Oxford extended their winning run to six with an impressive display against Bristol Rovers on Saturday, and it felt like a rare win at home to the Pirates marks just how far United have come over the last few months.
Despite having to contend with a three-week break, Karl Robinson's side looked on the pace from an early stage in this match. Fluid in attack and rarely troubled defensively, it is a sight that Oxford fans have become used to seeing in recent weeks.
As is a dominant display of interplay through the middle of the pitch, an area which Oxford got considerable joy in this match.
Rovers set up in a 5-3-1-1 formation, meaning there should have been an even battle in the midfield against Oxford's 4-3-3 and later 4-2-3-1, but they still seemed helpless to their play through the middle.
Marcus McGuane's injury was the one sour point from the victory, but his replacement in Brannagan - making his first League start since mid October - proved to be just as effective in helping Oxford break down Rovers.
Robinson deserves some credit for this as the way Brannagan played was not a one off decision, but a new strategic approach from the manager.
His decision to play Brannagan in a more advanced role caused all sorts of problems for Bristol Rovers, and allowed an interesting double pivot between Gorrin and Kelly to operate behind him.
 |
| Cameron Brannagan touch map vs Bristol Rovers - attacking left to right (courtesy of Whoscored.com) |
Brannagan's touch map above shows how he was playing in a more forward role, operating in spaces associated with a number ten rather than his normal box to box self. His 41 touches in this match are over half of what he managed in his last full league action at Gillingham and illustrates a less prominent role in starting moves.
Though this may not be Robinson's long term plan with Brannagan - managing fitness could have been a reason for not demanding such a frantic midfield position this week - it is certainly something Oxford have looked to utilise in recent games.
In this piece following Oxford's 5-1 annihilation of Burton, one of the topics looked at was Marcus McGuane's more advanced position.
This allowed Oxford to somewhat bypass the midfield and play directly into the frontline, which McGuane was operating much closer to. This was the same with Brannagan on Saturday.
The tactic may go someway in explaining why Oxford looked so dominant attacking through the middle and it is not because they outperformed the Rovers' midfield, but because Oxford often used them less in their attacks, moving it quicker to the front line.
Anthony Forde found himself a virtual bystander in many of Oxford's attacking moves against Burton and the same could be said about Gorrin against Bristol Rovers. They still play important roles in the balance of the side, but there is much less onus on them to start the attacks as United look instead to move forward quicker.
The passage of play below indicates the incisive passing that has typified Oxford in the last few weeks.
When Sam Long receives the ball from this throw-in, so many times we would have seen an Oxford player turn back and play the ball square or backwards to the centre backs (indicated by the red lines).
Instead, Long plays a driven pass into the feet of Shodipo, immediately breaking the compact line of Bristol Rovers and getting United into dangerous positions quicker. This not only speaks volumes for Long's current confidence, but also illustrates Oxford's desire to play forward quicker and though this move doesn't come to anything, there were many other examples.
The team have clearly bought into the philosophy too, as shown by the graphic below.
As Atkinson receives the ball here, rather than take it down and attempt to play out from a tight position at the back - or even retreat to Stevens as we have seen previously - he looks for the forward option.
Watch how the team have positioned themselves for that as well. A pairing of Kelly and Gorrin sitting in front of the back four, whilst the front three - including Brannagan - are playing in a clear structure further forward, anticipating the ball into them. Matty Taylor is also ready for a forward pass, sitting on the shoulder of the defence - not even on screen - allowing United to break forward quickly.
Sure enough the drilled pass reaches Taylor and Oxford have bypassed the midfield to get in behind. The three attacking midfielders know what is coming and are ready to run in behind Taylor, and Oxford are able to break the Bristol Rovers' line within two passes.
It isn't a case of always bypassing the midfield or clearing the ball long from the back, but simply not wasting possession with backwards and sideways passes.
73.9% of Oxford's passes were forward balls on Saturday, nearly 5 percentage points better than a stereotypically more direct Bristol Rovers team. Adding to this, 191 of Oxford's passes were aimed into the final third, accounting for 42% of their passes.
To put all this into context, in Oxford's last defeat nearly 3 months ago, only 36% of their passes were aimed into the final third and passes in the defensive third made up around 17% of their total completed balls, compared to just 13% in this match.
In Oxford's game against Burton, their forward pass percentage was at an even higher 74%, illustrating a clear shift in build up patterns.
Oxford's win against Plymouth was built on the same foundations, and this has led to greater penetration when going forward - Oxford have not drawn a blank in the League since early December - and less mistakes on the ball, which in turn has helped bring about six clean sheets in their last eight matches in all competitions.
It isn't a complete shift in style from Robinson, just a minor tweak to get United forward quicker and getting Matty Taylor playing on the shoulder and running in behind more. This was how United got one of their goals on Saturday, and it was a very similar move which gave them the opener against Burton a week earlier.
Oxford have found a way to win, and whether it is Camron Brannagan or Marcus McGuane in the middle, it might be a case of less is more for United's midfield maestros.
Comments
Post a Comment