Manager/Coach Des Buckingham

[Northstandboy]

Manager Stats (Click Below)

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[Sheik djibouti]

Considering what I’ve seen of MM & RR this season under a good coach then we know there’s outstanding L1 players in there.

It all comes back to the current manager.

Or more to the point their opinion of him and whether they are indeed sulking as has been suggested. Highly unprofessional of them if so.

 

[SteMerritt]

He is a football manager not the pope, it’s not a job for life.

Didn't the last Pope resign when he realised he wasn't up to the job?

 

[m]

Considering what I’ve seen of MM & RR this season under a good coach then we know there’s outstanding L1 players in there.

It all comes back to the current manager.

Do we though?

RR, possibly, willing to give the benefit of the doubt, as he could be adjusting after the step-up?

But MM? 120+ games, and he's really shone in 20 or 25?

Is he just a bang-average player who goes on a decent run now and then? How do you tell?

 

[ThatSlopesATwelfthMan]

Not sure why people are just calling out MM and RR. Murphy was pathetic the other night, a shockingly lacklustre and effortless performance. Cumming played with all the heart of a bloody pussycat - is he really doing his best ? Harris ? Was that really a performance full of effort, vigour and desire to do his best ? Harris has been really poor for about half a dozen games now, he seems to have given up. Personally, I don’t buy into what Leysboy is saying about just three players. It took him a lot of promoting to name the third player, why was that ?

Can anyone point to specific examples of where MM or RR have given up and not trying ? Maybe highlight the minute so we can all watch it and decide for ourselves. They - amongst a fair few others - both look out of form but they look confused as to what the game plan is. They are playing aimlessly but is that just reflective of a team who seem empty of ideas, have no identifiable style or patterns of play ? These two are at the heart of the team, in that engine room, but that’s the area where we look lost whoever plays there.

Can't speak for anyone else but the reasons I have been particularly focused on McGuane...

When we're out of possession his main job is to stay tight on opposing players in and around the D. To limit options for the opposition, break up play and allow the defence to focus on their jobs and stick to their shape. If done consistently he'd also start nicking the ball to spring counter attacks. He doesn't do this. In recent weeks he's not even pretended to. He wanders around at a canter while team mates chase the ball and become progressively stretched. We can argue about whether this is the right role for him but it's the role he's been given and fundamental to making a 433 work. He's capable of doing it adequately but isn't.


In possession his job is to ' be an option' for the back four or a distraction to open space for others. That requires constant movement and adjustment and a bit of bite and physicality. When receiving the ball he should be head up, assessing and either playing simple forward passes, running at the oppo or sending it back to rebuild if there's nothing on. He doesn't do this. He just keeps wandering then knocking it backwards, every single time backwards. In recent weeks he's almost been inviting opponents to press him out of the game. We can all swoon when he manages to take a high risk ball under huge pressure and wriggle his way out of trouble (he's a very skillful player) but more often than not he's only having to do this because he's in the wrong place at the wrong time. Unacceptable.

The whole midfield is ill disciplined and underperforming (even cam) versus the first half of the season so it's not all about McGuane alone but he is, I think, the biggest offender and has the single biggest impact on our lousy performances.

 

[Victor1986]

We’ve got to start with both Harris and Goodwin.

You, me & about five thousand others can see this - why can't our 'manager'? However I fear that WG is going to prove to be "fragile" & a real desperate waste of the money at a time when we were under pressure to get another striker - & we ended up with him!

 

[East Stand Fan]

Isn’t it about time we played that rather expensive lad from Cheltenham? If he can’t get into the side when we’re in this sort of form, then he never will.
Unless we bought yet another unfit, fragile, 25- minute player of course?……

I don’t get how we spent £400k on a player to sit on the bench. I thought the whole point was to strengthen the front line to support and ease the burden on Harris whilst providing an extra outlet for goals. We may as well just kept O’Donkor if this is what it’s going to be like.

Desmond also bottled playing two up top against Cheltenham because we played well against Pompey and he wanted to stick. We played poorly throughout and were lucky to win yet had we tried two up front, it could’ve been a far more convincing and bigger win against a relegation outfit.

If the lad doesn’t start Saturday then serious questions have to be asked.

 

[Symp59]

We the fans ,the club,the players and Des will all be asking questions I think anything but a win saturday will not be excepted.COYY let's win 3-0

 

[Salaghaf]

How about we get Warnock in as a helping hand until the end of the season, back to basics defending, gee the players up a bit.

 

[Scrongo]

We the fans ,the club,the players and Des will all be asking questions I think anything but a win saturday will not be excepted.COYY let's win 3-0

Ummm Oxford United on a free fall, against Port Vale fighting for survival Away. We can only hope.....

 

[Big Ronaldo]

Yes, pathetic isn’t it. There’s humour and there’s just stuff that is so childish and cringeworthy. Embarrassing, he’ll grow up in time - hopefully.

Sorry ‘Dick,’ Knobinson it is for the foreseeable.
Don’t like it? Don’t read it!

 

[Foley]

You, me & about five thousand others can see this - why can't our 'manager'? However I fear that WG is going to prove to be "fragile" & a real desperate waste of the money at a time when we were under pressure to get another striker - & we ended up with him!

Er no. Many of here have totally different opinions. This nonsense about all of the crowd think this so it must be right, and so the manager must be am idiot for not seeing something so obvious!
On Tuesday, I would bet that most/ many would have started with the same team/ formation that played well at Pompey and best Cheltenham? You presumably wouldn't have done.

 

[Foley]

Sorry ‘Dick,’ Knobinson it is for the foreseeable.
Don’t like it? Don’t read it!

Why? It does seem a bit child like?

 

[Sheik djibouti]

Wouldn't be averse to seeing Harris a bit wider and Goodwin down the middle in the starting line up, with Dale the other side. . . .

Central midfield is the problem. If only we could clone Brannagan and have one in his defensive role and the other in the 10 role . . .or if only Matete was suddenly up to the job he was actually brought in to do it would at least go some way to solving that problem. Actually, McEachran started in a number of those early successes for Manning at the start of the season....does anyone think he's the answer now?? (I don't by the way!).

Is Goodrham supposed to be back for this Saturday too?

 

[MC Yellow]

What if he picks RR and MM and they both perform superbly?

(Not trying to be a dickhead, just wondering whether this would then be seen as a good act of management)

I would hope that it would be because he put a rocket up their backside and got a performance out of them.

Off course, we would have no way of knowing until a run of games and a significant uplift in ongoing performance.

 

[Bitter]

It's what @Leysboy has assured us is the case, Dick. He has now named McGuane, Rodrigues and Bodin as the three players who had "downed tools" as he put it because they didn't want Buckingham as manager. I was surmising that if he is indeed the case (and who are we to say it isn't), then it might explain why both MM and RR have been so shockingly poor of late.

In addition, I'm not sure which game you were watching exactly, but MM barely touched the ball or did anything of note....even less than he's done in the last dozen or so games. It stuck out like a sore thumb. Likewise with RR, he did very little of note at all, apart from being lucky not to be sent off for a combination of rash challenges and backchat to the ref. He has also been poor for months, with the exception of the odd glimmer to remind us there's a decent footballer in there somewhere.

Whether both are trying or not, both are poor right now and have been for months. That alone warrants them being dropped.

If true then can we sue them for our money back? Tell them to grow up and grow some b*lls.

If player's are throwing their toys out the pram because they didn't get their own way, then they have no place at Oxford united (or any other club). So we sack Buckingham, what then, six months time players throw their toys out the pram again because they don't like the manager?

 

[Sheik djibouti]

If true then can we sue them for our money back? Tell them to grow up and grow some b*lls.

If player's are throwing their toys out the pram because they didn't get their own way, then they have no place at Oxford united (or any other club). So we sack Buckingham, what then, six months time players throw their toys out the pram again because they don't like the manager?

You've kind of made my point for me there. We've been led to believe by some that player power (and from some regular starters too) is purposefully sabotaging efforts to sustain our push for the play offs this season and that it is not down to the manager being completely crap. They have been named on here by Leysboy, so unless he's going to retract and say he made a mistake/has no actual evidence that this is the case, then we can only assume that Buckingham is trying to operate with effectively one hand tied behind his back.

Buckingham himself may not have been aware that this was the case, but now they have been named, perhaps he can reflect on some individual performances and decide whether those now warrant future inclusion in the team. The very least a manager should expect from any group of players is that they try their best for the common cause (because actually it benefits them to do so in the long run). If he finds out he doesn't have that, then he has to act, simple as that.

If we (well the board) decide that it is all down to Buckingham being inept, the yes they will sack him (when they get round to it . .they're a bit busy right now). And this decision may be taken on performance and results alone, despite the fact that he may have senior players actively undermining him and despite the fact that he has not been given the same level of support with the staff around him as was afforded to Manning when they appointed him last season and despite the fact that they KNEW he was nowhere near the finished article and were appointing him based on the potential for him to develop here (hence the long contract), but decided no to give him some managerial support on the footballing side to help that process...and maybe stamp out some of the "downing of tools" from players before it even happened....who knows.

The fact remains that the blame for this all lies squarely with the senior managers that appointed Buckingham and then effectively hung him out to dry.

 

[Followtheox1]

Blimey, aren't we an entitled lot, polls on sacking the manager now. The football isn't good, that much is a given, but sacking Des is not the answer, I suspect it wont be long before people are asking for the next manager to be sacked after a few months. The problem lies with the CEO and chairman, Manning had what he wanted with backroom staff, when he left, they all went with him, Des has had nothing like what Manning had, I suspect because our CEO accountant has tightened the purse strings for any of that. At least give the man a decent backroom set up, if it's still no good, then by all means re-assess the situation.

With millions of pounds worth of losses a year, how would you manage the purse strings?

 

[Bitter]

With millions of pounds worth of losses a year, how would you manage the purse strings?

Not sure, but then I am neither an accountant or a CEO.

If you are saying the purse strings have to be tightened, fair enough. But if they are serious about a 'Top 30 Club', that will cost money, can't have it both ways. Kassam tightened the purse strings, look what happened.

 

[greatunclekip]

The fact remains that the blame for this all lies squarely with the senior managers that appointed Buckingham and then effectively dry.

I’m not sure that’s completely true. And I am no fan of the Chuckles believe me.

The crux of the last few games rounding up to Bolton has been a lack of basic coaching on defensive positioning, attacking strategy, and a game plan.

All of that is on the head coach. Fundamentally players don’t know what they are doing. And that eats away at trust.

Take Ruben for example. Player of the year til November, outstanding at Orient. Yes he might have had a bit of a sulk about it not being Luke Williams, but I’m sure if Des came in with a plan and got results, that soon dissipates. Couple the initial disappointment with not having a clue what your role is, your team mates not knowing what their role is, and s**t results, and it’s easy to see how you might get a bit mardy.

Chris Wilder didn’t come in with an assistant and coaching staff, he came in with a plan and a way of playing that everyone knew their role. It’s basic management.

Des absolutely should have been allowed to bring in his own assistant, or, as I advocated at the time, someone like Cotterill should have been brought in (doing a great job at FGR btw) to help bounce ideas off. But ultimately, the manager has to be on the hook for f*****g abysmal tactics and coaching.

Clotet got pelters for the shite he was serving up, yet he was inexperienced too, we didn’t defend the lack of support or blame the board, we wanted him gone. Des is worse. With Clotet there was semblance of a plan, he just brought in shite who couldn’t play it!

 

[dickwalton1964]

It's what @Leysboy has assured us is the case, Dick. He has now named McGuane, Rodrigues and Bodin as the three players who had "downed tools" as he put it because they didn't want Buckingham as manager. I was surmising that if he is indeed the case (and who are we to say it isn't), then it might explain why both MM and RR have been so shockingly poor of late.

In addition, I'm not sure which game you were watching exactly, but MM barely touched the ball or did anything of note....even less than he's done in the last dozen or so games. It stuck out like a sore thumb. Likewise with RR, he did very little of note at all, apart from being lucky not to be sent off for a combination of rash challenges and backchat to the ref. He has also been poor for months, with the exception of the odd glimmer to remind us there's a decent footballer in there somewhere.

Whether both are trying or not, both are poor right now and have been for months. That alone warrants them being dropped.

To be honest, a lot of it was a blur to me the other night. We were two down and playing hopelessly, I was channel hopping for most of the rest of the night so I didn't sit through every nauseating minute, although I did seem to catch a lot of the defining moments and saw enough glimpses of individuals to get the picture. If you're dropping those two though shouldn't there be few more joining them ? What about Cumming ? Eastwood isn't an untried 16 year old, he's an experienced keeper and I'm dumfounded as to how Cumming can keep his place. Forget effort but playing wise I think he's been right up there with MM, RR, Brown and Harris. All five should have a spell out of the side.