Home Match Day Thread 21/10/2023 L1: OUFC v Blackpool

[Followtheox1]

Well well well , the curious chap in the Docs was me and here is what we spoke about … the burger van queue , the burger van at the other end of the stadium , your missing stand , our support numbers , my journey re : bad weather , your visit to Bloomfield Road in the 70s and lets not forget my boots . What we didn’t discuss was the FA Cup and 1953 . You say lm a curious chap ? You are an out and out liar and look very foolish .

The Burger van is becoming the new North Stand toilets

 

[LowerSouth]

Still does.

That’s a cutting remark.
But true

 

[RyanioBirdio]

Well well well , the curious chap in the Docs was me and here is what we spoke about … the burger van queue , the burger van at the other end of the stadium , your missing stand , our support numbers , my journey re : bad weather , your visit to Bloomfield Road in the 70s and lets not forget my boots . What we didn’t discuss was the FA Cup and 1953 . You say lm a curious chap ? You are an out and out liar and look very foolish .

Scandal.

 

[Eaststanding]

Would I have taken a point before the game? Definitely not, this was Blackpool, not f*****g Barcelona.
A baffling and very frustrating second half performance where we absolutely gifted at least a point to them. It MUST be down to fatigue from whatever illness has affected the squad, it’s just not possible for virtually every player to be so lacklustre and barely challenge for the ball. Surely?
Two points dropped. Huge improvement needed Tuesday.

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Well well well , the curious chap in the Docs was me and here is what we spoke about … the burger van queue , the burger van at the other end of the stadium , your missing stand , our support numbers , my journey re : bad weather , your visit to Bloomfield Road in the 70s and lets not forget my boots . What we didn’t discuss was the FA Cup and 1953 . You say lm a curious chap ? You are an out and out liar and look very foolish .

Must have been somebody else I was speaking to then. Because those subjects weren’t discussed.

Still you got a point; so don’t cry.

 

[uptheus]

I just don’t understand why we were so poor 2nd half. We probably played our best all round team performance of the season in the first half, to then drop off completely.

We did the same against Rovers and even Shrewsbury, with our 2nd half performances being poor. It’s annoying and seems planned which makes it even more frustrating.

If we’d performed half as good as we had in the first half in the 2nd, then I think we come away with 3 points. Personally, I didn’t think Blackpool looked all that, so for me it was 2 points dropped today, especially as we were at home.

Fingers crossed we can play 2 decent halves soon.

 

[werthersoriginal]

I just don’t understand why we were so poor 2nd half. We probably played our best all round team performance of the season in the first half, to then drop off completely.

We did the same against Rovers and even Shrewsbury, with our 2nd half performances being poor. It’s annoying and seems planned which makes it even more frustrating.

If we’d performed half as good as we had in the first half in the 2nd, then I think we come away with 3 points. Personally, I didn’t think Blackpool looked all that, so for me it was 2 points dropped today, especially as we were at home.

Fingers crossed we can play 2 decent halves soon.

At home we seem to want to sit on a lead and kill the game, which seems unnecessary and can be risky- we even did it against Carlisle. I think today there were extenuating circumstances in that some players had been ill and were tired, but in general I’d rather we were bolder in the second half.

 

[dickwalton1964]

Manning channelling his inner Gareth Southgate today. For gods sake go for it man ! At one nil, kicking towards our fans, let the handbrake off and let’s risk getting pegged back in that first 15 minutes of the second half by trying to get a second and kill the game off. If we did concede we’d still have 35 minutes to rectify it. They were there for the taking and our caution cost us massively.

 

[tonyw]

O'Donker needed a National League loan IMO.

National League doesn't have the same transfer window as the football league - they can still bring players in until something like the end of March.

So there's nothing to stop us sending GOD out on loan there tomorrow......other than the fact that, if we don't trust Perkins at all, we've noone else to spell Harris.

 

[tonyw]

No, but Wigan outplayed Exeter today and are physically very strong - a point there will feel like 3!

But they lost their previous four games before that. Rovers absolutely thumped them.

Even without their points deduction, they would still only be 16th. They're nothing to be afraid of this season.....

 

[tonyw]

Final thought is that it's a bit of a simplification to call Greg Leigh a left back.

Whilst BBC and the official site called what we played today a 4-2-3-1 and what we played against Rovers (with Stevens instead of Mills) a 3-4-2-1, the truth is the way we're playing is more like a hybrid of the two. Leigh is getting forward on the left in a way that would be pretty aggressive for a wingback, let alone a full back.....but when he does, Brown is filling in behind and Sam Long is tucking in.

We're playing a much more fluid style that is giving Leigh the freedom to do his thing, but it only works if the right sided defender is a bit more disciplined.

 

[Osleroad]

He’s a fair way short of being an effective league 1 centre forward. There is no doubt about it.

For me just the fact that he never looks like scoring a first lge goal which is what a striker does is disappointing if you can't even be a unit causing mischief.

 

[derek]

Eff me, how many more Blackpool fans are gong to come on here? No other team's supporters do this, not in such numbers. Weird.

 

[uptheus]

Manning channelling his inner Gareth Southgate today. For gods sake go for it man ! At one nil, kicking towards our fans, let the handbrake off and let’s risk getting pegged back in that first 15 minutes of the second half by trying to get a second and kill the game off. If we did concede we’d still have 35 minutes to rectify it. They were there for the taking and our caution cost us massively.

I agree with you, but it’s not just today where we’ve sat back as we’ve done it a number of times.

We also seem to have players who can give 45-60mins and then they go off the boil e.g. McGuane, Rodrigues, McEachran, Bodin etc, but are top class in those first 45-60mins.

Lastly, when we bring O’Donkor on, we’ve basically seem to say as a collective team, we’re now not going to score e.g. we stop trying to play football/create anything and just want to hit the ball up field and hope O’Donkor can hold it in the corners etc. It’s disappointing as we’re better than that, especially for those first 45mins or 60mins if we can manage it.

 

[ttg17]

Well well well , the curious chap in the Docs was me and here is what we spoke about … the burger van queue , the burger van at the other end of the stadium , your missing stand , our support numbers , my journey re : bad weather , your visit to Bloomfield Road in the 70s and lets not forget my boots . What we didn’t discuss was the FA Cup and 1953 . You say lm a curious chap ? You are an out and out liar and look very foolish .

Fair play. In a pretty stacked field, this might just be the weirdest post I’ve ever seen an opposition fan post on this forum. Top effort

 

[ttg17]

Final thought is that it's a bit of a simplification to call Greg Leigh a left back.

Whilst BBC and the official site called what we played today a 4-2-3-1 and what we played against Rovers (with Stevens instead of Mills) a 3-4-2-1, the truth is the way we're playing is more like a hybrid of the two. Leigh is getting forward on the left in a way that would be pretty aggressive for a wingback, let alone a full back.....but when he does, Brown is filling in behind and Sam Long is tucking in.

We're playing a much more fluid style that is giving Leigh the freedom to do his thing, but it only works if the right sided defender is a bit more disciplined.

Shades of Baldock and Skarz in 15-16

 

[kingoftheroad]

Manning channelling his inner Gareth Southgate today. For gods sake go for it man ! At one nil, kicking towards our fans, let the handbrake off and let’s risk getting pegged back in that first 15 minutes of the second half by trying to get a second and kill the game off. If we did concede we’d still have 35 minutes to rectify it. They were there for the taking and our caution cost us massively.

you've nailed it

 

[Wandering Yellow]

After having slept on the result, it could be worse. Feels like a loss but it's a point and with no Cam I'd have taken that before kick off. Win on Tuesday and things feel good again.

Are things perfect? No. We are maybe a little light in depth in central midfield when Cam is out and we have a couple or times suffered with 'mentality' (?) Problems late it games.

But this squad has our best winger and Browne to come back.

Not sure what has happened to Negru?

Big game Tuesday.

 

[Swaby39]

Eff me, how many more Blackpool fans are gong to come on here? No other team's supporters do this, not in such numbers. Weird.

It’s the CamBran derby, come on!!

Just quietly enjoy how much our club seems to live in their minds.

I agree with you, but it’s not just today where we’ve sat back as we’ve done it a number of times.

We also seem to have players who can give 45-60mins and then they go off the boil e.g. McGuane, Rodrigues, McEachran, Bodin etc, but are top class in those first 45-60mins.

Lastly, when we bring O’Donkor on, we’ve basically seem to say as a collective team, we’re now not going to score e.g. we stop trying to play football/create anything and just want to hit the ball up field and hope O’Donkor can hold it in the corners etc. It’s disappointing as we’re better than that, especially for those first 45mins or 60mins if we can manage it.

I agree with this but in a slightly different way. It’s quite normal for your midfield to get leggy in later stages, although I think McGuane should be left out of this discussion as his and Brannagan’s energy levels over 90 minutes have been critical this year. But it’s a much greater issue than it should be when you have little else to put on the field. Yesterday we ended the game with youngsters and the mercurial Murphy trying to see it through. It wasn’t a great situation.

Ironically, McEachran is exactly what we needed in the closing stages of the game yesterday but because he had to start, his legs were shot. Gorrin should’ve come on for the last 5 and injury time.

I think Rodrigues is becoming increasingly pivotal without many realising. His role defensively seems to be irreplaceable from the bench and he’s the one player we have who can turn and find the ball through when we’re under pressure. Once he goes off, an awful lot of our strengths go off with him.

It’s just that age-old issue of what’s really beneath the surface of our first XI. On yesterday’s evidence, not enough yet and we have 13 games to go until January.

All this said I think we’ll win on Tuesday, (we’re very good away from home) and battle on. We’re a good side, just need to be careful we don’t become predictable.

 

[oldabingdonian]

Saw Negru in SSU yesterday