27/08/22: League 1 - Cheltenham Town v OUFC

[Big Ronaldo]

Heartily encouraged by what I saw on Tuesday night, we should be confident of collecting three points tomorrow.
Let’s hope that the beast in us has finally awoken.
What we will need to do is to get on the front foot early and convert some of the multiple chances that will surely come our way.
We have shown that we have spirit, a work rate and an attitude, we just need to re-apply it and there will be only one outcome.
COYY

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Yes, but a world of difference between what you’re saying and the idea that he can be “made match fit”.

He was more ‘match fit ‘ on Tuesday than a third of the squad.

 

[Mad Dog]

It won’t be possible. He’s 36 going on 37 and hasn’t played regular football for two-and-a-half years. He can’t be made ‘match fit’ at his age after spending that amount of time being a coach rather than a player. His conditioning combined with his age is too far gone. He was blowing out of his a**e by 60 minutes on Tuesday and couldn’t last the full game - there isn’t a world where he could play 90 minutes once a week anymore, let alone more.

Great pro, great servant, intelligent and seemingly decent human being on top. Professional footballer? Not anymore. Sadly.

I get what you’re saying, however, he was obviously gonna be blowing out of his a**e after 60 mins as he hasn’t played a competitive match for so long, but he has always been in full training with the first team squad, and never been injured since his knee injury a few seasons ago, and it’s clear to see he’s still in extremely good shape considering his age and lack of matches, so for me, I’d be looking to get him up to full match fitness, and more involved.

If it doesn’t work out, oh well, but it’s worth a try, because from what I’ve seen this season from Moore and Findlay, Moore is looking slow and cumbersome, and Findlay is not league one standard at all, a big disappointment so far, and both need to improve fast, as at the moment, Mous, even at 36, is by far the more superior CB, in terms of quality, intelligence, agility, speed and sharpness, and until he actually demonstrates an inability to perform at this level, given the quality of our current CB, I’d get him up to full match sharpness, and play him, alongside Brown.

 

[AbsoluteZero]

We should be OK for this one. I haven't seen us lose this season and I am going.

Whether that makes me a lucky charm or you want to call me a part time supporter....

 

[Foley]

If it doesn’t work out, oh well, but it’s worth a try, because from what I’ve seen this season from Moore and Findlay, Moore is looking slow and cumbersome, and Findlay is not league one standard at all, a big disappointment so far, and both need to improve fast, as at the moment,

I agree that Mous was excellent on Tuesday but totally disagree with your comments on Findlay and Moore.
I think that defensively Findlay has generally been excellent ( he was very good at Derby generally for example) His distribution is not as good as some of our CBs who have left. He will settle in and get better hopefully.
Moore is a very good defender at this level as we know.

 

[uptheus]

Have we sold our allocation?

 

[West Oxon U’s]

Cheltenham manager Wade Elliott previews OUFC clash.

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

We're so used to 'ball playing/carry-out-from-the-back' type CBs that I think we're perhaps not being very objective in assessments of Findlay.
As an actual out and out defender, I think he's doing the primary job pretty well and the stats bear this out...



As I say, we're conceding not only fewer goals now - but very few chances/shots - and I think he is a big part of that.
The fact that we concede goals at such a high percentage of said shots is more of a concern - but that boils down to both the GK and to an extent that 'gap' between CBs and midfield where (despite McGuane's excellent form) there isn't the level of protection there should be (shots from outside of the area is our weakness, again).
Conversely, if we were conceding from set pieces or in the penalty area you could argue more responsibility should be shouldered on the CBs.
I also think the CBs are being pulled out of position due to our marauding Full Backs. Again the lack of a Defensive Midfielder is an issue here (and the lack of 'wide-forward' players who can also track-back - Williams, Sykes).

All in all - Findlay isn't an issue for me and he's doing what he needs to do (and it's still early days). There are, however, plenty of other areas to address.

 

[TailsWeWin]

We're so used to 'ball playing/carry-out-from-the-back' type CBs that I think we're perhaps not being very objective in assessments of Findlay.
As an actual out and out defender, I think he's doing the primary job pretty well and the stats bear this out...

View attachment 10013

As I say, we're conceding not only fewer goals now - but very few chances/shots - and I think he is a big part of that.
The fact that we concede goals at such a high percentage of said shots is more of a concern - but that boils down to both the GK and to an extent that 'gap' between CBs and midfield where (despite McGuane's excellent form) there isn't the level of protection there should be (shots from outside of the area is our weakness, again).
Conversely, if we were conceding from set pieces or in the penalty area you could argue more responsibility should be shouldered on the CBs.
I also think the CBs are being pulled out of position due to our marauding Full Backs. Again the lack of a Defensive Midfielder is an issue here (and the lack of 'wide-forward' players who can also track-back - Williams, Sykes).

All in all - Findlay isn't an issue for me and he's doing what he needs to do (and it's still early days). There are, however, plenty of other areas to address.

Yes, I agree. I think Findlay is making a good fist of it too. He has had to cover (often out of position) for a missing fullback on more than one occasion and you can often see his visible frustration. And, as SirAndy says, there’s sometimes been a glaring gap between the midfield and the back four. As a defensive problem, though, it comes FAR behind our lack of a competent keeper.

 

[Uncle Belly]

I get what you’re saying, however, he was obviously gonna be blowing out of his a**e after 60 mins as he hasn’t played a competitive match for so long, but he has always been in full training with the first team squad, and never been injured since his knee injury a few seasons ago, and it’s clear to see he’s still in extremely good shape considering his age and lack of matches, so for me, I’d be looking to get him up to full match fitness, and more involved.

If it doesn’t work out, oh well, but it’s worth a try, because from what I’ve seen this season from Moore and Findlay, Moore is looking slow and cumbersome, and Findlay is not league one standard at all, a big disappointment so far, and both need to improve fast, as at the moment, Mous, even at 36, is by far the more superior CB, in terms of quality, intelligence, agility, speed and sharpness, and until he actually demonstrates an inability to perform at this level, given the quality of our current CB, I’d get him up to full match sharpness, and play him, alongside Brown.

From what I've seen Findlay looks like a decent defender at league 1 level

 

[Mad Dog]

From what I've seen Findlay looks like a decent defender at league 1 level

I’m afraid I’m yet to be convinced by him, but I hope he proves me wrong.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

Difficult game, they were a thorn in our side last season taking 4 points from us.

Will need to create and take chances to get something from tomorrow.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

Eastwood

Goodrham
Long
Findley
Brown
Seddon

Johnson
Bate
Brannagan

Joseph
Taylor

I think Goodrham could be a decent wing back.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1563141112499359745

 

[Mad Dog]

I agree that Mous was excellent on Tuesday but totally disagree with your comments on Findlay and Moore.
I think that defensively Findlay has generally been excellent ( he was very good at Derby generally for example) His distribution is not as good as some of our CBs who have left. He will settle in and get better hopefully.
Moore is a very good defender at this level as we know.

I agree, during his time here, Moore has been good and shown good composure, but I think he’s always been pretty slow and immobile, and lacking agility, and in my opinion he has started the season with these very issues being exposed.

Maybe I’m being a tad unfair on Findlay, but he just doesn’t look particularly comfortable with or without the ball.

Maybe it’s a case of him being unsettled by not having a good solid LB alongside him, and if he did, he’d be more comfortable.

 

[Northernyellow]

I get what you’re saying, however, he was obviously gonna be blowing out of his a**e after 60 mins as he hasn’t played a competitive match for so long, but he has always been in full training with the first team squad, and never been injured since his knee injury a few seasons ago, and it’s clear to see he’s still in extremely good shape considering his age and lack of matches, so for me, I’d be looking to get him up to full match fitness, and more involved.

If it doesn’t work out, oh well, but it’s worth a try, because from what I’ve seen this season from Moore and Findlay, Moore is looking slow and cumbersome, and Findlay is not league one standard at all, a big disappointment so far, and both need to improve fast, as at the moment, Mous, even at 36, is by far the more superior CB, in terms of quality, intelligence, agility, speed and sharpness, and until he actually demonstrates an inability to perform at this level, given the quality of our current CB, I’d get him up to full match sharpness, and play him, alongside Brown.

I don't know why Mousinho is being written off on grounds of age. Richard Wood was Rotherham's centre half in 39 of their league games last season. And he's 37!!

 

[Mad Dog]

I don't know why Mousinho is being written off on grounds of age. Richard Wood was Rotherham's centre half in 39 of their league games last season. And he's 37!!

Exactly

 

[Essexyellows]

Have we sold our allocation?

Don`t think so......

 

[Foley]

I’m afraid I’m yet to be convinced by him, but I hope he proves me wrong.

We all have our views of course but most I have spoken to ( and on here) seem to rate Findlay

 

[Foley]

I don't know why Mousinho is being written off on grounds of age. Richard Wood was Rotherham's centre half in 39 of their league games last season. And he's 37!!

Tend to agree
He proved on Tuesday that he is a decent player ( against a very good team) and played 60 minutes looking fine with little match fitness