Match Thread: Oxford United v Port Vale

[Guitar Ray]

1 hour ago, MBE said:

Horrendous performance,one of the worst I can remember under DC.Very poor all areas of the pitch. It would unfair to single any player out today for a bad performance because they were all 3 or 4 out of 10.

Our play was not aided by the very definition of a Homer ref but we have to be stronger than that. We looked very short physically today.

Feels like another game where the opponent has done very little to score against.

Good news these players usually respond positively to a poor display.

 

Agree with this.  Similar to the Exeter and MK games in my opinion.  We were miles off.  When we’re bad we really are poor to a man.  Oxford no great shakes but took their chances and had enough muscle to win the majority of the 50 50’s.  We need to limp through until January and add a couple or three players.

[Breadwinner]

So many players today showed they are not league 1 standard .
The goals we concede are our defence are not going with there man the attacking players are dropping into areas and firing shots in 3 times in first half there shots were excellently struck one deflected over one just wide and another they scored off the rebound .
The second goal Smith was badly out of position the lad had all day drive it across the box for there offside player put it in he doesn't react quick enough he is not good enough it's as simple as that .
Benning was having one of his off days and Conlon for the life of me since his return goals galore have being going in against us Robinson was poor today
I'd start this side till Jan seen enough of certain players .
Stevens
Cass Forrester Jones
Worrall Politic
Pett Garrity
Butterworth
Harrison Wilson .

[1]

Imagine it’s a pie chart:

Injury problems:

30% our pitch

60% bodies can’t stand up with needed robustness

10% expected wear and tear / impact

DC seems to reckon it’s more like 40% pitch 60% impact.

[Warren]

23 minutes ago, 1 said:

532 doesn’t work unless you have a solid midfield 3 capable of performing the distinct roles required for that formation, and wingbacks that can defend and support attacking-wise for 90 mins. Stone is a stand in so not too worried about that overall, but the midfield for me is the obvious, constant weakness. Who is L1 level in the squad who players CM? Walker who can’t put 2 games together and Ojo some of the time, who is on the sidelines too. Even with both of them starting every week, who is the creative player in CM of L1 level. DC has some hard decisions coming in Jan and even tougher in the summer because he’ll have to move on some heroes from the promotion year that should go back and help a different team do it.

I think Ojo has the ability to stand in the right places to disrupt attacks, intercept and tackle when needed. I'm not sure Walker has those skill sets but he can defend directly. At present I think the opposition can walk down the centre of the pitch or go behind the wingback. Then in the second phase it's easy to work stuff around our box and the keepers aren't saving enough. 

[Warren]

21 minutes ago, 1 said:

Imagine it’s a pie chart:

Injury problems:

30% our pitch

60% bodies can’t stand up with needed robustness

10% expected wear and tear / impact

DC seems to reckon it’s more like 40% pitch 60% impact.

Oxford played midweek and we didn't. He's brought back rested players. We ain't got excuses for today. But we were not physically up to it for sure. 

I have earned a couple of pints of Mad Goose for going today. I even walked to the stadium and back from the station. 

[Warren]

58 minutes ago, Breadwinner said:

So many players today showed they are not league 1 standard .
The goals we concede are our defence are not going with there man the attacking players are dropping into areas and firing shots in 3 times in first half there shots were excellently struck one deflected over one just wide and another they scored off the rebound .
The second goal Smith was badly out of position the lad had all day drive it across the box for there offside player put it in he doesn't react quick enough he is not good enough it's as simple as that .
Benning was having one of his off days and Conlon for the life of me since his return goals galore have being going in against us Robinson was poor today
I'd start this side till Jan seen enough of certain players .
Stevens
Cass Forrester Jones
Worrall Politic
Pett Garrity
Butterworth
Harrison Wilson .


 

I was looking to argue with this but couldn't. I'm a bit of a loyalist to Smith though. He's clocked 300 games for a reason. OK the challenges have to be that Wilson is injured and Politic - has he got it. 

I got a few issues tonight. On Ghost Ship now!. But players must be prepared to use their chocolate leg. I was level with Jones clearing a driven cross with an outside of left foot in front of his right foot. Eccentric. An attack first half broke down because the player wasn't prepared to use his weaker foot and deliberately moved the wrong way. 

In defence of Robinson I like him. He's at Vale to develop but he can play much higher with his skills. I think he'll come good for us defensively with coaching. But we must not waste Worrall. He is one of the best crosser and still has a good engine in the last fews years of his career. He could still be here into his late thirties with good management. Milner type fire fighter. Milner is a very very good player live by the way. 

[toyahw]

1 hour ago, 1 said:

Imagine it’s a pie chart:

Injury problems:

30% our pitch

60% bodies can’t stand up with needed robustness

10% expected wear and tear / impact

DC seems to reckon it’s more like 40% pitch 60% impact.

What % is recruiting injury prone players?

[WV]

What was the goal this season? Staying up I would have thought for all promoted teams. Today was a rubbish result that prevented some good progress but the bigger picture is that we were always gonna win some we didn’t expect (derby) and take a few hammerings too. We will be safe this year and build as we go. Calls for the managers head are flapping nonsense and those doing it need to have a word with themselves.  Up the vale and the process and the up and down journey we take to go up the leagues. 

[Warren]

This is taking it a bit too far. But the demise of Stoke City in the 1980s primarily arose from the sale of Paul Bracewell to Sunderland. He was the defensive midfield player. Sometimes you don't know how good a player of that type is until you don't have them. 

Message for PV. We must have an effective defensive midfield player. Also Bracewell wasn't a big dude and so someone like Pett and Conlon can do this role.

[Rockape99]

Logically we are being over run in midfield as we playing 2 in there against 3, back to 352 for me. The back 3 aren't crap they having to compensate for space left being one light in midfield. 

 

[Breadwinner]

Butterworth and Pett were 2 of our better players and were hauled off .
You cannot tell me we didn't deserve a goal I was saying to a bloke at half time who was sitting by me a season ticket holder from.Worcester that if we got one we would get 3 .
Second half Jones curled one wrong side of post Harrison headed wide it was easier head in that one he headed against the bar first half we were playing OK then the subs three players stood there half volley goes in then free kick everyone stood there headed in .
Dc was going on about matty taylor and Billy Bodin before the game on Fri seemed to me like it was one for his old boys yesterday .
To be honest I didn't think Oxford were that good but that scoreline would suggest they are ..
They will finish about 30 /40 points higher than us though because we give teams a leg up every game .
The last 2 weeks have been horrific for the club .
Has someone unsettled the club .
7 goals conceded conceding goals left right and centre .
It's time to have a good look at who can improve us in all areas .
He maybe needs be ruthless sooner than he thinks .
Our fans majority are not going be accepting of 4-0 defeats .
In fact under DC that's got go down as one if the worst results we have had .
He watches all the games the next day well watch it amend it and get Vale tighter.
UTV

[darren1810]

8 hours ago, smithie said:

I thought Robinson offered very little and rarely got round his man/men (he was double marked on occasions). For me he's too raw to be starting.

I agree. I think to say anybody was playing well is stretching things. 

If I did a VFIA analysis my star man would of been a 6 and the rest 4's or 5's. 

It was a really bad collapse. I don't think we are in any danger but we can't be complacent. 

I'd love to see a really convincing performance from us , we've yet to see one at VP. Just nicked games really. 

I'm happy where we are but maybe some of these thumpings could actually benefit long term. Clarke doesn't suffer fools gladly and I'm sure him and Flitcroft know who isn't up to League one standard .

I know at the moment we have numerous injuries again but I'd like to see us play our best team ( on paper ) and see how it goes .

That means recalls for Worrall and Hall despite his poor season and play the same team for 2 or 3 games. We are out of the FA cup so have a free week after Charlton. Let's have some consistency in particular our defence so that partnerships can flourish by playing together regularly. 

[valefan16]

The worry is yet again we collapse one Pett goes off. Within 6 minutes of him going off games done.

Happened last week and against Cheltenham I think it was. We need Ojo or Walker back asap if Pett can’t go the 90 at the moment.

[Bycarsbill]

11 hours ago, Gooders said:

But we are nearer to the play offs on points than we are to relegation. And thats what will count.

The point I'm making is that in such a tightly-knit cluster of clubs on similar points, our GD is far inferior and is a real issue!

[Bycarsbill]

11 hours ago, philmpv said:

11 hours ago, Bycarsbill said:

Exactly, and we ain't got enough. 

How many should we have at this point, by your reckoning?

1.5 points per game would be nice, so we'd be on roughly 28 points, but eh, I only expected us to be around halfway in the league and as many have pointed out, we ain't too far off that.