Oxford United Match Thread

[football19]

The main stand is the place to be !!!
Takes moaning and critical slating to a new level,great to listen too tho and is very entertaining
Sean Mac gets hammered even in the warm up !!.
Wouldn't want to watch the match from any other place lol

[yonmon]

Originally Posted by Alvin the chipmunk

Was on the Clayton End actually. Moaning galore towards the left hand side although not to Main Stand standards. With a ground as compact as ours it must make a difference to the lads. Football19...even more evidence as we didn't rate him highly enough to offer a competitive deal.

A bad day all round. We shall regroup and smash Barnet with a Macca hattrick. 2 defeats in 11. I'll take that. Factor in we should really have beaten Luton and Northampton.....

The ' get it up t'field' lads in The Main Stand were in full flow at one point !, and a new call emerged from one of them .....' What do they keep passing it for ?...and yes it was closely followed by 'get it up t'field' '...
The odd fickle remark has now become a mantra almost !.... and it doesn't half get you down !

[Jeg Red]

Think we need a little balance. We're all disappointed when we don't win, however agree with F19 - it was a bad day at the office. We've just won 5 on the run, and I'd take 5 wins from every 6 games for rest of season.

All in all, we've had an excellent start. Let's put yesterday down to one of those days where we had 4 or 5 who under performed and they were really up for it, had done their homework and didn't let us get into our stride.

[yerself]

Originally Posted by Alvin the chipmunk

even more evidence as we didn't rate him highly enough to offer a competitive deal.

Offering any deal was evidence of the nepotism you speak of. I never saw Bertrand Bossu play (who many have stated was the worst) but Bell jnr. was definitely the worst player to pull on a Stanley shirt that I've ever seen. Could you tell us where he's playing now?

[Redraine]

From an Oxford fan:-

Forget that Stanley are a small club with a small budget who play in front of small crowds; they are a decent team. I have admiration for them. Jason Mooney is the biggest goal-keeper I’ve ever seen. He’s six foot nine but I reckon they had one outfield player who was nearly as tall. That said, they didn’t play an overly physical dirty game and in son of Dean obviously have a goal scorer.
Coming in to this one they were unbeaten in eight league games and had won the last four. Is this a better time to play them than if they were going through a bad run? I’m not sure but I do know that if you are on form yourself it doesn’t really matter either way.

The first half was pretty even and whilst we didn’t deserve to be losing, were perhaps just a tad fortunate to be one up on the balance of play. But we’ve got skilful players who can produce that little bit extra at the drop of a hat and with getting men in the box at the appropriate moments, goals will come.

The first goal came after Joe Skarz and Danny Rose kept the ball between themselves following a throw in before finding John Lundstram. Our ex-Everton man was thinking only positively as he played a through ball for Roofe. It took a bit of a deflection which didn’t do us any harm. Roofe reacted quickly, got away and pulled the ball back for Calum O’Dowda to finish perfectly. There were other yellow shirts around who could probably have done the job too. I’m not saying Mooney should have saved it but I will say he wasn’t nimble. Whereas this went in, Windass’ excellent lob from distance did not. Fine margins.

Twenty five minutes into the second half we’d been pegged back. Overall our shape had been very good but there were times when the opposition had more space in which to operate in the centre of the field than I was comfortable with. A red shirt was able to stride forward with some ease before passing to Matt Crooks. We didn’t close him down quickly. At the moment he got his shot away we’d got four players pretty close but it was too late. It was a very good finish aided by a bit of a flick off an Oxford boot. I attach no blame to our keeper for this one.

A few minutes later we survived our biggest scare of the game. We did not mark well from a corner which allowed a shot to be hammered in from outside the box. Sam Slocombe, who should possibly have done better, parried, only for the ball to ricochet upwards off Sean McConville and seemingly into the net. George Baldock was not having that and got back to head off the line. Windass then headed over SS and on to the bar with McConville looking like he was going to hook it in. Instead he hooked it over but Slocombe had thrown himself back across goal and may well have kept it out if it had been on target. Never say die. It shouldn’t be forgotten that there were scrambles at the other end too, although with a little less intensity.

Five minutes after this incident we’d taken the lead again. It’s not something we’ve been able to say over the years but perhaps we’ve now turned a corner in that we’re keeping the ball from throw-ins and indeed setting up goals from them. Graham received the ball and with supreme control and slippery dribbling skills went this way and that before playing the perfect low ball inviting Liam Sercombe to score. Again we had many men in the box.

That extra bit of dribbling skill and ability to go past players was something we had that they didn’t and that was the difference. That made us better than them and deserved winners.

For the record I’ll admit that I would have gone for a more conservative approach and brought on the defensively reliable Alex MacDonald, not Graham, for the injured Danny Rose. Michael Appleton obviously got it right. His other substitution didn’t look bad either. Ryan Taylor is starting to show a bit in the 10-15 minutes playing time he is now getting.

On 84 minutes the home side made two substitutions which obviously didn’t work as we soon had increased our lead. Again superior dribbling skill did it and there was no one in the ground who thought Roofe had not been fouled.

Liam Sercombe’s name is one that needs to be on the team sheet every week. He brings such a lot to the team. Scoring a penalty is one such thing if you play for Oxford United.

Before I finish this long winded FV I have to mention Accy manager John Coleman and the nonsense he spouted in his post-match interview. Apparently we were allowed to time waste at every opportunity in the first half (Really?). We’re a good side (true) but we’re no better than them. If they had scored that mad scramble they would have gone on to win by three or four. (I think he had some mind altering drugs slipped into his half time cuppa). And he’s confident that they will beat us at the Kassam. (A lot of worse teams than AS have won at our place over the years but what arrogant nonsense).

Did I say earlier that I admire Accrington? Based on the attitude of their manager I’ve changed my mind. He’s just stepped up alongside Evans and Westley and talking of those sort of emotions brings us on to that JPT match on Tuesday.



Also a bit more of the action here. Pen looked a real Premier League job to me, i.e., "He touched me, ref!" Their player should have been booked for diving:-

[cashman]

Originally Posted by football19

Now the dust has settled,for me it simple,just a bad day at the office.
We have defended well in the first ten games,but we got punished yesterday for a mixture of poor finishing and naive defending.
Its not that we are a bad team or the shape of the team is wrong,just errors at key times.
Positives,we created chances and looking at the bench,plenty strength in depth.
We just looked a bit open from the off yesterday,with passes going astray and struggled to build a head of steam.
It happens and we learn our lessons and move on.

They took there chances, we didn't is what happened simple as that to me, but our manager dont seem to me to have learned any lessons with substitutions?

[football19]

It's a difficult one Cashy on making subs as one was forced on us at half time.
Think the right players were replaced but possibly earlier as both died after 70 minutes.
Sean put a proper shift in on Tuesday and for me it caught him up on Saturday.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by football19

It's a difficult one Cashy on making subs as one was forced on us at half time.
Think the right players were replaced but possibly earlier as both died after 70 minutes.
Sean put a proper shift in on Tuesday and for me it caught him up on Saturday.

Not the issue who was replaced, but it was too late to get any kinda result in my view,I honestly thought that lesson had been learned as its gone on for yonks with the dynamic duo, but alas it seems not, I just wonder how then can the players be asked to learn lessons?Sean i thought was poor in the first half on tuesday, much better second half.

[Exile on Spencer St]

Interesting that the Oxford fan alludes to them not being any good with throw-ins. That's one aspect of the game that, imho, has bedevilled Stanley for years. They often seem to take too long time and allow the opposition to sort out their defence. Not a major issue, I know, but we rarely threaten from throw-ins that are in the opponents' half. If we have to take such a long time, is there no-one, other Mr.Mooney, who can throw a ball into the box from the side-line?

[football19]

Their second goal was helped by a quick throw in !!!

[Exile on Spencer St]

Originally Posted by football19

their second goal was helped by a quick throw in !!!

qed

[Chrisr]

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the match, I have seen the clips and read the comments. one thing that does make me wonder about team selection is the lack of rotation with some of the subs. I notice Gerado came on a couple of weeks ago and scored a cracker of a goal. he does not seem to get a decent run out, He is not the only one. Could someone explain why we make double substitutions so late in a game. It can take a player 10 mins to get up to speed in a fast game, I will be at the next game so if JC or JB need advice i am willing to help.

[Exile on Spencer St]

Originally Posted by Chrisr

....I will be at the next game so if JC or JB need advice i am willing to help.

Don't forget to bring your badges.

[AccyMad]

Originally Posted by Exile on Spencer St

Don't forget to bring your badges.

...... & your tin hat if you try & offer 'advice' whilst the game's on