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A Pre-season to be Proud of

As you can probably guess from the title, we had a pretty good preseason. You can find a list of results below, but it was pretty positive. Six wins out of six, infact. I’m not too concerned about the results of the non-league games, but I was very pleased with the way we played against Sheffield and Fleetwood. Key performances from George Long and Johnny Mullins really stood out in both games and I think the score line played tribute to this with the clean sheet.

Transfers

I didn’t choose to bring anyone in actually during Pre-season, but since we’ve brought Bastos into the club, a right winger previously without a club. He’s only 21 but seems to have great potential in the game, as you can see below. As far as players going out, that’s been pretty dead too. I haven’t had any offers for anyone yet, but I’d expect to get some loanees going out by the close of the market.
http://www.lessentiel.lu/dyim/ec1de6/B.M600,1000/images/content/2/7/8/27824873/4/topelement.jpg

Tactics

I’m pretty sure that, going forward, I’d like to play the 4-2-3-1 formation, with just the one up top. When I’ve needed to, it’s been quite easy to go to a flat 2, either dropping to 4-4-2 or creating a 4-2-4 as well as being able to drop back the ACM into midfield if we need to pack the middle of the park.

Scouting

Scouting is going to be a very big part of this save, as I look to take players or ideas with me from one club to another. I’m keeping a separate notepad with a list of players potentially for other clubs/that I want to keep an eye on but as far as Oxford are concerned there’s nothing in particular right now that I’m looking at in too much detail, a few players on the radar. I’ll do a separate update purely on scouting a bit later on.

Key Players

I guess you’ve already realised that I’m a fan of ‘key’ players, but I really do think they help to outline a team, especially in league 2. Key, for me, means both good and bad. On the plus side, Johnny Mullins has been absolutely brilliant in pre-season, leading the central defence and with some ridiculous tackling stats. George Long is in a similar boat as loanee GK: he’s kept us in the game on too many occasions to remember really.

On the other side of the equation, though, we’ve hit a bit of a crisis upfront. Whilst both Will Hoskins and Danny Hylton are great players, especially at this level, they seem to have a real trouble staying injury free. This is a real problem for the team as we could do with some consistency in the final third, without having to constantly change around the formation. On that note, please find below the injury table… we’ve had quite a few already!

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Month of Mixed Emotions

August, our first competitive month, was – again with the clue in the title – a month of contrasts. Not a great month by my standards at all, but there were definitely some decent results in there that have taken us to 5th in the table. Results are definitely not the only item on the agenda, though, and I’m pleased to say that the future looks positive with a number of players added to the scouting shortlist, as well as – in the short term – a few players returning from injury which should help going forward.

Matches:

All in all, we played 6 competitive matches in August: 5 in the league and one in the Capital One cup. As a side, I feel as though we very much need to tighten up our defence, as we had a number of high scoring games. I do think, though, the inclusion of youth team goalkeeper Max Crocombe won’t have helped out the team, as we let in a few soft goals. Long was back for the final game of the season and we saw an instant impact from him in terms of defensive performance.

League:

As you can see, we’ve had a 60% win record and 40% loss record in the league so far this season. I’ve made a couple of changes since our games against Burton and Mansfield, as I desperately felt some defensive stability was in order. Hopefully I’ve addressed the problem, adapting to a more control minded mentality and not trying to push on too much. The games at Burton and Mansfield really could have gone either way, so 3 points from 6 is probably a fair reflection.

On the other hand, a philosophical change definitely turned the tables up at Morecambe, where we recorded a convincing 4-1 victory. We were 2-0 up within the first 10 minutes and the game was made a lot easier when Morecambe went down to 10 men towards the end of the first half.

Portsmouth was a slight upset, but I was happy with the way we bossed the game and we just failed to take our chances when they came. Despite the score line, Dagenham and Redbridge was a different story. Had it not been for the re-instatement of George Long in goal, I fear that we would not have come away with a 2-1 win, but much more likely a significant loss. Long kept us in it on multiple occasions and it was only when Bastos found the net in the last minute or so that we looked relatively composed.

Cup:

We were very unlucky in the Capital One Cup this season, taking an early exit thanks to Leyton Orient. A side a division above us, their quality really shone through but we managed to match that. We bossed the middle of the park, but were unable to penetrate their back line. We didn’t miss too many chances, but they didn’t get many either so – upon reflection – a draw was probably a fair result. Losing came as a result of a poor penalty shootout, but one that we could only expect to lose given the players on the pitch at that moment in time.

Players:

On the subject of Bastos – who has been a real star since joining the club – we have the players' performances so far. Sadly, Mullins has failed in some respects to live up to his pre-season hype in the middle of defence but he has had a lot come up against him in the opening games; it’s always hard for a defender to do well in such high scoring games.

Bastos has played exceptionally, with an average match rating of 7.80 and 4 assists in his 4 appearances so far. Add this to 2 goals and the fact he’s only 21 and you don’t need to be an expert to notice that we have a real gem with us here. Is he to keep it up, I think I’ll definitely be looking to build up a very positive relationship with him that encourages him to move clubs with me.