Ben Woodburn

V

voyeur

Well-known member
Woodburn ended up in midfield at Oxford! Sounds like another player trying to work out his best position. From Oxford forum....

Will be good to see him back. It's been so long I'd forgotten where we were playing him? Didn't he start off no.10 and then drop back into midfield when we switched to 4-3-3?
Click to expand...
Yes started off as the number 10 behind the striker when we were playing 4-2-3-1, was a bit hit and miss. Then we changed to 4-3-3 (technically more like 4-1-2-3 as Gorrin sits deeper than the other 2 CM's), we were transformed and so too was Woodburn playing deeper. Put in a few really impressive performances before his unfortunate injuries. He showed he can get stuck in and do the nasty side of the game and still affect the game with his passing/dribbling ability - look at the Lincoln 6-0 highlights for a superb ball to set up Fosu for our second.

It took him a bit of time to find form when he first came. I think it will take him a few weeks to get up to speed when he is back. If we are winning he may struggle for game time to get up to speed.

For me, he was at his best when he dropped deeper into central midfield as he could run from deep and generally had more space to influence the game. He could tackle pretty well so also could do the defensive role needed.

Hopefully he gets his shots just inside the post/crossbar when he comes back as he seemed to hit the woodwork a fair bit pre-injury.

I would like to see him playing centrally, alongside Brannagan and just in front of Gorrin. I don't think he has the pace and the physicality that Sykes does when riding challenges and beating players, out-wide.

Woodburn was (IMO) only just starting to get really effective when he got injured. I can imagine that it will take him a while to get back up to speed,
 
BlackpoolsFinest

BlackpoolsFinest

Well-known member
voyeur said:
Woodburn ended up in midfield at Oxford! Sounds like another player trying to work out his best position. From Oxford forum....


Yes started off as the number 10 behind the striker when we were playing 4-2-3-1, was a bit hit and miss. Then we changed to 4-3-3 (technically more like 4-1-2-3 as Gorrin sits deeper than the other 2 CM's), we were transformed and so too was Woodburn playing deeper. Put in a few really impressive performances before his unfortunate injuries. He showed he can get stuck in and do the nasty side of the game and still affect the game with his passing/dribbling ability - look at the Lincoln 6-0 highlights for a superb ball to set up Fosu for our second.

It took him a bit of time to find form when he first came. I think it will take him a few weeks to get up to speed when he is back. If we are winning he may struggle for game time to get up to speed.

For me, he was at his best when he dropped deeper into central midfield as he could run from deep and generally had more space to influence the game. He could tackle pretty well so also could do the defensive role needed.

Hopefully he gets his shots just inside the post/crossbar when he comes back as he seemed to hit the woodwork a fair bit pre-injury.

I would like to see him playing centrally, alongside Brannagan and just in front of Gorrin. I don't think he has the pace and the physicality that Sykes does when riding challenges and beating players, out-wide.
Click to expand...
From that it sounds like he is capable of doing what Ward hasn't been doing.
 
Tangerine 🍊 🍊 🍊

Tangerine 🍊 🍊 🍊

Well-known member
voyeur said:
Woodburn ended up in midfield at Oxford! Sounds like another player trying to work out his best position. From Oxford forum....


Yes started off as the number 10 behind the striker when we were playing 4-2-3-1, was a bit hit and miss. Then we changed to 4-3-3 (technically more like 4-1-2-3 as Gorrin sits deeper than the other 2 CM's), we were transformed and so too was Woodburn playing deeper. Put in a few really impressive performances before his unfortunate injuries. He showed he can get stuck in and do the nasty side of the game and still affect the game with his passing/dribbling ability - look at the Lincoln 6-0 highlights for a superb ball to set up Fosu for our second.

It took him a bit of time to find form when he first came. I think it will take him a few weeks to get up to speed when he is back. If we are winning he may struggle for game time to get up to speed.

For me, he was at his best when he dropped deeper into central midfield as he could run from deep and generally had more space to influence the game. He could tackle pretty well so also could do the defensive role needed.

Hopefully he gets his shots just inside the post/crossbar when he comes back as he seemed to hit the woodwork a fair bit pre-injury.

I would like to see him playing centrally, alongside Brannagan and just in front of Gorrin. I don't think he has the pace and the physicality that Sykes does when riding challenges and beating players, out-wide.

Woodburn was (IMO) only just starting to get really effective when he got injured. I can imagine that it will take him a while to get back up to speed,
Click to expand...
Perfect replacement for Ward, by the sounds of it.
 
V

voyeur

Well-known member
Wikipedia:
"He made his Oxford debut in a 1–1 draw at Sunderland on the opening day of the 2019–20 season, and assisted Tariqe Fosu for his team's goal. On 24 August, he scored his first goal for the club, opening the scoring in a 3–1 defeat to Bristol Rovers. His campaign was once again disrupted by injury, however, after he suffered a broken bone in his foot in October which ruled him out for a number of weeks. Woodburn returned to Merseyside to recover but, on his final training session before reuniting with Oxford in December, suffered a "carbon copy" of the injury in his other foot; an injury head coach Karl Robinson later revealed stemmed from the peculiar manner in which the player bore weight on his feet."

He made 11 appearances for Oxford - the last three were brief ones in the play off games. He's never really got up and running - he played 7 games the previous season for Sheffield Utd, but injury disrupted that too.
 
L

L’étranger

Well-known member
A welcome addition but as with other signings hope we don’t big him up too much and expect too much too soon. Apart from hitting the post, thought he was anonymous at Bloomfield last year (Brannigan ran the show for them) but don’t think he was playing in his favoured position.
 
no-more-lies

no-more-lies

Well-known member
onedayitwillhappen said:
It speaks volumes that Liverpool have sent none of their youngsters our way. I think we all hoped that one or two of their best under 21's would end up being improved whilst playing for us under Critchley's coaching at Blackpool. Perhaps Liverpool are not unhappy that Critchley moved on.
Click to expand...
Or perhaps not . Yet another post without any substance whatsoever
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
X