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The Football yesterday

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 1:48 pm
by Boogie
As CW said, the first half was excellent.

Potter should keep Cook on the bench. His perfomance won us the game.

Once again, with Constable off the pitch, the ball did not stick up front so it pings back into the midfield and the opposition breaks. Lucky that their manager took their winger off when he did.

Sodje looks a good link player but F Green did not look the part.

Chapman is not a full back as he has no pace. Why no Foster or Day on the bench if there were doubts about Batt? Perry had to play through an injury as a result.

Sandwith had the best game I have seen him play.

Overall, I think we beat a team of mid table standard and hope that we can get Foster and Batt back to their best in defence before we have to play any of the contenders in the league.

Stevenage and York might be the only two teams we have to worry about now. Amazed how Mansfield has slipped. Now they have Burgess and Duffy missed a pen yesterday!

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 4:23 pm
by theox
First half was the best football I can remember Oxford playing for a very long time.

Sodje looks an excellent addition to the team and having Potter back in this form is like having a new player!

Chapman once again showed that he struggles at right back. Shame there's no room for him in the midfield.

Duffy missed a penalty?! Now he has lost his superpower i will no longer hero worship him...........

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 7:06 pm
by Geoff
A few points from yesterday's game.

1. Save of the season from Clarke, without which the score would probably have gone 2-2.
2. Exquisite lob from Potter for the third goal.
3. Sodje worked very hard and complemented Constable well.
4. Chapman got caught out several times, but he doesn't do badly for someone playing out of position.
5. We've just won 4-2 against a team that's beaten two of our rivals and people are booing?
6. Did anyone else think there were far more than 5,188 in the stadium?

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 7:27 pm
by neilw
If people were booing, which I didn't notice, I'm sure this wasn't in response to the players / result etc. It will have been a noise of discontent for that heinous crime, the short corner. They send me apoplectic at the best of times, even more so when used for time wasting, and should be banned forthwith.

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 7:48 pm
by Yellow River
I'm looking forward to seeing Potter's goals again on the highlights. Live the first was a lovely flowing move with a great finish, Alfie's second was a chip of the highest quality.

Looked a good save from Clarke from the North Stand, probably even more impressive from behind the goal.

Apart from the goalscorers, the players that stood out for me were Clarke, Sandwith, Creighton, Clist &amp Sodje. We played some lovely football at times yesterday, especially in the first half.

Murray, Bulman &amp Midson all performed well. Green has pace, had a couple of good chances to score.

Chapman really struggled against Welsh's pace, that was the visitors main threat. Apparently Perry was injured after 10 minutes, he was steady but IMHO his distibution lets him down a bit.

Why no central defenders on the bench?? I'd like to see Foster back for Barrow.

All in all though a very entertaining game in which Ebsfleet played their part, 6-2 would not have flattered us.

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 9:25 pm
by GodalmingYellow
The booing was about taking a short corner rather than going for another goal.

As we had several players very tired, a mis-shapen side resulting form the Batt injury, and Midson seemingly incapable of leading the line, I think the short corner was the right thing to do. Wilder is still out of order for moaning at the fans though. It was wrong for the few to boo, but our fans have had to put up with far more than most over the last few years, so I think we're entitled to a bit more leeway than that.

I can only assume that the bench was made up of those available and least ijured, which is slightly worrying as we had very few options once Batt went off.

It told us that Perry is no right back.

I don't get the Chapman complaints. He was up against one of the quickest wingers in the division, and even Batt would have been tested.

Once Batt went off, we had a spell of 3 o 4 minutes where the players didn't seem to know their position and we played a kind of 3-3-4 Subbuteo formation. This did give Ebbsfleet a few minutes of confidnce whch swayed the game slightly for a while, but realistically we were by a country mile the best side.

Keep up the good work lads, we've only done half the job so far.

Re:

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 10:54 pm
by Baboo
&quotGodalmingYellow&quot wrote: It told us that Perry is no right back.
Agree with most of what you have said GY.
Did it tell us that Perry is no right back, or that an injured Perry is no right back?

Re:

Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:13 am
by Long John Silver
&quotBaboo&quot wrote:
&quotGodalmingYellow&quot wrote: It told us that Perry is no right back.
Agree with most of what you have said GY.
Did it tell us that Perry is no right back, or that an injured Perry is no right back?
I think his performance, along with his previous ones, show us that he is probably the fouth best centre back at the club.

As for his injury, he wouldn't have had to carry on playing with it if we had had a sensible bench, with a centre back on it in place of one of the three forwards.

Re:

Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:23 am
by Myles Francis
&quotGodalmingYellow&quot wrote:The booing was about taking a short corner rather than going for another goal.
To be (possibly) slightly pedantic about it, but also to give context, the booing was for the second short corner which followed swiftly on from another where we had failed to keep it in the corner and run the clock down. Taking a short one and fannying around in the corner is all well and good IF you manage to keep it there, win another corner/throw in etc, but we'd just had one robbed within half a second. IMHO, that was why people were unhappy with the second one.

Two well taken goals from Websfleet, but I still struggle to understand how Stevenage lost to them. And having seen AO predict their Premier league survival on the other place, I seriously worry for their future! :lol:

Re:

Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 10:26 am
by GodalmingYellow
&quotBaboo&quot wrote:
&quotGodalmingYellow&quot wrote: It told us that Perry is no right back.
Agree with most of what you have said GY.
Did it tell us that Perry is no right back, or that an injured Perry is no right back?
Yep, fair comment and difficult one to call.