Blackpool v Oxford United Official Matchday Thread 12.12.20

I can't believe the negativity. That was a really enjoyable game to watch and we should have won but it doesn't always work like that. Credit to them, I thought they played for the shirt and will be delighted with a point, but could have snuck all 3.

I guess Woodburn was a tactical decision based on the opposition and what was practiced in training. It didn't work but we could still have won that 5-1.
 
Loco said:
They played Dougall well. Got him involved in lots of scrappy play in the first half so he was under the ref's scrutiny and he wasn't as effective second half. Ward kept us ticking. They had 4 men on CJ at times and still struggled to contain him. We don't seem able to make use of the space elsewhere when CJ has all these players surrounding him.
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Ours didn't have the sense to go towards him to collect in order to be able to use the space.
 
hertfordseasider said:
I can't believe the negativity. That was a really enjoyable game to watch and we should have won but it doesn't always work like that. Credit to them, I thought they played for the shirt and will be delighted with a point, but could have snuck all 3.

I guess Woodburn was a tactical decision based on the opposition and what was practiced in training. It didn't work but we could still have won that 5-1.
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It was a decent 0 0 but I'm just not seeing how Woodburn deserves a start, I would love him to prove all the doubters wrong though, and you are right all the players are giving it 100% effort.
Can't win every time but I think the squad is still lacking an alternative centre forward that could make a difference, but they aren't cheap even in league 1.
 
hertfordseasider said:
I can't believe the negativity. That was a really enjoyable game to watch and we should have won but it doesn't always work like that. Credit to them, I thought they played for the shirt and will be delighted with a point, but could have snuck all 3.

I guess Woodburn was a tactical decision based on the opposition and what was practiced in training. It didn't work but we could still have won that 5-1.
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I enjoyed watching the game.

But we won't get promoted with those team selection mistakes and lack of clinical finishing. I always thought this team had the talent and promise to get automatic promotion. We seem to be making it harder for ourselves.
 
gjr69 said:
It was a decent 0 0 but I'm just not seeing how Woodburn deserves a start, I would love him to prove all the doubters wrong though, and you are right all the players are giving it 100% effort.
Can't win every time but I think the squad is still lacking an alternative centre forward that could make a difference, but they aren't cheap even in league 1.
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We've had some great PL loanees just recently, Longstaff, KDH, Ballard but I don't think Woodburn is one of them. He is only here until January, I wouldn't be rushing to sign him for the rest of the season. Has been really disappointing in the games he has played so far. We have lots of players who play his role but we are lacking back up for Yates and Madine.
 
voyeur said:
Just the negatives then?

Husband had a good game. Woodburn needs time and wasn't as bad as people on here have made out. Gabriel played well, Turton is playing well too. Yates has had a lot of time on the pitch and has two goals plus two penalties. He's not all that.

We were a bit unfortunate today, another day something would have gone in, but none of our options are really working well in the key area up front. We need to add and change there, IMO.
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Harsh on Yates in my opinion.
He’s a completely different player when he’s part of a 2. A real threat and all his best performances have been when he’s up top with Madine.

Its a waste of time him playing up front alone and I don’t know why we keep on trying it as it’s clear as day it just doesn’t work.
 
ThorntonPool said:
Its a waste of time him playing up front alone and I don’t know why we keep on trying it as it’s clear as day it just doesn’t work
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We keep doing it because the head coach doesn’t appear to really care about results over and above establishing his ideal system and method of play and thinks long term this is the way we need to develop.

This is work in progress and we are supposed to be enthused about dropping a working system for one that reduces our goal scoring but we must never say anything about it except see the sunny horizon. In Critchley we trust( to drop us points) and its enthusing don’t you know!
 
i thought another game where we should have buried it really, Oxford are a decent side, well organised and difficult to break down, but we had them three or four times and poor finishing let us down. Defence was fairly solid but i have to admit all across the back line today was giving me palpatations at times, they were solid without actually looking it. Dougal was a bit off his game. generally i thought we were very hurried on the ball. Its usually dougall who puts his foot down and steadies things, but today was a bit helter skelter. Fantastic save by maxwell at the end but some truly awful defending to go with it.

Madine was isolated, the Madine Yates combination at the moment should be the first thing on the team sheet. I just dont see what Woodburn brings, i know he's a young player, but hes very frustrating. he frustrates me in the same way that Jordan Thompson used to. He must have some talent and you get glimpses of it - i dont know whether its attitude, hard work, he's out of his depth. its another point but when we have those kinds of chances in a game we really have to put it to bed.
 
I started a marks out of ten post but it cocked up so, an abbreviated version - my top 5:
Maxwell 8. Excellent distribution, good covering at the back when needed, exquisite save.
Husband 7. Good game but his niggly fouls can cost us and he occasionally nearly got us in trouble.
Ward 8. Excellent movement, good distribution. He needs to be more greedy in and around the box, with some shots of his own.
Madine 7. Excellent hold up and lay off play. Not his day in front of goal but he was missing his partner.
Hamilton 9. Everything he did was worth watching. Even when he had three Oxford around him ours should have gone to him to receive a pass.
 
zico_bamber said:
Another lesson for the manager I’m afraid. What a strange line up when you’ve been winning. Three subs was a blunder that removed the momentum and not starting Yates was criminal. Madine needs Yates to be effective. Woodburn hasn’t really earned a starting spot and unsurprising proved that. Puzzling
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This ^

I don’t understand why NC would change a winning formation.

Yates & Madine is our current best front pairing. No dispute.
When Yates did come on (far too late to change the game) his partner went off at the same time.

We miss Garbutt’s delivery. It’s the best in the entire squad. Floaty deliveries should be scrapped, like 10 games ago.

Too many subs at the same time disrupt the flow of the game. NC has done this tactic on quite a few occasions now and in no game has it worked to our advantage.

It felt like a winnable match, and was 2 pts dropped imo. Yes, there’s loads of games in quick succession but pick your best team for each match, get a goal up and make the subs much earlier.
 
What's with the over dramatic reaction to us only drawing? Team selection was 'staggering misjudgement' -what? There have been loads of posts lauding our strength in depth, and I agree. We started Woodburn which was unexpected and not what I would've done, but is it really staggering? No. I've also seen people say on social media it was a must win. The 16th game of the season is a must win. Come on. Are we going to have such a ridiculous reaction every time we don't win? Because I hate to break it to everyone but we aren't going to win every game from now until the end of the season, so you need to brace yourselves.

We played well today. We do need some more firepower, but our defence is giving us a very solid platform to move upwards. I see there aren't nearly as many posts about Critchley's decision to choose Gabriel over Turton (who had been playing well), but maybe that's because it doesn't quite fit the Critchley narrative. It was a good decision, and he played well enough to justify the selection I thought, often available on the overlap.

Husband made me eat my words as I haven't been his biggest fan, but he had a good game. He did give away a silly foul which led to Maxwell's worldy save, but that aside he was pretty good.

As I've said, Woodburn didn't really work, and Yates was unlucky not to start. I think with Woodburn he needs more games, much like one or two others did earlier in the season. But it's not a surprise to see a little squad rotation with so many midweek games this season. This policy may actually help us later on in the season, who knows.

I think we need to give Oxford some credit too as they defended well mostly, and I think they'll finish much higher than they are. But I do think today showed we've made more progress than they have in the last 12 months. Yes I know we beat them last year but the quality of player and performance was much more in our favour this time around.

A rise up the league table is rarely linear, and we're still in a very decent place going into the Christmas period, especially having just beaten Peterborough, Portsmouth, and Fleetwood. We can't, and won't win them all.
 
BFC_53 said:
What's with the over dramatic reaction to us only drawing? Team selection was 'staggering misjudgement' -what? There have been loads of posts lauding our strength in depth, and I agree. We started Woodburn which was unexpected and not what I would've done, but is it really staggering? No. I've also seen people say on social media it was a must win. The 16th game of the season is a must win. Come on. Are we going to have such a ridiculous reaction every time we don't win? Because I hate to break it to everyone but we aren't going to win every game from now until the end of the season, so you need to brace yourselves.

We played well today. We do need some more firepower, but our defence is giving us a very solid platform to move upwards. I see there aren't nearly as many posts about Critchley's decision to choose Gabriel over Turton (who had been playing well), but maybe that's because it doesn't quite fit the Critchley narrative. It was a good decision, and he played well enough to justify the selection I thought, often available on the overlap.

Husband made me eat my words as I haven't been his biggest fan, but he had a good game. He did give away a silly foul which led to Maxwell's worldy save, but that aside he was pretty good.

As I've said, Woodburn didn't really work, and Yates was unlucky not to start. I think with Woodburn he needs more games, much like one or two others did earlier in the season. But it's not a surprise to see a little squad rotation with so many midweek games this season. This policy may actually help us later on in the season, who knows.

I think we need to give Oxford some credit too as they defended well mostly, and I think they'll finish much higher than they are. But I do think today showed we've made more progress than they have in the last 12 months. Yes I know we beat them last year but the quality of player and performance was much more in our favour this time around.

A rise up the league table is rarely linear, and we're still in a very decent place going into the Christmas period, especially having just beaten Peterborough, Portsmouth, and Fleetwood. We can't, and won't win them all.
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No, it is staggering that Woodburn started with Yates and Anderson on the bench. Nothing dramatic about that statement, given the evidence of Yates’s form and contribution so far, plus the impact Anderson has had, when given a chance. Woodburn is miles off them, and I doubt anyone would have gone with that selection.

Husband played well, I like him and think he’s our best LB. Turton unlucky, as he’s been playing well, but Gabriel did well.

I agree we can’t win them all, even when we play well with our strongest team. It is though important to be consistent, and one change in a key area weakened us today.
 
TimperleyTangerine said:
Lost impetus when he took Ward off, just baffling, when you have Yates and Anderson on. Ward was creating so much and he replaced him with Virtue?

2 points lost, firmly because of team selection. If you don’t play Yates with Madine, you play Anderson. To play Woodburn was staggering misjudgement.

I do hope we are not obliged to give him playing time, under the agreement with Liverpool. For me, let him go back, has offered nothing and is taking up a valuable squad number.
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I agree we ABSOLUTELY MUST play Madine and Yates in a 4-4-2.
There is no plan B.
I don't think Anderson is a swap for either of them.
That's the "weakest link" in the squad that must be addressed in January. We need TWO back ups for that pairing.
Is anyone going to Turkey?
Please, please, please bring Armand home for Christmas.
 
Insider said:
I agree we ABSOLUTELY MUST play Madine and Yates in a 4-4-2.
There is no plan B.
I don't think Anderson is a swap for either of them.
That's the "weakest link" in the squad that must be addressed in January. We need TWO back ups for that pairing.
Is anyone going to Turkey?
Please, please, please bring Armand home for Christmas.
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Funny, I was saying to my lad the other day, that I couldn’t see Gnando staying there.
 
Jaffa_The_Hut said:
a very frustrating game to watch.
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Disagree with that part of your analysis
I thought we played well. Everyone knows we are short of a quality striker but the overall play was exciting to watch, and they got a well earned draw and will not have many harder games all season
 
tangysider said:
Disagree with that part of your analysis
I thought we played well. Everyone knows we are short of a quality striker but the overall play was exciting to watch, and they got a well earned draw and will not have many harder games all season
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I never said we didn’t play well I just said it was frustrating to watch.
 
Insider said:
I agree we ABSOLUTELY MUST play Madine and Yates in a 4-4-2.
There is no plan B.
I don't think Anderson is a swap for either of them.
That's the "weakest link" in the squad that must be addressed in January. We need TWO back ups for that pairing.
Is anyone going to Turkey?
Please, please, please bring Armand home for Christmas.
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Definitely agree about back up for Yates and Madine but Gnanduillet IS NOT the answer
 
Insider said:
So who is?
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I'm sure the staff at Bloomfield Rd will have several targets for the January window.
I personally think it'd be a backward step as in this set up he wouldn't offer much.

The only reason that Gnanduillet scored was that was the only option open to Grayson do you suggest that we get Feeney back from Tranmere too?

This team Critchley has now are so better than the ones from last season, so hopefully NC, CC and the rest will be looking at quicker, more skilful players to bring in.
 
Costero Poderoso said:
i thought another game where we should have buried it really, Oxford are a decent side, well organised and difficult to break down, but we had them three or four times and poor finishing let us down. Defence was fairly solid but i have to admit all across the back line today was giving me palpatations at times, they were solid without actually looking it. Dougal was a bit off his game. generally i thought we were very hurried on the ball. Its usually dougall who puts his foot down and steadies things, but today was a bit helter skelter. Fantastic save by maxwell at the end but some truly awful defending to go with it.

Madine was isolated, the Madine Yates combination at the moment should be the first thing on the team sheet. I just dont see what Woodburn brings, i know he's a young player, but hes very frustrating. he frustrates me in the same way that Jordan Thompson used to. He must have some talent and you get glimpses of it - i dont know whether its attitude, hard work, he's out of his depth. its another point but when we have those kinds of chances in a game we really have to put it to bed.
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They seemed to have more bodies in central midfield which could account for Dougall having less time. Yates does a bit in the middle when he plays which would help Dougall and also gets around Madine which makes him more effective.
Woodburn didn't really seem to contribute anything, maybe it just wasn't the right game for him.
 
TimperleyTangerine said:
No, it is staggering that Woodburn started with Yates and Anderson on the bench. Nothing dramatic about that statement, given the evidence of Yates’s form and contribution so far, plus the impact Anderson has had, when given a chance. Woodburn is miles off them, and I doubt anyone would have gone with that selection.

Husband played well, I like him and think he’s our best LB. Turton unlucky, as he’s been playing well, but Gabriel did well.

I agree we can’t win them all, even when we play well with our strongest team. It is though important to be consistent, and one change in a key area weakened us today.
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We'll have to agree to disagree. I wouldn't have started with Woodburn but given we have a very busy schedule coming up it didn't completely surprise me that we chose to rest two of our regulars today. So 'staggering misjudgement' to describe a decision affecting a game we didn't even lose is overly dramatic. Maybe I should've described the result as a devastating draw given the reaction to it on here.
 
Wizzerboy said:
I'm sure the staff at Bloomfield Rd will have several targets for the January window.
I personally think it'd be a backward step as in this set up he wouldn't offer much.

The only reason that Gnanduillet scored was that was the only option open to Grayson do you suggest that we get Feeney back from Tranmere too?

This team Critchley has now are so better than the ones from last season, so hopefully NC, CC and the rest will be looking at quicker, more skilful players to bring in.
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Whizzer. I wasn't ever a Feeney fan but had to hold my hand up for his assists last season, no I don't want him back.
I've always rated Gnanduillet even when he didn't warrant it. IMO he has so much to offer to a team at our level, goals, physicality, temperament, defensive attributes and even his deceptively quick feet.
Is that enough? 😉
 
clappers said:
All these points thrown persisting with formations and set ups that end up with us scoring less goals than we are able to are going to cost us. And I’ll keep saying it!
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We are scoring one of none in most games regardless. We got the woodwork twice today, we were as good or bad up front as we always are. Oxford are a very tight side giving little away in recent weeks against good sides. You're just choosing a narrative.
 
ThorntonPool said:
Harsh on Yates in my opinion.
He’s a completely different player when he’s part of a 2. A real threat and all his best performances have been when he’s up top with Madine.

Its a waste of time him playing up front alone and I don’t know why we keep on trying it as it’s clear as day it just doesn’t work.
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Two goals aside from penalties. He's not that different whatever we do, is he?
 
Insider said:
Whizzer. I wasn't ever a Feeney fan but had to hold my hand up for his assists last season, no I don't want him back.
I've always rated Gnanduillet even when he didn't warrant it. IMO he has so much to offer to a team at our level, goals, physicality, temperament, defensive attributes and even his deceptively quick feet.
Is that enough? 😉
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I'm not here to tell people who they should or shouldn't like.
It's a matter of opinions and in mine I don't think Gnanduillet would improve the side.
We still have a long way to go in this season and I'm certain that there are better players than Armand that we can pick up.

But with you being insider do you know something that we don't 😏😉
 
BFC_53 said:
What's with the over dramatic reaction to us only drawing? Team selection was 'staggering misjudgement' -what? There have been loads of posts lauding our strength in depth, and I agree. We started Woodburn which was unexpected and not what I would've done, but is it really staggering? No. I've also seen people say on social media it was a must win. The 16th game of the season is a must win. Come on. Are we going to have such a ridiculous reaction every time we don't win? Because I hate to break it to everyone but we aren't going to win every game from now until the end of the season, so you need to brace yourselves.

We played well today. We do need some more firepower, but our defence is giving us a very solid platform to move upwards. I see there aren't nearly as many posts about Critchley's decision to choose Gabriel over Turton (who had been playing well), but maybe that's because it doesn't quite fit the Critchley narrative. It was a good decision, and he played well enough to justify the selection I thought, often available on the overlap.

Husband made me eat my words as I haven't been his biggest fan, but he had a good game. He did give away a silly foul which led to Maxwell's worldy save, but that aside he was pretty good.

As I've said, Woodburn didn't really work, and Yates was unlucky not to start. I think with Woodburn he needs more games, much like one or two others did earlier in the season. But it's not a surprise to see a little squad rotation with so many midweek games this season. This policy may actually help us later on in the season, who knows.

I think we need to give Oxford some credit too as they defended well mostly, and I think they'll finish much higher than they are. But I do think today showed we've made more progress than they have in the last 12 months. Yes I know we beat them last year but the quality of player and performance was much more in our favour this time around.

A rise up the league table is rarely linear, and we're still in a very decent place going into the Christmas period, especially having just beaten Peterborough, Portsmouth, and Fleetwood. We can't, and won't win them all.
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The only game that is a must win is a game where you get relegated or miss out on promotion if you dont. It is a much over used phrase in football!
 
After thinking about it we did play well today, the most frustrating thing and where we’ve come a mile in the last few months is, we could and should have won that today. Again having said that hitting the woodwork twice, Kai Kai’s slip and a blatant hand ball for a penalty is out of our control but will be as close as you can come to scoring with out bagging.


The personnel changes on reflection weren’t the worst ideas, Yates has been off the boil in the last few games so I can’t have much complaint about that and Turton and Gabriel are really, both starters each one slots in and seems to always play well.

What I can’t understand is the formation change back to the impotent 433, the cynic in me says that this has been Critchs plan for a while, had to change to buy himself more time but now feels comfortable has gone back to it. Perhaps he just wanted to match up with Oxford’s formation?

The negative effect of this has been laid bare again to see, Madine isolated and ineffective, if you’re going to change Yates fine I can understand that but give Madine Keshi or Woodburn up top to play with.
The most glaring indictment of the formation however was Dougall’s 6/10 performance, which by his recent standards is really poor. He was a passenger for most of the game, similar to Ward early season. Kenny struggled to get in the game and then when he was called upon was often isolated and chasing the ball due to being over run.

It really is something when we’ve not played too badly and we are all disappointed because we realise there’s so much more potential in this squad, I do just hope Critch can unlock the potential and not stifle it.

approaching the half way point now and in all honesty we’re well placed given the topsy turvey nature of this league and our likely investment in January.
 
gjr69 said:
The only game that is a must win is a game where you get relegated or miss out on promotion if you dont. It is a much over used phrase in football!
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Exactly. Couldn't believe I saw someone say that. There's only 90 points to play for, so 6 points is too big a gap, let's give up.
 
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