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Post by diagocostapacket on Apr 14, 2017 16:57:57 GMT
Slipped into the back 4 like he had been there all season. Looks a very strong and physical player and quite quick and not easy to knock off the ball. Didn't have much opportunity to attack and Tired visibly late on but I think we have a good full back for next season.
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Post by behindthegoal on Apr 14, 2017 16:59:48 GMT
Rad ox.....I'm welling up
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Post by oufcyellows on Apr 14, 2017 17:00:15 GMT
I'm confused. Both Skarz and Riberio started and we still lost?? I thought with them both in the starting line up that we would win 21-0. Yeah but you're forgetting we had ruffles instead of sercs
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Post by The Fence End on Apr 14, 2017 17:02:26 GMT
Rad ox.....I'm welling up Why?
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Post by behindthegoal on Apr 14, 2017 17:12:35 GMT
Rad ox.....I'm welling up Why? airing about steve dyer
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Post by lambchop on Apr 14, 2017 17:20:56 GMT
Totally agree it is a forum on opinions and everyone is entitled to have their own. Who says one opinion is better than anyone else's just because it's different. But to be fare I've never seen you post anything other than negativity... I would say that's why you're never invited to parties An informed opinion might be a good place to start instead of trolling b*llshit from the t*at. A good point eloquently put
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Post by makv on Apr 14, 2017 17:25:03 GMT
We are desperate for a prolific goal scorer. How many games have we lost when we should have got something from the game? A good 5 or 6 games. So maybe 12 points if you include games we could have won from a draw…
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Post by manorlounger on Apr 14, 2017 17:38:37 GMT
We are desperate for a prolific goal scorer. How many games have we lost when we should have got something from the game? A good 5 or 6 games. So maybe 12 points if you include games we could have won from a draw… I know it's different when you are there (as we usually try to be) but, it does sound like we desperately need someone who can nick those goals. It is so frustrating at times to hear of good build up descend into nothing through lack of a decent goal poacher. This close season will be interesting, I wonder who Mappy has his eye on?
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Post by charliesghost on Apr 14, 2017 17:40:11 GMT
We are desperate for a prolific goal scorer. How many games have we lost when we should have got something from the game? A good 5 or 6 games. So maybe 12 points… I think that this is quite a common view - delusion? - amongst football fans. "If only we had John Aldridge upfront, we would have won lots of tight games as a result! And that would have meant that we would have been champions!!" But the situation is far from as clear as that for us. In fact, WE have won loads of tight games this season, often in the final minutes, through a smart finish or a lucky one. And think of the tight games we have won when Eastwood has kept us in it at times. And, yes, there have been tight games we have been in when we have been inched out of it by an oppo goalkeeper or a smart finish. But don't think we're special in this regard. Razor-sharp goalscorers who win tight games tend to be quite valuable and cost a lot on the wage budget. And they do not tend very often to play in the lower leagues. The vast majority of strikers at our level are, by definition, limited. If you want a tall target man, with pace and touch and a killer instinct, go and sign Harry Kane for £80 million. At this level, you either have to spend disproportionately big wages on someone like Billy Sharp, or else choose your poison. A strong target man with a bit of touch? Marc Richards, right? But not much pace there. A goal poacher who nicks in and gets you a goal but doesn't contribute much else? That is sort of what Kane Hemmings is like, right? A clever player who can create something, but also loses the ball too often in bad places? Step forward Chris Maguire. Their limitations are why they earn 140k a year playing for us rather than 500k playing for a Championship side. They still all have something, though, and I don't think that overall we've wasted loads of clear-cut chances this season. We just have a bit of a tendency to play possession football of the kind that doesn't get behind defences much sometimes. So it SEEMS as if we are well on top, but the opposition is coping with us relatively comfortably. FWIW, I would have thought that we clearly need a striker with a bit of physicality if we are going to succeed in this league. We probably have a surfeit of clever, tricksy players who are easy on the eye but can go missing in the tougher games. And the way we play rather demands full-backs with the ability to overlap properly. Which neither Edwards nor Skarz really do, admirable though they are in many ways. I think that we are about where we deserve to be. Without the Cup runs, we might be a place or two higher, but who knows? We haven't dominated many sides all year, but neither have we been put away ourselves. So we've been competitive and sometimes a bit classier than that. 3 or 4 (better) players short, according to MApp. I'd say so, but that means an extra (net) £500k on the budget, which is an awful lot.
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Post by TheNewManor on Apr 14, 2017 17:51:50 GMT
RE: Goalscorers and costing the earth. Not if you develop your own! I wonder how McAlany will put away next season if we manage to sign him? <abbr data-timestamp="1492191611000" class="o-timestamp time" title="Apr 14, 2017 18:40:11 GMT 1">Apr 14, 2017 18:40:11 GMT 1</abbr> charliesghost said: A good 5 or 6 games. So maybe 12 points… I think that this is quite a common view - delusion? - amongst football fans. "If only we had John Aldridge upfront, we would have won lots of tight games as a result! And that would have meant that we would have been champions!!" But the situation is far from as clear as that for us. In fact, WE have won loads of tight games this season, often in the final minutes, through a smart finish or a lucky one. And think of the tight games we have won when Eastwood has kept us in it at times. And, yes, there have been tight games we have been in when we have been inched out of it by an oppo goalkeeper or a smart finish. But don't think we're special in this regard. Razor-sharp goalscorers who win tight games tend to be quite valuable and cost a lot on the wage budget. And they do not tend very often to play in the lower leagues. The vast majority of strikers at our level are, by definition, limited. If you want a tall target man, with pace and touch and a killer instinct, go and sign Harry Kane for £80 million. At this level, you either have to spend disproportionately big wages on someone like Billy Sharp, or else choose your poison. A strong target man with a bit of touch? Marc Richards, right? But not much pace there. A goal poacher who nicks in and gets you a goal but doesn't contribute much else? That is sort of what Kane Hemmings is like, right? A clever player who can create something, but also loses the ball too often in bad places? Step forward Chris Maguire. Their limitations are why they earn 140k a year playing for us rather than 500k playing for a Championship side. They still all have something, though, and I don't think that overall we've wasted loads of clear-cut chances this season. We just have a bit of a tendency to play possession football of the kind that doesn't get behind defences much sometimes. So it SEEMS as if we are well on top, but the opposition is coping with us relatively comfortably. FWIW, I would have thought that we clearly need a striker with a bit of physicality if we are going to succeed in this league. We probably have a surfeit of clever, tricksy players who are easy on the eye but can go missing in the tougher games. And the way we play rather demands full-backs with the ability to overlap properly. Which neither Edwards nor Skarz really do, admirable though they are in many ways. I think that we are about where we deserve to be. Without the Cup runs, we might be a place or two higher, but who knows? We haven't dominated many sides all year, but neither have we been put away ourselves. So we've been competitive and sometimes a bit classier than that. 3 or 4 (better) players short, according to MApp. I'd say so, but that means an extra (net) £500k on the budget, which is an awful lot.
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Post by tonyw on Apr 14, 2017 17:59:04 GMT
Have to agree with Charlie here....
....and also note that there are only three players in League One that have scored more than 16 league goals this season.
One is Billy Sharp (who's obviously too good for this division, and only here because Sheffield United can pay Championship wages). One is James Vaughn, who's just dropped down to this level after playing the rest of his career in higher leagues (and has probably kept Bury up single-handed). The third is Josh Morris at Scunthorpe and he's not even a striker!
We are not alone in wanting a prolific goalscorer in this league. Almost everybody does.
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Post by lincolnyellow1 on Apr 14, 2017 18:28:17 GMT
Sat in a restaurant at the Excspe complex just off the M62 pondering the game... Firstly I know that our season had already collapsed well before today which is a shame as we played some delightful football in the last 3 months... However, Today's game was used to throw players into what was a quite a noisy home crowd who contested every decision that went against them. Not too many yellows came out of the game with too much credit however there were nearly half the team who did themselves harm especially if they are looking for new contacts with Mapp at the helm.... We all know what the likes of Eastwood, Nelson, Ledson, Lundstram, Magiue, Johnson and Ruffles can do for our team, Raglan looked OK, Riberio made some good last ditch tackles however the question remains "why were they last ditch tackles", Scarz I am afraid is not progressed in league one as we expected as he is too much one dimensional and as for Rothwell am I the only one who thinks he is so much of a weak link in our armour it is untrue, is he a central midfielder, a wide man or a number 10, does anyone know, does he know... Overall it was an expected result today however the chances we had fell to the wrong players and the 3 forward then got frustrated by the lack of correct decision by our support players.. At least my calzone was a result.. Cheers all and for those who went, have a safe trip home,,,
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Post by eighteen93 on Apr 14, 2017 19:26:40 GMT
...and as for Rothwell am I the only one who thinks he is so much of a weak link in our armour it is untrue, is he a central midfielder, a wide man or a number 10, does anyone know, does he know... Plenty of Bradford fans on their forum mention our no. 18 (Rothwell) and no.11 (McAleny) as major threats. In fact many Bantams fans say we were as good as anything they have seen at Valley Parade this season claretandbanter.uk/threads/vs-oxford.52307/
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Post by oufcyellows on Apr 14, 2017 19:38:54 GMT
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Post by lukehudson on Apr 14, 2017 20:01:16 GMT
Plenty of positives from today despite the result, looking good for next season & sounds like we are in for a busy summer
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Post by aaronoxf on Apr 14, 2017 21:00:12 GMT
I thought Rothwell and Ruffles were the stand out players today, harrowed, pressured and nicked the ball at every opportunity
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Post by The Fence End on Apr 14, 2017 21:28:43 GMT
Their fans on twitter seem pretty complimentary as well . Certainly more than some of our depressing fans So many fans have said that about us this season. It's almost frustrating we're only 10th. As has been said if we had a goalscorer we could've done better. Let's hope that Appleton can sign and get McAleney really firing and a decent pre-season with us for Hemmings might help him too.
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Post by lincolnyellow1 on Apr 14, 2017 21:34:00 GMT
I thought Rothwell and Ruffles were the stand out players today, harrowed, pressured and nicked the ball at every opportunity Oh please........ Yes OK, Rothwell and Ruffles harried and forced Bradford back, what i am talking about is when we had the ball, when Bradford had the ball they "just" put the ball into dangerous area's and picked up the pieces from there, the reason they did this was mainly down to the poor playing surface we were asked to play on this afternoon, we and in particular Rothwell tried to play the killer ball or the simple 5 yard pass when the pitch did not allow it. He also had two very good chances to score and fluffed them both Ruffles had a good chance as well and lacked composure and Nelson had one in each half that at least one should have made the net ripple, none of the really good chances fell to a proven goal scorer. Lundstram and Ledson didn't really pull up trees this afternoon however we know what they are capable of. Maybe it was just a case of trying to hard to make the final pass when in hindsight we should have made more of the opportunities we created, whoever they fell to...
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Post by cecantena on Apr 14, 2017 23:25:41 GMT
I thought Rothwell and Ruffles were the stand out players today, harrowed, pressured and nicked the ball at every opportunity Oh please........ Yes OK, Rothwell and Ruffles harried and forced Bradford back, what i am talking about is when we had the ball, when Bradford had the ball they "just" put the ball into dangerous area's and picked up the pieces from there, the reason they did this was mainly down to the poor playing surface we were asked to play on this afternoon, we and in particular Rothwell tried to play the killer ball or the simple 5 yard pass when the pitch did not allow it. He also had two very good chances to score and fluffed them both Ruffles had a good chance as well and lacked composure and Nelson had one in each half that at least one should have made the net ripple, none of the really good chances fell to a proven goal scorer. Lundstram and Ledson didn't really pull up trees this afternoon however we know what they are capable of. Maybe it was just a case of trying to hard to make the final pass when in hindsight we should have made more of the opportunities we created, whoever they fell to... Ledson? Which game did you watch?
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Post by saddletramp on Apr 15, 2017 6:04:14 GMT
Missed the play offs. Well done Bradford C...great crowd of nearly 20000 Sheffield United champions. Nope not yet,Bolton 12 points behind Sheffield with 4 games left.
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Post by eighteen93 on Apr 15, 2017 7:15:26 GMT
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Post by Denissmithswig on Apr 15, 2017 7:36:21 GMT
Watching those, on another day McAleny scores at least one of those shots (isn't it refreshing to have a player not afraid to shoot!). For the goal, yes the defenders need to do better in the box but Skarz has to get closer to his man to block the cross coming in.
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Post by oldham on Apr 15, 2017 7:41:29 GMT
Just out of interest what sort of game did Raglan have?
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Post by Colin B on Apr 15, 2017 7:49:12 GMT
Just out of interest what sort of game did Raglan have? Decent, can't remember any panic moments, and he won a fair bit in the air.
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Post by Denissmithswig on Apr 15, 2017 7:49:37 GMT
Just out of interest what sort of game did Raglan have? I heard he brought snakes and ladders for the coach trip which proved popular as Riberio took Risk with him yet he had to play it on his own as no one else had the attention span to play a game like that.
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Post by KristapsGrebis on Apr 15, 2017 8:00:59 GMT
Rothwell was certainly one of our best players yesterday, look forward to watching him next season. Pressured everything, won a lot of second balls, tried things that didn't always come off but he carried the ball well and always looked to drive us forward.
I love Joe Skarz but he's the weak link. Was presented with space but never attacked it. Bradford were fantastic at closing us down yesterday but they'd obviously done there homework and were happy to leave Joe Skarz in space in favour of keeping the other areas tighter. With a LB capable of attacking the space we'd have given them much more to think about yesterday and put them under pressure. Every time it went to Skarzy you knew the ball was going to go backwards.
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Post by uptheus on Apr 15, 2017 8:16:28 GMT
Rothwell was certainly one of our best players yesterday, look forward to watching him next season. Pressured everything, won a lot of second balls, tried things that didn't always come off but he carried the ball well and always looked to drive us forward. I love Joe Skarz but he's the weak link. Was presented with space but never attacked it. Bradford were fantastic at closing us down yesterday but they'd obviously done there homework and were happy to leave Joe Skarz in space in favour of keeping the other areas tighter. With a LB capable of attacking the space we'd have given them much more to think about yesterday and put them under pressure. Every time it went to Skarzy you knew the ball was going to go backwards. Only his 2nd game in so many weeks and they were a big threat on the wings with pace. We needed to get Johnson on the left to nullify their attacks.
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Post by aaronoxf on Apr 15, 2017 8:38:31 GMT
Just out of interest what sort of game did Raglan have? Decent, can't remember any panic moments, and he won a fair bit in the air. Their forward was all over him all game, he dealt with him well
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Post by Colin B on Apr 15, 2017 9:39:30 GMT
Decent, can't remember any panic moments, and he won a fair bit in the air. Their forward was all over him all game, he dealt with him well Yes, I thought so too. He had to put a shift in at the back, and was a threat at set pieces along with Nelson. I hate losing, but that was a decent Oxford performance against a good Bradford side. We have come a long way, even since last August. There will inevitably be changes in the summer, but I don't think major surgery is required (apart from on our playing surface!) just a few additions to the starting eleven and a bit more strength in depth to the squad.
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Post by Pete Burrett on Apr 15, 2017 9:49:47 GMT
Wow! For a non-attendee yesterday, VERY encouraging comments about Ribiero, Raglan, Rothwell and others, and nice remarks from the (EDIT) Bradford fans on Twitter. This hasn't been a bad season, has it?
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