I actually think critchley (or the management team if we're sharing the responsibility out) got a lot more right than wrong today.
I agree with others that it appears strange to break up the front 2, but tactically I think the system was spot on today and the 433 allowed us to get our matchwinners into positions where they could hurt Oxford. The fact we didnt score wasn't down to the system, it was just that we didnt take our chances and didnt quite create enough at certain points of the game.
The 433 (or 4231 as it became later in the game) allowed hamilton and kaikai to be higher up the pitch and get 1 on 1 with their fullbacks. Gabriel playing instead of turton appeared a deliberate ploy that meant cj had someone closer to him when he got the ball, as Gabriel got forward much more than turton does. We overloaded them down that side and to a lesser extent on the left with husband getting forward a bit more sporadically, but still reasonably often.
If we'd have gone 442 we could have been completely overrun in midfield, as I thought dougall struggled more today than in any game so far, plus ward struggled to get going 1st half, but thought he improved after the break and created a lot more.
Woodburn was the big disappointment and is clearly struggling with either confidence or fitnes, or both. He should have been replaced at half time and I thought anderson was the 1 sub who made a real impact when he came on and he should have been on much earlier. I suspect woodburn was given benefit of the doubt and a chance to prove himself today against his former club, but I'd be suprised if we see him start ahead of anderson or yates again any time soon.
We limited Oxford to a very small number of chances, and massive credit to maxwell for the save at the end which was top class.
I've been critical of the 433 system in the past, but against teams who don't just stick 8 men behind the ball, it works well as it allows us to get in behind on the break with width, and makes cj a bigger threat than he sometimes is in the 442, where the front 2 become more of the focal point.
Today was a better performance than some of the games we've won recently and was just a case of not being able to score. The 2 off the woodwork could have flown in on another day and its a different game then.
The stat that they had 25 clearances to our 1 was as unbalanced as I've ever seen in a game, although its potentially symptomatic of our slightly wasteful final ball for most of the day.
The players are becoming more familiar with the different systems and what their expected to do in each.
The triple substitution killed the momentum somewhat, and some of those changes were 10 or 15 minutes too late, but they were all like for like changes, so critchley clearly believed the system was working and I can see why he made those changes to try to add fresh legs to support what was already creating a number of half decent opportunities.
Disappointing not to win but certainly nothing to worry about. We've shown we can cause teams problems with different systems and different players, its just fine tuning and getting another clinical striker in during the window, who can score the vital goal in games like this.
Squad depth worried me at start of season but we're getting there and now have probably 18 players who can interchange and start now with cover in most positions. Still very reliant on maxwell, dougall, cj and madine, where we don't have direct replacements of the same standard, but elsewhere theres genuine cover.
Plenty of positive signs for me despite the result
On to Hull Tuesday.
