Transfer News Transfer Window Summer 21

[Topper Haines]

He also loved Appleton’s losers Lincoln

so basically just fawns over anyone who makes loads of quick signings and uses it as a stick to be United with. For reasons known only to him. It's very bizarre.

 

[horseman]

I don’t think it would be a difficult argument either - Whyte on one side and Williams/Bodin on the other would be an improvement on last season.

Give me Barker in the team the guy is class

 

[RyanioBirdio]

Give me Barker in the team the guy is class

Always thought his head was a bit all over the place. Sometimes he looked Premier League (that goal at Crewe was positively outrageous) but other times he was a passenger. Struck me as somebody with an inconsistent temperament, a bit like Browne in his first spell. I will be very interested to see where he is 2/3 years from now. He’s 25 this year and is still floating around a bit - he isn’t a kid. He needs to start playing regularly and producing consistent displays.

If he played at anywhere near his top level on a regular basis he would be nowhere near League One. The question is, can he actually do that?

 

[oufc1991]

Give me Barker in the team the guy is class

I liked barker and would absolutely love to have him terrorising other teams RB with Whyte doing the same on the other flank question is could we get them both

 

[Essexyellows]

Barker & Agyei are two players I would be more than happy for the rest of the team to "carry" on their off days because when they click there isn`t a team in League 1 that can live with them.

Barkers has flair & talent in bucket loads and Agyei`s pace, power and drive are awesome.

I know nothing about football "tactics! really I just enjoy those players that make you stand up and shout when they get the ball....

 

[werthersoriginal]

I liked barker and would absolutely love to have him terrorising other teams RB with Whyte doing the same on the other flank question is could we get them both

You mean spend all our money on wingers? When we’ve already got half a dozen wide players?

 

[oufc1991]

You mean spend all our money on wingers? When we’ve already got half a dozen wide players?

Yep why not

 

[greatunclekip]

so basically just fawns over anyone who makes loads of quick signings and uses it as a stick to be United with. For reasons known only to him. It's very bizarre.

Let me just clarify. I am optimistic we will sign more and put ourselves in a good position. In response to the statement that we should be jumping for joy at our signings so far, i cant agree.

But will judge at the end of the window.

 

[Swaby39]

Let me just clarify. I am optimistic we will sign more and put ourselves in a good position. In response to the statement that we should be jumping for joy at our signings so far, i cant agree.

But will judge at the end of the window.

What would you like to have seen instead?

 

[RgYellows]

Maybe you can run through a list of league one clubs who have a finalised squad and we can compare their performances over the season.

Remember @greatunclekip creaming himself over the early business of Bristol Rovers last year or Bury a couple of years back?!

I dont think its relevant to the point being discussed (OUFC have unquestionably been slow starters in recent years and have also gone through pre season with a threadbare squad in those seasons, meaning comments about this being a concern "every year" reflect a failing of OUFC more than the fan base).

That said, what you've asked for is very easy and I'm an obliging sort. No clubs have finalised their squad yet.

I'll be sure to check in and provide updates on how no one does against OUFC over the course of the next season.

 

[Oxford57]

The ideal winger would be a combination of Harrington, Rosie,chicken George,

 

[RgYellows]

What would you like to have seen instead?

Not addressed to me but I'm fairly neutral on the moves so far so will speak up.

I thought we were outclassed in the play offs, and several times against the top sides last season. I thought Karl spoke well after Blackpool, and I agreed with his assessment of where we fell short. All seemed positive for next year.

I dont see any evidence that we have learnt from the shortcomings or adapted our approach. We have signed an injury prone player falling down the leagues, and three people who played for Oxford before. This transfer window couldn't be more Karl Robinson's Oxford if it were a parody written by Kip.

It has served us relatively well in the past, I grant you. I've just dared to speak up against Mr Egg, so maybe I shall now be cast as pessimist in chief, but I don't think that's the case. Most Oxford fans feel we are falling just short of where we want to be. Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. And in football, if you stand still you fall behind - based on what I saw last year, I worry that whilst we remain ahead of many L1 clubs we are starting to fall a fair bit behind some others, and not necessarily just on budget. Not to mention, I think Atkinson will be a bigger loss than some seem to. His ability to carry the ball out of defence was a significant option for us when our midfield was losing the battle and couldn't get open.

What I'd like honestly like to see is a couple of players in the mould of Dougall at Blackpool, who can add a bit of bite without turning us in to cloggers. That sort of thing would add a new aspect to our game, because we have seen opposition players label us a soft touch after beating us.

A couple of such additions in early/mid twenties, who have done the job for 30+ starts a season in L2 or similar and were chomping at the bit to step up, and I'd be a whole lot more optimistic.

 

[Mystery Yellow]

Personally I think our midfield still needs strengthening despite being overloaded in there, we need a proper bully/battler in there who can dictate the game at times when we’ve looked really under the cosh, the two lads for Blackpool Stewart & Dougall showed us what missing currently in this Oxford United side at the minute.

We’re overloaded with flare attacking midfield in Henry Sykes Mcguane Brannagan even Clare with his pace but a Defensive Midfielder is a area we need to improve on, Gorrin form the whole of 2nd half of season was really poor, Hanson isn’t good in any position he plays DCM LB/RB (KR should have the balls to say your not in my plans you can either find any other club or sit in the stands for the last year of your contract) & I don’t want to see Cameron Brannagan play there either CB the season before his eye & knee injuries was excellent in that attacking midfield 3.

as for the rest of the rebuild I would agree on KR comments yesterday 2 more wingers, 2 left backs for sure this year, centre back for Atkinson, interesting if we go for right back cover but not sure if we need to now Forde signed for another season & if Lofthouse stays on possibly worth giving some game time to him now he’s had a couple of years of successful men’s football behind him by all reports at Ox City & Woking if/when Sam Long gets another injury which sadly he gets.

 

[Marked Ox]

The ideal winger would be a combination of Harrington, Rosie,chicken George,

Or alternatively another Joey Beauchamp who likewise only wants to play for us.

 

[Coffin dodger]

The ideal winger would be a combination of Harrington, Rosie,chicken George,

Or just any one of Kevin Brock, Paul Simpson or Joey Beauchamp

 

[Marked Ox]

Personally I think our midfield still needs strengthening despite being overloaded in there, we need a proper bully/battler in there who can dictate the game at times when we’ve looked really under the cosh, the two lads for Blackpool Stewart & Dougall showed us what missing currently in this Oxford United side at the minute.

We’re overloaded with flare attacking midfield in Henry Sykes Mcguane Brannagan even Clare with his pace but a Defensive Midfielder is a area we need to improve on, Gorrin form the whole of 2nd half of season was really poor, Hanson isn’t good in any position he plays DCM LB/RB (KR should have the balls to say your not in my plans you can either find any other club or sit in the stands for the last year of your contract) & I don’t want to see Cameron Brannagan play there either CB the season before his eye & knee injuries was excellent in that attacking midfield 3.

as for the rest of the rebuild I would agree on KR comments yesterday 2 more wingers, 2 left backs for sure this year, centre back for Atkinson, interesting if we go for right back cover but not sure if we need to now Forde signed for another season & if Lofthouse stays on possibly worth giving some game time to him now he’s had a couple of years of successful men’s football behind him by all reports at Ox City & Woking if/when Sam Long gets another injury which sadly he gets.

I think the right back cover will depend on Lofthouse. I think if he signs then that has to be his role otherwise I don't see the point in him signing for us.

On the defensive midfield/enforcer role, based on comments from Burton fans I've seen that was his role for them but could be wrong.

 

[ttg17]

Not addressed to me but I'm fairly neutral on the moves so far so will speak up.

I thought we were outclassed in the play offs, and several times against the top sides last season. I thought Karl spoke well after Blackpool, and I agreed with his assessment of where we fell short. All seemed positive for next year.

I dont see any evidence that we have learnt from the shortcomings or adapted our approach. We have signed an injury prone player falling down the leagues, and three people who played for Oxford before. This transfer window couldn't be more Karl Robinson's Oxford if it were a parody written by Kip.

It has served us relatively well in the past, I grant you. I've just dared to speak up against Mr Egg, so maybe I shall now be cast as pessimist in chief, but I don't think that's the case. Most Oxford fans feel we are falling just short of where we want to be. Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. And in football, if you stand still you fall behind - based on what I saw last year, I worry that whilst we remain ahead of many L1 clubs we are starting to fall a fair bit behind some others, and not necessarily just on budget. Not to mention, I think Atkinson will be a bigger loss than some seem to. His ability to carry the ball out of defence was a significant option for us when our midfield was losing the battle and couldn't get open.

What I'd like honestly like to see is a couple of players in the mould of Dougall at Blackpool, who can add a bit of bite without turning us in to cloggers. That sort of thing would add a new aspect to our game, because we have seen opposition players label us a soft touch after beating us.

A couple of such additions in early/mid twenties, who have done the job for 30+ starts a season in L2 or similar and were chomping at the bit to step up, and I'd be a whole lot more optimistic.

Posted about this in another thread, but I actually think there is. If you compare the window this far to even last summer's, it's a lot less experimental. There's much more proven League One quality coming through the door. MacGuane had found his feet before he got injured in January, Williams is a solid 7/10 League One player (from what I gather) and Bodin performed well at this level before moving to the Championship (although admittedly he does fit the mould of 'injury gamble' player you talk about). As building blocks go, though, they're a lot less of a gamble than, say, Sean Clare, Joel Cooper and Rob Atkinson, or even Cadden and Gorrin from the summer before (although they obviously ultimately did well). It seems to me that we're looking to get in players who know League One and can look to hit the ground running, rather than making educated gambles on promising youngsters from the lower leagues, Northern Ireland or Scotland.

At the same time, we're organising friendlies against teams in-and-around us, not just geographically but in terms of standard, too, rather than playing Rangers at Ibrox four days before playing Banbury Town. We've all moaned about our absurd pre-season schedules before, and it seems like the club are adjusting that approach for this year. Playing two teams that were in our division last year in friendlies is as close as we'll get to playing our league contemporaries in pre-season fixtures, and I think indicates that we're looking to get used to the standard of opposition we'll be playing all year early - again, with the aim of hitting the ground running.

Maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see, but so far it does seem to me like we have adapted our off-season approach this year. Whether it will work or not obviously remains to be seen.

Agree on your points on Atkinson and Dougall. Would be great if we could get in a replacement LCB who fits that role, proper big horrible bastard to give us a nasty edge.

 

[Oufcrealist]

Whyte=a pie in the sky signing!

More realistic if we have some cash to take a look at some of the best options from league 2.

RB- Luther James-Wildin Stevenage
LB- Ibou Touray Salford L2TOS
LCB- Dan Happe Orient
CM Ebou Adams FGR
RW Courtney Senior Colchester
LW Kwame Poku Colchester
LW Joel Randall Exeter
AM/RW/LW Dylan Bahamboula Oldham

Looking at that list there's about four that Nick Harris will be praying we don't go anywhere near!!

 

[Mellowyellow]

"We want to be a top 30 club"

But also "we sell as soon as a Championship club flashes their a**e at us" are not mutually compatible.

TBH it's common sense, if you sell your best players then you cannot expect to become a championship side in the mould of Brentford. Equally, if a club relies on loans so much, selling their best players every pre-season at the end of each season the squad fragments and you have to start all over again.
This season is already heading that way, with a new board that sadly doesn't seem to want to reverse that, and potential crocks, Bodin, already making their way in through the door.

 

[captainox]

Nicky Cadden appears to have returned for pre season with FGR presume we can rule that one out. Can’t see anything about him signing a new deal yet though.

He was listed as under contract on FGR's retained list.