Tykes thumping

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Radley Rambler
Grumpy old git
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Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:36 pm

Tykes thumping

Post by Radley Rambler »

Well that was a proper thrashing - we weren't at the races from the start and it was getting quite embarassing at the end.

Positives:

Eastwood - can't fault him for any of the goals and he made a couple of great saves including one from his own poor clearance
Dickie - I thought he was commanding although others around me were less complimentary
Smith - looked lively but difficult to shine with no service
Hall - the one real attacking threat we had and a great shot from 35 yards
Away fans - gave it a real good go until the 3rd goal went in when it was clearly a matter of 'how many'
Barnsley - a very good side and I understand that their front line cost £4m and a centre back is valued at £8m so they may be one of the best sides we play this year


Negatives:

McMahon - slow and looked very exposed - should have been booked when he stepped across their winger because it was the only way he could stop him
Carruthers - the injury to him rather than his performance
Not covering Carruthers which led to their first goal - Mackie/Obika - that should have been your job
Ruffels - was he playing?
Mackie - so he's not fit - why the f**k is he playng then
Hall's fitness - great player but how many games will he play for us this season given his biscuit-esque knees
Whyte - was knocked over fairly by a Barnsley player too easily - looked lightweight
Planning for Holmes to start all week and then not sorting the paperwork - ffs
Midfield creativity - there was none
Closing down - there was very little

and a special mention for Jon Obika. I have rarely seen someone look less interested. Ok so he got into three good positions but he then:

1) shinned it in the air
2) let rip with a shot that my 7 year old could have saved
3) fell over when 1 on 1 with the keeper

I really hope Barnsley is an aberration - if we don't get the four players that Robinson has hinted at/don't perform in the next 3 games ,then I will start to fear for us.

I was feeling positive until 16.20 yesterday.......
Geoff
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Re: Tykes thumping

Post by Geoff »

I was looking forward to yesterday's game. First game of a new season. A chance to run the rule over the new additions to the squad. Add Oakwell to the list of grounds I have visited. My enthusiasm quickly evaporated. Within a few minutes I was concerned that Barnsley were quicker and stronger all over the park and dominating midfield. Central midfield would be my biggest concern if KR hadn't already identified it as an area to be addressed. As it is I was more concerned with our central defenders. Although not necessarily responsible for the goals the crosses into our box throughout the game were claimed by Barnsley players time and again. Only Eastwood prevented a cricket score. It's difficult to assess or be too critical of the attack given the lack of midfield strength resulting in a lack of meaningful possession. Fortunately there is no midweek match so KR can sit them in front of the video and try to address a few issues.
Kernow Yellow
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Re: Tykes thumping

Post by Kernow Yellow »

I've held off posting until now so I could calm down. But that was absolutely woeful. A dire, dire performance.

Yes, Barnsley are a good team, but that doesn't excuse not competing, not showing for the ball, not appearing to give a shit.

Fullbacks - very inauspicious starts to their OUFC careers. Forget Ricardinho, I think Tiendalli would have done better than Garbutt or McMahon on Saturday.

Centre backs - shaky. I wasn't impressed by Dickie I'm afraid. Has Nelson's head been turned? Or has he just been distracted by Love Island?

Midfield - completely overrun. The space we afforded Barnsley in the middle of the park was astonishing. No wonder they enjoyed running into it. I see RR has criticised Ruffels, but Brannigan was no better. He seems to be rated by many OUFC fans, but I've seen very little since he signed to enthuse me. Central midfield is an absolute priority to strengthen. Minimum of two players required here.

Mackie - I forgot he was playing until he was subbed. In the 82nd minute! Waste of a shirt. Henry wasn't much better but at least he got involved, even if it was to give the ball away occasionally.

Forwards - when we did get the ball in the Barnsley half, it was noticeable how much slower we were to use it than the home side. Always looking (usually backwards) for another pass. Hall brought some much-needed directness to the game, but it was much too late. Obika's general play was ok, I thought - brighter than most on the day. But he's a striker, so when he's put clean through on goal I expect something stronger than a backpass. And not tripping over the ball would be a bonus too. Too early to judge Smith. I hope that team performance hasn't knocked too much confidence out of him.

Poor Simon Eastwood. Every time he had the ball in hand, all the Oxford players turned their back on him and he had to resort to hoofing it in the air. The ball just kept coming back at him time and again. The back-pedalling save from his own mess-up was entertaining too!

My only previous visit to Oakwell was a long time ago (1994), and it looked very different then! We were outplayed that day too iirc, despite a narrower scoreline. Paul's excellent Fan's View gives some history, which might explain what seemed a totally over-the-top police presence, lining up in several ranks with hands on batons as we came out of the ground.

Apart from that it was a decent day out - pie and chips for two quid in a friendly pub with real ale 5 mins from the ground. But the overriding memory is of a depressing drubbing.

Oh, and why weren't we wearing yellow? It's not like we've got a different away shirt sponsor we need to keep sweet. Pointless and unnecessary kit change. Poor show on the first day of the season imo, with the away end filled with yellow in the sunshine.
OtmoorYellow
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Re: Tykes thumping

Post by OtmoorYellow »

Blimey, where to start?

Well as far I can tell, that was the worst opening day defeat by an Oxford United side ever.

Only 2 players deserve any credit. Simon Eastwood, and Rob Hall and he only played the last quarter of the game.

I wasn't expecting a win. Barnsley clearly have double our crowds and probably more than double our budget, and their quality shone through, not that OUFC provided any resistance.

The summer is all about forgetting the previous season's failures and getting the hope up for the next season. Rarely in my experience has that hope dissipated so quickly. It really was very disappointing. So disappointing that I couldn't even bear to clap the players off the pitch. I had that kicked in the guts feeling.

Right from the off, we were second best all over the pitch. Second to the ball, slow to close down (where we even bothered), very little harassment of their players from front to back, missed just about all our headers both in defence and going forwards, virtually no tackling, the number of crosses that McMahon allowed in from the right was criminal, and Obika can collect his coat and bugger off back to Slumdon as far as I'm concerned.

Yet again Obika got into (well was passed into) a one on one with their keeper. Result embarrassing. Again. This has happened so often in pre-season and I don't see why he should have been selected. Yes he scored 4 tap-ins in pre-season against very inferior opponents, 1 somewhat fortunate goal against Palace, and one that was rebounded off him by a defender against Hungerford, but the number of chances he missed suggests to me that even at League 2 level he would struggle to score regularly. One of Obika's 3 timid efforts at Oakwell was so weak, that the keeper had to wait for it to reach him, rather than save it. He can't head, he has no shot, he can't pass, he can't tackle, he's slow to react and has no pace to make up for it. All he is OK at is holding the ball up. Sorry but he is not good enough, not by a long way. And that is not based on 90 minutes of 1 match. I would give him 1/10 if he had to sign his name, but someone else signs the team sheet so I seriously give him 0/10.

Mackie was absent as far as I could tell. I don't think he had any shots on or off target. Insufficient strength was my impression. But at least this is based on only one poor game. He gets benefit of the doubt for a while, but needs to improve quickly. A generous 2/10

Henry showed a few little runs and passes that we know he is capable of, but like the others in the side, showed woefully little effort. 5/10

Carruthers at least provided a little creativity and guile going forwards, and a bit of steel in defence. But we know what happened then. Big loss for the team this will be. 7/10

None of the strikers did any defending from the front, which left the midfield very exposed. If we play 4-2-3-1, the front players must contribute to defending or we will be overrun, as happened on Saturday.

Ruffels was like a boy in a man's game. Contributed very little, provided no disruption, provided no distribution, which begs the question what is a midfielder's job? 3/10

Brannagan - see my review of Ruffels, because both were absentee midfielders. Defensively, the central midfield are there to prevent creativity of the opposition and to stop runs through from central defence. Suffice to say, neither achieved this. My only slight (and it is only slight) allowance for CB is that he is being played too deep. 4/10

Tony McMahon is another that looks to be sub-standard. I first saw him at Hampton and he was slow there. Here at Oakwell, he was regularly passed with ease. Provided next to nothing attack wise and I suspect he will clock up cards very quickly. 1/10

Garbutt was by far the better of the two full backs. He has some pace and was capable of taking defenders on, but as a team, we were on the back foot so often, his impact going forwards was limited. Provided reasonable link up with the forwards and got a couple of decent crosses in. Still not enough performance though. 5/10

Nelson seems to have lost some pace. He got us out of trouble many times last season before his injury. He wasn't strong enough to deal with a big physical Barnsley side and unusually he was regularly beaten in the air, and turned on the ground too often. 3/10

Dickie was a bit better in the air than Nelson, but his lack of pace was shown up often. 3/10

Eastwood was Eastwood. Kept us in with a vague chance to recover something from the game, had the outfield players bothered to turn up. We are very lucky to have him. And to anyone that criticises his performances, have a word with yourself. 9/10

Rob Hall provided some much needed injection of attack and creativity. He wasn't afraid to take on Barnsley players, so why was everyone else? Hall showed what might have been, had there been a proper team performance. 9/10

Gavin Whyte I barely even noticed. 3/10

Sam Smith looked lively and potentially effective, if only he received some service. 7/10

Let's hope this was THE bad day at the office.

Like others, my only consolation was picking up my 71st ground of the present 92. I doubt I'll be going back any time soon. Didn't even see a flat cap or whippet.

If we play like this at Sunderland, we'll be annhialated.
ty cobb
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Re: Tykes thumping

Post by ty cobb »

Worst opening away day result in our history? Certainly for as long as I can remember. All this ah yes but its Barnsley so it is to be expected is a load of nonsense. We're in the same division as them for goodness sake - not like we're playing a better team a league above us in the cup (in fact we did that against the same team when they were stronger than they are now and we were in league 2 and we gave them a good game).

If we want to be top six this season then that is a poor result. If we want to avoid relegation this season that is a poor result. Still early days but there is a reasonable case to be made that our signings this season have been poor. A mix of loanees not good enough for the team they play for, recruits from a much worse level than us or not wanted by a team at our level and a bunch of kids sent on loan to get experience. We now have Obika as our main striker someone who got 7 goals last season and 6 the season before that. Just because he scored some goals against poor teams in pre season does not make up for how hopeless he was last year.

Is all well at the club - Hall and Nelson have not signed new contracts, we don't seem to be getting in the players we want and to make it worse the central midfielder who we mucked around got a hat trick for the Scum!

Robbo talks a good game but he took a long time to get us going last season, Charlton improved when he left so rather than talk about WOW signings it is time we did the talking on the pitch.
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