PORT VALE GAME

[STEVE F]

I HAVE JUST WATCHED THE PORT VALE MATCH ON SKY OXFORD UNITED WERE A DISGRACE IF THIS IS THE WAY THAT OXFORD PLAY UNDER WILDER GOD HELP US WRIGHT , CONSTABLE, CHAPMAN CRADDOCK AND POTTER WERE ALL AN ABOSOLUTE DISGRACE AND SHOULD WITHOUT EXCEPTION BE SACKED IN THE MORNING ALONG WITH MR WILDER AND THE COMPLETE COACHING STAFF AND SACK BATT AS WELL AS HIS DISPAYS THIS SEASON SHOW HE IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH , IAM CERTAIN THAT MOST FORUM READERS AND ANYONE WHO WAS WATCHING SKY TONIGHT WILL BE SAYING THE SAME. NO MORE HOLDING BACK ENOUGH IS ENOUGH THE OWNER/CHAIRMAN MUST ACT NOW IF OXFORD UNITED ARE TO HAVE ANY FUTURE .

[GodalmingYellow]

I was watching on Sky and I don't think the same as Shouty Steve.

Wright was our best player on the night by a distance and without him, the scoreline could easily have been a real car crash.

I thought Craddock and Beano did well up front with the very very poor service they received.

Why did Wilder start with Potter on the bench? Heslop is no wide player.

Chapman was very poor, as were the two full backs, Mullins and O'Brien (as well as Capaldi when he came on).

Mullins was seriously at fault for the first Port Vale goal, as was Clarke with the mis-handling.

Both full backs frequently allowed Port Vale wingers to get to the by line or to get crosses in from deep.

We defended far too deep generally.

Rigg did ok, but the rest of the midfield did so little work to chase the ball down.

Wilder has to go, along with Melville and Mad Dog. They are not up to it at this level.

[Joey's Toe]

Wright was our best player on the night by a distance and without him, the scoreline could easily have been a real car crash.

The woodwork was our best player on the night by a distance and without it, the scoreline could easily have been a real car crash.

There, fixed it for you.

We could have lost 7-0 last night by my count and not had many complaints. I didn't think our midfield was awful, but the back line was a shambles. Granted, Vale are a decent side and a loss isn't unforgivable - but they were absolutely light years ahead of us, which suggests that even allowing for injuries we're miles off the pace.

[Ancient Colin]

I thought Wright did OK on the whole but I'm with Shouty Steve on Beano - yes he didn't get good service, but his movement was terrible and control and accuracy non-existent (and a horrible contrast to Pope). What on earth has happened to Chapman? Wilder was ouththought yet again (and presumably the batch of League Two managers in the stand will have worked out exactly how to play us over the next few matches) and there was little evidence in the second half of any valuable adjustments (bar Potter coming on). We are in trouble.

[OUFanatic]

However you dress this up, 19th after 12 games isn't acceptable.

The question now is how long are we and the club prepared to wait to see improvement? 2,3,6 games more?

[amershamwrighty]

......and to think we allowed Tonkin and Bulman to leave.

There was some fundamental stuff wrong last night - we kept giving the ball away, and when we did have it weren't physically strong enough to keep it.

Not sure if the result would have been much different if the debatable penalty/red card had gone the other way.

Whing was head and shoulders above his peers for the 10 minutes (or whatever) he was on the pitch.

Now we go into Saturday without Jake Wright.

[ty cobb]

Agree with much of what was previously said, full backs were useless last night, Wright and Worely didn't work 2 seasons ago - neither of them go and head the ball they let it bounce and try and deal with it, they are not the answer now and the final ball anywhere near the edge of the penalty box was the worst I've seen for a long time from us - lack of confidence or ability - mixture of both I'd suggest.

That said I thought we controlled much of the first half until we went a goal down it was just that final ball that kept letting us down, they scored first, relaxed, our confidence drained away and Vale controlled the rest of the match. Poor goals to conceed as well and the ref did get two key decision wrong - clear pen and a straight red from the second goalscorer - had either of those gone our way we may well have got something out of a very tough game.

Time for Wilder to go? Not yet, both our right backs are injured at the moment, our best central defender not kicked a ball and our best midfielder has barely featured. My main worry is that we're running out of ideas, confidence is very low and sometimes you need a new broom in to gee everyone up again. Big game on Sat for Wilder - lose that and I'm not sure how much patience Mr L will have left.

[SmileyMan]

Only Barnet have fewer points away from home. Only Wimbledon have conceded more goals away. Wycombe, Bristol and Wimbledon are not mug teams, and if Aldershot pull their socks up we could be in serious danger of being back in the nightmare of the Conference.

Bored stiff of the 'injuries' excuse - there are two reasons why there is not enough quality cover in key positions a) too much of our playing budget wasted on players who don't make the grade, or Wilder gets bored of, and a stubborn refusal to bring anyone up from the youth system even in unimportant games (why isn't Wilder told that he must play 2 apprentices in every JPT game for instance?)

I've been a long time fan, and a pretty stubborn defender of Wilder through his ropier patches, but it's time for a change now. When people called for him to go before, I used to ask &quotWho would come to us, who would do better?&quot - well the answer to that this season is &quotProbably anyone&quot

[Ancient Colin]

Pretty much a straight red, yes, but a &quotclear pen&quot - hardly. If it had been Wright on Pope and he'd got his shin to the ball from the miscontrol before the contact, you wouldn't be saying &quotclear pen&quot. Not that Pope would have miscontrolled it in that situation.

[GodalmingYellow]

Pretty much a straight red, yes, but a &quotclear pen&quot - hardly. If it had been Wright on Pope and he'd got his shin to the ball from the miscontrol before the contact, you wouldn't be saying &quotclear pen&quot. Not that Pope would have miscontrolled it in that situation.

Agree straight red. No question.

Penalty less cut and dried. I think the defender puts his hand on Constable's shoulder before the ball hits the defender's knee (and I think the defender does not play the ball, but is hit by it). I can understand why the ref didn't give it having only a single look at full speed though.

Even given these factors, let's not allow them to obscure the fact that we were outplayed over the entire park.

[Kernow Yellow]

Jake Wright is the only defender to emerge with any credit from last night's debacle. Worley was out of position a lot, the three full backs didn't do their job, and Clarke was to blame (along with others) for the opening two goals.

The third goal was a great finish, but what made it was the lay-off, weighted perfectly for the midfielder to run on to and strike. A huge contrast to our approach play, which was an utter embarrassment. We're always looking for the short pass, players hang back to receive the ball at their feet, we never have any momentum with searching balls behind the full back. On the few occasions we did have shooting opportunities we dawdled and tried to overplay - Rigg was the worst culprit, his early searing effort notwithstanding.

The commentators summed it up well. In the first half they said our problem was conceding too many goals, and in the second half they said it was that we couldn't score goals. Well yes, they are our main problems, and have been for some time. And they are the absolute basics of winning football matches. No amount of pretty passing or good possession can disguise the fact that we cannot do the basics, and that is exactly what we should be focussing on when the chips are down.

Melville looked sheepish throughout leaning against the dugout, and well he might - the defensive display was hopeless. But it's our attempts to attack that worry me the most. We simply haven't got a clue how to get round good defences, or even how to try and think about doing so.

Something's got to change immediately for anyone to even consider employing CW on an ongoing basis.

[amershamwrighty]

CW's policy is that we should 'play through' teams, rather than lump it forward.

That's fine, as long as you don't give the ball away. Which we did - consistently.

So the policy doesn't work.

Options ?

[BigCrompy]

Options ?

Oxford City.

[Paul Cooper]

I thought that for 30 minutes we did OK. Rigg had a decent shot and we had a few shots. As the commentators said, we came out and had a go. To a certain extent we were also making them play the long ball.

But,.... we needed to remain very solid. And the first goal was a terrible one to concede. Once that happened you feared that there was no coming back. We looked pretty clueless. Playing some pretty football but lacking any killer ball. Our final ball was atrocious. We do miss Leven in those situations no doubt although that isn't meant to be an excuse. I would have played Whing at right Back and Mullins at CB (where he was immense against Gillingham).

Let's not forget that Port Vale are a very good side at this level. But .... 19th this far into the season is not acceptable. Accrington at home and Rochdale away are not easy games to put it mildly. With our confidence apparently shot away aftre conceding the second last night, I would not be too surprised to see us lose both and we would be in trouble. Saturday is yet another huge home game and a draw is really not enough.

[joepoolman]

I HAVE JUST WATCHED THE PORT VALE MATCH ON SKY OXFORD UNITED WERE A DISGRACE IF THIS IS THE WAY THAT OXFORD PLAY UNDER WILDER GOD HELP US WRIGHT , CONSTABLE, CHAPMAN CRADDOCK AND POTTER WERE ALL AN ABOSOLUTE DISGRACE AND SHOULD WITHOUT EXCEPTION BE SACKED IN THE MORNING ALONG WITH MR WILDER AND THE COMPLETE COACHING STAFF AND SACK BATT AS WELL AS HIS DISPAYS THIS SEASON SHOW HE IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH , IAM CERTAIN THAT MOST FORUM READERS AND ANYONE WHO WAS WATCHING SKY TONIGHT WILL BE SAYING THE SAME. NO MORE HOLDING BACK ENOUGH IS ENOUGH THE OWNER/CHAIRMAN MUST ACT NOW IF OXFORD UNITED ARE TO HAVE ANY FUTURE .

Why do you always want to get rid of the old players? And I'm sure Oxford United have a future whether Wilder goes or stays.

I can't comment on lasts nights match specifically seeing as I wasn't at the game, Jerome, and I didn't see it on tv but having been to the majority of matches this year I don't understand the fear of relegation some people hold. I think there's no denying that our chances of automatic promotion are slim to none, and we're making it very hard for ourselves to make the play-offs, but with Wilder in charge, or another manager with a shred of competancy I really can't see us going down, despite the fact stranger things have happened and no team is too good to go down.

I still want to see WIlder stay, and while he's here I'll always back him and his team, even if I decided it was time for a change, but I do think things have got to start to turn around sooner rather than later, by that I mean top half, or very close by Christmas.