Oldham Match Reports.

[Ace Face]

Result is all that counts, BUT watching the BEES lately is so boring it is untrue and I may think again about these Sky games because we were crap last night.

We never looked like scoring and I still can`t believe we did. Up front we are totally clueless and we seem to be unable to get wide and to the byline.

Can`t really single out individuals as I though the whole team were poor.

 

[The Southall Bee]

The 2nd half was better than the 1st. The Oldham fan above pretty much got it correct. The 2nd booking was an poor challenge, and he knew he was already on a booking.


Jay Tabb ran at their defenders and often drew the foul from them. Lloyd worked hard and did win a lot of headers. When he scored he ran over to New Road (almost right in front of me), and did the finger on the lips sign Is this saying "Stop the abuse"????


I liked the idea of trying to play more football on the ground but we did over elaborate at times. We do need to get the ball to DJ / Dudley's feet more though.


Best team won, now for Stockport.

 

[beeseen]

After reading all of the replies in this thread i think that a lot of pople are very hard to satisfy. After all we ARE third in the league at the moment and have just got through to the third roundof the F.A cup.IMHO we're doing very well. The ball is being passed around a lot more now and has made it a lot more enjoyable to watch.

Not every game is going to be like Scunthorpe away, football isn't like that. There are going to be times when we have to compete,work hard and play ugly and grind out a result just as we did last night. I'm not saying that last night was good to watch, however we did what we had to do and got through a tough match. The team is on a good run at the moment and i believe that we should all appreciate that. I heard a lot of groaning just after we scored when the players started to keep he ball for a couple of minutes, thats not right.

Good performance considering the circumstances, well done lads, now 3 points at Tranmere please.

 

[nocoat]

sh*t game, should have stayed in pub :sad:

I think we should retire the Number 9 shirt as a tribute to one of the greats... NOW

Least we improved after the break Bring on Porto :beer:

 

[Bee H]

Result is all that counts, BUT watching the BEES lately is so boring it is untrue and I may think again about these Sky games because we were crap last night.

We never looked like scoring and I still can`t believe we did. Up front we are totally clueless and we seem to be unable to get wide and to the byline.

Can`t really single out individuals as I though the whole team were poor.

Best thing about last night was the quietness of Bosh - a distinct lack of verbal diarrhoea (sp?) from dear old Arse Face in fact, how pleasing ! :bound:

 

[SmiffyBee]

Result is all that counts, BUT watching the BEES lately is so boring it is untrue

have to disagree with this statement....last night wasnt great, but recent games have included a great 3-1 away at Scunthorpe, 3-3 at home to Oldham and a 3-2 win at home to Yeovil. All very entertaining.

We are now 8 unbeaten and have lost 1 in the last 13 games.

 

[Pauly Paul]

I agree with Les Beeavinu and a few others that the way we're trying to play is the correct way. It may take a short while to gel but that's because they've only switched to this style mid-season, but when it clicks it will be great. I thought Ricky Newman is still finding his range after being out so long, quite a few of his passes didn't complete.

Agree too about the uneducated Bees supporters who moan and cry out when the ball doesn't go forward 30 yards after 4 or 5 passes. We're keeping posession you buffoons!

 

[Gee Bee]

Not the prettiest of spectacles for much of the time. Lloyd won almost everything in the air last night, but his good work was undone by hardly ever winning anything from his aeriel threat. Brooker again failed to go past anyone and constantly drifts inside leaving both full backs exposed to counter attacks in wide areas. We have however tried to pass more, some were good some were awful, and the final ball quite often never came and if it did it was over hit. However we must take heart that at least we are not constantly just lumping it forward but trying to pass. Eventually it will get better, hopefully we will get more width and the telling pass through the channels more often, which is what Dj & Lloyd need the most to be a more constant threat in front of goal.

 

[davido_i]

As is usual on live TV, we were more effluent than fluent last night but hey, Rd 3 beckons with a reasonable chance to get into Rd 4 where there will be a lot of plum draws floating around.

Oldham packed the midfield & made life very difficult, we didn't help ourselves with even good passers like Kev giving the ball away cheaply & often our first touch was poor last night.

Having said that even with Liddell influential in the first half, Oldham struggled to play through us, we defended pretty well & 2nd half there was only one team going to win it.

Very pleased for Lloyd, thought he played the targetman role very well, won lots of balls in the air, deserved his goal & saved us all another 30 minutes plus. Without him, we would have been very lightweight against their neanderthal back-line.

Tabby did OK centre mid after Pratley went off, he ran at them & worked hard covering but I still think he played a lot better in this position at Chesterfield away in terms of distributing the ball & really influencing the game

Interesting watching Day in goal for Oldham, did he come for a single ball into his box all game?? I don't remember any. Reminded me of some past Bees keepers, at least ours has the balls to come off his line & punch / catch to relieve pressure.

Other than Owusu, honourable mentions to Turner & Sodje who kept Oldham at arms length.

The cost of this hard-won replay may be in the fast-approaching Christmas / New Year league programme, where we are due to play in-form Swansea, Donny & Colchester, possibly with a depleted starting XI. Will be interesting to see if Martin offers the chance for some of the young guns to step up.

 

[BEEWILD]

Poor game but we always knew it would be like that. Forth game between the 2 sides this season, add to that Oldham were playing with 3 Center backs, it didn't surprise me that it wasn't a great spectical.
Good Goal from Lloyd hopefully that will kick start his goal scoring again.
Should have had a penno in the second half when that thug Branston murdered DJ in the box (didn't look that bad from Brook Road but looks a stonewall penno on the telly)
Tabb was our best player.
Liddel was their best player (again) by a mile that lad knows how to pass its a good job all his team mates are cloggers.
Ref was spot on for the sending off .
Pratleys injury worries me.
I was impressed with Tillen. His confidence seems to be rising.
Bring on Stocky!!

 

[Paul O'Brien]

A poor game, as we all know, but was impressed by the way we played the ball around to create space after they had their player sent off. (I know the sending off seems to have been a fair one, but if I was an Oldham fan, I'd have been incensed by the way Tabbie and DJ went over too easily at times. Good ref, tho' - well done.)

Nelson 7 - did everything pretty well apart from a couple of wayward kicks.
O'Connor 4 - third poor game in a row: what's happened to his passing?
Turner 6 - another uncharacteristic slip, but relatively unchallenged.
Sodje 7 - Won nearly everything, commanding.
Tillen 6 - caught upfield far too often, which meant Tabb had to cover, but a couple of good runs and passes. And he's still only 18 (I think).
Pratley 3 - another stinker.
Newman 3/7 - first half didn't do anything apart from keep the ball (which I know is vital). Second, particularly after the sending off, moved the ball around and found space for others.
Tabb 5/8 - first half mainly anonymous. Second half, superb.
Brooker 7/5 - The only outfield player who caught my eye in first half. Regularly got back and helped out the defence. Second half became less important.
DJ 5 - not really at the races today. Didn't win a ball but won freekicks.
Owusu 6 - tried nonstop, but won less in the air then in other recent games. Scored, though.

Peters 6 - often chased lost causes, but promised more than he delivered.
Rankin 2 - Rhyming slang or player?

 

[BeeReal]

I agree with Les Beeavinu and a few others that the way we're trying to play is the correct way. It may take a short while to gel but that's because they've only switched to this style mid-season, but when it clicks it will be great. I thought Ricky Newman is still finding his range after being out so long, quite a few of his passes didn't complete.

Agree too about the uneducated Bees supporters who moan and cry out when the ball doesn't go forward 30 yards after 4 or 5 passes. We're keeping posession you buffoons!

Totally agree - we are starting to try to play football and there are too many people moaning when we try and keep the ball and pass it around. That will often mean a sideways or backwards pass. We do not have the players to spread 40 yd passes and I wish people would groaning if the ball is not thumped forward at an early opportunity - long balls thrown up to 3 capable centre backs is just giving the ball away.
My criticism would be that they should try to make more diagonal runs rather than running through the channels - Brooker could do a lot more of this. When we do the opposition is pulled out of position and gaps appear (Tabby last night managed this on several occasions).

We won. We are on a good winning streak and surely we should be upbeat. By reading this type of thread you'd think we had lost and were in the relegation zone.

 

[Bee49]

I'm just glad we won.No more Oldham this season
Shame on the 2,000 missing watching on TV.Please make out your cheques for your admission to BFC.
Can't see us losing at Stockport,but?
Tabby was MOM and Newman did ok.
Fingers cross for Prattley.
Merry Christmas everyone.

 

[Simon W]

Personally thought Newman and Brooker were dreadful for two experienced players but it's about opinions ...

Agree entirely ....

Must say though ... I am one of Owusus worst critics .. but last night I thought he worked so hard upfront .. deserved the goal

 

[Pauly Paul]

My criticism would be that they should try to make more diagonal runs rather than running through the channels - Brooker could do a lot more of this. When we do the opposition is pulled out of position and gaps appear (Tabby last night managed this on several occasions).

Tabb made a difference when in central midfield. Either Pratley or Newman has to be prepared to drive on from midfield. Neither of them did this preferring to both play a holding role hence why not much was created.

 

[Paul O'Brien]

After reading all of the replies in this thread i think that a lot of pople are very hard to satisfy. The team is on a good run at the moment and i believe that we should all appreciate that.

Good performance considering the circumstances, well done lads, now 3 points at Tranmere please.

I don't agree. This part of the GPG is about reports, and if the team plays badly, we should be saying so. It was a poor performance on the whole, but a good result.

Elsewhere, I think non-stop grumbling (eg is xxxx the worst... ever) is often counter-productive, but here I believe is the place to tell the truth. (Or is Banana Alistair Campbell in disguise?)

 

[sonofabee]

Poor crowd and little real atmosphere at the game other than when we scored and their player was sent off. Why does the club not see sense and instead of always asking us for money reduce the prices for at least season ticket holders?
The team were passionless and unmotivated and in addition played poorly. Oldham were worse. Why anyone would watch them who knows. Thugs and absence of skill.
Owusu was man of the match. He ran all game but then he had to because he never got any service from midfield. Midfield apart from Tabb and the occasional useful run from Brooker went missing tonight. Not a decent tackle nor pass all game. Furthermore they dont help the defence much. Newman was a disgrace. In fact I would go further and say that was the most wretched individual performance i have seen for many seasons. He did not tackle nor run. He passed only backwards often breaking up our attacks. His free kicks were appalling. He did not motivate his team. At the very least turner should be club and team captain again.
We won becasue oldham were unable to score and had a poor keeper , maybe the worst keeper in the division.
Lessons should be learnt from this game. Make no mistake the atmosphere amongst the crowd was very poor and against a decent team we would have lost tonight.

Know it's all about opinions and won't try and ridicule you for yours but.....atrocious, I'm sorry but you're wrong

I thought Newman had a good game, held the ball when required, and looked to play players in. Where I feel he was let down was by forwards not thinking on his wavelength or being mobile enough. He's been used to playing with better players I guess but he'll soon adjust to our level.

Newman is always available, doesn't rush, looks up and by and large picks out a man or space far better than any recent Bees midfielder. Last night he played two or three balls in the first half into dangerous areas but both DJ and Pratley stood looking and allowed defenders to get in front of them which made it look a bad ball.

He's never going to be a stylish, flair player but I believe he has made his mark already and although some don't appreciate, he tries to make us play football on the floor and to feet which can only be a good thing.

 

[BeeAlzibub]

Not much too add, just about deserved on balance of play but not enough balls into dangerous areas.

Lloyd worked hard and deserved something for his efforts although it seemed to take an age to go in.

One crticism of the few fans that turned up, we've spent ages calling for someone to keep the ball instead of hoofing it but as soon as we gone 1-0 up and try and keep the ball, half the New Road starts moaning.

You could see players who allowed the crowd to get to them aimlessly lumping it after 7/8 excellent short passes.

Marks

Nelson 7......one scary moment near the end when he juggled it.

Kevin O 6.5.... Would have been more but his distribution wasn't great.

Sam Tillen 7.5.... Looked excellent going forward and best game yet IMHO

Sam 7.......Same as Kev would have been more but passing woeful

Michael 8........ Played A very tricky pair of Liddle and Beckett very well

Brooker 6.5......Patchy performance with too few flashes of what he can do

Newman 8....... Held everything together and used the ball well

Pratley 6........ Didn't get forward as much as usual and looked knackered from start

Tabby 7.5...... Ran his socks off and looked lively but kept getting fouled

Lloyd 8.........Not great but worked incredibly hard, led the line well and netted

DJ 6.5....... Too few balls to feet but tried and kept getting free kicks

Almost my marks to a tee .....bar Lloyd I am sorry to say.
Yes - he worked hard, but he looks lightweight, not aggressive enough & has a poor first touch at the moment.

Tabb & DJ tried to play football before being hacked down every time.

But for me Newman was the main man. He always tried to look for through balls to the front two, always looked to take the ball off others & it was a shame that Lloyd & even DJ was often not on the same wavelength to read Newman's intelligent passes into space.

 

[sonofabee]

Almost my marks to a tee .....bar Lloyd I am sorry to say.
Yes - he worked hard, but he looks lightweight, not aggressive enough & has a poor first touch at the moment.

Tabb & DJ tried to play football before being hacked down every time.

But for me Newman was the main man. He always tried to look for through balls to the front two, always looked to take the ball off others & it was a shame that Lloyd & even DJ was often not on the same wavelength to read Newman's intelligent passes into space.

Great minds and all that.... you'll see I said Not great against Lloyd, I was just willing him to do well as he's trying so hard so would conced that 8 was generous.

My MOM was Newman but it's a funny old game see my previous response #67 above as there's a few who don't agree.

 

[BeeAlzibub]

Great minds and all that.... you'll see I said Not great against Lloyd, I was just willing him to do well as he's trying so hard so would conced that 8 was generous.

My MOM was Newman but it's a funny old game see my previous response #67 above as there's a few who don't agree.

Apologies due, Sonofabee I sadly really feel that Lloyd compared to somebody like a Howard, Fletcher, Allison or even a half fit Beckett last night doesn't really make the centrehalf work enough at clearing incoming goal kicks etc. He works hard, but is not a target man.

If we had the money ( I know we have none before anybody on here gets excited again ) I would bring in a "lump" ala the type above who will attack the ball in the box & not worry about ruffing up the centre half & losing a few teeth once in a while.

With a 20 goal a season man we would go very close come May no doubt whatoseover

 

[Paul O'Brien]

we would go very close come May no doubt whatoseover

But do we want him back?

 

[Mr Cynical]

Thought it was a poor game, especially first half. Oldham seemed to have come for penalties or to whittle us down to 10 men by injuring all our best players.. Although some people have said the ref did well, I think he could have cracked down on the tackling earlier in the first half, he let some really bad ones go, the first booking wasn't until the end of the first half. Oldham could well have ended up with about 7 or 8 men on the pitch the way they were playing..

First half we were awful, but much better second. I'm very pleased we're starting to pass the ball around but it really shouldn't be Sodje and Turner who are trying to pick passes out, although they may well think they're Glen Hoddle or Matt Le Tiss most of their 'pinpoint' passes went off for throw ons or goal kicks. Surely Newman or Pratley should be dropping deep to do this job?

Thought Tabb was superb when he moved into central midfield, Tillen did ok at LB but still seems a little lightweight for this division, Pratley wasn't at his best nor Newman, but I thought Brooker did quite well, despite getting a load of abuse from Braemer..

Still, we're through and we don't have to play those lumps again. MA will have to have a bit of a think though, that's the second team in a row that's filled the midfield and caused us to struggle to create. I'm sure both Tranmere and Swansea will have taken note....

 

[sonofabee]

Apologies due, Sonofabee I sadly really feel that Lloyd compared to somebody like a Howard, Fletcher, Allison or even a half fit Beckett last night doesn't really make the centrehalf work enough at clearing incoming goal kicks etc. He works hard, but is not a target man.

If we had the money ( I know we have none before anybody on here gets excited again ) I would bring in a "lump" ala the type above who will attack the ball in the box & not worry about ruffing up the centre half & losing a few teeth once in a while.

With a 20 goal a season man we would go very close come May no doubt whatoseover

Fraid I have to agree and all the bods around me in the New road last night agreed that a Howard type lump would be a much better target man for Dj to play off.

Llloyd almost seems too nice and reluctant to throw his weight about but guess I'm just an optimist in hoping he's the 20+ goals a season man we have to have in order to get out of this division.

 

[oakes12]

I think last night proved that big clogging central defenders don't like being run at (at pace) and don't like the ball being played in to feet. Their only answer was to foul and get carded. Tabb's switch to central midfield changed the game imo.
I'd like to see us cross the ball from more advanced positions - I can't remember us getting to the by-line once last night. If we can't work the ball out wide we'd be better trying to pass the ball through the middle rather than pumping long hopeful diagonal balls in the general direction of Owusu.
Shame about Pratley - he will be missed. Hope to see him in a Brentford shirt again some time in the future.

 

[Egham Pete]

Game in general: terrible quality, but then this is brentford. Our freekicks were terrible all game. Tabby was awesome, particularly second half and looked a class apart from most of those on show. Sodje was solid, but had several muppeted moments during the game. Firstly he ran straight through the box at one of our set pieces, straight into the net and screwed his hand up. He also jumped too early for several balls, and ended up planting an overhead kick straight into one of the oldham lads. BTW, did noeone else see the blatant penalty that we should have had when dj got tripped in the box, in the same move which pratley got injured (the 6-yard box scrap that lasted a few minutes and looked horrendously poor). Tillen looked dangerous when he cut inside and had a run at oldham's defence and also did a tremendous 'made in chelsea' dive to win us one of our freekicks.

Oldham: dirty northern b*stards. The number of times they kicked tabby was atrotious. Also noted that they were all skinheads.
MA: awesome seeing him on sky every 5 mins shouting and screaming. very easy to lip read as well. personally fave was "Rickaey, Rickaey, get into the f*ckin hole"
Bees overall worked hard, did enough to get through, just.
As mentioned before there is a general lack of quality in the supply from the back. However the cause of this is, as usual, a lack of movement up front, and general cohesion of midfield, defence and attack. The something missing is a bit of quality to beat people and open up a bit of space. I think most of that ability was either sitting in a portakabin in ealing road or playing for reading (and no i'm not talking about dobbo). Last year we scared teams sh*tless with tabb, hunt, solako and deon, who were able to keep the ball on the floor, and as much as it hurts me to say this, talbot helped to at least put the ball on the deck and get a few passes going.

ref and lino's: did well, ref was on top of the game and stopped any squabbles from going OTT.

Nice to see owusu do the after he scored. good lad.
Champagne moment: watching the 2 oldham defenders both jump for the ball against tabby! Needless to say tabby got nowwhere near
it and the two oldham lads went straight into each other.

 

[The H]

Champagne moment: watching the 2 oldham defenders both jump for the ball against tabby! Needless to say tabby got nowwhere near
it and the two oldham lads went straight into each other.

mine was on Talksport


commentator: "and the 4th official holds up the board to indicate 2 minutes of additional time, and a man with a semi-permed mullet distracts the crowd for a moment, and he's opening his wallet, probably to buy himself a cup of tea or maybe an ever tighter perm...."




:anyoneweknowsmilie:

 

[brian bee]

Only to add I thought the crowd played a useful role in the second half raising the volume several notches in my bit of New Road. I hope it could be heard around the stadium and on television.
Also enjoyed a bunch of kids who arrived half way through the first half and who celebrated by taking off their pink tee shirts and waving them round their heads - the pink puftas I think they called themselves.

 

[Stanley]

and the 4th official holds up the board to indicate 2 minutes of additional time:

Which reminds me where on earth did he find 4 minutes of added time in the second half??

 

[Mr Cynical]

Champagne moment: watching the 2 oldham defenders both jump for the ball against tabby! Needless to say tabby got nowwhere near
it and the two oldham lads went straight into each other.

....and they got a bloody free-kick for it an' all!!