Rage Online

A funny old game today. We took a little while to get going, particularly Damian Batt, who seemed to think we were playing in green for the first 10 minutes, and again breathed a sigh of relief after an early opposition 'goal' was chalked off. But then we dominated the second quarter of the game, and might easily have gone in more than two goals to the good.

The performance dropped in general in the second half, but most noticeable was the inability of the forward players to keep the ball in the opposition half for more than a few seconds at a time as the game wore on. Smalley's goals won us the game, but Craddock was my stand-out player today. Whether he is the best finisher at the club is a moot point, especially after his wasteful thrash over the bar when clean through at 2-0 up, but today he was certainly the best footballer on the pitch, effortlessly winning us time and space with lovely touches and turns. And he's strong in the challenge too. Once TC went off, we lost our way completely for a while, and eventually did well not to throw a couple of points away after conceding one. Beano by contrast just looks completely out of sorts, trying to rely on mistakes from defenders which were not forthcoming, and far-from-subtle pushes to win himself some space. In the midfield, Chapman particularly impressed with both his skill and desire.

My first game of the season, so my first view of the new signings, and all seem to have slotted in well, without any really shining today. People seem to have been rather lukewarm about Rigg's contributions thus far, but employed as a proper winger in a 4-4-2 (a minor miracle in itself) he looked the part, and got in more useful crosses from the byeline in one match than we managed for most of last season. Indeed, one major positive today was that we created a decent number of really good, gilt-edged chances (rather than the usual half-chances and vaguely promising positions), and took enough of them to win the game.

Three wins from three league games - you can't ask for much more than that. And only one goal conceded in six and a half hours of football (incidentally the amount of time it took me to drive up from Cornwall yesterday - well worth it in the end). And a couple of tasty cup ties coming up. This season's showing a lot of promise already, but I'm trying not to get too excited. And my two young sons have still not seen the Mighty Yellows lose! Long may it all continue...

I'm a massive Craddock fan but I thought yesterday he was far from his best. He gave the ball away too often. &quotStrong in the challenge&quot - plenty of people are of the opinion that he is lightweight. I think you are being very harsh on Constable. It was JC who set up Craddock when he should have scored and JC who set up JPP (who I thought was a disgrace). But Beano's best contribution was his defensive work when he came back to help out as we looked like we might fold and drop some points.

&quotBaboo&quot wrote:I'm a massive Craddock fan but I thought yesterday he was far from his best. He gave the ball away too often. &quotStrong in the challenge&quot - plenty of people are of the opinion that he is lightweight. I think you are being very harsh on Constable. It was JC who set up Craddock when he should have scored and JC who set up JPP (who I thought was a disgrace). But Beano's best contribution was his defensive work when he came back to help out as we looked like we might fold and drop some points.

Good comments regarding Beano's play.

Unfortunately, what could have been a stellar perforamcne was ruined by the manager tinkering with the side and set up.

The 4-4-2 we used throughout the 1st half worked worked really well. Playmouth simply couldn't live with us and we should have scored several goals.

Smalley had an excellent game, but was forced off through a knock at the break along with Forster-Caskey (I've yet to see the reason why F-C was subbed because he was having a fab game as well). Even given the substitutions, Beano for Deano is pretty much a straght swap, as should be Hessie for F-C. But no, Wilder had to switch the side to 4-3-3 and tell the players to sit back and hold onto the lead, that classic Wilder tactic that wasted so many opportunities last season.

Had we stuck to 4-4-2 and gone for it in the second half, I am very confident we would have seen a cricket score.

Our back line looked excellent again. The free kick Argyle scored from, was down to either a very poor set up of the wall, or a mis-judgement by Clarke. Either way it was Clarke's fault that we conceded, even though we should never be giving away free kicks in those areas.

Rigg and Potter looked good in wide roles and Craddock did OK despite a shocking miss with only the keeper to beat. Whoever says that Craddock is the club's best finsher needs to take a look at that one.

After the break, the changes had a terrible effect and we spent too much time on the back foot chasing the game, rather than keeping possession.

Heslop looked badly unfit and JP was back to his worst of the beginning of last season with far too little effort. Beano struggled to hold the ball up, and for me, Beano is a much better player when played from the start, rather than when brought on from the bench.

We should have won by several clear goals, but 3 wins out of 3 is nothing to complain about.

Good article in today's Guardian about the Plymouth game and Oxford's current situation: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/foot ... ted-future

&quotBaboo&quot wrote:I'm a massive Craddock fan but I thought yesterday he was far from his best. He gave the ball away too often. &quotStrong in the challenge&quot - plenty of people are of the opinion that he is lightweight.

Plenty of people seem to be of the opinion that Craddock is lazy and useless - that doesn't make them right. On Saturday he won an aerial challenge which necessitated changing direction in mid-air to angle the ball towards our player, while the Plymouth player trying to challenge him simply bounced off his back - hardly the hallmark of a 'lightweight'. He did give the ball away a few times, but I don't mind that so much at the top end of the pitch when you're trying to create something, and he also tackled back effectively on a number of occasions. His finishing certainly let him down against Plymouth, but I think he'll score more than enough goals if given a good run in the team, and he creates more than either Beano or Deano.

&quotBaboo&quot wrote:I think you are being very harsh on Constable. It was JC who set up Craddock when he should have scored and JC who set up JPP (who I thought was a disgrace). But Beano's best contribution was his defensive work when he came back to help out as we looked like we might fold and drop some points.

I didn't mean to be particularly harsh on Beano - I'm a fan of his, and he works very hard. He did set up a couple of chances (though one only by blatantly shoving a defender in the back to win space, which 99 refereees out of 100 would not have let him get away with), and I'm sure he did some good defensive work, but from my vantage point in the Family Area (lowdown at the west end of the South stand) what stood out was how much he struggled to get into the game at that end of the pitch in the second half. I tend to agree with GY's view that Beano's at his best when starting a game, but on current evidence we have better, more in-form players in his position.

I think you in turn are being very harsh on Pitman, who was brought on when we had started defending at our deepest and playing most sloppily, and who was often up front on his own having high balls lumped up to him. He got his head on a few too, but had no more support up front than Constable did. By all accounts JPP had a good effort saved at the end as well, though I was attending to my 4-year-old's need to visit the toilet at the time!

As an aside, note to George Dugdale - Paris Cowan-Hall may be 'wonderfully named' (see RO match report), but he's not easily mistaken for Warren Feeney, who 'scored' Plymouth's disallowed goal. Feeney gave our defence all sorts of problems at Home Park last April, and again looked pretty useful on Saturday I thought.

&quotGodalmingYellow&quot wrote:3 wins out of 3 is nothing to complain about.

You still managed eight paragraphs of it though...