Monday 26th & Tuesday 27th December 2022

[Essex2Wessex]

We were really shit today. Don't think MK were the worst team we've faced this year so far - 2nd worst, maybe. But they were not great either. We're playing probably what had seemed the worst (now finding form) next match, and no doubt they will walk all over us.

MIght as well start singing "We're on our way to league two", can't see how we turn this around without a combination of some inspired signings in January and, well, really, a better manager

 

[Davidimp]

We just cant deal with Burtons physicality. We are normally so good at defending set pieces, we've fallen apart. They are doubling up on the wings and we have no answer. Its been the same since minute 1, i dont think we've had a shot.

Not until the 63rd minute.
We always struggle against any side who's remotely physical against us we just disappear.
Huge lack of creativity in recent games again

 

[Chris FGR]

We were really shit today. Don't think MK were the worst team we've faced this year so far - 2nd worst, maybe. But they were not great either. We're playing probably what had seemed the worst (now finding form) next match, and no doubt they will walk all over us.

MIght as well start singing "We're on our way to league two", can't see how we turn this around without a combination of some inspired signings in January and, well, really, a better manager

We aren’t going to bring in players that are so good they cover our tactical deficiencies, even the good ones we have signed this year are starting to fade the longer they play in our ineffective system where we still don’t seem to understand how to press or close down people around our box.

 

[codaplenty]

Fleetwood will be very disappointed not to have got at least a point from this. The sign of a good side is when they play 'average' and come away with 3 points and that's what Wednesday did. Rooney scored an excellent goal and then went from hero to zero with his sending off. Quality second goal from Johnson, a bitter pill for the Cods to swallow as yet again we lose by a single goal after leading

 

[YEO YEO YEO]

Not until the 63rd minute.
We always struggle against any side who's remotely physical against us we just disappear.
Huge lack of creativity in recent games again

It got a little better 2nd half, but to.lose in the way we have it not acceptable.

At least there are 3 small positives:
1) I got out of Boxing Day
2) it was only £20 to get in
3) I was home at 6pm and that included filling up the car!

Im getting quite worried by our away form. Whilst we were/ are drawing a lot at home, it didnt matter so much when beating teams on the road. We've lost out last 3 away and didn't really put up a fight today!

 

[Chris FGR]

Listening to Burchnall post match he seemed to think we deserved more. Not sure I agree, yeah we had a few chances first half but the longer the game went on the less we looked like scoring. We only had about 26% possession, which isn’t enough if you want to sustain any sort of pressure once you’re behind.

He also said we were very respectful of how good Johnson & McEachran are on the ball in midfield for MK which is why we sat off, played deep and let them dominate the ball. Not sure that’s the right way to approach a relegation six pointer tbh, seems a bit negative. Just feel like far too often we go in to games, especially away, with that sort of mindset, no real belief that we’re good enough to get a result. That’s before we start talking about his subs, which very rarely seem to improve things.

 

[PlymouthCasual]

Entertaining free flowing game that. We certainly still lack that little bit of class in the final third at times but it was some finish from Whittaker for the goal. Shame Ipswich and Wednesday won also

 

[BarrieOwl]

Big round of games for the top 3 with the chasing pack not making any headway.

 

[Chris FGR]

Halfway point for a number of clubs and looks like the top 3 are pulling away, although Barnsley & Bolton’s games in hand might push them a bit closer.

Playoffs look a lot more open, anyone from 4th down to 22nd could still make it.

 

[kieran_vale]

Halfway point for a number of clubs and looks like the top 3 are pulling away, although Barnsley & Bolton’s games in hand might push them a bit closer.

Playoffs look a lot more open, anyone from 4th down to 22nd could still make it.

Notice Wycombe suddenly into the top six. They’ve played more than everyone else but even so Sir Gareth is doing a great job again there. The playoff race in general looks like the L2 one last season where a significant number of teams were in the race deep into the season. Difference is I think the likes of Bolton will have some spending power in January to pull away. I also think Portsmouth at some point will turn their form around, just needs a lucky bounce or something to go their way.

I don’t see any pathway out of trouble for Morecambe. Think their best bet is get what they can for Stockton in January and buy someone Adams will actually choose to play.

 

[WhiteRussian]

That was our first league win at home since we beat Port Vale on August 16th.

 

[Si Robin]

Entertaining free flowing game that. We certainly still lack that little bit of class in the final third at times but it was some finish from Whittaker for the goal. Shame Ipswich and Wednesday won also

It really was an entertaining game.

If we had anything in the final third, we'd be a bloody decent team. Alas, we just don't have the scoring power.

 

[GeneralLee]

We are awful. Ipswich toyed with us, not that it takes much. Our squad isn’t good enough and we look miles away from being promotion candidates. 5-0 wouldn’t have been unfavourable had Ipswich won by that score line. The root of our troubles lies with KR. That was a typical Oxford United performance this season.

On a separate note, Ipswich fans are a strange bunch. Just enjoy the win chaps.

We’re boring, but not in the way you think…

 

[valefan16]

Halfway point for a number of clubs and looks like the top 3 are pulling away, although Barnsley & Bolton’s games in hand might push them a bit closer.

Playoffs look a lot more open, anyone from 4th down to 22nd could still make it.

Pretty content and so far we’ve done better than I thought with at least 32 points at the half way stage (also will have played Wednesday twice and Accrington zero times so arguably a tougher first half of the season for us!)

Much of the league seems much of a muchness so far with the bigger sides just having that couple of extra quality players in their ranks.

Morecambe today for example at times knocked it around ok like most other teams but just lacked that quality up top to cause us too many problems and when they did they didn’t have the quality to punish us like other sides. They looked dead certs as it stands to go down today, January is massive for them, guessing Stockton will be gone.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Really scrappy game on a poor pitch. We did enough to win and that's all that was required. Morecambe were dreadful though...if they don't get relegated I'll be amazed.

Free hit at Wednesday up next who should beat us easily but let's see how we go on.

 

[Laker]

We won. It was scrappy and untidy but couldn’t give a shit. Injuries all over defence for Friday night which should be a good laugh. But we’ll take it.

 

[LeonTheGreen]

50 points from 23 games, quality. Replicate anywhere near that in the next 23 and we’ll have a good chance of promotion. MUST strengthen in January.

 

[thewwfc]

Notice Wycombe suddenly into the top six. They’ve played more than everyone else but even so Sir Gareth is doing a great job again there.

We had a very indifferent start to the season but have hit a run of form right now, we were hit by a shitload of injuries at the beginning of the season but have everyone more or less fully fit at the moment.

Still don’t look brilliant in front of goal, and everyone knows to stick two men on Mehmeti to try and keep him quiet - plus he’ll probably be gone in January and it remains to be seen whether we could get anyone as good to replace him.

Probably not unless it’s some up and coming Prem or Championship kid on loan, and those type of things don’t always pan out.

Anyway. The Gas looked a decent side today - stuffed with loan players, which can be a risky strategy in terms of season-to-season consistency, but what the hell, it’s working for them right now.

Basically, they pressed on the front foot from kickoff, forced a soft early goal, then started timewasting (oh the horror)…a tactic we were to repay with interest later on.

Coburn up front for them is a proper nuisance, physical and niggly but decent with ball to feet, a good find for them.

Anyway, they were all over us till we scored against the run of play, then we went ahead in the second half.

Lo and behold, lots of breaking up/slowing down play from us, and a couple of mysterious goalie injuries whenever they looked like they were building up a head of steam.

Decent result against another side in a fair run of form.

We now have a bitch of a run of games (all the tough ones seemed to clump together in the first half of the season too):

Argyle A
Posh A
Sheff Wed H
and then the Gas again A

If we get 6 points out of that lot, and are still around the playoff chasing pack, we’ll have done well.

 

[Tom_ITFC]

We are awful. Ipswich toyed with us, not that it takes much. Our squad isn’t good enough and we look miles away from being promotion candidates. 5-0 wouldn’t have been unfavourable had Ipswich won by that score line. The root of our troubles lies with KR. That was a typical Oxford United performance this season.

On a separate note, Ipswich fans are a strange bunch. Just enjoy the win chaps.

We’re boring, but not in the way you think…

I agree with all of your points there.

I just wish our fans would shut up about the boring stuff, it’s embarrassing.

On the Oxford fans forum, your fans have so many compliments about our team, despite everything our fans have been.

I was confused by the comments they were making about your keeper though. Thought he had a good game, if you ignore the first goal. He made some cracking saves that kept the score down to 3-0

 

[Davidimp]

It got a little better 2nd half, but to.lose in the way we have it not acceptable.

At least there are 3 small positives:
1) I got out of Boxing Day
2) it was only £20 to get in
3) I was home at 6pm and that included filling up the car!

Im getting quite worried by our away form. Whilst we were/ are drawing a lot at home, it didnt matter so much when beating teams on the road. We've lost out last 3 away and didn't really put up a fight today!

1 win in 7 now and we haven't scored in the last 3.
Last 12 boxing day games 3 wins 9 defeats, ouch!

 

[BRFC_Gas]

We had a very indifferent start to the season but have hit a run of form right now, we were hit by a shitload of injuries at the beginning of the season but have everyone more or less fully fit at the moment.

Still don’t look brilliant in front of goal, and everyone knows to stick two men on Mehmeti to try and keep him quiet - plus he’ll probably be gone in January and it remains to be seen whether we could get anyone as good to replace him.

Probably not unless it’s some up and coming Prem or Championship kid on loan, and those type of things don’t always pan out.

Anyway. The Gas looked a decent side today - stuffed with loan players, which can be a risky strategy in terms of season-to-season consistency, but what the hell, it’s working for them right now.

Basically, they pressed on the front foot from kickoff, forced a soft early goal, then started timewasting (oh the horror)…a tactic we were to repay with interest later on.

Coburn up front for them is a proper nuisance, physical and niggly but decent with ball to feet, a good find for them.

Anyway, they were all over us till we scored against the run of play, then we went ahead in the second half.

Lo and behold, lots of breaking up/slowing down play from us, and a couple of mysterious goalie injuries whenever they looked like they were building up a head of steam.

Decent result against another side in a fair run of form.

We now have a bitch of a run of games (all the tough ones seemed to clump together in the first half of the season too):

Argyle A
Posh A
Sheff Wed H
and then the Gas again A

If we get 6 points out of that lot, and are still around the playoff chasing pack, we’ll have done well.

That goalie time wasting was ridiculous. The physio must have been there for at least 1 minute without laying a hand on him, yet our CB gets booked for leaving the free kick for the GK on about 8 mins

 

[leedsvaliant]

It's a strange old league. I don't think we've been that good generally but yet find ourselves in 9th and 3 points off the playoffs. Feels like Bristol Rovers and Exeter have been better than us, yet we win our game in hand against Accrington and we're 4 points clear of Rovers and 7 clear of Exeter.

I should feel pleased but I feel like we should have done better! We've had 3 or 4 real stinkers but also dropped points when we really shouldn't have. The top 3 are a bit ahead in terms of quality, their 2 or 3 real quality players will ensure that they mass enough points but the rest are much of a muchness. The playoffs are there for anyone who wants them...even down to the relegation spots!

 

[Luke Imp]

For every away game at Ipswich, Barnsley and Portsmouth, we throw a Posh, Cambridge and now Burton in there. We seem to switch wildly between semi-capable and bloody useless.

Will be an interesting January for us because we've played 3-4-3/5-2-3 for most of the first half of the season but we don't actually have any wingbacks in the squad so if we're sticking with that, and I think we will, we need sign some.

 

[ShrimpsMeltdown]

We're done, this season has been pathetic overall and I can't wait for it to be over already. The Derek Adams love affair is well and truely over.

 

[Gassy]

It's a strange old league. I don't think we've been that good generally but yet find ourselves in 9th and 3 points off the playoffs. Feels like Bristol Rovers and Exeter have been better than us, yet we win our game in hand against Accrington and we're 4 points clear of Rovers and 7 clear of Exeter.

I should feel pleased but I feel like we should have done better! We've had 3 or 4 real stinkers but also dropped points when we really shouldn't have. The top 3 are a bit ahead in terms of quality, their 2 or 3 real quality players will ensure that they mass enough points but the rest are much of a muchness. The playoffs are there for anyone who wants them...even down to the relegation spots!

Yeah I have to say the league is much weaker than I expected this year. Genuinely thought more of it a few years ago tbh.

Looking forward to the 2nd half of the season, a chance for Barton to do his usual transfer magic, we’re usually stronger 2nd half of the season and we’ve already played Wednesday, Bolton, Barnsley, Pompey, Ipswich, Wycombe & Derby away from home - so fingers crossed there are more points to be picked up?

 

[Gassy]

We had a very indifferent start to the season but have hit a run of form right now, we were hit by a shitload of injuries at the beginning of the season but have everyone more or less fully fit at the moment.

Still don’t look brilliant in front of goal, and everyone knows to stick two men on Mehmeti to try and keep him quiet - plus he’ll probably be gone in January and it remains to be seen whether we could get anyone as good to replace him.

Probably not unless it’s some up and coming Prem or Championship kid on loan, and those type of things don’t always pan out.

Anyway. The Gas looked a decent side today - stuffed with loan players, which can be a risky strategy in terms of season-to-season consistency, but what the hell, it’s working for them right now.

Basically, they pressed on the front foot from kickoff, forced a soft early goal, then started timewasting (oh the horror)…a tactic we were to repay with interest later on.

Coburn up front for them is a proper nuisance, physical and niggly but decent with ball to feet, a good find for them.

Anyway, they were all over us till we scored against the run of play, then we went ahead in the second half.

Lo and behold, lots of breaking up/slowing down play from us, and a couple of mysterious goalie injuries whenever they looked like they were building up a head of steam.

Decent result against another side in a fair run of form.

We now have a bitch of a run of games (all the tough ones seemed to clump together in the first half of the season too):

Argyle A
Posh A
Sheff Wed H
and then the Gas again A

If we get 6 points out of that lot, and are still around the playoff chasing pack, we’ll have done well.

I think that’s a fair reflection tbh. From our side it was a shame not to grab another goal whilst we dominated, we looked really really good. I don’t think it was a game we deserved to lose tbh and I don’t think you were at your best - but then I also get the feeling you hear that every week, and it’s probably your style of play/game plan?

On loan players I do agree with you, but with Baron I must say I’m liking it. He has excellent connections in the Prem and because he’s done so well in taking loans on, it seems that we’re now getting ourselves into a position where teams want to send their players here.

Coburn is really an excellent player, only 19. Tbf to him, we was starting to play for Boro in the championship until his injury

 

[valefan16]

It's a strange old league. I don't think we've been that good generally but yet find ourselves in 9th and 3 points off the playoffs. Feels like Bristol Rovers and Exeter have been better than us, yet we win our game in hand against Accrington and we're 4 points clear of Rovers and 7 clear of Exeter.

I should feel pleased but I feel like we should have done better! We've had 3 or 4 real stinkers but also dropped points when we really shouldn't have. The top 3 are a bit ahead in terms of quality, their 2 or 3 real quality players will ensure that they mass enough points but the rest are much of a muchness. The playoffs are there for anyone who wants them...even down to the relegation spots!

The quality hasn’t been much different to league two in general aside from more clinical finishing so get punished more. We seem to have learnt more as the season has gone on. Vale, Rovers and Exeter have so far made the step up very well. FGR not so but they came up in poor form and lost their manager and key players like Wilson, Cadden and Adams.

Funny one though as players I thought would step up comfortably such as Connor Hall and TC have found it harder whilst the likes of DJ who I thought would be on his way out has stepped up.

As the Rovers fan says, can look forward to the second half and see what happens, DC also tends to see his sides stronger later in the season so hopefully that trend can continue but January is a crucial month. If we can finish top half or even top 10 then it will have been an excellent season and good foundation to build on.

 

[kieran_vale]

We're done, this season has been pathetic overall and I can't wait for it to be over already. The Derek Adams love affair is well and truely over.

Must admit from Adams interview after the game I’m not sure what he was so pleased about. Think there was the header against the post but apart from that our keepers main issue was trying to keep warm. Not that we were any good either at least until DC made changes bringing on Pett among others and we stepped up a bit.

That pitch of ours is going to be a nightmare the rest of the way. Going to mean some really ugly football at VP going forward.

 

[valefan16]

Must admit from Adams interview after the game I’m not sure what he was so pleased about. Think there was the header against the post but apart from that our keepers main issue was trying to keep warm. Not that we were any good either at least until DC made changes bringing on Pett among others and we stepped up a bit.

That pitch of ours is going to be a nightmare the rest of the way. Going to mean some really ugly football at VP going forward.

Yeah strange one, with teams at the bottom for example corners and set pieces are key yet they barely beat the first man. It’s a miracle they’ve managed to get to this level compared to some clubs who get 10-15 times the fans so always difficult for them and with Stockton seemingly unsettled it was always going to be tough for them.

I’m frustrated by the pitch… we haven’t played on it for nearly 5 weeks so you’d have hoped that would have helped it. Critical we get a new pitch in the summer or at the very least do some serious work on it. Obviously this summer was difficult with the play offs and then Robbie Williams concert leaving little time but it’s a mess at the moment.

 

[leedsvaliant]

The quality hasn’t been much different to league two in general aside from more clinical finishing so get punished more. We seem to have learnt more as the season has gone on. Vale, Rovers and Exeter have so far made the step up very well. FGR not so but they came up in poor form and lost their manager and key players like Wilson, Cadden and Adams.

Funny one though as players I thought would step up comfortably such as Connor Hall and TC have found it harder whilst the likes of DJ who I thought would be on his way out has stepped up.

As the Rovers fan says, can look forward to the second half and see what happens, DC also tends to see his sides stronger later in the season so hopefully that trend can continue but January is a crucial month. If we can finish top half or even top 10 then it will have been an excellent season and good foundation to build on.

I feel quite positive about the second half of the season. Our fixtures look kinder on paper bar a trip to Ipswich but we've had a few of the difficult away trips.

A couple of decent additions and who knows? We don't have quite the quality as it stands but have managed to scrap together a decent amount of points. Our pitch doesn't help us play football but hopefully the better weather will allow us to knock it about a bit more.