Hello everyone,
It's a while since I last posted. During that time for me, and I suspect many others, a certain amount of apathy has set set in. We are drifting along in lower mid-table, looking neither so awful we are likely to go down (famous last words!) nor like turning into anything like a team about to race up the table towards the play off spots. The players and the style of play are both lethargic and completely lacking in invention, speed and (on occasion) basic ball skills. We are unbeaten in quite a few, but have only won one league game in that time.
However we are still in two cups. The Johnson's Paint thingy and the FA Cup. Now I can't pretend to be that interested in the first one (which makes my actions at the box office a little later even more inexplicable...) - somehow it seems that a day out at Wembley would be good, anything else a bit nothing really. The romance of the FA Cup however, ah that's completely different. Giant killing, boggy pitches, small grounds packed to the rafters, cups made out of tin foil and cardboard. That's the dream, the reality being Oxford vs Accrington on a chilly Tuesday night in December. I thought twice about going, but whatever the standard of football, whatever the competition, watching Oxford is better than not watching Oxford.
So, a quick dash after work, and there I was in a suspiciously empty East Stand car park. It wasn't even that early. The East Stand car park is a good barometer of attendances. If there are still spaces an hour before kick off then it's not going to be a huge crowd. On this occasion there were still spaces fifteen minutes before the off. Hmm. I made my way to the very unbusy ticket office, and for some reason known only to my primitive hind brain, bought not only a ticket for the Accrington game but one for the JPT Southend tie as well. Blimey. Oh well.
Into the stadium to find out the team news. Dooooobs on the bench, Davis in for Capaldi. Craddock playing (thus scuppering all the 'Craddock to be sold in January, so we won't cup-tie him' theories). Just one change from Saturday. Yet again, Cox left on the bench. That mystifies me. Firstly the defense look better with Cox in front of them - he stops quite a lot of the shooting from outside the box that has plagued us this season. Secondly, he gets the ball and passes it - simply and accurately (or at least more accurately than some of his team mates). It's not spectacular, but it frees other players (notably Leven) to do what they are best at. Chapman/Leven in midfield is not a happy mix as far as I am concerned.
I was amused the find that the normal people I sit with (well relatively normal anyway :) ) were all there. Fellow addicts waiting for their football fix! Hardly anyone else was though - the crowd was 'sparse'. Never mind, we were sure of a great contest with a home tie against the Blades of Sheffield United as a reward as well as the £27,000 (is that right?) for winning the current tie. That's quite a few bottles of Budweiser (bit of free advertising for the sponsors - if they'd like to send me a few bottles to see me over Christmas that would be appreciated. Thanks).
We started out as we prefer, kicking towards the fence end. Since we kicked off as well, I presume that Accrington won the toss and let us do that. Bit odd.
Here are the highlights of the first half.
........
There we go. Stirring stuff. Actually I have forgotten to mention a couple of incidents. Firstly Chapman hurt his ankle, went off and was replaced by Cox. The other incident of note was the Accrington free kick routine. They had a free kick just outside our box. The ref blew his whistle, and four Accrington players pretended they were the Red Arrows, making dummy runs over the ball going off in all directions. The ball was then dinked to the right hand side of the penalty area, where a red attacker with coloured smoke billowing from his backside headed the ball out for a goal kick. Very funny! If it had worked it would have been brilliant - as it was, it looked ridiculous.
As for the rest of the 'action', well calling it 'poor' is a bit like calling the sea 'wet'. It doesn't go any way to describing the full extent of the awfulness on show. Two teams hoofing the ball in the air, usually to nobody, neither team able to pass the ball five yards. 22 individuals on the pitch, and if it hadn't been for the team strips you'd have been hard pressed to tell who was supposed to be on whose side. People around me (and myself if I am honest) have gone through the 'groaning' stage and have now gone straight into 'laughing' mode. Some of it was like a pantomine: players jumping for a header and missing the ball by a whole two yards, the ball being played back and forth between two teams who seemed to think it was about to explode, 'he's behind you' - the whole seasonal shebang. The 45 minutes crawled past, and the realisation that there was not only another half to go, but a possible half hour of extra time was more than bore thinking about.
The (very poor and inconsistent) ref brought the half to an end. Some people booed, a few so loud that they almost woke me up. I suppose I should mention the Accrington away support. According to RadOx, they'd sold four tickets and two of them were to someone in Wycombe. The players had given away 20 tickets as comps. In the end, there were about 40 of them in the away end. Rather than deride them for it, I'd prefer to say well done to those who made the effort. Three hours or so down and another three back. Mind you it did make us laugh when ten of them were singing about being an 'army'. More like a platoon, my neighbour rightly remarked. I didn't go to the tie at their place though, so let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Surely the second half couldn't be as bad? Well it started in exactly the same manner. As always, I haven't read other match reports before I write this rubbish, so the prevailing view may be that we came out 'fired up' for the second half. I don't think we did really. But we did gradually improve, not much but enough to look like being more likely to score than the opposition. That was mostly due to Rigg, who was at least prepared to try to go past a man rather than turn and pass it back. Shots were still few and far between though. Alfie was also coming more into the game as it went on. Don't let that fool you into thinking that we suddenly had width and were pinging in crosses. We weren't - and there was quite a lot of pottering sideways with the ball.
We did have a couple of shots however and on 65 minutes or so one was put out for a corner. Leven took it and Beano got up and somehow managed to avoid the crowd in the goalmouth to find the back of the net. Mild jubilation in the stand. I have my suspicions that it was as much to do with the reduction of the likelihood of extra time as anything else! Surely Accrington would now go for it? They had to score. Well, I thought that - their players had other ideas. We had managed to improve marginally, they hadn't. There was a lack of urgency from the men in red.
Another formation free kick from Stanley was poked over the bar (by quite a way) and then Clarke almost chucked the ball in his own net. In fact the Accy players thought it had gone in. From the East Stand I couldn't tell of course, but it was the nearest the opposition came to scoring all night. They were so inept that I couldn't see us being pegged back from a one goal lead (and with the leakiness of our defence that is a brave thought!), so when Peter Leven struck a lovely shot into the Stanley net with 10 minutes to go, that was it. Duberry came on for a few minutes at the end - his first act was to give a foul away. But to give credit where it's due, the central defence had looked fairly solid (admittedly against a powder-puff attack) anyway. Their distribution was awful, but defending had been pretty good. Nice to see the big man back though.
The ref brought proceedings to an end and it didn't take long to get out of the car park!
If I had to pick a man of the match it would probably be Rigg.
The win put a gloss on what was actually a terrible performance - certainly the first half was as bad a game of professional football as I have seen for a while. Mickey Lewis popped up on the radio to say that the pitch was a factor. Maybe so, but that doesn't stop players shooting and making an extra unneeded pass instead, does it? In fact I'd have thought exactly the opposite! We will have to be a whole lot better on Saturday against Fleetwood. What worries me is that our recent unbeaten-run-that-hasn't-actually-earned-many-league-points has been mostly against teams in the bottom half of the table. After Christmas we have more games against the better teams - and we all know what often happens to our league form when all the mince pies have been eaten and a few dodgy loanees have been brought into the team!
Anyway, enough doom and gloom - 'tis the season to be jolly after all! I hope you all have a great festive season, and I'll probably see many of the readers of this blog at a match or two. And me - I've got the JPT match against Southend to look forward to!
Oxford United, Stereo Photography, Old Amusement Machines, Odd Musical Instruments and more.
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Saturday, 15 September 2012
Bollocks at Burton (L2)
Hello all -
My first post of the new season for one reason or another. As the season started there was some debate over the future of the manager. Three league victories seemed to silence the doubters, then a couple of bad defeats have brought our concerns back to the front of our minds. Remember we didn't manage a win in the last seven games of last season...
So today's match at Burton felt important. A win would steady the ship, a loss would mean three wins, three losses. And with Wilder seemingly casting about for other employment opportunities, there had to be some doubt about his commitment to the cause.
Now, normally, a trip to Burton is fairly easy for me. A quick trip up the M1 and Bob's your uncle. Or perhaps he isn't. In this case he wasn't my uncle either since I had to take my son to university today. In Bangor, North Wales. (Luckily not the Bangor in Northern Ireland or the one in Maine - that would have made it very difficult). So we got up at stupid o'clock, put all his stuff in the jalopy and set off to North Wales. Should I worry that he seems to have many more musical instruments than textbooks? Anyway, we got there in good time, I slung his stuff into his new accommodation, got back in the car and headed back south to Burton. And got there with half an hour to spare. A quick bit of parking up in the industrial estate behind the MacDonalds (yes, of course I was shopping in Screwfix for three hours, officer) and a trot up the road to the ground. Well I say a trot up the ground, more like a show shuffle as my chest is knackered at the moment. A visit to the docs has furnished me with steroids, an inhaler and some antibiotics (£22.50 please - I can't afford to be ill really!). Having read the contraindications on the steroids, I'd decided to dispense with them this morning. Apparently the side effects can include an urge to top yourself, getting irritable, heart attacks and seeing hallucinations! Think I'll stick with the wheezy chest thanks all the same!
As a contrast to the ridiculous price of being ill, a terrace ticket at Burton was only £14. Not bad. As those who have been to the Pirelli Stadium (is it still called that?) before will know, it is a neat, small ground, and is kept in generally decent repair with the away fans being housed in one stand behind the goal with a few seats to the right being allocated to those who prefer to sit. As I waited for the match to start, I admired the Burton banners in the 'Don Arnott - King of Caravans' stand. Roughly one banner per paying customer at the start, but it filled up (a bit) before kickoff.
Our team. Hmm. Clarke in goal, then along the back Capaldi, Wright, Raynes, Boeteng and Batt. That left Chapman and Heslop in midfield (JFC being ill) and Potter, Smalley and Rigg up front. I have to admit that I'm not entirely sure what the formation was supposed to be. But then I'm in good company because it became obvious fairly quickly that the team didn't either. Was Batt supposed to be playing in midfield? Was is a back three with Capaldi and Batt providing width? With only two in midfield? The right back position was a buggers muddle. Sometimes Batt was there, sometimes he wasn't. Whatever - Smalley was on his own up front. That is a BAD IDEA. Not because he's awful - he isn't. But the things he is good at (headed flick on's, getting the ball and laying it off for example) require there to be someone up there with him. There wasn't.
The first 15-20 minutes were even (ish). We never looked like scoring, although we had quite a lot of the ball. If you've seen us this season (in both wins and losses) you'll know that involves quite a lot of passing the ball side to side and backwards while the other team wait for one of two inevitable outcomes. Outcome 1 - we hoof the ball long, usually diagonal. Outcome 2 - we pass ourselves to death and eventually cock up a simple 5 yard pass, leading to panic. And it's all done so sloowwwwlllyyy. The idea of a quick counterattack is entirely alien to the team. We get the ball, race to the half way line, then turn back and pass the ball backwards. By the time we have any support, the opposition are back in numbers. That isn't 'good passing football' in my book. It's arsing about with the ball. Next time you see us do it - watch carefully. Eventually, nine times out of ten, the ball ends up with the same player who started the move, in the same place on the pitch. Except now there are ten players between him and the goal. Earlier in the season, we were doing much the same - except we were doing it faster, people were moving off the ball creating a bit of space. But that has all evaporated. It's done at walking pace. The movement off the ball is non existent. Which is a bit of a bugger because all the teams in the league have now sussed us out. Last season it took about 35 games for them to do it, this time it's taken three. Oops.
So for all opposition managers, here's the tactics. Let us have the ball in front of you, you'll get it back. Attack down our right. Batt is often AWOL and even if he isn't, just run past him - he won't tackle. Or cut inside - he falls for it every time. There will be no midfielder covering for him. We won't shoot from outside the box, so you don't have to close down our midfielders as they come forward. Just pop a couple of defenders on the lone striker and you'll be fine.
There. I'm no football manager and I can see it. Every single Oxford fan can see it. But apparently its too difficult to do anything about it.
You know that thing about not shooting from outside the box? Exeter scored that way last weekend. And blow me down, Burton just went and did the same thing! Who'd credit it? To be fair Zola hit it very well and it probably took a touch off Jake Wright who was just not quite close enough. Anyway, the worryingly out-of-touch (or maybe just out-of-luck?) Clarke watched it sail into the net. 20 minutes or so and one down. Not that we hadn't had a warning. Burton had hit the bar a few minutes earlier after a blocked free kick. Now another worrying thing is the lack of backbone shown by most of the team. It didn't look for an instant as if we were going to go up the other end and out things right. Potter looked industrious although I'm sure his dad is a crab - he spent much of the time going sideways. At least he looked lively though, and had the bollocks to have a shot. Wide though. But the Oxford midfield had fallen to pieces completely. Simple passes were missed, the ball was lumped up to Smalley, tackles avoided, high balls not jumped for. The main culprit here was Heslop. He is slow, immobile and unaware of what is happening around him. As in a two man midfield, that is not a good thing. Now they knew that they could have a pop from distance without being closed down, Burton took complete control. And just before half time, they scored again. The lack of closing down was to blame again. The Burton strikers were allowed shot after shot, with Wright blocking bravely, but nobody trying to actually clear the ball. Eventually on the stroke of half time it was 2-0. Another good strike, but dear God what were you doing Raynes? Why weren't you in the way, or blocking the shot, or tackling the man or something. NOT watching the ball go into the net off the bar and then shrugging your shoulders and waving your arms at the hapless Clarke.
Half time. Meanwhile, what had Mr Wilder been going in the technical area? Rearranging the team, changing the shape, inspiring the troops, making a substitution to give the opposition something the think about? Nope. Mostly sitting down in the dugout. Brilliant. During probably the poorest half we'd played all season, he'd followed the example of many of his team and gone missing.
Second half. The usual panic (but too-slow-in-reacting panic) reaction. Take off a defender and a midfielder/striker (Boeteng and the totally anonymous Rigg) and put on two forwards JPP and Tommy Craddock. So now it was 4-2-4 (I think). That wasn't going to get hold of the midfield. To be fair, JPP especially did make some difference - much as he had against Exeter. Why he hadn't started I don't know. But although there was more energy (you've got to do more than just shout at half time Chris!) it was still totally ineffective. If we had scored in that first five minutes of the half things might have worked out differently - but realistically, when was the last time we came back from a two goal deficit?
It was all rendered moot anyway, when a free kick after 65 minutes (very like the one Plymouth scored) seemed to evade the wall and the flapping keeper to make it 3-0. Not content with that we then gave up marking altogether to gift them a fourth a couple of minutes later. They had enough time and space in our penalty area to have a barbecue before putting the ball in the net. Still about twenty minutes to go. Blimey. Batt headed a ridiculous ball back into his own penalty area from out wide, trying desperately to make it five.
Of course, the Oxford players than upped it a gear or two - determined to salvage some self-respect. Did they hell. It all got even slower and more laboured. The Burton crowd at last made a bit of noise. Our lot experimented with some 'Wilder Out's, 'We're shit and we know we are's and more. They could catch on I fear.
Marsh came on for a few minutes and looked lively Luckily Burton didn't manage to score again, and that was it.
A chorus of boos and 'you don't know what you're doing' and back home.
A complete load of bollocks.
JPP and Wright were decent.
Capaldi defended OK(ish).
Batt, Raynes and Heslop were frankly awful.
Clarke was uncertain.
Chapman couldn't pass the ball.
Potter was lively but in crab mode.
Boeteng was crude but didn't make any howlers.
Was Rigg on the pitch?
Smalley was used in a totally wasteful way. I'm still nowhere near convinced he's a L2 striker - he's certainly no good on his own.
Craddock got upset about some fairly unwarranted stick he was getting from some of our 'supporters'.
The manager was terrible. The way we play is slow and predictable. There is no Plan B and not much of a Plan A most of the time ('hoof it to Smalley after arsing around with it' doesn't count). He is slow to react to what is happening on the pitch and is now regularly out thought by other managers.
At the start of the season, I was in the 'Give Wilder a bit more time' camp. But I can't say that there is any evidence that he has learnt from the mistakes of last season. We have got some decent players, but for some reason (man management? tactical naivety?) he can't get anything like the best out of them. I think it's time he went. Either to another job, or IL needs to take action otherwise this season is going to slide down the tubes quicker than last night's curry. At the moment I am hoping there are two worse teams than us in this league or we'll all be going to Barrow again...
Hold on. Depressed? Irritated? Watching a mediocre Burton team beat us by 4 goals?
Maybe I took the steroids after all. Just the heart attack to look forward to now.
See you all next time - I won't get to Cheltenham - good luck to all who go!
My first post of the new season for one reason or another. As the season started there was some debate over the future of the manager. Three league victories seemed to silence the doubters, then a couple of bad defeats have brought our concerns back to the front of our minds. Remember we didn't manage a win in the last seven games of last season...
So today's match at Burton felt important. A win would steady the ship, a loss would mean three wins, three losses. And with Wilder seemingly casting about for other employment opportunities, there had to be some doubt about his commitment to the cause.
Now, normally, a trip to Burton is fairly easy for me. A quick trip up the M1 and Bob's your uncle. Or perhaps he isn't. In this case he wasn't my uncle either since I had to take my son to university today. In Bangor, North Wales. (Luckily not the Bangor in Northern Ireland or the one in Maine - that would have made it very difficult). So we got up at stupid o'clock, put all his stuff in the jalopy and set off to North Wales. Should I worry that he seems to have many more musical instruments than textbooks? Anyway, we got there in good time, I slung his stuff into his new accommodation, got back in the car and headed back south to Burton. And got there with half an hour to spare. A quick bit of parking up in the industrial estate behind the MacDonalds (yes, of course I was shopping in Screwfix for three hours, officer) and a trot up the road to the ground. Well I say a trot up the ground, more like a show shuffle as my chest is knackered at the moment. A visit to the docs has furnished me with steroids, an inhaler and some antibiotics (£22.50 please - I can't afford to be ill really!). Having read the contraindications on the steroids, I'd decided to dispense with them this morning. Apparently the side effects can include an urge to top yourself, getting irritable, heart attacks and seeing hallucinations! Think I'll stick with the wheezy chest thanks all the same!
As a contrast to the ridiculous price of being ill, a terrace ticket at Burton was only £14. Not bad. As those who have been to the Pirelli Stadium (is it still called that?) before will know, it is a neat, small ground, and is kept in generally decent repair with the away fans being housed in one stand behind the goal with a few seats to the right being allocated to those who prefer to sit. As I waited for the match to start, I admired the Burton banners in the 'Don Arnott - King of Caravans' stand. Roughly one banner per paying customer at the start, but it filled up (a bit) before kickoff.
Our team. Hmm. Clarke in goal, then along the back Capaldi, Wright, Raynes, Boeteng and Batt. That left Chapman and Heslop in midfield (JFC being ill) and Potter, Smalley and Rigg up front. I have to admit that I'm not entirely sure what the formation was supposed to be. But then I'm in good company because it became obvious fairly quickly that the team didn't either. Was Batt supposed to be playing in midfield? Was is a back three with Capaldi and Batt providing width? With only two in midfield? The right back position was a buggers muddle. Sometimes Batt was there, sometimes he wasn't. Whatever - Smalley was on his own up front. That is a BAD IDEA. Not because he's awful - he isn't. But the things he is good at (headed flick on's, getting the ball and laying it off for example) require there to be someone up there with him. There wasn't.
The first 15-20 minutes were even (ish). We never looked like scoring, although we had quite a lot of the ball. If you've seen us this season (in both wins and losses) you'll know that involves quite a lot of passing the ball side to side and backwards while the other team wait for one of two inevitable outcomes. Outcome 1 - we hoof the ball long, usually diagonal. Outcome 2 - we pass ourselves to death and eventually cock up a simple 5 yard pass, leading to panic. And it's all done so sloowwwwlllyyy. The idea of a quick counterattack is entirely alien to the team. We get the ball, race to the half way line, then turn back and pass the ball backwards. By the time we have any support, the opposition are back in numbers. That isn't 'good passing football' in my book. It's arsing about with the ball. Next time you see us do it - watch carefully. Eventually, nine times out of ten, the ball ends up with the same player who started the move, in the same place on the pitch. Except now there are ten players between him and the goal. Earlier in the season, we were doing much the same - except we were doing it faster, people were moving off the ball creating a bit of space. But that has all evaporated. It's done at walking pace. The movement off the ball is non existent. Which is a bit of a bugger because all the teams in the league have now sussed us out. Last season it took about 35 games for them to do it, this time it's taken three. Oops.
So for all opposition managers, here's the tactics. Let us have the ball in front of you, you'll get it back. Attack down our right. Batt is often AWOL and even if he isn't, just run past him - he won't tackle. Or cut inside - he falls for it every time. There will be no midfielder covering for him. We won't shoot from outside the box, so you don't have to close down our midfielders as they come forward. Just pop a couple of defenders on the lone striker and you'll be fine.
There. I'm no football manager and I can see it. Every single Oxford fan can see it. But apparently its too difficult to do anything about it.
You know that thing about not shooting from outside the box? Exeter scored that way last weekend. And blow me down, Burton just went and did the same thing! Who'd credit it? To be fair Zola hit it very well and it probably took a touch off Jake Wright who was just not quite close enough. Anyway, the worryingly out-of-touch (or maybe just out-of-luck?) Clarke watched it sail into the net. 20 minutes or so and one down. Not that we hadn't had a warning. Burton had hit the bar a few minutes earlier after a blocked free kick. Now another worrying thing is the lack of backbone shown by most of the team. It didn't look for an instant as if we were going to go up the other end and out things right. Potter looked industrious although I'm sure his dad is a crab - he spent much of the time going sideways. At least he looked lively though, and had the bollocks to have a shot. Wide though. But the Oxford midfield had fallen to pieces completely. Simple passes were missed, the ball was lumped up to Smalley, tackles avoided, high balls not jumped for. The main culprit here was Heslop. He is slow, immobile and unaware of what is happening around him. As in a two man midfield, that is not a good thing. Now they knew that they could have a pop from distance without being closed down, Burton took complete control. And just before half time, they scored again. The lack of closing down was to blame again. The Burton strikers were allowed shot after shot, with Wright blocking bravely, but nobody trying to actually clear the ball. Eventually on the stroke of half time it was 2-0. Another good strike, but dear God what were you doing Raynes? Why weren't you in the way, or blocking the shot, or tackling the man or something. NOT watching the ball go into the net off the bar and then shrugging your shoulders and waving your arms at the hapless Clarke.
Half time. Meanwhile, what had Mr Wilder been going in the technical area? Rearranging the team, changing the shape, inspiring the troops, making a substitution to give the opposition something the think about? Nope. Mostly sitting down in the dugout. Brilliant. During probably the poorest half we'd played all season, he'd followed the example of many of his team and gone missing.
Second half. The usual panic (but too-slow-in-reacting panic) reaction. Take off a defender and a midfielder/striker (Boeteng and the totally anonymous Rigg) and put on two forwards JPP and Tommy Craddock. So now it was 4-2-4 (I think). That wasn't going to get hold of the midfield. To be fair, JPP especially did make some difference - much as he had against Exeter. Why he hadn't started I don't know. But although there was more energy (you've got to do more than just shout at half time Chris!) it was still totally ineffective. If we had scored in that first five minutes of the half things might have worked out differently - but realistically, when was the last time we came back from a two goal deficit?
It was all rendered moot anyway, when a free kick after 65 minutes (very like the one Plymouth scored) seemed to evade the wall and the flapping keeper to make it 3-0. Not content with that we then gave up marking altogether to gift them a fourth a couple of minutes later. They had enough time and space in our penalty area to have a barbecue before putting the ball in the net. Still about twenty minutes to go. Blimey. Batt headed a ridiculous ball back into his own penalty area from out wide, trying desperately to make it five.
Of course, the Oxford players than upped it a gear or two - determined to salvage some self-respect. Did they hell. It all got even slower and more laboured. The Burton crowd at last made a bit of noise. Our lot experimented with some 'Wilder Out's, 'We're shit and we know we are's and more. They could catch on I fear.
Marsh came on for a few minutes and looked lively Luckily Burton didn't manage to score again, and that was it.
A chorus of boos and 'you don't know what you're doing' and back home.
A complete load of bollocks.
JPP and Wright were decent.
Capaldi defended OK(ish).
Batt, Raynes and Heslop were frankly awful.
Clarke was uncertain.
Chapman couldn't pass the ball.
Potter was lively but in crab mode.
Boeteng was crude but didn't make any howlers.
Was Rigg on the pitch?
Smalley was used in a totally wasteful way. I'm still nowhere near convinced he's a L2 striker - he's certainly no good on his own.
Craddock got upset about some fairly unwarranted stick he was getting from some of our 'supporters'.
The manager was terrible. The way we play is slow and predictable. There is no Plan B and not much of a Plan A most of the time ('hoof it to Smalley after arsing around with it' doesn't count). He is slow to react to what is happening on the pitch and is now regularly out thought by other managers.
At the start of the season, I was in the 'Give Wilder a bit more time' camp. But I can't say that there is any evidence that he has learnt from the mistakes of last season. We have got some decent players, but for some reason (man management? tactical naivety?) he can't get anything like the best out of them. I think it's time he went. Either to another job, or IL needs to take action otherwise this season is going to slide down the tubes quicker than last night's curry. At the moment I am hoping there are two worse teams than us in this league or we'll all be going to Barrow again...
Hold on. Depressed? Irritated? Watching a mediocre Burton team beat us by 4 goals?
Maybe I took the steroids after all. Just the heart attack to look forward to now.
See you all next time - I won't get to Cheltenham - good luck to all who go!
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
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Wallpaper at 1280x1024.
Right-click and 'Save As'.
Wednesday, 15 February 2012
The Song Remains The Same (vs D&R L2)
Hello all -
It's nice to be back writing about the Yellows after a couple of weeks in the grip of a Siberian blast. Well, it was a bit snowy anyway. In the summer you can (sort of) forget about football for a while but in the middle of a season, it's a bit weird with no matches for a while. Which brings me to the subject of a 'mid-season break'.
When exactly would it be? I think it's generally proposed to be January. Well, we've just had a couple of weeks off in February - and freezing weather can strike anytime from November until March. If we'd had January off this year, there would have been no football from New Year until now. Doesn't bear thinking about really! And when exactly would the season end? Some time in June probably, unless there were weeks and weeks of Tuesday - Saturday - Tuesday - Saturday matches towards the end of the season.
Anyway, back to the point. Dagenham and Redbridge. Shot up the leagues and are just as quickly shooting down them again. Down in the nether regions of League 2. If there was any game that should be a gentle introduction back into actually playing football then a home game against the fast fading Daggers would surely be it.
Talking of introductions, there were some new faces at the club and in the squad named for the match. Oli Johnson (nearly new) was named up front with Beano and Scott Rendell (newer). Midfield was Hall, Mark Wilson (new) and Leven. At the back, Batt was still serving the longest two match ban in history so it was Davis, Wright, Doobs and Whing, with Clarke in goal as ever. On the bench were Worley, McLaren, Tonks, Mehdi Kerrouche (our refugee from DiCanio's circus down the road - very new indeed) and Lee Holmes (so new I doubt any of his team mates knew who he was).
So over all, three new or newish players starting and another two on the bench. It was almost back to pre-season discussions of 'gelling'!
We started out by kicking towards the fence end. The atmosphere was fairly muted, and wasn't helped by the poor turnout from D&R of about one hundred. Only just over 5,600 turned up in total - the rest didn't dare risk the wrath of their better halves on Valentine's Day! Still, the weather was OK, the surface looked good and there were some new players (and presumably revised formation and/or tactics) to run the rule over.
The first twenty five minutes. Hmm. I'd like to say they were forgettable. In fact I'd just like to forget them. Both sides were terrible. The ref was terrible. The atmosphere was terrible. We had absolutely nothing to shout about. No meaningingful shots from either side. No corners. Hardly any forward passes that reached their targets. No movement off the ball. Little shape. Throw-ins that gave the ball away, clearances straight to the opposition. And that was both sides. Were we as poor as we were in the first half at Burton? Yep. We didn't look quite as bad because the opposition was a damned sight worse though! A neutral observer would have had great difficulty telling apart the club staring at the Conference trapdoor from the one in a playoff position.
After twenty five minutes, a burst of excitement. Asa Hall (forgetting that our midfielders aren't supposed to go over the half way line unless they've got a note from their mums) found himself in front of goal with the ball passed through to him by Beano (who for much of the first half was some sort of extra left back - what was that all about?). But he hit it wide, past the left hand post. We all sat down again. Time passed. Clarke made a decent save with about five minutes of the half left. Nothing much happened and the ref put us all out of our misery by blowing for half time. The players left the pitch to a 'mixed' reception.
Well, where to start on that load of old rubbish? Barely a shot on target from either team, in fact not one at all on target from Oxford as far as I can remember. No width at all in the Oxford play, no crosses at all. Two poor teams, a poor match so far. Well, Burton had been similar, maybe the second half would see some much needed improvement in the entertainment. I was starting to regret not opting for the romantic candlelit dinner instead.
CW obviously thought that things needed shaking up as well. Asa Hall was taken off, and was replaced by Lee Holmes. Described by the official website as a 'left sided forward', we played him on the right. Ho hum. We also (I think) switched to a more 4-4-2 formation, with Rendell and Beano playing up front and Holmes, Leven, Wilson and Johnson in midfield.
After a minute or so of the half, we had a corner! Since the moments of excitement so far could be counted on the fingers of one hand by a bloke who had lost a couple of fingers, we all stood up expectantly. It was overhit and we all sat down again. Then another corner. Some people stood up, but the effort had been too much for some of us last time - so some didn't. It was woefully underhit.
And then the first moment of any quality in the game. Davis went past his man (not something any of the yellows had really attempted all match) and got to the goal line. He put in a great cross and there was Oli Johnson, in the right place at the right time to nod it in. Excellent. Surely that was the way forward. Run with the ball, get past and behind the defence and cross the ball. But that was the first and last time Davis managed it. A shame. A mark of how poor we had been was the fairly muted celebrations in the stands. True, Dagenham hadn't looked liked scoring any more than we had (up until we actually did!) but our tendency to give away stupid late goals at home against poor teams meant that confidence in the stands wasn't running high.
That pessimism was almost confirmed immediately. Dagenham went straight down to our end, and but for a clearance off the line by Johnson it would have been level. Up the other end, Holmes was now starting to show glimpses of his ability and gradually, gradually we were improving. We were putting more pressure on the Daggers goal than at any time in the match. Leven put a free kick wide of the post, a couple of decent crosses from Holmes came to nothing. But as far as shots on target were concerned, the only one had been the goal. Rendell and Beano both tried to improve that stat, but couldn't. Rendell was denied by the goalie, who did well to get out and smother the ball. Beano sliced one so wide it went for a throw in. That elusive second goal looked as unlikely to come as the first had. And when you are only one up...
... the inevitable often happens. A Dagenham corner was headed out of defence, the Oxford players stood stock still as a Dagenham player collected it. He had as much time as he wanted to cross the ball, since nobody was making any sort of move to close him down. He picked his spot and a largely unchallenged Dagger headed the ball past Clarke to equal the scores. Sigh. Not unexpected really. We keep doing it - giving away soft goals, often from crosses. Still, let's be positive - we haven't lost after going ahead. There was still 20 minutes or so to go though, and it almost got worse after another five minutes or so when a Daggers shot hit the outside of the post.
CW brought on Kerrouche to replace Rendell. Some numpties in the stand booed him. He soon shut them up. Judging by what little we saw of him (about 15 minutes) he has a good first touch. His very first touch was a first time ball to Johnson, who sent it straight on to Beano, who shot low past the goalkeeper to put Oxford back into the lead and himself into double figures for the season. Good stuff. Nice to see some quick movement up front, sometimes we are so ponderous. Is it a coincidence that our two goals had both been from bits of quick movement, with strikers moving into space? I think not.
There was still ten minutes to go plus injury time until the end. CW signalled his intentions by taking Johnson off and putting Tonkin on at left back. There were a few squeaky bum moments, mostly because our players gave some ridiculous free kicks away, but we survived. And that was it. The crowd didn't give the team much of an ovation - it was more relief than triumph. The team looked like they were let down by their own performance.
I haven't been so down after a home win for a long time. Admittedly we were generally better in the second half, but over all it was a very disappointing game indeed.
Thoughts in the car on the way home:
If we play at that level for the rest of the season, we can say goodbye to any thoughts of the playoffs.
The distribution out of defence was absolutely shocking. Duberry and Wright especially had very decent games in defence, but neither Doobs' horrible diagonal hoof or Wright's 15-yards-straight-to-an-opponent clearances are doing us any good whatsoever.
It is frustrating that with some players of undoubted quality, sometimes the team actually looks like less than the sum of its parts.
Dagenham were (from their perspective) perhaps unlucky not to nick a point, but they do look a desperately poor team - and with Northampton, Plymouth and Barnet picking up points it's not getting any easier down at the foot of the table.
On the positive side (let's cheer ourselves up) most of the new players look to have something about them. Holmes especially - maybe we could play him on the left. Just an idea. Like not playing Beano out wide - you can have that one for free, CW!
If we could start a game decently for a change, we might not find it so difficult to get on the front foot.
I probably won't make it to Brizzle, so good luck to the team on Saturday - give them a cheer from me.
Come On You Yellows!
It's nice to be back writing about the Yellows after a couple of weeks in the grip of a Siberian blast. Well, it was a bit snowy anyway. In the summer you can (sort of) forget about football for a while but in the middle of a season, it's a bit weird with no matches for a while. Which brings me to the subject of a 'mid-season break'.
When exactly would it be? I think it's generally proposed to be January. Well, we've just had a couple of weeks off in February - and freezing weather can strike anytime from November until March. If we'd had January off this year, there would have been no football from New Year until now. Doesn't bear thinking about really! And when exactly would the season end? Some time in June probably, unless there were weeks and weeks of Tuesday - Saturday - Tuesday - Saturday matches towards the end of the season.
Anyway, back to the point. Dagenham and Redbridge. Shot up the leagues and are just as quickly shooting down them again. Down in the nether regions of League 2. If there was any game that should be a gentle introduction back into actually playing football then a home game against the fast fading Daggers would surely be it.
Talking of introductions, there were some new faces at the club and in the squad named for the match. Oli Johnson (nearly new) was named up front with Beano and Scott Rendell (newer). Midfield was Hall, Mark Wilson (new) and Leven. At the back, Batt was still serving the longest two match ban in history so it was Davis, Wright, Doobs and Whing, with Clarke in goal as ever. On the bench were Worley, McLaren, Tonks, Mehdi Kerrouche (our refugee from DiCanio's circus down the road - very new indeed) and Lee Holmes (so new I doubt any of his team mates knew who he was).
So over all, three new or newish players starting and another two on the bench. It was almost back to pre-season discussions of 'gelling'!
We started out by kicking towards the fence end. The atmosphere was fairly muted, and wasn't helped by the poor turnout from D&R of about one hundred. Only just over 5,600 turned up in total - the rest didn't dare risk the wrath of their better halves on Valentine's Day! Still, the weather was OK, the surface looked good and there were some new players (and presumably revised formation and/or tactics) to run the rule over.
The first twenty five minutes. Hmm. I'd like to say they were forgettable. In fact I'd just like to forget them. Both sides were terrible. The ref was terrible. The atmosphere was terrible. We had absolutely nothing to shout about. No meaningingful shots from either side. No corners. Hardly any forward passes that reached their targets. No movement off the ball. Little shape. Throw-ins that gave the ball away, clearances straight to the opposition. And that was both sides. Were we as poor as we were in the first half at Burton? Yep. We didn't look quite as bad because the opposition was a damned sight worse though! A neutral observer would have had great difficulty telling apart the club staring at the Conference trapdoor from the one in a playoff position.
After twenty five minutes, a burst of excitement. Asa Hall (forgetting that our midfielders aren't supposed to go over the half way line unless they've got a note from their mums) found himself in front of goal with the ball passed through to him by Beano (who for much of the first half was some sort of extra left back - what was that all about?). But he hit it wide, past the left hand post. We all sat down again. Time passed. Clarke made a decent save with about five minutes of the half left. Nothing much happened and the ref put us all out of our misery by blowing for half time. The players left the pitch to a 'mixed' reception.
Well, where to start on that load of old rubbish? Barely a shot on target from either team, in fact not one at all on target from Oxford as far as I can remember. No width at all in the Oxford play, no crosses at all. Two poor teams, a poor match so far. Well, Burton had been similar, maybe the second half would see some much needed improvement in the entertainment. I was starting to regret not opting for the romantic candlelit dinner instead.
CW obviously thought that things needed shaking up as well. Asa Hall was taken off, and was replaced by Lee Holmes. Described by the official website as a 'left sided forward', we played him on the right. Ho hum. We also (I think) switched to a more 4-4-2 formation, with Rendell and Beano playing up front and Holmes, Leven, Wilson and Johnson in midfield.
After a minute or so of the half, we had a corner! Since the moments of excitement so far could be counted on the fingers of one hand by a bloke who had lost a couple of fingers, we all stood up expectantly. It was overhit and we all sat down again. Then another corner. Some people stood up, but the effort had been too much for some of us last time - so some didn't. It was woefully underhit.
And then the first moment of any quality in the game. Davis went past his man (not something any of the yellows had really attempted all match) and got to the goal line. He put in a great cross and there was Oli Johnson, in the right place at the right time to nod it in. Excellent. Surely that was the way forward. Run with the ball, get past and behind the defence and cross the ball. But that was the first and last time Davis managed it. A shame. A mark of how poor we had been was the fairly muted celebrations in the stands. True, Dagenham hadn't looked liked scoring any more than we had (up until we actually did!) but our tendency to give away stupid late goals at home against poor teams meant that confidence in the stands wasn't running high.
That pessimism was almost confirmed immediately. Dagenham went straight down to our end, and but for a clearance off the line by Johnson it would have been level. Up the other end, Holmes was now starting to show glimpses of his ability and gradually, gradually we were improving. We were putting more pressure on the Daggers goal than at any time in the match. Leven put a free kick wide of the post, a couple of decent crosses from Holmes came to nothing. But as far as shots on target were concerned, the only one had been the goal. Rendell and Beano both tried to improve that stat, but couldn't. Rendell was denied by the goalie, who did well to get out and smother the ball. Beano sliced one so wide it went for a throw in. That elusive second goal looked as unlikely to come as the first had. And when you are only one up...
... the inevitable often happens. A Dagenham corner was headed out of defence, the Oxford players stood stock still as a Dagenham player collected it. He had as much time as he wanted to cross the ball, since nobody was making any sort of move to close him down. He picked his spot and a largely unchallenged Dagger headed the ball past Clarke to equal the scores. Sigh. Not unexpected really. We keep doing it - giving away soft goals, often from crosses. Still, let's be positive - we haven't lost after going ahead. There was still 20 minutes or so to go though, and it almost got worse after another five minutes or so when a Daggers shot hit the outside of the post.
CW brought on Kerrouche to replace Rendell. Some numpties in the stand booed him. He soon shut them up. Judging by what little we saw of him (about 15 minutes) he has a good first touch. His very first touch was a first time ball to Johnson, who sent it straight on to Beano, who shot low past the goalkeeper to put Oxford back into the lead and himself into double figures for the season. Good stuff. Nice to see some quick movement up front, sometimes we are so ponderous. Is it a coincidence that our two goals had both been from bits of quick movement, with strikers moving into space? I think not.
There was still ten minutes to go plus injury time until the end. CW signalled his intentions by taking Johnson off and putting Tonkin on at left back. There were a few squeaky bum moments, mostly because our players gave some ridiculous free kicks away, but we survived. And that was it. The crowd didn't give the team much of an ovation - it was more relief than triumph. The team looked like they were let down by their own performance.
I haven't been so down after a home win for a long time. Admittedly we were generally better in the second half, but over all it was a very disappointing game indeed.
Thoughts in the car on the way home:
If we play at that level for the rest of the season, we can say goodbye to any thoughts of the playoffs.
The distribution out of defence was absolutely shocking. Duberry and Wright especially had very decent games in defence, but neither Doobs' horrible diagonal hoof or Wright's 15-yards-straight-to-an-opponent clearances are doing us any good whatsoever.
It is frustrating that with some players of undoubted quality, sometimes the team actually looks like less than the sum of its parts.
Dagenham were (from their perspective) perhaps unlucky not to nick a point, but they do look a desperately poor team - and with Northampton, Plymouth and Barnet picking up points it's not getting any easier down at the foot of the table.
On the positive side (let's cheer ourselves up) most of the new players look to have something about them. Holmes especially - maybe we could play him on the left. Just an idea. Like not playing Beano out wide - you can have that one for free, CW!
If we could start a game decently for a change, we might not find it so difficult to get on the front foot.
I probably won't make it to Brizzle, so good luck to the team on Saturday - give them a cheer from me.
Come On You Yellows!
Monday, 30 January 2012
Brewers Droop (vs Burton L2)
Hello all -
So, off up the M1 to Burton, making sure I kept two chevrons apart of course. Not my first time up that particular road this week as I'd popped up a stretch of it on Thursday on my way to Wolverhampton to see Half Man Half Biscuit live in Bilston. Very good they were too. The match had been moved to Sunday because Derby were at home in the cup on Saturday, and Burton share their stewards. Hmm. Football on a Sunday afternoon is unnatural and agin God.
Anyway, got to Burton in decent time, and managed to park in the £2 car park near the ground. Usually I'm a bit later and end up leaving the jalopy in the industrial estate near the MacDonalds and Screwfix. There aren't any signs there about not parking, but I always walk back to the car expecting it to have been towed away! £2 for a bit of peace of mind isn't bad I suppose.
Into the ground (a very reasonable £14) and into the terrace behind the goal. The Pirelli Stadium is a neat enough, if small, ground with terracing around three sides and seating, press, directors boxes etc on the other. As kickoff approached, the stadium filled up a little and the teams were read out. Batt was missing (suspended for this and the Barnet game) so Andy Whing moved into right back and Hall came into the midfield. Probably as expected really.
A horrible monstrosity of a mascot called (I think) Bettie the Brewer, carrying a yellow handbag paraded in front of the stand to our right. The Burton 'singing section' was in that stand, comprising twelve (I counted them) pre-pubescant lads and an embarassed looking girl. Still, they afforded us much amusement throughout the match... The Burton support behind the other goal (in the Don Amott 'King of Caravans' stand!) were remarkably quiet all match. Although they'd obviously spent a lot a time sat at the sewing machines making banners. It's good to see that Kirsty Allsop's Handmade Britain has had such an effect on the football lovers of Staffordshire.
Burton were wearing yellow and black stripes, and confirmed their waspiness by buzzing about industriously straight from the kickoff. In contrast, the only garden wildlife reference I can apply to the men in the blue and white change strip is 'sluggish'. Buton were kicking towards us, and all the action was down our end of the pitch. The Oxford midfield went missing almost completely and immediately, giving the ball away all the time and not challenging or closing down the Burton players. I don't understand really. Although we nominally play a 4-3-3, surely that should become a 4-5-1 when we haven't got the ball. So where are those five 'midfielders'? Well the three proper midfielders (Hall, Leven and Heslop in this case) were far too close to the defence most of the time. And the two wide attackers who were presumably supposed to be helping out were still stuck too wide and too far up the pitch. Leaving a bloody great hole in the middle of the formation, with the midfield not having the speed or mobility to move into it quickly enough to make a difference. The Burton midfield had as much time and space as they wanted, and it was only a matter of time before they turned the possession into a goal.
It came after about a quarter of an hour. Clarke made a decent save, but from the resulting corner (which was taken short) the ball was simply passed into our penalty area and thumped goalwards. It took a bit of a deflection, leaving Clarke helpless. One down and, to be honest, we were getting what we deserved. The game continued in similar vein. The Oxford defence were actually doing OK under constant pressure, Heslop started to get his act together a little and made some useful challenges in the midfield, but it was still one-way traffic. Burton didn't really use the space they were being given very well, the most notable attack being a through ball that was well dealt with by Liam Davis. You may have noticed that I haven't been saying much about the Oxford attack. There's a reason for that. We were hardly up the other end at all, and we certainly weren't shooting when we were. The Oxford faithful were getting restless. 'This is embarassing' was the chant from some. Not particularly supportive maybe, but entirely accurate. The tackling was non-existant, the movement off the ball lacking. There was no accuracy at all in the passing. The ball went into the air far too much - and usually straight to a wasp. It was a depressing display. A corner after about half an hour lead to our first shot, with Heslop blasting over the bar. JPP then had what looked like a decent shot blocked. And half time came.
Blimey. Probably the worst half of football I'd seen from us this season. We looked like a bottom of the table side, not one challenging for the playoffs. The only good thing was that we were only one down - due to the decent effort by the Oxford defence in general (Andy Whing in particular, who was having a solid game at right back) and the lack of cutting edge in the Burton attack (I'm glad we didn't sign Zola over the summer!).
As far as I was concerned at half time, there were two racing certainties for the second half. We would concede more goals, and Beano would get sent off. He'd talked himself into the book jsut before the break, and you got the feeling that the (inconsistent) ref would not need much of an excuse to wave a second yellow at him. Nor for the first time (or the last, I am sure) I got it wrong.
I suspect that the dressing-room crockery at Burton might need replacing. CW obviously gave the team a bollocking, and livened the team up by making them dodge china and flying hot beverages for ten minutes or so.
As the teams came out for the second half, the lightweight and rather ineffective Hall had been replaced by Oli Johnson, which showed attacking intent. Although that left Leven and Heslop as the 'proper' midfield. Mind you, the midfield couldn't be less effective than it had been in the first half even with only two in there!
The second half started, and there was an immediate change. The Oxford players were suddenly a yard of two quicker, the tackling was at least being attempted. Johnson looked useful, linking the (still too deep) midfield with the strikers. Alfie Potter was also coming into his own. He made one jinking run that ended up with him just failing to get past the Burton keeper at the far post, just in front of us. Proving that those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them, the Burton defence failed to stop him a second time. This time he made no mistake after his enterprising dribbling and equalised inside the same post! An excellent individual goal (which is generally the type we rely on) had brought us right back into the match. Constable put one just wide of the post, and the referee missed a blatant handball by a Burton defender inside the box. Potter blazed over when he should have at least hit the target, Peter Leven's flying header was unfortunately straight at the Burton keeper. Burton had a header hit wide of the goal and a shot into the side netting, so there were chances at both ends. The preschool choir to our right tried an 'Is that all you take away?". Yep, at least double and probably nearly treble what you took to us. Mind you, ever mindful of child safely, we enquired whether their mothers knew they were at the match. Very thoughtful. We then warned the single girl amongst them about the danger of unnatural sexual acts - she assured us (through the medium of mime) that in fact she did not do such things. Much to the chagrin of the lad standing next to her.
Peter Leven missed narrowly from a free kick, and there were a couple of scrambles in the Burton area (including another penalty shout) but it all came to nothing and the ref blew up to end the match all square.
A match of two halves if there ever was one. After the first half I was glad we were only one down and was just hoping we wouldn't be beaten too badly. After the second, I was disappointed we hadn't taken all three points. In fact, this one match had summed up our inconsistent season yet again.
Thoughts afterwards:
We need to sort the midfield out. Whether that's a new player, or simply reorganising what we've got I don't know/care. But it needs doing, and quickly if we are to be challenging at the end of the season.
We are now in the last playoff place but we are six points behind the team above us. So we are one of at least half a dozen teams competing for that last place.
Doobs - that horrible diagonal cross field ball to nobody in particular. Don't bother. Really.
My men of the match? Whing in the first half, Alfie in the second.
We need to start actually winning matches and quickly. An away draw at Burton is an OK result, but not when it follows two home matches in which we have managed one point. A home match at Barnet next Saturday might give us the chance to put three points on the board. Maybe there will be a new player or two to bolster the ranks?
It's never dull, is it?!!! See you next time, I'm off to listen to some HMHB.
So, off up the M1 to Burton, making sure I kept two chevrons apart of course. Not my first time up that particular road this week as I'd popped up a stretch of it on Thursday on my way to Wolverhampton to see Half Man Half Biscuit live in Bilston. Very good they were too. The match had been moved to Sunday because Derby were at home in the cup on Saturday, and Burton share their stewards. Hmm. Football on a Sunday afternoon is unnatural and agin God.
Anyway, got to Burton in decent time, and managed to park in the £2 car park near the ground. Usually I'm a bit later and end up leaving the jalopy in the industrial estate near the MacDonalds and Screwfix. There aren't any signs there about not parking, but I always walk back to the car expecting it to have been towed away! £2 for a bit of peace of mind isn't bad I suppose.
Into the ground (a very reasonable £14) and into the terrace behind the goal. The Pirelli Stadium is a neat enough, if small, ground with terracing around three sides and seating, press, directors boxes etc on the other. As kickoff approached, the stadium filled up a little and the teams were read out. Batt was missing (suspended for this and the Barnet game) so Andy Whing moved into right back and Hall came into the midfield. Probably as expected really.
A horrible monstrosity of a mascot called (I think) Bettie the Brewer, carrying a yellow handbag paraded in front of the stand to our right. The Burton 'singing section' was in that stand, comprising twelve (I counted them) pre-pubescant lads and an embarassed looking girl. Still, they afforded us much amusement throughout the match... The Burton support behind the other goal (in the Don Amott 'King of Caravans' stand!) were remarkably quiet all match. Although they'd obviously spent a lot a time sat at the sewing machines making banners. It's good to see that Kirsty Allsop's Handmade Britain has had such an effect on the football lovers of Staffordshire.
Burton were wearing yellow and black stripes, and confirmed their waspiness by buzzing about industriously straight from the kickoff. In contrast, the only garden wildlife reference I can apply to the men in the blue and white change strip is 'sluggish'. Buton were kicking towards us, and all the action was down our end of the pitch. The Oxford midfield went missing almost completely and immediately, giving the ball away all the time and not challenging or closing down the Burton players. I don't understand really. Although we nominally play a 4-3-3, surely that should become a 4-5-1 when we haven't got the ball. So where are those five 'midfielders'? Well the three proper midfielders (Hall, Leven and Heslop in this case) were far too close to the defence most of the time. And the two wide attackers who were presumably supposed to be helping out were still stuck too wide and too far up the pitch. Leaving a bloody great hole in the middle of the formation, with the midfield not having the speed or mobility to move into it quickly enough to make a difference. The Burton midfield had as much time and space as they wanted, and it was only a matter of time before they turned the possession into a goal.
It came after about a quarter of an hour. Clarke made a decent save, but from the resulting corner (which was taken short) the ball was simply passed into our penalty area and thumped goalwards. It took a bit of a deflection, leaving Clarke helpless. One down and, to be honest, we were getting what we deserved. The game continued in similar vein. The Oxford defence were actually doing OK under constant pressure, Heslop started to get his act together a little and made some useful challenges in the midfield, but it was still one-way traffic. Burton didn't really use the space they were being given very well, the most notable attack being a through ball that was well dealt with by Liam Davis. You may have noticed that I haven't been saying much about the Oxford attack. There's a reason for that. We were hardly up the other end at all, and we certainly weren't shooting when we were. The Oxford faithful were getting restless. 'This is embarassing' was the chant from some. Not particularly supportive maybe, but entirely accurate. The tackling was non-existant, the movement off the ball lacking. There was no accuracy at all in the passing. The ball went into the air far too much - and usually straight to a wasp. It was a depressing display. A corner after about half an hour lead to our first shot, with Heslop blasting over the bar. JPP then had what looked like a decent shot blocked. And half time came.
Blimey. Probably the worst half of football I'd seen from us this season. We looked like a bottom of the table side, not one challenging for the playoffs. The only good thing was that we were only one down - due to the decent effort by the Oxford defence in general (Andy Whing in particular, who was having a solid game at right back) and the lack of cutting edge in the Burton attack (I'm glad we didn't sign Zola over the summer!).
As far as I was concerned at half time, there were two racing certainties for the second half. We would concede more goals, and Beano would get sent off. He'd talked himself into the book jsut before the break, and you got the feeling that the (inconsistent) ref would not need much of an excuse to wave a second yellow at him. Nor for the first time (or the last, I am sure) I got it wrong.
I suspect that the dressing-room crockery at Burton might need replacing. CW obviously gave the team a bollocking, and livened the team up by making them dodge china and flying hot beverages for ten minutes or so.
As the teams came out for the second half, the lightweight and rather ineffective Hall had been replaced by Oli Johnson, which showed attacking intent. Although that left Leven and Heslop as the 'proper' midfield. Mind you, the midfield couldn't be less effective than it had been in the first half even with only two in there!
The second half started, and there was an immediate change. The Oxford players were suddenly a yard of two quicker, the tackling was at least being attempted. Johnson looked useful, linking the (still too deep) midfield with the strikers. Alfie Potter was also coming into his own. He made one jinking run that ended up with him just failing to get past the Burton keeper at the far post, just in front of us. Proving that those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them, the Burton defence failed to stop him a second time. This time he made no mistake after his enterprising dribbling and equalised inside the same post! An excellent individual goal (which is generally the type we rely on) had brought us right back into the match. Constable put one just wide of the post, and the referee missed a blatant handball by a Burton defender inside the box. Potter blazed over when he should have at least hit the target, Peter Leven's flying header was unfortunately straight at the Burton keeper. Burton had a header hit wide of the goal and a shot into the side netting, so there were chances at both ends. The preschool choir to our right tried an 'Is that all you take away?". Yep, at least double and probably nearly treble what you took to us. Mind you, ever mindful of child safely, we enquired whether their mothers knew they were at the match. Very thoughtful. We then warned the single girl amongst them about the danger of unnatural sexual acts - she assured us (through the medium of mime) that in fact she did not do such things. Much to the chagrin of the lad standing next to her.
Peter Leven missed narrowly from a free kick, and there were a couple of scrambles in the Burton area (including another penalty shout) but it all came to nothing and the ref blew up to end the match all square.
A match of two halves if there ever was one. After the first half I was glad we were only one down and was just hoping we wouldn't be beaten too badly. After the second, I was disappointed we hadn't taken all three points. In fact, this one match had summed up our inconsistent season yet again.
Thoughts afterwards:
We need to sort the midfield out. Whether that's a new player, or simply reorganising what we've got I don't know/care. But it needs doing, and quickly if we are to be challenging at the end of the season.
We are now in the last playoff place but we are six points behind the team above us. So we are one of at least half a dozen teams competing for that last place.
Doobs - that horrible diagonal cross field ball to nobody in particular. Don't bother. Really.
My men of the match? Whing in the first half, Alfie in the second.
We need to start actually winning matches and quickly. An away draw at Burton is an OK result, but not when it follows two home matches in which we have managed one point. A home match at Barnet next Saturday might give us the chance to put three points on the board. Maybe there will be a new player or two to bolster the ranks?
It's never dull, is it?!!! See you next time, I'm off to listen to some HMHB.
Sunday, 22 January 2012
A Cow Pat on the Back (vs Hereford L2)
Ah, the 'Battle of the Cattle'. As it's known by nobody at all. But a chance to put that morale sapping last minute defeat to Crewe to the back of our minds, following on so soon from the previous home match (against Crawley) in which we also conceded in the dying seconds.
We still haven't had much of a winter, and the weather was chilly rather than freezing. Unfortunately it was windy, never good at Grenoble Road (I'm getting the hang of that now!). The team news was 'unchanged'. Of course that meant that for another week, Beano had avoided being snaffled by the loopy Italian. I suppose I'd better have my tuppenceworth on the subject! I think in general that the club handled it OK, from their point of view. They can't say 'Player X is never for sale at any price' - it's not true (especially down in L2!). They can't say 'We will never ever sell a player to club Y' - that's not true either. So, they get a bid that (£200K or so, eventually) is financially acceptable, ask the player if he's interested (£75,000 signing on fee, nearly double wages reportedly), he has a think, says he's not interested. Sounds professional enough. Of course, from a fan's point of view it would have been a total disaster, but then perhaps our yellow tinted glasses blind us to the big picture? I am not sure Beano will still be with us on the 1st February, but at least he won't have gone down the road! A nicely worded official statement after the non-transfer seems to have put to bed the interent rumours of player/manager rifts, financial woes etc. Although of course some people won't believe it - but then some people think they've been abducted by aliens and that Elvis is still alive!
On the bench was ex-Norwich Oli Johnson, our only signing so far of the transfer window, along with Craddock, Worley, Asa Hall (I don't think we'll be seeing Robbie again, so I'll just go with 'Hall' from now on!) and Tonks.
We won the toss for the first time in a few matches and started by attacking the fence end. I thought that Hereford started surprisingly brightly - they have a very decent away record and you could see why. If fact they could have taken an early lead from a corner, but the ball was cleared off the line. The Hereford corners were quite interesting. As well as having a couple of men in the box, they put two men on each corner of the penalty area who made diagonal runs into and across the box as it was taken. Quite a contrast to the rather static tactics applied by the yellows in the same situation. I'd like to see us thinking along similar lines.
Heslop had a shot blocked, but then JPP put us into the lead after ten minutes or so. The Hereford defence backed off, Pittman looked up and (showing the confidence and cojones sometimes missing in certain of his team mates) banged the ball past the keeper. Nice. An early goal, surely we could go on and win it. We certainly wouldn't lose - we haven't done so this season after scoring the first goal.
Suddenly though, the urgency went a bit. The passing got more elaborate and less effective. The midfield were simply not closing their Hereford counterparts down, giving them a huge amount of time on the ball. The opposition didn't look hugely threatening, but their confidence grew a little as they kept the ball. Apart from the early goal, the match wasn't a million miles awat from the pattern of the Crewe match, worryingly. Beano had a chance to make his mark after about 25 minutes, but the Hereford keeper made a decent save to keep his team in it.
And then they were truly back in it. The Hereford right winger was given far too much space and time (not for the first or last time) and put in an excellent low cross. It wouldn't have come to much, but two yellows defenders slid in to try and clear it and Doobs slid it straight past Clarke and into the back of the net. Rats.
That, at least, seemed to spur the home team on a little. Crosses started to go into the Hereford box at regular intervals. Unfortunately, the accutate crosses were either headed and saved (Constable) or skidded across the face of goal with a striker nowhere about. A fair few were mishit in the swirling wind as well.
Don't get the impression that it was all flowing football from the Us. There was quite a lot of hoofing up to the front as well. Normally, it had been passed back and forth between various of the back four first beforehand though - so perhaps it is classed as 'patient'! ;)
Half time came. Another frustrating half of football. The strikers (especially Pittman) had looked lively, although Potter kept running well with the ball before giving it up tamely. Sometimes his own fault, sometimes because he was given absolutely no options by his static colleagues. The defence had done OK, but conceded an own goal, the midfield had gone missing for long periods.
Half time saw the warming up subs doing a perfunctory crossbar challenge, and a couple of kids teams doing a lap of the pitch.
Second half, and we were kicking towards the East Stand as we seem to prefer. Davis should have won a penalty early on, but apparently a tackle from behind in the penalty area that doesn't win the ball but does take the man isn't a foul? Actually, let's have a word on the ref while we've got him in our sights! Pernicketty. Fussy. One non-threatening free kick was taken three times. But then also lenient. Grabbing a man from behind in a bear hug? Fine. Late tackle? No problem. But take a free kick six inches from where the foul took place and he was down on the players like a ton of bricks. Contrast him with last weeks 'non-contact sport' ref and you can see why players and management of all clubs complain about the lack of consistency in the officiating!
JPP had a decent shot saved, and Potters follow up was cleared. Leven ran into the penalty area on the right of the goal and had a great chance to shoot, but inexplicably poked the ball across the area. Shoot man, shoot! Another good penalty shout, for handball this time, was waved away. Hereford were dropping deeper and deeper, with a point obviously being a good result for them. We had a series of corners that never looked like coming to anything, and most of the stadium thought Beano had scored after about 20 minutes into the half, but the ball squirmed wide of the post. Apart from that, there was lots of huff and puff from Oxford, but very little in the way of clear cut chances. Leven and Heslop had log distance efforts saved and Johnson (who had come on for the misfiring Potter) headed one over the bar.
As we've seen though, with our slow midfield (and the swapping of Whing for Hall didn't really seem to help much there), and wide fullbacks who are often a mile up the pitch when we attack, we are often vulnerable to counter-attacks. And so it proved again. A Hereford player ran away with the ball, and found himself in a one-on-one with Clarke and all the time in the world as Oxford players tried in vain to get back. He never looked convincing though, and poked the ball wide. What a let off. We went back on the attack, without finding any way through. In what seemed a bizarre substitution with five minutes to go, CW took Heslop off and put Craddock on. 4-2-4. That wasn't going to help the midfield! And then another breakaway, another cross from the right and once more Duberry met it to put it into his own goal. Disaster! Nice header though! Some numpty behind me decided it was all Craddocks fault, pathetic.
How on earth had we managed to go 2-1 down, having been clearly the better team for most/all of the match? Still, four minutes to go - about four minutes more than we had against Crewe. As the clock ran down, Craddock (who had apparently taken the expert advice from behind me to "fkin do somefink abart it you prat Craddock") put a lovely pass into the path of the wanting-to-make-amends Duberry, who met it beautifully and equalised. Brilliant. And that will teach all those who had left once we went behind. 90 minutes of support, not 85!
There was still some injury time to play, and Beano even had a headed chance to grab a very very late winner, but missed the chance to end his week on a massive high. The ref blew (I'm sure he was correct to the nanosecond) and it was a draw.
I'd managed to park in the East Stand car park (evidence of a rather disappointing crowd) so was out and away quickly. I was fairly amazed to hear CWs post-match interview in which he claimed that we had never lumped it forward. I can assure him (and you, dear reader) that lumping was certainly the order of the day for some of the match!
Some post match thoughts -
Our problem is with our immobile and uncreative midfield. Any chances we create are either made by our overlapping fullbacks or the strikers themselves.
Our closing down (again in the middle of the pitch to a large degree) is awful. We put no pressure on the opponent with the ball. Once they realise that, we lose the midfield battle very easily.
I thought Oli Johnson (in only 20 minutes, of course) looked a bit rusty, but showed some very nice touches. I think he'll be a very good addition.
Last three home matches - two points. Not good enough. Our home form needs a huge and immediate improvement if we are going to threaten the playoffs.
I realise that I have missed the chance to indulge my pun-Tourettes and make lots of cow/ox/bull related quips. You don't know how lucky you all are!
Let's hope we can get some points away at Burton next Sunday to keep us in the top seven. See you there!
We still haven't had much of a winter, and the weather was chilly rather than freezing. Unfortunately it was windy, never good at Grenoble Road (I'm getting the hang of that now!). The team news was 'unchanged'. Of course that meant that for another week, Beano had avoided being snaffled by the loopy Italian. I suppose I'd better have my tuppenceworth on the subject! I think in general that the club handled it OK, from their point of view. They can't say 'Player X is never for sale at any price' - it's not true (especially down in L2!). They can't say 'We will never ever sell a player to club Y' - that's not true either. So, they get a bid that (£200K or so, eventually) is financially acceptable, ask the player if he's interested (£75,000 signing on fee, nearly double wages reportedly), he has a think, says he's not interested. Sounds professional enough. Of course, from a fan's point of view it would have been a total disaster, but then perhaps our yellow tinted glasses blind us to the big picture? I am not sure Beano will still be with us on the 1st February, but at least he won't have gone down the road! A nicely worded official statement after the non-transfer seems to have put to bed the interent rumours of player/manager rifts, financial woes etc. Although of course some people won't believe it - but then some people think they've been abducted by aliens and that Elvis is still alive!
On the bench was ex-Norwich Oli Johnson, our only signing so far of the transfer window, along with Craddock, Worley, Asa Hall (I don't think we'll be seeing Robbie again, so I'll just go with 'Hall' from now on!) and Tonks.
We won the toss for the first time in a few matches and started by attacking the fence end. I thought that Hereford started surprisingly brightly - they have a very decent away record and you could see why. If fact they could have taken an early lead from a corner, but the ball was cleared off the line. The Hereford corners were quite interesting. As well as having a couple of men in the box, they put two men on each corner of the penalty area who made diagonal runs into and across the box as it was taken. Quite a contrast to the rather static tactics applied by the yellows in the same situation. I'd like to see us thinking along similar lines.
Heslop had a shot blocked, but then JPP put us into the lead after ten minutes or so. The Hereford defence backed off, Pittman looked up and (showing the confidence and cojones sometimes missing in certain of his team mates) banged the ball past the keeper. Nice. An early goal, surely we could go on and win it. We certainly wouldn't lose - we haven't done so this season after scoring the first goal.
Suddenly though, the urgency went a bit. The passing got more elaborate and less effective. The midfield were simply not closing their Hereford counterparts down, giving them a huge amount of time on the ball. The opposition didn't look hugely threatening, but their confidence grew a little as they kept the ball. Apart from the early goal, the match wasn't a million miles awat from the pattern of the Crewe match, worryingly. Beano had a chance to make his mark after about 25 minutes, but the Hereford keeper made a decent save to keep his team in it.
And then they were truly back in it. The Hereford right winger was given far too much space and time (not for the first or last time) and put in an excellent low cross. It wouldn't have come to much, but two yellows defenders slid in to try and clear it and Doobs slid it straight past Clarke and into the back of the net. Rats.
That, at least, seemed to spur the home team on a little. Crosses started to go into the Hereford box at regular intervals. Unfortunately, the accutate crosses were either headed and saved (Constable) or skidded across the face of goal with a striker nowhere about. A fair few were mishit in the swirling wind as well.
Don't get the impression that it was all flowing football from the Us. There was quite a lot of hoofing up to the front as well. Normally, it had been passed back and forth between various of the back four first beforehand though - so perhaps it is classed as 'patient'! ;)
Half time came. Another frustrating half of football. The strikers (especially Pittman) had looked lively, although Potter kept running well with the ball before giving it up tamely. Sometimes his own fault, sometimes because he was given absolutely no options by his static colleagues. The defence had done OK, but conceded an own goal, the midfield had gone missing for long periods.
Half time saw the warming up subs doing a perfunctory crossbar challenge, and a couple of kids teams doing a lap of the pitch.
Second half, and we were kicking towards the East Stand as we seem to prefer. Davis should have won a penalty early on, but apparently a tackle from behind in the penalty area that doesn't win the ball but does take the man isn't a foul? Actually, let's have a word on the ref while we've got him in our sights! Pernicketty. Fussy. One non-threatening free kick was taken three times. But then also lenient. Grabbing a man from behind in a bear hug? Fine. Late tackle? No problem. But take a free kick six inches from where the foul took place and he was down on the players like a ton of bricks. Contrast him with last weeks 'non-contact sport' ref and you can see why players and management of all clubs complain about the lack of consistency in the officiating!
JPP had a decent shot saved, and Potters follow up was cleared. Leven ran into the penalty area on the right of the goal and had a great chance to shoot, but inexplicably poked the ball across the area. Shoot man, shoot! Another good penalty shout, for handball this time, was waved away. Hereford were dropping deeper and deeper, with a point obviously being a good result for them. We had a series of corners that never looked like coming to anything, and most of the stadium thought Beano had scored after about 20 minutes into the half, but the ball squirmed wide of the post. Apart from that, there was lots of huff and puff from Oxford, but very little in the way of clear cut chances. Leven and Heslop had log distance efforts saved and Johnson (who had come on for the misfiring Potter) headed one over the bar.
As we've seen though, with our slow midfield (and the swapping of Whing for Hall didn't really seem to help much there), and wide fullbacks who are often a mile up the pitch when we attack, we are often vulnerable to counter-attacks. And so it proved again. A Hereford player ran away with the ball, and found himself in a one-on-one with Clarke and all the time in the world as Oxford players tried in vain to get back. He never looked convincing though, and poked the ball wide. What a let off. We went back on the attack, without finding any way through. In what seemed a bizarre substitution with five minutes to go, CW took Heslop off and put Craddock on. 4-2-4. That wasn't going to help the midfield! And then another breakaway, another cross from the right and once more Duberry met it to put it into his own goal. Disaster! Nice header though! Some numpty behind me decided it was all Craddocks fault, pathetic.
How on earth had we managed to go 2-1 down, having been clearly the better team for most/all of the match? Still, four minutes to go - about four minutes more than we had against Crewe. As the clock ran down, Craddock (who had apparently taken the expert advice from behind me to "fkin do somefink abart it you prat Craddock") put a lovely pass into the path of the wanting-to-make-amends Duberry, who met it beautifully and equalised. Brilliant. And that will teach all those who had left once we went behind. 90 minutes of support, not 85!
There was still some injury time to play, and Beano even had a headed chance to grab a very very late winner, but missed the chance to end his week on a massive high. The ref blew (I'm sure he was correct to the nanosecond) and it was a draw.
I'd managed to park in the East Stand car park (evidence of a rather disappointing crowd) so was out and away quickly. I was fairly amazed to hear CWs post-match interview in which he claimed that we had never lumped it forward. I can assure him (and you, dear reader) that lumping was certainly the order of the day for some of the match!
Some post match thoughts -
Our problem is with our immobile and uncreative midfield. Any chances we create are either made by our overlapping fullbacks or the strikers themselves.
Our closing down (again in the middle of the pitch to a large degree) is awful. We put no pressure on the opponent with the ball. Once they realise that, we lose the midfield battle very easily.
I thought Oli Johnson (in only 20 minutes, of course) looked a bit rusty, but showed some very nice touches. I think he'll be a very good addition.
Last three home matches - two points. Not good enough. Our home form needs a huge and immediate improvement if we are going to threaten the playoffs.
I realise that I have missed the chance to indulge my pun-Tourettes and make lots of cow/ox/bull related quips. You don't know how lucky you all are!
Let's hope we can get some points away at Burton next Sunday to keep us in the top seven. See you there!
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Consistent Inconsistency (vs Crewe L2)
Hi all -
After last week's heroics at Aldershot, I set off for Grenoble Road (see, I remembered!) in good spirits. Although in the back of my mind, I couldn't help remembering the match at Gresty Road, where we had failed to convert early chances and had lost the game, ending a four match unbeaten run.
Never mind, it was a lovely winter's day (in a not very wintery winter), not cold enough for frozen pitch or travel worries and not windy. Wind always makes Grenoble Road an uncomfortable place to be, and in the winter makes it seem a lot colder. Wind chill, I guess.
So, down to Oxford in good time, yet again failing to get into the east stand car park. Pah. I'll have to try alternative parking elsewhere - I hate the wait to get out of the car park after the match. Listening to RadOx in the car, our team was unchanged from Aldershot - which of course meant that Beano was still with us. A good thing in my view. Really we need to add a striker, not get rid of one, or get a new one in to replace one. I suppose Deane Smalley was supposed to be that new striker, but that's one signing that hasn't worked out at all. If there's a lesson there I suppose it's to look at a strikers record over his career, not just one 'purple patch' part of the previous season.
Three o'clock approached and the teams came out. Crewe looked small and nippy, with a couple of tallish centre backs. We lost the toss and started out by kicking towards the East Stand. A note to the PA announcer - it hasn't been the Oxford Mail stand for some years now. If they want the publicity, maybe they could pay for it? And we were off...
... and started like a train. Potter had the first shot, but it wasn't hit with any real venom and the Crewe keeper made an easy save. Constable was unfairly penalised for daring to challenge for the ball shoulder to shoulder when in a good position. The ref blew early, Constable put the ball in the net. No goal, and to be fair the Crewe players had stopped once they'd heard the whistle. It's a stretch to call it a disallowed goal. But it did show what the referee's intentions were. And that was to have a game of non-contact football. The slightest touch resulted in a free kick, a player fell over: a free kick. Looking at the stats, he managed to find 17 free kicks in a game where there were very few that anyone else would have givem. The only meaty challeng was by Andy Whing in the second half (for which he was rightly booked).
Anyway, we kept attacking, Crewe loking minimally dangerous on the break - although Clarke had to push one over from a long range shot, and a Crewe player missing with a free header at the back post from the resulting corner. The back post has been a weak area for us all season to be honest, I am sure we can all remember gaols and near-goals we have conceded in that area. In general we were still on the front foot, Leven's shot after a quarter of an hour looked goal bound until Alfie got in the way,and a lovely move a few minutes later produced a shot over the bar from Potter. It looked like only a matter of time until we scored. Reading that back, I relaise that I haven't mentioned JPP. He was the dominant force in the attack. Winning flick ons that his team mates were just too slow to latch on to, providing passes, holding the ball up. Definitely the pick of the men in yellow.
There were a couple of amusing moments on the North Stand side of the pitch in this early section of the day. Firstly, Davis went down in a very convincing imitation of slow motion, landing on top of a Crewe player, and secondly when a Crewe player was taking the ball out of defence, tried to clear it up field and got a wicked bobble which meant it looked as if he'd just passed the ball straight out of play. Not side splitting maybe, but you have to take your amusement where you can!
But let's give some credit to Crewe. Having weathered a quite considerable storm, they started to play their way out of trouble. Crewe have a tradition of trying to play football the right way, moving the ball quickly, and on the floor with lots of off the ball movement. As the half progressed, they got this game going much better. The chances stopped coming for Oxford as we found it icreasingly difficult to get hold of the ball in midfield. And when we did, the Crewe players were all over us like a rash. Closing down quickly, our (not very fast) midfield had no time on the ball and provided absolutley no quality ball to the forwards. Heslop did have one shot from distance just before half time, but once more it was straight at the keeper.
The ref blew to end a frustrating half. Started well, faded badly. Horribly reminiscent of the away match earlier in the season. But at least this time we weren't out of it at half-time! The halftime entertainment was the usual crossbar challenge, an odd mixture of a big bloke with 'a size too small' replica shirt on, a young girl with very skinny legs and unsuitably soft footwear, a Bristol Rovers supporter, a one-legged Chinese pirate and PRB in a tutu. I may not have got all those right. Some people hit the bar, others didn't. Brilliant... The other source of half time entertainment is the other scores coming up on the scoreboard. This time they were so late coming up that we barely got to see them before the teams were back out for the second half.
If we were hoping for a repeat of the first 20 minutes of the first half, we were in for a disappointment. Crewe settled into a 4-5-1/5-4-1 formation, defying us to get past them and using their speed to threaten on the break. The yellows looked completely bereft of ideas. The crosses from Batt and Davis were terrible, mostly hitting the first man or sailing over the penalty area by some diistance. Driving runs through the midfield? There weren't any. Pittman had a shot, but it was blocked. As time went on, the Oxford passing got more and more ragged, going to a red shirt as often as a yellow one. Hoofing up the middle lead to absolutley nothing other than the heads of the two Crewe centre backs.
After about an hour, Whing went off to be replaced by Mclaren. I am presuming he went off because he had been booked, because there was no injury to him and he'd been doing a decent defensive job in front of the defence. Mclaren added less than nothing, I am afraid. His passing was terrible, and he was much less effective defensively than Whing had been. That left a hole in front of our defence that Crewe started to exploit. There were quite a few times when they played the ball out of defence quickly, two or three of them passing the ball nicely. On occasion, it took a last-ditch challenge to deny them a shooting chance.
It looked as if JPP had strained something trying to make an interception, and although he played on, he was replaced as part of a double substitution with about fifteeen minutes left. He went off and Smalley came on. Heslop made way for Tonkin. Presumably the idea was for Davis to move forward, with Tonkin at left back, Constable and Smalley up front. Not a bad idea. Except that over on the other side of the pitch, neither Batt nor Potter were having very good days. Potter kept getting the ball, running straight into a Crewe player and losing it. Batt kept leaving the right back area vacant, staying forward too much for a 4-4-2. Davis, freed to go further forward, had a shot deflected just wide, but at the other end the Oxford defence was getting sloppier and sloppier. A run from the empty right back into the penalty area lead to a whole load of non-tackles; eventually it was cleared, but it was all looking very creaky.
It seemed for all the world that it was going to end in a disappointing 0-0, but then in the last minute more awful defending let the Crewe sub (who had also been the Aldershot sub last week) score a simple goal as his team mates walked unchallenged in to penalty area and laid it on a plate for him. Bugger. He then proceeded to taunt the East Stand. His team mates came over and joined in. The feeble ref did nothing to stop them - that kind of thing has to be looked at surely?
There were a couple of minutes of injury time to go, but Oxford couldn't find a decent reply, and that was it. A professional away performace by Crewe who, although you might say they had been lucky not to be behind early, looked more likely to take the points as the match went on.
The ususl long wait to get out of the car park, and there wasn't even any football to listen to on the way home as there was no late match. Instead it was the supremely egotistical Robbie Savage. Shudder. On went the iPod.
Thoughts for the day...
Very good for 20 minutes, ineffective for 40 minutes, very poor for 30 minutes. Inconsistent from game to game and inconsistent within a game.
It's worrying how quickly we run out of self-confidence.
The substitutions (especially McLaren) didn't really work at all.
Although we went up a place in the table, we are now four points adrift of the club in fifth, with a massive ten points to the automatic promotion places (which are now out of realistic reach I feel, given the way we are playing). If we are to stay in the playoff places we need a couple of wins. 3 points against Hereford on Saturday would be a good start, especially when we have played a game more than those around us. See you all there...
After last week's heroics at Aldershot, I set off for Grenoble Road (see, I remembered!) in good spirits. Although in the back of my mind, I couldn't help remembering the match at Gresty Road, where we had failed to convert early chances and had lost the game, ending a four match unbeaten run.
Never mind, it was a lovely winter's day (in a not very wintery winter), not cold enough for frozen pitch or travel worries and not windy. Wind always makes Grenoble Road an uncomfortable place to be, and in the winter makes it seem a lot colder. Wind chill, I guess.
So, down to Oxford in good time, yet again failing to get into the east stand car park. Pah. I'll have to try alternative parking elsewhere - I hate the wait to get out of the car park after the match. Listening to RadOx in the car, our team was unchanged from Aldershot - which of course meant that Beano was still with us. A good thing in my view. Really we need to add a striker, not get rid of one, or get a new one in to replace one. I suppose Deane Smalley was supposed to be that new striker, but that's one signing that hasn't worked out at all. If there's a lesson there I suppose it's to look at a strikers record over his career, not just one 'purple patch' part of the previous season.
Three o'clock approached and the teams came out. Crewe looked small and nippy, with a couple of tallish centre backs. We lost the toss and started out by kicking towards the East Stand. A note to the PA announcer - it hasn't been the Oxford Mail stand for some years now. If they want the publicity, maybe they could pay for it? And we were off...
... and started like a train. Potter had the first shot, but it wasn't hit with any real venom and the Crewe keeper made an easy save. Constable was unfairly penalised for daring to challenge for the ball shoulder to shoulder when in a good position. The ref blew early, Constable put the ball in the net. No goal, and to be fair the Crewe players had stopped once they'd heard the whistle. It's a stretch to call it a disallowed goal. But it did show what the referee's intentions were. And that was to have a game of non-contact football. The slightest touch resulted in a free kick, a player fell over: a free kick. Looking at the stats, he managed to find 17 free kicks in a game where there were very few that anyone else would have givem. The only meaty challeng was by Andy Whing in the second half (for which he was rightly booked).
Anyway, we kept attacking, Crewe loking minimally dangerous on the break - although Clarke had to push one over from a long range shot, and a Crewe player missing with a free header at the back post from the resulting corner. The back post has been a weak area for us all season to be honest, I am sure we can all remember gaols and near-goals we have conceded in that area. In general we were still on the front foot, Leven's shot after a quarter of an hour looked goal bound until Alfie got in the way,and a lovely move a few minutes later produced a shot over the bar from Potter. It looked like only a matter of time until we scored. Reading that back, I relaise that I haven't mentioned JPP. He was the dominant force in the attack. Winning flick ons that his team mates were just too slow to latch on to, providing passes, holding the ball up. Definitely the pick of the men in yellow.
There were a couple of amusing moments on the North Stand side of the pitch in this early section of the day. Firstly, Davis went down in a very convincing imitation of slow motion, landing on top of a Crewe player, and secondly when a Crewe player was taking the ball out of defence, tried to clear it up field and got a wicked bobble which meant it looked as if he'd just passed the ball straight out of play. Not side splitting maybe, but you have to take your amusement where you can!
But let's give some credit to Crewe. Having weathered a quite considerable storm, they started to play their way out of trouble. Crewe have a tradition of trying to play football the right way, moving the ball quickly, and on the floor with lots of off the ball movement. As the half progressed, they got this game going much better. The chances stopped coming for Oxford as we found it icreasingly difficult to get hold of the ball in midfield. And when we did, the Crewe players were all over us like a rash. Closing down quickly, our (not very fast) midfield had no time on the ball and provided absolutley no quality ball to the forwards. Heslop did have one shot from distance just before half time, but once more it was straight at the keeper.
The ref blew to end a frustrating half. Started well, faded badly. Horribly reminiscent of the away match earlier in the season. But at least this time we weren't out of it at half-time! The halftime entertainment was the usual crossbar challenge, an odd mixture of a big bloke with 'a size too small' replica shirt on, a young girl with very skinny legs and unsuitably soft footwear, a Bristol Rovers supporter, a one-legged Chinese pirate and PRB in a tutu. I may not have got all those right. Some people hit the bar, others didn't. Brilliant... The other source of half time entertainment is the other scores coming up on the scoreboard. This time they were so late coming up that we barely got to see them before the teams were back out for the second half.
If we were hoping for a repeat of the first 20 minutes of the first half, we were in for a disappointment. Crewe settled into a 4-5-1/5-4-1 formation, defying us to get past them and using their speed to threaten on the break. The yellows looked completely bereft of ideas. The crosses from Batt and Davis were terrible, mostly hitting the first man or sailing over the penalty area by some diistance. Driving runs through the midfield? There weren't any. Pittman had a shot, but it was blocked. As time went on, the Oxford passing got more and more ragged, going to a red shirt as often as a yellow one. Hoofing up the middle lead to absolutley nothing other than the heads of the two Crewe centre backs.
After about an hour, Whing went off to be replaced by Mclaren. I am presuming he went off because he had been booked, because there was no injury to him and he'd been doing a decent defensive job in front of the defence. Mclaren added less than nothing, I am afraid. His passing was terrible, and he was much less effective defensively than Whing had been. That left a hole in front of our defence that Crewe started to exploit. There were quite a few times when they played the ball out of defence quickly, two or three of them passing the ball nicely. On occasion, it took a last-ditch challenge to deny them a shooting chance.
It looked as if JPP had strained something trying to make an interception, and although he played on, he was replaced as part of a double substitution with about fifteeen minutes left. He went off and Smalley came on. Heslop made way for Tonkin. Presumably the idea was for Davis to move forward, with Tonkin at left back, Constable and Smalley up front. Not a bad idea. Except that over on the other side of the pitch, neither Batt nor Potter were having very good days. Potter kept getting the ball, running straight into a Crewe player and losing it. Batt kept leaving the right back area vacant, staying forward too much for a 4-4-2. Davis, freed to go further forward, had a shot deflected just wide, but at the other end the Oxford defence was getting sloppier and sloppier. A run from the empty right back into the penalty area lead to a whole load of non-tackles; eventually it was cleared, but it was all looking very creaky.
It seemed for all the world that it was going to end in a disappointing 0-0, but then in the last minute more awful defending let the Crewe sub (who had also been the Aldershot sub last week) score a simple goal as his team mates walked unchallenged in to penalty area and laid it on a plate for him. Bugger. He then proceeded to taunt the East Stand. His team mates came over and joined in. The feeble ref did nothing to stop them - that kind of thing has to be looked at surely?
There were a couple of minutes of injury time to go, but Oxford couldn't find a decent reply, and that was it. A professional away performace by Crewe who, although you might say they had been lucky not to be behind early, looked more likely to take the points as the match went on.
The ususl long wait to get out of the car park, and there wasn't even any football to listen to on the way home as there was no late match. Instead it was the supremely egotistical Robbie Savage. Shudder. On went the iPod.
Thoughts for the day...
Very good for 20 minutes, ineffective for 40 minutes, very poor for 30 minutes. Inconsistent from game to game and inconsistent within a game.
It's worrying how quickly we run out of self-confidence.
The substitutions (especially McLaren) didn't really work at all.
Although we went up a place in the table, we are now four points adrift of the club in fifth, with a massive ten points to the automatic promotion places (which are now out of realistic reach I feel, given the way we are playing). If we are to stay in the playoff places we need a couple of wins. 3 points against Hereford on Saturday would be a good start, especially when we have played a game more than those around us. See you all there...
Saturday, 7 January 2012
A Stroll At The Recreation Ground (vs Aldershot L2)
Hello all -
Before I get on with the match report, two quick things.
Firstly, apologies for the non-appearance of the blog for a few weeks (since Crawley away in fact). I didn't go to Morecambe (too far for me) and Christmas meant I missed the other two away matches anyway, since I was in darkest Cornwall. So my first-hand Yellows viewing has been the home matches against Cheltenham (a bloody awful display), Northampton (there's a reason why they are bottom) and Crawley (which on reflection afterwards I felt was a point earned, not two points dropped - as I felt straight after the whistle!). So sorry for the break in service, things sould get more back to normal now the festive season has gone.
Speaking of which, a belated Happy New Year to you all.
And on to the match! One I was really looking forward to, since my last away trip had been so long ago. Also we had put that horrible November well and truly behind us, with this being the start of a series of (on paper) 'easier' matches. Of course, that kind of thinking leads to disaster - but looking on the positive side, January should allow us to gain some ground on the teams above us.
So after dropping my daughter at Milton Keynes station on her way back to university, I headed down the M1, round the M25 and down the M3. Not too bad a journey, and I got to the glittering metropolis of Aldershot in very good time. Not quite in good enough time to get a space in the car park next to the ground though, so I ended up in a town centre multistory. Never mind, the walk would get rid of a couple of mince pies worth of Christmas excess.
Those who have visited Aldershot before will remember the trek it is to get to the away supporters area. You walk past the ground, turn left, walk up the North face of the Eiger, turn left again, go though a wooded area, then down again until you get to the turnstiles. Pay, enter and eventually you end up about 50 yards from where you started. Anyway, that's a whole box of Cadbury's Celebrations accounted for.
The ground itself has three sides, like ours, with one of the areas behind the goal the 'fence end', like ours. Unlike Grenoble Road (as my new year's resolution says I will be naming it from now on), it is umm. Either 'homely, historic and heritage' or 'a dilapidated, depressing dump', depending on your viewpoint. The major saving grace is of course the fact that the stand behind the goal is shared between the away support and the more lively home fans. That leads to a good atmosphere. I've rattled on about the Aldershot drum before, probably more than once. I didn't like it then and I don't like it now. Sometimes it seems to go on instead of singing rather than to accompany it.
As well as the left hand side of the stand, the away supporters get a bit of open terrace down one side (and some seats for those who eant to sit of course). This area does have the advantage of not having any of the supporting posts in the stand that tend to obscure the view, but of course you lose the atmosphere and get wet when it rains as it is uncovered.
I had arranged to meet YellowHoods at the game (he managed to manfully stave off the dreaded man-flu that he'd been incubating). After a bit of mobile phoning and arm waving (Cooee, I'm over here!), we hit a snag. He was in the open terrace I was in the covered one. I walked over to meet him, to find out that he'd got a grey ticket (he could only go in the open terrace), I had a purple one (only valid for the stand). After talking to the stewards (who had obviously been asked this about ten milion times before) off went Hoodsy to swap his grey ticket for a purple one and we took our place behind the goal. With atmosphere and posts. Except that broadcasting a managers last post match interview over the PA was really naff. That's what pop music is for - the cheesier the better!
The team was announced, with Pittman taking Craddock's place (no surprise there) and Heslop coming back in for Asa Hall. So - Clarke, the normal back four, Whing playing the 'McLaren' role of stopper in front of the defence, Constable with Alfie and JPP up front. The toss was made and Oxford were attacking the goal in front of us.
Aldershot started quite well and had an early shot (no real worries though). But we got into the game and started to push them back. A beautiful volleyed cross from the left by Peter "He does what he wants" Leven was met by the head of JPP and blimey we were one up in the first few minutes. Half the stand went loopy, the other half went quiet. From that moment the result was very rarely in doubt. We almost went two up when Constable smacked a shot that was saved (or bounced off!) the keeper very nearly straight to JPP with the goal gaping. Another foot taller and he might have made it, but it looped away to safety. Alfie was looking tricky, but his end product is I swear getting worse. I'm not talking about shooting (although I don't think he had a shot), but there never seemed to be a pass at the end of the run. But nonetheless, his sheer tenacity and ability with the ball was dragging the Shots defence all over the place. JPP was looking very speedy, and almost got through a couple of times.
The Aldershot goalie's kicking was terrible. He shanked (or was it hooked? I'm not a golfer) two goal kicks straight out of play, causing amusement the second time by stamping about like a two-year having a tantrum. His teammates were trying their best, but were no real match for the men in yellow. They did have a header that they could have made count, but it sailed over the bar.
After about half an hour, Heslop let one fly and the Shots keeper got a hand on it to keep the score to one. But that man Leven took the resulting corner, JPP was in the right place and sent it goalwards only to see a defender get in the way The ball bounced back to Duberry, who showed amazing ball control, trapping it, knocking it up in the air and them completing a bicycle kick that ACTUALLY BURST THE NET! I'm lying. It hit him and bobbled off various body parts before trundling over the line. But judging by his reaction and that of the Oxford faithful, it could just as well have been the first version! Two up, half an hour gone, totally in control.
The old cliche is that a two goal lead is a dangerous one. Really? More dangerous than 1-0? Not sure I get it. But anyway, we decided to make sure it wasn't going to be a worry. The Shots keeper made a decent save from Constable but Leven had provided two and he turned scorer just before half time. Pittman turned provider this time and Leven slotted the shot into the corner. There wasn't even time to restart.
So half time and three-nil up. It's not many times you see that way from home. It had been a great display from the Oxford team. I spent most of half time nattering to YellowHoods. On the pitch there was a hit the crossbar competition that seemed to feature an Oxford fan, the Shots mascot (who was having trouble seeing out of his 'head') and a bloke dressed as a green condom, or a runner bean or an alien or something. Probably for a good cause, so we all clapped anyway.
The second half was never going to match up to the first. And it didn't. Aldershot came out all guns misfiring, we looked dangerous occasionally but were content with the afternoons work. Clarke made a couple of decent saves, but they were the sort you'd expect him to. Hall (Asa, not Robbie) came on for Heslop, Smalley and Craddock replaced JPP and Beano. Smalley hit the bar. Aldershot had a couple of free kicks that either cannoned into the wall or sailed over the bar by yards.
The ref (who had made a good, unfussy job of refereeing a very clean game) blew and we gave the Oxford team an ovation.
Back to the multistory (I remembered which floor I'd parked on, which is a miracle in itself!) and back round the motorways of southern England and home.
My thoughts for the day:
Every Oxford player had a good game, but I'd pick out Leven for being involved in all three goals, Pittman for looking like the best new signing we haven't made, Doobs for being so bloody enthusiastic and downright likeable (as well as excellent!) and the much improved Andy Whing for being a rock in front of the defence.
I love being an Oxford fan at away matches. We are loud, good-humoured and supportive. You only had to look at how JPP was reacting to his new song at the end of the match. You 924 others - I salute you all!
The Aldershot fans are also a decent, noisy lot. BUT. That "let's pretend we scored a goal" thing - never ever do it at home. Ouch.
Thanks to YellowHoods, enjoyed the chat throughout the game very much. Hope to do it again soon.
We are back in the playoff places. Two home matches next (Crewe and Hereford) offer a good chance to push even further up!
Christmas was fun, winning away is probably better.
See you next time and COME ON YOU YELLOWS!
Before I get on with the match report, two quick things.
Firstly, apologies for the non-appearance of the blog for a few weeks (since Crawley away in fact). I didn't go to Morecambe (too far for me) and Christmas meant I missed the other two away matches anyway, since I was in darkest Cornwall. So my first-hand Yellows viewing has been the home matches against Cheltenham (a bloody awful display), Northampton (there's a reason why they are bottom) and Crawley (which on reflection afterwards I felt was a point earned, not two points dropped - as I felt straight after the whistle!). So sorry for the break in service, things sould get more back to normal now the festive season has gone.
Speaking of which, a belated Happy New Year to you all.
And on to the match! One I was really looking forward to, since my last away trip had been so long ago. Also we had put that horrible November well and truly behind us, with this being the start of a series of (on paper) 'easier' matches. Of course, that kind of thinking leads to disaster - but looking on the positive side, January should allow us to gain some ground on the teams above us.
So after dropping my daughter at Milton Keynes station on her way back to university, I headed down the M1, round the M25 and down the M3. Not too bad a journey, and I got to the glittering metropolis of Aldershot in very good time. Not quite in good enough time to get a space in the car park next to the ground though, so I ended up in a town centre multistory. Never mind, the walk would get rid of a couple of mince pies worth of Christmas excess.
Those who have visited Aldershot before will remember the trek it is to get to the away supporters area. You walk past the ground, turn left, walk up the North face of the Eiger, turn left again, go though a wooded area, then down again until you get to the turnstiles. Pay, enter and eventually you end up about 50 yards from where you started. Anyway, that's a whole box of Cadbury's Celebrations accounted for.
The ground itself has three sides, like ours, with one of the areas behind the goal the 'fence end', like ours. Unlike Grenoble Road (as my new year's resolution says I will be naming it from now on), it is umm. Either 'homely, historic and heritage' or 'a dilapidated, depressing dump', depending on your viewpoint. The major saving grace is of course the fact that the stand behind the goal is shared between the away support and the more lively home fans. That leads to a good atmosphere. I've rattled on about the Aldershot drum before, probably more than once. I didn't like it then and I don't like it now. Sometimes it seems to go on instead of singing rather than to accompany it.
As well as the left hand side of the stand, the away supporters get a bit of open terrace down one side (and some seats for those who eant to sit of course). This area does have the advantage of not having any of the supporting posts in the stand that tend to obscure the view, but of course you lose the atmosphere and get wet when it rains as it is uncovered.
I had arranged to meet YellowHoods at the game (he managed to manfully stave off the dreaded man-flu that he'd been incubating). After a bit of mobile phoning and arm waving (Cooee, I'm over here!), we hit a snag. He was in the open terrace I was in the covered one. I walked over to meet him, to find out that he'd got a grey ticket (he could only go in the open terrace), I had a purple one (only valid for the stand). After talking to the stewards (who had obviously been asked this about ten milion times before) off went Hoodsy to swap his grey ticket for a purple one and we took our place behind the goal. With atmosphere and posts. Except that broadcasting a managers last post match interview over the PA was really naff. That's what pop music is for - the cheesier the better!
The team was announced, with Pittman taking Craddock's place (no surprise there) and Heslop coming back in for Asa Hall. So - Clarke, the normal back four, Whing playing the 'McLaren' role of stopper in front of the defence, Constable with Alfie and JPP up front. The toss was made and Oxford were attacking the goal in front of us.
Aldershot started quite well and had an early shot (no real worries though). But we got into the game and started to push them back. A beautiful volleyed cross from the left by Peter "He does what he wants" Leven was met by the head of JPP and blimey we were one up in the first few minutes. Half the stand went loopy, the other half went quiet. From that moment the result was very rarely in doubt. We almost went two up when Constable smacked a shot that was saved (or bounced off!) the keeper very nearly straight to JPP with the goal gaping. Another foot taller and he might have made it, but it looped away to safety. Alfie was looking tricky, but his end product is I swear getting worse. I'm not talking about shooting (although I don't think he had a shot), but there never seemed to be a pass at the end of the run. But nonetheless, his sheer tenacity and ability with the ball was dragging the Shots defence all over the place. JPP was looking very speedy, and almost got through a couple of times.
The Aldershot goalie's kicking was terrible. He shanked (or was it hooked? I'm not a golfer) two goal kicks straight out of play, causing amusement the second time by stamping about like a two-year having a tantrum. His teammates were trying their best, but were no real match for the men in yellow. They did have a header that they could have made count, but it sailed over the bar.
After about half an hour, Heslop let one fly and the Shots keeper got a hand on it to keep the score to one. But that man Leven took the resulting corner, JPP was in the right place and sent it goalwards only to see a defender get in the way The ball bounced back to Duberry, who showed amazing ball control, trapping it, knocking it up in the air and them completing a bicycle kick that ACTUALLY BURST THE NET! I'm lying. It hit him and bobbled off various body parts before trundling over the line. But judging by his reaction and that of the Oxford faithful, it could just as well have been the first version! Two up, half an hour gone, totally in control.
The old cliche is that a two goal lead is a dangerous one. Really? More dangerous than 1-0? Not sure I get it. But anyway, we decided to make sure it wasn't going to be a worry. The Shots keeper made a decent save from Constable but Leven had provided two and he turned scorer just before half time. Pittman turned provider this time and Leven slotted the shot into the corner. There wasn't even time to restart.
So half time and three-nil up. It's not many times you see that way from home. It had been a great display from the Oxford team. I spent most of half time nattering to YellowHoods. On the pitch there was a hit the crossbar competition that seemed to feature an Oxford fan, the Shots mascot (who was having trouble seeing out of his 'head') and a bloke dressed as a green condom, or a runner bean or an alien or something. Probably for a good cause, so we all clapped anyway.
The second half was never going to match up to the first. And it didn't. Aldershot came out all guns misfiring, we looked dangerous occasionally but were content with the afternoons work. Clarke made a couple of decent saves, but they were the sort you'd expect him to. Hall (Asa, not Robbie) came on for Heslop, Smalley and Craddock replaced JPP and Beano. Smalley hit the bar. Aldershot had a couple of free kicks that either cannoned into the wall or sailed over the bar by yards.
The ref (who had made a good, unfussy job of refereeing a very clean game) blew and we gave the Oxford team an ovation.
Back to the multistory (I remembered which floor I'd parked on, which is a miracle in itself!) and back round the motorways of southern England and home.
My thoughts for the day:
Every Oxford player had a good game, but I'd pick out Leven for being involved in all three goals, Pittman for looking like the best new signing we haven't made, Doobs for being so bloody enthusiastic and downright likeable (as well as excellent!) and the much improved Andy Whing for being a rock in front of the defence.
I love being an Oxford fan at away matches. We are loud, good-humoured and supportive. You only had to look at how JPP was reacting to his new song at the end of the match. You 924 others - I salute you all!
The Aldershot fans are also a decent, noisy lot. BUT. That "let's pretend we scored a goal" thing - never ever do it at home. Ouch.
Thanks to YellowHoods, enjoyed the chat throughout the game very much. Hope to do it again soon.
We are back in the playoff places. Two home matches next (Crewe and Hereford) offer a good chance to push even further up!
Christmas was fun, winning away is probably better.
See you next time and COME ON YOU YELLOWS!
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