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Post by shaunrice on Aug 9, 2017 6:07:45 GMT
Couldn't post through disappointment last night and don't know where to start this morning??? Martin should never put on the yellows shirt again. He looked awful at Sulihull Moors in his first game and has been terrible every time I've seen him play. Ribs wasn't much better. An odd performance from him. He was often out of position and leaving us struggling at the back but he was totally ineffective when he was forward. Gave the ball away too many times, terrible balls into our forwards and lost confidence so kept opting for a simple backwards pass but he even got that wrong at times. We need a proven left back hopefully one of the new players will be quality. MJ was ineffective going forward in the second half and is either p*ssed off at left back, injured or on his way out of the club. If he was being scouted on that performance he's going no place soon. Oh and not sure why he's grabbing the ball for pens? That one last night was poor and we got lucky with the rebound. There were other off colour performances but I think it was our defence that cost us more that anything. Stating the obvious I suppose given the score line. Positives... Obika looked good and at least gave their defence a hard time. Could've held the ball up better at times. Hmmmm? ? Can't think of anything else.
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Post by londonroader on Aug 9, 2017 6:11:12 GMT
Over the years we have been good at ending teams poor form, I can remember many a nailed on win game turning into losing to a supposed no hope team, things have changed recently but there is always that feeling that over confidence is not our friend. Yeah but we were a bit shit ourselves for a lot of those times, and up against sides of a similar level. At most Cheltenham would get 1 or 2 in our squad, so it's not really over confidence to say we should beat them, maybe not as comfortably as some are suggesting. If Pep plays best team then this should be a win, and it will a very poor result if we don't win. A very poor result then, 2nd half they wanted it more and we never rose to the challenge.
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Post by oldham on Aug 9, 2017 6:11:31 GMT
We just have to hope that it was a collective bad day at the office, we can't just become a shite team overnight. At oldham we all came away well pleased and full of hope and I'm confident the team will sort it and take it out on Portsmouth. Then we'll all be happy bunnies again......well most of us!
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Post by diagocostapacket on Aug 9, 2017 6:19:15 GMT
To be blunt and although you are all disappointed I didn't expect much else in the cup and we ( all of us except me ) underestimated Cheltenham and Johnsons resolve last night ( see my original post ). It was a typical after the Lord Mayors show type of game and at this stage of the season with so many new faces, came too close to Saturdays game at Oldham for many of the players.
I don't think its fair after Saturdays performance to single out individual players for criticism, we had a bad day at the office all over the park compared to Saturday but to say some players were shit is just not true. Nobody stood out last night but my conception of shit player is someone who doesn't have talent and doesn't give the effort and that cannot be said of last nights players.
I think some posters who were not actually at the game, have just picked up on negative posts from others similarly, and are just jumping on the band wagon and moaning for moaning's sake....So much negativity...Get behind the team on Saturday, and stop comparing the new lot against the old..this is the squad we have and bigger more knowledgeable professionals than us have brought them in and we should work with and develop them.
Overall I expected an open game with goals and that's what I got... very entertaining and thanks to both sets of players for producing such so soon after Saturday in a competition that is I'm afraid very much superfluous these days. IMO
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Post by uptheus on Aug 9, 2017 6:28:02 GMT
I have never liked cup games, not if we really want to get into the playoffs or try for promotion, so don't mind we lost. This will give Pep more food for thought in terms of formation and 1st Xi. We can concentrate on the league. Oh know, the dreaded 'we can concentrate on the league' comment. That concerns me as we know good cup runs breeds confidence and momentum etc.
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Post by manorlounger on Aug 9, 2017 6:32:25 GMT
To be blunt and although you are all disappointed I didn't expect much else in the cup and we ( all of us except me ) underestimated Cheltenham and Johnsons resolve last night ( see my original post ). It was a typical after the Lord Mayors show type of game and at this stage of the season with so many new faces, came too close to Saturdays game at Oldham for many of the players.
I don't think its fair after Saturdays performance to single out individual players for criticism, we had a bad day at the office all over the park compared to Saturday but to say some players were shit is just not true. Nobody stood out last night but my conception of shit player is someone who doesn't have talent and doesn't give the effort and that cannot be said of last nights players.
I think some posters who were not actually at the game, have just picked up on negative posts from others similarly, and are just jumping on the band wagon and moaning for moaning's sake....So much negativity...Get behind the team on Saturday, and stop comparing the new lot against the old..this is the squad we have and bigger more knowledgeable professionals than us have brought them in and we should work with and develop them.
Overall I expected an open game with goals and that's what I got... very entertaining and thanks to both sets of players for producing such so soon after Saturday in a competition that is I'm afraid very much superfluous these days. IMO
Not sure why you have quoted me but, my statement stands. That is not to say that individuals did not have moments, they did, both good and bad. However, as a team performance that was shite. I have not singled out any one in particular, it would be too easy and maybe unfair. I expect a better show on Saturday. I also expect that Pep will have had and will have more, words with all the team. His post match interview was some of the usual"we had one of those games, move on" stuff but also some telling remarks - worth listening to again.
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Post by uptheus on Aug 9, 2017 6:37:23 GMT
To be blunt and although you are all disappointed I didn't expect much else in the cup and we ( all of us except me ) underestimated Cheltenham and Johnsons resolve last night ( see my original post ). It was a typical after the Lord Mayors show type of game and at this stage of the season with so many new faces, came too close to Saturdays game at Oldham for many of the players.
I don't think its fair after Saturdays performance to single out individual players for criticism, we had a bad day at the office all over the park compared to Saturday but to say some players were shit is just not true. Nobody stood out last night but my conception of shit player is someone who doesn't have talent and doesn't give the effort and that cannot be said of last nights players.
I think some posters who were not actually at the game, have just picked up on negative posts from others similarly, and are just jumping on the band wagon and moaning for moaning's sake....So much negativity...Get behind the team on Saturday, and stop comparing the new lot against the old..this is the squad we have and bigger more knowledgeable professionals than us have brought them in and we should work with and develop them.
Overall I expected an open game with goals and that's what I got... very entertaining and thanks to both sets of players for producing such so soon after Saturday in a competition that is I'm afraid very much superfluous these days. IMO
It was the manner of the loss and the players lack of response. I'm very concerned after the way we lost. I thought Ribeiro was awful and looks like a player who's got no idea what to do with the ball. Martin is extremely poor. We look poor in both full back positions (bring back Scarz any day). The middle of the park lacks creativity. Obika puts himself about, but lacks a football brain. Personally, I think we look weak in all sections, defence, midfield and up front. I thought the decision to sub Johnson was a poor one. Yes he was playing absolutely awful, but I would have least pushed him to left wing before substituting him. Only Nelson & Hall played well.
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Post by oldabingdonian on Aug 9, 2017 6:47:29 GMT
I would more or less agree with all of this ^^. I thought Ribeiro had one of the worst games in a yellow shirt by any player for some time. Johnson looked well off the pace - what's going on? Carroll looked terrified when he came on as replacement.
The biggest disappointment was how we came out for the second half. Although 3 - 1 might have flattered us at half time, I don't understand how the midfield looked so much worse in the second half.
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Post by brassmonkey on Aug 9, 2017 6:56:56 GMT
I don't buy this takes time to gel theory. Did Cheltenham have the same starting 11 as last season then?
Sent from my SM-G930F using proboards
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Post by bazzer9461 on Aug 9, 2017 7:00:07 GMT
If the fans want to moan then that's their prerogative I moaned and justifiable it was. That performance apart from Obika and Xemi's goals was very poor. I'm all for fans discussing performances after the game, but I just couldn't believe the amount of negativity around me in the stadium today. What good does screaming 'Forward!' or 'Martin you're shit' at the top of your voice from the SSU do? I thought if you swore in the ssu you were kicked out🙂 But Joking aside we were very negative today and I'm sorry but Aaron Martin isn't going to make It with performances like that. And on a foot Note if you didn't like what you heard in the SSU them you would have slashed your wrists with what was being said I'm the East stand
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Post by uptheus on Aug 9, 2017 7:00:21 GMT
I don't buy this takes time to gel theory. Did Cheltenham have the same starting 11 as last season then? Sent from my SM-G930F using proboards And they looked fitter than us. Their left side was a thousand times better than ours.
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Post by trevorhebberd on Aug 9, 2017 7:11:39 GMT
Their No 17 was the best player on the pitch.
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Post by saddletramp on Aug 9, 2017 7:19:40 GMT
I don't buy this takes time to gel theory. Did Cheltenham have the same starting 11 as last season then? Sent from my SM-G930F using proboards And they looked fitter than us. Their left side was a thousand times better than ours. Ah but the left side is always a thousand times better (than the right)
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Post by sarge on Aug 9, 2017 7:33:28 GMT
Was there something lost in translation for last nights debacle?
the competition was the League cup not Shaun Harveys E(nglish)F(ootball) L(EAGUE) trophy! Did anyone at the club realise the difference?
OUFC number crunchers shutting North Stand as a low crowd was expected is one thing... shutting half of SSL was ridiculous, and caused queues and chaos at both the ticket office and through the limited amount of open turnstiles for south stand. And for a crowd that was barely over 3k
As for the on pitch disaster, Clotet has spoken about game management ...the players managed to mismanage that one spectacularly.
Midfield was over run, defending was disasterous, toothless up front
In the cold light of day after that horrorshow Im hoping that was one of those games where more than half of the team didnt show up ( which happens every once in a while) because, if it wasnt its going to be a long and terrible season culminating in dropping to L2. While, as fans want to see a win every game, reality is as the cliche goes, you cant win them all. Its the manner in how you loose, last night saw poor performances from pretty much every single one of Clotet's choices. As for Johnson, despatching the pen on the rebound was about the only plus from a woeful showing, his body language appeared to say I dont want to be here anymore
Ive a feeling tonights fans forum at court place farm is likely to be rather heated
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Post by Paul Cannell on Aug 9, 2017 7:42:49 GMT
Strikes me that if people posted about the management the way they post about the players when something goes wrong this place would go into meltdown.
Get a f*cking grip, everything's perfect.
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Post by CheltenhamYellow on Aug 9, 2017 7:47:33 GMT
Lots of very confident scores on here - hope it's well placed! If you can't be confident against one of the weakest sides we could of got then it wouldn't say much for our hopes this season. It's actually nice to be able to be cocky about a game in the league cup for the first time in years, wonder when the last time we were such heavy favourites for a game in this competition was? Perhaps the players were a little 'cocky' too, particularly after half time. Fair play to Cheltenham; they were better than us all over the pitch, and that includes attitude. They deserved to win.
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Post by leysboy on Aug 9, 2017 7:54:56 GMT
All these people moaning, trust me this will not be a defining moment in our season.
Fair play to Cheltenham they were up for it, and we weren't! It might not be a bad thing taking an early exit from this competition.
Hope they get a good draw in the next round.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Aug 9, 2017 7:56:16 GMT
Blimey, that was a bad night wasn't it?
Positives? Hall did well (except he seems incapable of actually staying out wide!) until he completely ran out of steam, Nelson was a one man defence (because the three players with him were so awful) and Eastwood kept the score respectable.
We didn't deserve to be leading at the break - never mind by two - and eventually got what we deserved.
Martin has never impressed me but last night was embarrassing. Johnson might as well not have been on the pitch (how many times does Clotet have to play him at left back before he realises that he isn't one?). The Martin/Johnson side of the defence was just pathetic. Moving Martin to the right side of defence just weakened that as well!
The midfield never got hold of the ball all evening, so we ended up with the old 'pass it sideways along the back and eventually hoof it up the pitch' routine. To the one striker (and we all know how well that usually works!). Obika held the ball up OK at times, but there was nobody anywhere near him to pass it to. Thomas was never in the game at all when he came on and I'm starting to worry about how effective Henry is going to be.
We were completely disorganised, with some of the passing actually being laughable it was so bad - although passing was admittedly made more difficult by the almost total lack of movement off the ball. There was no on-field leadership at all and we made very few chances over the course of 120 minutes against a team in the division below us. If we play as poorly as that on Saturday we'll need a cricket scoreboard.
Fair play to Cheltenham, they were better organised, fitter and showed more desire than our lot - good luck to them this year.
Can I have my money back?
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Post by charliesghost on Aug 9, 2017 8:11:48 GMT
To be blunt and although you are all disappointed I didn't expect much else in the cup and we ( all of us except me ) underestimated Cheltenham and Johnsons resolve last night ( see my original post ). It was a typical after the Lord Mayors show type of game and at this stage of the season with so many new faces, came too close to Saturdays game at Oldham for many of the players.
I don't think its fair after Saturdays performance to single out individual players for criticism, we had a bad day at the office all over the park compared to Saturday but to say some players were shit is just not true. Nobody stood out last night but my conception of shit player is someone who doesn't have talent and doesn't give the effort and that cannot be said of last nights players.
I think some posters who were not actually at the game, have just picked up on negative posts from others similarly, and are just jumping on the band wagon and moaning for moaning's sake....So much negativity...Get behind the team on Saturday, and stop comparing the new lot against the old..this is the squad we have and bigger more knowledgeable professionals than us have brought them in and we should work with and develop them.
Overall I expected an open game with goals and that's what I got... very entertaining and thanks to both sets of players for producing such so soon after Saturday in a competition that is I'm afraid very much superfluous these days. IMO
What an odd, smug post. I didn't see many people underestimating Cheltenham on here. Just stating the truth, which is that if we play well we are better than them. Christ, we played appallingly and still only lost narrowly, to a screamer. We hardly played in the first half and still scored almost every time we went forward. As for 'after the lord mayor's show's, if our players and management think that beating relegation certainty Oldham is the lord mayor's show's then we are truly fucked. Your comment on the league cup is facile and weird. This is a competition that even top clubs take seriously. Did you mistake it for the checkatrade? Most of the people posting on here WERE there last night. I saw a number of them about the place. And they are well within their rights to note their views. I would tend to cut slack to some newcomers. Goal apart, Xemi was miles off the pace - not one for Scunny away just for now! Obika showed pretty much what I saw from him at Swindon. The more worrying performances were defensively. They had a lively left winger, but other than that were bang average going forward. So to concede 4 goals and at least ten other chances was woeful. Looking like Williamson is going to be a key player if we are to be successful. By all accounts he was very good against Oldham, but we will have to see how he fares against better attacks.
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Post by oufcyellows on Aug 9, 2017 8:21:21 GMT
To be blunt and although you are all disappointed I didn't expect much else in the cup and we ( all of us except me ) underestimated Cheltenham and Johnsons resolve last night ( see my original post ). It was a typical after the Lord Mayors show type of game and at this stage of the season with so many new faces, came too close to Saturdays game at Oldham for many of the players.
I don't think its fair after Saturdays performance to single out individual players for criticism, we had a bad day at the office all over the park compared to Saturday but to say some players were shit is just not true. Nobody stood out last night but my conception of shit player is someone who doesn't have talent and doesn't give the effort and that cannot be said of last nights players.
I think some posters who were not actually at the game, have just picked up on negative posts from others similarly, and are just jumping on the band wagon and moaning for moaning's sake....So much negativity...Get behind the team on Saturday, and stop comparing the new lot against the old..this is the squad we have and bigger more knowledgeable professionals than us have brought them in and we should work with and develop them.
Overall I expected an open game with goals and that's what I got... very entertaining and thanks to both sets of players for producing such so soon after Saturday in a competition that is I'm afraid very much superfluous these days. IMO
Overall very entertaining ? Bloody hell mate what were u drinking, sure wasn't the beer on tap. We were 3-1 up at half time I went in pleased, but hardly entertained. Great run for the pen, two good goals not a lot else and a very disjointed performance. 2nd half the worst display from a footballing side I think I have ever seen. Disappointment on finding out that it wasn't straight to pens, and the feeling that I was being forced to watch another 30 mins(many didn't bother) at no point did I think we might nick this, my only hope was we could last till pens as I don't think we had a serious shot after our 3rd, in over an hour of football.
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Post by charliesghost on Aug 9, 2017 8:22:20 GMT
Blimey, that was a bad night wasn't it? Positives? Hall did well (except he seems incapable of actually staying out wide!) until he completely ran out of steam, Nelson was a one man defence (because the three players with him were so awful) and Eastwood kept the score respectable. We didn't deserve to be leading at the break - never mind by two - and eventually got what we deserved. Martin has never impressed me but last night was embarrassing. Johnson might as well not have been on the pitch (how many times does Clotet have to play him at left back before he realises that he isn't one?). The Martin/Johnson side of the defence was just pathetic. Moving Martin to the right side of defence just weakened that as well! The midfield never got hold of the ball all evening, so we ended up with the old 'pass it sideways along the back and eventually hoof it up the pitch' routine. To the one striker (and we all know how well that usually works!). Obika held the ball up OK at times, but there was nobody anywhere near him to pass it to. Thomas was never in the game at all when he came on and I'm starting to worry about how effective Henry is going to be. We were completely disorganised, with some of the passing actually being laughable it was so bad - although passing was admittedly made more difficult by the almost total lack of movement off the ball. There was no on-field leadership at all and we made very few chances over the course of 120 minutes against a team in the division below us. If we play as poorly as that on Saturday we'll need a cricket scoreboard. Fair play to Cheltenham, they were better organised, fitter and showed more desire than our lot - good luck to them this year. Can I have my money back? Oh, and you're dead right about leadership, the lack thereof. I get that Pep wants to look like the cool continental gaffer, but in these early days, before the leaders have emerged from the dressing room, he may have to show a bit more leadership himself. At the end of 90 minutes, Johnson was organising, exhorting etc. Pep stood there with his hands in his pockets when his team had just conceded a last minute equaliser. It was no great surprise that Cheltenham came out more focussed and driven. By no means asking for old school shouting and screaming. To be fair, Johnson didn't do that. But a bit of clear leadership and positive body language will generally help struggling employees!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2017 8:22:21 GMT
The most concerning part of last night was to let a 3-1 lead slip. Cheltenham had so many chances the writing was on the wall for much of the game. The surprise was we only lost by one goal and our defensive frailties weren't even more exposed. I just hope that we can turn it around against a newly promoted Portsmouth. Well done Cheltenham. Would've have liked a cup run, but maybe we look back at the result in May and still be smiling. Looking forward to Saturday with a good crowd behind us and Peps first league home match
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Post by CheltenhamYellow on Aug 9, 2017 8:23:25 GMT
As well as Williamson, I think Payne is going to be key too. The lack of attacking ideas from the halfway line onwards was worrying.
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Post by diagocostapacket on Aug 9, 2017 8:29:03 GMT
I would more or less agree with all of this ^^. I thought Ribeiro had one of the worst games in a yellow shirt by any player for some time. Johnson looked well off the pace - what's going on? Carroll looked terrified when he came on as replacement. The biggest disappointment was how we came out for the second half. Although 3 - 1 might have flattered us at half time, I don't understand how the midfield looked so much worse in the second half. Personally I don't think Ribeiro should have started ..he looked completely knackered at the end of the Oldham game... and as the game went on last more so.
I cant believe a player can deteriorate so much in 72 hours without there being a tangible reason for it and he looks a way off being fully fit.
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Post by pottersrightboot on Aug 9, 2017 8:30:55 GMT
Pleased I stayed at home.
I have a feeling we are going to have one of those great away, mediocre at home seasons again. (Like every season seemingly.) Can we cope with opponents that sit in and then break on us?
Don't think the attitude of some of our supporters helps. All I can say is I will never forget May 2006 and the Tonbridge Angels debacle.
Must be frustrating though to those who don't go on the road with the yellows.
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Post by Gary Baldi on Aug 9, 2017 8:31:44 GMT
Maybe the players have their eyes on Pompey. Maybe they underestimated Cheltenham. Maybe they just had a collective stinker. It did confirm to me that we need the experienced players that have come in the door in the last month. Pep will have also seen the leaders when things are going bad. While it's annoying to lose, it's not necessarily a bad thing. Pep has some big calls to make at the weekend
Cheltenham absolutely deserved to win.
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Post by Yellow River on Aug 9, 2017 8:48:29 GMT
My first game of the season. Great match for the neutral and for Cheltenham in the end. They totally deserved the win, showing great energy and teamwork, we did not.
3-1 at half time flattered us, could easily have been 3-3. Two excellent strikes from Obika and Xemi.
First half Johnson was poor in performance and body language, I'm no fan of Martin but felt a little sorry for him as he was constantly pulled out of position to cover for Johnson's ball watching.
Obika had a pretty decent first half and I think he'll be a good player for us, but lack of fitness showed up after the break.
Second half was a bit of a shambles, lacking energy, teamwork & leadership, a bunch of individuals who thought they just had to turn up. Hopefully a massive wake up call.
Ribeiro took a nasty knock early in the second half and was poor after. Movement for his throw ins was non existent. I don't think swapping Nelson and Martin at half time helped at all, appeared to make an average defence into a poor one.
On that showing we missed Lundstrum and Maguire.
Nelson, Ruffles ,Ledson, Rothwell and Payne were ok nothing more. Eastwood and Hall were our best players overall. The rest pretty poor to be honest.
Hopefully a bad day at the office. We need to improve massively for the visit of Pompey. Pep has work to do.
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Post by jal on Aug 9, 2017 8:50:42 GMT
Didn't want to post last night on the walk back from Grenoble Road as the rain was only adding to my foul mood after watching that match.
I think that'll be the last time we see Johnson at left back, he wasn't up for it from the start (and I feel for him being played there in a way). I find it weird that he'd pick up the ball, move it 20 yards forward just to turn and pass to Martin, it almost looked like he had been told not to have a run at players. I lost count of how many times Eastwood was passed the ball in the first half from our defence, probably more than our midfield combined. Ribiero still isn't ready to play two games in a row and when he does, definitely not on throw ins, he was poor. We must have wasted 10 minutes alone waiting for him to throw the ball to a Cheltenham player. Never seen so many stray balls from two full backs, either.
Martin was dire, couple of last ditch tackles he had to make, mainly due to his own errors. Would have preferred Kelleher to stay.
Xemi was starting to look half-decent, he learnt from the first 20 mins that he wasn't going to be given time on the ball and had started to move it about quicker but was completely swamped from the 45th min onwards. I thought Ruffels was one of our better players when he was actually on the ball, played some excellent football at times but both him and Ledson were absent far too much of the game. Obika's performance was what I'd expected, difficult to do much when there's no one from midfield pushing up quick enough to give you an option. Henry didn't really get going, Payne tried but was essentially fighting an uphill battle, Thomas did sweet FA, Carroll looked as one footed as you like and scared to push forward.
We missed someone to grab the game and shake it up, game was managed poorly in the second half as if the players were admitting we didn't deserve a two goal lead. Can't see us playing like that again for the rest of the season, someone else mentioned it earlier in the thread we don't just turn **** over night and I hardly imagine Pep will be happy. Hall, Eastwood and Nelson (w/ Ruffels at times) only positives. It was a shame, but it's the league cup and not the end of the world. I'll start being concerned if Rothwell and Johnson are played out of position again on Saturday. Appreciate the 3 coming over to clap the fans at the end of the game, Ledson didn't look happy in the slightest.
Cheltenham did well, deserved the win off how much more they wanted it and dominated our midfield.
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Post by diagocostapacket on Aug 9, 2017 9:18:51 GMT
To be blunt and although you are all disappointed I didn't expect much else in the cup and we ( all of us except me ) underestimated Cheltenham and Johnsons resolve last night ( see my original post ). It was a typical after the Lord Mayors show type of game and at this stage of the season with so many new faces, came too close to Saturdays game at Oldham for many of the players.
I don't think its fair after Saturdays performance to single out individual players for criticism, we had a bad day at the office all over the park compared to Saturday but to say some players were shit is just not true. Nobody stood out last night but my conception of shit player is someone who doesn't have talent and doesn't give the effort and that cannot be said of last nights players.
I think some posters who were not actually at the game, have just picked up on negative posts from others similarly, and are just jumping on the band wagon and moaning for moaning's sake....So much negativity...Get behind the team on Saturday, and stop comparing the new lot against the old..this is the squad we have and bigger more knowledgeable professionals than us have brought them in and we should work with and develop them.
Overall I expected an open game with goals and that's what I got... very entertaining and thanks to both sets of players for producing such so soon after Saturday in a competition that is I'm afraid very much superfluous these days. IMO
Overall very entertaining ? Bloody hell mate what were u drinking, sure wasn't the beer on tap. We were 3-1 up at half time I went in pleased, but hardly entertained. Great run for the pen, two good goals not a lot else and a very disjointed performance. 2nd half the worst display from a footballing side I think I have ever seen. Disappointment on finding out that it wasn't straight to pens, and the feeling that I was being forced to watch another 30 mins(many didn't bother) at no point did I think we might nick this, my only hope was we could last till pens as I don't think we had a serious shot after our 3rd, in over an hour of football. With respect Your looking at it through yellow tinted glasses, like most of the others.. Ok so we got dumped out of the cup by a League 2 team and everyone had a mare... shit happens..get over it.. Saturday is a whole new Ball game...I thought it was a very entertaining game. I think some posters need to realise we are currently an average Div 1 side with some average players for the league ( bar one or two ) and very much work in progress.. This is our lot and we need to accept this and move on. Without multi -million pound investment Oxford United will always be a Div one side with the odd foray into the Championship, as will Cheltenham in Div 2. That's just the way it is and until some accept this and take it as it is, they will never really enjoy watching games like last night.
As someone who just loves watching any football match be it the occasional trip down the road to Wycombe or back up to Leicester I thought last nights game was great entertainment..ok so we lost... is the world going to end..?
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Post by Common Villager on Aug 9, 2017 9:21:57 GMT
We seemed to start the match with a belief that we would stroll to victory. They came out looking up for it, took the lead, and then we decided to start playing. We scored three good goals and seemed to be fairly comfortable (although not running away with it) at half time. Although we were struggling to get the ball up the pitch in a meaningful manner consistently, we managed to do so enough times to create some chances and give Cheltenham enough to think about defensively.
In the second half we just didn't seem up for it. We could not get past our own halfway line bar long balls up to the isolated Obika. This was completely different to Saturday. The midfield lacked any fluidity, and I'm not convinced that Xemi is a number 10. Personally, I think he would be better playing the 'Lundstram' role. The lack of movement/fluidity just meant that square passes along the back line were the only option.
Even so, I would expect better distribution from the likes of Martin and Ribiero. These two are experienced professionals and should be comfortable enough to bring the ball forward or have enough ability to pick a decent pass out at least half of the time.
Not only were we crap going forward, the defence was useless. Martin is something in the middle of Raynes and Futcher. He's just not good enough on the ball, not fast enough, not aggressive enough. Johnson's performance was laughable, and I wouldn't be surprised if he is off. I find it hard to be too critical of him, because he has been played out of position for the last six months. He's wasting his career at LB.
The only bright sparks were Hall (who did drift in and out, but looked dangerous when he was on the ball) and Obika (who I think has a Danny Hilton esque 'nuisance' style of play).
It's evident that there are still some gaps in our team. Now that Raglan is out injured, CB has gone from perhaps our strongest position to one of our weakest. As I've mentioned, Martin is not good enough. God forbid anything happens to Williamson. We also need to hope that Ricardinho is fit and ready very soon. Let's also hope his time in Azerbaijan hasn't negatively affected his ability.
So, all in all, it was a bad night. It's brought my optimism down from the heights they were at after Saturday. However, I am sure that we won't see a performance that bad again. I really hope that the whole team and management staff have learnt from the match. Given what Pep said in his interview, I'm sure he will.
No matter how bad it gets though, I will never be a fan of supporters moaning throughout matches. I'm not even a fan of boos at full time (unless it gets really bad). By all means, analyse a performance and give your views after the match. But during the 90 (or 120 mins), back the f*cking team.
COYY.
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