Just relegate us now...

[Werthers Original]

How is it that,whe we have Chris Wilder, James Constable, and two wingers plus Batt, we a) lack aggression, b) have forwards with little presence, and c) can't get a decent cross into the box?

Everyone seems to have a trickier, harder forward than us, and also a more effective winger.

Not much wrong with the midfield, tho we could probably do with an enforcer, and the defence will be OK when we're able to field a settled one. Payne and Heslop can certainly pass and Hall does OK tho we look better with Clist.

[OUFC4eva]

I may be in a minority of one here, but I thought that we were much better with a 433 last night than with a 442 in the second half.

I would never bring both Potter/ Deering on at half time when we are chasing a game. Deering I thougt was extremely poor and the crossing was woeful.

Fully agree about the Deering comment however he did slip a good pass into Constable from which he skied over the top in the second half.

I have doubts over Deering and two or three others.

The timing of the substitutions smacked of panic. Utd were doing fine up to half time and I felt we were playing some good stuff. We were never as fluent in the second period after the changes and never created as much either.

[Werthers Original]

And another thing, when did we last score with a header? Watch Beano, Midson or Green jump for a ball, they've landed by the time it's arrived. Compare with Leon McKenzie's header against us for Northampton.

And none of the 'big lads' from the back weigh in either - a corner is practically useless for us.

[Snake]

Think we're as bad as Barnet, do you?

No-one said this year was going to be easy. We may all have hoped for better but just see, perhaps a January signing or two and we'll go on a run.

You have to be spectacularly bad to get relegated, we know that from experience. Keep the faith!

If anyone is convinced we'll be relegated then put your house on it because the bookies (who are quoting 20-1) certainly don't - http://www.oddschecker.com/football/eng ... relegation

Anyway, the best thing about last night was that I got sick/lucky and could not go, so I can't comment on the performance.

However, having to play at home against a team in yellow is just, err, I'm lost for words for once....

p.s. did anyone spot the Gypsy there last night?

[John Byrne's Underpants]

Some thoughts:

-Tonkin has to be dropped.
-If we can create a love child between Batt and Purkiss then we will have the ultimate League Two full/wing-back.
-I have no idea why Hall is a professional footballer.
-If we don't play Craddock down the middle then he might as well not play at all.
-4-3-3 (or whatever variant it is we are trying to play) needs to be changed now. It works when we are a superior team but at this level we are not so please can we have 4-4-2?!
-Constable has not become a bad player overnight but the chances he missed last night show a massive lack of confidence - not sure that dropping him will help but we can't carry on with him playing up there on his own missing glorious chances.

I agree with this.

Me too.

[Baboo]

Deering I thougt was extremely poor and the crossing was woeful.

I thought once LSD got into it he looked as likely as anyone to create something. It was him who set up Beano for that sitter wasn't it?

[boris]

I thought LSD was woeful last night. Mind you, he was not alone. It was a non-league performance from a bunch of mostly non-league players.

Wilder has built a team to get us out of the Conference, but he has yet to build a team to compete in the Football League.

[YF Dan]

Ok, here's my starting point: Chris Wilder is a decent manager who did a good job getting us back into the league. So before AO or anyone launches into one, I'm certainly not even contemplating a situation in which I might start calling for his head.

But he is an arrogant so and so, and he really has started to believe the hype. It's obvious he has learned little from last season's Jan-March collapse, and it's clear he's making similar mistakes this time around.

His faults are: 1) over protective treatment of favourites 2) Bad treatment of those who he's out of love with. These are common failings of managers, but they hit our man bad. I'm no Midson lover, but I'd say he's done pretty well this season, and yet barely gets a sniff. Hall, by contrast, one of Wilder's new fancies, has done little and yet is undroppable.

Football is like any other job. If you see someone getting all the breaks, who is clearly apple of the manager's eye, then eventually it breeds resentment, which will either manifest itself in poor performance, demotivation, or whatever.

Last April, Wilder (thank god) realised that all of his new signings actually weren't doing the business, that infact they were simply taking the places of the TEAM who had stormed to the top of league. This happened just in time, This season, he's tried to do what he tried last Xmas, to build an new team, and has junked a load of players who'd done so well last term without giving them a chance to prove themselves. Is Hall better than Clist or Bullman? We may never know, but I'd like to have seen last year's heroes get a chance and I reckon a lot of the playing squad would agree.

If they're given a fair crack of the whip and this league is too good for them, then we move on and bring in new blood.


----

The other thing we have to consider is this. Oxford, it seems have always been a December-December team. Our form this year, one glorious afternoon in May apart, has been fairly pony. After Christmas we will rule.

[Baboo]

And none of the 'big lads' from the back weigh in either - a corner is practically useless for us.

And has been almost since the days of Matty Elliott. What is it with this club?

[Snake]

And none of the 'big lads' from the back weigh in either - a corner is practically useless for us.

And has been almost since the days of Matty Elliott. What is it with this club?

What helped to get Us into what is now called the Premier League was the way we threatened so much with corners. That stuff in the 94-95 season amazed me in that we never got found out (tactics wise) as just about every corner was delivered to the edge of the 18 yard box and it would be flicked on by a backwards header from a person wearing YELLOW into the 6 yard box (which of course means you have no idea where it will go) and it just caused chaos, especially if you had John Aldridge sniffing around..

[Dartford Ox]

And none of the 'big lads' from the back weigh in either - a corner is practically useless for us.

And has been almost since the days of Matty Elliott. What is it with this club?

What helped to get Us into what is now called the Premier League was the way we threatened so much with corners. That stuff in the 94-95 season amazed me in that we never got found out (tactics wise) as just about every corner was delivered to the edge of the 18 yard box and it would be flicked on by a backwards header from a person wearing YELLOW into the 6 yard box (which of course means you have no idea where it will go) and it just caused chaos, especially if you had John Aldridge sniffing around..

Sorry - can't help saying this but 94-95 John Aldridge ?

Or have I misunderstood it.

[Kernow Yellow]

And has been almost since the days of Matty Elliott. What is it with this club?

What helped to get Us into what is now called the Premier League was the way we threatened so much with corners. That stuff in the 94-95 season amazed me in that we never got found out (tactics wise) as just about every corner was delivered to the edge of the 18 yard box and it would be flicked on by a backwards header from a person wearing YELLOW into the 6 yard box (which of course means you have no idea where it will go) and it just caused chaos, especially if you had John Aldridge sniffing around..

Sorry - can't help saying this but 94-95 John Aldridge ?

Or have I misunderstood it.

I'm also struggling to visualise a corner flicked backwards from the edge of the 18 yard box into the 6 yard box.

[Snake]

And has been almost since the days of Matty Elliott. What is it with this club?

What helped to get Us into what is now called the Premier League was the way we threatened so much with corners. That stuff in the 94-95 season amazed me in that we never got found out (tactics wise) as just about every corner was delivered to the edge of the 18 yard box and it would be flicked on by a backwards header from a person wearing YELLOW into the 6 yard box (which of course means you have no idea where it will go) and it just caused chaos, especially if you had John Aldridge sniffing around..

Sorry - can't help saying this but 94-95 John Aldridge ?

Or have I misunderstood it.

It should read 84-85. I'm getting old. A senior moment/typo. My apologies.

[Kernow Yellow]

Deering I thougt was extremely poor and the crossing was woeful.

I thought once LSD got into it he looked as likely as anyone to create something. It was him who set up Beano for that sitter wasn't it?

That sounds like the faintest of praise to me! And one good ball doesn't mean he had a good half. He was no poorer than the rest, but probably had more to prove than most of them. I was very disappointed with his contribution. Alfie was much livelier.

But if your goalkeeper is man of the match when you've played almost an entire game against ten men, and still conceded two goals, at home, you know that something's gone very wrong with everybody else...

[Baboo]

[ He was no poorer than the rest,

Says a lot I suppose. But to expect miracles in 45 mins from someone we have not seen for a while is rather unfair.