on the pathetic to keep singling out individuals for completely unnecessary criticism.

 

[MiddleBartonYellow]

He's 6ft 2 to be fair, not that small!

His wiki page says he is 6’2, it’s clearly wrong. I reckon he was 5’9.

 

[Swaby39]

Our "static, univentive" fullbacks did what they are paid to do. They defended and kept a clean sheet. And by doing this they gave Edwards and Mills the freedom to play the way they did upfront.

Ask Liam Manning about the performances of Long and Brown and he'll be completely made up as they played as he wanted them too. There will be games where we'll set up differently but yesterday was very much about keeping a clean sheet and building from there. Our strength at the back completely nullified Fleetwoods attack and allowed us to control the game going forward. It was a very good TEAM performance and its bordering on the pathetic to keep singling out individuals for completely unnecessary criticism.

Oh boy.

They also did it all last season and we nearly got relegated as the players ahead of them did not play anywhere near the level that Edwards and Mills reached yesterday. Can they do that every time? Maybe, it’s a big ask, though.

Brown was about 6/10 defensively yesterday, he got done by Broom a few times who had a real go at him, to his credit. Long was better though relatively unchallenged by comparison. But the job got done.

You’ve typically jumped on the chance to be a hero when it was not a criticism. They are static. They are uninventive. Anybody with half an unbiased mind can see that. But the balance was right because we had two wingers who can make things happen alone. Away from home, I fully accept this might be the way to go. Hard to argue against that when results show it’s working for us.

 

[MJB]

Me stepping into this thread to read about our win yesterday:

 

[Scotchegg]

Oh boy.

They also did it all last season and we nearly got relegated as the players ahead of them did not play anywhere near the level that Edwards and Mills reached yesterday. Can they do that every time? Maybe, it’s a big ask, though.

Brown was about 6/10 defensively yesterday, he got done by Broom a few times who had a real go at him, to his credit. Long was better though relatively unchallenged by comparison. But the job got done.

You’ve typically jumped on the chance to be a hero when it was not a criticism. They are static. They are uninventive. Anybody with half an unbiased mind can see that. But the balance was right because we had two wingers who can make things happen alone. Away from home, I fully accept this might be the way to go. Hard to argue against that when results show it’s working for us.

I think your Hero Bar is set very low!!

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

Brown probably wasn't fully fit and appears to have done a stellar job on a dodgy ankle. He should be applauded for playing through the pain barrier.

Yesterday was only the second clean sheet of the season so I'm alright with the full backs being more defensive to address that. I'm sure Leigh will play next week and he'll offer more going forward.

3 points and a clean sheet: job done

 

[Malc]

Was the match available to buy yesterday I logging in but could only get the audio

I think Saturday matches are only available to watch if you are outside the UK. Maybe learn how to use VPN's?

 

[Foley]

Brown probably wasn't fully fit and appears to have done a stellar job on a dodgy ankle. He should be applauded for playing through the pain barrier.

Yesterday was only the second clean sheet of the season so I'm alright with the full backs being more defensive to address that. I'm sure Leigh will play next week and he'll offer more going forward.

3 points and a clean sheet: job done

It sounded on RO that he played some decent balls to Edwards yesterday as well as being pretty solid.
Obviously a really good win yesterday and it was very good to get a clean sheet ( only our second of the season)

 

[Manorman]

Harsh for me.

I saw Long get forwards, overlap and put crosses in - particularly during the first half.

Even for the first goal, he gives the ball to Mills and then takes a defender away with his run, means Mills only has one man to beat with his cut inside.

We might argue that his crosses didn’t amount to much, but no one’s did - we didn’t have anyone who looked like a striker, so the full backs were on a hiding to nothing in that regard.

The two strikes were excellent but we can’t expect to see that every week. Just wondered if we missed many other opportunities to score from balls played across the box? The highlights obviously didn’t show that.

 

[ECYellow]

I was utterly knackered last night, after travelling for nigh on 10.5 hours to and from Fleetwood so couldn’t bring myself to post on the game.

I thought we were actually pretty average for parts of the game. Certainly up until our first goal we looked lacklustre in possession and then at the start of the second half we again looked a little slow out of the traps.

It is a mark of the work that Manning and Co are doing, that we played yesterday in second gear and still ran out comfortable winners. There will be stiffer tests ahead but you can only beat what’s in front of you and we did that at a canter yesterday.

Moore had a super game, as did Mills, Edwards and Bodin. MM and Bran were steady and industrious in midfield and Fleetwood struggles to dictate the play through the middle.

It’s unpopular with some, but for me we were weakest in the full back areas. Long looks to me as if he is lacking confidence and and a result, looks to be indecisive and Brown didn’t look fit. Greg Leigh starts next week without question.

Meanwhile, in January I would be looking to recruit a RB who would command a place NOW in a promotion chasing Lg1 side. For me, that is arguably the one area of the pitch that requires improvement.

This squad and management team are on to something. It’s a poor league 1 this season and we have a team and management structure that will have us right there at the business end. If you’ve not got a ticket for next Saturday yet, do everything you can to get there. The lads deserve our backing!

 

[RgYellows]

The two strikes were excellent but we can’t expect to see that every week. Just wondered if we missed many other opportunities to score from balls played across the box? The highlights obviously didn’t show that.

I didn’t think Bodin or Rodrigues got close to attacking many balls into the box, nor did they really get to run in behind the CBs looking for a through ball. In the second half, the Fleetwood RB and rCB looks pretty dodgy on the ball but they were able to play the ball back to the keeper, who was not closed down. Harris would have caused real issues there.

We can criticise the quality of Long’s delivery, but Mills, Edwards, Goodrham, Stevens, Brann also didn’t serve up any chances of this nature either.

We scored from a set piece played into Moore (I think) which again sort of illustrates that the problem wasn’t the delivery but who we had to aim for in open play.

This was due to a mixture of Rodrigues running out of gas, neither of them being strikers, and us being three goals up so trying to kill the game.

Not to criticise either of them because we know what they can do, we know they were covering for others, they both played well etc etc but for my money, that’s the main thing that was missing yesterday.

We didn’t create much that wasn’t in the highlights.

 

[akilham]

For those there in person, how did Marriott play. £500k player ?

Didn’t look like a 50p player let alone £500K

 

[akilham]

For those there in person, how did Marriott play. £500k player ?

Didn’t look like a 50p player let alone £500

 

[Trevor L]

Just saw the highlights. 3 quality goals, if you blinked though you would miss them. It's probably been said before on here, but that programme is really poor, worse than the Quest version because the few seconds of play shown from each match is dwarfed by ads and pointless chat. It's half an hour shorter too. Doesn't the EFL and its fans deserve better?

 

[battman]

There were points last season where getting a win felt impossible. But if you look at us now, and the performance yesterday, we're making winning look easy and seem relatively effortless. There's a confidence around the team, especially with the players but also crucially with the fans too, and what's more there's potential to get even better in a division where there doesn't seem to be a stand-out team - yet. Because the stand out team could be us, if we keep doing what we're doing.

 

[Scrongo]