The Importance of Width in League Two

Sean Rigg
Picture by Jon Whiles Photography

At the top level of the game the debate continues to rage about whether the traditional winger as we know it is dead. The success of Spain at international level with their unorthodox and much-vaunted 4-6-0 approach and the increasing popularity of the narrow 4-2-3-1 among Europe's top clubs have combined to push the old tried-and-true 4-4-2 well and truly out of favour – and with it everyone's favourite player: the winger.

But Oxford don't play at the top level of the game and they aren't one of Europe's top clubs (yet!), so emulating Barcelona isn't necessarily likely to bring results in League Two. Having won promotion from the Conference by utilising a direct approach that involved getting the ball up to the front three of James Constable, Jack Midson and Matt Green as quickly as possible, Chris Wilder jettisoned this approach upon the club's return to the Football League. Overhauling the squad in the summer of 2010, Oxford were set up with a continental narrow 4-3-3 formation and an emphasis on passing football and ball retention. The result was a side which played some beautiful football and finished 12^th. Clearly a rethink was needed.

The sad fact is that at our level of football the players are too limited to make such a fluid approach work successfully. Instead the 4-4-2, for all its faults, is a system which all the players are used to and comfortable with and as a result they perform better. The intervening years between those early League Two lessons and now have seen a lot of tinkering and experimenting as Wilder has tried to hit upon the magic formula for success, and although there probably is no single approach that guarantees promotion one thing that has stood out in recent seasons is that good wing play can be a major factor in a side's success at League Two level.

Take Port Vale last season as a notable example. Lots of people pinpointed the impressive goalscoring form of Tom Pope as the reason for Vale's unexpectedly successful season, but he was only able to find the net so often because there was a steady supply of chances landing at his feet (or on his head or anywhere else really), most of which came from the wingers. Ashley Vincent and Jennison Myrie-Williams were a devastating force last season, as demonstrated when they were allowed to roam free during the 3-0 demolition they inflicted on us at Vale Park.

The importance of quality wide players was emphasised again on Saturday when Chesterfield ended our unbeaten start to the season. Of course, when you've assembled a squad like theirs it's easy to look good but as we're discussing style of play rather than personnel I think they still serve as a very strong example of how to play at this level. Chesterfield constantly look to stretch the play and get their wide players on the ball and as a result Gary Roberts and Tendayi Darikwa gave our full-backs trouble all afternoon. Most Oxford fans agreed that Chesterfield were the best side we're likely to come up against this season and part of the reason for that success is the way they use the flanks. Their goal on Saturday, for example, came from a ball in from the left.

Alfie Potter
Picture by Jon Whiles Photography

And then, of course, there's us. With Alfie Potter and Sean Rigg we have two of the best wingers in League Two within our ranks. When both are fit and we really utilise the width they offer they can be unstoppable – as they were at Portsmouth on the opening day of the season. Rigg's injury perhaps highlighted how fundamental the wingers are to our chances this season, with just one win from the four matches he missed (not including Torquay and Chesterfield, both of which he played some part in). We've already touched on this point when discussing Oxford's younger players, but by replacing Rigg with the naturally central Asa Hall our attacking potential was considerably reduced.

This lack of cover out wide – particularly if O'Dowda isn't considered ready for first-team football yet – is possibly my biggest concern about the team at the moment. Rigg and Potter won't play every match this season, and being wingers they won't necessarily play brilliantly in every match either, so we need more options that can come on and deputise to ensure that we maintain a wide threat. That could be the difference between the flashes of brilliance we've seen so far and a consistently strong season.

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Oxford United 0-1 Chesterfield

Oxford fell to their first defeat of the season in controversial circumstances at home to Chesterfield. The league leaders scored in a topsy-turvy first half when Ritchie Humphries side-footed in a cross from Eoin Doyle. Oxford were still well and truly in the match, however, until referee Trevor Kettle stepped up to centre stage by sending off Andy Whing. Despite being down to ten men United kept pushing, but the task was just too much in the end.

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PREVIEW: Chesterfield Home (21/09/13)

With just seven games gone so far the current League Two season may still be in its infancy, but this weekend's meeting of first and second already seems to be shaping up to be a monster of a match. Chesterfield, the only other unbeaten side in the division, come to town looking to firmly establish themselves at the top of the league and the result of this game could go some way to determining the outlook at the top of the table for quite a while after. Victory for Chesterfield would put them seven points clear of us, while if we come out on top there will be just a single point separating the two sides.

The Spireites have been imperial form at the start of this season, with six wins and one draw so far, their best start to a season for more than a century. That solitary occasion when Chesterfield have dropped points came a month ago when they were held to a 2-2 draw at Rochdale. Since then they have gone on to string together a run of four straight victories. In contrast, of course, we have only won one of our last four matches (a very impressive 2-0 victory away at Burton) and haven't won at home since Bury were the visitors in our second match of the season.

But there are still plenty of good reasons to be hopeful ahead of this match. As Chesterfield's recent results show, they're not a side to sit back and play for a draw away from home and they will obviously come into the match confident of getting a result. This could actually play into our hands, as probably the best counter-attacking side in the league, and the usual problem of breaking sides down at home should be less of a problem this weekend.

What could be a problem, however, is the quality that Chesterfield boast throughout their ranks. Former Premier League player Ian Evatt has struggled to win a starting place, while experienced striker Gary McSheffrey is another new recruit after making his debut from the bench in last weekend's impressive 2-0 victory over AFC Wimbledon. They've further strengthened their squad this week with the signing of Ollie Banks from FC United of Manchester for an undisclosed fee. Top-scorer Gary Roberts has been the star of the show for Chesterfield so far this season, picking up the Player of the Month award last month ahead of Alfie Potter. Another player to watch for the Spireites this weekend is Ivorian striker Armand Gnanduillet, who has already popped up with important goals against Southend and Portsmouth after signing from French side Poissy during the summer.

Picture by Jon Whiles Photography

The big news to come out of the United camp ahead of this match is the early return of Sean Rigg from injury. He had been expected to miss up to eight weeks with a hamstring injury after he limped off against Torquay, but just four weeks later here he is back amongst the matchday squad. But after missing out for the past few weeks, it seems unlikely that he'll come straight back into the first team, so expect to see him on the bench this weekend. One player who definitely won't be on the bench for this match is Tyrone Marsh, who has been ruled out with a sore foot. He joins James Constable, Jake Wright and Jon Meades on the treatment table.

This of course leaves us with just two strikers available for this match in Dave Kitson and the injury-plagued Deane Smalley. And although Smalley's fitness has been doubtful in recent weeks, expect him to play a big part this weekend against his old club. He rejected an offer from Chesterfield in the summer of 2011 after helping them win promotion, opting for a move to Oxford instead. Andy Whing is another to have formerly featured for Chesterfield, making 11 appearances on loan at Saltergate from Brighton in the latter part of the 2009-10 campaign. On the other side of the divide is Sam Togwell, who made four undistinguished appearances for the yellows in 2004 on loan from Crystal Palace. He has since carved out a decent career for himself, with stints at Barnsley and Scunthorpe before joining Chesterfield last year.

Oxford have never beaten Chesterfield at the Kassam – although the two sides have only met there on two previous occasions. The first of those was a rather unexceptional 0-0 draw in the 2010-11 season and that latter was one we'd probably rather forget. The Spireites ground out a 1-0 win in what was a turgid game as United struggled to get going, giving Chesterfield a double victory after their controversial2-1 home win earlier in the season. But before we start to feel that all the omens are against us, let's remember our first trip to Chesterfield's new home when the then-table-toppers were toppled by an Oxford side on a miserable run of five defeats. Football's a funny old game.

From the Vaults

Oxford United v Chesterfield, 12^th August 1995

Oxford kicked off the 95-96 season with high hopes of promotion once again after disappointingly falling short the previous year. The opponents on the opening day of the season were newly-promoted Chesterfield and Oxford appeared to be stuttering to a drab 0-0 draw until Chrissy Allen's effort late in the game. We all love a last-minute winner, don't we?

You can find this and many other old OUFC matches in our VIDEO VAULT!

Also This Weekend

The youth team look to build on last week's 2-0 victory over Newport County as they make another long trip down to the south-west to face Exeter City. Victory this weekend would see the young yellows leapfrog their opponents, who have made an identical start to the season as our lads with two wins, a draw and a defeat from their opening league games.

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Why Home Form Will Always Be a Problem Under Chris Wilder

One factor that has been frequently remarked upon this season is the considerable difference between Oxford's home and away form. Saturday's miserable 1-0 defeat to Chesterfield was our seventh at the Kassam Stadium this season, meaning we have taken just 29 points from a possible 60 at home – less than half. In direct contrast, our form away from home would put us in the top seven in the league with as many victories on the road as we have mustered at home all season.

Many supporters have been quick to blame the condition of the pitch (and the presence of London Welsh) for our poor home form, and this certainly hasn't helped. Others have blamed the toxic atmosphere in the stands for destroying the team's confidence. But this problem is not a new one, it's been an ever-present thorn in our side for the last three seasons and is representative of a more fundamental failing which has never been addressed.

Way back in September 2011 I wrote about this very same issue, arguing that the reason we were performing better away from home was because “the onus to attack is on the home team, and as they attempt to venture forward the game becomes more open”. This works away from home because our style of play has always benefited from an open game, but at home we are often facing sides who come looking to knick a goal and then see the game out. Chesterfield were a classic example, scoring with their only chance after five minutes and then looking to slow the game down and frustrate as they sought to cling onto their lead.

And the Chesterfield example is not a one-off, we've seen this happen countless times in recent seasons. Take for example our first home game in League Two back in August 2010. We thoroughly outplayed a Bury side who went on to win promotion at the end of the season – yet somehow finished that game on the losing side. The reception the team got after that match was overwhelmingly positive because although we had lost we knew we had been by far the better side and that could only spell good things for the rest of the campaign. But that feel-good factor soon wore off after repeat performances against Stockport, Aldershot, Torquay, Gillingham, Southend and Hereford. Last season it was the same story, as we dropped points at home to Aldershot, Burton, Bradford, Crawley, Crewe, Hereford and Macclesfield – despite being the better side in every one of those games.

The problem which hasn't been solved here is the age-old issue of how to beat sides who turn up and 'park the bus' and it is a problem which, in three years of trying, Chris Wilder has been unable to solve at League Two level. The sides which win promotion aren't vastly better than us in footballing terms; the key difference between them and us is that they have found a way to grind out results against these sides. The unfortunate fact is that any mediocre League Two side can pass the ball around nicely enough on their day – we're certainly not the only fans who have proclaimed their side 'the best footballing side in League Two' only to come unstuck in matches we should be winning. The true key to success at any level is being clinical when chances are created.

The Chesterfield match was a case in point: on chances created Oxford should have won that match with ease. Chris Wilder himself said afterwards that it should have been 5-1 at half-time, but we were let down by wasteful finishing. Chesterfield won on Saturday because they converted the one chance they created and against an Oxford side which simply cannot finish their chances, that is all our opponents need to do. Again this is nothing new, we've been complaining about this same problem for a while now and it isn't being put right. As this graph from the excellent Experimental 3-6-1 shows, we are decidedly middle-of-the-road when our goals-to-chances ratio is compared to the rest of League Two:

Picture from Experimental 3-6-1

This brings us round to another oft-raised point, which is the absence of any specialist coaching for the strikers. Chris Wilder, Mickey Lewis and Andy Melville might well be very good coaches, but they were all defensive players and have brought with them that defensive expertise. Is it so surprising that our strikers couldn't hit a barn door when the people coaching them on it were never trained in it themselves?

Unfortunately, these issues have never been addressed, despite being painfully apparent for quite some time, and it now seems obvious that they won't be addressed as long as Chris Wilder is the manager. This isn't a call for his head, but simply a statement of what appear to be the facts. Speculation has been rife for quite some time that Wilder will be replaced as manager in the summer, but whoever is in charge next season needs to look at this as their first priority. Find ways to beat defensive sides at home and be more clinical in front of goal.

Of course, that is just my opinion. Here are a range of other opinions of why Oxford have struggled at home this season.

@tbfuth bad pitch, bad atmosphere, pressure from fans, trying too hard to get result.
— richard hanna (@oufc_turkish) March 18, 2013

@tbfuth pitch, lack of 4th stand, atmosphere and most significantly a lack ambition to take the game to the opposition. "Attack" x 5!
— Simon Lill (@OUFC1976) March 18, 2013

@tbfuth Inability to break open teams who sit back. We can bang with the big boys but get hustled by lesser teams.
— Gareth Brown (@OXONAssassin) March 18, 2013

@tbfuth basically we play same home or away difference being teams that attack us we tend to beat cos of the way we are set up 1/2
— Andrew Bedding (@billyoufc) March 18, 2013

@tbfuth a lack of width at home both wingers need to be told to stay out wide and don't move more than 5 yards inside.
— Andrew Bedding (@billyoufc) March 18, 2013

"@tbfuth: So #oufc fans, why do you think we are so poor at home?" odd how many teams are better away than hone this season across leagues.
— mincheryfarmweb (@MincheryFarmWeb) March 18, 2013

What's you opinion? Leave a comment!

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MATCH REPORT: Oxford United 0-1 Chesterfield

The play-off charge we had been beginning to get excited about came to a stuttering halt as Oxford found themselves beaten at home to a mediocre Chesterfield side. The curse of the Kassam struck once again it seems, as this result means that Oxford have now been beaten seven times at home this season. No wonder so many are feeling disgruntled.

Oxford looked to get on the front foot from the kick-off and, just as they had in midweek against Barnet, it was a lively start. But it wasn't long before we found ourselves on the back foot as Chesterfield, from their first (and as it turned out, only) chance of the game, took the lead. Defensively it was a really poor goal to concede, failing to deal with a simple long ball on the right-hand side which fell to the feet of Marc Richards who buried the ball into the back of the net.

But neither fans nor players were disheartened by the early setback and the extent to which United dominated the first half was impressive. However, through a combination of bad luck and a lack of composure in front of goal the numerous chances Oxford created in the first half all failed to level the scores. Deane Smalley in particular was a repeat offender, doing really well on numerous occasions to get himself into a good position only to fluff his lines at the crucial moment.

The first of these clear chances came as goalkeeper Tommy Lee – who had been the subject of much taunting from the home fans – spilled a cross at Smalley's feet, but he was unable to scramble it over the line and Chesterfield were able to clear. And again he was inches away from an equaliser when a dangerous ball from Damian Batt beat the keeper, but Smalley just couldn't stretch enough to reach it when the slightest of touches would have resulted in a goal. Smalley's hat-trick of missed chances came shortly before the half, when an excellent ball from Scott Davies put him through one-on-one with the goalkeeper, who was quick to go to ground. But instead of chipping it over the now-helpless keeper Smalley instead chose to blast the ball at his face and the chance was missed.

Chesterfield also played their role...the role of irritating, time-wasting match-spoilers. They were aided in their attempts to slow the game down to a walking pace by a thoroughly inept referee who did nothing to move the game on and played a laughably small amount of injury time after numerous stoppages for dubious 'injuries' to the Chesterfield players.

But if it seemed slightly unbelievable that we could have found ourselves 1-0 down after an impressive first-half performance, the second was an uncomfortably familiar demonstration of how not to overcome a single-goal deficit. United created nothing, looking utterly clueless going forward and awful in possession. Countless times passes went astray and possession was wasted, and the lack of movement off the ball betrayed a side that was completely out of ideas.

Both Sean Rigg and Alfie Potter, both of whom are usually dangerous players, had subdued games. They saw plenty of the ball, especially in the first half, but were unable to do anything with it and both struggled to get past the Chesterfield full-backs.

In a sign of desperation, Chris Wilder threw Harry Worley into the fray towards the end of the game, the result being that Oxford started pumping balls forward to the big man which were harmlessly punted back. To see us looking so listless when chasing the game and totally incapable of testing the keeper at all in the second half was incredibly frustrating when chasing the game. And especially because, on the evidence of the first half, Chesterfield would never have been able to withstand a sustained period of pressure if we could only have kept the tempo up.

But it wasn't to be, and we now look to our impressive away form to rebuild confidence against Northampton next weekend. The more reactive elements amongst our supporters have been quick to declare our season 'over' after this result, but the fact is that it was pretty unlikely that we would be able to reach the play-offs before this match and it's pretty unlikely now. It is, however, still possible.

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PREVIEW: Chesterfield Home (16/03/13)

A season that many of us chose to write off weeks ago now appears to have some life in it after all! Tuesday's narrow victory over Barnet thanks to an injury time header from Michael Raynes made it five wins from the last seven for United and 16 points from a possible 21. The gap between us and the play-offs is now just five points and with eight games still to play everything is still very much up for grabs.

Chesterfield may also harbour an outside chance of claiming the final play-off spot. Currently 12^th, they will need to bridge a ten-point gap to get there and matches like this have to be considered must-win for them. But the Spireites have been inconsistent all season and that hasn't shown much sign of changing recently, with a 1-0 defeat to Cheltenham sandwiched in between wins over Bristol Rovers and Dagenham & Redbridge. And manager Paul Cook seems likely to keep faith with the side which beat Bristol Rovers 2-0 last weekend thanks to goals from Jay O'Shea and the Ivorian Armand Gnanduillet – there's a player that Radio Oxford's Nick Harris will hope isn't playing!

Liam Davis could return to the side after recovering from illness which ruled him out last weekend, coming off the bench on Tuesday. And Jon-Paul Pittman could be available for selection again after missing most of the season through injury. One player who will definitely be missing is Max Crocombe, who has joined the New Zealand under-20s side in Fiji for the U20 World Cup qualifiers.

Several members of the current United side count Chesterfield among their former clubs. Andy Whing spent a brief spell on loan at Saltergate during the 2009-10 season and Peter Leven (who obviously won't feature this weekend) impressed at Chesterfield in his first season in England. Perhaps most notably, Deane Smalley chose Oxford over Chesterfield after helping them gain promotion from League Two in 2010-11 and although he has failed to replicate that form here, there is a good chance that he will feature in some capacity this weekend.

The last time the two sides met was back in November when two controversial goals handed Chesterfield the points, but prior to that occasion we hadn't been beaten by Chesterfield since 1996 – mainly because the two sides hadn't met much in the intervening time. It had been more than a decade since we last travelled to Chesterfield when a struggling Oxford side claimed a surprise 2-1 win over top-of-the-league Spireites in our first visit to their new stadium in November 2010. That was followed by a 0-0 draw at the Kassam later that year, meaning that Chesterfield haven't won in Oxford since 1980. Let's hope that run continues this weekend.

From the Vaults

Oxford United v Chesterfield, 12^th August 1995

Oxford kicked off the 95-96 season with high hopes of promotion once again after disappointingly falling short the previous year. The opponents on the opening day of the season were newly-promoted Chesterfield and Oxford appeared to be stuttering to a drab 0-0 draw until Chrissy Allen's effort late in the game. We all love a last-minute winner, don't we?

 

Also This Weekend

Of course the other big story for Oxford United this weekend is the ladies team's HUGE match against professional WSL side Everton at the Kassam Stadium on Sunday. In an effort to drum up as much support as possible the match has been designated 'Ultimate Support Ladies Day' and tickets are only £5. Be there and help support the ladies to an incredible cup win, as well as boosting the WSL 2014 bid! We'll have plenty more about this on TBFUTH over the weekend.

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My First Oxford Match: Simon Atkinson

Our First Oxford Match series continues with some wonderful recollections from Simon Atkinson of early visits to the Manor in 1982. If, like Simon, you want to share your nostalgic memories of your first Oxford match, then please email tbfuth@hotmail.co.uk.

Oxford United 1-1 Chesterfield (27/03/82)

Then, as now, OUFC gave out free tickets to schools. I think our school got tickets because the Youth Team played there and a few of us showed up to cheer them on. We had four tickets in the Beech Road stand for the game against Chesterfield.