Away Match Day Thread 29/03/24 - L1: Shrewsbury v OUFC

[Carpy]

POST MATCH PACK:

Post Match Discussion

Interview - Des Buckingham

Interview - Billy Bodin

Interview - Paul Hurst

Match Highlights

Match Report

Ref Watch

Fans View

 

[dickwalton1964]

Really?! He has been one of the best performers behind Dale and Murphy every week. In fact if we didn’t have Brannagan in the side then I’d say we wouldn’t be still in the mix right now.

Agree re Brannagan, although great as he is, I do sometimes wonder whether cashing in and pressing the reset button and starting afresh in midfield might not be the worse thing. He’s been great for us though.

Re Dale and Murphy, I think they’ve both been excellent in spells of games but probably still awaiting consistent 90 minute performances from them both. Murphy did well yesterday for the goal but one other run aside it was a bit airy fairy from him I thought. Dale is a bundle of energy, decent technically, but needs a better delivery and needs to get past his man more. The byline cross for Leigh’s goal was excellent wing play but got to produce it more.

 

[christenedinjericho]

The thought of going to Shrewsbury around Easter again is looking unfortunately, like a shoe in, only next time it will be with around 2 to 300 fans (unless we are top 2) as most people if we stay in this division again will start to find other things to do.

I've now probably done this ground eight times and that's not forgetting the hello there days at the meadow.

I hope we sneak in and find some B*****s from somewhere as the thought of more of the same next year really isn't going to see any massive growth in the take up of season tickets for next season especially since the club never once this season said that we had hit over the 5k mark!

Fleetwood once our nemesis- but if we toil and f*ck around on Easter Monday and sneak a point or God forbid lose I can already imagine the boo's that will happen and even with my tinnitus this will be hard to avoid.

COYY'S

 

[Essexyellows]

Lovely day out with my Salopian friend & his wife in their posh seats.
Thought it was a cracking game of football, lovely weather with our away following making a good old racket.
We had moments of really sharp, technical football that lacked the end result and, as ever, were the merchants of our own downfall.
The defending, as highlighted for their equaliser, was woeful and looked even worse from higher up.
We stood of them so far at least 3 players could take as much time as they wanted to pick a pass and finish.
I was left looking for players closing down or chasing the ball...........think they had all switched off at the same time!
My friend thought they were lucky to get a point but I had told him before the game we always concede at least 1!

Onwards and upwards on the roller coaster.

 

[Mad Dog]

So you’re not willing to give the manager an opportunity to build his own squad of players in the summer?

I was all for Des being given the summer to build his own squad, in the same way MApp was given a chance to after his first season here initially using a squad that wasn’t his.

But the difference is, you could see what MApp was trying to achieve with that awful squad he’d inherited, but they just weren’t good enough, then he had a January transfer window, and he brought in some real quality, and we were much better in the 2nd half of the season, and finished the season strongly, I think we were unbeaten in the final 8 games, winning most if not all of them if I remember correctly? And it was clear he should be given a summer window after that.

But the squad Des inherited was nowhere near as bad as the one MApp did, and although we weren’t exactly playing great football by that stage under Manning, Des has made them so much worse, and has since had a January window to at least show that he could improve the situation given a full summer window, but brought in players who were either crap (Cumming) already injured for months and for pretty much the remainder of the season (Edwards) already injured before they even signed with a history of struggling with injuries (Goodwin) or clearly nowhere near fit enough to play (Matete)

The only half decent player he signed has been Dale, who let’s be honest, other than a couple of moments of quality, and for all his efforts and commitment, the jury is still out on.

I think Des has shown with the current squad, that he’s just not a very good manager, the football is absolutely awful and the players look lost and uninterested, and that is down to the manager I’m afraid.

Imagine if we hadn’t already accumulated the points we had under Manning before Des took over, we’d be in real trouble now, and in a relegation fight.

I don’t want to go into a summer window with a manager who looks so out of his depth at this level.
Our existing players look like they don’t want to play under Buckingham, and I worry any potential summer signings will feel the same.

It was a nice idea to bring Des in, a young manager and a local lad, and one we all hoped would work, but from day one it’s been so underwhelming and uninspiring, and it just hasn’t worked.

It’s all gone stale, both on the pitch and in the dugout, and we need a huge rebuild in both departments, starting this summer…

 

[Steve Gilbert]

I really must have been at a different game yesterday with so many people saying it was boring.
It was end to end attacking football with plenty of balls going into the box and chances created.
If we had been able to finish better then we would have won comfortably. That isn’t Des’s fault that players couldn’t finish yesterday.

They switched off towards the end and got punished but that what happens if you don’t take your chances, again though Des wouldn’t have told the team to switch off and not to close players down on the edge of the box.

It’s become a lazy comment from many when they say there is no style of play from a DB team when there is a clear style and has been for weeks now.
The issue is, he doesn’t have a squad of players who fully fit into this way of playing so for me maybe he should be given a chance to put his own squad together.

 

[Pgyellow]

It wasn't boring it was frustrating

 

[Gregortheox]

I can’t keep away. Part of me wants to go on a negative rant but thought it was better to spew up something productive here….

Should have included earlier for the need to look at finishing training. This is where we should be looking to hit the urgency button, take a good positive 1st touch and then hit the target. Coach on topic and devise 2vs1, 3vs2 and 4vs3 overload exercises with time limits on hitting the target. We are way too casual in the final 3rd.

Line up vs Fleetwood…

Cumming

Dale. Negru Moore Thorniley Leigh

Mcguane. Cam. Mcech

Harris. Murphy

Justification: we need to get our attacking width from Dale and Leigh. They are not expected to be conventional full backs. If we are countered I would expect cover from one of midfield 3 and or the wing back who is deeper at the time to make up a defensive unit. We will not defend deep or drop in.

I think Long and Brown need a rest for different reasons. Greg Leigh is a major attacking threat and needs to be deployed at home if fit. The midfield 3 should get a grip and play wide or thru quickly to Harris and Murphy…and occasionally over the Fleetwood defence.

I want to see Harris and Murphy playing close together as both a technically sound and have the ability to play off the last man.

I’m having problems with RR and Long right now, Bodin has 20 mins in him, and Browne and Tyler can give us a front 3 if required later on.

 

[dickwalton1964]

I really must have been at a different game yesterday with so many people saying it was boring.
It was end to end attacking football with plenty of balls going into the box and chances created.
If we had been able to finish better then we would have won comfortably. That isn’t Des’s fault that players couldn’t finish yesterday.

They switched off towards the end and got punished but that what happens if you don’t take your chances, again though Des wouldn’t have told the team to switch off and not to close players down on the edge of the box.

It’s become a lazy comment from many when they say there is no style of play from a DB team when there is a clear style and has been for weeks now.
The issue is, he doesn’t have a squad of players who fully fit into this way of playing so for me maybe he should be given a chance to put his own squad together.

Fine. What is the style?

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Fine. What is the style?

Play from the back to bring opposition out which creates space in behind for the ball to be played to the wingers who then put balls into the box, you have multiple players now making various runs/holding back for those crosses.
This way of playing has been evident for quite a few games now (Bolton aside as that was just a shambles).

The problem comes when we have committed so many players forward for the attacks that we often get overloaded when the play breaks down. This is the area where Des needs to get the team improving. With the ball we are pretty good, without it, not so much!

 

[ZeroTheHero]

It’s become a lazy comment from many when they say there is no style of play from a DB team when there is a clear style and has been for weeks now.
The issue is, he doesn’t have a squad of players who fully fit into this way of playing so for me maybe he should be given a chance to put his own squad together.

If the style of play is: move the ball about at the back to try and create space, and then either try to pass the ball all the way through the opposition or put the ball through/over for the wingers to chase, then yes, that is a style of play of sorts. But it is incredibly basic. It is also (evidently) not working. All too often the ball gets bogged down in midfield or lost, the movement of both the ball and the players is much too slow and it all looks very disjointed at times - the players themselves are visibly frustrated. I worry for Brannagan's blood pressure!

You may be right in that we don't have the players to play the way Buckingham wants. If that is the case, then surely trying to make them play that way is ridiculous. By all means recruit in the summer specifically for that style, but a decent manager should be looking to maximise the potential of the players he actually has, rather than playing them in a system to which they are unsuited? It sort of suggests that the manager has one way of setting up a team and one way only - which in itself would be a worry. He's had enough games to know the capabilities of the players.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

If the style of play is: move the ball about at the back to try and create space, and then either try to pass the ball all the way through the opposition or put the ball through/over for the wingers to chase, then yes, that is a style of play of sorts. But it is incredibly basic. It is also (evidently) not working. All too often the ball gets bogged down in midfield or lost, the movement of both the ball and the players is much too slow and it all looks very disjointed at times - the players themselves are visibly frustrated. I worry for Brannagan's blood pressure!

You may be right in that we don't have the players to play the way Buckingham wants. If that is the case, then surely trying to make them play that way is ridiculous. By all means recruit in the summer specifically for that style, but a decent manager should be looking to maximise the potential of the players he actually has, rather than playing them in a system to which they are unsuited? It sort of suggests that the manager has one way of setting up a team and one way only - which in itself would be a worry. He's had enough games to know the capabilities of the players.

Appleton had 1 way of setting up, so did Manning, so did Robinson. Most managers stick to one core style.
He has finally started to utilise the players we have, an example of this is Bennett over Leigh, sticking with Dale and Murphy as the out and out wingers, dropping Brannagan deeper to bring in another attacking midfielder to play along side Rodrigues.
There are 2 issues though, Des has done this too late and should have made these chances a good while ago. Secondly we have 2 right backs that aren’t up to it, Bodin and Henry who are aging players and while both have had great careers, are no longer up to the required standard, McEachran who is at the back end of his career (although I wouldn’t mind seeing him get a bit more game time in the next 6 games), Browne who is coming back from a long term injury, Goodwin who seems to be struggling to get fit and looks like he needs a proper recovery period and a full preson, and Edwards who is out long term.

The squad just doesn’t have the depth or talent needed at this moment in time.

 

[tonyw]

The first 20 seconds of that are incredible.

- Shrewsbury player picks it up on the left, strides forward (no real pace), with the time and space to constantly look up, brings it inside to the edge of the area, and crosses - without a yellow shirt in the frame.

- Ball comes back out, another Shrewsbury player has time to control, look up, have another touch, deliver another cross - once again without a yellow shirt in the frame (let alone attempting to tackle/block).

Anyone watching that could reasonably conclude that we were, at that time, playing with 9 men - and most certainly without a Right Back.

Woeful.

I forced myself to watch the goal again, to see if it was indeed as collectively terrible as I thought at the time, and I think actually it might be worse.

It starts with nothing but a long punt forward from their keeper which Moore heads weakly into their left channel. I think he's trying to find Long, but it's not a great effort and it would probably be better off in that circumstance putting it out of play.......

.......because when the Shrewsbury player picks it up on the left, there is absolutely noone anywhere near him. If you pause the extended highlights at 5:41, then our back four is roughly in position, McEachran is sitting in front of them, and the other half of our team are between 5 and 50 yards behind their men. The Shrews have seven men in our half, while Cam has just about made it back to the centre circle and the other four are still in the opposition half and barely in the frame.

This is the frickin' 80th minute of a game we're winning by a single goal at the business end of the season, where we need three points to stay in the playoff places. What the hell are we doing committing that many bodies that far forward, and why the hell are the Shrewsbury players working harder to get forward than we're working to track them back?!?

Shrewsbury were so lacking in footballing talent that they were never going to score if we just kept a solid structure and worked the ball around for the last ten. Instead our forwards (including Cam) were playing like there were five minutes to go in a cup tie we were losing.

I get the notion that we don't want to only sit back and invite pressure on us (this was the main criticism of Manning in games like the one against Blackpool) but there's a huge middle ground between doing that, and what we did which is leave the defense + McEachran to entirely fend for themselves (which of course, they then didn't do very well).

Just straight up criminal. Not enough discipline, and not enough plain old hard work. And whilst the players deserve fingers to be pointed at them, ultimately the buck stops with Des. Because he should be responsible for developing a culture where disclipline and hard work is the minimum requirement (as it undoubtedly was under Manning, whatever you think of him). Or if the forward players were dead on their feet and had nothing left to give, then he should have seen that, and Leigh/Henry/Goodrham for Murphy/Bodin/Dale would have been the most obvious substitutions in the world to keep up our work rate and see out the game.

Really, really maddening.

 

[bazzer9461]

I really must have been at a different game yesterday with so many people saying it was boring.
It was end to end attacking football with plenty of balls going into the box and chances created.
If we had been able to finish better then we would have won comfortably. That isn’t Des’s fault that players couldn’t finish yesterday.

They switched off towards the end and got punished but that what happens if you don’t take your chances, again though Des wouldn’t have told the team to switch off and not to close players down on the edge of the box.

It’s become a lazy comment from many when they say there is no style of play from a DB team when there is a clear style and has been for weeks now.
The issue is, he doesn’t have a squad of players who fully fit into this way of playing so for me maybe he should be given a chance to put his own squad together.

With respect that’s Buckingham’s job to make sure they don’t switch of and on other occasions back on a 1-0 lead.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

With respect that’s Buckingham’s job to make sure they don’t switch of and on other occasions back on a 1-0 lead.

To a degree yes but he can’t physically close players down on the pitch.
Isn’t it the captains job on the pitch to lift the players too? I never see Moore being called out for a lack of leadership on the pitch?

 

[OX14]

With respect that’s Buckingham’s job to make sure they don’t switch of and on other occasions back on a 1-0 lead.

We rode our luck on a couple occasions yesterday where we had everyone defending in the box from a corner and no one to pick up the second ball outside the area. This allowed the opposition to take a touch and get a shot on goal , a better team against us would of put atleast 3 goals in yesterday.

This is down to Instructions to the players from the manager. I don't see a clear way in which Des wants us to play or even being able to adapt to different styles against us. I did with Appleton.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Appleton had 1 way of setting up, so did Manning, so did Robinson. Most managers stick to one core style.
He has finally started to utilise the players we have, an example of this is Bennett over Leigh, sticking with Dale and Murphy as the out and out wingers, dropping Brannagan deeper to bring in another attacking midfielder to play along side Rodrigues.
There are 2 issues though, Des has done this too late and should have made these chances a good while ago. Secondly we have 2 right backs that aren’t up to it, Bodin and Henry who are aging players and while both have had great careers, are no longer up to the required standard, McEachran who is at the back end of his career (although I wouldn’t mind seeing him get a bit more game time in the next 6 games), Browne who is coming back from a long term injury, Goodwin who seems to be struggling to get fit and looks like he needs a proper recovery period and a full preson, and Edwards who is out long term.

The squad just doesn’t have the depth or talent needed at this moment in time.

I agree with some of that. The squad is unbalanced, and badly composed. We have had a whole load of dodgy signings and injuries (some of which were fairly predictable) - although we now actually have most players in the squad available for selection.

I don't agree with some other points. Brannagan is wasted as a defensive midfielder - hence why various managers have tried McGuane, McEachran, Metete etc in that position. He can do a job there (as they say) but he is better further forward. He has had a couple of fairly poor performances in the more defensive role recently - and Buckingham brought McEachran on yesterday so that Brannagan could go further forward, so he can see that too. If Brannagan is the answer as a defensive midfielder then I am not sure what the question is! While I do agree that Bennett is a more solid defender, any manager who cannot find a role for the undoubtedly talented Leigh (who is also more capable of scoring a goal than our strikers are!) or brings him on with just a few minutes to go when we need a goal is not thinking clearly. I think I'd say the same about many of Buckingham's substitutions. I think he is in a somewhat difficult position and hasn't helped himself with many of the decisions he has made.

 

[QuietYeller]

Agree re Brannagan, although great as he is, I do sometimes wonder whether cashing in and pressing the reset button and starting afresh in midfield might not be the worse thing. He’s been great for us though.

Re Dale and Murphy, I think they’ve both been excellent in spells of games but probably still awaiting consistent 90 minute performances from them both. Murphy did well yesterday for the goal but one other run aside it was a bit airy fairy from him I thought. Dale is a bundle of energy, decent technically, but needs a better delivery and needs to get past his man more. The byline cross for Leigh’s goal was excellent wing play but got to produce it more.

What winger ever put in consistent 90 minute performances?? Lol
Lionel Messi? George Best? . Cant think of many others. Certainly at league 1 level….
Good lord Dicky boy!

 

[QuietYeller]

Rodrigues?

I know, he’s borderline at best right now

 

[RgYellows]

B

Lovely day out with my Salopian friend & his wife in their posh seats.
Thought it was a cracking game of football, lovely weather with our away following making a good old racket.
We had moments of really sharp, technical football that lacked the end result and, as ever, were the merchants of our own downfall.
The defending, as highlighted for their equaliser, was woeful and looked even worse from higher up.
We stood of them so far at least 3 players could take as much time as they wanted to pick a pass and finish.
I was left looking for players closing down or chasing the ball...........think they had all switched off at the same time!
My friend thought they were lucky to get a point but I had told him before the game we always concede at least 1!

Onwards and upwards on the roller coaster.

I wish you’d post like this more often

 

[QuietYeller]

More than 2 were shocking in that game.

They were. They all wanted dropping. That was my turning point on Des too. I can’t remember seeing so many unhappy disinterested Oxford players.