Christmas Cheer

[Werthers Original]

I like Duffy well enough, he's genuinely good in the air without being a donkey, and given a few decent crosses is likely to knock one in. His 'energy-saving' style is what winds some people up, but then above all Oxford fans seem to like strong, busy players who 'get stuck in'. I used to stand in the London Road just behind the 'Simmo-hater', who hated Paul Simpson.

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

What a fine chap he was. Is he still going?

[Werthers Original]

I think Justin once had a fight with the Simmo-hater, which livened up a game with lowly Port Vale or some such. You get a different kind of angry mad fan at the New Ground.

[Matt D]

i'd have andy crosby taking the penalties too. duffy's penalties are all about reading the keeper, and not letting them read him. crosby could have pointed to where he was going to put the ball, and it wouldn't have made any difference.

for me, both duffy and odubade are suffering from being dragged down by a team performing badly. i agree with the people that point to the number of flick ons that duffy wins, and other players (including odubade) fail to anticipate. i think odubade adds an urgency to oxford's game, and forces the opposition to think. but his poor decision-making is back again.

personally, i think if patterson thinks he can get them playing to their potential again, then i'd keep them as i don't think they've become poor players.

[Hog]

What a fine chap he was. Is he still going?

Resting between jobs.

[Jimski]

His 'energy-saving' style is what winds some people up, but then above all Oxford fans seem to like strong, busy players who 'get stuck in'.

Yeah, it's the same kind of logic that saw Jemmo disliked and Lee Mansell admired. What is the UK obsession with being 'hard' and 'getting stuck in'?

[Snake]

Who will take the Number 9 shirt? Err, I heard a horrible rumour at HT in the SSU yesterday about who it might be, and I assume you did too, so let’s hope that it’s wrong.

Are you not writing for The Mail anymore, as I did miss your observations when I read the paper this morning?

I heard a vague rumour about Mark Stallard. Is this the one you heard?

Not the one I heard. This guy is a year younger than him and hasn’t scored in his last 12 appearances. Obviously I can’t say more than that, just in case it’s more than a rumour.

[Radley Rambler]

Hasn't scored in 12 appearances and is entering the twilight of his career, sign him up!!

Perhaps then the Duffy haters will realise what they actually had?

[Baboo]

Yeah, it's the same kind of logic that saw Jemmo disliked and Lee Mansell admired. What is the UK obsession with being 'hard' and 'getting stuck in'?

A moronic kind of logic.

[Baboo]

Hasn't scored in 12 appearances and is entering the twilight of his career, sign him up!!

No chance of ever scoring for Oxford then. What's all this obsession with a goal scorer when we have no creative midfielder (Burgess &amp Standing gone &amp Danny Rose always injured) or winger who can deliver a decent cross (Jury sill out on the Ledge). I'm not sure we are getting our priorities right here.

[ty cobb]

His 'energy-saving' style is what winds some people up, but then above all Oxford fans seem to like strong, busy players who 'get stuck in'.

Yeah, it's the same kind of logic that saw Jemmo disliked and Lee Mansell admired. What is the UK obsession with being 'hard' and 'getting stuck in'?

It's the one that gives us English managers who were previously captains and got stuck in. This means they are rubbish as a manager as they have no intellegence and just shout and scream at a player when things go wrong. Bar Fergie the best managers the English game has seen recently are Wenger, Jose, Rafa, Sven and hopefully Capello. All are very intellagent well rounded people. English managers are the opposite which means we are now forced to turn abroad again because the likes of Robson, Jewell, 'Big Sam' have shown they're not really up to it.

But if we look at the way Sven is treated as England manager despite only losing something like 4 comptitive games he's hounded out because he doesn't show he 'cares' (i.e. shout and scream) enough.

I remember when Steve Slowasabus got cheered off after getting sent off at Brizzie Rovers yet Derek Lilley (who went on to far better things) was given a load of abuse for not getting stuck in during the same game. I wince whenever a player like Burgess/Yemi is given stick for not getting stuck in for a 50/50 ball - they're not that type of player just accept it!

[Ascension Ox]

Can I just point out Rob Duffy was a much better player when we had Andy Burgess in the team.

Mind you, so were a lot of others.

Of course you can.

Andy Burgess - another player to whom the fans gave stick.
Perhaps we (they - the knockers) are getting the team we (they) deserve.

Not by me. Burgess was talented.

Duffy's attitude is disgraceful. I hear he is leaving. I hope he is. Particularly after today's appalling performance. The little lad Taylor put the word 'effort' into perspective when he came on.

However, the man who deserves most bile is Hutchinson. He should be ashamed of himself.

He - I mean this- makes Chris Hargreaves look like Steven Gerrard. e

Once again Yemi 'Barn Door' worked very hard and desperately needs a partner with some oomph.

Defence was good today. Er that's it.

[Ascension Ox]

His 'energy-saving' style is what winds some people up, but then above all Oxford fans seem to like strong, busy players who 'get stuck in'.

Yeah, it's the same kind of logic that saw Jemmo disliked and Lee Mansell admired. What is the UK obsession with being 'hard' and 'getting stuck in'?

Oh ffs. Duffy is a total waste of space.

[Ascension Ox]

His 'energy-saving' style is what winds some people up, but then above all Oxford fans seem to like strong, busy players who 'get stuck in'.

Yeah, it's the same kind of logic that saw Jemmo disliked and Lee Mansell admired. What is the UK obsession with being 'hard' and 'getting stuck in'?

It's the one that gives us English managers who were previously captains and got stuck in. This means they are rubbish as a manager as they have no intellegence and just shout and scream at a player when things go wrong. Bar Fergie the best managers the English game has seen recently are Wenger, Jose, Rafa, Sven and hopefully Capello. All are very intellagent well rounded people. English managers are the opposite which means we are now forced to turn abroad again because the likes of Robson, Jewell, 'Big Sam' have shown they're not really up to it.

But if we look at the way Sven is treated as England manager despite only losing something like 4 comptitive games he's hounded out because he doesn't show he 'cares' (i.e. shout and scream) enough.

I remember when Steve Slowasabus got cheered off after getting sent off at Brizzie Rovers yet Derek Lilley (who went on to far better things) was given a load of abuse for not getting stuck in during the same game. I wince whenever a player like Burgess/Yemi is given stick for not getting stuck in for a 50/50 ball - they're not that type of player just accept it!

Yemi does get stuck in though.

[boris]

I thought they were both poor today. Barnes improved things slightly when he replaced Duffy, while Taylor improved things further, but we never really looked like scoring and this is something that Patto has to address during the transfer window. Can't say I'm gutted about Twigg going, and can't say I'd be too gutted should any of our other strikers leave either (assuming that they're replaced). I'd like to see Fisher given a bit of a longer run in the side, especially alongside Taylor.