Oxford not realistically a close rival
FAN’S VIEW
FOUR goals shipped and a bad performance wasn’t exactly on my agenda as Oxford came to town, they hadn’t scored until Saturday and I’d hoped we’d be confident enough to try and get at their defenders who had little confidence after the first fortnight of action.
As it turned out, their team coach caused them more grief than we did in the game!
Alas, it wasn’t to be, but it’s important not to get too disheartened.
Yes, it was bad to watch, but it would be a different story if we’d produced that against Wimbledon, or MK, or someone else that we know for sure will be around us when the season draws to a close and we’re tallying the points.
Oxford won’t be in that mix. They’re a good side with a manager who has been with them now for a few years, a lifetime in terms of modern footballing trends.
Karl Robinson’s side realistically aren’t a rival of ours. So, dry your eyes mate, on to the next one.
Before the game I think we were all wondering how a missing Sangare and Uwakwe would affect us. I’d hoped they wouldn’t, seeing as they’re quite new around these parts… but deary me, we lacked dynamism in the final third.
Sangare looks like he could be a player doing a role in the first two games that no one else in the squad is able to do, picking up the ball and comfortably moving play forward.
Stephen Sama certainly looked off the pace in the first half and unable to do that job credibly. So, if we will persist with the new shape it begs the question, who is going to sit in front of the back three and play football?
It poses the question, if we are missing key players then would it be more beneficial to go back to a traditional back four until we’re back to full strength?
With full-backs like Maguire and Rodgers in the squad I think it may be better for us to shift back and utilise them, they’re not traditional wing-backs.
However, you’d have to drop a centre half and Hughes is the experience, Sykes the golden boy and Burgess the new signing.
Who’d be a football manager, eh?
The next two league games would be critical fixtures in any year, now it seems that they come with added importance even at this early stage.
Wimbledon are unbeaten, and they won’t take us lightly.
For all of our battles over the last ten years they’ve only beaten us three times. Yes, in all of that they knocked us out of the play offs, but the less said about that the better. I feel like this is another perfect opportunity for us to go to a ground we are confident in and maximise our creativity.
Wimbledon fans usually play a part and we often handle them, let’s see how we do without any of them around. Hopefully Trevor Kettle isn’t in charge.
Rochdale comes the week after, they’ve had a predictable start, managing just one point. They’re more than just a bit of a bogey side for us. In 16 games since returning to the football league we’ve managed just seven points against our cousins in Greater Manchester, the last of which came seven years ago and I think we all remember the Lee Molyneux goals that night. They’ve lost players like Ian ‘Rochdale’s Steven Gerrard’ Henderson to Salford and Callum Camps to Fleetwood, the latter absolutely running the show against us in the last two seasons so I’m glad to see the back of him. Let’s focus on these two games, be positive and grab at least four points.
Oh, and there’s a Blackpool fixture in between that in the Leasing.com Trophy, but, none of us really care do we? Have a good weekend, speak soon, Reds.