Ratings vs Wycombe (15/09/2018)

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Firstly, ratings:

Mitchell 7 - Thought his handling was very good against a series of tough players. Not a huge amount to do overall. His kicking and distribution still needs work although we all knew that already.
Norman 7 - I like him. Positive in attack and sound in defence. Looked to have a growing partnership with Whyte in the first half.
Nelson 8 - Really solid today. Barely missed a header. Looked better for not having the captaincy.
Mousinho 6 - Reasonable. The occasional laspse of judgement could have cost us though
Garbutt 6 - Still looks vulnerable in defence but getting there. Thought his set pieces were put in the right areas although without much threat from those attacking them.
Brannagan 6 - Good to know he's ok. Not really on long enough to generate much of a rating.
Baptiste 7 - The usual mix of study midfield play and quick feet tricks. I thought his performance dropped in the second half and that's something to watch (his letting-the-ball-roll-by-him trick could well get cottoned on to soon).
Henry 6 - Quiet by his standards and spent much of the game passing sideways. Useful as an outlet, but we've seen more exciting performances from him.
Holmes 7 - Lasted better that I expected and caused problems. Frustrating that he held the ball too long on more than one occasion.
Whyte 8 - Tired for the last 20 minutes or so as the exciting runs started to dry up, but prior to that he was worth the entrance fee alone. Mixed direct attacking play with intelligent runs and jinking tricks. What a player we have here.
Obika 5 - Oh, Jon. I can't knock the effort. He does try. He just isn't good enough for League 1. His first touch was good and yet he seemed to have no idea what to do with the second. Some fruitless headers suggests he just isn't up to this level.

SUBS
Ruffels 7 - Settled into the CM role nicely and kept things ticking if not being particularly dynamic.
Browne 6 - Some direct runs without a great deal of end product.
Smith 7 - A brief cameo and not a great deal to show what he can do. He cushioned one volley back into the danger area which suggested he has a great first touch on him

OTHERS
Mackail-Smith's hair 0 - Woeful.
Ref 3 - When both sets of fans boo you off, you know you've done a poor job. What wasn't a testy affair was made one by his leniency and that made tensions boil over. Whyte was cynically hacked down in the first half and Smith was brought down by a terrible attempt at a challenge by Jombati (I think?) that went unpunished (although it wasn't a penalty). Browne should have been booked for diving and yellows given at the right time would have calmed the game down. He was poor for both sides.

I feel I've said this time and time again - but Oxford United's 2018-19 season will go nowhere unless some final bits of the jigsaw are sorted. We have no decent striker, we have a weak left hand side of defence and we lack muscle in midfield. The most important is the striker position. I saw some evidence that Sam Smith could play that role but we look painfully short of a poacher who can be in the right place at the right time. We can bemoan our luck today but a good side would have made some. It's going to feel like a long, long time until January.

As for Wycombe, four teams will be relegated this year from League 1 and, whilst not certain, I think they'll be one of them. Zero technical ability barring Fred Onyedinma and Mackail-Smith, no attempt to press, no attempt to pass on the ground, whinging, moaning and negative. They're anti-football and barely deserved their point.
 
Baptiste seems to have 70 minute engine on him at the moment, which could limit him from nailing down his position in the team. Not knocking the lad at all, but something for him to work on.
 
I like Norman but have noticed in the last couple of games that when running with the ball at his feet trying to get past a player he seems to be waiting for someone to tackle him. Not sure if it’s a lack of confidence or what but definitely needs to commit a bit more when going past a player. Still light years ahead of McMahon though.
 
Baptiste seems to have 70 minute engine on him at the moment, which could limit him from nailing down his position in the team. Not knocking the lad at all, but something for him to work on.
He is young and was plying at a much lower level last season.
You are right that he has to work on his stamina but the way he has come on this season has been unbelievable.
He look a really classy player having only played a handful of league games.
Some credit to KR who clearly wants to bring on the younger players. I have a suspicion that Baptiste would have played nowhere near as many games, and made such impact under most if our previous managers.
 
I like Norman but have noticed in the last couple of games that when running with the ball at his feet trying to get past a player he seems to be waiting for someone to tackle him. Not sure if it’s a lack of confidence or what but definitely needs to commit a bit more when going past a player. Still light years ahead of McMahon though.

I thought that as well, appears to look for a reason to go down......nice for us to be doing it to other teams instead of the other way round!

Think he is settling in well and will be an important player for us.
 
I have a suspicion that Baptiste would have played nowhere near as many games, and made such impact under most if our previous managers.
To be fair though, I suspect that he would have played far less than he has without the various injuries and suspensions we have had. He has made himself undroppable though and taken his chance in great style.
 
Watching the extended highlights as I couldn’t make it yesterday we looked totally dominant apart from not working the keeper enough to earn his money but did make a great save from Holmes effort first half, there goal didn’t look offside but more of a foul imo right decision,

Interesting KR comments after the game on BBC-RO about striking issues when Nathan said about people saying well we not scoring goals - the summer was there you brought in players & now your saying we not scoring goals but now your saying there nothing more you can do now until January KR said No but there were other players we could of got aswell we missed out on some top strikers - strikers I wanted, interesting never know if he’s having a dig at the owner or just deflecting the blame away or just generally disappointed he couldn’t get what he wanted
 
Odd that. A few days ago when I said we obviously didn't get the players we were looking for pre-season, some of the usual suspects asked me to prove it and implied that I was obviously delusional...
 
Watching the extended highlights as I couldn’t make it yesterday we looked totally dominant apart from not working the keeper enough to earn his money but did make a great save from Holmes effort first half, there goal didn’t look offside but more of a foul imo right decision,

Interesting KR comments after the game on BBC-RO about striking issues when Nathan said about people saying well we not scoring goals - the summer was there you brought in players & now your saying we not scoring goals but now your saying there nothing more you can do now until January KR said No but there were other players we could of got aswell we missed out on some top strikers - strikers I wanted, interesting never know if he’s having a dig at the owner or just deflecting the blame away or just generally disappointed he couldn’t get what he wanted

There is a photo on the matchday thread showing Akinfenwa was definitely offside.
 
Firstly, ratings:

Mitchell 7 - Thought his handling was very good against a series of tough players. Not a huge amount to do overall. His kicking and distribution still needs work although we all knew that already.
Norman 7 - I like him. Positive in attack and sound in defence. Looked to have a growing partnership with Whyte in the first half.
Nelson 8 - Really solid today. Barely missed a header. Looked better for not having the captaincy.
Mousinho 6 - Reasonable. The occasional laspse of judgement could have cost us though
Garbutt 6 - Still looks vulnerable in defence but getting there. Thought his set pieces were put in the right areas although without much threat from those attacking them.
Brannagan 6 - Good to know he's ok. Not really on long enough to generate much of a rating.
Baptiste 7 - The usual mix of study midfield play and quick feet tricks. I thought his performance dropped in the second half and that's something to watch (his letting-the-ball-roll-by-him trick could well get cottoned on to soon).
Henry 6 - Quiet by his standards and spent much of the game passing sideways. Useful as an outlet, but we've seen more exciting performances from him.
Holmes 7 - Lasted better that I expected and caused problems. Frustrating that he held the ball too long on more than one occasion.
Whyte 8 - Tired for the last 20 minutes or so as the exciting runs started to dry up, but prior to that he was worth the entrance fee alone. Mixed direct attacking play with intelligent runs and jinking tricks. What a player we have here.
Obika 5 - Oh, Jon. I can't knock the effort. He does try. He just isn't good enough for League 1. His first touch was good and yet he seemed to have no idea what to do with the second. Some fruitless headers suggests he just isn't up to this level.

SUBS
Ruffels 7 - Settled into the CM role nicely and kept things ticking if not being particularly dynamic.
Browne 6 - Some direct runs without a great deal of end product.
Smith 7 - A brief cameo and not a great deal to show what he can do. He cushioned one volley back into the danger area which suggested he has a great first touch on him

OTHERS
Mackail-Smith's hair 0 - Woeful.
Ref 3 - When both sets of fans boo you off, you know you've done a poor job. What wasn't a testy affair was made one by his leniency and that made tensions boil over. Whyte was cynically hacked down in the first half and Smith was brought down by a terrible attempt at a challenge by Jombati (I think?) that went unpunished (although it wasn't a penalty). Browne should have been booked for diving and yellows given at the right time would have calmed the game down. He was poor for both sides.

I feel I've said this time and time again - but Oxford United's 2018-19 season will go nowhere unless some final bits of the jigsaw are sorted. We have no decent striker, we have a weak left hand side of defence and we lack muscle in midfield. The most important is the striker position. I saw some evidence that Sam Smith could play that role but we look painfully short of a poacher who can be in the right place at the right time. We can bemoan our luck today but a good side would have made some. It's going to feel like a long, long time until January.

As for Wycombe, four teams will be relegated this year from League 1 and, whilst not certain, I think they'll be one of them. Zero technical ability barring Fred Onyedinma and Mackail-Smith, no attempt to press, no attempt to pass on the ground, whinging, moaning and negative. They're anti-football and barely deserved their point.

On the Obika issue (it’s not going to go away!) watching the League 1 and 2 highlights, I can see at least a couple of dozen forwards with clearly more goal scoring ability. As I said before, Whyte or Browne could both do a better job.
 
He is young and was plying at a much lower level last season.
You are right that he has to work on his stamina but the way he has come on this season has been unbelievable.
He look a really classy player having only played a handful of league games.
Some credit to KR who clearly wants to bring on the younger players. I have a suspicion that Baptiste would have played nowhere near as many games, and made such impact under most if our previous managers.
Agree, his progress has been a very nice surprise. But the little niggle in my head is that he will pull a hamstring when he tires and be out of action for a while as he's not ready for a full game. It may well do him good, where resources permit, to have a week or two out of the team so he can work on his fitness and get his stamina up. He deserves a ton of credit for pushing his game on so much in such a short time.
 
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