The Robins Nest Forum

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Hopefully we can deal with this press in the second half, not a huge amount of options on the bench

Initial thoughts:

We struggled in the first half. Oxford managed to pass through the lines with ease and will be disappointed not to have created more. We struggled to pass the ball through the press and that looked due to a lack of confidence again - looking for the sideways or backwards pass first and foremost.

Second half was different, the midfield looked five yards further forward and were landing onto more second balls. We increased our aggression and intensity and Oxford didn't really come up with a solution.

A draw might have been fair but we ultimately did enough to win and Oxford didn't.

Once again, our recruitment looks spot on. The loan players are already part of the furniture and they have added real quality.

Special mention to Vassell's cameo at the end - an almost perfect example of making the ball stick and hold up play.

an epic result which must signal our arrival in L1

Had we not dropped points in the last minutes of those two games we would be in the automatic promotion positions !!!

well done lads, well done MD

Ben who?

Great result

I think we missed Sercs in regard to getting out of the press, the midfield were very flat but was impressed by Perry

Was a little worried about Vassell coming on and injuring himself but as Hubert says was a brilliant 15 mins of intelligent hold up play

I Hope this momentum can help us through a challenging 2/3 weeks of fixtures coming up

@CTFC

@JonPalmer

Can we have the interview video's tonight please not the following day like last week?

Hubert Parry wrote:Initial thoughts:

We struggled in the first half. Oxford managed to pass through the lines with ease and will be disappointed not to have created more. We struggled to pass the ball through the press and that looked due to a lack of confidence again - looking for the sideways or backwards pass first and foremost.

Second half was different, the midfield looked five yards further forward and were landing onto more second balls. We increased our aggression and intensity and Oxford didn't really come up with a solution.

A draw might have been fair but we ultimately did enough to win and Oxford didn't.

Once again, our recruitment looks spot on. The loan players are already part of the furniture and they have added real quality.

Special mention to Vassell's cameo at the end - an almost perfect example of making the ball stick and hold up play.

Disappointed not to have created more or not good enough to have done so? Maybe our back line deserve credit.

Any news on the boy Wright?

In respect of your previous post RCS, our bank line were error prone in the first half. I'd say that Oxford lacked a cutting edge.

Hubert Parry wrote:In respect of your previous post RCS, our bank line were error prone in the first half. I'd say that Oxford lacked a cutting edge.

Thanks for clarifying.

The last two games must have boosted the confidence and belief of the team and made them realise that they deserve to be in League One and can stay up this season.
We perhaps need to realise when it’s not safe to use the short passing game and there’s no shame in leathering the ball up the park to give breathing space. All in all an excellent three points. Well done!

RegencyCheltenhamSpa wrote:Any news on the boy Wright?

Not really. MD said he thinks he did something to his knee yesterday and it was swollen, but this morning he was told he was unavailable today and that was all he knew at the time of his post-match interview.

Shade wrote:

RegencyCheltenhamSpa wrote:Any news on the boy Wright?

Not really. MD said he thinks he did something to his knee yesterday and it was swollen, but this morning he was told he was unavailable today and that was all he knew at the time of his post-match interview.

Worrying. Need him back and fit asap.

Alf wrote:The last two games must have boosted the confidence and belief of the team and made them realise that they deserve to be in League One and can stay up this season.
We perhaps need to realise when it’s not safe to use the short passing game and there’s no shame in leathering the ball up the park to give breathing space. All in all an excellent three points. Well done!

It's a tricky one.

For me, the issue is not so much with playing the ball out from the back, per se. Most teams in this league do it. It's ensuring that when you do it, you are screening properly and your rotations are strong to attract the press and then pass through it and thus opening up space and gaps up the field. We did this well in the second half yesterday because we were looking down the channels more than trying to pass through a middle 3.

The additional difficulty is that if you make leathering the ball a proper option, it can easily become the easy option and players will quickly revert to this. We were not good, generally, with our more direct play yesterday.

I'm hoping the early teething options will improve over time as we build our confidence. It's a huge step up in the leagues and it's just taking a little time to adapt our game.

Hubert Parry wrote:

Alf wrote:The last two games must have boosted the confidence and belief of the team and made them realise that they deserve to be in League One and can stay up this season.
We perhaps need to realise when it’s not safe to use the short passing game and there’s no shame in leathering the ball up the park to give breathing space. All in all an excellent three points. Well done!

It's a tricky one.

For me, the issue is not so much with playing the ball out from the back, per se. Most teams in this league do it. It's ensuring that when you do it, you are screening properly and your rotations are strong to attract the press and then pass through it and thus opening up space and gaps up the field. We did this well in the second half yesterday because we were looking down the channels more than trying to pass through a middle 3.

The additional difficulty is that if you make leathering the ball a proper option, it can easily become the easy option and players will quickly revert to this. We were not good, generally, with our more direct play yesterday.

I'm hoping the early teething options will improve over time as we build our confidence. It's a huge step up in the leagues and it's just taking a little time to adapt our game.

I guess Pollock, Perry, Thomas and Chapman are still relatively new and unfamiliar with one another…hopefully the rotations will improve with game and training time.

Hubert Parry wrote:

Alf wrote:The last two games must have boosted the confidence and belief of the team and made them realise that they deserve to be in League One and can stay up this season.
We perhaps need to realise when it’s not safe to use the short passing game and there’s no shame in leathering the ball up the park to give breathing space. All in all an excellent three points. Well done!

It's a tricky one.

For me, the issue is not so much with playing the ball out from the back, per se. Most teams in this league do it. It's ensuring that when you do it, you are screening properly and your rotations are strong to attract the press and then pass through it and thus opening up space and gaps up the field. We did this well in the second half yesterday because we were looking down the channels more than trying to pass through a middle 3.

The additional difficulty is that if you make leathering the ball a proper option, it can easily become the easy option and players will quickly revert to this. We were not good, generally, with our more direct play yesterday.

I'm hoping the early teething options will improve over time as we build our confidence. It's a huge step up in the leagues and it's just taking a little time to adapt our game.

I think we will learn quickly and become more confident,Thomas was always an option for our defenders but they didn`t have the trust or confidence to use him instead of thumping the ball upfield giving possesion away.

I think it is also about adapting to the opposition. Let's not forget our goal came from a long kick from Flinders. Sometimes you can get joy from playing the ball in behind the CB's especially when they are playing a high line.

What impressed me was how well we defended the lead. We forced Oxford to long balls which played into the hands of Boyle and Pollock who won everything all game.

Thought Oxford looked poor for a team who have been successful the last couple of years in this league. Didnt seem to be physical enough but at the same time didnt really look that good technically either. Maybe we made them look poor but on that evidence they could struggle this season.

They were also missing a couple who make them tick - Brannagan etc.

Oxford were good in the middle third and seemed to try to unleash a few from outside the box.

We did defend the lead well and again, taking the emotional anxieties away, we didn't realistically look like conceding after we went 1-0 up.