Paul Cannell
Well-known member
- Joined
- 7 Dec 2017
- Messages
- 7,482
"Grandpa, why was there no 2022/23?..."
Because "In football, anything is possible".
"Grandpa, why was there no 2022/23?..."
We have a chance, yes, but I wouldn't say a great chance. Quite simply, I don't trust the players and I don't trust Des. Nothing personal, nothing hateful, just an opinion on what I have witnessed to date. Can Des deliver when he really has to? I really hope he can, I'm just unconvinced he will. Does that view make me some sort of stand alone lunatic with this wildly, way out perspective of Des and the current Oxford United? So be it if it does.
I don't think its your views that make you stand out, considering how the season has gone I should imagine they are shared by a decent number of people, its just that you keep repeating it.
Have a quick look back through and see where the thread went awry. Feel free to then apologise.It isn't that you hold the view that makes you a lunatic, it is the constant repeating of the view in post after post about Des that does.
This was a potentially interesting thread about the final games of the season; but it has become yet another thread about Des instead where the same conversation is just repeated all over again.
And many others (you included) repeat their views constantly. Are you saying Sheik, Steve Gilbert, yourself - to name just three - never repeat your opinions? Come on!!!!
Only to counter you, which i now realise is a mistake as you could go on forever.
It sounded easy when I typed it…Oh is that all...
Not a great chance? Our next 3 games are against 17th, 23rd and 19th. Des has shown these games we tend to always get what is expected.We have a chance, yes, but I wouldn't say a great chance. Quite simply, I don't trust the players and I don't trust Des. Nothing personal, nothing hateful, just an opinion on what I have witnessed to date. Can Des deliver when he really has to? I really hope he can, I'm just unconvinced he will. Does that view make me some sort of stand alone lunatic with this wildly, way out perspective of Des and the current Oxford United? So be it if it does.
Have a quick look back through and see where the thread went awry. Feel free to then apologise.
We’re 15/8 with the bookies. Favourites for 6th place. Stevenage 9/4, Lincoln 5/2.Not a great chance? Our next 3 games are against 17th, 23rd and 19th. Des has shown these games we tend to always get what is expected.
We are also in poll position since we are already sitting in the playoffs.
Not a great chance? Our next 3 games are against 17th, 23rd and 19th. Des has shown these games we tend to always get what is expected.
We are also in poll position since we are already sitting in the playoffs.
Yes.Would you trust us to get 9 points or even 7 in those games?
Yes you are.I'm not a merchant of doom
Would you trust us to get 9 points or even 7 in those games? 5 or 6 more likely in my opinion. I'm not a merchant of doom, I'm just giving what I think is a very realistic and likely outcome. I'm basing any judgement on what I've seen of us since Christmas, which would appear to be a decent period to judge us on. Wouldn't it be great if we can somehow reverse performances and form, lets hope.
We’re 15/8 with the bookies. Favourites for 6th place. Stevenage 9/4, Lincoln 5/2.
We have a pretty good chance for sure, and supposedly, a better chance than any of our competition.
Regardless of anything else, I’d be a little surprised and disappointed if we weren’t in the top 6 after 42 games with those three coming up, which feels an awful long way from 2 points off relegation in May and suggests we may have some players we can trust.
The bookies won’t look at those things with it being little league 1!So Stevenage (with no win in their last five, which includes draws against the bottom two) are favored by the bookies more than Lincoln (with six wins in their last seven, and 5+ goals in each of their last three)? Despite the fact that Lincoln also have the easier run-in?
That seems......odd.
So Stevenage (with no win in their last five, which includes draws against the bottom two) are favored by the bookies more than Lincoln (with six wins in their last seven, and 5+ goals in each of their last three)? Despite the fact that Lincoln also have the easier run-in?
That seems......odd.
Stevenage have more points than Lincoln
Also there may be more money backing Stevenage, and they are balancing their books
This is about where I'm at. I thought we were pretty good against Port Vale and bar some poor decisions and finishing could have had 4 or 5 but they were absolute turn and Cheltenham weren't much better, the hope is that the next 3 team we face are a similar level but I think Fleetwood could cause more problems, although I'd still expect us to beat them.While hoping I am wrong...
Our two recent victories have been against Cheltenham and Port Vale, one of which is in the bottom 4 and the other of which hadn't won in this calendar year at the time we played them. Other recent games include draws against mid-table teams (Wycombe and Northampton) and a loss against another (Orient) and a couple of defeats against teams above us (Portsmouth and Bolton). So let's not pretend we have somehow suddenly come into a particularly rich vein of form. In my simplistic view, those results confirm that we are a mid-table team. On that basis the games to come (and what I expect to get out of them) are Shrewsbury (draw), Fleetwood (win), Burton (win), Peterborough (lose), Lincoln (draw - maybe a bit optimistic given their current form!), Stevenage (draw - maybe a bit pessimistic given their current form!), Exeter (draw). That's 10 points, which would take us to 73, unlikely to be enough (although 73 and 74 point have been enough a couple of times within the last five or six years).
We'll get all excited after the next three matches, and then frustratingly draw the last few to subside to a finish just outside the playoffs. Based on current form and points already won, you'd have to bet on it being the current top five plus Lincoln.
This is about where I'm at. I thought we were pretty good against Port Vale and bar some poor decisions and finishing could have had 4 or 5 but they were absolute turn and Cheltenham weren't much better, the hope is that the next 3 team we face are a similar level but I think Fleetwood could cause more problems, although I'd still expect us to beat them.
For all people could point to us being excellent against Pompey it's also easy to point out that we were pretty hopeless the games either side of it and it's that lack of consistency that stops me getting anywhere near carried away, we simply haven't shown that we're capable of putting together back to back good performances which we need. All that said though I still make us favourites for the last spot and I'd take our fixtures over the Easter weekend over any of Lincoln, Stevenage or Blackpool and it's not inconceivable that we go into the Burton game with a 4 point buffer over the chasing pack in which case everything will look a lot more rosey. Get there and you never know, although I think we'd probably have to play a little bit better against Bolton than we did a couple of weeks ago.
If we got to the play offs, the Bolton game might be the best thing that happened in our season-long preparation. Quite often it’s fear of failure or fear of the unknown (we don’t often get trashed like that) that holds people back but we’d have seen it, felt it.This is about where I'm at. I thought we were pretty good against Port Vale and bar some poor decisions and finishing could have had 4 or 5 but they were absolute turn and Cheltenham weren't much better, the hope is that the next 3 team we face are a similar level but I think Fleetwood could cause more problems, although I'd still expect us to beat them.
For all people could point to us being excellent against Pompey it's also easy to point out that we were pretty hopeless the games either side of it and it's that lack of consistency that stops me getting anywhere near carried away, we simply haven't shown that we're capable of putting together back to back good performances which we need. All that said though I still make us favourites for the last spot and I'd take our fixtures over the Easter weekend over any of Lincoln, Stevenage or Blackpool and it's not inconceivable that we go into the Burton game with a 4 point buffer over the chasing pack in which case everything will look a lot more rosey. Get there and you never know, although I think we'd probably have to play a little bit better against Bolton than we did a couple of weeks ago.