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AustrianAntheaGull wrote:If Knill were in the dug out he would have got absolutely steamed for this performance I have no doubt but it wasn't Knill it was Chris

The difference is? (apart from hypocrisy obviously)

No, the difference is that it's Chris's 2nd game not about 20 on the spin when we've played like clueless baboons. Knill was an experienced manager yet still saw fit to offer us performances like this on a weekly basis. Chris can learn from today and I fully expect him to. If he doesn't then perhaps it is time for the Conference, no aspersions on Hargreaves at all.

We won't know until that time comes but it's not hypocrisy. If Chris gave us the next 20 games like Knill would have done then yes, inexperience aside he is up for criticism but for now it's his second game and I am trusting that it is a blip from a youthful boss. It's not hypocrisy, it is understanding what a difficult job Chris has to achieve with a poor squad and a lack of experience from him in a managerial capacity.

I was shocked by what I saw today, it was unbelievably poor and reminiscent of Knill but come on, let's give the bloke a chance. It's only his second game.

Well, that's me. Like the superb Jesus & Marychain track - I'm far gone and out so i'll furnish you with my thoughts from the Chesterfield game on the 15th of Feb, my next game. Until then.

AustrianAntheaGull wrote:Also, just thought I'd add my nomination for most bizarre interview question of the season asked by the OUFC programme editor to ex-player and U's legend Peter Rhoades-Brown.

In a very enlightening Q & A feature in the programme Peter was asked in between "Who have been the most fearsome defenders you have come up against?" and "What's the best goal you've scored?".............................................................................................................................................

"What's the biggest animal you think you could catch if it was fired out of a circus cannon?"


F*CKING WHAT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like one of MY questions that!

Was going to say aardvark but a quick glance at Wikipedia reveals aardvarks are considerably bigger than I thought. So I'm going to go with chinchilla. I'm quite confident I could catch a chinchilla fired out of a circus cannon.

As to the game it sounded quite dire listening to it. So I imagine watching it was...well, dire. Seems they scored a goal out of nothing. Literally nothing, the commentators were in the midst of a discussion about God knows what, like "yada yada yada oh by the way Oxford just scored." And then 84 minutes of not much of anything.

Burnhamgull wrote:Reality Check for the Yellow Army.

Burton on Tuesday are in good form and Portsmouth next week is another bottom of the table clash. Lose both games and we're in even bigger trouble.

With the current and forecast weather is anybody expecting the game to be on? Can't see us playing at Plainmoor before Easter!

oxgull wrote:Disappointing to be honest. We were poor first half but improved in the second. Two sides short on guile and ideas but they had touches in the first half and found their passes and scored from their only clear cut chance. Better than the Chesterfield game when we lost 0 - 2 at Plainmoor but I am starting to believe we might just be preparing for non-league life now. I hope not but at least the guys put in a shift today and we almost nicked a draw with Nico's free kick right at the end. Still, keep believing!!!

When it was announced that Chris Hargreaves had negotiated to be manager next season whatever league we were in, my worry was that he was already preparing for non-league.

Dry day forecast for tuesday - so might be on. We are at the last chance saloon.

I think Oxford shaded yesterday's game based on possession and chances but our failure to take many of those chances meant that Torquay always had a chance to get back into the game. Only our defensive heroics prevented you from scoring but overall it was quite a scrappy game in awful conditions.
It's a good thing Oxford invested in new drainage at half time or this rain would have waterlogged the pitch.

To be fair you had decent numbers at the game yesterday, it was only the home support letting the attendance down.
On the subject of support, here's a video of both sets of fans as the teams come out

I think Chris Hargreaves is the man to get you out of trouble as you showed signs of promise yesterday. Good luck for the rest of the season, I hope you can get out of trouble and stay up!

Disappointing yesterday. The biggest positive being that at 1-0 down after 10 minute, we didn't capitulate into a shellacking, although we have two outstanding bits of defending - one from Poke, O'Connor the other, to thank for that.

We battled and fought our way back into the match, and actually controlled long periods of the second half, but there was desperately little in the way of creativity and we didn't really look like scoring apart from a couple of shots from distance, which their keeper looked nervous trying to handle.

Benyon and Hawley, excellent on the narrow pitch at Kingsmeadow, were much less effective yesterday and it was galling to see genuine width in Bodin and Chappel sat on the bench for so long. There seems to be an unwritten rule in football that you can't make an early substitution. Sometimes the bravest substitutions are the ones made earliest. It was obvious that team selection was wrong - I think you have to go horses for courses- and it took too long for changes to come about. I can't fault the effort of any player however. We dug in and fought until the end, I always felt we could nick something from the game as Nicho's last minute free-kick nearly proved.

We have a large squad, we have to start giving some of these players a chance or else we have to ship them out.

Oxford are a strong team, not particularly laden with quality, but resolute and professional, we struggled to find a way round them. We just can't afford to gift good teams head starts like we did yesterday, we simply gave ourselves too much to do.

We are fortunate that the division this season is a poor one. There are so many average teams that we have to target taking points from. 4 points from the next two is the minimum and the games will continue to come thick and fast thereon. Hargreaves has an enormous job on his hands, we can't dwell on yesterday's defeat, we have to target 3 points on Tuesday.

We have to target three points on Tuesday thats for sure - trouble is that due to our pathetic home form we are unlikely to get them. I was disappointed in Hargreaves yesterday. Giving Bodin 5 minutes to rescue the game was a criminal waste. Don't know if Hargreaves has watched any of our games before becoming manager but if not surely some of the staff must have told him how well he has been playing of late.
The best formation we have played in my view was the one that Harrop employed against Morecambe when we were unlucky not to have won easily.
Benyon needs to be played off Stockley, and Bodin needs to be in the free role behind the two of them.
We had eighty five minutes yesterday to rescue the game against a side who were playing their third game in seven days.
Bunging on three subs with less than ten minutes to go (as per Alan Knill) didn't actually show any tactical nous to me.
Clearly marooning Stockley up front by himself and playing two other strikers as some sort of surrogate wingers isn't going to work long term.

brucie wrote:Dry day forecast for tuesday - so might be on. We are at the last chance saloon.

Last chance saloon? It's January, there are 19 games left and we're three points from safety.

Fleetwood are three points off top spot. Do you really think that if they don't win on Tuesday that their chances of the title are gone?

The Oxford fan on here is talking bollocks. They didn't 'fail to take many of their chances', because they only had three and they scored with one, Poke saved another and one was cleared off the line. We had many more chances to score than they did, just we missed the target with all of them. A 0-0 draw with both sides being fined £10,000 for failing to entertain the crowd would have been just.

Matt.

Bengull is right about the substitutions. It's pointless to bring on subs 5-10 minutes before the end and expect them to have much of an influence on the game. On the other hand Oxford are only just outside the automatic promotion places, and we cannot expect to beat every team from the other end of the table. But if we carry on beating teams like Wimbledon away, whilst also improving our home record, we shall be in with a fighting chance..

Gullscorer wrote:Bengull is right about the substitutions. It's pointless to bring on subs 5-10 minutes before the end and expect them to have much of an influence on the game. On the other hand Oxford are only just outside the automatic promotion places, and we cannot expect to beat every team from the other end of the table. But if we carry on beating teams like Wimbledon away, whilst also improving our home record, we shall be in with a fighting chance..

This post oozes 'Sense and Sensibility'

http://www.oufc.co.uk/news/article/0026 ... 18036.aspx

Wilder gone now.

Just thought I'd add this recovered topic to this topic from 12/10/2007 for old times sake...



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Congratulations Torquay (Read 470 times)
the_yellow_of_oxfo
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Congratulations Torquay
12. Oct 2007 at 01:53 As an Oxford fan I would just like to congratulate Torquay United on their display this evening. You showed Oxford United what a bit of passion, pride, belief and spirit can do to a team. Even at 3-0 down, everyone of your side and your supporters didn't give up, didn't doubt for one second that you would't get something out of the game.

Admittedly Oxford did make it easy for you - I mean just how deep did we want to defend (any further back and they'd have been playing a game of ten pin bowling).

Your manager got it spot on in the second half and in Zebroski, Sills and Phillips you have possibly the best strike force in the League.

If you can maintain that spirit and passion - and the outstanding attacking football, I have no doubt that you will be champions come the end of the season.

Your team is a credit to you. Your supporters are a credit to your team. You gave us a lesson tonight, I just hope we learnt from it.
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Forest of Dean Gul
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Re: Congratulations Torquay
Reply #1 - 12. Oct 2007 at 03:14 Thanks for the message, and we were made to feel welcome at the ground, a pleasant change from some of the league grounds.

Also thanks for the praise heaped on our (yet again) wonderful fans on oxfords official site, Quote 'they sang and sang and sang'

Lets hope we can extend the same welcome to visiting Oxford fans at fortress plainmoor.
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Re: Congratulations Torquay
Reply #2 - 12. Oct 2007 at 07:39 Thanks for that, yellow of Oxford. Our away support is rapidly gaining a reputation as being the 12th man in this League. It has long had that reputation in the bottom flight of the Football League. Much like yourselves.
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Re: Congratulations Torquay
Reply #3 - 12. Oct 2007 at 07:46 It's nice to see some kind of recognition from another teams supporter, as i've already said, I think the support we gave last night was the best so far this season, away from home.
Yellow, your team will come good, give it time, you are also a credit to them, good man.
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Re: Congratulations Torquay
Reply #4 - 12. Oct 2007 at 08:49 It was a shame that Satanta didn't show the Torquay fans enough, maybe 2 shots of them during the whole game! Could hear them outsinging throughout.
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Re: Congratulations Torquay
Reply #5 - 12. Oct 2007 at 20:14 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 040975.stm

It seems PB was impressed too Â
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Reply #6 - 12. Oct 2007 at 20:32 Thought you were all singing Yellow Army nice and loud first half. Then I realised. Doh....

jane
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Re: Congratulations Torquay
Reply #7 - 12. Oct 2007 at 20:40 westbaygull wrote on 12. Oct 2007 at 20:32:
Thought you were all singing Yellow Army nice and loud first half. Then I realised. Doh....

jane


It most likely was us Jane. I've never known Oxford so quiet. At least we know the players and Paul Buckle valued the noise we made.