Home Match Day Thread 16/12/2013 L1: OUFC v Burton Albion

[Northstandboy]

COYY

 

[m]

Important to bag as many points as we can, and strengthen in January.

Someone make sure Des knows this.

 

[m]

Good results against a poor team with no manager at the moment are fans made very little noise except when they started booing there own team we was 1 nil up third in league and that was the loudest they was very poor

I don't agree that's when we were loudest, but I certainly agree it was very poor.

 

[chuckbert]

Someone make sure Des knows this.

Yes - Important, as apparently it worked differently in India.

 

[Swaby39]

Mentioned it on the McGuane thread but I’ve been really encouraged by the last game and a half that we’ve played.

I see obvious signs that Des is changing things and trying to put us more on the front foot with players looking to take more risks and go forward quicker, take on their man and be generally less precise and cautious with the ball (he’d have loved Djavan Anderson!). You could pick out 6 or 7 things yesterday that he’s quite clearly instructed them to do and all of them came off. This is super encouraging as Des said he would start to change things after Posh and after just 2 further games you can see how effective that’s been, so he’s clearly more than a hat rack. He learned his lesson on the back 4 selection and the forward players all looked energised and sharp with a renewed idea and belief around scoring goals.

Burton were a bit of a lost sole but we if we’d won by 5 or 6 it wouldn’t have been a shock and that’s a nice problem to have. If we make yesterday’s performance a habit we will give anybody problems but we do need to have a balance against the better sides as well. Winning routine games is not to be knocked. Thoroughly enjoyed that.

 

[MG]

Agree. Whole midfield played slightly differently and that did seem to be a coaching instruction. Even McGuane played a couple of 50/50 first time balls forward. Also liked cam's lower and zippier corners rather than just endless floaters.

Worth reiterating - Cam's corners were a revelation yesterday. I can't understand why he was delivering those floaty-light corners which were so easy to defend. Completely different level of threat yesterday.

 

[MG]

Marcus McGuane has been waiting to score that goal ever since he arrived at Oxford. I wondered when it would come. Just hope it inspires him to reach those heights on a more regular basis...

 

[RgYellows]

Thoroughly enjoyed that, especially the second half. Mills, Rodrigues and Brannagan all superb, I went for Mills as MOM but you could make a case for any of the three. In addition, was that the best team performance of the season so far??

I’m probably getting over excited, but having Murphy and Mills playing on the touch line might solve two problems. Against the poorer teams like Burton the wingers help to win the game. Against the better teams who will mark the wingers better, it could provide space for the midfielders to attack centrally. Time will tell.

It will be interesting to see, as Des develops his style, how he varies things in the away games. Northampton will be fascinating.

In time, Murphy or Edwards staying out wide could allow Leigh to make attacking runs inside. How many wingers are going to track Leigh into the box and win an aerial duel as a cross comes in from the right?

 

[NorthernExile]

We essentially did to Burton what Peterborough did to us last week so that's exciting. Get the quick wingers hugging the touchline, with two attacking midfielders overlapping them (Ruben in particular was making a lot of those runs beyond Mills yesterday).

Weak opposition but you can only beat what's in front of you. Des only had a day to put his ideas in place Vs Reading, and I fancy we'd have stuffed them too had we played them yesterday.

Nice to have a bit of optimism back.

 

[Eric Blair]

Indeed. Very encouraging on the coaching front.

A reminder of the importance of a little patience for Buckingham - we’ll benefit in the long term for him assessing where we were when he joined.

I endorse this completely. I honestly think Des is the right man for the job and has pedigree. Just need patience

 

[Wandering Yellow]

Marcus McGuane has been waiting to score that goal ever since he arrived at Oxford. I wondered when it would come. Just hope it inspires him to reach those heights on a more regular basis...

He has a license to try a shot like that at appropriate times for sure. We could have scored two beauts from long range yesterday if Cams went in. Very hard for goalkeepers if you get it right.

 

[Swaby39]

I endorse this completely. I honestly think Des is the right man for the job and has pedigree. Just need patience

If there’s one thing evident yesterday it’s that the players are listening and any suggestions he was somehow an imposter on the training ground and players were taking the P**s out of him seem a complete fabrication.

Performances and results like that will help him gain respect. A few players found themselves in different roles and had their best game in weeks.

Can I just say as well that Bennett looks like another fantastic bit of recruitment even if it is only for the short term.

 

[Golden Dr Otto]

One thing I’d mention for those referencing how s**t Burton and other teams we’ve beaten are….


Last season I don’t think we played one team all season that was s**t.

 

[uptheus]

Good results against a poor team with no manager at the moment are fans made very little noise except when they started booing there own team we was 1 nil up third in league and that was the loudest they was very poor

Fans were quiet until Brannagan’s shot off the crossbar, then they found their voices a bit! Was also hard to build up a noise against the 38 Burton fans that attended (good on them though)

 

[uptheus]

I thought Bennett was excellent.
When Henry came on, I thought, " oh no, he's over the hill".... But He too was excellent, running like a 20 year old, and could have had a couple of goals.

He’ll be feeling it after that 25 yard sprint/run, wouldn’t surprise me if he’s pulled a muscle/hamstring, but hopefully not. His facial expression after the run seemed to say ‘I hope I don’t have many of those runs!!

 

[uptheus]

Mentioned it on the McGuane thread but I’ve been really encouraged by the last game and a half that we’ve played.

I see obvious signs that Des is changing things and trying to put us more on the front foot with players looking to take more risks and go forward quicker, take on their man and be generally less precise and cautious with the ball (he’d have loved Djavan Anderson!). You could pick out 6 or 7 things yesterday that he’s quite clearly instructed them to do and all of them came off. This is super encouraging as Des said he would start to change things after Posh and after just 2 further games you can see how effective that’s been, so he’s clearly more than a hat rack. He learned his lesson on the back 4 selection and the forward players all looked energised and sharp with a renewed idea and belief around scoring goals.

Burton were a bit of a lost sole but we if we’d won by 5 or 6 it wouldn’t have been a shock and that’s a nice problem to have. If we make yesterday’s performance a habit we will give anybody problems but we do need to have a balance against the better sides as well. Winning routine games is not to be knocked. Thoroughly enjoyed that.

It wasn’t like that Tuesday, in fact I’d say we were slower than normal on Tuesday, so let’s not get too carried away.

I also think McGuane’s gone backwards since the start of the season (played better yesterday though) e.g. he used to carry the ball/be more direct, but so glad he chose to have a shot when he did rather than do a 180 and either go backwards or sideways, hopefully see him returning to his earlier performances in the season.

I also wished our central defenders brought the ball out of defence at times e.g. again like Negru used to do earlier in the season before being dropped by Manning (not sure why, but some excuse was given to get Thorniley back in the team at the time)

Just hope yesterday is the start of more to come rather than a one off performance against a relatively poor team without a manager, because we know they are capable of it when they go for it.

 

[OUFCwaffle]

How many of those complaining about the lack of noise actually contributed to any songs?

 

[uptheus]

How many of those complaining about the lack of noise actually contributed to any songs?

Even the half time singing was shite!!

 

[Swaby39]

It wasn’t like that Tuesday, in fact I’d say we were slower than normal on Tuesday, so let’s not get too carried away.

I also think MCGuane’s gone backwards since the start of the season (played better yesterday though) e.g. he used to carry the ball/be more direct, but so glad he chose to have a shot when he did rather than do a 180 and either go backwards or sideways, hopefully see him returning to his earlier performances in the season.

I also wished our central defenders brought the ball out of defence at times e.g. again like Negru used to do earlier in the season before being dropped by Manning (not sure why, but some excuse was given to get Thorniley back in the team at the time)

Just hope yesterday is the start of more to come rather than a one off performance against a relatively poor team without a manager because we know they are capable of it when they go for it.

Depends whether you want to focus on the first half or the second half after a number of changes had been made in recognition of the side obviously not performing as Des wanted. We then backed that up with a not-too-dissimilar but much improved final third performance yesterday so by my reckoning the coach deserves a solid pat on the back. He’s clearly very capable of communicating to the players what he wants and getting that out of them and true to his word after Peterborough he’s made changes and we’ve improved.

Centre backs stepping out with the ball is merely a cosmetic. It has its benefits of course but if they’re not comfortable doing it, stick to your knitting and move the ball on to someone else. I can’t remember either of them getting caught on the ball this season and play out from the back really effectively so I’m not sure why you’d overcook it and change something that’s working.

 

[Wandering Yellow]

Is Bennett's contract just until the end of the season, or end of season with an 'option'?

 

[Marked Ox]

Even the half time singing was shite!!

Still better entertainment than normal.