- Joined
- 5 Dec 2017
- Messages
- 8,638
A weeks a long time in politics, its a lifetime in football.I'd be interested to know if those who have publicly stated that they will not be getting season tickets next season, or have lost their love for the club, have changed their minds in the last few weeks?
There was criticism of the manager and board for departing from the plans of Manning, but today at least shows that a change in style can be even more effective, and fits with the Oxford United dna. There's lots more work to do, but even if unsuccessful through the playoffs, there are signs that next season could be really special.
And off the pitch we are only a couple of months away from a decision on the stadium, and I believe that things are looking more positive than some were suggesting only a week or 2 ago.
This feels like we could be on the brink of some special times for the club, and whilst I respect anyone stepping away for whatever reason, now seems a strange time to do so.
Nice tryThought their right winger in second half looked quite good, probably the only player for them who stood out a bit. How bad was that keeper too? Some of his short passing to his defenders was terrible and causing loads of panic, our pressing was excellent though.
Yep - as I said to my mate's Derby supporting mate, who we snuck into the SSU, our subs made us weaker, Derby's made them stronger.I remember this game Dick. Weren’t we threadbare on the bench with no one to bring on? I thought this match was one of our better performances. We almost pulled off a result of some sort when we genuinely had no squad that day.
It would be good if one of our resident stattos could do a PPG(Manager with analyst) vs PPG(Manager only) for this season.I was wondering whether the analyst was making quite a difference
I am really pleased for Des. He seems a decent guy and it's great to see the attacking exciting way that we are currently playing.
It’s difficult to do as it was only announced on 25th March and since then we have drawn 1-1 with Shrewsbury and won 4-0,4-0 and 5-0.It would be good if one of our resident stattos could do a PPG(Manager with analyst) vs PPG(Manager only) for this season.
It`ll take a while for DB to find his feet, learn about the players etc etc and the last 2 results have probably proved that.
one of the best all round team performances ,( with a deserved big win), that Ive seen in a whileWe were outstanding yesterday, the best we’ve played all season
And that’s a key point. We are all rightly talking about Josh Murphy but actually it was a complete team performance. Sam Long - to pick one example among many - playing at centre back, Josh McEa a standout performance, Owen Dale another outlet, RR hitting some form etc et.one of the best all round team performances ,( with a deserved big win), that Ive seen in a while
He seems to be very progressive with the way he wants to play. I don't think any game under Manning was quite like yesterday. Manning was all about possession, there was control even it was dull at times. Des ball seems to be developing into moving it quickly to the front five (yes Oxford are playing with a front 5, Southgate take note!). Doing that will inevitably mean conceding possession at times. The possession thing is an interesting one, do we think those stats from the beeb are accurate ? There will be games where we need to find control. Giving 70 percent possession to some teams, will hurt us. I thought Peterborough might have been one of them.Fair comment.
Do you think Des will be looking for more possession, especially against the better sides, or was that his perfect performance today? I was amazed by the possession stat, it certainly didn’t feel like that to me and I felt we were in complete control with just 30% possession. It was the best I’ve seen us press today too, we had that drop off in intensity around the 80 minute mark but the game was in the bag by then.
We seem to be a counter-attacking side who look to break with pace, so I wouldn’t worry too much about not having possession. It’s very exciting and enjoyable to watch.He seems to be very progressive with the way he wants to play. I don't think any game under Manning was quite like yesterday. Manning was all about possession, there was control even it was dull at times. Des ball seems to be developing into moving it quickly to the front five (yes Oxford are playing with a front 5, Southgate take note!). Doing that will inevitably mean conceding possession at times. The possession thing is an interesting one, do we think those stats from the beeb are accurate ? There will be games where we need to find control. Giving 70 percent possession to some teams, will hurt us. I thought Peterborough might have been one of them.
We seem to be a counter-attacking side who look to break with pace, so I wouldn’t worry too much about not having possession. It’s very exciting and enjoyable to watch.
I'm not worrying, I was firmly in the give Buckingham time camp, to stamp his progressive style on the team. I'm just pointing out that if those stats are correct , there will be times where we will be punished for giving teams that much possession.We seem to be a counter-attacking side who look to break with pace, so I wouldn’t worry too much about not having possession. It’s very exciting and enjoyable to watch.
Possession stats generally demonstrate that you don't need to dominate possession all the time to win matches which is the outlier example of Leicester. However, there is a but and that but is that stats show that you are more likely to win matches if you dominate possession. Yesterday was amazing but it could have been a different outcome if Peterborough hadn't hit the bar to make it 1-1. I don't mind us playing a counter attacking style but clearly at the moment it relies on the absolute pace of Murphy and we will give up chances. The summer transfer window will define whether we can play that style for a whole season or not. Clearly we would need a couple more flying wingers in the building to make it work. For the record, I would love Southgate to get England playing a bit more like this.Leicester won a premier league title by countering at pace. It can shore up your defence as well as helping you score.
Suits us better than trying to play through countless phases for me, our attacks tended to break down before we were in a decent position anyway so the chance to catch teams out quickly is worth the risk of giving the ball away, we are not trading to much for the obvious gains.