Away Match Day Thread +++ 24/2/18 Northampton Town vs OUFC matchday thread +++

[Oldham]

That female steward was wetting herself thinking we were going in the pitch. “She’s gonna cry in a minute” lol

 

[jambon46]

Poor first half, much improved after the subs.

Dickie was great, and gives us an option at corners. Great to see Mous looking good again. Another good game from Kane.

Henry was good and I would have preferred Faz to replace IBR with Napa. I would rather IBR didn't start for us again. I worry he is being played because of his loan agreement, which could cost us. He is too lightweight, gives the ball away, and can't defend very well.

Mowatt had a dreadful game. Really keen to see what Branny can do. Ledson tried too many passes that weren't on.

Good to see Thomas looking hungry when he came on.

Fantastic level of support from the fans. Constant singing throughout.

I feel as though the team was hamstrung by Mowatt and IBR throughout today which is just too much.

Have to agree, we really couldn't win the second ball in midfield, with players coming back from injury in those positions lets hope we can have a good run in for last dozen games or so

 

[Oldham]

I thought we played well and looked a lot more dangerous than north. Need some potency up front.

Are you sure you were at the same match as the rest of us?

 

[jambon46]

That female steward was wetting herself thinking we were going in the pitch. “She’s gonna cry in a minute” lol

When Thomas hit the post I nearly f*****g cried

 

[Oldham]

When Thomas hit the post I nearly f*****g cried

I did a little wee wee in my boxers!

 

[HeyMcAleny]

Will anyone ever be convinced by him?

There was a moment where GvK chased one of their players down at high speed, causing the ball to ricochet in the air and it came down to him. Great. We could be in here. Oh no he's miscontrolled it.

 

[rambler]

There was a moment where GvK chased one of their players down at high speed, causing the ball to ricochet in the air and it came down to him. Great. We could be in here. Oh no he's miscontrolled it.

Thought he was a bit unlucky there.

 

[Oldham]

Thought he was a bit unlucky there.

Agreed, a lot of spin on the ball

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Good things:

The 'in the box' followed by 'play it short' chants. Excellent!
The fact that we got a point.
We were better in the second half and again after the substitutions (but oh boy, that's not saying much after the first half performance!).
A few players had decent games (Dickie, Henry, Mousinho of the starters, and all three of the subs).
I had a half way decent cup of coffee.

Bad things:

If Northampton weren't so appalling at actually shooting, we would have been two or three down in the first half hour.
Our defending (especially out wide in the first half) was laughably poor. You might blame the fullbacks but they weren't being helped by their corresponding midfielders very much.
We managed one shot on target.
The central midfield was - yet again - a big problem. Neither Ledson nor Mowatt covered themselves in glory, although the former did put himself about a bit. Mowett looked completely lost at times.
Why are we playing Obika up on his own? Incapable of jumping for a ball in the air, slow and unthreatening. He *can* hold a ball up if played to him, but is that enough to warrant a place on the team?
Free kicks. What the f**k is the point of playing the ball short to a bloke who is already marked and has his back to goal? All he can do is pass it straight back... by which time the free kick taker is being closed down! High risk, for absolutely no chance of any reward - brain dead football.
Faz. I'd have thought the first thing he would have done is to tighten up the defence. OK, we didn't concede today, but it wasn't for the lack of trying! Sorry, but for all his experience he isn't a manager.
It got bloody cold.

Still, I'd have taken a point before the game started so I guess I am happy. Not sure why I don't feel so though!

 

[Irish terrier]

We were second best for mist of the game .could easily have been 2_0 down in first 15 minutes. We slowly got into it , and I thought second half we might Nick it . I'm sad Faz took Henry off and kept Mowatt on . Obika and Thomas both sulk playing one up top for me and it's rubbish that they just don't seem to want to even try . Much better when sun's came on .Nappa for me gives us much more and Gino did try . I said before the game I would take a point . So it's a point nearer to staying up .

 

[Oldman159]

Oy woz at the game today, Jerome, and for me the highlight of the day was the excellent rendition of "yellow submarine" by the south stand - sounded awesome from the east stand.

Football? The proverbial game of two halves......And we actually played quite well for the last 10 minutes of the second one.

Body language tells you quite a lot and ours was not good.

COYYs

 

[makv]

There was a moment where GvK chased one of their players down at high speed, causing the ball to ricochet in the air and it came down to him. Great. We could be in here. Oh no he's miscontrolled it.

Thought he was a bit unlucky there.

Me too

 

[Big Ronaldo]

Couldn’t help but notice Obikas golden boots... hmm!

 

[Oldham]

Couldn’t help but notice Obikas golden boots... hmm!

Are you sure they weren’t made of lead?

 

[ubermeistervonmeat]

GVK carries more of a goal threat than Obika although I concede that isn't actually saying a lot

 

[West Oxon U’s]

 

[holdsteady]

They should of been out of sight by half time, we were awful first half and it just showed what a big rebuild job the new manager will have in the summer, on top of getting the points this season to keep us safe. Second half we were the better team while still giving them chances, it was an entertaining half but between two poor sides.

In the end it’s a decent point, but how decent will be decided by the Fleetwood game, which is looking season deciding. Win and we should be able to ease away from any relegation worries, draw will be concerning, lose and I think we could well be going down.

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Result exceeded expectations. Good to see we kept a clean sheet.

Wasn’t there, listened to last 20 minutes on I follow and very impressed with quality of radio oxford’s coverage.

Jerome , especially, is a very polished fluent broadcaster . Particularly compared to some of the other muppets you hear clogging up the local radio frequencies .

Key to the rest of the season for me is Brannagan. Get him in, we need fresh legs and bite in midfield.

 

[Big Ronaldo]

Pressure starting to tell on hasselbaink with his comments there.

 

[Lundinsponytail]

Result exceeded expectations. Good to see we kept a clean sheet.

Wasn’t there, listened to last 20 minutes on I follow and very impressed with quality of radio oxford’s coverage.

Jerome , especially, is a very polished fluent broadcaster . Particularly compared to some of the other muppets you hear clogging up the local radio frequencies .

Key to the rest of the season for me is Brannagan. Get him in, we need fresh legs and bite in midfield.

Crikey, Tim, when a point against a relegation embattled team exceeds your expectations, that means you are expecting us to lose pretty much every game (our home record isn't much better than our away)

What happened to your talismanic team?

And, more presciently, if you expect us to lose against a team as bad as that then how on earth can you be expecting us to escape relegation 'easily' and 'finish mid-table'.

Let's be quite clear: escaping relegation easily means having more than the 52 points usually required going into our tough last five games.
That means getting 10 points from the next 7 games. And that is going to need us to WIN three of our next seven games. If scraping a point at Northampton exceeds your expectations then it makes very little sense for you to expect us to escape relegation 'easily'.