Anyone happy with the performance?

[Baboo]

Three points is always welcome but we could not have left it much later could we?

We know how teams like Forest Green are going to play when they come to the Kassam but we seem to have no game plan to beat them. Hasn't Jim learned any lessons from last season ?

[GodalmingYellow]

Three points is always welcome but we could not have left it much later could we?

We know how teams like Forest Green are going to play when they come to the Kassam but we seem to have no game plan to beat them. Hasn't Jim learned any lessons from last season ?

It was the end product which let us down again, as we dominated most of the first half and all bar about 20 minutes of the second half.

The problem for me was in team selection rather than tactics or formation. We could and should have beaten FGR much more easily.

FGRs only player of real standard for me was their number 3 who largely man-marked Ledgister for the first half.

I really cannot understand the selection of Nora Gnohere over both Foster and Corcoran. Of the CBs we have on the books, Gnohere comes bottom of the pile for me (by some distance). He is slow, unfit, and not a very intelligent player.

Gnohere cannot be played in the same side as Jeannin, nor in a 5-3-2. We were left exposed defensively on the left side too many times, and teams better than FGR will expose that weakness very easily.

If we must play 5-3-2, then it is vital that the wing backs push on to create the width. But that leaves us with Gnohere covering the left back slot. He's too slow to cover the amount of ground and he is beaten far too easily. He turns on a sixpence, but takes 20 minutes to do so. And when Gnohere pushes up for set plays too, then we really are left open as neither Gnohere nor Jeannin are able to get back quickly.

As for the other players, Turley had a good game, making a couple of decent saves. His only mistake was a mis hit kick, although the intention was good as Twigg had moved left to receive the ball.

Day was a big improvement on last season. Looked very solid, and his shooting form distance is always valuable, as the crossbar will testify.

Quinn was solid as usual.

Jeannin was a bit of a disappointment. Defensively he struggled with positioning and frequently when he made a mistake he clearly did not see what he had to do to recover. His set pieces and crossing were for the most part fairly poor. He did look to get forward though which was pleasing.

Anaclet also much improved and slightly quicker than last season. Looked to move inside from deep sometimes as well which dragged the FGR midfield all over th eplace.

I've heard from several people that Standing is a class above, but from the 2 games I've seen him, I can't say that I agree. He showed very little of the class and guile needed to help break down the FGR defence.

Hutchinson was my MotM. He was into everything, really solid tackling, loads of energy, strength and some good passing and heading. Different player from last year.

Trainer looked excellent as well and ran Hutch close for MotM. Good passing and movement. Slightly better going forward than Hutch and more energy, but not quite so strong defensively as Hutch. He's a bit of a find.

Duffy. Sorry boys and girls, but despite winning a lot in the air, as usual his headers were directionless and he was prone to falling over and feigning injury at the slightest touch. His contribution to the team was next to nil. Penalties apart, I can't see him scoring 10 goals this season.

Ledgister was very quick, though the ball didn't run fro him. He was mainly man marked, but maybe should have done a little better with one or two of the chances that fell to him. He needs to get his shot in quicker and I got the feeling that he was waiting too long for a clear scoring chance. In terms of build up, he was our most effective striker. In terms of finsihing he wasn't, but I've seen enough of him to believe he will be our best striker this season.

Twigg showed the predatory instincts that we've missed in strikers, though his first chance missed when he should have scored was disappointing. Did well in the play which led to the goal. Provided an excellent cross for Yemi, who should have done much better. Lacked a little pace in build up play. I would like to seem hm and Ledgister up front together.

Yemi looked unfit to me. Not quite the astonishing pace of last year. Had one glorious opportunity from the cross frm Twigg and made a howler of it.

Pettefer was hard working as always in the Martin Gray style. His closing down and harrying of FGR midfield was the starting point fo the play leading to our penalty.

Ref was pretty good until he decided to book Turley for a single time wasting offence, having ignored about 30 more serious time wasting offences from the FGR keeper.

In my view, FGR came for a draw plus what they could get from break aways. Their tactics of time wasting are not desirable in football.

As a match, it had some good moments and some boring periods, not helped by said FGR time wasting. The heat didn't help as the players were knackered after 70 minutes.

3 points is 3 points, but we'll need better team selection and improved play to beat most of the teams this year.

[GodalmingYellow]

And the bit which cut off due to text limit:

Twigg showed the predatory instincts that we've missed in strikers, though his first chance missed when he should have scored was disappointing. Did well in the play which led to the goal. Provided an excellent cross for Yemi, who should have done much better. Lacked a little pace in build up play. I would like to seem hm and Ledgister up front together.

Yemi looked unfit to me. Not quite the astonishing pace of last year. Had one glorious opportunity from the cross frm Twigg and made a howler of it.

Pettefer was hard working as always in the Martin Gray style. His closing down and harrying of FGR midfield was the starting point fo the play leading to our penalty.

Ref was pretty good until he decided to book Turley for a single time wasting offence, having ignored about 30 more serious time wasting offences from the FGR keeper.

In my view, FGR came for a draw plus what they could get from break aways. Their tactics of time wasting are not desirable in football.

As a match, it had some good moments and some boring periods, not helped by said FGR time wasting. The heat didn't help as the players were knackered after 70 minutes.

3 points is 3 points, but we'll need better team selection and improved play to beat most of the teams this year.

Turley 7/10, Gnohere 3/10, Quinn 6/10, Day 7/10, Jeannin 5/10, Anaclet 7/10, Standing 4/10, Hutchinson 8/10, Trainer 8/10, Ledgister 6/10, Duffy 4/10, Twigg 7/10, Yemi 5/10, Pettefer 6/10

Ref 7/10, management 5/10, match 5/10

[Baboo]

[quote=&quotGodalmingYellow
Duffy. Sorry boys and girls, but despite winning a lot in the air, as usual his headers were directionless and he was prone to falling over and feigning injury at the slightest touch. His contribution to the team was next to nil. Penalties apart, I can't see him scoring 10 goals this season.
[/quote]

Your anti Duffy stance is becoming lengendary IMHO GY.
I saw it very differently. His headers were not directionless. He played some decent passes on the ground and set up a couple of half chances.
Oh and he nearly scored in the first half.
As for falling over and feigning injury at the slightest touch - He went down and stayed down once - when there was a clash of heads in the first half. Possibly putting it on, I don't know. But that was the only time he did it. He also covers a bit more ground than people give him credit for. I noticed at one stage when he ran out to the wing to close someone down there was no &quotwell done Duffy&quot from the crowd. When others do the same they get applauded.

[SWA]

Good post baboo

[recordmeister]

[quote=&quotGodalmingYellow
Duffy. Sorry boys and girls, but despite winning a lot in the air, as usual his headers were directionless and he was prone to falling over and feigning injury at the slightest touch. His contribution to the team was next to nil. Penalties apart, I can't see him scoring 10 goals this season.

Your anti Duffy stance is becoming lengendary IMHO GY.
I saw it very differently. His headers were not directionless. He played some decent passes on the ground and set up a couple of half chances.
Oh and he nearly scored in the first half.
As for falling over and feigning injury at the slightest touch - He went down and stayed down once - when there was a clash of heads in the first half. Possibly putting it on, I don't know. But that was the only time he did it. He also covers a bit more ground than people give him credit for. I noticed at one stage when he ran out to the wing to close someone down there was no &quotwell done Duffy&quot from the crowd. When others do the same they get applauded.

I agree but isn't the thing that marks a striker out from a midfielder, the ability to get into the pen box (6 yard box really) and actually put the ball in the back of the net? Duffy didn't look like doing that at all (esp compared to Twigg) and I wonder if he'd be better as an attacking central midfielder, as he seems to spend most of the game lingering between the edge of the centre circle and the pen box, never seeming to push the opponents defensive line back. I think the thing that holds him back from that is his work rate which, compared to most midfielders in very very low. His positioning is not helped by our tactic of hoofing poor long balls up for him to knock down, which always seem to fall into that area and rarely trouble defences or gain us any ground.

I agree that I think he'll struggle to score 10 goals from open play this season.

However, I think his physical presence is an asset to the team and in yesterdays game there were a couple of excellent little touches to open up the play, but they were all either backwards or side passes. He is the best headerer of the ball in the club, IMHO and always a threat. He just doesn’t seem to gamble at all when the ball is thrown into the box (esp low or along the floor) and his one-on-ones with keepers are about as bad as they get!

[GodalmingYellow]

Your anti Duffy stance is becoming lengendary IMHO GY.
I saw it very differently. His headers were not directionless. He played some decent passes on the ground and set up a couple of half chances.
Oh and he nearly scored in the first half.
As for falling over and feigning injury at the slightest touch - He went down and stayed down once - when there was a clash of heads in the first half. Possibly putting it on, I don't know. But that was the only time he did it. He also covers a bit more ground than people give him credit for. I noticed at one stage when he ran out to the wing to close someone down there was no &quotwell done Duffy&quot from the crowd. When others do the same they get applauded.

I'm not anti-Duffy - what possible reason could I have to be anti-Duffy? I'm not anti any Oxford player. But I would much rather he played well and scored loads of goals, because then we would win more games. We obviously see a different player, and given the reaction of 90% others that I talk to, and seemingly a large proprtion of the crowd, I don't think I'm alone in my view of his lack of contribution.

As for the game, I counted 5 times he tried to feign a foul for a free kick, I can remember only one of his headers going anywhere near an Oxford player, and as for nearly scoring, I don't think so. In any event nearly scoring isn't much use.

I didn't see him come back to help defend once, except at corners. Possibly he completed 4 or 5 short passes in the entire time he was on. Wow!

Yes I remember him jogging over to the wing to close down. No hint of a sprint. The effort was minimal.

Oh and where was our esteemed predator when the ball rebounded off the FGR keeper in each half? Sorry, I forgot he needs 10 minutes notice to get moving.

[headless_pnub]

Not sure how you can give Duffy and Standing 4/10 and Yemi 5/10. I thought Yemi contributed very little to the game at all, much less than either of these two even without his horror miss.

He never looked even slightly dangerous and was often stood a very unhelpful 30 yards away from Twigg for the flick ons. This may have been down to his fitness, but that doesn't mean he gets automatic bonus points just because he is the &quotfans favourite&quot.

Personally I thought Duffy had a decent game, held the ball up well and brought people into the game. I still think that Duffy and Twigg could end up being the best partnership and Twigg does look like he has that preditory instinct that none of our other players have.

[Mally]

Agree with r-meister. Duffy had a fairly good game and had some good touches but he almost never gambled in the box or chased 50:50 balls. By contrast Twigg who looked brittle in pre-season was prepared to go and hunt the ball and work to get himself in the box and cause problems. Jim Smith acknowledged this in the post match interview and said he made the wrong choice of strikers to start the game. Twigg will start on Thursday.

Overall it was a bit of a nervy start to the season but FGR never looked like scoring and our 13 shots to their 4 tells the real story of the game.

The other interesting stat from the game is that FGR had 62% of the possession! Whats the betting that a good third of that was at the feet of their goalkeeper? Turley got booked for time wasting and trying to deprive FGR of a point whereas their keeper spent the afternoon trying to deprive us of two points but was allowed to go unpunished. Perhaps the real reason we have so many Sunday games this season is to accomodate all the Sunday League referees at this level.

[GodalmingYellow]

Not sure how you can give Duffy and Standing 4/10 and Yemi 5/10. I thought Yemi contributed very little to the game at all, much less than either of these two even without his horror miss.

He never looked even slightly dangerous and was often stood a very unhelpful 30 yards away from Twigg for the flick ons. This may have been down to his fitness, but that doesn't mean he gets automatic bonus points just because he is the &quotfans favourite&quot.

Personally I thought Duffy had a decent game, held the ball up well and brought people into the game. I still think that Duffy and Twigg could end up being the best partnership and Twigg does look like he has that preditory instinct that none of our other players have.

Its a game of opinions.

Yemi for me had a couple of attacking runs, got into a decent scoring position (albeit badly fluffed the chance). Duffy didn't get near scoring.

[Kernow Yellow]

So, 90 minutes into the season and the Duffy debate rages already. Not that I was there, so I won't comment on that.

One thing that sounded pretty alarming from the radio commentary was our inability to score goals. Four of our five forwards were given a decent chunk of the game, and none of them could find the back of the net from open play. It did sound like Twigg and Yemi were just as guilty in this regard as Duffy or The Ledge, but as I say I wasn't there.

A very welcome 3 points, but it all sounded rather reminiscent of last year.

[scooter]

So, 90 minutes into the season and the Duffy debate rages already. Not that I was there, so I won't comment on that.

One thing that sounded pretty alarming from the radio commentary was our inability to score goals. Four of our five forwards were given a decent chunk of the game, and none of them could find the back of the net from open play. It did sound like Twigg and Yemi were just as guilty in this regard as Duffy or The Ledge, but as I say I wasn't there.

A very welcome 3 points, but it all sounded rather reminiscent of last year.

No it was better than last year.

There is something different about the energy in the team this season, we actually look like we can contain and score in the same game.

I blame DP for this unfortunately optimistic start to the season which I am sure will come as a severe disappointment to some fans.

[Mark G]

Not sure how you can give Duffy and Standing 4/10 and Yemi 5/10. I thought Yemi contributed very little to the game at all, much less than either of these two even without his horror miss.

He never looked even slightly dangerous and was often stood a very unhelpful 30 yards away from Twigg for the flick ons. This may have been down to his fitness, but that doesn't mean he gets automatic bonus points just because he is the &quotfans favourite&quot.

Personally I thought Duffy had a decent game, held the ball up well and brought people into the game. I still think that Duffy and Twigg could end up being the best partnership and Twigg does look like he has that preditory instinct that none of our other players have.

Its a game of opinions.

Yemi for me had a couple of attacking runs, got into a decent scoring position (albeit badly fluffed the chance). Duffy didn't get near scoring.

So Duffy didn't force the keeper to tip the ball around the post with a good save in the 1st from Eddie Anaclet's cross? I must have been hallucinating then as I remember it very well as I seat about 2/3s way up behind the goal in the Ox Mail Stand.

You definitely saw a different 1st half to me then GY as Duffy won a fair few headers that found OUFC players as well as linking play. I was obviously hallucinating on 2 other separate occasions when Duffy battled back and robbed their defenders around the halfway line one of which he then held off another opponent before laying the ball out to Eddie A on the right which started another attack.

Likewise, I only saw Duffy go down once and stay down unless you're including the block he tried (but failed to stop) on a clearance by their centre half, Preece, iirc.

[GodalmingYellow]

Not sure how you can give Duffy and Standing 4/10 and Yemi 5/10. I thought Yemi contributed very little to the game at all, much less than either of these two even without his horror miss.

He never looked even slightly dangerous and was often stood a very unhelpful 30 yards away from Twigg for the flick ons. This may have been down to his fitness, but that doesn't mean he gets automatic bonus points just because he is the &quotfans favourite&quot.

Personally I thought Duffy had a decent game, held the ball up well and brought people into the game. I still think that Duffy and Twigg could end up being the best partnership and Twigg does look like he has that preditory instinct that none of our other players have.

Its a game of opinions.

Yemi for me had a couple of attacking runs, got into a decent scoring position (albeit badly fluffed the chance). Duffy didn't get near scoring.

So Duffy didn't force the keeper to tip the ball around the post with a good save in the 1st from Eddie Anaclet's cross? I must have been hallucinating then as I remember it very well as I seat about 2/3s way up behind the goal in the Ox Mail Stand.

You definitely saw a different 1st half to me then GY as Duffy won a fair few headers that found OUFC players as well as linking play. I was obviously hallucinating on 2 other separate occasions when Duffy battled back and robbed their defenders around the halfway line one of which he then held off another opponent before laying the ball out to Eddie A on the right which started another attack.

Likewise, I only saw Duffy go down once and stay down unless you're including the block he tried (but failed to stop) on a clearance by their centre half, Preece, iirc.

Look, I'm not going to reply to each poster that says that are certain they remember Duffy once upon a time jogging 3 yards.

I've posted how I saw the game, you've posted how you saw the game. I know there are plenty of others who saw the game the way I did. You no doubt can say something similar.

We obviously have different memories of the game. Without a match video, there is no way of showing who is right and who is wrong, we just have to accept that each saw it differently.

[Mally]

GY was wrong Duffy did get near scoring once. Once in 66 minutes. Twigg, Gnohere, Day, Odubade all had more chances. One shot from the main striker just isn't good enough in my book. Yes Duffy at times did some good work in midfield but he's supposed to be doing most of his work in the box.