Yorkshire brew

[OtmoorYellow]

I don't see what KR sees. We watch the same matches, but our respective recognition of what has happened is very different.

KR claimed the match was very even in the first half. I don't agree. I think we went in lucky not to be 3 or 4 down.

We had an all too brief 10 minutes in the second half when we got them rattled at the back, and defensively Barnsley were very poor. They had sold their first choice keeper the day before to Luton, and as part of the deal they have been loaned last night's shot stopper by Luton until the end of the season. It showed. The keeper was very dodgy. Not that we took the advantage that we should have done.

Going forwards, Barnsley opened us up time and again with ease through the use of fast one touch football. Pass and move. The type of game we should be playing. It was bizarre that they shut up shop so early. I have no doubt that had they continued in their attack vein, the deficit would have been much worse for us.

The new boy Ateef Kanate showed a few nice touches, but at this early stage, looks a bit lightweight.

Bate was our best player by a distance, proving the small, and lightweight, are not the same thing. Our back four looked like they had been introduced to each other about 30 seconds before kick off. What happened to Anderson, he completely disappeared. Long is having to clear up a lot of Moore's mistakes, and yet Long's passing has seemingly gone on early vacation.

With CamBran departing early, with what looked like an intercostal injury, the rest of the midfield were shambolic. We won very few of the battles and were generally second to the ball.

Billy Bodin (Biden) is no striker, so why we started with him front and centre was baffling. Kyle Joseph flatters to deceive and Wildschuut looks to be strong but with little end output.

The new striker Smith couldn't have had a worse start. Within a couple of minutes of being introduced, he raced away to meet one of the far too many balls over the top, to find himself one on one with a keeper little better than my Grandma, in front of the East Stand. Rather than using the loads of time he had to play with, he tried to lob the keeper from a short distance and flubbed it straight into the grateful keeper's arms. An act which apparently severely injured the keeper. Really ref? Dare I say Taylor would have put that chance away no problem. As the game wore on Smith did settle down, but from then on rarely looked like troubling the newish scoreboard. Give him a chance though.

I'm no fan to changing managers at the first sign of defeat, and KR has built up credit in the bank. But that is dissipating fast and he is very close to an unauthorised overdraft. He seems void of ideas and blinkered to the failings of his team selections and tactical set ups. He's signed a lot of poor or injured, or both, players, and he seems unable to create the passing game he advocates with the players he has signed.

Its a very toxic combination.

[Isaac]

Agree with all of this, although I thought Bate was decent in midfield and we lost all structure once he went off. Our lack of midfield cover might be about to be exposed - given all we have is Smyth who was punted from his loan at a mid-table conference team. Once again there didn't seem to be a plan of how to score a goal (which is not a criticism you could often make of Robinson's Oxford team in the past few seasons). Barnsley pushed up and we attempted to go long, it sporadically worked because Smith/Wildshutt/Joseph put themselves about at least, but it was desperate stuff.

There's risk with whatever the club do next, stick with Robinson while the crowd is on the edge of mutiny, could be very dangerous. Caretaker manager (but who?) while we find a new manager is a big unknown. I'd go for the latter personally, but it's not a straightforward decision.