I thought we played pretty well last night, first 15 minutes excepted. We showed some class play, excellent passing and movement. Burgess and Anaclet in particular stood out and Gavin Johnson had a good game too.
I remain completely unconvinced that Quinn will ever be a centre back or that Dempster will ever be a midfielder (or centre back for that matter).
Much as I dislike 5-3-1-1, it does seem to be working (so far) with this group of players. I would prefer to see Burgess drop slightly deeper, to allow a Duffy/Basham strike partnership, with Dempster moving to CB and Quinn dropped.
Despite his history and my reservations, I think Duffy has played pretty well so far in pre-season. It remains to be seen what he, and the other players, can do when the chips are really down.
The real United
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Matt D
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first 15 minutes - a bit overawed perhaps, but in terms of the immediate build-up, there was very little you could have expected our team to do to stop those kind of moves and shots i thought? turley's slip excepted.
again, very impressed with anaclet. burgess, as everyone has pointed out, was very influential. duffy did take the goal well, but equally put a couple of good chances high or at the keeper.
i guess it's encouraging that we can create those kind of chances against a side of that quality (i was sat with some manchester united supporters who were getting very agitated at the number of free headers we had), and you would hope we'll create more against sides in the conference. i would like to see some clinical finishing on the end of those.
basham was bent double very soon after coming on. i wondered how fit/injury free he really is.
again, very impressed with anaclet. burgess, as everyone has pointed out, was very influential. duffy did take the goal well, but equally put a couple of good chances high or at the keeper.
i guess it's encouraging that we can create those kind of chances against a side of that quality (i was sat with some manchester united supporters who were getting very agitated at the number of free headers we had), and you would hope we'll create more against sides in the conference. i would like to see some clinical finishing on the end of those.
basham was bent double very soon after coming on. i wondered how fit/injury free he really is.
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Kernow Yellow
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Re:
Not sure that's the best basis to tell, KY, as I know a few Man U fans who were in the home end who deliberately kept quiet when they scored so as to avoid confrontation. Having said that, I reckon there were about 70% United fans and 30% plastics (plus one real Manc - a mate of mine from work)."Kernow Yellow" wrote:As a matter of interest, how many Oxford fans would you say were there (people who didn't celebrate when Man U scored)?
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Matt D
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i'm not sure - boris' guess is probably about right.
not all of them were manchester united supporters though. at the pompey game there were a few loudmouths taking things very seriously in front of us (honestly, in a friendly do we really need "you'll never play this season" when lua lua is injured).
the atmosphere at this game was very different though - there were a lot of kids sat around our area who seemed interested in a) taunting the manchester united fans and b) finding out the arsenal score. as a result what a lot of the reports don't say is quite how pantomime the jeering was.
on the bus on the way back there were a lot of language school kids as well.
so i think there were a lot of people who'd come to "see the spectacle". you never know, they might even think about coming back to see an oxford game now they've seen how we slum it in the lower leagues.
not all of them were manchester united supporters though. at the pompey game there were a few loudmouths taking things very seriously in front of us (honestly, in a friendly do we really need "you'll never play this season" when lua lua is injured).
the atmosphere at this game was very different though - there were a lot of kids sat around our area who seemed interested in a) taunting the manchester united fans and b) finding out the arsenal score. as a result what a lot of the reports don't say is quite how pantomime the jeering was.
on the bus on the way back there were a lot of language school kids as well.
so i think there were a lot of people who'd come to "see the spectacle". you never know, they might even think about coming back to see an oxford game now they've seen how we slum it in the lower leagues.
Yeah, that's true - lots of neutrals there for the "experience", obviously wanting to support Oxford, but not sure how to do so.
On one side of me were a whole load of American students, identifiable by the blue splodges of paint so they could tell who was in their group (including some quite foxy young females, I must say). On the other side were a couple of Japanese chaps, complete with mini camcorder, who seemed most bemused by me joining in with the "Stand Up If You Love Oxford" chants. There were a fair few Manc fans around me too (in the home bit of the North Stand), but easily outnumbered by the Oxford supporters (a fact that only became obvious when United scored and lots of previously quiet and anonynous types stood up to cheer/applaud).
On one side of me were a whole load of American students, identifiable by the blue splodges of paint so they could tell who was in their group (including some quite foxy young females, I must say). On the other side were a couple of Japanese chaps, complete with mini camcorder, who seemed most bemused by me joining in with the "Stand Up If You Love Oxford" chants. There were a fair few Manc fans around me too (in the home bit of the North Stand), but easily outnumbered by the Oxford supporters (a fact that only became obvious when United scored and lots of previously quiet and anonynous types stood up to cheer/applaud).
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Kernow Yellow
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70% you reckon? Well then, since no self-respecting Oxford fan can possibly think that a pre-season friendly (even against a Man Utd XI) is more important than a league game, I look forward to being amongst an 8,000|| home crowd on Saturday. Yeah, right.
Ah yes, the foxy young American chicks that hang around Oxford in the summer learning English (or whatever it is they do). Almost makes me wish I still lived there...
Ah yes, the foxy young American chicks that hang around Oxford in the summer learning English (or whatever it is they do). Almost makes me wish I still lived there...
GY I too would like to see Burgess dropping deeper. He can be even more influential there. On current form he is so classy – if he can keep this up Conference fans around the country will rubbing their eyes in disbelief. Problem is we have a dearth of striking talent and he is the best option for getting up and supporting Duffy.
Overall well pleased again. But we really should have been hitting the target with many more of those headed chances we had.
Hargreaves showed why he does not deserve a starting place. Lamine unmarked wide on the left – the ball just begging to be played to him. Hargreaves didn’t even look up. Basham too was similarly guilty.
Overall well pleased again. But we really should have been hitting the target with many more of those headed chances we had.
Hargreaves showed why he does not deserve a starting place. Lamine unmarked wide on the left – the ball just begging to be played to him. Hargreaves didn’t even look up. Basham too was similarly guilty.
I had the slightly odd experience of watching the game (well, first 70 mins till I got bored) in a pub near macclesfield which had MUTV. I don't really think pre-season tells you much really, but agree with others that Burgess looked very good. The problem playing him up front basically means we're playing 1 up and heavily relying on Duffy to hold the ball up (he did ok) and also the midfield to support quickly. I was impressed with how many crosses we got in, but you do wonder where the goals are going to come from, especially as early on teams will realise that we rely on Burgess and mark him or kick him.