First, a huge apology to all concerned at OUFC. I went yesterday. Guaranteed defeat (unlike last season's 0-0 and the 1-4 win not so long ago). Will I never learn...
In the pub before the match, I was chatting to some Posh fans and one bit of the conversation went - THEM: we have a front four who are young and quick. ME: our defence is not. That pretty much summed up the first half for me - except that the "slow" bit extended to describe all of our players and their attempts at playing football, whilst at times we were simply chasing shadows.
There was no tempo, the only patterns of play consisted of creating Cat's Cradles of passing across the back, and we never built up any forward drive because we would repeatedly either give the ball away or be tackled in the midfield - rather too easily (eg Moore getting dispossessed for the first goal). At one point with all this playing 'out' from the back, I actually wondered if Brown had been seeing Thorniley's missus, given the number of times the latter simply turned round and passed to Moore or Beadle when he had the ball, rather than look for a forward option wide left.
The pitch was awful and Beadle slipped as he started to move towards the attacker with their second goal - but on that and other occasions, the Posh players managed to stay upright and keep control of the ball.
OK, so there was more urgency and at least some forward drive (great to see Murphy starting to show how good he can be), but still so few clear-cut chances. Over quite a few years now, Posh have built success at this level on a pacy attack. More often than not they win against us (regardless of my presence). But Oxford showing nothing in the first half and not a lot more in the second, that we might even score, was so dispiriting. A long way to go still, of course, but something has to change - and it has to happen well before the transfer window reopens.
Painful Posh Pummelling
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Kairdiff Exile
- Mid-life Crisis
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- Joined: Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:59 pm
Re: Painful Posh Pummelling
Couldn’t believe how BAD the goals were that we conceded when I watched the highlights.
I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but my early impression is that Buckingham is full of sh*t. His interviews are like the world’s most tedious management consultant working their way through a PowerPoint of buzzwords. Meanwhile on the pitch we look confused and directionless.
As I say, I really really hope I’m proved wrong. Maybe in January he can bring in a few of his own players and backroom staff to impress upon everyone his vision. But at the moment we look on the ropes.
I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but my early impression is that Buckingham is full of sh*t. His interviews are like the world’s most tedious management consultant working their way through a PowerPoint of buzzwords. Meanwhile on the pitch we look confused and directionless.
As I say, I really really hope I’m proved wrong. Maybe in January he can bring in a few of his own players and backroom staff to impress upon everyone his vision. But at the moment we look on the ropes.
Re: Painful Posh Pummelling
Ridiculously harsh to lay this at the door of Buckingham given he's been here 3 weeks or so - he speaks relatively similarly to Manning which is no surprise given he's had a similar career history. Ultimately, if you lose it doesn't matter what you say afterwards.
This season we've never been a team who create a lot of chances, but have relied on being pretty successful at taking them - that rarely lasts forever. The pattern of play, slow build up, the defenders seeing a lot of the ball is the same as it's been all season, but if we're losing it looks worse than ever.
Peterborough looked very good, they played from the back too but it successfully created space for their quick forwards. Only Mills had any pace in our team in that first half and he had a poor game. A midfield of Brannagan, McGuane and Rodrigues are never going to get beyond Harris up front, Bodin isn't either and Brown is a functional defensive left back. So as a result we played the first half with very few options attacking wise and it showed - we miss Leigh and either Edwards/Browne out wide very badly. We were better 2nd half and should have had a penalty for the foul on Rodrigues, but our only threat was Murphy. We need more pace in the team and I think we should only play two of Harris, Rodrigues and Bodin.
To be fair to Buckingham, if he came in and significantly changed the team and the style of play and we started losing he'd be rightfully criticised. He's not done that, but perhaps with this performance and the one at Cheltenham he can justify mixing it up more. If you look back to last season, we'd have been delighted with 6th at this stage - I'd suggest we'd have been content with 12th. There are some valid question for the club - why haven't we replaced the assistant manager and analyst who left? And why do so many of our players get hamstring injuries? We've got 3 out at the moment and one of them (Edwards) did it twice - this seems more than just bad luck to me.
This season we've never been a team who create a lot of chances, but have relied on being pretty successful at taking them - that rarely lasts forever. The pattern of play, slow build up, the defenders seeing a lot of the ball is the same as it's been all season, but if we're losing it looks worse than ever.
Peterborough looked very good, they played from the back too but it successfully created space for their quick forwards. Only Mills had any pace in our team in that first half and he had a poor game. A midfield of Brannagan, McGuane and Rodrigues are never going to get beyond Harris up front, Bodin isn't either and Brown is a functional defensive left back. So as a result we played the first half with very few options attacking wise and it showed - we miss Leigh and either Edwards/Browne out wide very badly. We were better 2nd half and should have had a penalty for the foul on Rodrigues, but our only threat was Murphy. We need more pace in the team and I think we should only play two of Harris, Rodrigues and Bodin.
To be fair to Buckingham, if he came in and significantly changed the team and the style of play and we started losing he'd be rightfully criticised. He's not done that, but perhaps with this performance and the one at Cheltenham he can justify mixing it up more. If you look back to last season, we'd have been delighted with 6th at this stage - I'd suggest we'd have been content with 12th. There are some valid question for the club - why haven't we replaced the assistant manager and analyst who left? And why do so many of our players get hamstring injuries? We've got 3 out at the moment and one of them (Edwards) did it twice - this seems more than just bad luck to me.