Take the hand brake off

Athers

Athers

Well-known member
I don’t know why we are so passive away from home. Yes, Oxford are clearly doing something right. 9 wins from 13 and 2nd in the league. But bar their goal I don’t remember Grimmy being tested once.

The last 20 minutes shows they were there for the taking. Carey and Oakley-Boothe both passengers. As soon as the subs were made there was only one team in it.


Stop worrying about the opposition and impose OUR game. We’re in league one. We’ve just come down from the championship. Teams should worry about US. Once we abandoned the tippy tappy passing it around the keeper and back three bollocks we battered them. CJ and Dale frighten defenders running at them and Rhodes is probably the best striker in the division.

TL:DR -Attack teams from the off and stop waiting for the 65th-70th minute to make subs when it’s clearly not working
 
I would like to see a journalist pose this to Critch.

I would genuinely be interested in his analysis of why he doesn’t do that Joe. There must be something? Statistics, player readiness, something that we don’t see as fans?

I remember an interview with Gary Neville where he explained that the players were always frustrated with Sir Alex at the start / early part of each season as they wanted to go for it and they felt he was playing a too conservative approach. Each season they turned it on in the final 4 months. I’m not saying Critch is doing this, but I’d love to know why he doesn’t let loose too??
 
And what are his tactics / formation going to be when we have Lyons’s, Gabriel and Joseph all available, all 3 whom could be said that their best attributes are playing attacking football 🤔
 
Yesterday was pretty much a textbook example of how to tackle an Away performance against one of the better sides.

Had he ‘Taken the hand break off’ whatever that actually means, Oxford would very likely have picked us off at will.

As it was, we tactically outmanoeuvred them for the last 20, which is generally where games are won and lost these days.
 
Oxford reminded me of us at the start of the season. Very neat and tidy on the ball but a bit powder puff up top.

We’ve great attacking threats for this level and didn’t have ONE SHOT on or off target until the 60th minute. That’s unacceptable for a team with genuine promotion aspirations.

Anyway, enough negativity. Dale, CJ, Rhodes, Dembele all excellent 2nd half, and I’ve been extremely critical of Dale and CJ in the past. Credit where credit is due
 
Athers said:
Oxford reminded me of us at the start of the season. Very neat and tidy on the ball but a bit powder puff up top.

We’ve great attacking threats for this level and didn’t have ONE SHOT on or off target until the 60th minute. That’s unacceptable for a team with genuine promotion aspirations.

Anyway, enough negativity. Dale, CJ, Rhodes, Dembele all excellent 2nd half, and I’ve been extremely critical of Dale and CJ in the past. Credit where credit is due
Click to expand...
They were much better (Dale & CJ) when they switched wings👍
 
Athers said:
I don’t know why we are so passive away from home. Yes, Oxford are clearly doing something right. 9 wins from 13 and 2nd in the league. But bar their goal I don’t remember Grimmy being tested once.

The last 20 minutes shows they were there for the taking. Carey and Oakley-Boothe both passengers. As soon as the subs were made there was only one team in it.


Stop worrying about the opposition and impose OUR game. We’re in league one. We’ve just come down from the championship. Teams should worry about US. Once we abandoned the tippy tappy passing it around the keeper and back three bollocks we battered them. CJ and Dale frighten defenders running at them and Rhodes is probably the best striker in the division.

TL:DR -Attack teams from the off and stop waiting for the 65th-70th minute to make subs when it’s clearly not working
Click to expand...
👍👍👍
 
We had no passing options, obviously we were missing Norburn, but Boothe and Carey offered nothing. Passengers is the right word for them. It's not so much as about attack or defence, or whether to 'take the handbrake off', imo, it's just about patterns of play. We run out of passing options so many times. There was a moment in the 2nd half before we made the subs when we were trying to attack and build up pressure, they had closed off the left wing so we were about to switch it to the acres of space on the right, but nobody was there. There was a 4 to 5 second delay before Matthew Pennington bombed forward and occupied the right flank and to be fair, put a decent ball in. But we shouldn't be having those gaps to wait for a centre back to offer width becuase nobody else is occuping the space.

It isn't unrealistic, even away from home against a play-off side, to ask for a midfield player who will turn and run into space. Or who will support the winger. Dembele did this fantastically well coming on. Piercing through balls to Rhodes and finally giving CJ some linkup play. The left side of the midfield 3 are vital, they have to be mobile and cover a lot of space. But too often our wingbacks are isolated, going against two defenders, and our two CFs give little lateral movement (except Lavery) . Critch has to fix these issues I think. Dembele was the answer yesterday, hopefully he can be consistent and earn a starting role. I thought their LB was doing very well against CJ but they had no chance once Dembele was there to support him. They looked incredibly dangerous every time the ball came to the right side.
 
Chunkylad said:
I would like to see a journalist pose this to Critch.

I would genuinely be interested in his analysis of why he doesn’t do that Joe. There must be something? Statistics, player readiness, something that we don’t see as fans?

I remember an interview with Gary Neville where he explained that the players were always frustrated with Sir Alex at the start / early part of each season as they wanted to go for it and they felt he was playing a too conservative approach. Each season they turned it on in the final 4 months. I’m not saying Critch is doing this, but I’d love to know why he doesn’t let loose too??
Click to expand...
It’s (I am guessing here) because if you go gun ho at the start of the season or too early in games you can fall flat on your face - yes it might come off but it’s always better coming from behind (like our promotion season).

Inch forward, keep a little gas in the tank and time it well.

We may have been in the Championship last season but we were generally woeful - no-one in League 1 gives a jot who or where you were last season

Two wins this week and we’re right in the mix - then they’ll all be worried about us
 
Athers said:
I don’t know why we are so passive away from home. Yes, Oxford are clearly doing something right. 9 wins from 13 and 2nd in the league. But bar their goal I don’t remember Grimmy being tested once.

The last 20 minutes shows they were there for the taking. Carey and Oakley-Boothe both passengers. As soon as the subs were made there was only one team in it.


Stop worrying about the opposition and impose OUR game. We’re in league one. We’ve just come down from the championship. Teams should worry about US. Once we abandoned the tippy tappy passing it around the keeper and back three bollocks we battered them. CJ and Dale frighten defenders running at them and Rhodes is probably the best striker in the division.

TL:DR -Attack teams from the off and stop waiting for the 65th-70th minute to make subs when it’s clearly not working
Click to expand...
Agree but you're not speaking Critch's language.
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
Yesterday was pretty much a textbook example of how to tackle an Away performance against one of the better sides.

Had he ‘Taken the hand break off’ whatever that actually means, Oxford would very likely have picked us off at will.

As it was, we tactically outmanoeuvred them for the last 20, which is generally where games are won and lost these days.
Click to expand...
Both sides of this discussion have a point. Go for it from the start and we might have been 2 or three down by half time. However we can't leave it until it's very late because it doesn't leave enough time to challenge for the win.
 
Chunkylad said:
I would like to see a journalist pose this to Critch.

I would genuinely be interested in his analysis of why he doesn’t do that Joe. There must be something? Statistics, player readiness, something that we don’t see as fans?

I remember an interview with Gary Neville where he explained that the players were always frustrated with Sir Alex at the start / early part of each season as they wanted to go for it and they felt he was playing a too conservative approach. Each season they turned it on in the final 4 months. I’m not saying Critch is doing this, but I’d love to know why he doesn’t let loose too??
Click to expand...
Good points. There could be several reasons - but it’s still October. Maybe the players don’t want to risk injury? Our recent record is pretty scary.
 
1966_and_all_that said:
Both sides of this discussion have a point. Go for it from the start and we might have been 2 or three down by half time. However we can't leave it until it's very late because it doesn't leave enough time to challenge for the win.
Click to expand...
I think there's a lot of additional factors that need to be considered.... The best person to determine the tactics is the Manager... He knows his players, knows what they do in training, has detailed knowledge of the opposition etc... etc.. etc..

Compare that to the average fan who has limited tactical insight, doesn't work with the players in training, might know the name of the oppositions best players etc.. etc..

I know it's fun to discuss it all and we all have our own opinions... but it's nonsense really.

Critch knows best 👍 👍
 
We should be going out every game with the confidence to impose ourselves on the opposition
It's frustrating when you see the difference between when we play slow football and when we up the pace
The first half at Oxford was slow and frustrating
Had the substitutions been made at half time we would have won the game
When we play quick football we score goals and can dominate teams
 
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