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

[Northstandboy]

COYY!

Lets get 3 points from Brizzle!

 

[Steve Gilbert]

I don’t think anyone needs to be told. Aren’t the performances telling you that ? We capitulate far too often.

I was at Carlisle and it certainly wasn’t a team that didn’t back the manager.
I will also point out that most our players earn double in a week than I do in a month, they are professional footballers so maybe start playing like one?

 

[Deanroger]

Have we actually won a game with Mceachran playing.

 

[Pgyellow]

It just feels like the whole club is treading water, which in reality means we're going backwards as other clubs crack on.

 

[Swaby39]

I think we have a good collection of professionals, I’m not sure they’d down tools for any manager. There’s some really good characters there that have good standards and I’m yet to see a game where I really feel they’ve thrown the towel in. That’s a plus and any accusation to contrary lacks foundation.

But….. We are totally lost. We kicked off with no clear direction today and it was just plain obvious that we were underprepared. We didn’t have a plan for ourselves and didn’t seem to know what to expect from them - if you did, your defence would be very tight together expecting balls coming in to Martin at every opportunity. How we came unstuck by the most basic and obvious of game plans so early in the game is frankly embarrassing, especially with 3 very good headers of the ball in the middle of defence.

I like Des, it’s not his fault that his ceiling has been brought down so low by the lack of proper support from his superiors. It’s a mindless appointment to make knowing that work needed to be done around him if you aren’t prepared to see that through. It’s like building a block of flats and disregarding the plumbing and spark work. But the fact remains that with what he’s got, we should still be starting games better than we have been - we didn’t start well at Carlisle either. Manning was getting a tune out of those players and it isn’t happening now so somethings got to give. They are trying, but they’re not being deployed in a way that sees them at their best.

Too much individuality is being encouraged. Our best moments today were from Burey and after we’d changed to our plan B - why wasn’t it plan A after the debacle at Barnsley in the first half?

Des is giving me assistant vibes. The same way Tim Williams gives me accountant vibes. A real lack of blueprint and leadership everywhere you look at the moment and what was an exciting time to be a fan a few months ago seems like ancient history.

 

[billyturleyscurlywurly]

Manager taking all the blame whilst barely any fan points the finger at the non-existent Grant Ferguson & Tim Williams.

 

[McXal]

That oddly reminded me of the dark days of the “Patto’s Honest Lads” season. Manager seems like a lovely guy and we all WANT him to succeed. Our board keep TELLING us they are serious about promotion.

But on the pitch it’s a rudderless mess; a few talented players holding things together with a bunch of bang average team-mates clumped together with no real plan, style or ability to either attack coherently or defend competently.

I do have sympathy for Des. The injury situation is shocking. And to be at January 27th and to still be incredibly light/weak in all the same areas we’ve been weak and light in all season shows that our recruitment is either a) poor or b) far less ambitious than we’d like. Neither of those are his fault.

But even when Manning was cleaning up Robinson’s mess there was a clear plan in place. He realised we were totally average and leaking goals everywhere, so he concentrated on making us hard to beat, conceding as few goals as possible grabbing draws where we could, protecting our goal difference then letting loose a little more during our winnable games.

Injuries don’t prevent DB from doing that. We look incredibly easy to score against. Set pieces, crosses. Today even straight runs through the middle. I get that we can’t attack the way he might want due to personnel issues. But there’s no excuse for how poor and weak we look. That is coaching, game management and tactical awareness.

(And HOW can he say we don’t need a DCM? How bloody good was Conteh today! )

 

[East Stand Fan]

If we lose to Portsmouth on Tuesday then it looks like Stevenage will have two in hand on us and a slightly better goal difference. All in all I'd say there's only one playoff place realistically available and although Barnsley lost today at home, they'll probably have enough to get through to the end. We can't say anything bad about Stevenage's prospects especially considering our budget compared to theirs and there's no reason why they wont be up there. Blackpool are also one of the most successful teams in the playoffs so they'll be on our tails. 6pts in the next two will be a big boost but at this rate we'll be lucky to get a point.

 

[Snoopsnoop]

Came up from Kernow.
Completely different team came out in the 2nd half, if they'd played like that for 90mins it'd be different story. But match over, as Bristol still wanted it. Just glad we scored and fans had something to cheer about.

 

[Marston Road yellow]

I think a lot of this is at Tim’s door. That post and des reaction to it said what we all knew. The manger needs help in the form of a solid very experienced assistant. I genuinely think Des will be a successful manager but we gave up on the process when 2 turned it down.
For me that’s the biggest requirement in the club and they need to sort it now.

 

[Pgyellow]

It doesn't appear that Tim has to answer to anyone and he knows it.

 

[Yellowoptimist]

Very worrying listening to Des.

Dare I say there is almost an arrogance in his responses...and I am getting fed up of hearing about players who will soon be back and that we will make sure we are right for the next game.
First half today as Rad Ox called it there was no one individual who was at fault but collectively as a team we were a shambles. When you cant get a reasonable performance from reasonable ingredients that is only down to one thing...coaching

 

[Chippy]

It all comes home to roost.

We’ve needed a quality Defensive midfielder (or two) with a bit of presence for several years.

We‘ve needed several quality strikers in the squad at the same time for several years

We‘ve needed quality full backs with proper back up for several years (just about have that now on the left arguably)

We‘ve needed quality wingers who are not consistently injured for several years

We‘ve needed a quality goalkeeper of our own for several years.

We've needed to be tougher in moving players on and not handing out undeserved contracts for several years

Overall we’ve needed some bigger players, more physicality and the ability and toughness to play to similar levels from August to May through the depths of any weather conditions for several years.

I think anyone would struggle to argue that various managers and the recruitment team have never addressed these fundamental shortcomings that we’ve consistently had across our squad, and hence the mess we are in now in terms of what’s happening all too often on the pitch. We just don’t have a good enough or strong enough squad, we don’t recruit what’s needed and we don’t recruit in a timely enough manner. Things need to change big time!

 

[Yellowken]

Yeah he's out of his depth, and I think he knows it

Surely the board should have been aware of this at interview.

I'd love to know what candidates he got the job over?

 

[chromeyellow]

It all comes home to roost.

We’ve needed a quality Defensive midfielder (or two) with a bit of presence for several years.

We‘ve needed several quality strikers in the squad at the same time for several years

We‘ve needed quality full backs with proper back up for several years (just about have that now on the left arguably)

We‘ve needed quality wingers who are not consistently injured for several years

We‘ve needed a quality goalkeeper of our own for several years.

We've needed to be tougher in moving players on and not handing out undeserved contracts for several years

Overall we’ve needed some bigger players, more physicality and the ability and toughness to play to similar levels from August to May through the depths of any weather conditions for several years.

I think anyone would struggle to argue that various managers and the recruitment team have never addressed these fundamental shortcomings that we’ve consistently had across our squad, and hence the mess we are in now in terms of what’s happening all too often on the pitch. We just don’t have a good enough or strong enough squad, we don’t recruit what’s needed and we don’t recruit in a timely enough manner. Things need to change big time!

think I agree with much of that. - but none of that is Buckingham's fault, is it ?

 

[ECYellow]

Pleased to hear it. I had Rad Ox on for a while but lost interest even before we scored.

Noted, just in case you try to offer anything constructive to the conversation.

 

[m]

Noted, just in case you try to offer anything constructive to the conversation.

That's a bit pointed.

 

[dickwalton1964]

Manager taking all the blame whilst barely any fan points the finger at the non-existent Grant Ferguson & Tim Williams.

What are you blaming them for ? Appointing Buckingham ? Our budget should comfortably be able to deal with away fixtures at Northampton, Cheltenham, Bristol Rovers and to not embarrassingly implode against promotion rivals Peterborough and Derby. We’ve been pathetic under Des, 2nd to 7th tells you that.

 

[uptheus]

Came up from Kernow.
Completely different team came out in the 2nd half, if they'd played like that for 90mins it'd be different story. But match over, as Bristol still wanted it. Just glad we scored and fans had something to cheer about.

Bristol sat back 2nd half, but if they had played in the same vein as the first half they would have beaten us by more.

 

[notThisWayButThat]

Bristol sat back 2nd half, but if they’d have played in the same vein as the first half they would have beaten us by more.

Reading this makes me think we played into their hands.

 

[DannyW]

I had an MRI scan at 1520 but missed much of what went on. They were 0-1 down before I went in. 1-2 when I came out. When I got in the car to drive Radox commentary 1-3.
I think the MRI scan today was preferable to watching my team lose at Bristol Rovers today

I hope you are ok