Home Match Day Thread +++ 28/9/2019 L1 OUFC v Gillingham +++

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It was ironic that Taylor who is so good at poaching goals was berating one of our players for a bad through ball when their goalie spilled the ball. If he was watching play he could have bagged another goal.

Thought our passing and movement was sublime. Gillingham didnt get a sniff.
 
Still can't work out why Sykes can't even make the bench, and I am beginning to wonder what Akyei has done wrong as well!

The first team is picking itself in the league right now with Mackie/Taylor rotating the no.9 role.

The bench is about picking the players who are able to offer as much cover as possible or able to change the game. Whilst there can be a debate about Sykes/Hall I really can't see how you could include Ageyi at this stage without unbalancing the bench. It's simply a case of having strength in depth which has to be a good thing.

It's incredible that we can make the changes we did in midweek without losing any quality, and as was mentioned yesterday, it shows you how far we've come when we are arguing between who is the 16th best outfield player to take a place on the bench.
 
Exactly this.

I was slightly worried going into the game - because I knew Gillingham would be big and ugly and I thought the Fat Crook would have them working hard.

After two minutes, they basically hadn't had the ball and weren't harrying us to get it back - they were letting us play, and just focusing on keeping their shape. Soon as I saw that, I was confident of the win.



If you sit back and let us play, we've got too many good footballers for most opponents at this level. We'll find the gaps and exploit them.
Still it's one thing wanting to employ a high press - it requires bags of stamina and commitment to keep it going for 90 minutes......

shall I post this to the rest of the L1 clubs?
 
Of course the first half performance, with some outstanding attacking football and goals flying in was fun.

But in a perverse sort of way I almost enjoyed the second half more. Watching us do a professional job on a Steve Evans team, and snuff out their chances by reducing the game to a niggly, stop-start pedestrian affair where they couldn’t get close to our goal (whilst he flapped his arms around in his odd little gilet/white shirt combo) was a delight...
 
Just watched the extended highlights, and I think I can see what we have now that we didn't before.

There is a level of support all over the pitch that wasn't there at the start of the season. It's probably mainly due to the increased levels of stamina (thanks Shorty), but also just a real togetherness and willingness to burst a gut for each other.

We've looked good in the middle of the park all season, but I remember feeling like the front three and back four were constantly isolated. But now, whether defending or attacking, there are 6/7 yellow shirts in and around the box, rather then 3/4. The levels of tracking back from the likes of Woodburn and even Fosu is really impressive for so-called 'flair players'.

Whether you're a CB or CF, being isolated and knowing you have the sole responsibility of winning/not losing a match, there's going to be that increase in pressure, which led to the mistakes and easy misses we saw at the start of the season.

It's also so good to see Matty Taylor up front. Knowing that if you get a cross into empty space, we have someone with the instinct to know where to put himself. He made the finish for our second look simple, but we haven't had that kind of natural finisher in years.

However, quick note for Easty. After Charlton last year, and Gillingham yesterday, could we run a session with him on the Kassam pitch, where he can get fully up to speed on the dynamics of ball velocity? Through balls never seem to carry quite as far as he's expecting them to!
 
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I was one of them, because Sykes shows more pace and energy as a rule (IMO).

Henry proved me wrong in spades yesterday and was deservedly motm. One moment in the first half when he lost the ball then fought like a tiger to get it back, then used it showed that when he's on it he's a very good player at this level. Hope he keeps the hunger.
 
To be fair Gillingham were poor you can’t argue with that - nothing we did made them put simple passes straight out of play rather than to a player! It was almost unbelievable how many times they did that!

Have to disagree a little with that.

From memory a number of those passes were as a result of the pressure we put them under to force the error. I may be wrong though.
 
Where the t**t who wants to get rid of Henry? Let’s taunt the fool
Based on last season’s going’s on, the man you speak of can be found in the dugout between 3pm and 4:50pm most Saturday’s. Feel free to wave your todger at him to show your displeasure.

Henry wanted a new contract nearly a year ago but still hasn’t been offered one while numerous others have. Will that change in the weeks and months ahead? You’d have to say his form is very good this season, he’s been the top scorer the last two campaigns and is currently at the front again on six goals.
 
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