FAN’S VIEW 22/23 – No.51 – ACCRINGTON AT HOME

OXFORD UNITED 1 ACCRINGTON STANLEY 2

At the final whistle we were away. Season over as far as OUFC were concerned although the season was far from over for many other football clubs. Promotion and relegation still to be fought for. Play-off places to be secured. Watching this entertainment as a largely detached neutral provides a blessed alternative to following the Yellows which has been a painful experience in 22/23.

Nowhere near as painful of course as if we’d been relegated although I have to say that just looking at our record we deserved to go down. 47 points. Twice as many games at home lost as won.

Thankfully though – and unbelievably – there were four teams with even worse records than ours. That’s hard to get one’s head around. So thanks to FGR, Accy (but not on this day), Morecambe and MK Dons for being even more s**t than we were.

Before the game I was hoping and expecting to win this and end up on 50 points and one further place up the table than we eventually finished, firmly believing that Plymouth would beat Port Vale. Which they did.

However, on reflection I don’t think losing was a bad thing. That 50 point mark is a tiny psychological target to aim for in addition to, rightly or wrongly, the perceived safety mark in most seasons. Additionally a third win on the bounce with another clean sheet would have been something to take into the close season as a positive. Or would it?

I doubt Liam Manning would have been fooled by anything he saw here but for me this defeat was a good reminder of the season past and in many ways sums up so many shortcomings. Perhaps that’s what we need to carry with us through the close season. Because it was what it was. No sugar coating please.

We started the game very well. Knocking the ball around and looking assured. With that came a goal in the eighth minute, well finished by Billy Bodin.

At that stage it looked set up for two, three, four or more. But the term “well finished” applied no more. The very opposite in fact.

We had 25 shots but only six of those were on target. Eleven of them were blocked. That doesn’t surprise me in the least. I grew increasingly frustrated as time and again a yellow shirt attempted to hit the ball goalwards with an opponent stood right in front of them.

In the first half Tyler Goodrham just didn’t connect properly after he’d got through but should have done much better and in the second Kyle Joseph blasted one way over the bar when he had time to take a touch. Again, much better was needed.

As the first half wore on I detected that we were no longer so dominant and as the second progressed I commented that if we didn’t step it up we would concede. Sure enough.

Leaving the ground I heard someone say “That’s what happens when you take your best players off” and then added something like “proves we’ve not got a strong squad”.

On the 61^st minute Bodin and Marcus Browne were replaced by Gatlin O’Donkor and Josh Murphy. That certainly didn’t make us stronger. Nor did the next change two minutes later. Brandon Fleming coming on for Ciaron Brown.

A minute later Accrington had equalised. It was a well struck shot from distance but our defensive work left lots to be desired. It can be difficult to pick up the pace of a game when a player has just come on but Fleming was beaten so very easily on the wing. Then neither Marcus McGuane nor Stuart Findlay closed Korede Adedoyin, the scorer, down with genuine urgency.  He’d only come on two minutes earlier and had picked up the pace of the game with no problem.

There’s also always a question mark over the goal-keeping when one goes in from that far out but I’m not so sure. I think Easty has a right to expect better from those in front of him.

We got lazier and lazier and with five minutes to go went behind. Unable to get the ball away from a free-kick which we were unfortunate to concede, it was delivered back into the box and flicked on then headed in from close range by Aaron Pressley who had got the wrong side of Sam Long.

This gave the Accrington fancy dressers and their bloody drum a day out in the sun to sign off in L1 with. Fair play to all 265 of them there. That’s about five times as many as they usually bring. Big day out then. One has to admire John Coleman and his team. They’ve been punching above their weight for years. Even back In L2 there will be lots of bigger clubs than them.

So once more I departed feeling very frustrated. Frustrated at so much. Frustrated by our lack of ability in front of goal. Frustrated by our inability to win football matches even against the weaker teams in this Division. Frustrated that we have too many players on the books who will run with the ball without seeming to understand that it is a team game and they have colleagues in better positions who would appreciate a pass.

When Liam Manning came in I wasn’t convinced that he was the one to keep us up. I was thinking more of an old school arse kicker for the job. Now that he has achieved the target of L1 for 2023/24 I have a lot of faith in him getting us playing much better during that campaign. Top 10? Pushing for the play-offs?

It has been said that he will get a competitive budget. We’re talking transfers and wages here. But I’ve got great sympathy for him. He’s been hampered from the start by what Karl Robinson had left behind. Sam Baldock is contracted for another year. That is an absolute scandal. I get incredibly angry every time I think about this. Yanic Wildschut and Josh Murphy both also have another year. Let’s be honest, their contributions have been pretty negligible. Others with another year include James Henry and Steve Seddon (who?). JH has been a great servant for the club but he’ll be 34 in June and is becoming increasingly injury prone. Seddon is another of the Robinson wing-backs who can’t defend. (See Brandon Fleming, but at least he’s only on loan).

Time for wheeling and dealing? Biting the bullet and paying contracts off?

Our new head coach may have it in him to get some of these guys playing effectively and regularly within the team structure he wants but he’s already said “There’ll be some players that we need to move on and that’s inevitable at any football club. There’ll be a large amount of work done this summer. I’ve got conversations to have with the players and then it’s a case of following that up to see what the situation is. We’ll be working like crazy to get it right.”

It’s also obviously important to get our bright young talent signed up for a sensible period on sensible money. I’m clearly thinking Goodrham here but from what I’ve seen of Stephan Negru so far I’d tie him up for a while too.

Has there ever been a more glaringly obvious need to get a strike force into the building and not just in name but one that will do some proper striking and score some goals? I’ve loved the work ethic of Kyle Joseph but is he a genuine finisher? Also I wonder how much Swansea would want for him. I wouldn’t mind him staying but if he didn’t I’d get over it and greedily expect an upgrade.

Another missing ingredient has been the likes of Gavin Whyte, Mark Sykes and Ryan Williams and the energy and pace they brought in 2021/22.

Loan signings are a vital ingredient to the success of many clubs at our level and I don’t see how Liam can do worse than Robinson did in this regard, Joseph and Lewis Bate aside; Tyler Smith and Ateef Konate? Enough said.

Out of contract we’ve got a few but not many. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is a matter of opinion. Depends who those players are of course. You don’t want key players to walk on a free but if time is up for those that are not going to feature going forward then that can only be a positive. Also wages are freed up.

Matty Taylor is now 33. He’d stopped scoring under Robinson and was loaned out to Port Vale. Chances weren’t being created for him here but I can’t envisage him being in Manning’s long term thinking. Also almost certainly not Djavan Anderson nor Jodi Jones. Fair play to the latter who got the 120^th minute winner for Notts County in the Conference play-off semi-final on Sunday.

Alex Gorrin is a sad one. Football can indeed be cruel. I wish him well in whatever the future may hold.

Watch this space.

So to repeat, season over.

Football never sleeps though. That squad planning and building will begin almost immediately. Manning is taking just a week away from it all.

Then there’s the huge matter of the very future of our football club – The Triangle. That will be occupying many minds throughout the summer months. Keep up the good work all those who are working tirelessly to make it happen.

The OUFC squad might have gone into hibernation on some sunny beach somewhere for a few weeks but much as I like to take a break from the intensity of following them all over the country in good times and bad, other more relaxed football calls. As a neutral the experience is totally different but there’s always certain something about 22 grown men kicking a ball.

Sometimes the stakes are higher than others. Like many fellow United fans it was straight out of the Kassam and to Court Place Farm for us. City now one game away from the Conference, the level we were at 13 years ago.

Brackley Town too in the Northern section. I’d watched their eliminator last Wednesday.

And there’s so much football on TV. Blackburn’s comeback against Millwall to deny the Lions a play-off place. Incredible stuff.

And we’ve got the Women’s World Cup in July.

Yes, I think there’s enough of it about until the real thing starts again in August. I’m expecting us to have a much better transfer window than the past two and to be in a good shape for the journey ahead.

Until then take care one and all and enjoy your summer whatever it is you plan on doing. Come back refreshed and raring to go.