Hopes
of an Oxford resurgence were cruelly dashed last night as the
league's best attack unsurprisingly overcame one the of the league's
worst defences by three goals to nil with the nation watching on
through their TVs.
This performance
against one of the better sides in the league effectively
demonstrated the areas which need the most improvement if we are to
be truly competitive this season. For the first half in particular we
matched Port Vale in most departments and were unlucky to go in at
half time a goal down. Particularly in the early exchanges we at
least matched the hosts, passing the ball around well and playing
positive, attacking football.
With
a back four that has been decimated by injury, centre back Johnny
Mullins was forced to cover at right back. It was an inelegant
solution to a problem caused by having two good right backs on the
sidelines and one that would prove costly, with Ashley Vincent having
free reign up the flank. Mullins and O'Brien had extreme difficulty
dealing with the steady flow of long balls into the channels and this
allowed wingers Vincent and Jennison Myrie-Williams (who nearly
signed for us a couple of years ago) to get the wrong side of the
defence and play dangerous balls across the face of goal.
It
was from one such move that Vale got their opener. Vincent was set
free down our right hand side by a simple long ball which Mullins
failed to deal with, crossing in to Dodds, whose shot was well saved
by Ryan Clarke. However, the rebound fell straight to the feet of
Vale top scorer Tom Pope, who had the straightforward task of
slotting the ball home from six yards with Clarke helpless on the
floor.
It
threw into sharp relief the difference between the two sides. We had
matched Vale in almost every area, but while we looked dangerous
going forward we never actually created any serious goalscoring
opportunities. Time and time again we would get ourselves into
promising positions with some good passing moves only to see poor
decision-making or a single sloppy ball undo all of the good approach
work. The concerning aspect of this is that it wasn't a poor game
from one player - they were all responsible for our attacks breaking
down.
Nevertheless
we didn't deserve to find ourselves a goal down at half time and
should have had an opportunity to equalise shortly before the break
when Constable was clearly fouled in the area, but the referee
somehow managed to ignore the foul, having blown up for a series of
far more minor incidents elsewhere on the pitch throughout the match.
We
were again looking to get on the front foot at the start of the
second half, but were immediately undone by more sloppy defending to
double the deficit. A long ball over the top beat the defence and
found Vincent, who was able to get the wrong side of his marker and
stay onside thanks to an appallingly wonky backline, who squeezed the
ball past Clarke from an extremely tight angle. Full marks to him for
the finish but it was another poor goal to concede from a defensive
standpoint.
The
referee played his part again when he failed to send off Vale's Sam
Morsy for an awful two-footed lunge over the top of the ball which
could have broken Jake Forster-Caskey's leg. It was a decision which
would again cost us minutes later when Morsy unleashed an unstoppable
shot from outside the box to complete the scoring. It gives us
another instance to complain about players scoring wondergoals
against us, but the fact is that we are conceding so many goals
outside the area because we give players space to shoot from
distance. If we pressed more effectively within 30 yards of goal
those goals would dry up.
Ultimately,
though, what had begun as a promising performance that could have
been another step towards refinding some semblance of form eventually
turned into an embarrassment on national TV. The players lost the
heart to go forward any more when they saw how easily we were being
hit on the counter-attack and the game effectively ended after an
hour as Port Vale comfortably saw the game out.
The
match really highlighted some fundamental problems with this side,
some of which were familiar already and some of which can perhaps be
put down to the injury situation, but all need to be
addressed if we are to get ourselves up the other end of the table.
The most concerning aspect for me is not the shocking defending,
which can certainly be explained in part by the fact that Wilder was
forced to field a completely makeshift back four. Most concerning for
me is that, despite having to chase the game in the second half, we
never once troubled their goalkeeper and looked completely clueless
going forward. Scoring goals has been a problem that has dogged us
throughout Chris Wilder's tenure and it's a problem that has never
been solved. That concerns me immensely.
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