Fan's View Fan's View 21/22 - no.39 - Cambridge at home

[Paul B]

Fan's View - No.39 - Cambridge at home

 

[oldabingdonian]

Thank you, Paul.

I agree about Stevens, as I have done previously.

It's a long time since I have seen a better all-round contribution to an Oxford game than Ryan Williams's on Saturday. He nearly prevented their second goal into the bargain.

 

[TailsWeWin]

It does look to me as though the Taylor goal followed a deft flick from Baldock. He’s an extremely intelligent player and may well make all the difference to our goals scored on the run-in. It does appear that Taylor enjoys playing with him; I hope KR can now see how more effective two up front is.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Stevens is currently concerning me a bit too. He was (again) fairly hesitant on a couple of occasions when coming out for crosses and was (again) beaten a shot across his goal. Is there a problem with his positioning?

Another point - if Bodin isn't on the pitch, can we try someone else other than Kane taking the corners? They are quite poor. And while we are on corners, please can we leave just one player a bit further up the pitch when defending them? There is absolutely no outlet should we get hold of the ball, which almost inevitably leads to extended periods of pressure on our slightly creaky defence.

I agree with Cheltenham Yellow - we look so much more effective with two up front (4 goals from 5 shots on target according to the BBC) and hope we stick with it.

 

[ljs]

Stevens is currently concerning me a bit too. He was (again) fairly hesitant on a couple of occasions when coming out for crosses and was (again) beaten a shot across his goal. Is there a problem with his positioning?

Another point - if Bodin isn't on the pitch, can we try someone else other than Kane taking the corners? They are quite poor. And while we are on corners, please can we leave just one player a bit further up the pitch when defending them? There is absolutely no outlet should we get hold of the ball, which almost inevitably leads to extended periods of pressure on our slightly creaky defence.

I agree with Cheltenham Yellow - we look so much more effective with two up front (4 goals from 5 shots on target according to the BBC) and hope we stick with it.

Agree about Kane's corners generally being poor.

Also, leaving one player up the pitch has been said for a few seasons now, for the reason you mention, but just doesn't seem to be something that KR wants to do. To me the benefit of having an outlet ball and/or having someone there to put pressure on to stop the ball coming straight back in far outweighs the benefit of someone like Whyte defending.

 

[Carlislehotdog]

Agree about Kane's corners generally being poor.

Also, leaving one player up the pitch has been said for a few seasons now, for the reason you mention, but just doesn't seem to be something that KR wants to do. To me the benefit of having an outlet ball and/or having someone there to put pressure on to stop the ball coming straight back in far outweighs the benefit of someone like Whyte defending.

On the other hand though, it clears out space in the penalty area which is going to be a benefit for the side attacking the corner. Look at Sheffield Wednesday, they shoved two players right up to the half way line when defending corners, and suddenly Oxford looked like a threat when taking them. I'm sure part of that was having Bodin on the dead balls, but would Winnall have been able to get right into the middle of the six yard box and put his head on it if there had been four extra people milling about in the box?

 

[ljs]

On the other hand though, it clears out space in the penalty area which is going to be a benefit for the side attacking the corner. Look at Sheffield Wednesday, they shoved two players right up to the half way line when defending corners, and suddenly Oxford looked like a threat when taking them. I'm sure part of that was having Bodin on the dead balls, but would Winnall have been able to get right into the middle of the six yard box and put his head on it if there had been four extra people milling about in the box?

Are we that good at defending corners with a packed penalty area anyway? Just from a feeling, without any stats, then I don't think so.

 

[Paul B]

Following info provided by the ever reliable Andy Howland.
10 consecutive Manor crowds of 10k plus - Mar 12 - Aug 30 1986 - Villa (League Cup) then 9 consec League matches Villa 13989 (2-1) Newcastle 10052 (1-2) QPR 11910 (3-3) Villa 11406 (1-1) Watford 10680 (1-1) Everton 13939 (1-0) Forest 11845 (1-2) Arsenal 13651 (3-0) 1986-87 Chelsea 11238 (1-1) West Ham 11684 (0-0)

 

[werthersoriginal]

Thank you, Paul.

I agree about Stevens, as I have done previously.

It's a long time since I have seen a better all-round contribution to an Oxford game than Ryan Williams's on Saturday. He nearly prevented their second goal into the bargain.

To be fair it was his job to prevent it! He was great on Saturday but both their goals were so sloppy. He went walkabout for the second and Stevens should have stopped it.

 

[Foley]

Thank you Paul for your usual excellent FV.
With regard to Sam Smith, I think that he has developed and he came to us before he was ready ( a little like Tyler Roberts)
When he was at Oxford he was 19/20 and now he is 23. This is the first season he has really started scoring.
His antics were enough me suggesting that he would be a potentially good signing!

 

[DavidB]

I’m of an age that mental health issues don’t exist, just pull yourself together and get on with it. When I saw those 2 little girls run on to the pitch, it makes you realise what sort of state you must be in to take your own life. I stood there in floods of tear with my grandson not knowing what to do. Then I looked around to find I wasn’t alone. I am so proud to be a fan of our club and manager for the way they handled it. Special shout out to Rosie as well. Took some balls to read out the response of the club. An unforgettable day.

 

[akilham]

Thanks Paul. Another excellent read. [emoji112]

 

[NottsYellow]

Thanks Paul.
Yes Sam Smith was pretty crap with us. I think most young players struggle with their first loan spell away from their parent club.
Take a certain Kemar Roofe, he had loans at Northampton, Cheltenham & Colchester between 2012 - 2014, and only scored 1 goal.
I think moral of story is you need to take these loanees when they have experienced 2 or 3 loans.
As above poster mentioned, Tyler Roberts is another example.

 

[Manorman]

Pretty much spot on as usual Paul. I agree with the other comments about Kane’s corners and in particular Stevens who at the moment makes me nervous. On current form I think Eastwood should be given another chance although one thing that we should consider is the constant changing of the back 4/5. Long, McNally, Moore and now Brown and also the departed Thorniley have all been missing for several matches on various occasions this season and this must be a concern to have so many different combinations of players in front of you. Mous is not an option and really a waste of a squad member which could/should have been filled by an experienced central defender.