Home Match Day Thread 23/02/2021 L1 OUFC v Portsmouth

[ZeroTheHero]

Barker is looking sharp and as he gets more match fit, he could cause even more problems. We need him to have the ball in the final third though rather than picking it up in our half.

Agreed - we also need people from midfield who are willing to get themselves into the penalty area quickly once Barker is running forward!

 

[Sarge]

hoping this afternoon's U18s late winner is a good omen for tonight, a bit of divine intervention ( from GO'D) in the last minute sealed the win .....

Under 18s Win Amid Last Minute Drama

Oxford United’s under 18s won in the most dramatic fashion this afternoon as a Gatlin O’Donkor goal deep in to injury time gave them a 3-2 win over Yeovil Town in their penultimate game of the Youth Alliance.

www.oufc.co.uk

 

[Blox21]

A fine 2-0 victory and someone will smash that ponce Curtis

 

[tonyw]

Eh, I'm not 100% sure that we've seen a massive drop in form this month.
We still beat Wigan and Bristol - and by exactly the same scoreline as we beat them earlier in the season.
Ipswich was a bore draw, just as it was earlier in the season.
Doncaster was unfortunate, but we weren't bad that day.....just victims of a smash-and-grab by a decent team.

I think it's more the case this season that we've just been really, really good against the bad teams (except the Scum), and as part of that we looked sensational in putting a couple of dreadful teams (Northampton, Burton) to the sword. But we have struggled all year to really assert ourselves against the better teams in the division.

If we want to get to the playoffs this year, that's going to have to change.
And tonight would be a great time to start - Pompey are clearly in the midst of a difficult patch, and are there for the taking. And it would be a big boost because our next eight games are all against decent teams (except the Scum).

 

[Manorlounger]

Agreed - we also need people from midfield who are willing to get themselves into the penalty area quickly once Barker is running forward!

The same required when Matty goes off piste and turns up on the wing to collect and then provide his own crosses!

 

[Pillox]

Eh, I'm not 100% sure that we've seen a massive drop in form this month.
We still beat Wigan and Bristol - and by exactly the same scoreline as we beat them earlier in the season.
Ipswich was a bore draw, just as it was earlier in the season.
Doncaster was unfortunate, but we weren't bad that day.....just victims of a smash-and-grab by a decent team.

I think it's more the case this season that we've just been really, really good against the bad teams (except the Scum), and as part of that we looked sensational in putting a couple of dreadful teams (Northampton, Burton) to the sword. But we have struggled all year to really assert ourselves against the better teams in the division.

If we want to get to the playoffs this year, that's going to have to change.
And tonight would be a great time to start - Pompey are clearly in the midst of a difficult patch, and are there for the taking. And it would be a big boost because our next eight games are all against decent teams (except the Scum).

Last good performance was losing to Doncaster. All four matches since then we have looked very leggy. Yes, we got 7 points from the three league games but it's the performances that are a concern.

 

[tonto]

Cam was very effective replacing Gorrin on saturday. We must try and play through the midfield more. Less of the passing around the back and then hitting it long. We must get Barker and Shodipo the ball more often. Henry looks much more effective coming off the bench. Need to rediscover our fluency.

 

[tonyw]

Last good performance was losing to Doncaster. All four matches since then we have looked very leggy. Yes, we got 7 points from the three league games but it's the performances that are a concern.

Sure, but did we really look that much better in December/January?

Ipswich was a snooze fest against their reserves; Hull, we hung on for a point; Blackpool was a scrap; we were second best for the final two thirds of the game on Boxing Day against the Wombles, and indebted to Stevens for the win; Fleetwood was a slugfest against ten men; Rochdale we needed a 94th minute wonder goal after looking pretty porous for most of the 90 minutes.

Northampton and Burton we looked sensational - but how much of that was due to the ineptitude of the competition?

This is all to say that I think we can be a really good team.....but we haven't shown it consistently yet against the best teams this season.
But we've got to start very soon, ideally today, if we're going to make a serious playoff push this year.

 

[Foley]

hoping this afternoon's U18s late winner is a good omen for tonight, a bit of divine intervention ( from GO'D) in the last minute sealed the win .....

Under 18s Win Amid Last Minute Drama

Oxford United’s under 18s won in the most dramatic fashion this afternoon as a Gatlin O’Donkor goal deep in to injury time gave them a 3-2 win over Yeovil Town in their penultimate game of the Youth Alliance.

www.oufc.co.uk

Win at Newport and we win the league.
ODonkor yet again ...

 

[Yellow There!]

Win at Newport and we win the league.
ODonkor yet again ...

Get O’Donkor into the squad Robbo, he’d serve more use than flipping Hanson

 

[Johnf]

3-1 to the U’S
Ruffs, Barker and Taylor

 

[werthersoriginal]

I hope Long is back. Forde is a very decent player and fine with his left foot but always tends to check back and hesitate if he's blocked, passing back or sideways and really slowing our game down. It's a problem because he seems to be on the ball a lot.

 

[pidge]

Get O’Donkor into the squad Robbo, he’d serve more use than flipping Hanson

Not going to play a striker in the holding midfield role are we?

 

[bert]

This is a big one tonight . Hoping for any type of win tbh. They are a good side but if we play as well as we can, we can get a result. Nervously looking forward to this one.

 

[oufc1991]

 

[oufc1991]

oufc subs: Eastwood, Grayson, Gorrin, Forde, Kelly, Barker, Taylor.

 

[werthersoriginal]

f**k me that's a talented team!! But not a lot of defensively minded players, and Sykes on the left hasn't worked well before.

 

[Thomas/Brock/Jones]

There are goals in that set up ...for and against I'd say ! 3-2 win

 

[bert]

f**k me that's a talented team!! But not a lot of defensively minded players, and Sykes on the left hasn't worked well before.

I was concerned about him playing on the left too. Hopefully things will work out. Strong team and bench.

 

[ttg17]

Wow. Brannagan in for Gorrin is a big call. That doesn't look a massively balanced midfield to me, which is a bit worrying. Excited to see Henry, Lee and Long playing together again though. Also hope Long hasn't been rushed back - he's too important for us in the longer term. Benching Barker I think is a good shout, he'll make hay when he's brought on, and Winnall over Taylor makes sense. The bench being a bit more defensive lends itself to hitting them hard early on, and then being able to defend in the latter stages and hitting them on the break with the pace of Barker.

Could be a masterstroke. Fingers crossed. This feels like a massive game. With so many of the big teams in the league still to come to the Kassam, we really need to lay down a statement that it will be a fortress in the next few months.