Gary Waddock

[Eric Pollard]

Was that your Belgravia club or your St James's club GY?

Me, I'm pleased the rugby league season is up and running.,

'Oop the Warriors'.

[ty cobb]

I continue to be furious that the same team (actually with a couple of additions in NW and DC) who managed such a long unbeaten away record now look like an absolute shambles on the road. The impact one individual can have eh?

Obviously not GW fault having been in the job for barely anytime at all, although if he continues to insist on dicking about with it at the back like that ala Rix i suggest his honeymoon period may be over pretty quickly.

We've got some good players, Wright and Rose were instrumental in our earlier season form, however, we no longer seem to know our best formation or our best team and all this chopping and changing isn't going to help. DC was our best player against Hartlepool yet relegated to a 10 minute run about yesterday.

[YF Dan]

The problem with long unbeaten runs is that when they end, they end really badly.

We are a one-dimensional squad, devoid of pace and ideas.

Once we were rumbled, and once that unbeaten away run came to an end, we were always going to have the obligatory Wilder collapse.

What would we give for a Jamar Loza? Oh look, we've spent all our budget.

[SmileyMan]

DC was our best player against Hartlepool yet relegated to a 10 minute run about yesterday.

He's a 36yo who played a full 95minutes just three days previous. Much as I'd love him to be ten years younger (and let's make a couple of clones while we're in the science fiction lab) he can't win every game for us.

I said I hoped Waddock got lucky against Southend; after two days he's had no chance to shape the team really. The real test starts on Saturday at the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Stadium (is that the longest named ground in the 92?)

[Out of the gloom]

Not worth reading anything into the result or performance last night - far too early.

On the process, would suggest Waddock came through as being good, or very good, in all attributes desired by the Chairman rather than outstanding in one or two but lacking in one or two others.

One reflection from last night was that Waddock is going to need time to familiarise himself with players and staff etc, in contrast to the Southend number two, for example. Statement of the obvious - we haven't got many games left.

In Lenagan we trust.

[JoeyBeauchamp]

From that perspective what was really striking was how much more up for it they were ... playing at a much higher tempo, harassing us, winning the 50-50s, just wanting it more, faster to the ball, faster with it, faster off it.

This is what struck me - right from the off they looked desperate for the win whereas we looked startled and unsure of ourselves. Two down away from home after 15 minutes is a tough ask for any side, no matter one which is bang out of form and full of kids. I agree with those who said Smalley was a disgrace - he was abysmal. He has never displayed his full potential at Oxford and his contract renewal was surely a mistake.

The question is what do we do about it? The loan deadline is not yet up, and I would advocate bringing in a couple of players to boost the squad and give GW some options. Yes the strategy is to rely on the Dev Squad to support the first team, but the youngsters looked like rabbits in the headlights last night and need experienced pros (or hungry young loanees from PL sides eg Loza) to give them confidence. This is by no means saying the youngsters were responsible for the defeat, but ML rewarded them for their performance on Saturday by picking them again and it didn't work; not when we had Raynes, Wroe and Davies on the bench.

We've got a tough run-in and don't look like a play-off side, but all we have to ensure is that we end up in the top seven and then, who knows? I'd like to see us take any steps to achieve that, including some short-term recruits.

[GodalmingYellow]

GY, actually I was referring to your assertion that he should have been "chained to his desk", as if he could not or was otherwise unable to maintain contact with his sons on the Board whilst away. I was not referring to the idea that he would be interviewing via those media, that he had to be interviewing people every single day - of course I was not referring to that - nor were you until just now. But actually in Higher Education, with academics operating in a global marketplace, interviews do get conducted over Skype. Second interviews might be done face to face, and as we know, IL did conduct two rounds of interviews.

Not sure what difference any of that is supposed to make Bob. IL should have been present for the recruitment process and taking charge of it. Being away simply delayed the whole process quite considerably and that is the "assertion", if you must use that word, that I was making.

I wouldn't want to comment on whether use of little more than glorified Twitter accounts is a suitable medium for recruitment within higher education in this country or whether that is reflective of standards of output from higher education in this country (I hold the tarring brush in my left hand at present, just for laughs). I doubt that many CEOs are appointed by such amateurish methods in the private sector. ;-)

GY - maybe you are a complete donkey dick, but there really is no need to prove it to all of us. There is nothing about telephones, the internet, or Skype as a means of video conferencing that is in the least bit similar to Twitter. Interviews are about communication, not the medium itself. That is not amateurish. Amateurish is not holding a proper selection process. Pound for pound, as it were, we have the best HE system in the world (allowing for the fact that the US system is much larger and draws so much more funding) - or rather had, until the government decided to privatise it. Oh and how many days was IL away for, and how did that delay the process? There was a gap of 50 days from CW to GW. During the time in Oz, IL would have been able to maintain communication with others, so the recruitment process (your word) would not necessarily have been delayed AT ALL. Ultimately, the point is that your expectation that IL should have been chained to his desk until an appointment was made is just embarrassing, ignorant in the extreme.

I'm not even going to deign that with a reply. I would have expected better from you Bob.

[GodalmingYellow]

Was that your Belgravia club or your St James's club GY?

Me, I'm pleased the rugby league season is up and running.,

'Oop the Warriors'.

Local working mens club is the nearest equivalent. You wouldn't catch me going into central London unless I had to. I'm a very long way from being a city boy.

[GodalmingYellow]

Not worth reading anything into the result or performance last night - far too early.

On the process, would suggest Waddock came through as being good, or very good, in all attributes desired by the Chairman rather than outstanding in one or two but lacking in one or two others.

One reflection from last night was that Waddock is going to need time to familiarise himself with players and staff etc, in contrast to the Southend number two, for example. Statement of the obvious - we haven't got many games left.

In Lenagan we trust.

With just 7 games remaining, I now agree that the benefits of promotion (or perhaps the risk of non-promotion) outweighs the risk of spending a small amount of money bringing in a couple of really strong loans until the end of the season just to underpin the achievements made previously. But only if they are really strong candidates. That could have the added bonus of making present players aware that they need to pull their fingers out.

[Brahma Bull]

I took five positives from last night.

1) That was the last time Lewis and Melville will have a significant contribution to team selection.
2) Scott Davies who has been pretty poor when he has played this season (think FA Cup games) came on and looked a different player - he clearly loves working with Waddock and I suspect his OUFC career has just been saved
3) Ryan Clarke AND David Hunt
4) 175 Oxford United fans who in my opinion should be offered a goodwill gesture for that performance they made an effort to watch
5) We stay in 6th until tonight when the poop really hits the fan

[Isaac]

If we're going for positives, I thought we were actually ok for the middle half hour of the game as well. If Constable had taken one if his two chances, or Rigg or Potter had done better with theirs Southend may have wobbled. We looked dangerous from set pieces, long throws and corners (one off the line from smalley, one save from the keeper and the toblerone footed attempt from Constable). Other than that it was very poor, particularly the last 20 minutes when we gave up and were completely over-run. We lacked a physical presence in midfield and defence in particular. Assuming Raynes/Mullins are still injured next week I'd play Whing at centre half, I suspect Wright is better as a covering defender rather than as the main man (a role he failed miserably at last night).

I know very little about Waddock (although possibly more than I knew about Wilder when he arrived) so I'm keeping an open mind, he has a good opportunity this season, I don't think the squad is anywhere near as bad as they looked last night. We need some of the centre backs to return and some players to get back to fitness but with a bit of luck and some momentum you never know.

[Mooro]

. Assuming Raynes/Mullins are still injured next week I'd play Whing at centre half, I suspect Wright is better as a covering defender rather than as the main man (a role he failed miserably at last night).

.

I think Raynes IS fit, just that they chose to keep those players that did well Friday (and were able to play twice in 3 days) in the side -perhaps to show that they are happy to play the youth ?
(As some fans would have taken dropping Long &/or Bevans as a clear message they aren't)

One question on the defence - why did we always appear to have Sam Long about 10 yards behind the other three at all times?
Is that something we always do, with someone trying to be a sweeper/quarterback? Or was Long drifting backwards du to nerves/trying to make space? If the latter, why did Wright or Clarke not tell him to move forwards? As it was it just gave their #9 space, but also attracted backpasses from all over the place, which he couldn't handle because an opponent was onto him almost before the ball arrived.

[GodalmingYellow]

. Assuming Raynes/Mullins are still injured next week I'd play Whing at centre half, I suspect Wright is better as a covering defender rather than as the main man (a role he failed miserably at last night).

.

I think Raynes IS fit, just that they chose to keep those players that did well Friday (and were able to play twice in 3 days) in the side -perhaps to show that they are happy to play the youth ?
(As some fans would have taken dropping Long &/or Bevans as a clear message they aren't)

One question on the defence - why did we always appear to have Sam Long about 10 yards behind the other three at all times?
Is that something we always do, with someone trying to be a sweeper/quarterback? Or was Long drifting backwards du to nerves/trying to make space? If the latter, why did Wright or Clarke not tell him to move forwards? As it was it just gave their #9 space, but also attracted backpasses from all over the place, which he couldn't handle because an opponent was onto him almost before the ball arrived.

I'm sure none of that was intended as criticism of Long, as the problem came from the midfield and forwards having so little movement, coupled with players seemingly unwilling to play any sort of incisive pass forwards, resulting in a sideways pass or pass to the back line being the only option left. Any centre back will eventually come under pressure if we play like that. Its been a fundamental issue under all of Wilder's teams, and it got worse under ML in my view. Sort that and most of the other elements will come together, especially if Waddock picks players in their natural positions and does not pick out of form players, when other options are available.

[Werthers Original]

the problem came from the midfield and forwards having so little movement, coupled with players seemingly unwilling to play any sort of incisive pass forwards, resulting in a sideways pass or pass to the back line being the only option left. Any centre back will eventually come under pressure if we play like that. Its been a fundamental issue under all of Wilder's teams

This is very true. It's so frustrating seeing other teams (often with low gates and no great reputation) that have much better pace and movement. I thought we were better in this regard on Sat, playing without a big striker helps.

[Kernow Yellow]

Do you people not know how to start new topics? There are several completely separate subjects being discussed here now. This isn't Memorox you know! But since all of the Southend analysis thus far has been under the all-encompassing 'Gary Waddock' heading, I'll carry on here...

A complete disaster obviously. Much as everyone wanted to see the new boss' promised attacking flair, the most important thing last night was not to lose to a team threatening our play-off spot. We failed abysmally.

I'm not sure why the attacking players are getting most of the blame. It was defensive lapses that cost us last night, and specifically our centre backs. I understand the reasoning behind keeping faith with Sam Long, but I disagreed with it and it backfired badly. He was all over the place in the opening 20 minutes, and I suspect that worrying about him partly caused Jake Wright to have such a shocker. After going 2-0 down we dominated the rest of the first half, repeatedly carving Southend open with slick passing through the midfield. A combination of bad luck (Smalley's header), poor decision making (Rigg's wild blast from a tight angle) and woeful finishing (Constable, obviously) meant we went into the break still 2-0 down, but with plenty of hope for clawing our way back into it in the second half.

So now for Gary Waddock's first big job as OUFC manager - a half time team talk to inspire our players to believe they could get something out of the game. What happened? We got absolutely dominated all over the park after the break, that's what. We lost our shape and couldn't clear our lines, and barely made it out of our half for what seemed like hours on end. And what was worse, we didn't seem to try to change things at all, replacing one winger with another as a fairly futile gesture.

Three of our next four games are against teams in and around the play-offs. If our recent form in this kind of fixture carries on, our season will be over quicker than we could ever have imagined.