Away Match Day Thread 27/01/2024 L1: Bristol Rovers v OUFC

[Northstandboy]

COYY!

Lets get 3 points from Brizzle!

 

[Theox07]

4 at the back is the only way we can play
Moore and brown is the only partnership I wanna see at the back

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Dealt a poor hand ? What, taking over a team in 2nd ? What an awful situation to find himself in.

Well , yes - but if you were paying attention you'll have noticed that we were dropping off under Manning before he left, had a lot of injuries (which quickly grew), players leaving in the window and the club seems to have been unable to recruit a decent assistant for him. It's not excusing him, but it is perhaps a more difficult job than he thought (or he isn't as good as the club thought).

 

[billyturleyscurlywurly]

McEachran ahead McGuane & Smyth.

Rodrigues not central. Wasted out wide.

No Burey. Would’ve preferred him in a game like this (battle) than Goodrham.

Think we’ll lose this one today.

Gas 3-1 Ox

Spend all that money to get Buckingham out the City Group & hang him out to dry.

What’s the point?

Centre midfielder needed badly (how good was Conteh), no fit wingers apart from a young kid in Tyler & Harris the only centre forward fit.

3 quality players needed before the window shuts at a minimum.

 

[holdsteady]

This has been a pretty strong second half which Des must learn from. Absolutely infuriating that we set up as we did first half and didn't give smyth a go at CDM in the second. McGuane is *not* that player. Burley looks fun - the type of player we've not had since Whyte was in his pomp. Weirdly positive but Des really does need to stop prioritising theory over the obvious

At the moment we have a man as manager who has done all the courses, has all he certificates but has never actually been in the field, he needs to realise that and get street smart quick or it’s going to end in tears very soon.

This isn’t the city group nursery, this is the real deal.

 

[Oxford84]

It was Bristol Rovers! Every team has injuries not just us "Not quite found his way/doesnt know what hes doing" SPOT ON - booed off at half time. Get a manager paid on results. Hes a Disaster

weve got no forwards ffs. About time we signed some.

 

[behindthegoal]

When

Well , yes - but if you were paying attention you'll have noticed that we were dropping off under Manning before he left, had a lot of injuries (which quickly grew), players leaving in the window and the club seems to have been unable to recruit a decent assistant for him. It's not excusing him, but it is perhaps a more difficult job than he thought (or he isn't as good as the club thought).

Portsmouth had a lot of injuries

 

[m]

There's not many managers in football who take over a team that's in second place. He is extremely lucky and whilst injuries have been unfortunate, he has more than enough resources at his disposal to compete. The Derby game was a test of his game management ability and he got into a catastrophic mess with that and there's been too many games where we've been poor especially away from home. He's quite fortunate that we spent a lot of money on him because another manager in a similar position probably would be out by now so the season can be salvaged.

Wouldn't argue about our form and about the Derby game at all.

Would strongly argue that Murphy, Henry, Browne and others are sufficient resources to compete. We have a patchy squad with insufficient depth.

Also don't believe that it's outlay Keeping Des in a job. Look how long the club were loyal to Robinson for.

 

[bazzer9461]

The people in charge have given him no support in terms of staff, and aren't there to answer our questions. I blame them.

And they’re still here the useless pair of fuckers

 

[Jster]

I get the feeling a difference between Manning and Buckingham is that the former had very good analysis of opposition and adjusted tactics accordingly. Whereas everything Buckingham says in interviews makes it sound as if he doesn't really care about the opposition or how they play, he's just interested in how we play. And I think that's naive myself.

 

[dickwalton1964]

Nearly all our attackers are injured! He has very few options. But five at the back is rubbish and he hasn’t really impressed me so far.

The same front three who started today started the season under Manning. On the bench we’ve lost Mills but got Burey in. It’s not like he’s being forced to throw in kids. Everyone who played today has had a reasonable enough dose of L1 football.

 

[Sarge]

I get the feeling a difference between Manning and Buckingham is that the former had very good analysis of opposition and adjusted tactics accordingly. Whereas everything Buckingham says in interviews makes it sound as if he doesn't really care about the opposition or how they play, he's just interested in how we play. And I think that's naive myself.

Manning bought in his own backroom team, and took most of them with him - DB doesn't seem to be allowed to have his own choice of backroom team. TW & GF are really taking the P**s out of us customers

 

[Leysboy]

I thought my suggestion that we signed Kamil Conteh looked very good today, not the first time I’ve seen him perform well.

He will be brilliant for Rovers.

 

[m]

The same front three who started today started the season under Manning. On the bench we’ve lost Mills but got Burey in. It’s not like he’s being forced to throw in kids. Everyone who played today has had a reasonable enough dose of L1 football.

Yes, but pretty much all players lose form, and there's no back up.

And even under Manning there were plenty of occasions when that front three didn't cut it.

 

[ThatSlopesATwelfthMan]

Hopefully just a one-off but if Eastwood had put in the performance Cumming did today he'd have been getting absolute pelters on here.

 

[Yellowmania]

What really worries me is even when we are loosing we have no urgency in our play. We still don’t get the ball forward making 6 passes when 2 would have done. When the opposition attack we stand watching them. This is the same team (virtually) that started so well but they are also the same players that struggled last season. I feel it’s a good job we did start well or we would be in another relegation battle

Absolutely this. Even at the end of added time we were just knocking the ball around our back four with b****r all urgency.

 

[Swaby39]

Hopefully just a one-off but if Eastwood had put in the performance Cumming did today he'd have been getting absolute pelters on here.

Too right. Bad day for Cumming and very Eastwood-esque. We let ourselves down in all areas first half. That's two diabolical first half performances in the space of a week. Both in the same system before changing for the better at half time. Des has to answer to that. How are we preparing for games? Got exactly what we deserved out of these two fixtures

 

[dickwalton1964]

Yes, but pretty much all players lose form, and there's no back up.

And even under Manning there were plenty of occasions when that front three didn't cut it.

Maybe but people are making it sound like we are having to put unknowns in. The pedigree of every single player who started today - and came on - was good enough to get some sort of result today. Every club up there is currently nursing a number of injuries. They cope, we don’t.

 

[FalmouthOx]

55% of forum fans voting the fans the MoM lol
How can we possibly attract ANY good players?
Time to boycott home and away and send a message to the board that we do not tolerate this
If they aren't working for us/the club then don't pay to watch

 

[m]

Maybe but people are making it sound like we are having to put unknowns in. The pedigree of every single player who started today - and came on - was good enough to get some sort of result today. Every club up there is currently nursing a number of injuries. They cope, we don’t.

Yes. I don't disagree with any of that.

I"d just qualify it by saying that we don't have the back-up to cope. And that we all knew this before a ball was kicked.

 

[ChamonixOx]

The worry with this team is we have gone back to 12 months ago where we lack shape and the strategy seems far from clear? What is Des’ system - anybody any the wiser (we should be by now)? It wasn’t plain sailing under Manning but how he expected us to set up and play was abundantly clear. Chalk and cheese to Des! Something is desperately wrong and the excuses regarding players being injured is wearing thin. Drawing with Reading and losing to teams like Cheltenham and Bristol today (the latter four defeats on the trot) invariably leads one to question have we got the wrong person in. I expected to struggle to maintain the early pace but it’s far worse than that since he came in! We look like relegation fodder even though we have a team far better than that! Time is running out for him to show we have the right man and he therefore needs to sort it out PDQ.