Home Match Day Thread +++ 21/12/19 OUFC v Wycombe Wanderers +++

[beyondthefourth]

Really? I have never seen a man walk so slowly to put the ball down for a goal kick and wander back at the pace of an arthritic snail before doing his little bit of running on the spot and then kicking it. He did it all match. I suppose you could say 'lack of any urgency' rather than 'timewasting' if you were generous!

Again, his whole point is that Wycombe were treating their goal kicks like we would treat a free kick. So yes, the goalkeeper takes his time to allow the outfield players to get into the most ideal positions. Imagine set piece routines like a corner situation, but they are being well drilled regarding how to best set up for a long ball forward from a goal kick.

 

[Marked Ox]

Again, his whole point is that Wycombe were treating their goal kicks like we would treat a free kick. So yes, the goalkeeper takes his time to allow the outfield players to get into the most ideal positions. Imagine set piece routines like a corner situation, but they are being well drilled regarding how to best set up for a long ball forward from a goal kick.

And yet he still managed to kick them off the pitch or Dickie/Mous/Moore would win them including when Akinfenwa was on the pitch. All goalies let their players get into ideal positions from goal kicks, Wycombe aren't special in that regard.

 

[cassox]

I think the slooooow goalie was part of their plan,hold it to 1-0 until 10 minutes from the end THEN go for it .....we had 78% possesion in the 1st half and really shouldve done em 3 or 4 nil........

 

[Marked Ox]

So we are better than Arsenal, Dinamo Zagreb and equal to Leicester looking at Man City's recent results.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Again, his whole point is that Wycombe were treating their goal kicks like we would treat a free kick.

Nah - he didn't pass it sideways five yards one single time...

 

[AbsoluteZero]

I thought Mous bossed the first half. From the first minute he was in the ref's ear and continued to do so the whole first half, being instrumental getting their player sent off. Great leadership from Mous, something the squad must have talked about following the weak refereeing against Shrewsbury. Learning the dark arts....finally.

 

[TailsWeWin]

I thought Mous bossed the first half. From the first minute he was in the ref's ear and continued to do so the whole first half, being instrumental getting their player sent off. Great leadership from Mous, something the squad must have talked about following the weak refereeing against Shrewsbury. Learning the dark arts....finally.

Not dark arts - it’s common sense.

 

[Marked Ox]

I was curious after seeing a few Wycombe fans claiming James Henry was offside when following up for his goal. Having looked at the extended highlights, no chance was Henry offside.

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

Before the game I thought High Wycombe's gameplan would be to spoil the game and snatch a point or maybe three. However, after a few minutes or so the only spoiling that actually happened (for us) was seeing the beast getting sent off as he had obviously had enough of being no more than a slow pedestrian trying to bridge the gap in class that was truly happening up front with the game passing him by. What a stroke of luck for him that he had already got himself a booking and snuck a easier chance to get himself sent off. He must had been mightly relieved to be heading into the relative easier passage of the changing rooms rather than chasing a real time lost cause with the game and speed of passing actually passing the big man by. Tbh I thought the big man was hung out to dry a little by GA as our slick passing game was always going to be a slog for anyone let alone a 37 year old who probably over his career deserved better.

As for the game we had this done before he got his orders. They High Wycombe are a team who will either run out of steam or a team that will finish off what little support they have before their season is out. There football if you can call it is dire. We are very lucky to be watching a 3rd division team in championship clothing.

Now for their support. It would have been a travesty if they didn't bring 1800 supporters just the 28 miles or so down the road as I'm damn sure a team like Crawley given their support and league position would take this amount to Brighton if they too were top of their respective league. They're singing of 'chairboys' sort of mixed my mind a little of a cross between 'in house games' at Hogwarts and St Trinian's...hello there.

Great end for a really decent week and lets hope that Lincoln aren't going to come to the kassam on Boxing Day and play anything like the last two league opponent's have and spoil what could be touch wood a bit more festive cheer for the men in yellow.

Coyy's.

Your point re Akinfenwa not being the ideal forward to press our CBs (as he’s not mobile) is a good one - we all know we struggle against teams who close us down at the back and do well against teams who sit off us and let our CBs have the ball and bring it forward. A couple of times before he got sent off Akinfenwa tried to close down Dickie and Rob almost contemptuously knocked it past him, knowing he was never going to get tackled. The big man’s strength might have worked against us, who knows, but his lack of pressing would have meant we’d have had loads of time on the ball at the back.

If I was setting up a team to play Oxford at the Kassam I’d go 4-4-2 and get two mobile, hard working, Danny Hilton-types up front and tell them to sit on Dickie and Mousinho, get my wingers to push up on the fullbacks and make us play more direct, telling my biggest CB to sit on Taylor and win any aerial balls towards him.

 

[RgYellows]

That’s probably the best tactical analysis - in narrative terms - that I’ve read on here. [emoji1303]

Thank you!

Enjoying life in Luton, Bondy?

Sadly all my own amateur takes, although I agree with everything you have said since too!

And yet he still managed to kick them off the pitch or Dickie/Mous/Moore would win them including when Akinfenwa was on the pitch. All goalies let their players get into ideal positions from goal kicks, Wycombe aren't special in that regard.

I would disagree with this. In the second half, I saw him kick the ball long and central once. Everything else went to our left. I saw Mousinho charge forwards once and win the battle. I saw one go out of play (I don't die by those numbers, just the ones I can recall). Most of the time it was on Ruffels, and I'd say he came off second best (although by no means outright bullied).

As for the second comment, the best counter I can think of was on the pitch with Wycombe yesterday. Archer never kicked the ball long, very often it didn't go out of our own area, and we were in a rush to restart (which was a vast improvement on MK Dons and Shrews). In fact, whoscored have him with 100% pass accuracy!

I think you can either rush to restart and try to benefit from both teams being out of position, or you can look to take your time and get everyone set up and win the set piece battle. Most teams and instances are somewhere on the scale between the two extremes. Wycombe were very, very far down one end. But if I think about it now you've raised it - we were probably equally as far down the other end yesterday!

 

[RgYellows]

Your point re Akinfenwa not being the ideal forward to press our CBs (as he’s not mobile) is a good one - we all know we struggle against teams who close us down at the back

I think we did well against Peterborough, who were as aggressive as anyone in the league with the press. No league one side is pressing smartly enough to sustain it over 90 minutes, so you can prepare for it, pass it round then for 40 minutes and then look to assert yourselves.

This would have worked brilliantly against Shrewsbury, who made their wing backs cover serious mileage in the first half, but we were either caught by surprise or the makeshift midfield couldn't take advantage. Even so, by the end they absolutely nothing left, hence the outrageous timewasting.

I agree Akinfenwa is absolutely not the sort of player who will thrive in that sort of game and I always think we do quite well against him generally - right back to the years when it was Jake Wright brushing him aside.

If I was setting up a team to play Oxford at the Kassam I’d go 4-4-2 and get two mobile, hard working, Danny Hilton-types up front and tell them to sit on Dickie and Mousinho, get my wingers to push up on the fullbacks and make us play more direct, telling my biggest CB to sit on Taylor and win any aerial balls towards him.

You'd have two midfield players against Baptiste, Brannagan and Gorrin, with Henry drifting in. Good luck

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

I think we did well against Peterborough, who were as aggressive as anyone in the league with the press. No league one side is pressing smartly enough to sustain it over 90 minutes, so you can prepare for it, pass it round then for 40 minutes and then look to assert yourselves.

This would have worked brilliantly against Shrewsbury, who made their wing backs cover serious mileage in the first half, but we were either caught by surprise or the makeshift midfield couldn't take advantage. Even so, by the end they absolutely nothing left, hence the outrageous timewasting.

I agree Akinfenwa is absolutely not the sort of player who will thrive in that sort of game and I always think we do quite well against him generally - right back to the years when it was Jake Wright brushing him aside.



You'd have two midfield players against Baptiste, Brannagan and Gorrin, with Henry drifting in. Good luck

Did you see us against Fleetwood and Burton? Admittedly they were a long time ago but, for me, both teams harried us and stopped us playing from the back, tackled hard in midfield and so won the game. I saw both Peterborough 1-0 wins live and I wouldn’t say either time they massively pressed us and we passed round it. They hadn’t clicked at the time and looked pretty toothless in attack.

And yes I’d need luck, but if you want to face us at fortress Grenoble Road and sit off our centre backs and let Rob Dickie bring the ball out from the back then I suggest you’d go the way of Tranmere and Gillingham who both did that... ?

 

[RgYellows]

Did you see us against Fleetwood and Burton? Admittedly they were a long time ago but, for me, both teams harried us and stopped us playing from the back, tackled hard in midfield and so won the game. I saw both Peterborough 1-0 wins live and I wouldn’t say either time they massively pressed us and we passed round it. They hadn’t clicked at the time and looked pretty toothless in attack.

And yes I’d need luck, but if you want to face us at fortress Grenoble Road and sit off our centre backs and let Rob Dickie bring the ball out from the back then I suggest you’d go the way of Tranmere and Gillingham who both did that... ?

I used to read the match threads before signing up here, and I can actually remember a comment on the Burton game that I thought hit the nail on the head. I thought Burton tore us to shreds by exploiting space behind our full backs with their wide forwards. Watching the highlights back, I wouldn't attribute any of their goals to what I would call 'pressing' or turnovers. I thought Burton played 4-3-3 and a runner from midfield had an outstanding game.

I can't for the life of me remember Fleetwood. Couldn't even tell you what the score was.

We will agree to disagree on Peterborough I guess.

I get myself to most home games but less away games, my comments will always reference iFollow because my eyes don't let me pick out individual players in real life too well.

Edit to add my own speculation on how to beat us. I suppose it depends what you're bringing to the party yourself as the away team, but we're one of the best possession sides and seem pretty ordinary in set pieces, so statistically speaking - I suppose I'd play how Wycombe did. I am very bullish about our ability to beat a pressing side at L1 level.

 

[werthersoriginal]

I thought Mous bossed the first half. From the first minute he was in the ref's ear and continued to do so the whole first half, being instrumental getting their player sent off. Great leadership from Mous, something the squad must have talked about following the weak refereeing against Shrewsbury. Learning the dark arts....finally.

My Wycombe friend thinks that Mous has always been a dirty cheat and seems to view him a bit like we do Westley .. whereas we think of him as a gent as he is so articulate and nice on the radio. Funny how perceptions vary

 

[Marked Ox]

Thank you!



Sadly all my own amateur takes, although I agree with everything you have said since too!



I would disagree with this. In the second half, I saw him kick the ball long and central once. Everything else went to our left. I saw Mousinho charge forwards once and win the battle. I saw one go out of play (I don't die by those numbers, just the ones I can recall). Most of the time it was on Ruffels, and I'd say he came off second best (although by no means outright bullied).

As for the second comment, the best counter I can think of was on the pitch with Wycombe yesterday. Archer never kicked the ball long, very often it didn't go out of our own area, and we were in a rush to restart (which was a vast improvement on MK Dons and Shrews). In fact, whoscored have him with 100% pass accuracy!

I think you can either rush to restart and try to benefit from both teams being out of position, or you can look to take your time and get everyone set up and win the set piece battle. Most teams and instances are somewhere on the scale between the two extremes. Wycombe were very, very far down one end. But if I think about it now you've raised it - we were probably equally as far down the other end yesterday!

I agree he was generally going against Ruffels' side in the 2nd half but that is no different to other sides targeting their best player in the air etc imo and they had no target elsewhere after Akinfenwa went off.

There were a number of punts up the middle as Mous or Dickie were battling with Akinfenwa but as they lost him, Wycombe did adapt. I just don't think Wycombe are any different to other teams. For instance, we may play it short but generally 2 players (normally Dickie, Mous) stretch the pitch width just outside the box whilst Gorrin goes central, and the full backs go wide near the touchline but all further towards the halfway line. So just as organised, just without the punt up the pitch which was the point in my reply to the other post where they were suggesting Wycombe were treating their goal kicks somehow differently which was why Allsop was taking so long to take them.

I enjoyed Allsop's distribution on a number of occasions he punted the ball straight off the pitch so it doesn't really matter where the players are in that respect. ?

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

I used to read the match threads before signing up here, and I can actually remember a comment on the Burton game that I thought hit the nail on the head. I thought Burton tore us to shreds by exploiting space behind our full backs with their wide forwards. Watching the highlights back, I wouldn't attribute any of their goals to what I would call 'pressing' or turnovers. I thought Burton played 4-3-3 and a runner from midfield had an outstanding game.

I can't for the life of me remember Fleetwood. Couldn't even tell you what the score was.

We will agree to disagree on Peterborough I guess.

I get myself to most home games but less away games, my comments will always reference iFollow because my eyes don't let me pick out individual players in real life too well.

Edit to add my own speculation on how to beat us. I suppose it depends what you're bringing to the party yourself as the away team, but we're one of the best possession sides and seem pretty ordinary in set pieces, so statistically speaking - I suppose I'd play how Wycombe did. I am very bullish about our ability to beat a pressing side at L1 level.

I just watched the Burton highlights too but just a snapshot of the goals don’t tell the full picture, from what I remember they were quite proactive and snapped into tackles/‘pressed’ us, maybe not a classic high press but they certainly did a number on us and won comfortably in the end. I’d have to watch the whole game again to fully remember but I don’t fancy that, as you say it’s much nicer watching the ones we win!

Well we will have to agree to disagree on how to play us as well, your way didn’t work for Wycombe... ?

 

[Gary Baldi]

The irony of the sending off is the very gamesmanship Wycombe are complaining about from Mous was started by Wycombe's gamesmanship to get Gorrin sent off in the first place. What melts

 

[beyondthefourth]

The irony of the sending off is the very gamesmanship Wycombe are complaining about from Mous was started by Wycombe's gamesmanship to get Gorrin sent off in the first place. What melts

The issue with gamesmanship is that referees are now conditioned to ignore anything else.

If someone goes in for a tackle and doesn't get the ball, but Fosu can maintain his balance, it won't be given as a foul.

Regardless of play acting, Mous had Bayo's hand around his throat. If he plays it off like it's nothing, I doubt there is a second yellow being given, despite it easily being worthy of one.

 

[Gary Baldi]

The issue with gamesmanship is that referees are now conditioned to ignore anything else.

If someone goes in for a tackle and doesn't get the ball, but Fosu can maintain his balance, it won't be given as a foul.

Regardless of play acting, Mous had Bayo's hand around his throat. If he plays it off like it's nothing, I doubt there is a second yellow being given, despite it easily being worthy of one.

Exactly, and we all know their players would have done exactly the same thing if that had been Mous or Mackie doing it.

 

[RgYellows]

I don’t fancy that, as you say it’s much nicer watching the ones we win!

Tell you what. When a L1 side beats us with Cadden, Dickie, Gorrin, Brannagan, Baptiste, Henry, Fosu and Taylor all playing, I will watch it back and we can have a good old debate about how they did it!

We could use Man City but I think the answer is just to have Mahrez and Sterling and then give it to them and it will probably be fine.