The Wishing and Hoping Oxford Thread !.

[Haggis316]

Disappointed that Beattie could face his old team in front of a decent crowd.

Notice they had 9 shots of which 8 were on target. BBC say 2 of our 7 shots were on target.

We had 2 more corners than them.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Haggis316

Disappointed that Beattie could face his old team in front of a decent crowd.

Notice they had 9 shots of which 8 were on target. BBC say 2 of our 7 shots were on target.

We had 2 more corners than them.

Thing is Haggis, the worrying thing to me on listening on BBC Oxford, there seemed no real fight about us, it was a cup tie fer god sake.

[Exile on Spencer St]

Two months ago Stanley put in their most miserable performance I'd seen for some time to lose 5-0 to Oxford, so I guess last night's effort was an improvement. Someone who's opinion I don't doubt, also said it was a better display than the Wycombe match. But, blimey, it was pretty awful from Stanley (it was fairly poor from Oxford until they scored their first goal). There were one or two hopeful signs from one or two players, but the previous post about shots speaks volumes.
There is one particular thing about Stanley that concerns me and I have to have a rant to get it off my chest.
Unlike many teams, they are generally slow and ponderous in their build up. When players receive the ball, they have very few options other than sideways or backwards because very, very few players run into space ahead of them. Of course, with a slow build up from the back there is rarely any space because, being slow, the opposing defence has got itself organised. Most Stanley players thus tend to be standing still, waiting for the ball to come to them. It seems that they are trying to replicate the tight, intricate passing game they play in the warm up. Unfortunately, they do all not have the ball control skills of Barcelona. I lost count last night of the number of times that Oxford's Alfie Potter read the Stanley pass and intercepted it. Potter was one of the few players who seemed to be able to anticipate what a player was going to do - just a pity he wasn't on our side. This was also the guy (all 5'7" of him) who tore Stanley apart two months ago and, yet, there was never a Stanley defender within ten yards of him when he was looking to receive the ball.
Uh, game plan...? Not much evidence of anything last night other than we'll see how things go and hope their defence parts like the River Jordan. Unless they can get Moses on a free transfer that ain't gonna happen.
Last night was barely good enough for the Conference, and I can only wish Leam the best of luck in trying to turn things around.

[Redraine]

[QUOTE=Exile on Spencer St;1032933]
Unlike many teams, they are generally slow and ponderous in their build up. When players receive the ball, they have very few options other than sideways or backwards because very, very few players run into space ahead of them. /QUOTE]
Nail on the head. Standing on the Clayton End is like watching tennis, with the ball going from side to side in mid-field. Whatever happened to pass and move? Alternatively, how about someone from mid-field bursting through the middle Proccy style, taking on and beating opponents to get into the danger areas for a shot? Mind you, we rarely work the opposing keeper even when given a clear shot on goal. It's getting stressful to watch.

[smobile]

Was standing on the Clayton End on Saturday and thinking the same things. We don't seem to have any "hero type" players to get the crowd excited.

Looking back to the play-off season era, once Ryan, Proccy, Edwards, dare I say McConville got on the ball, you drew in breath and expected something to happen.

It's no use moving the ball around if the players ain't moving!!!

I haven't posted about Saturday's game before now, because I was so disappointed, I could only think of negatives. The next few games are massive for us and our season.

I am yet to be convinced that this group of players are good enough to keep us clear of trouble. Leam is an inexperienced manager with a very young squad of players. Maybe we need to bring in a good number two ASAP - Two Birds, One Stone - Brian Hughes for Christmas Please

[football19]

We really need to have a reality check here.
Oxford away in mid-week was never going to be easy for anyone,and in constable/rigg/potter and craddock have a experienced forward four with plenty of pace.
The team had the right game plan of keep it tight for the first half,and it worked.
Anybody who saw us the last time against them(with Atkinson playing),will confirm it was a lot better.
You cant legislate for injuries,and ultimately that cost us.
We are a young,largely inexperienced team,but in reality a win on saturday will give us the same points return as our play-off season.
Anybody can beat anybody in this division,as we have proved,but its madness to open games up,with the possiblity of conceeding early as we struggle to score when chasing a game.
Positives from the game,we were comfortable defensively,until the injuries,Clark did well for someone so young,and linney/moly put a good shift in down the flanks.
The negatives are a genuine lack of pace up top,especially when boco gets dragged deeper.
This leads into what Exile says about running into space etc..,you have to have genuine pace (like Rigg and potter for example) to cause problems.
When just have to work hard and hopefully the results will come
Keep the faith !!!

[cashman]

Perhaps you need a reality check football19, at the moment we are struggling to score full stop, agree about lack of pace, but simply playing the ball "Forward" when in opponents half would add too our game. granted injuries didn't help but that dont prevent performing of simple tasks.

[Revived Red]

Oddly, I have to find myself in agreement with both football19 and Exile on Spencer St. The lack of movement, and indeed the failure to do comparatively simple things, is a worry. It was noticeable last night that when Oxford had a throw-in, they invariably had one or more players unmarked. Yet when we had a throw-in, all our players were marked and the throw was almost always an optimistic effort down the line in the (usually forlorn) hope of a flick on. Exile says "slow and ponderous" - there is no excuse for us being thus at throw-ins.

And another simple thing - corners. Yes we had more than Oxford, but too many were wasted. Oxford always looked threatening from corners - and indeed scored from one.

Despite these misgivings, I thought we did reasonably well last night. Losing our two centre backs was always going to be a real problem. The disallowed goal didn't help; the officials were very poor indeed. There is no doubt that the better team won but, as football19 says, there were positives. Let's home Leam and his staff are able to work on the simple things that are lacking at the moment.

[Exile on Spencer St]

Don't disagree with Revived and 19; as I said there were some signs for hope. For instance, I thought Bohan Dixon did well enough as a stand in CB against a very direct and determined attack, Luke Clarke showed promise, and Lee Molyneux had an impact early on, amongst others.
But, consdiering we had Beattie in the starting line up, Stanley's corners were disastrous - get someone other than Luke Joyce to take them. His were abysmal last night. In fact, give the lad a rest; he looked jiggered and I'm not convinced he is the man to inspire the team when things get bad. It would be nice to see a Proctor or Hessey-like personality. I'm not suggesting we resign either; but someone who can organise and cajole colleagues appears to be missing.
And let's see least two players moving forwards into space and WANTING the ball at throw-ins.

[cashman]

Thing that irks me wi corners, is the amount of short corners we take, which in the main are a complete waste, are we saying we have no-one competent to deliver a good corner? or no-one competent to get on the end of one? football is an game of odds to me, n the odds are we will get more oer a season from long corners.

[yonmon]

Originally Posted by Exile on Spencer St

Don't disagree with Revived and 19; as I said there were some signs for hope. For instance, I thought Bohan Dixon did well enough as a stand in CB against a very direct and determined attack, Luke Clarke showed promise, and Lee Molyneux had an impact early on, amongst others.
But, consdiering we had Beattie in the starting line up, Stanley's corners were disastrous - get someone other than Luke Joyce to take them. His were abysmal last night. In fact, give the lad a rest; he looked jiggered and I'm not convinced he is the man to inspire the team when things get bad. It would be nice to see a Proctor or Hessey-like personality. I'm not suggesting we resign either; but someone who can organise and cajole colleagues appears to be missing.
And let's see least two players moving forwards into space and WANTING the ball at throw-ins.

Exile !...doesn't this confirm to a large extent my earlier posting regarding the lack of a true leader on the pitch ?,
not just someone wearing the Captain's armband whose concern for his own lacklustre performances must be uppermost in his mind !....not the ideal situation for one expected to drive and motivate others !...
I hope that my original premise: that in the absence of a true leader the best that a team can do is merely to tick-over and eventually stagnate doesn't happen as far as our team are concerned, but it is certainly one area which is causing me a niggling worry or two !

[football19]

bit confused on the "simlpy play the ball forward when in the opponents half ",if you dont get players in space or good movement,your just giving possession away???
ALL footballers are coached from an early age,if theres nothing on,retain possession,ie ,if the forward pass is not on go sideways,if thats not on go backwards.
If you have the ball,the oponents cant score,and you can dictate the tempo of the game.
By moving the ball around,your moving the opposition around,and waiting for them to switch off and then attack that area.
A lot of teams are well organised so its not easy,so patience is key.
Our main problem IMHO is we arent holding the ball up at vital times,therefore its nearly impossible to get runners beyond them.
You need a focal point in attack and hopefully Beatty will give us this,time will tell

[football19]

The corner taking is also bugging me !!,90% of our corners last week,a cross never came in !,the only explaination could be that a lot of teams do zonal marking now,so if you play it short it creates confusion as they attempt to get out,not my cup of tea tho !!!,get the ball fired in.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by football19

bit confused on the "simlpy play the ball forward when in the opponents half ",if you dont get players in space or good movement,your just giving possession away???
ALL footballers are coached from an early age,if theres nothing on,retain possession,ie ,if the forward pass is not on go sideways,if thats not on go backwards.
If you have the ball,the oponents cant score,and you can dictate the tempo of the game.
By moving the ball around,your moving the opposition around,and waiting for them to switch off and then attack that area.
A lot of teams are well organised so its not easy,so patience is key.
Our main problem IMHO is we arent holding the ball up at vital times,therefore its nearly impossible to get runners beyond them.
You need a focal point in attack and hopefully Beatty will give us this,time will tell

Oh i agree if yeh don't get players in space yer giving possesion away, that says to me theres summat not right if they aint going forward? The times we have seen Stanley attacking the clayton end n NO stanley player is actually in the box, Whats all that about?

[Pendle Red]

My tuppence worth

Corners either have runners into the box or use the big lads and lets get some headers in