Home Match Day Thread 16/10/2021 L1: OUFC v Plymouth Argyle

[Mellowyellow]

In reality we beat ourselves, with, again, a hatful of chances. It might have been 5 - 5, but it wasn't. Plymouth did what they needed to, and looked comfortably in a position to go one further ahead if we got one back. Remember, in the first 10 mins, we scored, and it took them minutes to respond and more or less control the rest of the half.

 

[werthersoriginal]

We forfeited our chance of a top six place this season when KR failed to buy a striker in the last transfer window.

That’s maybe right. But there was a loud outcry in support of Agyei, who some saw as the messiah.

 

[Daviddidcotexile]

I said before the game about the attacking side and the England result. Yesterday was an example of what is wrong at the moment. If we don't protect the defenders then we concede goals. All EXCELLENT managers sort out the defence then look how to score goals. We have so few clean sheets it is embarrassing. KR needs to look at the back in January before spending any money. However if he plods on as is then the take over may be curtains for him

 

[The mighty Aldo]

We forfeited our chance of a top six place this season when KR failed to buy a striker in the last transfer window.

Totally disagree,most teams win promotion by conceding very few goals and having a solid defence.They manage to win games 1-0 and see games out.We always look like conceding
So our priority should have been a really solid back four with good cover
What do we have?
Long at right back with Forde as back up who isn’t really a right back
Moore and Thornily both not really strong enough in my opinion
Mc Nally as back up is pretty raw but could come good. Mous who is getting on but I would actually play because of his know how
Seddon has failed to impress is not as good as Ruffels and we have no real back up so he has to play.
We have good strikers Taylor would get into any starting eleven in this league.Last year we had goals from all over the pitch and I’m sure Henry Brannagan and Whyte will score
If you are saying replace Winnall with a really strong powerful striker who can hold the ball up like Simms of Blackpool to give us options of playing two up front in some games fair enough I wouldn’t disagree but I think what you are saying is buy a decent striker to replace Taylor?

 

[Scotchegg]

Totally disagree,most teams win promotion by conceding very few goals and having a solid defence.They manage to win games 1-0 and see games out.We always look like conceding
So our priority should have been a really solid back four with good cover
What do we have?
Long at right back with Forde as back up who isn’t really a right back
Moore and Thornily both not really strong enough in my opinion
Mc Nally as back up is pretty raw but could come good. Mous who is getting on but I would actually play because of his know how
Seddon has failed to impress is not as good as Ruffels and we have no real back up so he has to play.
We have good strikers Taylor would get into any starting eleven in this league.Last year we had goals from all over the pitch and I’m sure Henry Brannagan and Whyte will score
If you are saying replace Winnall with a really strong powerful striker who can hold the ball up like Simms of Blackpool to give us options of playing two up front in some games fair enough I wouldn’t disagree but I think what you are saying is buy a decent striker to replace Taylor?

I don't disagree with your general theme.

However, defences win promotion is a myth. Promotion winning teams often have the best defence AND the best attack.

That's why we need to tighten up our defence AND take our chances.

 

[Banbury2018]

My thoughts on yesterday are as follows. Defending at times yesterday wasn’t great but the things that stood out for me were firstly the Plymouth defence was opened up more than ours but they were simply more clinical than us. We must’ve had 15 occurrences of balls being crossed all the way through the 6 yard box with no touch from either side. Somebody should be attacking the back post area to be turning these opportunities into goals.
Secondly I think in January we need to offload Winnall and Agyei for differing reasons. Winnall isn’t up to it/ fit enough anymore and Agyei I think needs to go out on loan to a League 2 or conference club to get a decent run of games. It strikes me from things said Agyei struggles with confidence which isn’t going to return at present at Oxford.
I also think we need a decent striker in the January transfer window maybe 2 to challenge MT who is basically unopposed as the centre forward at present and if injured we have a big problem.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

That’s maybe right. But there was a loud outcry in support of Agyei, who some saw as the messiah.

That isn't right.

What everyone wanted to see was him tried in his natural central position to see *if* he could be the alternative striker we wanted/needed. I don't think many, if any, were saying that he undoubtedly *was*.

And even then, with Winnall turning out to be (not to mince words) a waste of a squad place we would have been short of a striker anyway.

 

[Golden Dr Otto]

Promotion winning teams often have the best defence AND the best attack.

That's why we need to tighten up our defence AND take our chances

Deep

 

[Scotchegg]

Deep

Thanks, I've been working on my football analysis!!!

 

[Essexyellows]

Score 1 more than whoever we play. Easy.

 

[Mighty Tage]

I think @Scotchegg is talking sense here. Most things are less definite and clear cut than some here portray them. The manager recruits selects and motivates the players and sets the tactics- Plymouth were getting round our full backs too easily so maybe that's at his door. But the manager can’t help it if our top scorer, who is normally a great finisher, blazes half a dozen chances wide. If Henry had scored when clean through we would have gone on to win, I’m

Score 1 more than whoever we play. Easy.

Having a feckin’ shot would be a good start! The amount of times it just went sideways, sideways, sideways again in front of their box… sometimes you’ve just got to put your laces through it! (Insightful I know!)

 

[yellowbow]

I don't disagree with your general theme.

However, defences win promotion is a myth. Promotion winning teams often have the best defence AND the best attack.

That's why we need to tighten up our defence AND take our chances.

This seems to be at the crux of it. Pretty much everyone on here agrees that successful teams are decisive, clinical and strong in both boxes - a solid defense and incisive upfront. Whereas we seem to play attractive football in the middle third but are weak at times at both ends. No surprise I guess as it was in that area that we concentrated our recruitment this summer.

 

[yellowbow]

Score 1 more than whoever we play. Easy.

The Vindaloo school of tactics....

 

[werthersoriginal]

We had lots

Having a feckin’ shot would be a good start! The amount of times it just went sideways, sideways, sideways again in front of their box… sometimes you’ve just got to put your laces through it! (Insightful I know!)

We had lots of shots , they just all missed the target!

 

[MC Yellow]

In reality we beat ourselves, with, again, a hatful of chances. It might have been 5 - 5, but it wasn't. Plymouth did what they needed to, and looked comfortably in a position to go one further ahead if we got one back. Remember, in the first 10 mins, we scored, and it took them minutes to respond and more or less control the rest of the half.

Agreed, they did what they needed to do and bagged the goals. At the end of the day it is what gets you the points.

But, I am more inclined to think that on that 30 minute showing in the second half, had we banged in a chance we would have gone on to bang in another.

They couldn’t live with us for that 30 minutes.

Plymouth clearly had threats on the pitch and looked decent for periods of the game, but they were still opened up on numerous occasions with ease during that spell, we just couldn’t finish.

I prefer to look at the positives from our side rather than the opponents, because as you say, we did beat ourselves.

 

[werthersoriginal]

I don't disagree with your general theme.

However, defences win promotion is a myth. Promotion winning teams often have the best defence AND the best attack.

That's why we need to tighten up our defence AND take our chances.

So basically we just need to be a bit better? That’s something we can all get behind.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

Burton won automatic promotion the other year with something crazy like the fifteenth best attack, because they had the absolute best defence. The worst defence you’ll find to win automatic promotion in the last 7/8 seasons is about fourth. That says a lot.

Peterborough are the best example of a good defensive record being essential. They tried to swashbuckle their way to promotion for years and only actually got out when their defence was the fourth best last season. They were the league’s top scorers in 19/20 when the season was curtailed but their defence was around tenth, which is why they didn’t have the extra point or two that would’ve stopped the Wycombe PPG nonsense, as they couldn’t close enough games without scoring multiple times themselves. They missed out on the playoffs by one point in 18/19 because despite finishing seventh they had the thirteenth best defence, while the rest of the pack were all many places higher / better. In 17/18 they were the league’s third highest scorers but finished ninth, because their defence was the fourteenth best.

Most incredibly, in 15/16 they were actually the league’s joint top scorers with 83 goals, but didn’t even finish in the top half of the table, because they had the fourth worst defensive record after conceding 73.

You’re resigned to a playoff lottery at best unless you have a top five defensive record. That’s just how it is. You might get promoted that way, of course, but we have a manager who is becoming the best at losing in that regard, so the odds aren’t exactly favourable to that being the way to go. After two clean sheets in 15 games in all competitions this season, there is a lot of work to be done. Defending better or investing in a higher calibre of defender to begin with, rather than ploughing extra cash into a sixth winger, doesn’t mean having to be negative or ultra defensive.

Keep the goals out and top two is possible. Otherwise it’s playoffs at best before a ball has been kicked.

 

[Mellowyellow]

Agreed, they did what they needed to do and bagged the goals. At the end of the day it is what gets you the points.

But, I am more inclined to think that on that 30 minute showing in the second half, had we banged in a chance we would have gone on to bang in another.

They couldn’t live with us for that 30 minutes.

Plymouth clearly had threats on the pitch and looked decent for periods of the game, but they were still opened up on numerous occasions with ease during that spell, we just couldn’t finish.

I prefer to look at the positives from our side rather than the opponents, because as you say, we did beat ourselves.

Exactly, it's those 30 mins and the 10 mins at the start we should have capitalised on, we would have been out of site, and yes we did run them ragged.
The one thing they could do, as do the other top teams though is exemplified by two of their goals on Quest, the calmness, the walk over, with which they scored. The addition of a different kind of striker in the team now, to complement Taylor, and we'd be doing that.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I had a feeling through large parts of the game, not all of it, that Plymouth could have stepped up a gear, if required.

 

[AbsoluteZero]

The chances missed not only against Plymouth but for the whole season are not half chances but gilt edged chances that you would expect a professional footballer to score. But it is worse than that, our players are not even managing to hit the target with these chances most of the time. An Accrington type demolition scoreline could have happened 4 or 5 times already this season, but this seems to be more of a 1 in 10 type performance at the moment because of our inability to put away the most simplest of chances.

Including the cup games, played 16 won only 5 this season, is not good enough. All it needs is to score the goals that our good deserves, which in turn then takes some pressure off the defence too. It might come too late for this manager though. You can almost foresee it that as soon as he is gone and someone else comes in all of a sudden we start to take 50% of these chances created and win every game very easily.

 

[Oxymoron]

I rather hope the players pull their finger out and start putting the ball into these (virtually) open goals we create before the 2024/25 season.....