The 2023/24 L1 Matchday Thread

JonnyBiscuits

YAAAAAAAY

Gingermoods

JonnyBiscuits top commentary skills

JonnyBiscuits

Gingermoods 😎

JonnyBiscuits

BOOOOOOOOOOOO

JonnyBiscuits

Blllleeeeuuuuurrrgh

brinyhoof

JonnyBiscuits is he in the building?

JonnyBiscuits

brinyhoof If he is, he's not on the grass.

Gingermoods

Any positives from those who were there this evening? Was only half listening

LeftSider

We looked OK going forward in the first half, but we’re so fragile at the back. They clearly targeted our very inexperienced right hand side and it paid off time and time again.

Second half we had a mad 10 mins and the damage was done.

I feel sorry for Fin Stevens - he won’t forget that game in a long while. He was given an absolutely torrid time by their winger.

Rodrigues showed some nice touches but I’m now beginning to clutch at straws.

I really couldn’t give two hoots about the league cup (at this stage) but the manner of the defeat was very concerning, even though BC look to have some real talent. Based on a tiny sample of two games, I’d have to conclude that out of the new players, only RR looks to have real quality. Mark ‘snatcher’ Harris looks to have very little in the way of composure in front of goal. Early days and all that, but they’re digging a hole for themselves at quite a rate.

Confidence looks to have drained from the players already and the fans are restless. A great turnout of 1200, which was more that I expected.

Saturday feels far more important that it should. Let’s hope for a very positive reaction.

JonnyBiscuits

As a couple people have pointed out now (mostly @Gingermoods, repeatedly), we haven't strengthened a defence with a pretty dreadful record. Even Thornily who some people seem quite taken by, was part of a pretty ineffective back line. Moore is next to useless against balls in at his feet and people running at him - I honestly think he's only popular because he's been marginally the least rubbish of the defenders in recent years (among the ones that haven't left us for bigger and better things). Same with Brown last season, I like him but he was mostly just the best of a bad bunch. Long is midtable quality at best.

It still feels a bit too early to be judging the new attacking players, but we have lots of data on which we can judge this defence and very little of it is good.

Get Negru in there, he doesn't seem at all phased.

brinyhoof

Is the answer three at the back? Given we are playing four CBs in defence (Long surely now better in that position?) then we may as well utilise this. I'd imagine Stevens can play better as RWB?

LeftSider

brinyhoof It could be, but we’d have to sign a LWB to do so. The problem is, at this point we have been incapable of doing so.

TimWalker

Agree with all of that. I’ve had more than one boss use the expression “fail fast, and learn fast”. We are certainly living the dream on the first half of that. I hope LM has the wherewithal to do the second half of it. He will need new players to help him do it if he has no flexibility on the type of formation and style he wants to play

Joe_Citrone

I know we're only two games in, a long way to go etc…but it can't be just me that is now starting to look back on Manning's stint with MK Dons last season and fearing that the same is happening with us?

TimWalker

Joe_Citrone it’s a growing doubt for sure. I’m not giving it any credibility though until the end of October

JonnyBiscuits

The Carlisle fella waiting for the ball to be returned from the crowd while stood RIGHT NEXT TO THE LITTLE CONE WITH A BALL ON IT and the ref letting him was the most infuriating thing I've ever seen at a football match. And I've seen Stuart Findlay attempt to complete a pass.

Joe_Citrone

I very much enjoyed that.

There are still things that need to be worked on, but I thought - from about 20 minutes onwards - that was much, much better.

Negru rock solid at the back, McEachran super classy in midfield and I think Harris’ runs in behind will cause real problems (although needs to work on his finishing). I think Browne is starting to find his rhythm again as well.

All in all, good stuff. What did everyone else make of it?

TrevorAylottsHeadband

I think to say from 20 minutes on is being very generous. I found the whole first half very flat indeed - on and off the pitch. Chatting at half-time, there were a few of us struggling to identify how, stylistically, we differed from last season under KR.

Second half was better. Prior to his goal, I was really starting to despair for Harris and agree he absolutely has to work on his finishing. The most heinous example was the through ball down the middle with the keeper and one defender to beat. For some reason, he went to the left onto his weaker foot, allowing the defender to gain position inside him. Harris then had to try and cut back in, past the defender and onto his right foot - he failed. I know he was probably trying to work an angle to shoot across the keeper, but it just looked all sorts of wrong. I may be less harsh when I get to watch it back, but that was definitely my reaction at the time!

The most important thing is that it's 3pts and a clean sheet, which was definitely contributed to by a superb Negru performance. A much needed confidence boost with two tough games coming up this week.

JonnyBiscuits

This is still mostly the squad that nearly got us relegated and the horrible disjointed mess with bad/old/crocked players on long contracts is gonna take more than one window to solve. And either way, it could take a while for the new regime's work to gain some purchase on the pitch.

I did get frustrated a fair few times today, mostly in the first half, and mostly down to a lack of movement on the forward line when our defensive unit had the ball on the halfway line, or down to issues related to our annoying persistence of playing with two defensive midfielders when we only have one player who's any good in that position.

I think the first of those problems will be resolved with practice and patience. I'm not expecting the second one to be resolved any time soon.

Nevertheless, in the long term, I'm not overly worried about strikers over-playing and hesitating over their shots. Marcus Browne had a really good game, but was just as guilty as Harris of overthinking or overdoing it when in the penalty area. Just feels like a confidence issue to me, and that can instantly evaporate with some well timed goals.

We created some good chances in the second half, and a confident attacking line might have got two or three today. As everyone has said, there's still plenty to work on, but I think that's an entirely reasonable state of affairs at this stage.

We did what we needed to do today, and that's good enough for me.

Oh, and as I said earlier in the thread, just stick Negru in as first choice. If you're good enough, you're old enough.

LeftSider

A few thoughts:

I’m very frustrated that SL and CB are our first choice full-backs. I’ve no issue with their effort and desire, but they’re not at the level required for a side with aspirations of promotion.
McEchran was my MotM - some excellent passes through their lines. Our performance level rose when he started to become more progressive.
The booing of our own keeper for taking a short goal-kick is one of the most moronic things I’ve seen at at Oxford.
Harris’ pace will keep opposition defenders on their toes. He may not score as many as we’d like, but he’ll be an important asset to us.
Negru looked like he had 200 games worth of experience already under his belt. I really enjoyed his performance.
Once we took the lead, our game management was solid, however taking the ball into the corner with 10 minutes left isn’t something I want to see repeated.
The lack of maintenance and general cleanliness at the stadium is shameful. Fans shouldn’t be forced to sit amongst piles of pigeon crap. StadCo are clearly not meeting the most basics of their obligations.

Great to get a win, which I thought was deserved on the day. Some encouraging signs from certain players and glimpses of the positive football that Manning’s coaching can bring. Roll on Tuesday.

« Previous Page Next Page »