Swede

1 hour ago, Tinmans Love Child said:

I'd just forgotten that now it's back in my brain!  1-0 up, Fielding Red, lost 2-1, never recovered 

I would also underline that we have never recovered and reached those heady heights since. 

It should be quite a spectacle on Saturday, with a sold out away end. They are in form & we are out of sorts. It should make for a good match. I only hope that we turn up.

I think it's fair to say to all Oxford fans good luck for the rest of the season and you can take your old coach back with you after the match.

1 hour ago, Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan said:

Looks like they’re having lunch in the foyer of some shit 90s nightclub. No doubt they’ve laid on some pre-match entertainment, probably a Horfield version of Sticky Vicky firing tennis balls out of her arse into the crowd.

This guy appears to be trying really hard to keep the out of date Snacksters Chicken Nuggets down…

 

No; the pleb specimen is eating the fork. Obviously used to using its fingers for eating & not just on its granny/auntie.

I don't think he knows what he's doing. He's too concerned about the opposition. The worry now is that his fragile confidence is at a low ebb. Oxford already have his tactics worked out and don't need any further motivation on or off the pitch to rub his nose into it and also teach us a lesson. Its because they play to their strengths and are carrying on from the success of last season. This guy has been given the tools but doesn't know how to use them. Its almost as if its too big a job for him.

What strikes me with these pressers is his lack of emotion as he drifts off into yet more behaviours & on the grass riddles. How does he motivate the players? Does he get out his stamp collection? It really is a worry. Unfortunately (for him) one draws comparisons & the way the previous manager conducted his press conferences, made them engaging, answered questions at length, was in complete control, left no one in any doubt about his motivation whether you were on the bus or not. I'm afraid the current coach isn't on the bus, he's on a scooter miles behind.

12 minutes ago, Simon bristol said:

Just been reading the Schumacher stoke thread.,, some of the circumstances are similar to us and most of the comments on that thread are sympathy for the sacked manager… if stoke are insisting on buying in a load of new players in the summer, and having a club legend as director of football despite not being qualified but he expects all the new signings to gel immediately when its generally acknowledged that it takes a few months to settle, and fires the manager when it doesnt then we apparently consider that rediculous, but thats exactly what we are expecting of manning.

All he has to do is coach the players into a top six team. We do all the hard stuff like background information, sourcing, contracts & recruitment. All the tek  teck techknical stuff. How hard can it be? Love Bri

On 16/09/2024 at 01:46, W-S-M Seagull said:

I think in some ways it is achievable if you have a competent proper football ceo, technical director and manager. 

In some ways that's what we had before Jon decided he needed to be more involved last October. 

Steve these days is pretty much a silent owner and has very very little to do with the day to day stuff. 

It's Jon that's the problem. I think he goes through phases of being interested and then being disinterested. I think he was very nieve to be influenced by Tinnion in his ear last October. I think Jon wants to prove to his father that he can be a success in his own right by making the changes to take us to the next level. 

What Steve and Jon need to do is employ people that know how to run a football club properly and then just leave them to it. Set the budget's and leave them be. I'm sure they do this in their other businesses outside of football but they can't seem to do that with the football because seemingly its all about their egos. 

I agree with what you say, but, hold the press, I do believe, once upon a time, we HAD a proper footballing CEO and a proper experienced manager and they binned them both off for a failed ex manager and literally, Joe 90, a puppet coach. Presumably at saving money and having complete control. Yet they would've forked out a tidy sum in sacking them. Even now its still bewildering.

I really hope that the penny drops with him and he eats humble pie for the good of his career come Saturday and play his boy more central, include Roberts for more balance on the left side of the defence, drop Williams and have Bird and Knight playing alongside each other. 

I have a distinct feeling it will be more of the same as much like a leopard doesn't change its spots, the lesser winged Manning takes so much time deliberating & is not known for changing. 

Its all about behaviours and on the grass. There, that's the kind of support he appreciates, riddles.

How about picking players in their rightful positions & the ones that are on form like Roberts. 

4 hours ago, hinsleburg said:

Slight sense of irony you've mentioned playing people in their best positions and then put Pring Left Wing and an injured McCrorie at Centre Back...? And then going back to the original post, Roberts is certainly not a LWB at all, very different role to LB in a 4 or LCB. I'm still wary of playing Mayulu and Armstrong from the start as it leaves nothing off the bench for us if we need a goal.

With what we've got I'd go with this

                  Max

Tanner    Mcnally   Vyner    Pring

              Knight       Bird

Hirakawa     Twine           Mehmeti

                     Armstrong

If we had McCrorie fit I would consider changing to something like this but is harsh on Tanner and wouldn't play Sykes at Wing Back

                 Max

     Mcnally   Vyner     Roberts

McCrorie                                  Pring

                 Knight Bird

     Hirakawa                            Twine

                       Armstrong

Oops, too many big Macs, apologies, I meant McNally!

He needs to wake up and smell the coffee with playing people in their best positions

Max

Tanner Vyner McCrory Roberts

Hirakawa Knight Bird Pring

Twine

Sincs

In trying to look for an answer to the current predicament, Manning has to look at affecting a change, which is also admitting he got it completely wrong.

If he goes with the same type of line up next Saturday, then we're in serious trouble.

He has to get the side balanced, which at the moment it isn't. He has to get Twine more central and drop one of the three midfielders.

I would also bring in Roberts to offer more left sided cover and go with a three at the back.

Max

Vyner McNally Roberts

Sykes Knight Bird Pring

Hirakawa Twine 

Sincs

As the OP says & I would agree.Get rid of the bluffer now. He is tactically inept. Plays players out of position. Mentally weak and is unable to tactcally affect a game in game.

On paper we have improved the squad so the board have backed him. We've lost badly to two bang average sides.

He's pretty much played the same side starting off and tactics in both matches (McNally for the injured Dickie & Mayulu because Sincs was on International duty) so being soundly beaten in one match and expecting it to change for the next match is PURE insanity.

I don't think he sees it that opposition coaches work his tactics out early and go on to win the match. He's always on the back foot tactically. I don't think he can affect the game at this level and I don't think the players believe in him either. It's not just two 3:0 defeats, it's the 4:0 Stoke defeat, its the conceding 3 at home to Millwall. There is a trend developing and he can't affect a change. He has to go now before we get further into the mire and its too late.

I just think the coach reflects his team tepid, baffling, mumbling & meandering and going nowhere. Chases a No.10 all summer and plays him out wide, astonishing. I honestly think he would get away with these tactics at League 1 & 2 level but not Championship level. The coach we should've got was in the other dugout. Remember his Brum side took us apart early last season.

Losing matches is part and parcel of the game, I accept that, but its the manner of defeat which is hard to take. Two 3:0 defeats is pretty chastening. I really can't see where he can recover.

Remember, we have a relatively easier start in this league against teams we should be beating and getting points in the bag before we hit the Burnley & Leeds buffers especially as we are aiming for "top six"

Ironically, losing next week against his former side could see him sacked, mercifully. He is way out of his depth.

Max

Tanner Vyner McNally Pring

Knight Williams

Bird

Sykes Twiney

Sincs

I can't see Manning being too adventurous. I am less than convinced that this lineup gets the best out of Twine as I think one of the other three midfielders would need to make way but hey ho he should know what he's doing (gulp)

1 hour ago, spudski said:

It's basically a town in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by other league Clubs.

Anyone who's been there knows what a dump it is.

Their success, puts ours to shame. 

Agree with this. Their stadium is like a large grey and blue space ship that has crash landed in a 1950's time warp.

6 hours ago, Ecko said:

That hat trick against Sheffield United away was one of the best city moments in recent memory

I'll go along with that, when the third goal went in, in front of us, cue pandemonium. One of those magic moments & its the reason you love football and love this club.

Like others have said, he is a model professional and a top bloke. If I recall it correctly, didn't he keep an eye on Scott & Conway when they shared a flat? I think Alex referred to him as "Dad".

1 hour ago, Ronnie Sinclair said:

Mangan in the news today - work permit to work for Real Madrid refused apparently 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/czxlv9ndvkdo

Shame for him.

On the other hand, Real Madrid have dodged one there as no doubt he would've carried on the good work of turning the barcelona of league 1 into the barcelona of La Liga. 

I really hope it works out for him, somewhere. There is a talent there. Despite the Man City connections, he always looked on the periphery and lacking in confidence when looking at the Robins uncut training videos. Its almost as though he got stage fright when on the match day pitch. 

and he was even tapping his head for a short while!

2 hours ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

11th? In yer dreams mate!

We won't score goals. The reluctance to spend a couple of million more to secure a proper goalscorer will cost us dear, I fear.

Unless Hirakawa is so good, he creates chances the rest of them cannot possibly miss. And even then I wouldn't put it past Armstrong.

Plus, we're worse defensively.

In search of more creativity, we've left ourselves wide open. That's a terrible combination.

Bloke's a genius!

He might be a better, more detailed, coach than the man he replaced but, on the evidence so far, I don't see that correlating to better results. Not with the players we've bought this summer.

Because leading a team to success requires far more skills than studying the opposition on a laptop until the wee small hours and, based on that, organising some training drills at the HPC.

Far, far more skills.

Skills it's becoming painfully obvious Manning and sidekick Do Not Have.

I came to the conclusion a while ago that this type of coach (I certainly wouldn't call him a "leader") requires the very best players to be successful - so that all the coach's analysis (hours of staring at a laptop at the expense of everything else - everything!) and all his best laid plans, are then executed to perfection whoever the opposition and whatever they're doing to disrupt us - so if there's a problem "in game", those very best players are good enough to find solutions themselves.

Except... we do not have "the very best"!

Mind, even "the very best" need "in game" help sometimes - from a Pep or an Ancelotti.

We have Manning. A man who transparently has no idea what to do once things start to pan out differently to his best laid plans "in game".

Sometimes, you can get a result using personality and emotion. Not a recipe for long term success but every now and then it can work wonders in the short term.

No hope for us there either, seeing as Manning is dull as ditch water and preaches taking the emotion out of everyting.

He is John Major, a dull emotionless man heading, at this rate, for a 1997 style reckoning.

Our season rests on Hirakawa. And Dickie getting fit.

The state of it.

Great post! I would add that its no coincidence that suddenly we have become weaker defensively because we are now without a certain Matty James who wanted two years & we were only prepared to give him one.

All this happened 16 years ago and we still haven't managed to get anywhere near to replicating that achievement. An achievement it was in getting to the final with a zero goal difference [or very close to IIRC]

I'm afraid its the Pearson syndrome rearing its ugly head again, much in the same way as it did for LJ with the constant accusations of nepotism after yet another winless run. With Manning, its the abject manner of defeat, the Pearson wound is rubbed and its open again. Its not a "knee jerk" reaction, its the manner of the defeat. Can Manning survive it? I remain less than convinced. I know its early days and the signs are encouraging with the new signings but I get the feeling that its the "club" making the signings in any case. I know that sounds obvious but I think the same signings, by and large, would've been made whether it was Manning or Andy King in charge. There's obviously a little more of the coach's input with Twine & McGuane, I get that. But will he be able to propel us up the league? I haven't seen any evidence to date. The current W/L/D ratio is midtable. I think after ten games we will get a better idea of where we are at.

What I would say is Manning must've made some impression when his Oxford side played us in last season's League Cup!  

5 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Dave Smith was actually £180k, from the era when “undisclosed” fees simply didn’t exist.

That summer we shelled out big money by our standards then for him & Dave Rennie. Paul Wimbleton was cheap (& not very good) but the real master stroke a couple of games in to the season was the Gary Shelton/Steve McClaren swap.

We had already brought Super Bob in March in a cash plus Carl Shutt deal.

“When we were kings”…

Shelts, what a player!!