Match Day Thread Hull City v Oxford

Post match, SJ told White that Crooks was ok - can run all day.

Hopefully, boot is just precautionary.

 

Fingers crossed. The fact he's still kitted up and doing corporate stuff post-match might (might?) be a good sign.

 

Crooks looks far fitter.. He must have had a hard working summer getting fit. Looks all the better for it. Decent touch and an intelligence that I last saw in a Robert Koren.

 

Really enjoyable win that. The first half especially was great.

Thought everyone played well and we actually had a game plan. Great to see the leaders in the team shouting instructions to the other players.

Full deserved late winner.

 

The players look ridiculously fit. I had a look on Oxford’s forum (not Not606, they have their own site) and they bemoaned, amongst other things, their lack of fitness. Several were saying how their players look frigged after three games and said our players looked like the could run another hour.

I thought every one of our players put a shift in. Nobody shirked their duty.

 

For all the abuse he gets I think he deserves as much praise for today, he needs space infront of him which in the first half he got and for our 3rd goal. He puts in some lovely balls which our players need to judge more.

His biggest floor is anticipation which you can see the manager going crazy at him. Nice to see an upturn with both full backs today.

 

I hate to batter the ref, in a positive result, but he was woeful today. I don’t want to see him for a long time again.

 

He had a nightmare last week Birmingham v Ipswich. He wasn't much better today. He started okay, but suddenly lost the plot....He's the same Herbert who penalised Connolly after he got literally flattened by the Norwich keeper..

 

We really were bloody good today. As others have said, every time we went forward we looked a threat. I don't know what we did differently really but every time we got the ball to our attacking players they always seemed to have time and space to make something happen. Obviously stats can be misleading but to have 75% possession without ever being behind (which is often what inflates a possession stat because a team with a lead sits back) is impressive, especially as it never looked like we were being cautious or possession-focused in our approach.

 

isn't it a joy to get 'football' back - no ****ing about at the back - hallelujah!!!!

 

One hundred percent

 

A few things here.....
firstly, McBurnie provides an out ball we've not had for a long time, defenders can play it in to him half the length of the pitch knowing there's a good chance we retain possession, allows us to progress up the pitch more effectively and turn teams round
2nd-of-ly, our full backs are getting really high and wide and Jak is encouraging the long switch from the CBS, again getting us forwards quickly
c) we're not afraid to lose possession to try get forwards, previous obsessions with retaining the ball at all costs being ditched for more risky balls, didn't always work but got us in a lot today, especially first half when Oxford were pressing us
4 - we're getting the ball back in play a lot quicker, esp from our goal kicks and when Pandur has possession, this was a massive frustration under LR in particular, letting teams get set defensively before restarting, now ditched in favour of getting on with it before they're ready, again a risk Vs reward and loosening of how we play

 

I absolutely love fast paced diagonal passes
They are so satisfying to watch but can also be so effective for finding space quickly
And we hit so many today
It was a joy to watch

 

So long as they don't make any noise

 

I’m pissed. Enjoyed that. UTT.

 

Does that include snoring?

 

Does anyone else think burnsey sounded ill today, I heard he hasn’t been well of late. I’ve sat in the same studio as him and to be honest hearing him today I felt a little concerned for his health. Mind you the mic fook ups didn’t help..sound guys need to get their act together…

 

I think that's fortune in some cases e.g mcburnie and Gelhardt but they look well up for it too.

 

and I'd add a fifth, we really mix up our attacking play now, playing through the middle, great curled crosses and hitting the byline to pull it back (which we barely did for the last two years).

 

Have a lot of thoughts on this game overall, and after a night to reflect on it..

I think we have one in Jakirovic. It's only been three games but you can see very clearly the style of play he's trying to get out of the players. One touch, direct play with players overlapping and making runs and putting the opposition on the back foot. The players look switched on and are looking for the movement and you saw it on a number of times from Palmer, McBurnie, Kamara, Giles, etc. etc. all looking to play that pass through with the opposition wrong footed to put people through on goal. I think the most heartening thing is that even second half when Oxford went deep to contain us, we still found ways through and continued to create chances, eventually breaking them down. I'm sure we'll still have off days where we come away without a goal, or where we look off it, no team is perfect, but it tells me that for the vast majority of games we will be in them till the end, scoring or creating chances and playing a very watchable style.

I thought the other key aspect of Jakirovic is how our existing players as well as new signings look a step up on last season. There's something to be said for natural development and consistency, and I'm sure there's a natural cohesion that comes from Palmer, Gelhardt, Crooks, Kamara all having played together for chunks of last season, but throwing McBurnie, Ndala and even Akintola in the mix late on and they continued to look very promising. I think McBurnie has it quite naturally, but Ndala as a raw prospect has slotted in relatively seamlessly. I made the point last season that the biggest detriment of Walter's poor style was that the attacking talent we had invested heavily in was depreciating in value almost by the week. At least if you're **** but scoring 2-3 goals a week then come the end of the season you have a 10 goal winger or 15 goal striker you can try to sell to raise funds. If you're **** and not scoring then what do you do with a 2-3 goal striker?

Giles in particular looks a player transformed, and when we're talking about rescuing value, or appreciating value in a player, there's no doubt that we've made the right call hanging onto him and not just palming him off for 500k to someone. Whether it's Jakirovic, his failure at Boro or a combination of both, I think the moment that encapsulated it for me was outpacing the Oxford full back to be first to a loose ball when it appeared lost. He very easily could have dropped his head, barked at the player who played the pass and given up on it, but he sprinted after it, won it and (I think) won us a corner.

I'm trying not to get too carried away after two league games of the season because I've regularly complained about those who lurch from extremes on here over the years, but I think if nothing else this will be a fun season, I can't see Jakirovic losing his job so it should finally be a season of consolidation and consistency on that front, and touching all sorts of wood (behave), if we have a good run with injuries, I really do think a top half or dare I say it better finish is not out of the question. This is actually a very good squad, and I just hope we don't self-sabotage before deadline if we can avoid it. I think it will be fascinating to see how we play against an Ipswich or someone of that quality, but Sheff Utd and Leicester look beatable, we've already come away with a draw at Cov, it doesn't feel like there's that many teams in this league who are write offs for us, and when you're in that sort of situation, you can kind of say 'well why not us?'