MATCHWATCH : Oxford United (h)

[Fezza]

Thoughts from the SCL...

Vickers is utterly powder puff and frankly offered nothing, bar one run a minute before he was finally subbed.

Elliott is wasted on the wing. Should be 10 if he's going to play.

Craig is excellent.

Dorsett looks like a CB playing LB - NGW anyone?

Holmes at fault for their goal but we look much better with him in the team.

We don't try to win the second / third ball.

Knibbs was largely absent throughout.

Selles... After the first two minutes it was apparent that they were leaving wingers out wide, the switch was always on and we could (should) have been made to pay with their two excellent opportunities at the death - WTF is the manager for!

All in all we drew with a team in 6th, playing most the game with ten men and one child. Is that a positive?!?

[Royal_jimmy]

I desperately wanted us to win that but given the match circumstances I'm not that disappointed with a draw. Especially with them scoring first and us being second best for the second half. For once I thought Selles picked the right team, Holmes had a solid game tonight. His experience helped and they didn't have many chances. We started the game well and should have scored first. The equaliser was at such a crucial time. Had we been 1-0 down at HT we'd most probably have lost tonight. Thought the subs were poor though. Why does Selles keep subbing our full backs. Unless there's an injury we shouldn't be changing the defence.

The players looked very leggy near the end with sloppy passing and many of them like Azeez, Wing and Smith have played 3 matches in the last week. I'd be inclined to bench all 3 against Lincoln as all 3 looked tired.

[Crowbar6753]

Sounds like the Biscuit Tin was pretty quiet tonight then? What was the attendance?

14,300 (2,700 Oxford) pretty poor really, was expecting 16,000 however, being midweek killed that i guess and so close to Christmas plus us being shit!!

[URZZZZ]

Poor at both ends of the pitch. Struggle to see a strategy or plan to score goals and win games of football. If we’re going to try and play narrow through the thirds of the pitch, it needs to be done with urgency and tempo and not at the slow pedestrian speed we maintain.

For as limited as Oxford were, they at least had some sort of plan and style by isolating our fullbacks and having direct wingers. Yiadom and Dorsett struggled to cope at times with it and as ever Selles didn’t adjust to it by offering the fullbacks better protection

The lack of clean sheets we make is a real concern. 4 clean sheets in over a year of league football (two being in the space of four days FWIW) just isn’t good enough. Most concerning thing is that it doesn’t boil down to individual mistakes, it’s a collective shambles. Fullbacks don’t close down, CB’s and GK don’t command and the midfield doesn’t track. It’s no wonder we consistently have the worst defensive record in the league

[Royal_jimmy]

Hope there wasn’t any trouble after the game.

Why?

[Royal_jimmy]

Sounds like the Biscuit Tin was pretty quiet tonight then? What was the attendance?

14,300 (2,700 Oxford) pretty poor really, was expecting 16,000 however, being midweek killed that i guess and so close to Christmas plus us being shit!!

If it was a Saturday game we'd have got 17-18k. Still 14k is more than their 3 stands pigsty shithole holds

[paultheroyal]

Will do more of a comment tomorrow but what I would say is, god that was an over hyped anti climax Derby if I ever saw one.

Also, and I am not saying this because it’s Oxford, but that has to be the quietest sell out away fans I have ever seen at the stadium. Sang at the start, cheered when they scored and that was about it. Very poor.

[72 bus]

Sounds like the Biscuit Tin was pretty quiet tonight then? What was the attendance?

14,300 (2,700 Oxford) pretty poor really, was expecting 16,000 however, being midweek killed that i guess and so close to Christmas plus us being shit!!

£10 on Royals TV vs £7.50 on the bus + £6.10 a pint and factoring in the shit match day experience at the SCL was why this season ticket holder stayed at home.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

I was talking to a couple of ST holders. And they pointed out that he changes them defence with subs week after week.
You only sub defenders if they get injured.defenders don't change games.

The sooner this is gone the better

[Royal_jimmy]

Will do more of a comment tomorrow but what I would say is, god that was an over hyped anti climax Derby if I ever saw one.

Also, and I am not saying this because it’s Oxford, but that has to be the quietest sell out away fans I have ever seen at the stadium. Sang at the start, cheered when they scored and that was about it. Very poor.

I barely heard them second half. Thought they were obsessing about this game all year

[Gunny Fishcake]

Dullest , most unexciting “ local” Derby I can recall , mind you our soulless stadium doesn’t help.

Yet again people pile into the manager and players, it’s like a stuck record, we can only support the hand we’re dealt, it’s not their fault , we all know who is to blame

At least we didn’t lose

[WestYorksRoyal]

Seems to me that Elliott and Vickers are both ineffective out wide. Problem is, so is Knibbs. Our only genuine wide players are Azeez and Mukairu.

I do wonder if 352 suits the team better, with Azeez a 2nd striker running the channels. The only question mark would be LWB, but NGW would be best suited if Selles can get over his issues of which we don't know what they are.

For as long as we play 4141, we're going to moan about players being wasted out wide. But Knibbs has performed well in the middle so keep the spot.

[yuomi]

Tactics are bad/inappropriate for where we are, but individual decision making and execution was wretched last night. Time and time again players were looking for passes that weren't on, ignoring open passes forward (and even sideways) in favour of going backwards and, when they picked the 'right' pass, over/under hitting it or missing it entirely.

Two that stick in the mind are Smith in the first half having all the time in the world to shoot or square the ball to Knibbs and taking too long, and whatever the hell Azeez thought he was doing with that late break when he spared O*ford blushes by shanking it straight back to them and giving them a counter attack. We just don't look comfortable on the ball, and it's in contrasts to our opponents.

[Hound]

I suppose being generous and slightly less annoyed, it’s not a bad point against a team near the top (even though they were bang average)

To limit them to one shot on target is pretty good, though they did have a couple of efforts that went close towards the end

Think their boss did his homework - they had 2 on Azeez every time he got it, gave Vickers no space on his side and clearly tried to limit any attacking intent on our right side which caused all the danger vs Barnsley

Our attacking tactic seems to be give it to Azeez and hope he does something. Don’t see any other patterns in play really. There’s the hoof it up and try to win the second ball thing which is a pretty good tactic if you solely want to win games with U11s but not great in League 1

Didn’t have the best seats last night so difficult to fully judge but thought Craig looked good, Smith/Azeez/Knibbs worked hard as usual without creating a lot, Wing a bit ineffective but great assist

Holmes seemed to do ok except the goal (how many times have we seen him on his arse and the ball in the back of the net from whoever he is marking?) , and him and Abbey have potential to be a decent pairing

Still it was a dire game and almost surreal how quiet it was

[leon]

I suppose being generous and slightly less annoyed, it’s not a bad point against a team near the top (even though they were bang average)

To limit them to one shot on target is pretty good, though they did have a couple of efforts that went close towards the end

Think their boss did his homework - they had 2 on Azeez every time he got it, gave Vickers no space on his side and clearly tried to limit any attacking intent on our right side which caused all the danger vs Barnsley

Our attacking tactic seems to be give it to Azeez and hope he does something. Don’t see any other patterns in play really. There’s the hoof it up and try to win the second ball thing which is a pretty good tactic if you solely want to win games with U11s but not great in League 1

Didn’t have the best seats last night so difficult to fully judge but thought Craig looked good, Smith/Azeez/Knibbs worked hard as usual without creating a lot, Wing a bit ineffective but great assist

Holmes seemed to do ok except the goal (how many times have we seen him on his arse and the ball in the back of the net from whoever he is marking?) , and him and Abbey have potential to be a decent pairing

Still it was a dire game and almost surreal how quiet it was

We can't even do the basics - simple 5 yard passes are under/over hit. We take far too many touches and there's zero movement. Midfield gets overrun. We clear the ball when we should pass and (more often than not) we try and play out when there are no options. We have no discernible tactics apart from the Yiadom to Aziz and hope something happens or just bang it up to the isolated lone striker. Consequently we constantly hand possession back to the opposition. The second half was shocking for this.

And we're unfit.

Selles is not learning and needs to go.

[Hendo]

Must've been watching a different game to most as I quite enjoyed it last night.

Wasn't the best, certainly wasn't the worst. Just another game.

Does make me laugh to see so many people* in the lead up to the game saying we're going to get absolutely battered, once they score it's game over, we've got no chance, etc...

Yet, after the game a lot of the same people* are bemoaning picking up a point.

*people being idiots on social media.

[leon]

Must've been watching a different game to most as I quite enjoyed it last night.

Wasn't the best, certainly wasn't the worst. Just another game.

Does make me laugh to see so many people* in the lead up to the game saying we're going to get absolutely battered, once they score it's game over, we've got no chance, etc...

Yet, after the game a lot of the same people* are bemoaning picking up a point.

*people being idiots on social media.

I haven't seen a decent team all season. L1 is absolutely shit. You just need to be vaguely organised and be able to pass and tackle a bit.

Did you enjoy our ~20% possession in the second half?

[Winston Biscuit]

Quite enjoyed the first half, 2nd half was appalling.

Felt for Vickers. Looked like he was asked to perform somewhere between 2 roles, and that just isn't him. Get him up front ready to run onto through balls ffs

[Hendo]

Must've been watching a different game to most as I quite enjoyed it last night.

Wasn't the best, certainly wasn't the worst. Just another game.

Does make me laugh to see so many people* in the lead up to the game saying we're going to get absolutely battered, once they score it's game over, we've got no chance, etc...

Yet, after the game a lot of the same people* are bemoaning picking up a point.

*people being idiots on social media.

I haven't seen a decent team all season. L1 is absolutely shit. You just need to be vaguely organised and be able to pass and tackle a bit.

Did you enjoy our ~20% possession in the second half?

Thought Portsmouth looked pretty decent up until the last 30 minutes, but other than that, yes the quality is poor - Carlisle being the worst I've seen so far.

Not really, but Oxford never really did anything with it, players aren't just going to go rushing in like headless chickens, lose shape and allow the oppo to pass through us - doesn't seem sensible.

Yes, it would've been nice to control the game a little more and push for a win, but this is where we are as a club at the moment. Nothing is changing in the immediate future and rather than getting annoyed to much with it, I'm trying to just take each game with an open mind and seeing what happens.

What I did find baffling last night is that so many people headed down to the concourse after Oxford scored, there was still 5-10 mins to go before HT, would imagine so many people missed the goal.

[leon]

Quite enjoyed the first half, 2nd half was appalling.

was like a lot of games this season. Showed a little bit of promise and then collapsed into shit.