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Post by oufcyellows on Apr 20, 2016 8:52:07 GMT
Win on saterday and Rovers & Plymouth lose, we are one win away from Promotion COYY That's the spirit. U should get a bus
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Post by horseman on Apr 20, 2016 9:01:51 GMT
Imagine what Rovers fans are thinking today, a win and they would have overtaken us and it would be in their hands, have they blown their big chance? the pressure is on all 4 teams.
Get out the pub earlier and get to the ground, let's have the whole place rocking and make it uncomfortable for pools instead of your own team.
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Post by dubaiyellow on Apr 20, 2016 9:05:28 GMT
1 win in 5 league games is not ideal but the most important thing is it's still in our hands - Is Saturday the first "must win" game of our season?
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Post by CheltenhamYellow on Apr 20, 2016 9:31:59 GMT
I think the people on here having a go at others for suggesting we might now slip into the playoffs are being unduly unfair. Everyone is disappointed but on our form, with our injury list, an astonishing turnaround in form is going to have to occur for us to keep our place in the top three. We have won three games at home in 2016! We're going to have to nearly double that in the last three games to guarantee going up in autos as it stands! I also think it's worrying that we have thrown away 5 points from winning positions in the last 5 days. That surely suggests that the players are succumbing to pressure a bit or (worse) just aren't in the right mindset for the fight. People jumping down others' throats for being defeatist and revelling in the team's current struggles are missing the point those people are making and taking their frustration out on other fans I feel. We all support Oxford; no one WANTS us not to get promoted. But you have to be realistic and recognise that it would go completely against our recent form to win all our remaining games at this point. By all means try and justify your pessimism and vindicate the moaners, but bear in mind that there is absolutely bugger all it will accomplish, so there really is nothing left but to get behind the team for the last three games. I think you have to consider whether this is pessimism - or realism. Let's face it: what are the chances of us winning two games on the trot at home, and/or three on the trot in total? How many times have we done that this season?? The important thing is not to let pessimism creep onto the pitch on Saturday. The atmosphere at Newport was just tense from beginning to end; I don't think it ever looked as though we were going to win and the crowd transmitted this to the players.
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Post by bbl1 on Apr 20, 2016 9:59:00 GMT
Why was it so tense, as a norm our away lot are great?!
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Post by pottersrightboot on Apr 20, 2016 10:00:25 GMT
Why was it so tense, as a norm our away lot are great?! Because we were playing on a beach and had our reserve team on the pitch.
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Post by oldham on Apr 20, 2016 10:04:16 GMT
Please please please don't let Rosie loose with the microphone again, that was pure embarrassment before the Luton game!
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Post by horseman on Apr 20, 2016 10:04:32 GMT
By all means try and justify your pessimism and vindicate the moaners, but bear in mind that there is absolutely bugger all it will accomplish, so there really is nothing left but to get behind the team for the last three games. I think you have to consider whether this is pessimism - or realism. Let's face it: what are the chances of us winning two games on the trot at home, and/or three on the trot in total? How many times have we done that this season?? The important thing is not to let pessimism creep onto the pitch on Saturday. The atmosphere at Newport was just tense from beginning to end; I don't think it ever looked as though we were going to win and the crowd transmitted this to the players. Plymouth and or Rovers have to better our results what are the chances of them doing that and why?
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Post by peterorange on Apr 20, 2016 10:43:57 GMT
with so much negativity and poor attitude among fans is it any wonder that the kassam is such an horrible place to watch and play football.How some expect the players to perform when some fans cannot attend games with an open mind is beyond me. Everyone is aware that the home results have been a big issue so what do you want to do about it? moan and shout at each mistake, missed chance etc or back them fully for the whole 90 minutes..This is YOUR Club your team, there has never been a better opportunity to get out of this awful league so for once just clear your heads and forget about the past and get yourselves to the ground with an open mind and give 100% support for the whole 90+ minutes. I am in a bad place at the moment and have attended very few games but i will force myself to get there on saturday because OUR club needs everyone of us there to give our all for the whole game is it really too much to ask for YOUR team? This. 28 years I've been supporting Oxford and a constant has been friends have taken along who are fans of other teams saying they can't believe the negative atmosphere, both at the Kassam and prior to that at the Manor Ground. I remember one bald guy at the Manor in Osler Road who used to turn up almost every week and scream at the players all game until he was purple... Look at the King Power for Leicester - there is a 12th man. We can be that too. If a player makes a mistake or a bad choice of pass, its not the end of the world. Lets go there thinking we can go up, not that we will fail.
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Post by newyorkyellow on Apr 20, 2016 12:46:21 GMT
I remember a bloke sat behind me at the manor every week used to lambast Houghton all game. "Get off Houghton you're shit!!..."" Unbelievable
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Post by mariokempes on Apr 20, 2016 13:03:14 GMT
What bugged me last night is that the players failed to adapt to the pitch. Everyone could see running with the ball was nearly impossible as the ball kept holding up. Sorry that's my 2nd bugbear, the top one was timewasting and the referee yet again failing to do anything about it. Oh and when JW almost got decapitated in front of the lino. Anyway we cant change the past, only learn lessons from it Onwards and upwards
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Post by oufcyellows on Apr 20, 2016 13:05:15 GMT
Just got to think of it as havin our mid season blip late. If we had it earlier and we're now back to winning way and closin down fast/just got into the top 3 the place would be f*cking rocking
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Post by bazzer9461 on Apr 20, 2016 13:05:48 GMT
1 win in 5 league games is not ideal but the most important thing is it's still in our hands - Is Saturday the first "must win" game of our season? No, last night was
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Post by cruz on Apr 20, 2016 13:08:56 GMT
>horseman said "Plymouth and or Rovers have to better our results (Q.) what are the chances of them doing that and why?
(A) An easier set of 3 fixtures than us imo.
1) Bristol have York & D&R as their last two fixtures on 30th April and May 7th respectively. I expect that York will have been relegated by the end of April..they are as good as down now and I can't see them beating Accrington away this Saturday. That should make it easier when Bristol go to York on the 30th. That is six points they really should get even in this crazy league...add to that a possibility of something from the home game v Exeter this weekend. I think they'll get 7 points from 9...maybe just 6 as Exeter will be a stiff test as they still have an outside chance of the play-offs. I go for a draw in that game but if they win it I think they'll go up automatically and they must know that!
Because they have an inferior GD to ours and have a point less I think if we get 5 points we'll be above them on GD as long as Exeter can at least hold them to a draw.
2) Plymouth have a slightly tougher set of games than Bristol imo but still a little easier than us..i.e. both teams have to play Hartlepool at home..away to Cambridge or Carlisle I consider about the same..but we play Wycombe at home where they have D&G at home. Pymouth should win both home games giving six points..and maybe(?) get something at Cambridge.
We have a better GD but we're level on points so we'd need 6 points out of 9 to stay ahead on GD at season's end. I think 84 points would see us up to L1 on GD in 3rd spot but if we only get 83 we'll need Plymouth to slip up somewhere...probably by losing to Cambridge. Plymouth only have a 52% home win percentage so far having lost one-third of all games at home. Their first homer is against D&R and for me that is 3 points . The second is the last day of the season in front of a big crowd against Hartlepool who have nothing to play for except pride but also no pressure..could be an interesting one!!
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Post by harryhalitosis on Apr 20, 2016 13:30:14 GMT
I was there last night - first league game of the season for me (I'm an exile living in S.Wales and referee at a decent non-league standard so can't often attend games, did go to Wembley tho).
I thought OUFC put in a decent performance last night and was very impressed with how we tried to play a quality passing game rather than resorting to hoofball like Newport did - that said, it was ironic that Oxford's goal came from a 60 yard hoof forward by Dunkley while the Newport goal was a superb long-range effort.
My thoughts on the players last night -
Buchel - I was directly in line with him when he 'took out/flattened' the Newport striker who was through on goal one-on-one in the 2nd half. Note the NCFC striker was 2 yards offside when the ball was played and the ass.ref didn't spot this because he was 5 yards behind the play. However Buchel should have recd a straight red card but escaped because the ref thought it was a fair challenge. I didn't. Cracking/lucky save by Bucehl from another NCFC long-range effort tho - ball hit the post, Bucehl did really well to get near it and the ball then bounced off his head for a corner. Some good punches from BB all game apart from one that he missed.
Defence - Dunkley was immense in the air as he was at Wembley I thought. The NCFC fans (not may of them there) were raving about Dunkley. He lost his footing 3 times (I blame the shockingly bad pitch but equally some of our players should have worn more appropriate boots for the surface), twice it almost cost us a goal. I didn't know (until I read in the programme) that Dunkley has captained the England C non-league side in the past. Wright was equally good at the back - very calm and influencial and kept things simple. Ruffels slotted in well as a makeshift full-back when he came on - with the ball on the ground Ruffels is a very tidy and effective player but he cannot jump or head the ball and looked like the weak link in that respect.
Midfield - Lundstram played very well, did his best to keep things simple although 2-3 passes that would look good on a grass surface but were very dodgy on the Newport sandpit, still had a very good game though. He must have an injury as there was nothing about his performance to warrant being subbed.
Up front - Well-taken goal from Bowery - he had no right to win the ball but bullied the defender with a cracking shoulder barge and good effort and it paid off. Didn't really get much service from midfield though except a few balls over the top to run onto but they were too often down the flanks rather than through the middle. I thought Roberts put in a solid performance, some very intelligent running off the ball, most of which came to nothing but the effort was there from someone who's not played a lot recently. Hylton worked very well, particularly first half I thought, put in a good shift and took a battering from the Welsh defence for his troubles.
Performance - 7/10 from me, as someone who hasn't watched many OUFC games other than on TV recently it was easy to see why we're competing at the top. Stuck to the passing game despite a kak surface. My only other observation is that the midfield tend to pass the ball 5-6 times amongst themselves before one of them drives forward and ran into a defender when it would have been more effective to slide the ball through quicker to Hylton, Roberts or Bowery - that's their job as forwards to have a crack at goal and the midfielders didn't often provide the service. Outstanding support from the travelling fans - outsung and almost outnumbered the Welsh lot, well done guys. One final observation - Is Sercombe the new Craig Bellamy in that he doesn't appear to have a neck, just a head on a muscular torso?
HH
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Post by sonofivan on Apr 20, 2016 21:09:35 GMT
1 win in 5 league games is not ideal but the most important thing is it's still in our hands - Is Saturday the first "must win" game of our season? No, last night was Oh give over!
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Post by oxfordboy on Apr 20, 2016 21:21:19 GMT
I think we needed to win one of yesterday and Saturday. Obviously we've now left ourselves in a difficult position, but win Saturday and I imagine a lot of the doom and gloom will disappear
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Post by bigronaldo on Apr 20, 2016 21:24:44 GMT
I think we needed to win one of yesterday and Saturday. Obviously we've now left ourselves in a difficult position, but win Saturday and I imagine a lot of the doom and gloom will disappear Not on this forum matey! They're just getting warmed up!
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Post by bazzer9461 on Apr 20, 2016 22:03:41 GMT
Just stating the obvious!
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Post by uptheus on Apr 20, 2016 22:34:12 GMT
Please please please don't let Rosie loose with the microphone again, that was pure embarrassment before the Luton game! Totally agree.
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Post by uptheus on Apr 20, 2016 22:39:05 GMT
Why didn't Sercombe just clear the ball prior to their goal?
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Post by sonofivan on Apr 21, 2016 4:02:11 GMT
Just stating the obvious! You're not though Bazzer. If Tuesday was a MUST win we would have no chance of making the autos now. But we do. It's in our hands. I agree it is now less likely. But we still have a chance and because after the other results it was NOT a must win.
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Post by eighteen93 on Apr 21, 2016 4:42:12 GMT
Why didn't Sercombe just clear the ball prior to their goal? You could do a bit of finger pointing at Dunks for Newport's equalizer. When the long throw came in from Byrne, the right sided centre half Dunkley appeared to jump over two other Oxford defenders to win the header and got no distance on it. In fact it was a poor header from which Elito drove in low from 20 yards. It was a clean, clinical strike that beat Buchel all ends up but that piece of defending was dreadful. I am Dunks' biggest fan but felt he made a bad decision to come for the long throw and not head it back towards touch rather than the centre of the goal.
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Post by bazzer9461 on Apr 21, 2016 7:56:05 GMT
Just stating the obvious! You're not though Bazzer. If Tuesday was a MUST win we would have no chance of making the autos now. But we do. It's in our hands. I agree it is now less likely. But we still have a chance and because after the other results it was NOT a must win. It was sonofivan Newport was the easiest of the remaining 4 games we had
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Post by uptheus on Apr 21, 2016 9:29:45 GMT
Why didn't Sercombe just clear the ball prior to their goal? You could do a bit of finger pointing at Dunks for Newport's equalizer. When the long throw came in from Byrne, the right sided centre half Dunkley appeared to jump over two other Oxford defenders to win the header and got no distance on it. In fact it was a poor header from which Elito drove in low from 20 yards. It was a clean, clinical strike that beat Buchel all ends up but that piece of defending was dreadful. I am Dunks' biggest fan but felt he made a bad decision to come for the long throw and not head it back towards touch rather than the centre of the goal. But if Sercombe had cleared the ball when he had the opportunity then it may have never led to the incident you're referring to. He had an easy opportunity to get rid of the ball, but he messed about with it giving them a corner/momentum and finally the opportunity to score a goal. Not been that impressed with Sercombe in the last two games, needs to get back to basics.
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