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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 17, 2017 22:38:08 GMT
IF OxVox have signed an NDA and attended this meeting then of course they should abide by it.
Whether they should have done so (if they have) will I suspect become more obvious in time. For example, if they were asked to attend discussions as the elected representatives of (at least some of) the supporters, to give input as to how the supporters see the future of the club, to have some influence - however slight - on things like ticket prices, the stadium, the facilities, the marketing etc etc but told they had to sign an NDA as a condition of doing that then I'd be OK with it.
Whether these potential new owners seem like the types to want to do that is something I doubt, but let's hold fire until we actually know the facts. That's a novel approach I know...
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 17, 2017 21:13:22 GMT
With the state of the team at the moment, we will be lucky to come away with a narrow defeat never mind anything better.
Plymouth 2 Oxford 0 (we will have six shots, 2 of which will be on target and someone else will get injured)
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 15, 2017 11:35:51 GMT
Which means getting decent crosses in the box and strikers on the end of them! Maybe we need to go back to basics and simplify things: 2 solid midfielders, two quick tenacious wingers who can put in a decent cross and help out their full backs when necessary and two decent strikers who will 'put themselves about' and get on the end of things..? Call me old fashioned... For what it's worth, I agree with you. The problem is that (for example) we simply haven't got 'two quick tenacious wingers'! Add Ruffels back into the midfield and you've added a bit of solidity. Strikers - we only have two fit(ish) ones. How decent they are is up for debate...
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 12, 2017 11:52:24 GMT
I kept an eye on him in the second half yesterday since he was down at the East Stand end. His one pass was back to where it came from (he wasn't alone in that though!) and his positional play was at times atrocious. He also managed to deliberately put himself in no man's land (as another supporter described it) many times, far enough away from his man that he couldn't tackle or block the ball, but near enough so that it looked as if he was trying to do something. He was also completely knackered by 60 minutes, which meant he had even less pace than before that!
As others have said, if you compound all that with Hall's less than enthusiastic tracking back then surely that was another reason to play Henry in front of Tiendalli (if he really HAD to play) on the right and put Hall in front of the defensively-better Richardinho on the left?
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 12, 2017 10:08:27 GMT
Clotet has got us into this mess (and yes, it IS a mess despite the league position, which I haven't been brave enough to look at yet this morning!). He brought in a load of old/injured/retired/substandard players plus a much (much!) smaller amount of decent ones, didn't do much of anything to replace those who left in terms of quality. His tactics and style of play look absolutely spot on against a team who just leave us alone to get on with it, but are an absolute disaster against anyone who closes us down at anything faster than walking pace. Mostly because that's the speed we play at most of the time.
For all his protestations that the team are 'learning', they patently are not. The same mistakes over and over again. And while they might be 'individual mistakes', it's playing the system we do that makes them so dangerous. Farting about with the ball and trying to do little flicks in midfield and at the back mean that one mistake and you are under pressure immediately. Add that to the lack of quality in defense and it's a recipe for disaster.
He won't be sacked with the current regime in place as Eales won't want to pay out compensation before he leaves. That means the new owner will either have to fork out or stick with him, but are there enough quality (uninjured and non sicknote) players in the squad for a new manager to turn this rag bag untogether squad into something that looks like a team rather than a collection of individuals? It would be a difficult job.
I have the horrible feeling that it's going to be a long and hard winter.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 8, 2017 9:22:34 GMT
If so, one wonders why it wasn't used by Pep, if not one fears for the up-coming recruitment. Well unless the recruitment set up at the club (if it still exits) happened to identify a load of obscure players that coincidentally used to work with Clotet then I think we know that he fell back on his old contacts in the summer rather than use it. Of course, that's probably because he felt more comfortable getting players in who he had worked with before, but it has proved to be a very poor decision in the main. I'm a bit skeptical about the high hopes some people have for January. Given that we seem to be short of pace, width, striking power and midfield bite then it is going to have to be a hell of a transfer window!
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 7, 2017 17:55:07 GMT
Come on Baz. You know that Oxvox are/were trying to act as a bridge between DE and Kassam (while also representing the interests of the supporters of course), not trying to buy the stadium themselves!
Why would Kassam waste his time negotiating with an owner who might very well not be the owner in the near future? Any new owner might be quite happy to just keep paying the rent, or might not want to get involved in borrowing money to buy the stadium, might want a new ground or might have enough money to just pay what Kassam is asking.
The Sartori situation might have gone away, but the club is still for sale.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 6, 2017 21:27:15 GMT
Oxford mail chat today on Twitter they asked pep and felt he needed a game off and will be back tomorrow night. Well if that is actually so, it is terrible management. Nelson is the captain and our best defender by a street - and he was rested for the FA Cup, but will be playing in the bloody joke of a competition tomorrow?
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 6, 2017 14:14:25 GMT
We've quickly and aggressively closed down opponents successfully as well. (Were you at the Rovers game? ) To me it's even more simple. To win games consistently in L1 you need to win the muck and nettles battles. We sometimes don't look up for the fight. No I was not at the Rovers game, but the fact that we successfully closed them down (and I'm glad to hear it, but it is not something we have done that many times this season) doesn't have any relevance to our ability to adjust when it is done to us, does it? I agree with what you say about fight though, and that is all over the pitch - from competing properly for the ball up front, to standing our ground in midfield and closing down / tackling at the back. I do wonder about the lack of big personalities in the side, someone at times needs to take control on the pitch, to do something to get the team going. For me, the season has been an odd one. Some games have been extremely enjoyable (win, lose or draw) and some very much below par and even a bit predictable and depressing. And (to stick to the original question) that inconsistency - which does not seem to be improving really - is why I doubt we will make the playoffs. I think Saturday's game is actually quite important in several ways.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 6, 2017 12:47:15 GMT
I still can't get over how we can go from looking bloody fantastic in games, to absolute dog s**t, within a matter of days, literally. Totally bizarre. It does seem odd. But then you realise that if the team we are playing are able to quickly and aggressively close down our sideways passing at the back then that's all it takes to completely throw us off our stride. That leads to two things - us losing the ball close to our own goal or panicking and trying to 'go long' to a lone forward. Without much width or pace we have no other outlet. Of course, if a team lets us play it about then we look half way decent - but I doubt many more teams will fall into that trap this season.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 4, 2017 13:52:37 GMT
Im as disappointed as everyone with the inconsistency and the cup defeats, especially the manner of last night. But, all things considered, I'll be happy if we stay mid table or better for now and then look at what Pep does in the January transfer window in terms of team improvement. Its how we progress that is important to me and you could argue he has inherited a lot of players and was also rushed into trying to find signings in the pre season. Think a few of our flaws have been exposed recently (Physicality, pace and a bit of nounce) so it will be interesting to see who he tries to bring in. Wondering, as someone else mentioned yesterday, whether he might cash in with Nelson to help fund his war chest. But I thought we had some sort of highly regarded recruitment set up? Presumably they (along with Appleton and Eales) would have had a list of players they wanted to go for in the summer. What we actually got was a bit of a rag bag, including quite a few people Pep had worked with before. I think it's pretty clear now that the players Pep inherited (Ledson, Nelson, Eastwood, Hall, Ribeiro, Ruffels, Rothwell etc) are actually the ones that are the talents in the squad. Payne (a loanee) and Ricardinho are probably the only new additions who have had a positive effect. I'm not convinced Eales (if he is still in charge) will loosen the purse strings in January - which is a notoriously difficult window in which to do good business anyway. We sold Johnson and the money wasn't really reinvested, I have little confidence that any fee we got for Nelson would be either.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 4, 2017 11:14:24 GMT
Or maybe he was just rested. We haven't played for a week, hopefully he wouldn't be playing on Tuesday, is the captain and is our best defender by a mile. The FA Cup is an important competition for a club in our position - giving us at least the chance to earn a lot of money, not to mention the increased confidence that a decent cup run brings. He may have been rested - but if so that is yet another bad decision on an evening that was full of them.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 4, 2017 10:41:41 GMT
Where was Nelson tonight? Not getting cup-tied. And does anyone really think Williamson was injured? Or was Pep sparing his feelings? The substitutions were really, really poor.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 3, 2017 23:00:50 GMT
Rothwell has to start against Northampton We have to not start with Tiendalli or Williamson, we have to play two up top (I suppose that will have to be Thomas and Obika), and since Hall and Payne are the only players we have who can do anything different at all then we have to start with them on the pitch.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 3, 2017 22:58:33 GMT
Er what? Please explain what you are saying? Fans/ players/ DE would want to get to the third round of the FA CUP. Do you not want that?? Not really fussed. Only benefit for the club is financially which as I've said we don't need because of unbudgeted cup success in the past few years. Irony doesn't come over well when typed. You are being ironic aren't you?
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 3, 2017 22:04:00 GMT
You may be alone on that and I recon that Mr Eales will be more than a little concerned. Every supporter and player and Chairman would LOVE to make he third round of the FA Cup. Not an issue when you take into consideration unfinanced cup success in the last few years. I don't understand this. Are you saying that because we made some unbudgeted money in previous years, then the club wouldn't want the extra money an d thfans wouldn't want to progress this year? I am genuinely confused!
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 3, 2017 21:39:54 GMT
We aint been that bad to b h.. woefully deficient in m f and up front though.. . Defence have had a torrid tome ... Ok, so the midfield and up front have been woeful and the defense have continually played themselves into trouble. How on earth does that make us 'not too bad'? A grand total of 0 shots on target against a team in a lower league with an unexperienced keeper. f*cking awful.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 3, 2017 21:17:59 GMT
Struggling to believe they are 3rd bottom of the division below us... Or maybe struggling to believe we are half way up the one above?
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 3, 2017 21:07:25 GMT
It was an odd half time substitution. We need two up front. At the very least we need Thomas taken off or we will end up with 10 men. And now Ruffels coming off and Rothwell coming on. Pep has no bloody idea at times.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 3, 2017 21:05:48 GMT
Hows the passing been guys? Anyone would think you are taking some strange warped enjoyment form this debacle. But I'm sure that's not true...
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 3, 2017 20:59:45 GMT
What a load of rubbish. It's the poor, supportive buggers who took time off work and struggled up there through the Friday traffic I feel sorry for. It's not as if Port Vale have scored two lucky goals - they deserve their lead.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 3, 2017 20:39:52 GMT
Shots on target 0 - any shot at all 0.
Too much fannying about with it, especially at the back. How many times has the commentary already said variations of 'Oxford have played themselves into trouble'?
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 3, 2017 20:36:53 GMT
Sounds very poor. On this showing, anyone who thinks this squad is capable of getting into the playoffs is 'optimistic'.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 3, 2017 20:11:17 GMT
Sounds like a lot of possession and little threat from us, while simultaneously looking a bit creaky at the back. Hmm....
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 2, 2017 21:22:13 GMT
Remainers at the end of the day would hate it if Britain prospered outside the EU. Absolute rubbish. I voted to remain, would vote the same tomorrow and think Brexit is a huge mistake that is being catastrophically mismanaged by the current government. (Is that 'Remain'y enough for you? ) But I really, really hope that somehow we thrive outside the EU - hoping anything else would be idiotic.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Nov 2, 2017 17:44:41 GMT
For those of us with phones so ancient you have to wind a handle and ask for Whitehall 211 before connecting, or those having trouble getting connected...
Maybe the club could actually put all the scores up on that flashy scoreboard?
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 31, 2017 12:51:34 GMT
Last Season: Eastwood, Skarz, Dunkley, Nelson, Edwards, Lunny, Ledson, Marv, Maguire, Hall, McAleny (Mapp)
This Season: Eastwood, Ricardinho, Mous, Nelson, Ribs, Ruffels, Ledson, Hall, Payne, Henry, Thomas (Pep)
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Well I would say:
Skarz is a much more solid defender than Ricardinho, although not as good going forward Although very different players, Mousinho and Dunkley aren't that far apart (controversial?). Dunkley always looked like he was about to make a horrible rickett of things but (when played on his correct side) didn't make that many. Mous on the the other hand looks more solid, but also makes mistakes! On the right of defence we have much the same situation as on the left - Ribeiro is much better going forward than Edwards but not as secure at the back. Lundstram at his best was our quarterback, moving the ball forwards quickly. We miss him. Ruffels - although I rate him highly - is a very different type of player. Henry is improving, but doesn't have the pace that Marvin does and that contributes to our inability to get behind teams. Payne and Maguire. Hmm. Payne works very hard, but it is frustrating how often he tries to do so much that he ends up losing the ball pretty tamely. Mind you Maguire used to irritate me the way he'd just drift out of games, as if he was a bit uninterested. So I 'd guess pretty even there - although I think Payne has the capacity and desire to improve over the season. With Maguire you wouldn't get that. Up front, Thomas has certainly improved. He is working harder and looks fitter. However, he isn't really a lone striker. It is hard to compare him with McAleny really. Difficult to say how McAleny might have pushed on if he'd stayed with us (Fleetwood was a very strange move for him IMO). Obika - I think it's fair to say the jury is still out.
So I think we are weaker defensively out wide, but probably stronger going forward there. Central defense is about the same strength. Midfield is missing speed in distribution. We have less pace and less width up front. We have lost some youth and replaced it with 'experience' - possibly gone too far that way IMO.
If the current team at it's best played last years team at it's best, I think it would be a terrific game, but last year's team would shade it. Probably by scoring a couple in the last 20 minutes by getting in down the sides when the current 'oldies' were getting knackered!
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 28, 2017 17:49:34 GMT
I wasn't there today Jerome, and therefore hesitate on specifics of the match.
But...
Our habit of back-pedaling when being run at just outside the box is worrying and today was seemingly costly. We find it very hard to hold a slender lead or defend a clean sheet, especially late in a game. Today, Pep made some very attacking subs at 0-0 - admirable perhaps, but was it a mistake? We only had 4 shots on goal today (BBC stats) with a meager 2 on target.
Let's hope for better stuff on Friday.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 27, 2017 19:02:33 GMT
Not sure who got the assist - probably Alan Knill. 'Duffy' apparently. Rob, I presume...
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 27, 2017 18:48:16 GMT
Glad he didn't get a prison sentence. I don't know this plonker but that's too severe a punishment for a minor (if idiotic) offense. Let's hope the fine and banning order are enough to discourage others though.
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