5 in a row

GodalmingYellow · Post by **GodalmingYellow** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 8:45 am

Another miserable performance from Wilder's Oxford.

I wonder what he has done with the players in training this week.

Terrible 4-3-3 again and Bradford clearly knew how to deal with this, putting 4 in midfield against our 3, chase everything down and hassle our slow passing into mistakes. Once again we were overrun.

I really don't understand why Capaldi was started as a midfielder. His positioning was all over the place and he just never got forward. I say I don't understand, I do understand, and that is because Wilder insisted on playing 4-3-3 and he has run out of midfielders. Many of us have said from the beginning of the season that the squad is light on midfielders. Had he played 4-4-2, he could have played Rigg and Potter in wide midfield, and Capaldi at left back. Problem solved. But oh no, this is rigid arrogant Wilder who doesn't allow any other ideas than his own.

The back line coped pretty well for most of the game, despite being under a shed load of pressure. The front line barely even received the ball. Constable did more defending than striking and got us out of a hole several times. Potter ran up blind alleys and as usual hung on to the ball for too long more often than not, when a pass would have been better. Craddock is a lazy git and chased down very little. Compare to Bradford who chased everything right back to Clarke.

The passing was terrible, with numerous hospital balls and wayward passes, slow and laborious sideways only. Slight improvement in movement in first half which disappeared in the second half.

It is becoming very tiresome reporting exactly the same tactical mistakes from Wilder every game.

These are dangerous times both for the club and Wilder. Managers have been sacked for far less than 5 defeats in a row. I remain of the opinion that Wilder has to be given a chance to turn it around, but the flip side of that is that we cannot allow Oxford United to even flirst with the prospect of relegation to non-League ever again, and we need to some changes in attitude from Wilder pronto.

recordmeister · Post by **recordmeister** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 9:41 am

5 in a row? If you glue this season to last, isn't it 3 wins in 15 games?

Dr Bob · Post by **Dr Bob** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 11:19 am

I was going to go back and look at our record for the calendar year 2012, but enough people on RadOx yesterday said 5 wins in 24 games for me to accept that figure. Merely reveals those three wins at the start of the season as the blip, not the losses since (and other threads have dealt with how poorly those teams were doing at the time we played them).

I would sort-of half-disagree with GY about Craddock - too often he was having to come deep to bolster the midfield and collect the ball, given the much-discussed limitations in our midfield - but fully agree with everything else. Something that has been clear for some time now, and was especially noticeable yesterday, in particular once we went a goal behind, was the lack of constructive tempo and urgency (as opposed to panic) - we lacked an extra gear to go up into. No wonder, combined with our predicable formation, that other teams find it so easy to defend, stifle and neutralise anything we might be able to put together.

I think the most telling things from yesterday were the (continuing) drop-off in home support and the supporters' response, which was not so much booing and anger as quiet resigned apathy.

As Count von Lichtenberg (approximately) put it, I do not know if things will get better if they change, but one thing is certain - if things are to get better, then they must change. Surely CW is now on borrowed time?

Baboo · Post by **Baboo** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 1:04 pm

Fundamental disagreement with GY that Craddock is a lazy git on yesterday’s showing. But there would be wouldn’t there as I am a big Craddock fan, although I’ll admit he hasn’t been great of late along with many / most / all others.

Yesterday as Dr B says “he was having to come deep to bolster the midfield and collect the ball

GodalmingYellow · Post by **GodalmingYellow** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 5:05 pm

[quote=&quotBaboo&quot]Fundamental disagreement with GY that Craddock is a lazy git on yesterday’s showing. But there would be wouldn’t there as I am a big Craddock fan, although I’ll admit he hasn’t been great of late along with many / most / all others.

Yesterday as Dr B says “he was having to come deep to bolster the midfield and collect the ball

OUFanatic · Post by **OUFanatic** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 5:44 pm

I wish i knew the answers i really do.

What is clear though is that some of the players don't look at all happy (Potter,Constable to name two).

Wycombe sacked Gary Waddock after 3 defeats. I would say now that if we lose to Rotherham on saturday CW will be gone

Werthers Original · Post by **Werthers Original** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 6:22 pm

Doesn't seem a lot of point doing the usual analysis of this player versus that, they were all hopeless and we never played for more than about 30 seconds without messing up. I'm not sure I've ever seen us play a whole match like that without creating anything resembling a chance. I'm stumped, basically.

Joey's Toe · Post by **Joey's Toe** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 7:47 pm

I wasn't at the game, Jerome - which sounds like a good thing, frankly. The BBC website suggests it was a one-sided affair. What did Wilder say in his post-match interview, out of interest? I'm more inclined to defend him than most on here, but even I think that he needs to publicly shoulder some of the responsibility rather than consistently suggest it is his players who are at fault.

Geoff · Post by **Geoff** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 12:37 pm

Agree wholeheartedly with GY's post. (Possibly a tad harsh on Craddock for Saturday but it sums up the majority of his performances.

There must only be one person left in Oxfordshire who doesn't realise that 4-3-3 has been sussed by the other teams in League 2.

SmileyMan · Post by **SmileyMan** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 2:11 pm

In the last 20 league matches (starting with the Shrews match in March) we have W5 D5 L10 (20pts) F22 A33 (-11GD) which is pretty woeful.

Compared to our comparable &quotrivals&quot (i've arbitrarily chosen the non-promoted teams who came above us last season):

Code: Select all

Oxford    &#58 W5  D5  L10 (20pts) F22 A33 (-11GD)
Southend  &#58 W10 D4  L6  (34pts) F30 A21 ( ||9GD)
Torquay   &#58 W8  D9  L3  (33pts) F26 A20 ( ||6GD)
Cheltenham&#58 W7  D4  L9  (25pts) F21 A28 ( -7GD)
Gillingham&#58 W11 D5  L4  (38pts) F36 A18 (||18GD)

I'm afraid to say that on that form, we're not going to be pushing for promotion. In particular, letting in 3 goals for every 2 we score is a big problem, especially as we didn't score more than 2 goals in any of those 20 games.

Hog · Post by **Hog** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 2:28 pm

I get the feeling a few people would be quite happy for us to lose 6 in a row (and I don't mean Slumdon fans).

ty cobb · Post by **ty cobb** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:14 pm

[quote=&quotGodalmingYellow&quot][quote=&quotBaboo&quot]Fundamental disagreement with GY that Craddock is a lazy git on yesterday’s showing. But there would be wouldn’t there as I am a big Craddock fan, although I’ll admit he hasn’t been great of late along with many / most / all others.

Yesterday as Dr B says “he was having to come deep to bolster the midfield and collect the ball

GodalmingYellow · Post by **GodalmingYellow** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 6:54 am

[quote=&quotty cobb&quot][quote=&quotGodalmingYellow&quot][quote=&quotBaboo&quot]Fundamental disagreement with GY that Craddock is a lazy git on yesterday’s showing. But there would be wouldn’t there as I am a big Craddock fan, although I’ll admit he hasn’t been great of late along with many / most / all others.

Yesterday as Dr B says “he was having to come deep to bolster the midfield and collect the ball

Snake · Post by **Snake** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 9:19 pm

&quotHog&quot wrote:I get the feeling a few people would be quite happy for us to lose 6 in a row (and I don't mean Slumdon fans).

I get the feeling that although it’s only September Oxford United’s season is slipping away into mediocrity. And now Wilder talks about a change of tactics to hoofing it (or implying to be being more direct to be precise) rather than playing the ball on the ground that we still don’t own.

The whole club is a mess once again and that’s very sad for me.

Isaac · Post by **Isaac** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 9:10 am

The whole club is a mess? That's a bit melodramatic isn't it? As far as I can see the playing side is in big slump and we have a lot of injuries.

Anyway, the long ball comment from Wilder is a little worrying. My view (and it has been for a while) is he needs to free the team up a bit, not make them more rigid. When he first came in he added a bit of organisation and encouraged them to attack and we scored goals - but that was in a position where he had little to lose. Since then the organisation seems to come first and I think we have become far too predictable. Which is often why I think philosophy of the team is far more interesting than the debates about 4-4-2/4-3-3.

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