Fleetwood Pilley-ed
Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2023 9:43 am
It was the first Oxford game for my 3 children so I had to tell them, repeatedly, that it wasn't usually as warm, straightforward or with such spectacular goals. They're all keen to go again, so job done in more than one way.
I didn't actually think we played that well, particularly at the start. Somewhat slow and lethargic on the ball and defensively a bit error prone (mostly Thorniley, due probably to lack of match practice). Fleetwood just stood off, even when 2 and 3-0 down and looked exactly like a team who've lost all bar one league game this season. They only really went for it in the first 10 minutes of each half. The last 15 minutes felt like a pre-season friendly with no nerves, little happening on the pitch and warm sunshine. Given Fleetwood have very few fans and an owner in prison for fraud then it's possible they'll drop through the leagues quickly. Although there was a lot of support for the owner - more so than for the team. Songs, banners and a plane message fly-by.
It was good to see Branagan pop up in more attacking positions, on the wing a couple of times and generally our front 4 swapped around quite a lot (rotation, I think they call it). Rodrigues is an interest player, really not quick but works very hard. Barely anything he tried with the ball came off but the ambition to try and keep trying is encouraging.
Given we were missing our 1st and 2nd choice strikers, left winger (although so far Edwards looks an upgrade on Browne) and our left back might not have been fit it's a very encouraging result. I was thinking back to last season at Fleetwood (a very lucky 2-1 win) where we had Wildschutt/Murphy on the wings achieving very little and the difference in terms of squad depth/quality is huge.
I didn't actually think we played that well, particularly at the start. Somewhat slow and lethargic on the ball and defensively a bit error prone (mostly Thorniley, due probably to lack of match practice). Fleetwood just stood off, even when 2 and 3-0 down and looked exactly like a team who've lost all bar one league game this season. They only really went for it in the first 10 minutes of each half. The last 15 minutes felt like a pre-season friendly with no nerves, little happening on the pitch and warm sunshine. Given Fleetwood have very few fans and an owner in prison for fraud then it's possible they'll drop through the leagues quickly. Although there was a lot of support for the owner - more so than for the team. Songs, banners and a plane message fly-by.
It was good to see Branagan pop up in more attacking positions, on the wing a couple of times and generally our front 4 swapped around quite a lot (rotation, I think they call it). Rodrigues is an interest player, really not quick but works very hard. Barely anything he tried with the ball came off but the ambition to try and keep trying is encouraging.
Given we were missing our 1st and 2nd choice strikers, left winger (although so far Edwards looks an upgrade on Browne) and our left back might not have been fit it's a very encouraging result. I was thinking back to last season at Fleetwood (a very lucky 2-1 win) where we had Wildschutt/Murphy on the wings achieving very little and the difference in terms of squad depth/quality is huge.