Yes it was crap but should be be too critical?

[Swissbloke]

So..

Defence looked new and yet to bed in as a unit.

Chappers was doing his best to fill Batt's boots but both of them are playing with injuries apparently. Chappers lacks pace and looked a bit sloppy today, Batt improved things and was unfortunate to get himself sent off, but many ref's would have done the same if they'd have &quotthought&quot Batt had swore.

The two centrebacks were disrupted by Tamworth's forwards. I thought Christie was immense, not only from a Jemson's arse point of view but also as a threat. Gave Beast a hard time.

Wright looked ok, He'll get better once he's more aware of his team mates likely runs and positioning.

Tonkin looked good up until he came to cross the ball. Got frustrating each time a weak low ball came into the box from him.

Clist and Bulman had off days, can't put my finger on it, just lacked the luck of the draw in 50/50 situations.

Murray was poor for the first 80 mins.

Constable did ok, would have scored 2 on other days.

Potter looked skillful but found it hard to get past his marker at times.

Franny Green..I'm yet to be convinced about.

Midson looked ok, but as usual a touch weak going for headed challenges

Matt Green tried pretty hard and like Constable should have scored at least.

Poor old Clarkey had a mare 1st half, kicking was poor and that goal was a bugger.

Still, if it wasn't for that error it'd had been a dull 0-0.

Tamworth i thought played the proverbial socks off, I'd have been happy with an away performance like that. yes they were timewasters, but they weren't the thugs we've seen in the conference. hats off to them.

Dust ourselves off and get back up. Now is not the time for too much panic.

[Snake]

Now is not the time for too much panic.

Now we have two “P

[GodalmingYellow]

Not judging anyone based on one game, but...

I thought Wright was very poor today. Not even a shadow of Foster. Tonkin was mediocre, but every time he tried to go wide, Wilder was telling him to stay inside, presumably to cover the gaping hole that Wright kept leaving as Wright drifted out of posiiton.

Creighton looked poor today as well. First time I've thought that, but as Swiss says, that's a reflection of how good Christie was. Not sure how Tamworth afford Christie's wages.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Chapman is no right back. He just isn't quick enough. To be a winger you have to be quick and to be a full back you have to be equally as quick. To be a wing back, you have to have lightning pace and stamina. Chapman is a good player in the middle, but with Batt available, Batt should have started.

I don't get what Wilder sees in Francis Green. Completely ineffectual. Runs around a lot doing nothing.

In the middle, Clist and Bulman offered very little defensively or creatiely, and they clearly didn't enjoy being closed down so quickly. Tamworth were very effective as closing us down all over the park and we looked hurried and anxious without time on the ball.

This 4-3-3 system clearly isn't working. Wilder defends the system based on results and yes we've had a good home record, but with his squad we would have had a goood home record playing almost any system. Now that teams recognise that 4-3-3 leaves us weak in the middle, and they play 5 across, we lose all the battles. With 4-3-3 we lack width as well. Condensing our own play into a small area not only makes us easier to play against but it gives the opposition space to play in.

Potter looked decent enough and was unlucky to be sacrificed.

Murray huffed and puffed but there were no killer passes.

The less said about Ryan jelly hands Clarke the better. His handling generally was poor, and his efforts for the goal were farcical.

Matt Green looked pretty decent when he came on as did Batt, except for the &quotincident&quot. Midson added little extra for me.

Constable looked good and the ref clearly doesn't understand the rules regarding physical contact. On one occasion, Constable deliberately stood still with arms out wide to show he couldn't be pushing, the Tamworth defender ran into him and the ref gave Tamworth a free kick.

Speaking of the ref, he was clearly unfit and was regularly a long way behind play. Some of his decision making was bizarre. There is little point booking a player for time wasting with just 5 minutes left when you have let them get away with it for the last half an hour.

The lino on the South Stand side needs a review of the laws of the game as well, in particular the one related to offside. The lino on the North Stand side wasn't much better, ruling Constable offside on at least 3 occasions when he clearly wasn't.

Having said that about the officials, we were so poor, I really doubt that any of their decisions would have significantly affected the result.

What a plonker Batt is. With a couple of seconds left, he challenges a decision (which was a correct decision anyway), then gets himself sent off. So for the sake of a few seconds he gets himself a 3 game suspension. Well done.

Tamworth played a good game, apart from the time wasting. They've obviously thought how to play against us and their plan worked.

Our players let themselves down badly today, on a day when we could and should have gone back to the top of the league.

We'll need to play a lot better to beat Woking.

[boris]

Not going to get involved in a long debate, but a couple of things there that I disagree with.

First a technicality a sending off for two yellows is a one-game ban, not three.

Second, I thought Bulman was okay today, and possibly our best player. He was the only one of our midfielders/forwards who showed any desire for a fight and was quick and tenacious in the tackle. He's not a pretty player, but he's certainly an effective one.

Third, it's not our fault that Tamworth didn't read the script beforehand. Didn't they know they were supposed to roll over and let us stroll to the easy win? Bastards.

[Old Abingdonian]

I am concerned about Wilder's judgment over Chapman. Again today he clearly looked too slow and tactically unsound to be a right back. Again, the goal came from a cross from their left. There is an argument that for all Sandwith's pedestrian performances, it is as important to get proper cover for Batt at RB as it was to get a LB in.

The other half of this is what has happened to Chapman? He is the shadow of the player I was desperate to keep from last season. Is the evident failure to be considered for a midfield role (back to the 4-3-3 discussion perhaps) so demotivating that he has lost all his edge?

[OUFC4eva]

Bad day at the office - it happens.

Murray said in the press he was 'gagging' for a game and felt fit
and was raring to go. He, however, did not not show up for Oxford and rarely got on the ball for us and that was a major problem. Tamwoth were better in midfield and their back line was well marshalled.

I felt they deserved their win, notwithstanding their persistent time wasting, as they worked harder, had a better shape and probably passed it better when they had it. It looked like 'one of those days' as we looked disjointed, lacked sharpness and energy if I am honest and we really only put sustained presure on in the last 15 minutes when we went more direct.
Lots of loose balls seem to go Tamworth's way and we won little in terms
of second balls.

My worries are

1) I don't have the feintest idea what our best team is

2) I don't know myself what formation is best suited to the players

3) The squad looks thin in areas

4) I don't know what Francis Green has added and looks to me that he is playing out of position, ditto Midson and M.Green (these are central strikers)

5) Our set plays are desperately poor and predictable - week in, week out

6) A Stevenage team containing Obubade, Ashton and now Sills (all rejects and involved in our 2006 relegation) could eventually haunt us further more.

I still believe in United though and there will be many more twists and turns to come.

[Matt D]

clist was one of the few people showing some imagination on the pitch i thought.

the defence gave credence to all the worries about changing a successful unit part way through the season. clarke looked strangely nervous. i don't want to start worrying too much until they've had a chance to play a few more games together.

batt's arrival again coincided with Us starting to go forward more, but was a right plank to get sent off. green (m) looked on his heels for much of his time on the pitch he lacked the usual understanding he has with batt.

i just thought we looked like a team that hadn't played for a while. tamworth, on the other hand, worked hard for each other, put themselves in the way of any shot we offered, and had a keeper who made a number of great saves. probably an off day for Us i guess. not a great start to 2010 really.

[Geoff]

Although there were some poor individual performances today, I'm more worried by our manager's approach to the game. Plan A - play the ball through midfield for the front three to run on to. Plan B - hoof the ball from the back for the front three to run on to. We need some variation in the formation now that the opposition have rumbled 4-3-3.

[Snake]

3) The squad looks thin in areas

Then stick them all in on Tuesday in the FAT and find out.

We have nothing to lose, unless a replay is required or we end up winning.

[YF Dan]

The worry is that virtually everyone in the Conference has sussed our 4-5-1/4-3-3 isn't working:everyone that is bar one person.

We've only scored more than one twice in the past 12 games. That is a concern, especially given our defence has started conceding more regularly.

Twitchy bum time.

[YF Dan]

PS. Why can't we lobby for the season to be run from January to January?

[Baboo]

We'll need to play a lot better to beat Woking.

Let's hope we don't ???????????????

[Dr Bob]

I have had to make do with Radio Oxford for our last two matches - and only made a few games in the run-up to Christmas - but here are the thoughts I decided against posting last week. Over several weeks we have found it increasingly difficult to score, despite continuing to create chances. Even our erstwhile reliable scorers are failing to deliver the goods (as I understand it, we totally dominated the first half against Salisbury, yet... At the same time, our defence is starting to let in goals whilst looking sluggish, disorganised and increasingly vulnerable to pressure. Whilst we are failing to beat lower half of the table teams (and this was my opinion before yesterday), Stevenage continue to score for fun, defeating others in the top half of the table.

Comments from here and RadOx seem to suggest we are too reliant on good Murray performances for midfield drive. Why we are playing narrow 4-3-3 beats me. What the merits are of some of the players recently brought in has yet to be seen. Frankly, I was worried as I pondered things last week. That the Tamworth game seems only to have confirmed my fears (not my worst fears, because it is too early, but still.... doesn't fill me with optimism. I just hope that by the time I am able to see the Us again (not until late Feb), CW has seen fit to change the formation, found a way to give the strikers more composure and confidence in the box and managed to get out of our players what we now they can be capable of. I believe Stevenage are on the sort of run D&ampR went on a few seasons ago - which means either we avoid any more slip-ups or it will be the play-offs for us.

[Ancient Colin]

And let's not forget York who have won their last eight league games (conceding just four in the process).

Just echoing some of the concerns here (while noting that we could easily have walloped them with a little more luck and a little less inspired desparation in their defence) about the formation and lack of creativity ... in addition to being swamped in midfield we also (and not for the first time) struggled because of the lack of height in the middle: at this level, the ball is going to be in the air a lot, and it is going to create pressure if you lose 70% of the headers in that area. Potter, Clist, Bulman, Murray, Green ... even if you believe the profiles, there's no-one taller than 175cm in there. Having said that, and given the changes to the squad, it isn't obvious how we could play 4-4-2 with the absence of wide midfielders (as opposed to wide strikers who might be persuaded to hold back a little, or battling midfielders who might be persuaded to stay widish).

[John Byrne's Underpants]

I am concerned about Wilder's judgment over Chapman. Again today he clearly looked too slow and tactically unsound to be a right back. Again, the goal came from a cross from their left. There is an argument that for all Sandwith's pedestrian performances, it is as important to get proper cover for Batt at RB as it was to get a LB in.

The other half of this is what has happened to Chapman? He is the shadow of the player I was desperate to keep from last season. Is the evident failure to be considered for a midfield role (back to the 4-3-3 discussion perhaps) so demotivating that he has lost all his edge?

Chapman wasn't fully fit yesterday, which may explain the fact he was off the pace a bit. It is concerning that we have no proper cover at right back. Chapman isn't a natural defender anyway and if he is carring an injury, who else is there to cover? CW seemed to indicate LSD would cover there in an emergency, hardly ideal.