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OtmoorYellow
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Not top

Post by OtmoorYellow »

Ouch!

That hurt hitting the bottom of the table, with Plimuff winning at home.
Radley Rambler
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Re: Not top

Post by Radley Rambler »

Imho what others do is irrelevant (at the moment!), we got a good away draw - if we can win next Saturday things will start to look a lot more rosy.

I think Mousinho may have found his position given that we need to protect our fragile defence and grind out results until January.
OUFC4eva
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Re: Argyle

Post by OUFC4eva »

Seriously, how big is Saturday’s match versus Plymouth? Remember that home match v Tranmere in October 2014 under Appleton?

And that was at the foot of L2.
Kairdiff Exile
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Re: Not top

Post by Kairdiff Exile »

I wanted to let the dust settle before giving a view on the game (are you reading, Karl? you should give it a try!). As you’d expect from a goalless draw away from home, it was a mixed bag. A point and a clean sheet are welcome, and as Oxblogger has written, it’d be churlish not to acknowledge the improvement and KR’s role in bringing it about.

It was heartening to see Mousinho playing in front of the back four - something I’d been expecting since pre-season but which hadn’t materialised - and he had a good game there; it also meant that Nelson and Dickie could play together at CB with some decent protection in front of them, and they too had good games (especially Nelson, who’s retained a dignified silence over being stripped of the captaincy). Mad that it’s taken until October to try that defensive lineup, but (in KR-speak), we are where we are. Also positive were Whyte and Holmes’ performances; frankly, those two are our only outlet, but they’re doing their best.

The negatives. Oh god the negatives. Not hard to play against, are we? It took Southend about two minutes to realise that if they played diagonal balls into the corners, our full-backs have zero composure or pace. How Southend didn’t score from the crosses or cutting inside that they were given free rein to do, I’ll never know. Has Cameron Norman run over KR’s dog or something? There can be no other reason for him being banished from the first XI when he’s light-years ahead of McMahon. Ruffels isn’t a bad lad, but he’s no more a first-choice left-back than I am. Again, this area is a failure of recruitment - we put all our eggs in a Garbutt-shaped basket, and it didn’t work out.

Mackie still doesn’t look fit, and put in a decidedly average performance up top. If Obika played like that, he’d be getting all kinds of abuse. Without a decent striker, we will go down. Even with one, I’m not convinced frankly.

So, a point on the board, and a platform on which to build. But the caveat is that we must - must - win against Plymouth. Things will look very grave indeed if we don’t. I’m assuming Mr Thanakarnjanasuth will be in town; he needs to be very clear by 5pm Saturday that anything less than a win requires immediate action.
Hog
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Re: Not top

Post by Hog »

KR was still finding new excuses in his post match interview. Apparently they trained on one of the new pitches this week which was very uneven and they couldn't be sure where the ball would bounce! If I'd just got a point away from home against the odds I think I'd have kept that one up my sleeve for the next defeat!
Kernow Yellow
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Re: Not top

Post by Kernow Yellow »

Taken in isolation, of course a draw at Roots Hall is always a reasonable result (I wasn't there so can't comment on the performance). But we can't really take any result in isolation now - we've left ourselves a lot of catching up to do and therefore need to over-perform for a bit to avoid getting left behind.

The Plymouth game is massive, but even if we win that's only the very beginning of the job. Failure to win would, understandably, see the calls for Robinson's head intensify. If we lose, then god help us frankly.
slappy
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Re: Not top

Post by slappy »

As posted elsewhere, we look like needing 15 wins from 34 games to reach 50 points and "safety".
recordmeister
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Re: Not top

Post by recordmeister »

I honestly didn't understand the 'give him 10 games' concept. After 8 games, even if we had won the next two, we would still be utterly short of where we needed to be at 10 games. Now, after 12 games (that's over a quarter of the season gone...) we have 6 points. 6 points. After 12 games. 6 points after more than a quarter of a season. That equates to fewer than 24 points all season.

The more I think about this, the more livid I'm becoming.
ty cobb
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Re: Not top

Post by ty cobb »

Well I was there Jerome and that was one of our more comfortable trips to Southend in recent years - could even have snatched it at the end.

They are still a team full of bullies and divers who we usually struggle against but we stood strong and the likes of Dickie, Nelson, Moose and Mackie meant they would have come off feeling like they'd been in a game as well. That we're missing a goalscorer is blindingly obvious and it just puts so much pressure on the rest of the team as they know that any mistake which leads to a goal is likely to be a loss. When you think you're capable of scoring a couple you will play with a lot more freedom.

I think it was notable that we went back to basics in a way - keep things solid at the back, didn't overplay, went long from the keeper - Mackie didn't win much but he did get there and put them off so often they headed it to our player or out of play.

As the report from PB said - they should have had a red card when Holmes was wiped out whilst advantage was being played with a dreadful tackle. Their player not even being booked. If we can continue to keep it solid and simple at the back and grind out some clean sheets we should have enough to snatch the odd goal on the break. Won't be pretty though.

Also notable that the Oxford fans (bar the odd catcall by some idiots) were really supportive - even giving Obika a song as he came on the pitch. I think the players responded with a "nowt shall pass" attitude. Perhaps a more positive attitude at home may bring similar rewards, we don't have much to shout about at the moment but moaning during the game will not help at all.
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