v Oxford Utd (h) - 24/08/2024

[DE.]

36 minutes ago, Inferi said:

Crazy how they massively overpaid for dross like Delap and Muric who are nowhere near Premier league standard. Will be very surprised if they manage to avoid relegation.

Tbf their opening two matches have been against Liverpool and Man City... probably still a bit early to judge. Their home match against Fulham next week will be a better barometer of where they stand.

[joey_big_nose]

Not looked at the XG but I would imagine Oxford battered us on it... They missed some really presentable opportunities. 

When Gueye came on we got control. Hes so good, definitely on his way to the prem imo. Won everything in the air, laid the ball off well, and has pace and good feet to run the channels. Its a very very rare combination to have all of that at our level.

I think broadly we played pretty well except central midfield. Its a problem for us - without the ball we're too light in there, Travis and Tronstad (who had okay games individually but exposed in the system) get played through too easily.  With the ball we are so wasteful. We need someone in there with more quality on the ball. I really do think we should shift to a central three.

Great to have 7 points on the board and have scored so many goals but I wouldnt say we look convincing at the moment.

We wouldnt even need to pick different players, just drop JRC alongside Travis and Tronstad (think deeper will suit JRC anyway) and move Dolan on the right. JRC can still get forward, just have a deeper starting position to firm up the midfield....

Edited August 24, 2024 by joey_big_nose

[Waggy76]

45 minutes ago, RoversTilliDie said:

There were'nt that many in the Darwen end, about 3 ore 4 thousand.

Nearer 1500, 7 coaches 

[BankEnd Rover]

Being critical, I thought Yuki was quite wasteful today but so was everyone else… Gueye made a massive difference and for me changed the game. 

[Exiled_Rover]

1 minute ago, BankEnd Rover said:

Being critical, I thought Yuki was quite wasteful today but so was everyone else… Gueye made a massive difference and for me changed the game. 

He was in twice with better passes (both, ironically, by Dolan) and nearly nicked in at the far post from the Wiemann flick on. 

I think he's like Watkins as a #9 - will run the channels all day, but you can't really play it up to him and expect him to hold it up. If we surrounded him with pace he'd look much better as the #9 because his positioning is exceptional (for this level).

[Exiled_Rover]

23 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Not looked at the XG but I would imagine Oxford battered us on it... They missed some really presentable opportunities. 

When Gueye came on we got control. Hes so good, definitely on his way to the prem imo. Won everything in the air, laid the ball off well, and has pace and good feet to run the channels. Its a very very rare combination to have all of that at our level.

I think broadly we played pretty well except central midfield. Its a problem for us - without the ball we're too light in there, Travis and Tronstad (who had okay games individually but exposed in the system) get played through too easily.  With the ball we are so wasteful. We need someone in there with more quality on the ball. I really do think we should shift to a central three.

Great to have 7 points on the board and have scored so many goals but I wouldnt say we look convincing at the moment.

We wouldnt even need to pick different players, just drop JRC alongside Travis and Tronstad (think deeper will suit JRC anyway) and move Dolan on the right. JRC can still get forward, just have a deeper starting position to firm up the midfield....

I don't think Gueye's shooting is good enough for the Prem, but he causes chaos in their back line when he comes on. A real gem of a find.

[rigger]

6 hours ago, CambridgeRover said:

A win is a win 

Good performances: Tronstad, Ohashi, Carter 

Bad performances: Traivs, JRC(thanks for the goal though), Dolan 

I thought Carter was poor.

[AspRover]

I have said it before but I think Gueyes main goal contributions will be that suddenly the three players behind him start picking up goals, rather than him scoring a ton himself. This is by no means a criticism.

 

[tomphil]

36 minutes ago, Waggy76 said:

Nearer 1500, 7 coaches 

Just over 1200

[Bethnal]

7 minutes ago, AspRover said:

I have said it before but I think Gueyes main goal contributions will be that suddenly the three players behind him start picking up goals, rather than him scoring a ton himself. This is by no means a criticism.

 

Agreed. He’ll pop with a few, especially from set pieces and crosses, but he’s got three assists in three league starts and that’s extremely valuable

[Upside Down]

The best part of the result today is that we came from behind to win the game.

Oh, and the dingles lost.

[simongarnerisgod]

23 minutes ago, Bethnal said:

Agreed. He’ll pop with a few, especially from set pieces and crosses, but he’s got three assists in three league starts and that’s extremely valuable

done more in three games than gallagher did in thirty

[AspRover]

28 minutes ago, Bethnal said:

Agreed. He’ll pop with a few, especially from set pieces and crosses, but he’s got three assists in three league starts and that’s extremely valuable

Not even just assists he is credited, he pulls defenders around and keeps them occupied and it will make space for players to run into. He'll make goals without touching the ball in the build up.

[Gordon Gekko]

6 hours ago, DE. said:

If Siggy gets a starting place off the back of this it'll go the same way as before. He'll manage a handful of decent contributions and spend the rest of the game as a passenger. Eventually we'll have no choice but to drop him again as we can't afford to play 80% of a match practically a man down. 

His natural talent is obvious, but to have that kind of talent and end up on the bench of a mid-table championship club says it all really. I'd love to see his attitude shift but at 25 he's running out of time to make that change to his game. 

Excellent impact sub, coming on against tired legs, but unless Eustace has seen something in training to indicate a commitment to higher work rate I'd be wary of starting him. 

Siggy’s natural taken won us the game today, no one else was scoring that cracker. He was decent against (Stockport I know) but there’s a class player there. Let’s get behind him not slate him FFS, theres definitely fruits to bear with the Iceman.

[AllRoverAsia]

I fell asleep at HT after nodding off quite a bit during the first half. Woke up at 6.30 local time.

Just watched the short highlights posted by Rovers on YouTube.

Can't blame the keeper for their wonder goal.

Top class finish to win the game.

Also took time out to watch highlights of Burnley losing.

A nice way to start a Sunday.

[philipl]

Will just add three observations.

Neil Yardley said there was a minute added onto the first half. JRC scored at 1 minute 50 seconds of added time- we got fortunate the ref was waiting for a break in play to blow...

The reason I was confident we would win was from watching Oxford defenders when Coventry played through them last week. The two defenders near Sigurdsson were in terrible positions...

The only way Pears stops the Harris wonder strike is if he is on his line by his left hand post which is the last place you want him when the ball is coming from a hurried punt from the Oxford keeper.

[Cherry Blue]

Brittain was getting peed off with the two man two hands in air corners.  He was knackered but they were running off the bench insisting in must happen. 

[Ossydave]

Probably an unpopular opinion but I thought Pears played quite well yesterday 🤷 Certainly the save at 0-0 was excellent.

We gave them far more chances than I would have liked but Eustace openly admits that's how it will be with the way he wants us to play.

I'd definitely be starting Gueye next week to cause some havoc, I think he'll absolutely thrive on the cauldron of hate he's a huge personality you can already tell, he's off his tits.

[vyeo]

This is a promising start to the season. While I was very critical about Eustace last season, credit where credit is due - he seems to have instilled some spine into the team, and instituted a pretty effective style of play so far. Over the last couple of games, you can still spot some JDT-esque passing patterns, especially in the last third, but we seem to be more able to break forward more quickly and a bit more directly than last season. 

Positives - Big Mak, Ohashi and Weimann are all promising. We also seem to have put together a good senior leadership team in Weimann, Baath and McFadzean, which is like a poor man's Nelsen-Savage-Mokoena combo. 

On Big Mak, I guess the mixed views just shows why he is playing with us, with quite obvious strengths and flaws. For me, he has been critical to our good results so far, with the key being that he has end product. He has a good touch (mostly), and good decision-making and instincts, such as knowing when and where to pass, which you can't quite teach (i.e., the timing and weight of his passes for the Hedges goal against Norwich, and yesterday's for Sigurdsson, which Dolan would not have managed).

Ohashi's industry reminds me of Dickov, in a good way. He seems to have good nous, reads the game well, gets into good positions and can run all day. I thought he was more effective playing deeper or in a pair, than alone upfront though.  

Weimann is a very astute signing. Experienced, fuss-free, does the basics well and right.

I read some comments last week that we didn't look fit - I'm a bit surprised by that, I actually thought the players looked significantly fitter than last season, and most seemed to look a tad leaner, including Dolan.

Negatives - Midfield looks light. We need to keep Travis because we are so short there, but I thought he looked hesitant and didn't contribute much. Poor man's Savage, and the petulant yellows don't help his case. In a better team, he wouldn't be a starter. Yet, lose him in ours and we'll be screwed. I think one solid midfield loan/signing would make a significant difference, rather than try to fill with numbers and young loanees. Similar for attack, I would take one solid winger/forward over a couple of middling loanees. 

Defence and Goalkeeper - A new first choice keeper must be the most pressing need, and may even rub-off on the confidence of the defenders if they know there's someone they can trust behind them. Hyam and Carter have not stood out so far, but also has not looked as shaky as at times last season. Cover needed for full-back positions, someone who can challenge Pickering would be good. 

Given that most of us would have snatched bitten your hand off if offered 7 points out of 9 a few weeks ago, this has given us a solid base. As we've seen over the years, momentum is really important in the championship, and we somehow have that now. Eustace and the team have delivered on the field so far (I'm convinced we would have had at most 1 point from the last two games, last year).

It is the hope that kills you (us). To build on this start, the battle is in the boardroom. I'm hoping against the odds that we deliver a couple more quality players, which could make all the difference. This is so important as it is now a 23-25 man game, rather than 11+3. But I have no trust in Waggott, Shadowman and Venky's, so am fully expecting only John Fleck and two unknown loanees to show up on the last day.   

[Paul Mani]

23 minutes ago, Cherry Blue said:

Brittain was getting peed off with the two man two hands in air corners.  He was knackered but they were running off the bench insisting in must happen. 

Interesting re the corners. I reckon there were 4 or 5 different, specific routines.

[Oldgregg86]

8 hours ago, Silas said:

Super David Raya. 😀

I'm in top 10% of my leagues and 4 live players tomorrow for Liverpool and Newcastle. 🤞

I’ve got brereton Diaz in mine out of misguided loyalty and I’m not even looking 😂

[roverblue]

Delighted with a tough win, Oxford looked a good side and will do well this season. 

First half rovers were awful and should have been 2-3 down.

Second half much more competitive which coincided with Gueye coming on. 

Still worried about our fortunes this season but the new signings give me hope we will be ok. Really need some wingers in the side with power and pace if we want to kick on.

Edited August 25, 2024 by roverblue

[Scoobydo]

12 hours ago, DE. said:

If Siggy gets a starting place off the back of this it'll go the same way as before. He'll manage a handful of decent contributions and spend the rest of the game as a passenger. Eventually we'll have no choice but to drop him again as we can't afford to play 80% of a match practically a man down. 

His natural talent is obvious, but to have that kind of talent and end up on the bench of a mid-table championship club says it all really. I'd love to see his attitude shift but at 25 he's running out of time to make that change to his game. 

Excellent impact sub, coming on against tired legs, but unless Eustace has seen something in training to indicate a commitment to higher work rate I'd be wary of starting him. 

Watch the training vid from the other day, he isn’t exactly coasting in it 

[arbitro]

51 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

Interesting re the corners. I reckon there were 4 or 5 different, specific routines.

We've been doing it all season. A left footer and a right footer as potential corner takers so the opposition don't know if it will be an in or out swinger. I think it's simplicity at it's best and I haven't seen it done before. There are several pre ordained signals to the players in the penalty area. On a couple yesterday there were about sixteen players in the goal area and after the signal some of ours split into different directions. The naysayers will point to the fact we haven't scored yet but I welcome this initiative and think we will get goals from it.

[wilsdenrover]

3 hours ago, philipl said:

Will just add three observations.

Neil Yardley said there was a minute added onto the first half. JRC scored at 1 minute 50 seconds of added time- we got fortunate the ref was waiting for a break in play to blow...

The reason I was confident we would win was from watching Oxford defenders when Coventry played through them last week. The two defenders near Sigurdsson were in terrible positions...

The only way Pears stops the Harris wonder strike is if he is on his line by his left hand post which is the last place you want him when the ball is coming from a hurried punt from the Oxford keeper.

The announcement is a minimum of so that must cover anything up to 1 minute 59 seconds.