Oxford Ratings

[palexander]

Nobody has mentioned much about the players performances today.

Hard to know what to feel. I was so nervous I guess I'm just glad I didnt explode! Gutted about the result, pleased that other results went our way, but a sinking feeling that we may well blow it now.... AARRGHHHH...

Shocking scenes between those two fighting - actually, it was one punching and one sort of standing shocked. Really not on at any time, let alone round kids, women and disabled people. The guy should be banned if SUFC have any morals....

Annnnyway...

Flavs: 6 - Did all he was asked, but pretty quiet.
Jupp: 5 - Shakey first half (not alone) and struggled to get forward. Fault for the 1st goal IMO.
Barrett: 8 - Storming again. I like Maher, but make this guy skipper.
Prior: 7 - Seemed to struggle at times, but generally solid.
Nic: 5 - Poor, lightweight and no suprise that both Oxford goals came from their right side.
McCormack: 5 - Struggled with the role of tight wide-man. Better in the middle.
Guttridge: 7 - Good showing, determined and gets forward.
Maher: 4 - Oh dear, stinker. I do like Maher, but that was poor.
Petts: 5 - HAVE A GO!!! Jeez... check back inside, square pass... same old, same old.
Freddie: 6 - Restricted to a few odd flicks, good perseverence for the goal.
Dudds: 4 - Statuesque performance (or well marked?!), didnt get any service that he needs.

Gray: 7 - Turned the game for us with his strength and height.
Gower: 6 - On for 10 mins without the ball rolling under his foot! Yeah!

Bad day at the office. We were far too narrow and far to flat against a tall Oxford side that had our tactics pegged. We had a decent 15 mins in the second half when I really thought we would go on to win the game comfortably! Ah well, funny old game...

 

[yobbo_shrimper]

Have to agree the more i see guttridge the more i like him,and grey looked good.

 

[Alex]

Quote[/b] (pboreham @ April 23 2005,20:30)]Nic: 5 - Poor, lightweight and no suprise that both Oxford goals came from their right side.

Gray: 7 - Turned the game for us with his strength and height.

nicolau out of position for the cross for the 1st goal, but who picked up the goal scorer running in in the middle. knowone.
also the second goal came from a corner that petts gave away, both goals not nicolau's fault.

gray, height?

 

[palexander]

Quote[/b] (Alex @ April 23 2005,20:38)]

Quote[/b] (pboreham @ April 23 2005,20:30)]Nic: 5 - Poor, lightweight and no suprise that both Oxford goals came from their right side.

Gray: 7 - Turned the game for us with his strength and height.

nicolau out of position for the cross for the 1st goal, but who picked up the goal scorer running in in the middle. knowone.
also the second goal came from a corner that petts gave away, both goals not nicolau's fault.

gray, height?

Ok, point taken for Nic-Nic with the corner, but he was weak all game IMO.

Jupp let the left sided player run across him for goal 1.

When I refer to Gray's 'height' I mean his aerial presence, that neither Dudds or Eastwood really give us...

sh*t, picky lot tonight!!

 

[The General]

And it was actually Maher with the O.G ...

 

[Upminster Blue]

Quote[/b] (The General @ April 23 2005,20:53)]And it was actually Maher with the O.G ...

Nope, it was Jupp but only because McCormack bottled what should have been comfortably his ball to clear.

We missed Super Cheese Wilson big time. Nicolau is far too lightweight and can be relied upon to gift a goal away every other game. One, if not both, of the goals would have been prevented if Wilson had played. Hope he's back next week.

Overall, we need to be far more positive - any team can retain the ball for long periods in their own half but you're not going to score many that way. Too many square balls when teammates were ahead and available in space.

Gower and Bentley must start next week. Dissappointed that Gower didn't come on earlier. Even when he's not playing well he gives us natural width and the shape of the team looks so much better.

 

[The General]

Not it was Maher. Trust me. Just seen it on T.V and Jupp was at the near post and Maher was about 2 yards out and put it into the net ...

 

[Upminster Blue]

Quote[/b] (The General @ April 23 2005,21:22)]Not it was Maher. Trust me. Just seen it on T.V and Jupp was at the near post and Maher was about 2 yards out and put it into the net ...

Fair enough although I see you thought it was Jupp on another thread! Was definitely McCormack's to deal with though - he bottled it like a 10 year old and got the tongue lashing he deserved from Jupp.

 

[Jonesy tap-in]

I agree with the bit about missing wilson. He has been fairly solid this season and also surprisingly useful in the air for someone of his height.

As for nicolau, he didn't have a great game but i did think he was starting to look fairly effective once we started getting momentum in the second half. He's left footed, with a reasonable amount of skill and pace and was linking up well in attacking positions until he got subbed. Just a shame about the defensive side of his game.

As for Petts, i disagree with pboreham. I thought he worked hard and was as good as anyone in our midfield. As for Maher, he was on to a loser from the start as we were far too narrow meaning he had so few options whenever he was on the ball. Usually, as we all know, he loves to switch play, pinging his trademark lofted passes out to the flanks, but today had no-one to play them to. Guttridge looked useful and i liked that he was taking up advanced positions, but we weren't able to involve him enough to make him really effective. IMO we could've done with someone, either mccormack or guttridge, just to sit alongside maher to help build a foundation upon which we could create something as Maher doesn't have that extra bit of skill on the ball to get away from a player to give himself more time to make a pass.

Funnily enough, after all the stick he's got, it was probably a game that would've suited gower, as he, along with eastwood, are the two players that can really make things happen in the final third with a trick or a bit of skill.

Overall though, I thought today we got beaten tactically. They held a fairly deep defensive line, which won everything in the air against eastwood and dudfield (neither of whom are really noted for their aerial prowess (shame bentley was suspended)), and with cominelli screening in front of them they were able to mop up most danger. We had no width and so were unable to get round them and they were compact in the centre which made it difficuly to play through them. On that basis i feel they deserved the three points.

 

[Suffolk Shrimper In Dorset]

Thoughts from today:

Maher was awful, still I expect he will have been pleased to pick up his usual yellow as consolation.

Time to make Barratt skipper.

Oxford's policy of leaving three up front when we had a corner was interesting

Gutteridge was good and maybe he should take Maher's place with Bentley back.

Despite his woeful form I would then play Gower instead of McCormack - without him the team looses a flexible shape to go forward. Too many square balls from the midfield diddi men today as no one until Gray and then Gower came on run int space for a pass.

The result today makes listening for the other results next Saturday interesting. Plug Sammy Shrimp and Elvis into a radio link and get them to dance round the perimeter every time one of the other games goes our way

 

[The General]

Quote[/b] (Upminster Blue @ April 23 2005,21:27)]

Quote[/b] (The General @ April 23 2005,21:22)]Not it was Maher. Trust me. Just seen it on T.V and Jupp was at the near post and Maher was about 2 yards out and put it into the net ...

Fair enough although I see you thought it was Jupp on another thread! Was definitely McCormack's to deal with though - he bottled it like a 10 year old and got the tongue lashing he deserved from Jupp.

Yeah but then i saw it on TV and realised i was wrong ...

 

[Upminster Blue]

Quote[/b] (The General @ April 23 2005,21:43)]Yeah but then i saw it on TV and realised i was wrong ...

Blimey, there's a first for everything

 

[Andy_S]

Not being there but could we take from what's generally being said that Tilly's inexperience and perhaps slight naivety could have cost us? The narrow 4 in midfield worked on Tuesday because of the way Macc play, but as he should know, whether certain tactics work or not depends a lot on what sort of system the opposition use. This new system clearly didn’t work today.

 

[Upminster Blue]

Quote[/b] (Upminster Blue @ April 23 2005,21:10)]Gower and Bentley must start next week.

... and Gray must start in place of Dudfield.

 

[The General]

... and Bentley must replace Maher.

(oops, never gunna happen!)

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

Flavs 6 - Did little wrong but didn't have a lot to do, especially not in the 2nd half.

JUPP 8 - My Motm. Defended superbly and got forward a lot and tried to make things happen.

Prior 6 - Slightly under par. Didn't let much past him but his heading and passing were poor.

Barrett 7 - Solid at the back and surged forward a lot as usual. Came close on a few set pieces but missed a good chance with his feet in the 2nd half.

Nicolau 5 - Awful marking for the 2nd goal showed why he's better in midfield. Did little in attack, though, looked slightly nervous on his return to the team. Sorry but I really hope Che's back for Saturday.

Pettefer 7 - Never gets less than a 6 or 7, same old Pettefer today. One point, though, he NEVER shoots when he has the opportunity outside the box.

Maher 5 - Poor performance from Kev. Passing was poor and gave the forwards very little service. Unlucky to be booked yet again, though.

McCormack 7 - Not as good as Tuesday obviously but you can't blame him when he's being put on the wing during the 1st half for some stupid reason. The midfielders were constantly changing positions in the 1st half and none of them seemed to know what they were doing. Got stuck in and his passing was good.

Guttridge 7 - One of the better performers. Fairly quiet in the 1st half but his passing was good when he did get the ball. Missed a sitter though which I think would have put us in the lead. Improved in the 2nd half, though, got forward a lot and was our best creative source.

Eastwood 7 - Quiet 1st half but looked lively in the 2nd when Gray came on. Took his goal well and had a couple of other chances.

Dudfield 5 - Made no impact at all, was rightly taken off.

Subs:

Gray 6 - Set up Eastwood with a neat header and was vocal in our 10 minute spell of pressure at the beginning of the 2nd half, but didn't do a lot after that.

Gower 6 - A few nice runs down the wing which may have resulted in a goal.

Referee 6 - Wasn't too whistle happy but did give some bad decisions and stupidly booked Maher.

 

[Jonesy tap-in]

Gimme a break! Maher gets far too much stick in my opinion! Today he had no chance as he pretty much had no-one in a decent position to pass to! Unfortunately he doesn't have that bit of skill to get away from a man and so relies on his passing, but when everyone was far too narrow what was he supposed to do?! Similar story to the orient game. He just was left too insolated by the rest of the team.

 

[Upminster Blue]

Quote[/b] (Jonesy tap-in @ April 23 2005,22:21)]Gimme a break! Maher gets far too much stick in my opinion! Today he had no chance as he pretty much had no-one in a decent position to pass to!

Yep, basically Oxford had us sussed out early on. They closed down Maher quickly, cutting the supply to the front two, and their midfield sat deep leaving little space between defence and midfield for Freddy to work in. We then had no width to stretch play and get down the wings.

 

[Jonesy tap-in]

Quote[/b] (Upminster Blue @ April 23 2005,22:29)]

Quote[/b] (Jonesy tap-in @ April 23 2005,22:21)]Gimme a break! Maher gets far too much stick in my opinion! Today he had no chance as he pretty much had no-one in a decent position to pass to!

Yep, basically Oxford had us sussed out early on. They closed down Maher quickly, cutting the supply to the front two, and their midfield sat deep leaving little space between defence and midfield for Freddy to work in. We then had no width to stretch play and get down the wings.

Spot on UB. Glad someone else saw it that way as well.

 

[Kenny]

Not much to add,

Thought Maher had one of his worst games in some years, it seemed like all our attacks broke down because we were always looking to pass to Maher before the attacks could go any further. It always seemed like the ball was going backwards and sideways in the first half without ever really going forwards.

Had it not been for that 15 minute spell in the 2nd half it would have been a total shambles. Was quite impressed by Guttridge though, He seems to have a good cross on him.