Home Match Day Thread +++ 01/02/2020 L1 OUFC V Blackpool FC +++

[dickwalton1964]

This may have already been answered elsewhere but who exactly was Robinson directing his anger towards after the Ruffles back pass ? He turned to the SSU, in direction of the directions box, and let rip with the verbals. He was livid, as angry as I’ve ever seen him.

Whether his emotions got the better of him and he was just airing his frustrations, as in “there you go that’s the only left back I’ve got”, I don’t know but if I was his bosses and he was showing that level of anger towards me I’d quickly take him to one side and issue a few reminders.

Give him the benefit of the doubt and hope it was directed elsewhere, for whatever reason, even if it didn’t look like it !

 

[Scotchegg]

A lot reading too much into not much!

 

[PottersRightBoot]

From my viewpoint Robinson was bawling out Mackie. We dodged a bullet with that bad back pass.

Spirited gutsy performance today. Well done Sam Long and Mark Sykes. Long is plenty good enough to play at this level.

Also Mous. - class act.

 

[ttg17]

We grew into the game after a poor opening 10 minutes, before dominating the rest of the half. We should probably have had more, but that said we didn’t really create too many clear opportunities. I’m really pleased with the team move for the first goal. Shifting the ball quickly into the space wide right for the o rushing attacking fullback was a move reminiscent of Cadden’s better moments. And to finally score from a set piece was welcome too, albeit in the second phase. Surprised no one has commented on how much we struggled kicking into the wind second half, though - we literally couldn’t get out. I honestly don’t think a draw would have been an unfair result, Blackpool’s aerial presence up top (Gnanduiklet and Madine are MASSIVE) should probably have yielded at least a goal. If they had better delivery, they’d be a real force.

Brannagan and Henry started very brightly but faded badly. Good to see them both out on the grass again though. As others have said, Henry’s delivery is incredible. I think if we achieve something tangible this year (promotion), he goes into the same hero/legend bracket as a Beano or a Roofe for me. He’s been an absolutely brilliant player for the club for years now, I love him.

Im surprised Ruffels is getting a bit of stick. I thought (backpass aside) he was pretty good. Holland in front of him grew into the game, and I think will get better the longer he’s with us. His defensive play was pretty suspect at moments today but he’ll learn.

An essential three points. We really, really needed that. If we’d been behind much longer I could see that atmosphere turning very sour very quickly. As it was, there were some good choruses of Robinson’s yellow army going round towards the end, which was nice to hear after the week we’ve had. It’s been easy to forget that our team at full strength is comfortably one of the best in the league, and that first half today was a much needed reminder of that fact. When CB and JH are backto full fitness we will once again be a force to be reckoned with.

 

[Leysboy]

For all the doom mongers 2 wins from the magical 50.

 

[Kiewhite]

But we like Thorne and Ruffels so we have to blame Mackie!!!!

Haha I like Mackie have absolutely nothing against him I like the fact every game he works his ass off for the team. Just think he’s aged a lot as the season has gone on. I like Kr and have a lot of faith in him but he seems way to loyal to a player in the sense off giving hall a new contract taking a punt on Thorne and continuously playing Mackie. I can see Mackie still wanting to play at the end of the season and Kr offering him a coaching roll because off his loyalty. I do like his loyalty players appreciate it and it shows on the pitch but players like Mackie and hall don’t seem to be getting any better

 

[moomooland]

Looking at this footage, it wasn't a great ball from Thorne but the pass back was a poor effort from Ruffles.
But he missed it and we won so who cares?

 

[moomooland]

For all the doom mongers 2 wins from the magical 50.

Only 44 games and 3 teams go down so I think safety is a lot less than 50 points.
We may already be safe.

 

[behindthegoal]

Time wasting, which we are guilty of, also Gordon was down for 3 minutes plus subs.

Goran's injury?????

 

[Robie]

Four or five minutes on the pitch stemming a bloody nose

 

[Teddydee1980]

After a quite frankly guff few days, I was hoping (on my 40th birthday no less) that the team would serve up a present.

Sure enough, the result went the right way, and whilst it was a bang average gane between two out of form teams, there were moments of hope.

And when Ruffs put Madine through in the dying seconds...well...it was all set to be the icing on a particularly turdy cake.

But lo and behold...all the composure Madine showed in his first goal disappeared and he served up the gift.

Whilst the squad gets fitter, some improved (Long, Sykes) and some with work to do (Ruffs, Holland), but the result was more important. And listening to Zaki on Radox beforehand serve up a batch of absolute drivel suggests there are plenty of fundamental problems to fix.

Psychologically though, the win was vital. A loss today following the deadline day fails would have been tough to take.

Onwards and upwards.

 

[Jonny G]

Same as me. I thought it was Thorne with the bad pass.

This was right in front of us. Mackie had the ball just inside their half on the left hand side. He had to either play the ball to - I think Browne - who was the nearest player slightly inside and ten yards ahead, or dink it in to the corner seeing as it was 4th minute of injury time. He instead played it to Thorne who had a player right on him, didn't take a great touch - to be fair it was his first match in nearly five months - and played it off to Ruffs who finished off a fine period of play with the horrific back pass! Ruffs was the worst mistake, Thorne will do much better 99 times out of 100 and Mackie just made the wrong choice for the match situation.

All in all, I think we deserved the bit of luck. We didn't play well for large parts of the game, the wind didn't help, but we ground it out and showed a lot of B*****s to get through and grind out the three points. Agree with the comment on centre halves being superb, Mous looks a different player this season to the last two.... inspirational leader and reads the game so well. The way Dickie can bring the ball out and take a man on and then pass well, but also battle big, tough strikers and win majority of headers too makes him stand out as a special defender.

Well done boys.

 

[Big Ronaldo]

So pleased to have witnessed that today.
All of the wrangling between us, as supporters over the transfer window needs to be consigned to the bin with @greatuncleskips season ticket.
Frustrations have boiled over and there has been some bitter s**t spoken that really needed to be left behind.

That, I hope was what happened today when that final whistle went.

Yes, we haven’t gone balls deep to get promotion. Clearly this is true, but we are all forgetting that we are not Sunderland, we are not Ipswich or for that matter, f*****g Peterborough.
Much as I, you, and everyone wishes that we could spend some serious green to get us up, that is not who we are. No, we will have to f*****g well do it with what we have.
And do you know what?
I still think that we can prevail!
We can do this!!!
Call me optimist/fantasist- whatever!
I know what I see - I see a team that won’t give in despite the odds being stacked against them.
I see a manager who still believes in this club and this group of players despite the fact that the board have limited ambition/lucre.
I also see fans that want it, crave it.
The manager wants it! The players want it. Well, why don’t we just all roll up our f*****g sleeves and go and f*****g get it?

So, I ask, Are we so very depleted of the last pieces of a promotion winning team?

I don’t believe that we are, but The vile criticism of some of those who wear the shirt out on that pitch has to stop.

Jamie Mackie, Sam Long and whoever May, or May not be the greatest player to have ever worn our shirt, but by god, it’s not for the want of sheer bloody-minded hard work that they give their absolute all for this club.

Respect the f*****g players and the manager for doing just that. Giving it all they have.
Don’t think for one minute that the words we say about them on here doesn’t register - doesn’t hurt! I am positive that it does.

And yet, we expect them to give everything in the face of harsh harsh criticism.
If we are to finish off this season with any kind of a flourish, then we will need to do it as a group, as a team, as a club.
One that sticks together to support each other as one.
I support this team, this club. Us!!!

 

[Paul Cannell]

Actually Sam Long may turn out to be a great.

 

[BS32]

So pleased to have witnessed that today.
All of the wrangling between us, as supporters over the transfer window needs to be consigned to the bin with @greatuncleskips season ticket.
Frustrations have boiled over and there has been some bitter s**t spoken that really needed to be left behind.

That, I hope was what happened today when that final whistle went.

Yes, we haven’t gone balls deep to get promotion. Clearly this is true, but we are all forgetting that we are not Sunderland, we are not Ipswich or for that matter, f*****g Peterborough.
Much as I, you, and everyone wishes that we could spend some serious green to get us up, that is not who we are. No, we will have to f*****g well do it with what we have.
And do you know what?
I still think that we can prevail!
We can do this!!!
Call me optimist/fantasist- whatever!
I know what I see - I see a team that won’t give in despite the odds being stacked against them.
I see a manager who still believes in this club and this group of players despite the fact that the board have limited ambition/lucre.
I also see fans that want it, crave it.
The manager wants it! The players want it. Well, why don’t we just all roll up our f*****g sleeves and go and f*****g get it?

So, I ask, Are we so very depleted of the last pieces of a promotion winning team?

I don’t believe that we are, but The vile criticism of some of those who wear the shirt out on that pitch has to stop.

Jamie Mackie, Sam Long and whoever May, or May not be the greatest player to have ever worn our shirt, but by god, it’s not for the want of sheer bloody-minded hard work that they give their absolute all for this club.

Respect the f*****g players and the manager for doing just that. Giving it all they have.
Don’t think for one minute that the words we say about them on here doesn’t register - doesn’t hurt! I am positive that it does.

And yet, we expect them to give everything in the face of harsh harsh criticism.
If we are to finish off this season with any kind of a flourish, then we will need to do it as a group, as a team, as a club.
One that sticks together to support each other as one.
I support this team, this club. Us!!!

Are you related to Winston Churchill? , I don,t think we have been vile to the manager or players have we? to the board yes but not the players, I am very critical of Mackie because imo he is nowhere near good enough and Robinson must take some of the criticism for continually picking him but that is only my opinion, of course I expect the players to give everything as I would if I was out on the pitch, anyway a fantastic win today after a trying week, let,s hope it,s just the start of a good run with some very difficult fixtures on the horizon.

 

[uptheus]

A lot reading too much into not much!

Not much my a**e.

 

[dickwalton1964]

We grew into the game after a poor opening 10 minutes, before dominating the rest of the half. We should probably have had more, but that said we didn’t really create too many clear opportunities. I’m really pleased with the team move for the first goal. Shifting the ball quickly into the space wide right for the o rushing attacking fullback was a move reminiscent of Cadden’s better moments. And to finally score from a set piece was welcome too, albeit in the second phase. Surprised no one has commented on how much we struggled kicking into the wind second half, though - we literally couldn’t get out. I honestly don’t think a draw would have been an unfair result, Blackpool’s aerial presence up top (Gnanduiklet and Madine are MASSIVE) should probably have yielded at least a goal. If they had better delivery, they’d be a real force.

Brannagan and Henry started very brightly but faded badly. Good to see them both out on the grass again though. As others have said, Henry’s delivery is incredible. I think if we achieve something tangible this year (promotion), he goes into the same hero/legend bracket as a Beano or a Roofe for me. He’s been an absolutely brilliant player for the club for years now, I love him.

Im surprised Ruffels is getting a bit of stick. I thought (backpass aside) he was pretty good. Holland in front of him grew into the game, and I think will get better the longer he’s with us. His defensive play was pretty suspect at moments today but he’ll learn.

An essential three points. We really, really needed that. If we’d been behind much longer I could see that atmosphere turning very sour very quickly. As it was, there were some good choruses of Robinson’s yellow army going round towards the end, which was nice to hear after the week we’ve had. It’s been easy to forget that our team at full strength is comfortably one of the best in the league, and that first half today was a much needed reminder of that fact. When CB and JH are backto full fitness we will once again be a force to be reckoned with.

I thought we were excellent in first ten minutes. Nice, bright positive start and one of our better openings to a game.

 

[Oxfordpete]

It was a difficult game in difficult conditions
The wind was much worse on the second half as could be seen by the corner flags. Cam and James were having their first game back and looked rusty, although the goal line clearance from JH was superb, too often those on the posts move out too soon. Thorne before his injury looked class so good to see him back, and hopefully he’ll quickly get back to that form, then Woodburn, will be back in the not too distant future, and again he looked class...... if we can stay injury free I’m confident of a good run in. To agree with others Browne was class today, 1 1/2 goals and workfare superb, Holland really should have scored but he did put a shift in, eventually. I haven’t been a great fan of long in the past, but he is getting better and better this season now he’s getting a run of games, yesterday his defending was solid and crosses were much much improved, Tuesday is a free hit but next Saturday is huge, with our games In hand of many of the teams above us we could be in the mix

 

[uptheus]

I thought we were excellent in first ten minutes. Nice, bright positive start and one of our better openings to a game.

We’re always good when teams drop off and allow of defence to have the ball, it’s when the opposition press high it causes us problems.

 

[uptheus]

Long had a great game yesterday and his crosses were much better which was mainly down to him getting it past the first man. His first touch was better too which again helps with his pass as it gives him more time. No pun intended, but Long may it continue.