Torquay United vs Oxford Utd 17/08/13

[Dave]

Didn't go to the game for reasons stated on page 1, thankfully on the mend and should be back on the pop next match, not going to comment on the performance have no idea wasn't able to listen the game either, but dissapointed to here the result.

My lad went, and taking his account and those on this thread it does to me sound like our team is not a million miles away from a good solid midtable finish, which to be fair, is excatly what I, personaly was expecting.

For me you have to factor in Oxford have been under Chris Wilder for a few years, had stability and been able to build season on season, maybe slower than some of their fans would have liked though.

Where as we have gone from Buckle to Ling and to Alan Knill in 3 seasons, had to re-build and re-build again, so we are in all honesty 3 years behind Oxford in terms squad development, and our club does not have the budget of Oxford to replace the likes Bobby.O and Eunan O'Kane, so to hear we had a perfectly good free-kick dissallowed, which more than likely would have led to atleast a point as their 3rd goal would never have happened, surely that suggests yesterday is a sign we are on the right tracks.

[portugull]

I was at Plainmoor yesterday and did post a blog last night but as Southampton has confirmed the site was down due to a DOS attack.

For those who were not at the match do have faith. We were certainly not outplayed and created the better chances. In the first half Billy Bodin did amazingly well to get on the end of a high ball only for his great strike to be cleared off the line. I thought Billy played really well in the first half. Both teams tried to play high up the pitch but I think what Alan Knill needs to do is to get the players to play the ball on the ground because so many teams have got very big defenders who will gobble up the high balls. If you look at all the good teams on the football league show they are keeping the ball on the deck.

Ball was so unlucky with a brilliant piece of play after Oxford scored only to see his shot come off the bar. This was a game where everything fell for Oxford aided by an awful referee who denied us a perfectly good goal from a very well worked free kick which was obviously a training ground routine.

I think Chapell is a much more effective wide man than Cameron who is very inexperienced, does not always concentrate, and must be quite frustrating to play with. I admit he has bags of potential.

This is a team that will definitely improve but in the 2 matches I have seen we have had absolutely no luck. Callum Ball has had 2 goals disallowed and has great technique. He just looks a yard off the pace at the moment but Hawley looks a very good player at this level and I am sure Alan Knill knows what he has to do to get this side up to speed. This is a much better squad than last year but it is still early days.

[DTUFC]

I agree with wivelgull

Hahaha, it's like you're a parody of yourself sometimes...

[SBP]

We were poor yesterday, couldnt hold on to the ball, found it difficult to put passes together and retain possession.
We have to improve in these areas.
Oxford played a high line and put us under pressure and we couldnt deal with it physically or tactically. I have no idea what our game plan was when we went 1-0 down because we just appeared to lose all concentration and our shape was all over the place. We decided to play route1 and hoof everything as far as possible.
We are lacking someone in midfield that can put their foot on the ball and pass accurately.
Jordan Chappell was to me the only player that when he came on showed anything like what is required.

AK, if you are reading this, extra passing drills please.

[cambgull]

What an immensely frustrating day. Yesterday was my first game of the season so I'll be writing my views on the team based on this one game, so here goes:-

Before the game:
Not only do we manage to miss all the traffic, but we easily find a parking spot not too far from the ground. Useful, when it's hammering down with rain. We get to the ground at around 1:35, which means we have to take the long way round to get to the Gulls Nest. As much as I understand the reasoning behind closing the entrance via the stairs, it's quite annoying for those of us who just want a pint. We had a lovely glass of 6X, got asked 5 times by the same lady if we want 50/50 tickets and a trip down for a cigarette which saw the size of the queue for the Family Stand which was at least a kilometre long, compared to the 3 Bench turnstiles which had queues of, well, they didn't have queues. It should really be 2 turnstiles each as the Bench is more likely to have people buying specific tickets at the ticket stall. Also, the ticket reception had two people working, a computer which didn't have a mouse used by a lady who didn't seem particularly competent with modern technology. The computer seemed to be operating very slowly, had rain landing far too close to the wiring at the back of it and we got drenched standing there waiting. Despite the good work of Andy Candy, we still appear to be very amateur in certain areas.

As for inside the stadium, the Bench was looking fantastic and the Family Stand is looking much better with the new seats. I do wonder whether they had a few too many blue seats left and just decided to put half a block of them on the right. The players started taking part in some shooting practice, including one where they had to go past a defender onto their left side and fire away a shot. I like this idea but I think they need to do a few other types of games like this, not just on the left foot. I'd like to see the corner and free kick takers trying out crosses and corners. This would be much more useful for them to get their eye in before the ball is kicked in anger. When I looked over to my right though, I watched the Oxford players warming up, and straight away they looked very professional. Plenty of sprints, one touch passing and a bit of shooting practice. The whole team are involved in every activity and no one is left standing around not doing anything. It was all just... slick.

First Half:
Oxford shot out of the blocks after a sloppy pass from Mansell allowed the U's to intercept and the first chance was had by the away side. It looked like that would be a sign of things to come. In reality though, we soon worked out that we could gain an advantage due to the wind. Goal kicks from their keeper were reaching the half way line and then just dropping. I only saw two kicks from the goalkeepers facing the Family Stand cross the half way line all day. Chances were few and far between in the first half, Oxford had a goal ruled out for a clear offside, Cameron was booked for a rash challenge and Rice had a yellow brandished in his direction after catching a long ball under no real pressure, looked to have stepped quite some distance over the line and then threw his toys out of the pram and hurled the ball in the direction of the corner flag. The wrong side though, mind you, if he'd have thrown it at the correct flag, he may have gotten away with it. The half was a fairly even one with both sides having equal pressure, with perhaps any extra pressure falling to us. At times we played some nice football, with most players playing fairly well.

Second Half:
Again, Oxford came out of the traps. Some nice passing saw them gain another chance which went for a corner. The ball was whipped in from the left corner to the near post, Smalley left Harding for dead and tapped the ball in with his left from around 6 yards out. 1-0, and I thought we'd go on to get a hammering if I'm honest. I was wrong, straight from the kick off, Ball played a one-two with Hawley and then decided he needed no team mates. Dancing around challenges and stepping in on his left foot he let fly with an absolute rocket which smashed against the underside of the crossbar and out of play to the right. Oxford definitely rode their luck there. Torquay pushed for an equaliser but were ultimately undone by their own tackle. Downes misjudged a long ball, Potter pressured him and as Downes swung his foot up to clear it, he caught Potter in the face and seemed to break his nose. Oxford fans screamed for a penalty but it was a complete accident. This turned out to be decisive, as Constable came onto the pitch to get the U's second just a few minutes later. We pushed high up the pitch to try for an equaliser and Constable ghosted in between Downes and Nico to latch onto the end of a long ball, loops the ball over an onrushing Rice and that was that, 2-0. Manse tried to get some fight back in the team and Chappell was brought in a couple minutes later, replacing Cameron who doesn't really know how to play on the right wing. I thought the stupid idea of left footed players on the right wing had long gone with Ling but it turns out it's popular, I can't figure out why. Then comes Chappell's moment of glory, Hawley stands far beyond the defenders for a throw in, he retrieves the ball with acres of space and runs towards the box. After a defender catches up with him, he manages to whip in a cross from the left for Chappell to tap in on the right. 2-1, back in the game.

We continue to push for an equaliser and after a strange decision of a drop ball while two players were going in for a tackle and no-one got fouled, we then gained a free kick a yard outside the box after Manse went down, theatrically, after a challenge. After the ref faffed about with the wall for what seemed like hours, the whistle was blown, Nico whips the ball straight into the bottom left hand corner, 2-2! No, wait. Because of a little pushing and shoving in the wall between an Oxford player and Hawley, we had to retake the free kick. If you haven't read the script yet, the second attempt went towards the top right hand corner and while a good effort, wasn't quite as good as the first one. Soon after, another chipped ball over the defence leaves Asa Hall through, Cruise manages to catch up to jockey him. Hall still gets a shot away, well saved by Rice but it falls back to Hall again who makes no mistake this time. 3-1 to Oxford and the game is over now. We push for another with Benyon now on the pitch but never really broke through aside from a couple half chances.

The Officials:
The referee and his assistants were just ridiculous. The linesman on the Bench side chose who the throw ins would go to based on who shouted loudest. One example was Hawley being challenged from behind and he clumsily knocked the ball out of play with his left foot. He instantly threw his hand up and the linesman gave the throw in our way. This happened a couple times. The linesman on the pop side called for a free kick where the ball is launched to Bodin left of the penalty box. As the ball is coming down, their full back jumps to head it, connects with the ball and in mid-air, goes flying into Bodin. Somehow, that's a free kick to Oxford.

I thought I'd leave the ref until last, as he was hilariously bad. He spent around 80 minutes of the game shouting at the top of his voice, somewhat reminiscent of a 5 year old trying to get his mum's attention by shouting "I WANT, I WANT!". He lost control of the game 5 minutes in for getting the card straight out for a rash challenge by Cameron. The crowd were already on his back and it set the tone for the rest of the game. The entire match was littered with inconsistencies. Fouls given for one side with challenges not given to the other. But it was in the second half when he really came into his own. The afore mentioned drop ball, which involved him sprinting towards the players shouting "DROP BALL, DROP BALL, DROP BALL" which left Nico and his opponent looking at each other totally bemused. Even the Oxford player shrugged his shoulders towards Nico as if to suggest he had no idea what it was given for.

As for the rest of his game, it's just going to annoy me if I carry on. He really was utterly infuriating. The only positive I can say is that he generally was good at letting the game flow. That really was about it.

Overall:
Oxford look like a team at the top of the league. Not because they played well, we outplayed them or matched them easily in most sectors. It was because they were far more clinical than us. 4 shots on target and 3 goals tells it's own story. I really don't think we are relegation doomed though. Pearce and Downes need to gel, same with Ball and Hawley which seems to have potential. Mansell and Harding, I'm not so sure on.

As for the crowd, well the Oxford fans seemed up for it. Our fans were utterly pathetic. How does it take a group of fans with a big banner saying "Fanatics" over 5 minutes of a game to sing their first song, and that was only because the Oxford fans starting singing "You're supposed to be at home". Seriously, if it's like that most games of the season, just take down the banner. It's false advertising. You're about as fanatical as a sponge at a dishwashing contest.

Generally, I'm not too worried. We played well and did not deserve to lose 3-1. If Ball can get one in the onion bag, I think he could become a top player for us as he can get the chances.

The Players:

Rice - 7/10 - Didn't actually have much to do, apart from pick balls out of his net. He couldn't do much about the first two goals and the third goal he probably should have parried to the side, but I'm not sure which part of his body blocked the first shot.

Cruise - 7/10 - Looked fairly comfortable at right back. There were a couple of occasions where he was woefully one footed but I wouldn't be worried about him filling in again. I'd rather see him at left back though.

Pearce - 6/10 - Didn't do much all game really, didn't help Cruise trying to block the third goal despite being in touching distance. Let his man go a couple times but good at marking on set pieces. Didn't think he was any worse than what I saw of Saah though.

Downes - 8/10 - Played very well, struggled a little in the second half with the wind but generally was very good. Certainly better than Ellis. Probably our most consistent player.

Nico - 5/10 - His attacking play is great, although the accuracy of his crosses and set pieces is not what it once was. He also is not a good defender, it takes a mistake for him to clear it. I really think he needs a little time on the sidelines to give Cruise a go. I don't want us to lose Cruise through no game time just because it's Nico and he's a club legend.

Cameron - 6/10 - He is not a right winger. Why do we insist on playing left footed players on the right wing. It didn't work for Ling and it still doesn't now. Especially when we have Chappell who came on and was superb. He was a little headless chicken but seemed okay when he and Bodin swapped sides.

Bodin - 7/10 - I thought he played fairly well today. Was his usual box of tricks but actually had a bit of end product at times. A few decent crosses and some shots blocked. I'd be happy if we played like that most weeks.

Manse - 9/10 - Superb. Apart from a poor pass in the first 5 seconds, he barely made a mistake all afternoon. Captain Fantastic is back.

Harding - 7/10 - I thought his distribution was good and he played some good passes around. I don't think he's strong enough in the tackle though. I also don't think he's anonymous, as some have claimed he was, I saw him on the ball quite a bit. He was generally the start of most attacks.

Ball - 6/10 - Dumbo on ice. I have never seen someone so clumsy and gangly be able to pull a rocket shot out like that and it took some agility to get the shot off too. He's actually far better on the ball than he is off it. He's certainly got potential, I think he just needs a goal.

Hawley - 7/10 - Didn't get much luck but he is a class act for this level. Even if he doesn't win a long ball, he's still first to it when it hits the ground. Very good player and I think he'll get double figures this season.

Subs:

Lathrope - 6/10 - I don't think he added anything that Harding didn't have.

Chappell - 8/10 - If his game was any more than 25 minutes long, he'd probably have gotten MOTM. I was very impressed and he really should be starting against Northampton. Got the goal and was nipping at the ankles of every player within 50 metres of him.

Benyon - 6/10 - Surprised he was in the team today, let alone on the pitch. Didn't have time to do much but was his usual energetic self.

[SuperNickyWroe]

cheers for that luke.

hope the chappell thing referred to him nipping ankles of opposing players within 50 metres and not ours! =D

[cambgull]

He probably had a nibble of Ball along the way...

[exiledgull]

I went to the game today my view:

First 5 minutes we were under pressure from our own kick off with a very poor pass. After that however we had good chances with Bodin having 2 good chances and Ball having another good shot. I think we edged the first half however both teams cancelling each other out.

Second half started poorly with a poor set piece conceded.

We then mounted an attack an looked strong, having a perfectly good free kick disallowed so that the ref could have ago at there player for pushing Hawley?? Don't know how that works out. They then long balled it up field and Constable (who started on the bench, shows the strength of there team) volleyed one in the net. We then looked positive again and grabbed a goal and then, Again we go up field and hit the bar and then when we keep attacking they score late on as they hit us on the break.

We could have had something out of this game but things didnt fall for us and we were quite sloppy defensively, however I think Oxford are a very strong side for this division and its no surprise they are top they look much better than last year!

Worrying for me was Nicos and Mansel performance, just very very poor.

As for everyone berating Bodin as they always seem to do, he's a good out ball for us as he wins a majority of his headers, our wingers will not flourish while ever Mansel just bombs the ball forward, for our wingers to do well they need the ball on the floor but whenever we have the ball, we seemed to just kick it long.

Work to be done, but I think we will get stronger!

[cambgull]

I'm very surprised you thought Mansell was poor, I thought he was our best player. Opinions aside though, you should probably learn to spell our captain and longest serving player's name correctly.

[PlainmoorRoar]

Aye Mansell had a better game than Harding, those 2 and lathrope are all the same type of player, we need a creative flair player

[bobby93]

First game of the season for me yesterday. Thought I'd log on and add my thoughts. I guess that's what forums are for.

I thought Oxford put in a very complete performance yesterday. Very strong, didn't give us any space whatsoever, a little bit sneaky, did their best to snuff our most creative and dangerous players out of the game, very very quick on the counter attack. Did what needed to be done from an away side at this level. First goal was textbook, our man (Harding?) should have done better. Second goal was a great strike, seemed like he had a lot of space from my angle but he's a proven goalscorer and he knows how to create space. Third goal, we were caught really. Cruise left on his own with two onrushing attackers.

Quick player breakdown.
Rice - Didn't actually have too much to do, not sure of positioning for first goal and third unfortunately couldn't direct his parry away from danger, but otherwise did what was asked. Quick off his line. Tendency to hang on to the ball and launch it downfield which became a tad predictable, even if we were chasing the game by then.

Cruise - Out of position, very obviously not confident with his right foot. Came forwarda bit more towards the end when Chappell was on. Good inswinging cross on him from that angle. One or two decent balls played. I don't mind him really. We've had worse.

Pierce - Not sure about him. Some good blocks and challenges but was it him that left Cruise to deal with two men for the third goal? Certainly not as all-action as Downes, more in the Saah mould but not quite as consistent.

Downes - Got stuck in. Puts his head where many wouldn't put their feet. Sometimes gets him into trouble and caught one or two of their players but nothing malicious, I'm sure. Gave his all and let very little past him in terms of aerial balls.

Nico - A little bit off the pace, perhaps. Can't help but think the reason why we had Harding taking corners was so that Nico doesn't leave that giant gap at left-back if the opposition are able to break. Didn't have a terrible game in my opinion but didn't offer us too much either.

Cameron - Not sure about him either. Had to be reminded of defensive duties once or twice by Manse. Wasn't having a great game so Oxford gave him all the space in the world and we fell into the trap of playing it down his wing all the time in the second half. Should have done more with the space and time he was afforded.

Mansell - Another battling display by the captain. Not much of an attacking threat but did his job in the middle, spreading the play around with his usual mix of ferocity and dedication to the cause. Can't fault him as such but he needs a more creative player with him.

Harding - Offered very little of any impact whatsoever. No better a player than Lathrope on this evidence, although perhaps more of a subtle physical presence - able to nudge players off the ball rather than going in hard. Kept the ball moving and won one or two challenges but overall, a fairly anonymous game.

Bodin - Impressed by his first half. Went up for headers, a couple of tasty challenges that he would have backed out of last season. Wasn't really allowed the space to move in the second half. Probably a deliberate move from the visitors.

Ball - Drifted in and out at times but unlucky on two occasions not to get on the scoresheet. Clearly got a good strike on him and kept himself busy. I think he'll develop nicely.

Hawley - Another one who was given no time whatsoever on the ball. Clearly Oxford had watched the Morecambe highlights. Will be a great player for us, but had to battle and come deep yesterday. Held the ball up well given the pressure he was under from the Oxford defence. Managed to do enough to send the ball Chappell's way for the goal. Was probably going to be a shot before the defender caught up with him.

Subs - Chappell - Skilful, looked interested, got the best out of Cruise in an attacking sense (some good interplay), has to start surely. Think he could be a proper winger and cause left backs a lot of grief.

Lathrope - Allowed Mansell to go forward a bit more. Not an impact player but did okay. Made a couple of mistakes in allowing players through, he thankfully eventually redeemed himself with a block.

Benyon - Did he get a touch?

All of this based on one game. I'm not one to moan, I think it's early days and all the above could change. It's our job to turn up.

[brooker]

For what it's worth, I thought Billy had a better game yesterday. He looks better coming back, and there was one 50 50 tackle in particular in front of the pop, that we thought he would pull out of, that he slid into, and came out on top. The referee had a shocker, and in one scramble between 5 or 6 players, Pearce seemed to try and pick the ball up amongst hacking legs, and the ref just let play carry on! Am I wrong, or did he also give a drop ball instead of a throw? It's sometimes hard to tell from the popside.

Cruise looked good, but for the third goal should have shuffled straight away to the winger, leaving Pearce to deal with the inside player on the ball, neither moved decidedly, and we conceded.
I like the look of Hawley, and believe he will improve, as others have said his link up play is great, but feel we still lack a midfield playmaker, imagine what Eunan could have done with Chappell, Cameron and co. Buzzing around him.
All in all though, we were the worse side in the 2nd half and Oxfords finishing was great.

[Kernowgull]

Everyones is allowed an opinion, but anybody who picked Mansell our as poor yesterday really shouldn't be. He was excellent.

[ferrarilover]

Let's simply deal in facts

Yes, let's

We lost 3-1.

Good start

Losing by that many is not down to bad luck.

Oh dear, it's all started to go wrong

You make your own luck.

This is a cliché, not a fact, the two are entirely different.

Our players had as much control over events as Oxford's plus they were at home with the majority of fans on their side.

True, so credit for it being a fact, but meaningless, so no joy here.

We have 2pts out of 9.

Another genuine fact, huzzah. Doesn't bring much to the party, but I guess factual and meaningful is probably too much to ask.

This sort of start hints at trouble.

As opposed to last year, when we didn't lose our first League game until September 15th and didn't lost at home in the League until November 17th, look how well that worked out for us...

BUt back to facts

Oh good, I think this is an excellent idea

2pts from 9 is never going to be good enough.

Oh deary, deary me. Here, Hector, allow me to help you out:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fact?s=t

I've lost the will to go through the rest of the post, desperately searching with hope in my heart for a genuine, bona fide fact to leap out, only for my hopes to be cruelly dashed at the last.

There are only opinions which matter, opinions which cannot be proven, cannot b claimed to be factual, cannot ever be disputed. It is an opinion to suggest that we were the better side overall yesterday. We dominated for periods, which Oxford never did. We created, and spurned chances, which Oxford never did. We suffered from some of the most bizarre refereeing I've ever seen, which Oxford never did. We hit the woodwork, had two off the line, scored one, had one ruled out for God knows what, wasted a couple of decent openings, forced their hopelessly inept keeper into one extremely fine save and generally looked much more likely to score than Oxford ever did. Rice touched the ball 4 times. One parry (which lead to a goal, but that he could do nothing else with) and three times he retrieved the ball out of his net.

Had things been the other way round yesterday, we'd have the usual suspects on here telling us that we cannot rely on luck (a set piece, a "worldy" and a late counter) to win matches, we were completely outplayed for long spells, we were lucky not to concede 5 or 6 goals, they were all over us etc etc. Yet, when we do it to other teams, they get a bit jammy and go home with three points having been in our half three times, suddenly we're relegation fodder and look miles off the pace.

If Oxford have 9 points after three games, they're world beaters and look like they ought to be in the Championship. If we have 2 points after three games, we're relegated, look like candidates to be in the Evo-Stik league before long. If Oxford have 9 points after 46 games, then tell me they're all that good. If they continue to struggle to create anything of note in games, they might well find themselves heading down and down the league. Similarly, if we keep pumping away and creating chances, getting Hawley involved, utilising Ball's strength (anything but his head), playing to our collective strengths, then we could well end up fighting at the right end of the table. Of course, the usual suspects will be nowhere to be seen, only popping on to scream "I TOLD YOU SO" every time we fail to win a match, before disappearing like a fart in the wind when we go 10 or 12 unbeaten.

I don't much care if you accept or reject the idea of luck, we were unlucky yesterday. It was nothing to do with anything but luck that the FA allocated Graham Salisbury to our match instead of, say, Cheltenham v Plymouth. But for him, such was the nature of the match, that we would likely have gone on to win and we'd be all smiles now.

If you want to see a proper hopeless team, have a look at Carlisle, then tell me we're as bad as some seem to think we are...

Matt.

[gullintwoplaces]

Good post Matt, a voice of sanity in a sea of madness, the sea of Brucie and Hector.