Rage Online

United won a pulsating encounter in East Bristol with a late winner from substitute
Alex Mowatt. The on loan Barnsley attacking midfielder rolled in a loose ball after James Henry intercepted
a poor Rovers pass and worked his way down the flank. Henry played in Rothwell who was possibly fouled
but Mowatt stayed cool to finish low into the left hand corner past Sam Slocombe.

The first half was an end to end attack fest with Rovers looking dangerous through Gaffney, Harrison
and Nichols but the U's created three or four excellent chances. Rovers attacked with pace and looked to exploit
the defensive frailties of Ribeiro and Richardinho down the channels. Sercombe saw plenty of the ball too.



United were the better side during the second half attacking with flair and looking solid defensively.
I thought it was Curtis Nelson's best game of the season, Mousinho competed well and in midfield
Ledson was tigerish and good on the ball as was James Henry who posed Rovers plenty of problems
on the right. Thomas and Payne both worked hard before both were replaced.

Two BIG games coming up at Grenoble Road - fifth place Charlton on Tuesday night followed
by a resurgent Rotherham team who are fourth.

Sounds like a good game and an exciting day out. So are you saying our full backs are a bit dodgy?

Both fullbacks are good footballers and offer plenty going fwds but it was
clear to see yesterday that Rovers were targeting both!

They're not the quickest nor the biggest.

OUFC4eva wrote: ↑Sun Oct 15, 2017 1:45 pm Both fullbacks are good footballers and offer plenty going fwds but it was
clear to see yesterday that Rovers were targeting both!

They're not the quickest nor the biggest.

So the opposition targeted our fullbacks, scored nothing and lost the game...I'm struggling to see why this in any way points to them being deficient in some way - quite the opposite in fact.

I agree with OUFC4ever, both full-backs (especially Ribiero, IMHO) looked like our weak links yesterday. We rode our luck at times, and Roverzz were able to create a lot down the flanks. On another day, it could have cost us dearly.

For me, Ricardinho offers sufficient in other parts of the field to offset his occasional lack of pace/physique - but I'd be tempted to give Candice Carroll a run in the side at Ribiero's expense to see whether he's a viable long-term option.

That aside, there were a lot of positives to praise yesterday against a decent (albeit one-dimensional) Roverzz team. Nelson's effort has already been praised, but Payne also looks a real talent, and Henry's all-round contribution is superb.

Kairdiff Exile wrote: ↑Sun Oct 15, 2017 6:02 pm I agree with OUFC4ever, both full-backs (especially Ribiero, IMHO) looked like our weak links yesterday. We rode our luck at times, and Roverzz were able to create a lot down the flanks. On another day, it could have cost us dearly.

For me, Ricardinho offers sufficient in other parts of the field to offset his occasional lack of pace/physique - but I'd be tempted to give Candice Carroll a run in the side at Ribiero's expense to see whether he's a viable long-term option.

That aside, there were a lot of positives to praise yesterday against a decent (albeit one-dimensional) Roverzz team. Nelson's effort has already been praised, but Payne also looks a real talent, and Henry's all-round contribution is superb.

Is Candice Carroll the sister of Canice Carroll?

Agree to an extent about the full backs - against PBoro, most of their attacks came down our right as Ribs kept getting caught out of position/providing an extra option to our attack. However, he was rarely beaten on a one on one. Perhaps the problem is we don't fill in effectively enough for him when he gets forward - should the holding midfielder (ala Smudger) sit in when the full backs push on, or if the full backs overlap the winger should the winger be the one chasing back when it breaks down.

Still I'd rather teams got behind us on the flanks than walk through our central areas which we have hugely improved of late.

So where do people think we'll finish this season? Given the injuries we've had I think being in a play off spot in a tight division is pretty good. If we can maintain it and in Jan secure some good signings we should be well set for a really good crack at the play offs - I think we're good enough, it's whether we can maintain consistency and keep Wes Thomas fit as he has been the key man for me over the last three games, immense at Pboro, got us going with a goal from nothing at Wombles and led the line well yesterday. Surely he's due a song now - he's much more effective than Toni ever was.

ty cobb wrote: ↑Mon Oct 16, 2017 9:57 am So where do people think we'll finish this season? Given the injuries we've had I think being in a play off spot in a tight division is pretty good. If we can maintain it and in Jan secure some good signings we should be well set for a really good crack at the play offs - I think we're good enough, it's whether we can maintain consistency and keep Wes Thomas fit as he has been the key man for me over the last three games, immense at Pboro, got us going with a goal from nothing at Wombles and led the line well yesterday. Surely he's due a song now - he's much more effective than Toni ever was.

I still think mid-table. When we play well, we're very good indeed - but the squad lacks strength in depth, particularly up front. There's no shame in that when you consider the managerial change in the summer, the number of key signings that got called off (or contract renewals that didn't happen) as a result, and the fact that the players who did come in were a gamble (either because of injury or lack of experience in English football - or both).

Pep has done very well to keep the show on the road, and I have faith in him to strengthen well in January and over next summer - but I don't think we'll be quite good enough for promotion this season. Even if we did go up, I would expect us to come straight back down - far better to build a strong squad over the next nine months and then really go for it next year with a sustainable model behind it.

Kairdiff Exile wrote: ↑Mon Oct 16, 2017 10:50 am Pep has done very well to keep the show on the road, and I have faith in him to strengthen well in January

Personally, I'd hope we're doing well enough, have kept the injuries down, and have realistic enough ambitions to avoid wasting money during the rip-off window.

SmileyMan wrote: ↑Mon Oct 16, 2017 12:13 pm

Kairdiff Exile wrote: ↑Mon Oct 16, 2017 10:50 am Pep has done very well to keep the show on the road, and I have faith in him to strengthen well in January

Personally, I'd hope we're doing well enough, have kept the injuries down, and have realistic enough ambitions to avoid wasting money during the rip-off window.

So long as we can reduce then incidence of injuries, I am with you. Tiendalli, Pekalski and Mehmeti should all be pushing for places in the 18. Raglan did very well for us last year. Roberts is again pushing for a place in the 18. Assuming PClot was speaking the truth recently about looking to get the most out of the squad rather than bringing in more players, unless an absolute star becomes available I think there is more to be had from this squad.

In the last few games, I've felt that if we can get to halftime on equal terms, we'll go on to win the game as we tend to improve as a game progresses/becomes more open. Saturday was a case in point - a good sign for the rest of the season.

Well, at the very least there is plenty to talk about. I can't ever recall watching an Oxford side finish a game without a striker on the pitch, yet also scoring a goal (home to AFC last week) in the process. Goes to show, you can watch football all your life and still not see it all...!