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City v Oxford

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Twerton Parker
Roman Mike
SteveS
LB
Bristol Mike
Marc Monitor
Elmore James
sned
BenE
London Calling
comrade powell
2weirdtown
Ashley
stillmanjunior
Steve Whites Missus
yuffie
Luton Roman
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Post by Luton Roman Sat Nov 14, 2015 4:01 pm

Ht 0-2. Performance as dismal as the weather.

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Post by yuffie Sat Nov 14, 2015 5:25 pm

Outclassed today.

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Post by Steve Whites Missus Sat Nov 14, 2015 5:38 pm

Large parts of the game were clueless.
Last season performances like this were blamed on the tiredness caused by the cup run. No such valid excuse this season.
The laid back approach of our bench seems to be spreading to the pitch.

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Post by stillmanjunior Sat Nov 14, 2015 5:42 pm

It felt a bit like the season we were relegated from the Conference - we just constantly came up against better sides and we couldn't cope. In terms of chances created there wasn't much in it but they're an excellent side who will probably give Ebbsfleet a good challenge.
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Post by Ashley Sat Nov 14, 2015 5:42 pm

Oxford were clearly decent but I'm not sure they needed to get out of second gear. From the moment they scored a classic City goal to concede from a free header our heads seemed to drop.

We've not been outclassed like that for years.

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Post by Luton Roman Sat Nov 14, 2015 5:43 pm

Better side no doubt where was the effort to unsettle them, putting tackles in, getting crowd going, and where is Kaid supposed to play? Sensible taking Pratt and Artus off for Tuesday. Presume Frankie misses Trophy for that booking?

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Post by yuffie Sat Nov 14, 2015 5:58 pm

Sometimes does it hurt just to accept that we were beaten by a better side?

Maybe they simply didn't let us play, played some great football at times (especially given the conditions) and took their chances when they came.

Once they got to 3-0 they clearly settled for that and that allowed us to create chances - which as Mark says - by the end were about even and we had enough about us to create a few decent ones.

Now if we go and lose 3-0 on Tuesday against a side that have just let in six at home (against another side who, on their day, are a class apart in this league) then perhaps the moans will be more justified.

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Post by 2weirdtown Sat Nov 14, 2015 6:04 pm

Needed to be at our best today against a good side. No-one in this league is unbeatable and Oxford lost 3-1 at home themselves midweek. I don't think we played badly but there was a distinct lack of urgency.
You have to ask again why sign new players like Miles John and leave them on the bench. He is small and nippy and may have thrived in todays slippery conditions.
Particularly disappointing as there was a decent crowd. Big stag do contingent from up north. Parents with kids plus a good number with the sponsors.
Seems to me the tireless work behind the scenes is not feeding through to the pitch.
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Post by comrade powell Sat Nov 14, 2015 6:06 pm

Agreed, we were never in that game and Oxford always looked like they could step up a couple of gears, which they might have needed to do if Kaid had converted two easy chances. Yuffie is right that the alarm bells will really start to ring if we lose to Margate.
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Post by London Calling Sat Nov 14, 2015 6:14 pm

Thought Oxford were an absolute class act this afternoon, one of the best footballing performances I've seen from a Conference South side at TP for quite some time. They gave us a lesson in how to play decent, skilful passing football. No doubt there Spanish head coach and futsal champion is working wonders for them.

Can't really single anyone out in a black and white shirt but that record breaking start to the season seems light years away now...

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Post by BenE Sat Nov 14, 2015 6:32 pm

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you should already be hearing alarm bells ringing. We have won three points from 9 and 7 points from 30. That is relegation form pure and simple. Apparently the somerset cup is too poor for us but we are not good enough to beat Harlow.

People need to wake up and smell the roses. They've gone rotten.

I have been saying all season our midfield is too pedestrian and today it was all too evident. Oxford looked like a team that would wipe the floor with any team in the division. Have a look at their results though and you will see they haven't.

Stop making excuses.
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Post by sned Sat Nov 14, 2015 6:47 pm

Weirdly, despite playing pretty awfully we had enough good chances and it easily could have finished 3-3.

Agree with comment about Miles John - why go to the effort and presumably expense of signing him and then not play him?

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Post by Ashley Sat Nov 14, 2015 6:55 pm

Ashley Yeoman too - at 0-3 down with half hour to go what harm would it have done to bring them on? No point getting these players in to only play against Street

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Post by stillmanjunior Sat Nov 14, 2015 7:11 pm

BenE wrote:Oxford looked like a team that would wipe the floor with any team in the division. Have a look at their results though and you will see they haven't.

Without Nick McCootie's late consolation it would have been the fourth time they've beaten a team by three clear goals this season. They've already won 6-0 at Truro and 4-0 at Chelmsford this season and are the divisional top scorers.

Can't disagree that our form post-August has been dreadful but we'll do well to play better sides this season in my opinion.
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Post by comrade powell Sat Nov 14, 2015 8:13 pm

The point is that we need to ensure we beat some of the others, especially at Twerton. I was in a minority who thought Bish were nowhere near as good as we made them look last week - we need to be imposing ourselves more on games.

Benny is spot on about our midfield - Artus will hopefully be fully fit soon so that he can carry the others more effectively. Adlesbury showed a fortnight ago what a tremendous shot he has, yet it took some 85 minutes for him to remind us of it today.

Phillips showed with their second goal how awkward the greasy pitch was, but we preferred our slow, slow build up to actually forcing a save from their keeper. I thought for a moment we were watching Van Gaal's bores.
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Post by Elmore James Sat Nov 14, 2015 8:42 pm

maybe we were outclassed today, but what about the other games where we've been beaten?
our current form is bang on target for relegation.

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Post by Marc Monitor Sat Nov 14, 2015 9:30 pm

We were beaten by a very good team today. What is worrying is that our midfield were nowhere today. Our defence were decent and the attack were feeding on scraps. I have to say that, for a player who is there to score, Mohamed missed two solid gold chances that could have taken us to three points. However, you know, a point would have probably been a travesty. What I am appalled about is bring McCootie on when we are 3-0 down and the match is lost. If he has an injury to his evermore-delicate hamstrings, I will be well pissed off.
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Post by Bristol Mike Sat Nov 14, 2015 10:29 pm

No one can claim that was anything other than embarrassing, as the table shows Oxford are a good side, did they play well today, not really, we were absolutely shocking and surrendered the game to them.

We seemed to have no fight, no game plan and can some one shed any light on what our formation was today. It looked like half of them were playing 442 and half of them were playing 433, is that poor instructions or inability to follow instructions, either way, total shambles!!

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Post by yuffie Sat Nov 14, 2015 10:57 pm

I think anyone with the tiniest bit of perspective can claim that was not remotely embarrassing. I understand that the automatic reaction of a lot of supporters to a defeat is to slag off anything and everything to do with the team and management and some of the performances since those balmy August days have probably warranted that but, really, today we were beaten by a very good side. It happens.

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Post by Marc Monitor Sat Nov 14, 2015 10:57 pm

That is rubbish, Mike. They were the best side to come to Twerton Park this season so far and, I expect, for the rest of the season. They are stocked with Segunda B players and it showed today. They're passing was like us at our absolute best and then some and then actually got shots on goal.

I am looking forward to seeing them again at home, not least because their pitch is supposed to be crap and they are better away than home. A Oxford City-supporting mate says that they probably preferred playing on our great pitch today.
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Post by Bristol Mike Sat Nov 14, 2015 11:24 pm

As I said they are clearly a good side but nearly everything they created came from mistakes made by us.
Football really does divide opinion, if you were happy with our performance today then fair enough, just saying that I wasn't and that isn't rubbish it's opinion.

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Post by LB Sat Nov 14, 2015 11:29 pm

At 3-0 just 5 minutes into the 2nd half I said it looked like a case of how many Oxford would get - fortunately at that point they decided that the game was over and coasted through the rest of the half. I fancy that if we had pulled a goal back earlier that might have spurred them on again.

I agree with others that it wasn't clear what formation we were playing and the players didn't seem to know either - it would have been nice to have seen some encouragement and instruction from our bench.

I also agree about the substitutions - with the game lost at 3-0 there seemed nothing to lose by a bit of experimation and sending on Yeoman and John. No point crowing about signing new players and then not using them. With the game on Tuesday coming up and the pitch conditions it did seem a bit of a risk given Nick's hamstring problems.

I look forward to having my intelligence insulted over the next few days with the excuses (sorry, reasons) given by Howells or Britton. 3 goals conceded in 3 of the last 4 league games and 7 points from 30 isn't good enough, but I am sure it isn't their fault.

Also looking forward to F A Trophy draw - if we don't get favourable draw the season could be over before the end of November.

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Post by stillmanjunior Sat Nov 14, 2015 11:41 pm

Bristol Mike wrote:No one can claim that was anything other than embarrassing

I didn't think it was embarrassing. Theory out the window.

I've watched/played in enough games of football to realise that sometimes you just come up against a side that are damn good at what they do, and you have to hold your hands up and say "well played". We've done it in the past, I've seen us play pretty good teams off the park. Today we were on the receiving end.

I thought maybe we started with a too attacking line-up. I wouldn't have played Watkins, Pratt and Mohamed. But a lot of people on here wanted these attacking formations rather than supposed negative football.
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Post by comrade powell Sun Nov 15, 2015 12:00 am

Yes, I was one of them calling for that trio to start and despite it failing today, I hope it's a formation that will be retained for the next couple of matches. If today's excuse was the quality of the opposition, it surely can't be used for Margate and Wealdstone. The two other newbies presumably haven't impressed the management sufficiently in training or against Street (!) and the only other alternative I can see is the unfit McCootie.

I agree about there being times when we must accept we were 2nd best, but I think some of our team did as well today. If only some of them showed Coupey's grit - he sounded totally fed up with some of the others by the end.
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Post by LB Sun Nov 15, 2015 12:29 am

I don't have a problem with us being beaten by a better side, and am always happy to acknowledge it. The problem was that we never really found out how good Oxford were because we didn't put up that much of fight. Perhaps the players have taken on board the management rhetoric that we can't compete with clubs like Oxford and that affected their approach to the game.

Interested by Comrade Powell's take on the substitutes (or lack of them) - whatever happened to the idea that there was no point signing players who weren't better than the ones you already have?

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