Summary
Oxford ran out 2-1 winners in a closely competed friendly at League Two side Barnet.
The U's took an early lead through the returning Stan Mills, who raced in behind and slotted calmly past the goalkeeper, after Mark Harris' flick on exposed Barnet's ridiculously high line. The game then quickly became fairly end-to-end, with United having spells of dominance and control of possession but being tested on a few occasions by the League Two outfit's pacy attack. Brodie Spencer put in a fantastic last ditch tackle to prevent Idris Kanu from having a clear shot at goal, and Simon Eastwood pulled off a couple of brilliant saves in the first half, with the standout being close-range reaction save to prevent a deflected effort by Kabongo Tshimanga. Oxford had plenty of attacking moments in the first period, with Tyler Goodrham being at the centre of lots of them, mostly culminating in crosses that no one was on the end of.
At half time, Stan Mills was replaced by Aidomo Emakhu, which reduced a lot of our direct threat down the right hand side, with Aidomo playing in an unnatural position for him. Barnet came out the stronger side in the second half, and finally got a reward for their positive play in the 54th minute, when a cut back was brilliantly smashed into the roof of the net by Adam Senior. Not long after, the U's changed their other 9 outfield players. This allowed the game to settle down a bit, but we looked lost for ideas at this point, with the game becoming much more of a typical pre-season friendly watch: a bit of an eye sore at times. Both sides had a couple of moments, but it was ultimately Oxford who had the deciding one, when Aidomo Emakhu skipped inside his man and played a lovely weighted through ball for Ruben Roosken who took a poor first touch but composed himself and played it across to Gatlin O'Donkor who powerfully struck the ball between the 'keeper's legs.
This meant that Aaron Ramsey went two wins from two in his first pre-season friendlies, albeit the results don't mean anything at this stage. There were encouraging bits of play from his side, particularly in the first half, where there was some beautiful link up play between the midfield and attack, which was very pleasing on the eye. Whilst this didn't carry into the second term, that's to be expected at this point in pre-season; fair play to Barnet who didn't allow us to dictate the game and gave us an intense, physical workout.
First half: Eastwood; Spencer, Golding, Brown, Currie; Vaulks, Bradney, Goodrham; Mills, Snowden, Harris
60' onwards: Eastwood; Kioso, Helik, Long, Leigh; Branngan, Sibley, McDonnell; Emakhu, Roosken, O'Donkor
Player Ratings
Simon Eastwood - 8/10 - Fairly comfortable in possession and as previously mentioned, made some top saves to keep the game at 1-0. Massively enhanced by confidence in him if Jamie Cumming is to go down at any point this season.
Brodie Spencer - 7/10 - Defensively very good, making some important one-on-one tackles. Struggled a bit on the ball but made up for it with some brilliant interventions at the back.
Peter Kioso - 4/10 - Got outpaced a couple of times by Barnet's winger and incredibly sloppy in possession, failing to make some very simple short passes.
Jack Currie - 6/10 - Comfortable as ever at the back. Made a couple of mistakes on the ball but overall wasn't too involved.
Greg Leigh - 5/10 - Hardly touched the ball and got beat a few times on the outside.
Ciaron Brown - 6/10 - Some good moments driving up the pitch with the ball, nothing to note defensively.
James Golding - 5/10 - Great in the air but made some silly errors with the ball at his feet; misplacing a number of passes.
Michal Helik - 6/10 - Not much to say at all. Hardly involved.
Sam Long - 7/10 - Good in possession and made some important interventions at the back on a number of occasions to stop Barnet getting in behind.
Will Vaulks - 5/10 - Bang average. Wasn't as comfortable receiving the ball from the goalkeeper as you would like.
Harrison Bradney - 8/10 (MOTM) - Very exciting. Good in the tackle and a bit of bite about him winning the ball back. Equally as comfortable with the ball, carrying it and winning a number of fouls, and linking up nicely with Tyler Goodrham and the wingers. Hopefully given some further chances as he looked a top prospect.
Cam Brannagan - 6/10 - Didn't get on the ball as much as you would like. Won the ball back a number of times.
Louie Sibley - 4/10 - Looked out of his depth again in all honesty. No huge errors, just a lot of over-hit passes and looked off the pace of the game.
Tyler Goodrham - 7/10 - Best player on the pitch in the first half. Picked up some lovely pockets of space and created the majority of our attacks, receiving the ball well and driving forward. Faded out of the game and didn't do much in his 15 minutes in the second half.
Jamie McDonnell - 6/10 - Biggest surprise of pre-season so far is the use of Jamie as a number ten. Brought his usually energy and tenacity.
Stan Mills - 7/10 - Took him 3 minutes to score in his first minutes of pre-season, which says everything. Took his goal brilliantly but didn't do a whole load else.
Aidomo Emakhu - 6/10 - Struggled when he first came on but grew into the game, taking his man on and playing a great through ball for the second goal.
Leo Snowden - 6/10 - Had a couple of sharp moments, winning fouls from taking players on. Should have scored when he went through one-on-one with the goalkeeper early in the second half.
Ruben Roosken - 5/10 - Good composure for the second goal but very uninvolved for the rest of his stint on the pitch.
Mark Harris - 6/10 - Struggled to get on the end of crosses but some lovely one touch link up play with the midfield to help shift the ball out wide.
Gatlin O'Donkor - 7/10 - Took his goal well. Came on and put himself about, giving the defenders something to think about, and using his physicality and pace in behind well.
Final comments
As was echoed by both Aidomo Emakhu and Chris Gunter in their respective post-match interviews, whilst the result in isolation doesn't mean anything, it is good to build a winning culture and gain a bit of momentum going into the season by picking up results. It was also reassuring to hear Gunter say that he expects Siriki Dembele, Jeon Jin-Woo, and most notably, Brian de Keersmaecker, back in training on Monday with a decision to be made ahead of the friendly against Crawley on Tuesday night. Whilst we have previous with our better players being 'ill' during a transfer window, if both Gunter and Ramsey's comments are taken at face value, Brian is expected to play a part in pre-season and the club aim to keep hold of him, which although is highly unlikely, is incredibly exciting if it can be the case.
There will definitely be work for Aaron Ramsey and the coaching team to do around the whole performance, specifically when we have possession in the first phase, but there are plenty of encouraging signs, especially from an attacking point of view. Hopefully we can put it all together and produce a comfortable result and performance on Tuesday night, at home to a worse side than Barnet in Crawley Town, with the biggest test coming next Saturday against Premier League side Ipswich, before the competitive action gets underway!
Thanks for reading, and let me know any thoughts you had on Saturday's game or pre-season as a whole!
Oxford ran out 2-1 winners in a closely competed friendly at League Two side Barnet.
The U's took an early lead through the returning Stan Mills, who raced in behind and slotted calmly past the goalkeeper, after Mark Harris' flick on exposed Barnet's ridiculously high line. The game then quickly became fairly end-to-end, with United having spells of dominance and control of possession but being tested on a few occasions by the League Two outfit's pacy attack. Brodie Spencer put in a fantastic last ditch tackle to prevent Idris Kanu from having a clear shot at goal, and Simon Eastwood pulled off a couple of brilliant saves in the first half, with the standout being close-range reaction save to prevent a deflected effort by Kabongo Tshimanga. Oxford had plenty of attacking moments in the first period, with Tyler Goodrham being at the centre of lots of them, mostly culminating in crosses that no one was on the end of.
At half time, Stan Mills was replaced by Aidomo Emakhu, which reduced a lot of our direct threat down the right hand side, with Aidomo playing in an unnatural position for him. Barnet came out the stronger side in the second half, and finally got a reward for their positive play in the 54th minute, when a cut back was brilliantly smashed into the roof of the net by Adam Senior. Not long after, the U's changed their other 9 outfield players. This allowed the game to settle down a bit, but we looked lost for ideas at this point, with the game becoming much more of a typical pre-season friendly watch: a bit of an eye sore at times. Both sides had a couple of moments, but it was ultimately Oxford who had the deciding one, when Aidomo Emakhu skipped inside his man and played a lovely weighted through ball for Ruben Roosken who took a poor first touch but composed himself and played it across to Gatlin O'Donkor who powerfully struck the ball between the 'keeper's legs.
This meant that Aaron Ramsey went two wins from two in his first pre-season friendlies, albeit the results don't mean anything at this stage. There were encouraging bits of play from his side, particularly in the first half, where there was some beautiful link up play between the midfield and attack, which was very pleasing on the eye. Whilst this didn't carry into the second term, that's to be expected at this point in pre-season; fair play to Barnet who didn't allow us to dictate the game and gave us an intense, physical workout.
First half: Eastwood; Spencer, Golding, Brown, Currie; Vaulks, Bradney, Goodrham; Mills, Snowden, Harris
60' onwards: Eastwood; Kioso, Helik, Long, Leigh; Branngan, Sibley, McDonnell; Emakhu, Roosken, O'Donkor
Player Ratings
Simon Eastwood - 8/10 - Fairly comfortable in possession and as previously mentioned, made some top saves to keep the game at 1-0. Massively enhanced by confidence in him if Jamie Cumming is to go down at any point this season.
Brodie Spencer - 7/10 - Defensively very good, making some important one-on-one tackles. Struggled a bit on the ball but made up for it with some brilliant interventions at the back.
Peter Kioso - 4/10 - Got outpaced a couple of times by Barnet's winger and incredibly sloppy in possession, failing to make some very simple short passes.
Jack Currie - 6/10 - Comfortable as ever at the back. Made a couple of mistakes on the ball but overall wasn't too involved.
Greg Leigh - 5/10 - Hardly touched the ball and got beat a few times on the outside.
Ciaron Brown - 6/10 - Some good moments driving up the pitch with the ball, nothing to note defensively.
James Golding - 5/10 - Great in the air but made some silly errors with the ball at his feet; misplacing a number of passes.
Michal Helik - 6/10 - Not much to say at all. Hardly involved.
Sam Long - 7/10 - Good in possession and made some important interventions at the back on a number of occasions to stop Barnet getting in behind.
Will Vaulks - 5/10 - Bang average. Wasn't as comfortable receiving the ball from the goalkeeper as you would like.
Harrison Bradney - 8/10 (MOTM) - Very exciting. Good in the tackle and a bit of bite about him winning the ball back. Equally as comfortable with the ball, carrying it and winning a number of fouls, and linking up nicely with Tyler Goodrham and the wingers. Hopefully given some further chances as he looked a top prospect.
Cam Brannagan - 6/10 - Didn't get on the ball as much as you would like. Won the ball back a number of times.
Louie Sibley - 4/10 - Looked out of his depth again in all honesty. No huge errors, just a lot of over-hit passes and looked off the pace of the game.
Tyler Goodrham - 7/10 - Best player on the pitch in the first half. Picked up some lovely pockets of space and created the majority of our attacks, receiving the ball well and driving forward. Faded out of the game and didn't do much in his 15 minutes in the second half.
Jamie McDonnell - 6/10 - Biggest surprise of pre-season so far is the use of Jamie as a number ten. Brought his usually energy and tenacity.
Stan Mills - 7/10 - Took him 3 minutes to score in his first minutes of pre-season, which says everything. Took his goal brilliantly but didn't do a whole load else.
Aidomo Emakhu - 6/10 - Struggled when he first came on but grew into the game, taking his man on and playing a great through ball for the second goal.
Leo Snowden - 6/10 - Had a couple of sharp moments, winning fouls from taking players on. Should have scored when he went through one-on-one with the goalkeeper early in the second half.
Ruben Roosken - 5/10 - Good composure for the second goal but very uninvolved for the rest of his stint on the pitch.
Mark Harris - 6/10 - Struggled to get on the end of crosses but some lovely one touch link up play with the midfield to help shift the ball out wide.
Gatlin O'Donkor - 7/10 - Took his goal well. Came on and put himself about, giving the defenders something to think about, and using his physicality and pace in behind well.
Final comments
As was echoed by both Aidomo Emakhu and Chris Gunter in their respective post-match interviews, whilst the result in isolation doesn't mean anything, it is good to build a winning culture and gain a bit of momentum going into the season by picking up results. It was also reassuring to hear Gunter say that he expects Siriki Dembele, Jeon Jin-Woo, and most notably, Brian de Keersmaecker, back in training on Monday with a decision to be made ahead of the friendly against Crawley on Tuesday night. Whilst we have previous with our better players being 'ill' during a transfer window, if both Gunter and Ramsey's comments are taken at face value, Brian is expected to play a part in pre-season and the club aim to keep hold of him, which although is highly unlikely, is incredibly exciting if it can be the case.
There will definitely be work for Aaron Ramsey and the coaching team to do around the whole performance, specifically when we have possession in the first phase, but there are plenty of encouraging signs, especially from an attacking point of view. Hopefully we can put it all together and produce a comfortable result and performance on Tuesday night, at home to a worse side than Barnet in Crawley Town, with the biggest test coming next Saturday against Premier League side Ipswich, before the competitive action gets underway!
Thanks for reading, and let me know any thoughts you had on Saturday's game or pre-season as a whole!
