Tippy Tappy? Crappy (vs Aldershot L2)

Would it be the match after the match before? Well it always is, but you all know what I mean!

There's no disguising the pleasure we all got from last weekend's win, and I think it's also fair to say that we were watching most of the second half through the cracks in our fingers. So the thought of todays match brought a bit of apprehension and quite a lot of hope. Aldershot, despite an excellent win against West Ham in the Carling Cup a few days ago, hadn't scored for their last three , with a win on the opening day of the season adding their only points so far.

My car is still undergoing surgery that is probably going to cost me more than the bloody thing is worth, but the garage had lent me a green W reg Dihatsu. As I drove down to Oxford through the squally showers, I wondered if the car was posh enough for me to blag my way into the executive car park. I decided against it.

The at times apocalyptic showers reminded me that both my offspring are camping this weekend - one at the Leeds festival and one at a Scouts thingy, where I suspect there's more beer drinking than dib-dib-dobbing going on. That might be a good thing!

Anyway, the craftsman built Japanese jalopy, got me to the stadium. Although, would people kindly stop coming to watch the team please? No space in the East Stand car park, pah.

The team got a great welcome onto the pitch and lined up much as they had at the skip, but with Smalley in place of Potter. Both teams started brightly, with Constable having a couple of sighters, including a low header wide from a Leven corner. The dead ball routines in offensive positions are now acually worth watching due to the hugely improved delivery. Aldershot were looking lively as well and made a decent chance or two.

After about 10 minutes a long through ball fell for Guy on the edge of the penalty area, he seemed to hesitate and a clumsy challenge in the back from an Aldershot defender sent him sprawling. It was a foul, and as he was clean though, a red card for the Shots player. Off he went, but the free kick (Leven again) went wide of the goal. Aldershot took off a forward and replaced him with a defender to replace the dismissed player. We were still playing well, but it was all a bit tippy tappy. There was minimal movement off the ball by anyone. Smalley tried his best in this period of the game to make little runs across the defence, but as he was ignored every single time (in favour of a pass backwards or sideways) he soon gave that up as a bad job. We were loking like a decent side and eventually took advantage. A Leven cross, a poor punch by the keeper and a good left footed (I think) volley from Beano put us one up.

Everything was looking rosy. One up at home against ten men and looking like the better team. But towards the end of the first half, things started to go slightly askew. We hadn't really pressed home our advantage, the few half chances that fell our way were from slightly hopeful long balls. But half time came and we were happy enough.

More girl dancers (better than those at Swindon I suppose, But I can really take it or leave it. Leave it , preferably) and a cross bar challenge.

Meanwhile the team were obviously in the dressing room trying to calm down by having a nice drink of Nighty Night Snoozy Snooze, a couple of valium each and a relaxing bedtime story from that nice Mr Wilder. That's the only way I can explain the second half performance.

To start with, Heslop came off at half time to be replaced by Alfie Potter. Hmm. Now a midfield of McLaren, Leven and Heslop is OK. McLaren, Leven, Potter gives me less confidence. Not that Alfie is a bad player (he isn't), but I think we need Heslop. Apart from anything else, he's scored a couple of goals by being brave, taking responsibility and actually having a shot.

Well it went worse than I feared. Aldershot were working their socks off, chasing the ball down, harrying our midfield, and generally giving our players no space at all. As has become a bit too usual, our players responded by dropping back, playing the game at walking pace, and playing silly (and occasionally very dangerous) sideways and backwards passes. The ball had become a ticking time bomb that any player in a yellow shirt wanted to get rid of as soon as possible, quite often back to the bloke who had given it to him in the first place. Instead of 'give and go', we were playing 'give and stand still' though, so this resulted in a net gain of no inches in the forward direction. If we didn't give it away, we panicked and hoofed if somewhere, anywhere.

Still, Aldershot (although working hard and making it look as if we were the team with 10 men, not them) weren't looking that dangerous, really. After a quarter of an hour of the second half however, CW made another monumental blunder. He took McLaren off, brought Whing across from the right full back position to cover central midfield and brought Batt on at right back. McLaren had really been the pivtol point of the defensive midfield, which was now Leven, Whing and Potter. Uh-oh!

It took just six minutes for this tactical masterstroke to cost us the equaliser. Batt tried to shepherd the ball out and failed. Strike One! The ball was crossed and the Aldershot striker wasn't closed down at all, despite being surronded by three yellow shirted 'midfielders' and 'defenders'. Strike Two! He then had a shot, which was blocked and came back to him, wasn't closed down for a second time and having been allowed a practice go, made this one count. Strike Three and you're OUT. Pathetic defending, and a deserved equaliser from a team who had worked hard to make up for the early loss of their colleague.

Time for a change of some sort? Nope. We just fannied about with the ball for another ten minutes , sideways backwards sideways sideways backwards HOOF. At walking pace. No movement off the ball. Nobody showing much invention. Batt losing the ball constantly, Whing looking like a midfield disaster about to happen, Potter refusing to even try to take his man on (turning back every single time), Smalley looking less potent than Midson ever did. With about a quarter of an hour to go, Smalley trudged off to be replaced by Pittman. It didn't make much difference to be honest, and it was only in the last five minutes of the match that the Oxford players suddenly remembered their win bonuses and decided to put a shift in. Suddenly, they were moving at speed. Suddenly there were men moving off the ball. Challenges were being made. Midfielders were actually jumping for headers and trying to win the ball. We even made a couple of decent chances. Mind you, Aldershot could also have nicked it. But we weren't good enough to score, and they weren't either, so it ended as one - one.

Like Bradford, a draw that felt like a defeat.
Like Bradford, Swindon, Rotherham - a very poor second half performance.
Official match stats show one shot on target.
We are trying to play tippy tappy fotball without the quality to do so effectively. Maybe it works in pre season when the tackles aren't flying in and you're not being closed down. It doesn't work very well in real competitive league action. I was watching Barcelona (vs Porto) on telly a couple of days ago. Don't worry, I'm not trying to compare us to Barca! But... They also play pass pass pass posession football, but they are moving forward as they do so. We aren't. We are going backwards and sideways. They also do it quickly. By the time we get if from back to front, whole civilisations have risen and fallen. We are never ever going to walk the ball into the net consistently enough to be effective.

Let's look at the L2 goals we have scored this season:
Bradford - long range shot. Heslop.
Shrewsbury - long range shot (Heslop) and Guy's goal which Beano provided from his own blocked shot.
Swindon - two goals from set pieces (Leven combining with Constable)
Aldershot - Beano's goal from a Leven cross.
None of those have been as a result of playing the ball as we tried to today in the second half.

Perhaps there ought to be a bit of a tactical rethink? I don't mean Wimbledon (original version) style hoofing. But we need to move the ball much more quickly from back to front. Not in the air. We need a more athletic style of play. People making space and others running into it. More movement. Passing the ball and moving (forward) not standing still like you're playing Grandma's bleedin' footsteps. A determination to score more than one goal. And try to score when you're on top, please. That may mean you have to shoot at the goal occasionally. No silly flicks with the side of the foot. Control the ball, and someone else MUST have given you an option that doesn't involve passing it back where it came from. Tackle in the midfield. Invent a novel throw in that doesn't involve throwing it straight to the opposition every
single bleedin' time. Challenge for the ball in midfield. Get tighter to your man, they aren't all Ron-bloody-aldo. Stop crosses coming in so easily. Other teams stop us getting endless crosses in. It's possible. Stop practicing to hit the crossbar, and start practicing to hit the target. One shot on target (against 10 men for 80 minutes) is beyond pathetic.

We are in trouble up front, and in midfield. And I'm not that happy with the defence (joke). Up front, Smalley looks completley lost, Guy (despite bits of nice link up play) is showing why he's scored so few goals in his career, Potter has lost whatever he had in preseason and JPP hasn't impressed in what little match time he's had. So it's all down to you Beano. Let's just hope we don't sell you or we are up a very smelly creek. In midfield McLaren appears (as last season) to only last an hour or so. If that's right (and I'm hoping he is still regaining fitness) then we need someone new who can do his job for the full 90. Leven's dead ball delivery is great, but he is still obviously unfit. Heslop was only given 45 minutes today - again, I hope that was because of a slight knock. Apart from him, the other midfielders hardly even shoot from open play, never mind look like scoring.

So, a depressing day really. We look almost exactly as we did last year. Unless we make sweeping tactical changes, I predict another midtable finish. I can see nothing that makes me think otherwise.

Oh - the ref had a good game generally, trying to let things flow if he could, and not falling for some obvious 'simulation'.

Next up - Crewe away. I won't be there (family committments as well as a knackered car). If anyoe wants to write a special guest blog post for that match, just leave me a comment or PM me through the forum. I'd love to hear another perspective.

As always - COME ON YOU YELLOWS