Saturday 6th August 2022

[GeneralLee]

The Findlay booking was annoying as Paul Digby only got warned for cynically tripping Marcus Browne right on the edge of the box just before when Cambridge were in real trouble. Quite remarkably Digby got warned twice more as well but didn't get booked.

To be fair, in isolation/irrespective of anything else in the game the Findlay challenge was definitely a booking. He just mistimed it.

 

[masi51]

See Kyle Dempsey scored 2 yesterday. He was a stand out player when he was at Fleetwood, his weakness was never scoring enough goals, indeed few and far between. Good to see him on the score sheet and hope he remains injury free, quality !

good player....Signed him shortly after having a operation back end of last year
Full of energy, played well pre-season got himself fit then got in a bust up/face injury outside of football [no idea if linked] Could of got 4 yesterday will have to keep that standard up all season Sheehan,Sadlier and Lee all vying for his shirt

Good,good squad this season. Head and Shoulders above the squad that finished 2nd in 2017 in this league
This league is getting stronger and stronger

 

[huddsmoose]

Surprisingly not too disappointed with the late loss at Oxford - we played very well against a good side and there were clear signs of progression. Definitely deserved a draw but Goodrham punished us for probably the only sloppy bit of defending in the game.

Oxford are such a potent attacking side but we limited them pretty much to just a flurry of corners at the end. Looking back at the highlights it such a shame our finishing was off - Smith had two decent one on ones and Knibbs missed from close range.

Bonner said he wants us to become the league's best counter attacking side, so interesting to see we started yesterday without Ironside and just pure pace up top.

Three games in and we've limited Oxford, MK and Millwall to very few chances, which is great. Just need to improve our finishing and we'll be looking good.

 

[masi51]

Probably ignorance on my part but was really surprised at how good your pressing was today. Pretty much beat us at our own game.

wait until next week then !!!

 

[Marked Ox]

To be fair, in isolation/irrespective of anything else in the game the Findlay challenge was definitely a booking. He just mistimed it.

Agreed. It was the inconsistency of the Ref's decision making which went on all game.

 

[Tarzan]

Well, that was a nice way to start the home campaign.

Putting it kindly, Port Vale weren’t very good and posed very little threat. Even in the first 10-15 minutes when they had more of the ball there still wasn’t anything to be that concerned about. Kite then slammed in his early contender for goal of the season and we never looked back. We also had two other chances (Nombe and Coley) that you’d expect to be put away but I’m not going to complain.

Some other observations. The penalty did look very soft and I’d have been using some bad words if it had been given against us. Jamal Blackman is massive. I’d seen him play against us for Wycombe a few years ago when he just looked very tall but now he’s a proper unit. Seeing the Vale players bounce off him was a lovely sight. Finally, to see so many academy players out there was a delight. That’ll do for now.

 

[GeneralLee]

Surprisingly not too disappointed with the late loss at Oxford - we played very well against a good side and there were clear signs of progression. Definitely deserved a draw but Goodrham punished us for probably the only sloppy bit of defending in the game.

Oxford are such a potent attacking side but we limited them pretty much to just a flurry of corners at the end. Looking back at the highlights it such a shame our finishing was off - Smith had two decent one on ones and Knibbs missed from close range.

Bonner said he wants us to become the league's best counter attacking side, so interesting to see we started yesterday without Ironside and just pure pace up top.

Three games in and we've limited Oxford, MK and Millwall to very few chances, which is great. Just need to improve our finishing and we'll be looking good.

I actually thought you looked solid without looking too threatening. Sam Smith is absolutely critical to the style of play and some of the top sides will succumb to it once they commit men forward. Moore’s lack of pace meant he struggled somewhat.

I disagree that Cambridge limited the number of chances. This isn’t a knock by any means, however I think we just aren’t very capable right now.

It made for completely dull viewing, however whilst players aren’t match fit (there’s a lot), players out of position and our lack of depth, we are limited offensively. Before yesterdays game we hadn’t scored in (four?) games and to be truthful hadn’t looked that likely to score either in any of them.

We are far too light in a few areas to be putting any sides to the sword right now. I actually think playing any side in the division with our present level of depth we’ll continue to play like we did yesterday even if they gave us significant space to capitalise on. Until we strengthen/get back into a rhythm, I don’t see many goals however happily our backline feels much stronger so I don’t see us conceding too many either.

 

[Thefutureswhite]

Hard to see us actually losing a game this season.

David Earl is correct - we are simply too good for this league.

Hope this is tongue in cheek comment, if not it's the biggest load of bollox I've ever read on here

 

[Trapdoor]

Hope this is tongue in cheek comment, if not it's the biggest load of bollox I've ever read on here

You've not seen anything yet.

Revisit this post at the end of the season and reflect on your innocence, poor summer child.

 

[Thefutureswhite]

You've not seen anything yet.

Revisit this post at the end of the season and reflect on your innocence, poor summer child.

You'll be fighting with Port Vale and Morecambe to stave off relegation, think all this sun is melting brains in the South

 

[masi51]

You'll be fighting with Port Vale and Morecambe to stave off relegation, think all this sun is melting brains in the South

dont worry take Devon Lad with a pinch of salt
Never knock his support, it is a football forum and he is just winding a few up, but i think Exeter will be alright

 

[SVH]

Look at the stats. We had 56% possession to your 44%. Outpassed you, and with greater accuracy. Six shots on target to your none. Seven corners to your three. Your keeper made five saves, whereas ours didn't have to make any.

Not sure where you think you should have had a penalty, but we also felt aggrieved not to get one when Browne was pushed over in the box. Also Findlay, our centre half, was yellow carded early on when he fairly won the ball, whereas the ref (who was fucking useless by the way) allowed your players to get away with all sorts, especially in the first half.

Having said all of that, you were a well drilled side, but I get the impression that's as well as you can play, whereas we were well below par and are still a work in progress, and three or four players short of where we'll be at the end of the window.

There might be an argument to say a draw would have been a fair result, but to say you could a should have won the game is absolute bollocks.

You were chasing shadows in the first half and looking at stats over the 90 doesn’t mean you dominated us. Far from it actually.

We could have been out of sight despite not having a shot on target. We were a bit wasteful with our chances, shots blocked and Knibbs should have had a penalty.

We can play a lot better than that, actually we played a lot better at your place last season.

Agree to disagree but in that showing you won’t trouble the top 8 this season.

 

[Robie]

We aren’t going to put the ball in the back of our own net enough times for you to be “out of sight despite not having a shot on target.”

We’re also not playing at the top of our game but the season isn’t a sprint and things are coming together.

Chasing shadows though..

 

[eric read]

You were chasing shadows in the first half and looking at stats over the 90 doesn’t mean you dominated us. Far from it actually.

We could have been out of sight despite not having a shot on target. We were a bit wasteful with our chances, shots blocked and Knibbs should have had a penalty.

We can play a lot better than that, actually we played a lot better at your place last season.

Agree to disagree but in that showing you won’t trouble the top 8 this season.

You sound like a child.

I've already said we are still three or four players short of where we will be at the end of the window and are work in progress. I remember a similarly petulant Ipswich fan last season saying he was looking forward to finishing in the play-offs while we would end up mid table, after they failed to beat us (again).

Anything outside the top six will be failure for us, and I don't expect us to fail, but wherever we finish it will be comfortably above you.

Goodbye.

 

[valefan16]

I’ve managed to calm down a little bit, still furious with the performance which was far below the standards we’ve set the past 18 months but D.C. and Smith have apologised for it and we move on. Football is a funny game and last week we were buzzing so things change quickly and have to park it and focus on putting it right this coming week.

In fairness it’s probably the first time since before D.C. came in that we’ve questioned their desire and effort and been unacceptably bad, hopefully the character we’ve shown in recent months comes through and it’s just a bad day at the office all round. Garrity, Procs and Cass were absolutely dreadful and all three put their worst performances in a Vale shirt in.

One main issue is without the strikers in we are going to have games like Newport and against 10 men Bristol Rovers last season where we end up overloaded so the sooner we address that the better, hopefully Massey is ready to go this week and Wilson is due back which will completely change things.

It does feel a little bit like we’ve written off August a bit though with how we’ve done our recruitment especially with Willo out but we are already on as many points as we were after 4 games last season.

I’m sure we will be fairly comfortable this season but wasn’t a pleasant afternoons viewing.

I do wonder if all this “Championship Ready” stuff Carol is pushing is taking our eye off the imminent ball though, let’s make sure we are league one ready before worrying about the long term plan. Whilst it’s mainly focused on the way the club is run, the facilities and coaching set up rather than a physical footballing goal as such (not with a timescale anyway) and granted millions is being spent to get their plans in place as a club we need to consolidate and focus purely on that first.

 

[Devon_Lad]

You'll be fighting with Port Vale and Morecambe to stave off relegation, think all this sun is melting brains in the South

You think we will be fighting relegation? Fuck me this league is as deluded as the collective Grimsby fan base.

 

[leedsvaliant]

I’ve managed to calm down a little bit, still furious with the performance which was far below the standards we’ve set the past 18 months but D.C. and Smith have apologised for it and we move on. Football is a funny game and last week we were buzzing so things change quickly and have to park it and focus on putting it right this coming week.

In fairness it’s probably the first time since before D.C. came in that we’ve questioned their desire and effort and been unacceptably bad, hopefully the character we’ve shown in recent months comes through and it’s just a bad day at the office all round. Garrity, Procs and Cass were absolutely dreadful and all three put their worst performances in a Vale shirt in.

One main issue is without the strikers in we are going to have games like Newport and against 10 men Bristol Rovers last season where we end up overloaded so the sooner we address that the better, hopefully Massey is ready to go this week and Wilson is due back which will completely change things.

It does feel a little bit like we’ve written off August a bit though with how we’ve done our recruitment especially with Willo out but we are already on as many points as we were after 4 games last season.

I’m sure we will be fairly comfortable this season but wasn’t a pleasant afternoons viewing.

I do wonder if all this “Championship Ready” stuff Carol is pushing is taking our eye off the imminent ball though, let’s make sure we are league one ready before worrying about the long term plan. Whilst it’s mainly focused on the way the club is run, the facilities and coaching set up rather than a physical footballing goal as such (not with a timescale anyway) and granted millions is being spent to get their plans in place as a club we need to consolidate and focus purely on that first.

It felt like we'd lost as soon as the team was named. Exeter must have seen our team, similar to last season but without Worrall and Wilson, and rubbed their hands together.

I'm annoyed that we're two games into a season and we're playing back ups. What is going on with injuries? I thought we were doing something about it? We should have our strongest team out at this stage of the season.

Made it way too easy for Exeter....they didn't really have to play well or work that hard as we did neither. If you give decent players like Nombe and Brown time to play, they will punish you. It was so unlike any performance we've seen in 2 years, like a throwback to the Glover era!

 

[Daviddcfc]

Got turned over in South London again

Piece of piss this.

Charlton aee much much BIGGER than Derby ... I bow down .. lol lol lol

 

[Bobbin']

Don’t you forget it.

 

[SVH]

You sound like a child.

I've already said we are still three or four players short of where we will be at the end of the window and are work in progress. I remember a similarly petulant Ipswich fan last season saying he was looking forward to finishing in the play-offs while we would end up mid table, after they failed to beat us (again).

Anything outside the top six will be failure for us, and I don't expect us to fail, but wherever we finish it will be comfortably above you.

Goodbye.

I sound like a child because I don't agree with your analysis or think Oxford will finish in the top 8? It's called a forum which is all about debate.

I'm not saying my club are going to win the league or do anything in the top half you clown. I just don't agree with what you're saying.

 

[SVH]

Oxford United 1-0 Cambridge United | League One highlights

Highlights of the Sky Bet League One match between Oxford United and Cambridge United.

www.skysports.com

The incident on 10 seconds is the pen shout. Why don't referee's give these? Surprised he didn't rip his shirt off his back!

 

[Si Robin]

We had the same thing towards the end of last season, I forget who it was against, but Kion Etete had his shirt literally ripped off and the ref gave nothing, even when presented with Etete's shirt in his hands.

 

[Bartonyellow]

Charlton aee much much BIGGER than Derby ... I bow down .. lol lol lol

Who uses lol anymore ?
I’m guessing you are in your mid 50s and your jeans are from Asda.

 

[Marked Ox]

Oxford United 1-0 Cambridge United | League One highlights

Highlights of the Sky Bet League One match between Oxford United and Cambridge United.

www.skysports.com

The incident on 10 seconds is the pen shout. Why don't referee's give these? Surprised he didn't rip his shirt off his back!

That'll be one penalty each then considering your man pushed Marcus Browne when going through on goal.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Who uses lol anymore ?
I’m guessing you are in your mid 50s and your jeans are from Asda.

Don't mock George from Asda

 

[valefan16]

It felt like we'd lost as soon as the team was named. Exeter must have seen our team, similar to last season but without Worrall and Wilson, and rubbed their hands together.

I'm annoyed that we're two games into a season and we're playing back ups. What is going on with injuries? I thought we were doing something about it? We should have our strongest team out at this stage of the season.

Made it way too easy for Exeter....they didn't really have to play well or work that hard as we did neither. If you give decent players like Nombe and Brown time to play, they will punish you. It was so unlike any performance we've seen in 2 years, like a throwback to the Glover era!

We just arent fully ready, the early start mixed with the play off final left us a pre season 3 weeks shorter than last season's, in fairness considering our season finished the same day as Liverpool's and their league starts a week later we haven't publicly moaned about it like Klopp and have got on with it but fitness differences were stark on Saturday.

Playing only 1 full friendly though seems a ridiculous decision, the fact we are playing midweek friendlies at this stage to boost fitness levels at this stage is far from ideal and lets be honest the second half we wrote off with the subs and used it to get minutes into players like Conlon and Holden who are miles off being up to speed yet.

There were signs second half against Fleetwood when we sat back and in fairness defended well but had clearly ran out steam by 60 minutes, the saving grace was we had a lead to defend that time so parked in and they couldnt break us down.

Bolton and MK feel like write offs unless anything changes this week.

 

[eric read]

I sound like a child because I don't agree with your analysis or think Oxford will finish in the top 8? It's called a forum which is all about debate.

I'm not saying my club are going to win the league or do anything in the top half you clown. I just don't agree with what you're saying.

Several posts ago I gave you a reasoned response to your claim that you "could and should" have won, including the stats, all of which disprove your suggestion.

You followed up with something along the lines of saying you could have scored loads of goals even though you didn't have a shot on target. You followed that with "we can play better than that" and ended with "anyway Oxford won't trouble the top 8" which is almost the equivalent of losing an argument and saying "my dad's bigger than your dad" That's why you sound like a child. It's not because you disagree but the WAY you disagree.

And I'm the one who gets called a clown? I'd give you both barrels but it would be cruelty to children, and I'm not a bully.