| Sky put a stat on screen about our results after conceding the first goal 08:17 - Nov 29 with 1339 views | Dubtractor |
It was that since March 2024, in the 30 games where we have conceded first, we had lost 23 and drawn 7 with 0 wins. That stat is now one worse on the defeat column.
Even allowing for the fact that stat includes a (dismal) season in the premier league, that's a shocker to see in numbers, and we've seen 6 games of that type this season already.
It really does add weight to the fact that teams know that if they get something to hold onto against us, there is a game plan that will blunt us too easily. Park the bus when we have possession, let us commit too many players forward, hit us on the break with pace. That's not to say Oxford played negatively, or sh1thoused us, just that they got themselves very compact and left little space to play in, and then picked their moments to attack.
It's not a tactical problem we faced last season, and not really in 23/24 either, but it is very evident this season and we are massively struggling to solve it. The result is that we're dropping way too many points against really average teams.
Our success, or not, this season hinges on solving that challenge. We'll be fine if we score first, as we saw when Hull had to open up a bit and we created at will, but unless we stop conceding with what often feels like the first chance for the opposition, we're going to continue to struggle unless McKenna/the players work out a better way to unpick those packed defences. |  |
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| Sky put a stat on screen about our results after conceding the first goal on 08:24 - Nov 29 with 1257 views | Plums |
That's a really interesting stat and analysis. It would interesting to see the stats for wins from losing positions prior to that because I had the feeling that we were very much the comeback kings in L1 and much of the Championship promotion season. It didn't seem to matter what the opposition did because we had an answer. In the Premier League that didn't happen and clearly isn't happening now.
There have been massive personnel changes since March 2024 - effectively two squads. The belief that we can overturn any opponents start in a game has clearly gone. It's definitely gone from the terraces too. |  |
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| Sky put a stat on screen about our results after conceding the first goal on 08:34 - Nov 29 with 1183 views | Reuser_is_God |
In 23/24 we conceded first multiple times. Remember that run of about 4 home games in a row that we conceded in the first 5 minutes?
But it didn’t matter, the players & the crowd just knew that the mentality was there to turn it around.
Now we make one error, concede & then don’t recover & even just go on to continue making similar errors.
Not good enough & the players need to grow some balls & stop it happening. |  |
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| Sky put a stat on screen about our results after conceding the first goal on 08:45 - Nov 29 with 1111 views | Blue_Uprising |
I think we faced this tactical problem a fair bit in the premier league for 2/3 of the season. In the context of teams outside the top 6/8. I may be misremembering (sorry if I am) but I feel lots of teams adopted a style of sitting off us lets us huff and puff and pass it around in the centre of the pitch before picking us off and counterattacking.
I’m just surprised with the very big shift in quality of opposition that this problem has remained. Lack of cohesion is one thing. But I have to confess I though normal service would be resumed for long stretches of games (rather than glimpses) and now I’m worried that we just don’t have a coaching solution to this way of neutralising us.
I thought oxfords high pressing style would play into our hands but we just never really put it together from back to front. E.g beat the press, quick transition, overload, smart cross / pass through the lines and chance. Small parts worked well in isolation last night but not really as a whole.
Clearest issues for me are
- transition phase, really slow
- overload, ignoring Davis on left and nothing really on the right
- final ball, poor decision making and composure
Which is rather a lot of things to fix. The 2025 calendar year has weakened my faith about overall adaptability. But we will see. |  | | |
| Sky put a stat on screen about our results after conceding the first goal on 08:48 - Nov 29 with 1088 views | Blue_Heath |
Totally agree, for me there's no leadership on pitch, no senior leadership team or effective captain.
The quality of play in the final third is generally awful, blind balls played into the box and players who the ball bounces off if it does reach one. Add to that the countless efforts strikers have had and not scored it's easy to see why we are struggling. We need a proper goalscorer.
Another stat yesterday the Oxford guy who hadn't scored all season, Ipswich - hold my beer. |  |
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| Sky put a stat on screen about our results after conceding the first goal on 08:48 - Nov 29 with 1088 views | BseaBlue |
I saw it and thought it was a huge concern. A big part of our last promotion was that it never felt like we were beaten.
It feels as though this is a bit of a hangover from getting relegated so the players need to show a bit of leadership and get this off their backs. |  | | |
| Sky put a stat on screen about our results after conceding the first goal on 08:51 - Nov 29 with 1068 views | Dubtractor |
| Sky put a stat on screen about our results after conceding the first goal on 08:45 - Nov 29 by Blue_Uprising |
I think we faced this tactical problem a fair bit in the premier league for 2/3 of the season. In the context of teams outside the top 6/8. I may be misremembering (sorry if I am) but I feel lots of teams adopted a style of sitting off us lets us huff and puff and pass it around in the centre of the pitch before picking us off and counterattacking.
I’m just surprised with the very big shift in quality of opposition that this problem has remained. Lack of cohesion is one thing. But I have to confess I though normal service would be resumed for long stretches of games (rather than glimpses) and now I’m worried that we just don’t have a coaching solution to this way of neutralising us.
I thought oxfords high pressing style would play into our hands but we just never really put it together from back to front. E.g beat the press, quick transition, overload, smart cross / pass through the lines and chance. Small parts worked well in isolation last night but not really as a whole.
Clearest issues for me are
- transition phase, really slow
- overload, ignoring Davis on left and nothing really on the right
- final ball, poor decision making and composure
Which is rather a lot of things to fix. The 2025 calendar year has weakened my faith about overall adaptability. But we will see. |
Agree that last season teams tended to pick us off on the counter, but I don't think we faced massed defences in the same way. Teams, as you say, let us pass it around a lot and then punished us when we had players committed forward.
Its a variation on the same theme though. We are too easy to score against for teams prepared to be patient and play on the counter, and we struggle to unpick an organised team. | |
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| Sky put a stat on screen about our results after conceding the first goal on 09:16 - Nov 29 with 995 views | Blue_Uprising |
| Sky put a stat on screen about our results after conceding the first goal on 08:51 - Nov 29 by Dubtractor |
Agree that last season teams tended to pick us off on the counter, but I don't think we faced massed defences in the same way. Teams, as you say, let us pass it around a lot and then punished us when we had players committed forward.
Its a variation on the same theme though. We are too easy to score against for teams prepared to be patient and play on the counter, and we struggle to unpick an organised team. |
Yes agreed it’s the thematic issues.
In the prem for different reasons, teams are so quick and able to get back into their defensive shape and with players that track back very well. Championship teams just maintain that lower block and sit in. And our kryptonite is unlocking that.
Frustratingly I felt that Oxford offered much more of a way around them than Wrexham, Charlton or Hull even. But we failed to apply the pressure to the weak points. The 23/24 team was much better at identifying and exploiting weak points on the fly in the game and then turning the screw. It was lovely having that ‘we’re going to score in a minute’ feeling which I have not really had this season much. | | | |
| Sky put a stat on screen about our results after conceding the first goal on 09:36 - Nov 29 with 917 views | TrumptonBlue |
23/24 stats for comparison:
We conceded first on 18 occasions and ended W7 D7 L4 from those games. Even more impressive than I remember, really.
Among the opposition players who scored the first goal, incidentally, were Darnell Furlong, Jack Clarke and Marcelino Nuñez. |  | | |
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| Sky put a stat on screen about our results after conceding the first goal on 09:58 - Nov 29 with 846 views | Juggsy |
For a manager that is very stat driven, the stats clearly show that McKenna is pi$$ poor at being able to counteract this kind of alarming stat. Surely someone upstairs is scrutinising him now? He looks in dire need of an experienced person to work with him as there is something clearly wrong and lacking throughout the expensively assembled team. |  | | |
| Sky put a stat on screen about our results after conceding the first goal on 10:02 - Nov 29 with 820 views | Swansea_Blue |
That was pretty damning reading wasn’t it. |  |
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| Sky put a stat on screen about our results after conceding the first goal on 10:31 - Nov 29 with 736 views | RIPbobby |
Interesting post. Oxford did well. The only time I thought they were doing a bit of gamesmanship was the last 10 minutes of the first half. The 2 subs they bought on were very effective. The goal scorer and the loaned CF were killing us. Our subs didn't effect the game like theirs did. Predictable subs I guess. Mind you predictability is what we are all about. Trainers out there will understand this as behaviourism. Which is good in some ways, but perhaps takes the traditional instinct out of a player and inserts default response.
It's only a matter of time before Taylor or Matusiwa pick up a multiple game injury and it appears we have no backup for them. Unless there is a kid in the u23s? Hopefully we can get Szmodics back in soon and maybe he can find that elusive home goal. He might be better now that we have sorted the CM issue we had earlier in the season.
Maybe an unexpected injury will force the manager to changing the system a bit and we might hit on something again. This season has been too much about long shot goals and set plays for us. We just can't score bread and butter goals anymore. |  | | |
| Sky put a stat on screen about our results after conceding the first goal on 10:39 - Nov 29 with 705 views | Benters |
| Sky put a stat on screen about our results after conceding the first goal on 08:34 - Nov 29 by Reuser_is_God |
In 23/24 we conceded first multiple times. Remember that run of about 4 home games in a row that we conceded in the first 5 minutes?
But it didn’t matter, the players & the crowd just knew that the mentality was there to turn it around.
Now we make one error, concede & then don’t recover & even just go on to continue making similar errors.
Not good enough & the players need to grow some balls & stop it happening. |
Beautifully put 👍 |  |
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