Positives v Negatives

[GrahamC]

On the plus side I thought Zak was outstanding, Dickie very good, Wells too & thought Joe Williams was better than any of the 3 that started In midfield. Good as well that Sam Bell is off the mark.

Negatives were Tanner’s distribution was poor, the midfield looked sluggish & Max made a right mess of it when he came a long way to punch the ball clear.

Fair result & with Weimann presumably unavailable now & the Scott saga rumbling on, a few things for Nige to ponder.

[Roger Red Hat]

1 minute ago, GrahamC said:

On the plus side I thought Zak was outstanding, Dickie very good, Wells too & thought Joe Williams was better than any of the 3 that started In midfield. Good as well that Sam Bell is off the mark.

Negatives were Tanner’s distribution was poor, the midfield looked sluggish & Max made a right mess of it when he came a long way to punch the ball clear.

Fair result & with Weimann presumably unavailable now & the Scott saga rumbling on, a few things for Nige to ponder.

Agree with most of that, all except 'fair result'. I thought we were lucky to get a point, and too often 2nd to the ball.

[Taylor10]

I thought Zak was poor first half but absolutely exceptional second half. Sam Bell just shaded him for man of the match for me. Very willing runner and took his goal well. Notable mention for Dickie too. Other than that I have to agree regarding the negatives. Although probably lucky to get a point in the end.

Also with Weimann going off injured, If you include Scott (for now) along with McCrorie, Naismith, Benarous & Atkinson that’s pretty much half a starting line up of key players still to come back. Ok so not ideal they are unavailable but a positive given that will strengthen us when they return.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Taylor10

[MC RISK77]

Zak picking up where he left off- was our stand out performer today

[Kingswood Robin]

2 minutes ago, Roger Red Hat said:

Agree with most of that, all except 'fair result'. I thought we were lucky to get a point, and too often 2nd to the ball.

Agreed. The biggest surprise today was that Preston took so long to score. Pulled all over the place for long spells, lucky to get a point I thought.

[Show Me The Money!]

Preston looked sharper than us for most of the game i thought. They may well have been struggling with cramp come the end but considering we were the home team we didn't seem at it for most of the game. Saying that we had the best chance in the FH and restricted them to hardly any clear cut chances

[Gazred]

Vyner a very easy pick for MOM.

Posted in the match day thread that he looked very comfortable. 

Back 4 defensively good. Full backs not very effective going forward but probably credit to Preston for part of the reason they weren't.

Midfield was a real weak point. Not Williams best game but did try progress play and play forward when he could.

[TDarwall]

I thought Zak was MOM. Thought Cam was very poor in possession but in truth all over the pitch, our passing was off. However you have to give some credit to PNE, strong, resolute & organised & they were not easy to play against.

[Show Me The Money!]

Cornick was frustrating to watch. If being quick isn't his thing then you need that quickness of thought or movement. He didn't show that today

[Lack of Action Man]

Positives were that we did (in spells) look a threat on the counter attack. New signings look OK and for the most part seemed to gel, if not looking stellar. 
 

Negatives for me were a general naivety in our mentality after scoring. Similar to last season, we shrank back into ourselves and invited pressure. Then followed frankly comical mistakes, such as players colliding with each other, clearances being hacked over shoulders without checking their surroundings, a multitude of underhit passes, and so on and so on.

[glynriley]

9 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

On the plus side I thought Zak was outstanding, Dickie very good, Wells too & thought Joe Williams was better than any of the 3 that started In midfield. Good as well that Sam Bell is off the mark.

Negatives were Tanner’s distribution was poor, the midfield looked sluggish & Max made a right mess of it when he came a long way to punch the ball clear.

Fair result & with Weimann presumably unavailable now & the Scott saga rumbling on, a few things for Nige to ponder.

Fair play to you mate that you can find something positive. For me that was an awful performance from front to back. Vyner pretty much the only player who’s in credit. 

I’m a big fan of Nige but he got it all wrong for me today. 

[Silvio Dante]

8 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

On the plus side I thought Zak was outstanding, Dickie very good, Wells too & thought Joe Williams was better than any of the 3 that started In midfield. Good as well that Sam Bell is off the mark.

Negatives were Tanner’s distribution was poor, the midfield looked sluggish & Max made a right mess of it when he came a long way to punch the ball clear.

Fair result & with Weimann presumably unavailable now & the Scott saga rumbling on, a few things for Nige to ponder.

Zak was head and shoulders above for me today - the four you mentioned were for me the only players who I think merited a “pass” mark overall. 

There were a few concerns today. We got dragged into an attritional game that played to the opposition, were slow in possession and passing was way off.

Max today encapsulated why I think he’s not up to standard. The punch you mention was one - I’d also point to their free kick first half where Dickie had to head over as he didn’t make a decision, and the incident where he took a blow at the start of the second was a direct result of him not coming quickly enough - he decides that’s his ball (and it was) there’s no challenge. 
 

Add in that PNE decided to stop us playing the ball from Max to the CBs meaning he had to kick - and he can’t. That will be noted by other teams and could prove a real weakness.

Summary: I saw it much the same as you, but I think it definitely confirmed the gap in the squad.

[BCFCGav]

Disappointed with performance and two old habits - poor after scoring and poor after 85. Thought our quality was below the mark for most of today. We got a point - that’s a nice positive. But hard not to feel a bit flat, we’ve been here far too many times before. 
 

Edit: Dickie, Vyner, Williams, Bell very good. Deserve special mentions.

Edited August 5, 2023 by BCFCGav

[UpTheReds]

Thought Andy King was absolutely awful for the time he was on, couldn't pass the ball at all. Think Dickie did well and Knight showed some great touches throughout. Overall though it looked like we were a bit off it today.

[Silvio Dante]

9 minutes ago, Taylor10 said:

I thought Zak was poor first half but absolutely exceptional second half. Sam Bell just shaded him for man of the match for me. Very willing runner and took his goal well. Notable mention for Dickie too. Other than that I have to agree regarding the negatives. Although probably lucky to get a point in the end.

Also with Weimann going off injured, If you include Scott (for now) along with McCrorie, Naismith, Benarous & Atkinson that’s pretty much half a starting line up of key players still to come back. Ok so not ideal they are unavailable but a positive given that will strengthen us when they return.

I think Bells rating is coloured by the (well taken) goal. He missed a very good chance first half without making the keeper work, and when he broke second half again the effort was tame. Pring didn’t have a good day but I don’t think Sam helped him much, and he wasn’t a great outlet. Take the goal out and there wasn’t much there from Sam today.

[Dr Balls]

We were outplayed for long periods of both halves. Zak had his dodgy moments being indecisive. Dickie looked fine but clearly had no one in midfield willing to take a forward ball from him.

The midfield remains the worry. Supposedly we are a counter-attacking team but that’s because our midfielders, with the exception of Scott, have minimal creativity. It’s why we are essentially a “long ball” team. At home, against strong, physical but relatively unsung teams that seems even more frustrating. We hardly won a single second ball because we were constantly out-muscled.

I don’t mind playing counter-attacking football per se, especially away from home, but just pumping hopeful long balls towards 3 enormous centre backs is not likely to be a fruitful tactic, as we found today.
 

[WoodsDTES]

Passing stats today according to Sky were 

Tanner-45 passes 68.9%

Vyner-55 passes 85.5%
Dickie-69 passes 72.5%
Pring-38 passes 57.9%
Weimann-6 passes 66.7% subbed 23
James-39 passes 76.9%
Knight-34 passes 64.7% subbed 88
Cornick-16 passes 56.3% subbed 70
Wells-13 passes 84.6% subbed 69
Bell-14 passes 42.9% subbed 87
Williams-35 passes 60% subbed 23
Sykes-8 passes 50% subbed 70
Conway-4 passes 100% subbed 69
King-6 passes 33.3% subbed 88
Mehmeti-1 pass 100% subbed 87

team 425 passes 65.6% accuracy

clearly very poor down the left side today and the failure to keep possession after the subs shows we weren’t good enough with the ball.

20 tackles 75% successful and 18 clearances.
 

[Red-Robbo]

10 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

On the plus side I thought Zak was outstanding, Dickie very good, Wells too & thought Joe Williams was better than any of the 3 that started In midfield. Good as well that Sam Bell is off the mark.

Negatives were Tanner’s distribution was poor, the midfield looked sluggish & Max made a right mess of it when he came a long way to punch the ball clear.

Fair result & with Weimann presumably unavailable now & the Scott saga rumbling on, a few things for Nige to ponder.

 

Dickie was my MOTM and the only player who seemed robust enough to deal with Preston's constant rough-housing - and was able to pay them back in kind!

What disappointed me again was the basic lack of midfield able to deal with a big, physical side.  I get that Scott wasn't there and the ref gave us next to no protection, but there was no one able to stop them bringing the ball into our final third. Preston aren't exactly a graceful side, but when you let them have that much possession in your half you just know a goal is coming eventually.

Lots of City players had below-par games and it was a bit of a blah turgid mess of a game, as it always seems to be when we have a big crowd for a league game. Was disappointed with Knight after the rave reviews he was getting in the friendlies. It didn't look like he could hold off the challenge of a primary school kid. I'm not writing the bloke off based on one game however. Much better will come, hopefully. 

Any Scott cash that we can spend would be well invested in a strong, fearless attacking midfielder. 

[Super]

Vyner was fantastic. Tanner and Pring were poor by there standards. Too many long balls as well against monster centre half's what was that all about?

[Bar BS3]

Disappointing today.

Baffling team selection before the start.

Lack of game plan or purpose from the start & failed to stamp our authority on a bang average team that looked fairly unfit & there for the taking.

Pre-season optimisms sharply put back into the reality of probably an inconsistent, frustrating season ahead, where we don't get the best out of our players & will be relying on key players to stop up to win us games - rather than taking a strangle hold of the opposition & dictating games.

Of course - a massive over reaction based on today's disjointed & uninspiring performance - based on more of the same old, same old - when I was hoping we'd look fresh & exciting.

Maybe that will come - but today was pretty drab. 

[And Its Smith]

One positive is there won’t be a West Ham bid for Pring this week! 

[Roger Red Hat]

2 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

failed to stamp our authority on a bang average team that looked fairly unfit

If you thought they looked unfit, how fit did you think we looked!!?

[ExiledAjax]

Felt like a game that could be the curtain raiser on any season of any fortune. Really hard to get a read on where we are, what we need, and what the next 9 months has in store.

Yes we missed something in midfield. Whether that was Scott, Naismith, or both I'm not sure. We also seemed to struggle to get the ball under control in the final third, and took out usual paltry number of shots (5). Preston harassed and pressed us well though so it was far from all down to our failings.

On the plus side the defence was organised, O'Leary solid, and we were good for the draw imo.

Oxford will see a few changes I suspect, although with the chance of getting that first win we may go a little stronger than we would have done?

[redysteadygo]

Attendance 29359

Well according to the BBC

[ExiledAjax]

3 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

Baffling team selection before the start.

I'm not sure it was baffling. Would any of us have put out a radically different XI?

[And Its Smith]

1 minute ago, redysteadygo said:

Attendance 29359

Well according to the BBC

It was 23,313

[GrahamC]

8 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

Disappointing today.

Baffling team selection before the start.

 

 

In what way?

The only places seriously up for grabs in the absence of Atkinson, Naismith & Scott were in the front three, Wells was excellent (& looked rightly pissed off to be subbed) Bell scored our goal & Cornick was ok.

Weimann wasn’t great true, but he only lasted about 20 minutes anyway.

Looking at the rest of the bench no one seriously thought either of the 2 young centre backs, Roberts, King or Wiles-Richards would start, so this is an odd comment.

We weren’t great today but possibly Sykes for Cornick is about the only questionable selection.

Edited August 5, 2023 by GrahamC

[Super]

Just now, GrahamC said:

In what way?

The only places seriously up for grabs in the absence of Atkinson, Naismith & Scott were in the front three, Wells was excellent (& looked rightly pissed off to be subbed) Bell scored our goal & Cornick was ok.

Weimann wasn’t great true, but he only lasted about 20 minutes anyway.

Looking at the rest of the bench no one seriously thought either of the 2 young centre backs, Roberts or Wiles-Richards would start, so this is an odd comment.

We weren’t great today but possibly Sykes for Cornick is about the only questionable selection.

Sorry Cornick was dreadful. He isn't a wide man. Sykes should definitely have started.

[redysteadygo]

3 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

It was 23,313

Not quite so positive then.

 

[tin]

The main positive is it was a good point; we’ve played better and lost plenty of times in the past. Another positive is that nothing is won or lost in the first game of a long season. We must be better than that.

The main negatives (and there were plenty) was the abysmal refereeing and the lack of intensity. I thought the starting XI could’ve been stronger and Sykes would’ve been more effective than Cornick IMO, despite his assist.