Away Match Day Thread 23/04/2022 L1: Rotherham United v OUFC

[OX14]

Sitting here incredibly frustrated as that game was so very winnable.

Yet again we fail to take advantage of a one goal lead away from home. Rotherham’s confidence was low and they had lost 4 out of the last 5. Another goal would have finished them off and turned their crowd on them. Instead, we sat back and tried to waste time. Bizarre tactics when they were vulnerable and we know we don’t have a defence (or a DM) strong enough to keep a clean sheet.

Then, with less than a minute to go in the half, Kane tries a ridiculous move on the edge of our box instead of lumping it and getting to half time. Leads straight to a corner which leads to another corner and they score. Particularly frustrating as that was about the fourth time in the first half alone that Kane had tried to take additional touches and lost the ball. He doesn’t learn.

With Rotherham’s tails now up, second half turned into men against boys and we were well beaten by the end. But what were our tactics at start of second half? Why was Stevens wasting time at every restart when it was clear that we needed to win the game and we weren’t winning? Don’t think KR got the subs right again and we had lots of aimless balls forward which were meat and drink for their big centre halfs. Incredibly frustrating and disappointing how the game petered out today particularly as I still feel 81 points may be enough.

The game was there to be won after we got a lucky break to go into the lead. Unfortunately, you can add this game to the list of many other away games this season that we’ve clutched defeat from a winning position (Wimbledon, Portsmouth, Morecambe, Bolton). Will take me a while to get over this disastrous April.

Yep spot on. Felt exactly like the Bolton away game ... Karl never learns from his mistakes and that's ultimately why he will fail again next season and we would of wasted another season.

 

[Wandering Yellow]

PO Final
PO Semi
No play off.

Progressing under KR?

 

[tonyw]

Rotherham were what they always are - big, strong, powerful, well-drilled but not all that skillful and their passing and finishing were pretty shoddy. It's why they seem perpetually mired as a yo-yo team......good enough to get themselves promoted, but not good enough to survive at Championship level.

But it's hard to argue with the result today. Rotherham absolutely bossed the centre of the park - I can barely recall us stringing even a handful of passes together in the middle of the pitch all 90. We were left to ping long balls, which in turn mostly didn't get us anywhere because Matty was up against two giants in the centre of defense. The only time we got any joy was when we hit perfect balls down the channels (as we did for the goal) but being reliant on that is not a winning tactic at this level.

Kane, Brannagan, Sykes & Bodin are all cracking players at this level but none are physically dominant, and against big, strong teams that press them hard, they can be bullied out of it - as they were today. We need to fill that gap in the summer - firstly by re-signing Gorrin, and then by signing someone who's ideally similar but better than he is so that we're not totally mullered against the good sides when he gets hurt or suspended.

Barlaser is the sort of player you'd love to see us get. Obviously not him precisely, because Rotherham will surely be relying on him next season, even if they're in the Championship. But someone like him who can get the midfield by the scruff of the neck, and is tough and defensively responsible.
(yes, the own goal was a bit rubbish - but he was the holding midfielder getting himself back into exactly the right position to stop a certain goal. He just ****ed up the clearance!)

 

[OX14]

PO Final
PO Semi
No play off.

Progressing under KR?

Not unless you turn it upside down like our badge to make the angry crab.

I would say we've progressed off the pitch, highest average home attendance since 1988, stadium plans etc.

This season we didn't even have any good cup runs to save Karl's bacon.

 

[AbsoluteZero]

A season of small margins summed up perfectly again with today's game.

We very nearly got away with it. But we went from looking like unbeatable when we were thrashing Burton 1st half, to when Baldock did his knee and looking decidedly weak thereafter.

We may have got more points this season, but the table shows us about where our budget was. And we once again didn't get a big enough haul of points against the top teams. Recruitment this season was overall poor, Whyte and Holland were worse than Shodipo who scored a hatful of goals for us 2020/21. Seddon was nowhere near the consistent level of Ruffs. Gorrin would have done a better job in midfield than Kane, not necessarily Kane's fault as that probably isn't his position but some of his mistakes leading to points lost were absolutely shocking, but putting Kane in there and completely relying on him to do a competent defensive job has to go down as a mistake.

And this may be a bit controversial because he may even voted to be player of the season, but Brannagan for me went missing for most of the last 6 weeks of the season. He is meant to be our best player but at no time did he really grab any game by the scruff of the neck and take control. He is also the player who has the best shot on him at the club but he never got into enough situations where he was able to have 15-25 yard shots, maybe that was tactics again though.

The 3 teams coming down look like they will be stronger than the 3 going up because the 7 teams above us are not totally brilliant, and we can't expect Ipswich, Portsmouth, Charlton and Bolton to have such disappointing seasons again. Big chance missed this season, and the budget is going to need a big boost to compete next season. Browne is a game changer and already in place. That's a start and a sign of intent. Smyth comes highly regarded so hopefully he can live up to the hype. We need to find out how good is O'Donkor.

It's has been an enjoyable season to watch, but sometimes you just need to drag back from basic principles when you get to the final month and make sure that you get points. It was all set up with a good footballing side performing well overall but the month of April has found us out, unfortunately we probably knew that we had problems in the team and squad and we needed a bit of luck to get over the line, but it wasn't to be.

 

[Sarge]

..... we won more points and more goals scored ( with a game left to play) this season than last

.....straw clutching doesn't alleviate disappointment though

 

[Shosho]

Rotherham were what they always are - big, strong, powerful, well-drilled but not all that skillful and their passing and finishing were pretty shoddy. It's why they seem perpetually mired as a yo-yo team......good enough to get themselves promoted, but not good enough to survive at Championship level.

But it's hard to argue with the result today. Rotherham absolutely bossed the centre of the park - I can barely recall us stringing even a handful of passes together in the middle of the pitch all 90. We were left to ping long balls, which in turn mostly didn't get us anywhere because Matty was up against two giants in the centre of defense. The only time we got any joy was when we hit perfect balls down the channels (as we did for the goal) but being reliant on that is not a winning tactic at this level.

Kane, Brannagan, Sykes & Bodin are all cracking players at this level but none are physically dominant, and against big, strong teams that press them hard, they can be bullied out of it - as they were today. We need to fill that gap in the summer - firstly by re-signing Gorrin, and then by signing someone who's ideally similar but better than he is so that we're not totally mullered against the good sides when he gets hurt or suspended.

Barlaser is the sort of player you'd love to see us get. Obviously not him precisely, because Rotherham will surely be relying on him next season, even if they're in the Championship. But someone like him who can get the midfield by the scruff of the neck, and is tough and defensively responsible.
(yes, the own goal was a bit rubbish - but he was the holding midfielder getting himself back into exactly the right position to stop a certain goal. He just ****ed up the clearance!)

This is the tricky part as there is a shortage of players in this role. Gorrin obviously is good at the defensive stuff but is limited on the ball, whilst Kane is the opposite (although he does pull his weight defensively). I know of a few clubs looking for a holding defensive midfielder - I believe we should have recruited in a young #6 as we have with the Centre Backs to consider succession planning. Brannagan/Gorrin/Kane was obviously the plan for this season, Kane was outstanding as #8 at Doncaster. Can't help but feel we have failed to see the best of him this season

Fwiw, I would be taking a look at Ethan Galbraith, although size is an issue. Fornah also an interesting option (some video of him vs Rotherham from the end of March:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1505504902759522307

, & vs Lincoln:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1508384209131479040

)

 

[Marked Ox]

Well at least the club can start talking to potential signings earlier.

 

[Quagmire]

Sitting here absolutely devastated, in tears, like the players. Hahaha, if only.

Well done OUFC, for giving STFC another reason to laugh. When on earth will you not be bottlers? Amazing season, all that hard work, and you now have f**k all to play for. Deserved for your 7k attendances. Guess you’ll just have to watch Swindon P**s the play offs. Look forward to six points next season.

Wise men say… you know the rest.

 

[Oxford84]

PO Final
PO Semi
No play off.

Progressing under KR?

More points more goals better opposition.

 

[Fat bloke]

We didn't deserve to go up, simple fact if you lose 14 games in a season nearly a third of games played.
You can score loads of goals and entertain but when your defence is so inept at times it betters beyond belief he hasn't improved that side of it.
If only he rang Wycombe up and asked for pointers how to organise and defend as they are so good at seeing out games like today.
With a defence like Wycombe and our forward line we would have done step in championship.
Could've been like Peterborough scoring well but letting too many in straight again.
For all Robinson's faults the football very enjoyable to watch most of the time it would be hard to find someone with similar style and thoughts to take over if he left.
But with Brannigan probably going now in summer ? He would be a huge loss at which Robinson would do well to replace and if rumours are with centre back as well going it will need major investment to match loss and improve on incoming players.?

 

[bazzer9461]

Sitting here absolutely devastated, in tears, like the players. Hahaha, if only.

Well done OUFC, for giving STFC another reason to laugh. When on earth will you not be bottlers? Amazing season, all that hard work, and you now have f**k all to play for. Deserved for your 7k attendances. Guess you’ll just have to watch Swindon P**s the play offs. Look forward to six points next season.

Wise men say… you know the rest.

Just jog on sunny, at least were L1 and the chance of you being L1 next season well I doubt it.

 

[zstep123]

I blame Kip

 

[OX14]

We didn't deserve to go up, simple fact if you lose 14 games in a season nearly a third of games played.
You can score loads of goals and entertain but when your defence is so inept at times it betters beyond belief he hasn't improved that side of it.
If only he rang Wycombe up and asked for pointers how to organise and defend as they are so good at seeing out games like today.
With a defence like Wycombe and our forward line we would have done step in championship.
Could've been like Peterborough scoring well but letting too many in straight again.
For all Robinson's faults the football very enjoyable to watch most of the time it would be hard to find someone with similar style and thoughts to take over if he left.
But with Brannigan probably going now in summer ? He would be a huge loss at which Robinson would do well to replace and if rumours are with centre back as well going it will need major investment to match loss and improve on incoming players.?

I don't get our fans saying we're exciting to watch as in our style and thats the reason why we let in loads of goals. I've watched quite a few league one games this season when we haven't played and Plymouth, Wigan, MK , Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Bolton are all as entertaining but also can defend.

 

[Oxford84]

Sitting here absolutely devastated, in tears, like the players. Hahaha, if only.

Well done OUFC, for giving STFC another reason to laugh. When on earth will you not be bottlers? Amazing season, all that hard work, and you now have f**k all to play for. Deserved for your 7k attendances. Guess you’ll just have to watch Swindon P**s the play offs. Look forward to six points next season.

Wise men say… you know the rest.

Yep because you really are going up aren’t you c**t.what was funny was watching you lose to a team with 10 players.

 

[Followtheox1]

Sitting here absolutely devastated, in tears, like the players. Hahaha, if only.

Well done OUFC, for giving STFC another reason to laugh. When on earth will you not be bottlers? Amazing season, all that hard work, and you now have f**k all to play for. Deserved for your 7k attendances. Guess you’ll just have to watch Swindon P**s the play offs. Look forward to six points next season.

Wise men say… you know the rest.

I just double checked, you haven't made the playoffs yet? What's attendences got to do with what a team deserves? Once the takeover effect has worn off, your attendences will drop.

 

[horseman]

Sitting here absolutely devastated, in tears, like the players. Hahaha, if only.

Well done OUFC, for giving STFC another reason to laugh. When on earth will you not be bottlers? Amazing season, all that hard work, and you now have f**k all to play for. Deserved for your 7k attendances. Guess you’ll just have to watch Swindon P**s the play offs. Look forward to six points next season.

Wise men say… you know the rest.

Some decent Sat Navs on Ebay....Oh Wait

 

[Quagmire]

Will be here Tuesday night to gloat after our win against FGR. Is that okay with everyone?

 

[cotswoldu]

Obviously the pinnacle of everyone's ambition?

 

[MiddleBartonYellow]

Maybe when you are back at our level and beating us regularly which is something you haven’t done for 20 years, you can come and gloat on our forum. I think we are safe for a while yet.