Pompey

Anything yellow and blue
amershamwrighty
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Pompey

Post by amershamwrighty »

OK - I'll start.

Neither side deserved to win - very few chances that I can recall and neither keeper had anything to do.

Cautious formation from CW, but - poor though he was - I was a bit surprised that he didn't leave Smalley on and play two up front.

Williams was trying to do everything and was one of our best players, along with Danny Rose and Michael Raynes who was my MotM.

Wroe showed some nice touches and is probably better than Asa Hall. We missed Kitson's guile and intelligence.

Pompey were poor and against better sides playing with more width and confidence they will continue to struggle. Agyemang - what a useless, ineffectual lump.

We are slipping behind the pack. I don't feel optimistic at all.
Dr Bob
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Re: Pompey

Post by Dr Bob »

Yep. Well said!

Very negative set-up, confirmed when he replaced Deano with Beano, rather than going to two strikers. Post-match, CW said they tried something different because 4-4-2 had not been working in recent matches. How much of the match up to that substitution did Wilder think this new formation WAS working? RadOx made a big thing of the split in the opinion of the callers. For me, if the only way we can tighten up the midfield and defence is by putting out a side that has such limited attacking options, then there is something fundamentally wrong somewhere.

I thought Mullins played very well in the 'Whing Role', but that merely brings us back to the lack of attacking options. At times, crosses were coming in and being cleared easily, because there was only Deano in the box (plus multiple defenders), so when an inaccurate cross was fired over (ie more or less all of them), Deano had no chance. Another problem was how narrowly we played too much of the time. On far too many occasions the ball was with one of the full-backs, but we had five players in a little huddle in the middle of the pitch and nobody out wide for them to play the ball to.

Wroe looked OK but no more - but I guess if he is to be our attacking midfielder, he needs to get more familiar with players, formations, etc first.

'Ere's a question for you: if Kitson is to come back in, who should be dropped? Not asking about formations, only bodies. I have no idea - but I would say I thought that whilst not MoM, Rigg looked OK. Certainly he was trying harder than most to get some sort of forward momentum going - not helped by how deep we were playing and how far back he had to come to get the ball.
The OXman Cometh
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Re: Pompey

Post by The OXman Cometh »

I came out of that game furious. The manager can call that 433 till he is blue in the face but that was 451 in the real world.

Pompey were poor and there for the taking in my opinion.

I make no apologies for this comment but I dont think OUFC will be going up another division come May time, not with these negative tactics. (I am happy to be proved wrong)

Goals win games, somebody tell Mr Wilder.
Paul Cooper
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Re: Pompey

Post by Paul Cooper »

The home form is now a real issue. Not only are we drawing and losing far too many games but we look clueless in trying to break down teams including a very poor Pompey.

Sure we missed Kitson a lot, but even without him we should be doing better than that?

So Scunthorpe- well they are on a real roll. But one point from Plymouth and Pompey? That is a really terrible Christmas. I have no idea where the next home win is coming from. The sooner Potter and Meades get back the better.
SWA
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Re: Pompey

Post by SWA »

Don't you mean 1 point from Plymouth, Scunthorpe and Pompey!?
Paul Cooper
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Re: Pompey

Post by Paul Cooper »

SWA wrote:Don't you mean 1 point from Plymouth, Scunthorpe and Pompey!?

In my mind the Scunthorpe result was not good but not a big surprise. They are in fantastic form. But the one point from Plymouth and Pompey- two very average (or less than average) teams was terrible.
Kernow Yellow
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Re: Pompey

Post by Kernow Yellow »

Paul Cooper wrote:In my mind the Scunthorpe result was not good but not a big surprise. They are in fantastic form.
Yeah, but let's not forget just how badly we played against Scunthorpe. The result might not have been too much of a shock, but the performance was woeful, and a huge disappointment.

I didn't see Saturday's game but it sounded, both from the commentators and CW's post-match comments, very much as if we set up 'solidly' (ie defensively) to stop the rot of successive home defeats. Which in itself, as a one-off psychological exercise, is quite understandable. But the fact that we didn't feel confident of taking on a Portsmouth team at the foot of the table, with only one away win all season, and going all out to beat them says a lot about where the manager thinks this Oxford team are at now I reckon.

Our next home game (if it's not postponed for wherever we've got to in the FA Cup by then) is against Torquay, another club struggling at the bottom of the league with a new manager at the helm. I wonder how we'll approach that one? Let's hope we've gained a bit of confidence from trips to The Valley and Adams Park in the meantime...
Yankee Clipper
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Re: Pompey

Post by Yankee Clipper »

Despite some shocking performances at home previously this season, Saturday was the most angry and frustrated that I have been all season. Wilder set up a side designed to stop a team 3 points from relegation playing. And once he realised just how poor they obviously were he had no idea how to change the game. I liked the idea of trying Williams and Rigg on opposite wings to see if they could cut in and get some shots away to support the lone striker but when it clearly wasn't working, why persist with it for as long as he did. I didn't look at the time when he eventually changed them back but I would suggest it was approaching 80 minutes. The substitution was the ideal opportunity to switch the wingers back to their natural wings bring Beano on for either Mullins, Rose or Wroe. Switch to 4-4-2 and get some crosses into the box.

With regards to Wroe, was encouraged by what I saw but he was another player who seemed to be adrift from his natural position. He clearly favours his left foot but was constantly being pulled to the right side of midfield.

I've had an issue with CW since our capitulation at the end of 11/12 but decided when he got the season extension to put that behind me and just get behind the team. But I fear that his lack of ability to influence a game once it has started will again be our downfall. But obviously like everyone else, would love to be proved wrong.
Out of the gloom
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Re: Pompey

Post by Out of the gloom »

Looking at the unused subs from Saturday, it has been some time since any have had a game.

Need to be brave and trust some of the young attacking options; Marsh, O'Dowda, Shama, Hawtin or even Roberts. Whoever is performing in Dev Squad games, bring them on for twenty minutes.
They might, just might, offer a surprise.
GodalmingYellow
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Re: Pompey

Post by GodalmingYellow »

I wasn't at the game (Jerome), but the radio commentary made it clear that as suggested above by TOC, the formation was a definite 4-5-1 with Smalley ploughing a lone furrow. What a strange set up for a team (at home) looking for automatic promotion versus one fearing relegation. And why Smalley, who I am told has been poor in training, ahead of Beano, who has not. I sincerely hope Wilder isn't going through his annual New Year anti-Beano fest, as he will come up against a lot of opposition very quickly if so.

Has to go down to poor management this one and back to Wilder's favourite set up (and tinkering) that he still fails to get working.

It was Wroe's first game for us, and the general feeling on RadOx was that he did OK for a first game.

Any team that intends to play 4-3-3, must surely have a minimum of 2 strikers in the front 3. The 3 up front in a 4-3-3 isn't supposed to be a striker and 2 wingers, which is how it sounded on the radio.

Let's stick to 4-4-2 from now on please. That's how the squad was built and that's how we got to the top of the league. A couple of poor performances can never outweigh the results of half a season.
Dr Bob
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Re: Pompey

Post by Dr Bob »

GY - (rhetorical question alert) - when was the last time we played 4-3-3 with two of the front three being strikers? I agree with you totally, but I cannot remember a time when we did play two strikers in this formation. Shocking.

In his post-match interview, CW justified Deano over Beano by a combination of wanting to try something different shape-wise; and Beano not having trained until Thursday last week. Frankly, with the 4-5-1 set-up, that is the minor issue. Whoever the 1 was would have struggled, such was the degree of isolation.

What was even more frustrating about the defensive set-up was that in the first half, when we had a brief spell of pressure and got a few corners, their defence looked seriously wobbly. Maybe there are some things that can only be seen from the back of the SSU...
Ancient Colin
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Re: Pompey

Post by Ancient Colin »

I'd have thought that one of the points of the 4-5-1 was that you needed the outside players in the five to be wide ... but for the two non-holding players to be getting up close to and, wherever possible, making runs beyond the front player. But that simply wasn't happening. Smalley was on a real hiding to nothing, as a result (plus he didn't look fit or well or particularly engaged either). When Williams was pushed inside, there was no wide outlet at all. I suspect we'd have been better with a back three and the two fullbacks pushed further forward. I didn't think it was anything like as bad as some of the mouthy morons around us with their inane shouting at Wilder in the SSU clearly did, but a lot of the old failings are back, such as the throw-in shambles (did anyone else notice Rose make a long run back to get into space when Wright picked the ball up ... then Wright rolled the ball to the fullback for the usual "let them regroup and then lob it down the line to lose the possession" routine?) and the failure to move into position to support the player on the ball. Wroe, at least, looked to move to receive a return ball when he passed but no doubt a few games here and he'll stop doing that.
Mooro
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Re: Pompey

Post by Mooro »

Out of the gloom wrote:Looking at the unused subs from Saturday, it has been some time since any have had a game.

Need to be brave and trust some of the young attacking options; Marsh, O'Dowda, Shama, Hawtin or even Roberts. Whoever is performing in Dev Squad games, bring them on for twenty minutes.
They might, just might, offer a surprise.
More interestingly, or perhaps worryingly, there have been no Dev Games since the beginning of November - which means that some have had no games of ANY type for two months. Hawtin has now gone out on loan, Roberts is still leading the line for the U18s, although with the Christmas break it is four weeks since they last played either.
With so many forming the bench for senior games covering for injuries to senior players, then it is not clear how many Dev games are likely to happen in the next month or two either, beyond the OSC game(s) which normally feature these guys.
Snake
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Re: Pompey

Post by Snake »

Mooro wrote:
Out of the gloom wrote:Looking at the unused subs from Saturday, it has been some time since any have had a game.

Need to be brave and trust some of the young attacking options; Marsh, O'Dowda, Shama, Hawtin or even Roberts. Whoever is performing in Dev Squad games, bring them on for twenty minutes.
They might, just might, offer a surprise.
More interestingly, or perhaps worryingly, there have been no Dev Games since the beginning of November - which means that some have had no games of ANY type for two months. Hawtin has now gone out on loan, Roberts is still leading the line for the U18s, although with the Christmas break it is four weeks since they last played either.
With so many forming the bench for senior games covering for injuries to senior players, then it is not clear how many Dev games are likely to happen in the next month or two either, beyond the OSC game(s) which normally feature these guys.
The youth team could secure a home cup tie with Chelsea (winners in 2010, 2012 and finalist in 2013) with a win over Krapdiff.
YF Dan
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Re: Pompey

Post by YF Dan »

Pro-Wilder lobby...anything to add?

(PS. Not though I'm anti-Wilder, I just want to hear your views now the wheels may be off.)
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