kevinhectoring

An exhilarating win like that can play tricks on the mind. We were good after their first but otherwise Oxford looked dangerous in the first half and our midfield did not dominate. Would be interesting to know what their ‘plan’ was in the second half. They seemed to sit back and allow us to play which was a lousy strategy given their inability to defend against good crossing. To our credit we took great advantage. The most encouraging for me is that we’ve seen 2 games against decent sides where Warne has out managed his oppo. I confess I wouldn’t have predicted that. There’s been a lot written about the Jan window. For my money, I’d be perfectly happy if we simply didn’t lose anyone. Cashin is surely irreplaceable in this league and Bird’s contribution is massively underrated, at least when he is playing deep. JJ and Tommo if they stay fit give us what we’re missing. Why does Collins repeatedly and deliberately handle the ball? If anyone scored against us like that we would be incandescent (with rage). Shameful Couldn’t work out why JoeW wasn’t employing his silky time-wasting skills at 3-2 - until I remembered he was on a yellow. He’s canny - as we saw in the dying minutes against Wigan. We should remember that, before naively whingeing about time wasting by the oppo Our walls are far from impervious. Wildsmith’s save from the second, low-hit fk was superb. Like Keanu Reeves catching a bullet. Why don’t we have someone lying down in the wall so that we have cover when they all jump wincingly, covering their baubles?

1Wildsmith 5 24Nyambe 8 17Sibley 5 35Nelson 8 6Cashin 9 3Forsyth 7 5Bradley 6 2Wilson 8 23Ward 7 8Bird 7 4Hourihane 7 7Barkhuizen 7 16Thompson 9 11Méndez-Laing 7 9Collins 6 19John-Jules 7

Exhilarating stuff. JJ was excellent. Nyambe excellent going up the line (didn’t expect him to come off). Bird was so much better when he played deeper. Wilson and Ward were both a handful. Cashin absurdly good, Nelson so solid. Fabulous to see Tommo’s impact. We need to keep our heads on our shoulders, Portsmouth, Bolton and Barnsley will take some beating over the next half and there are some dark horses in there

JJ proper striker

Oxford a lot better than anyone we’ve faced recently and we’re a bit off the pace. Given the goal probably no changes at half time. But Oxford have lots of running in them and Hourihane and Fozzy will need a break soon. Ward and JJ please

This may be it I think Ward and Fornah should both start and if he gets more play Fornah could get much better

Real challenge, for the same line up to match their superb first half against Wigan.. I’d think Oxford will be expecting high pressing and have a plan one way or another to counter it.

Like the look of that. But I think we’ll see Collins and Hourihane as starters

Warne has frequently said he wants us to move the ball faster. We did that very well in the first half and boy did it make a difference

I think NmL needs fewer minutes wherever possible. He’s playing so well and we want him to last

Still moving it quickly Plenty playing well but some not contributing. Time for changes

Colin’s left footed shot in 41’ has to be hit along the ground. Great half though but this game is far from over

Haha Collins is 6’2 and has a manager whose mantra is ‘run harder, get it out wide and cross it ‘

8/1 on Collins scoring a header against Wigan. Quite telling

The cross etched in most memories is surely NMl with the outside of his foot. A beautiful thing

The RD post Lincoln interview was crazy stuff. It was all about how the players are letting us down. Any reference to the last minute calamity vs Wycombe (there have been a few) is a shot at Ward. Managers can play it a few ways - harp on about the mistake, say nothing, or say hey we all make mistakes. Subbing Ward was itself harsh criticism but no effort was made to take the sting out of that. The Wigan pre match was on similar lines. Warne - despite our current run - continues to be criticised for not achieving consistency and for not getting the best football out of his squad. I think we are seeing him in the press turn on the players (‘maybe this is all they’ve got’). Maybe it’s a clever motivational approach that will work. Or maybe it’s merely deflecting attention from Warne. But there’s a danger that if he attacks the team and the team does not respect his coaching, then he just demotivates them Yes I’d like to see 3 CBs, Fozzie, Cashin and Nelson. Problem is sales in jan might make that difficult, if Bird and Cashin go. In any case we now lose a lot if Fozzie is not at CB. If he does play at CB now, I think he’ll be able to do the same next season whichever league we’re in

Your memory is doubly faulty. I’ve massive respect for Collins’ work rate so most of my posts about him have been positive. As well as commending his energy, I’ve said that his ball striking (when he gets it right) is excellent. Except with his head So why should he be dropped?: well, a forward press by one player is not effective, his ability to link with others is limited (not least because his first and his last touch is frequently poor), and his ability to find himself in the right place in the box - that crucial weapon in the striker’s armoury - is uncommonly absent. Also important to note that when we find ourselves leading, Collins can be an excellent game-closing sub in the second half. On account of his work rate I don’t think we’ll overtake the Portsmouths and the Boltons without playing good football. So I think Warne needs to fashion out of this squad a unit that does that. In my book Collins isn’t part of that starting line up

Agree with this. Warne has told the fans a couple of times : I’d have delivered 8 wins on the trot if Ward hadn’t had a moment of madness v Wycombe. Blaming players; and we will see a lot of that if we stutter in the race to the automatics. The fact is, Ward carries the ball as well as anyone, he links well with others and his defensive frailties are no secret. So use him higher up the field. Fozzie on the other hand is our most experienced player and Warne is playing him in a role that requires far more athleticism than even he can now muster. To get the best out of him we want him at CB - to play him elsewhere or to drop him is a massive waste

We’ve got plenty who can score goals and he’s not a better goal scorer than say NMl or Barks. I think playing better football is the best route to promotion and JC for all his effort and running does not promote fluent football

Wildsmith Nelson Fozzie Cashin Bird Tommo Ward Fornah Barks NML JJ

There was a big misunderstanding here. I spoke to a voting councillor after last night’s game. They thought they were awarding him the freedom of Derbion

You’re right that bird should be playing where Hourihane is. And of course Hourihane can on the odd occasion score fine goals like that but it’s not what we want. He’s now like Rooney in his post cake phase and we’re a stronger with him on the bench.

But we didn’t play crap. Was all a bit odd really. Warne’s RD interview was certainly weird. We played pretty well overall imo but PW was very downbeat. I wonder what games are being played with the players’ minds. We had some fabulous passages of play on the left in the top third. (I feel the criticism of Barkhuizen is unfair.) But mainly we again lacked connectivity between the players. In possession players find themselves in static, isolated positions - Fozzie especially - they have no support and they end up with a back pass or with a speculative ball forward which usually doesn’t work. Every once in a while we find an overload but most of the time it’s the opposite. We had several throws in the first half when embarrassingly the thrower had zero options. Partly it’s fitness. But more it’s the positions players hold when we’re in possession which leaves us too spread. I think it’s maybe driven by an obsession with width and wanting always to keep the long ball an option . I fear the lack of a cohesive midfield might be our downfall

The keeper is about 7 foot. A schoolboy would know he has to pull it back

I thought Warne intimated that those funds would be used largely to cover operating losses