Home Match Day Thread 03/04/2026 - MDT: Oxford United v Hull City

 
dickwalton1964 said:
It’s not necessarily Lankshear it’s the back up strikers. Let’s assume every club needs three, if not four strikers, then we are p**s weak in that area for two consecutive seasons. Lankshear could go six games without a goal and he’s walking into that starting line up still - that can’t be right. He has no serious competition. Prelec has one and Harris has two (or is it one ?) this season- that’s why we are going down.
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But that doesn't address my issue of strikers being really expensive, does it? Prelec was that gamble I was talking about, and it's not worked out so far on the goals front (although the one he did score vs Bristol City set us on our way to an invaluable three points away), and he's missed a decent chunk of the season either playing through the hernia or being out because of it.

Also we only play with one striker (any time we play with two we get overrun in midfield and don't create any service), so it's not like Harris and Prelec are getting many minutes to score their goals, nor until recent weeks were we actually creating anything for our strikers to feed off.

My point is that it's very easy to sit in the stands and say 'we should have done more to sign a striker', when it's not actually your job to do that for a Championship club with a small budget competing with a number of other sides for those signings.
 
We were very good yesterday and should have won, i really want to just believe that as long as we play like that for the remaining games we will be okay and scrap our way out of this.
However there are so many, should have, could have, if onlys and wtf moments and any of them could be one hurdle too many:
We should have taken 6 points from our last two home games but its only been 2.
When the cross went in and Harris was on the end of it im sure im not the only one who had no expectation he would score.
Why didnt Spencer start?
Why did the investment only come in Jan? I think our first 11 would have kept us up with a bit to spare had it been assembled in August, the drop off when we make subs seems big.
We have a very large squad but generally lack depth/a lot of forwards that dont score.

Portsmouth is beyond massive, it really is.

If Millwall away matters lets hope they are in the play offs, cant get automatic promotion and rest everyone.
 
Eaststanding said:
Poor choice of examples to compare; I’d say Peart Harris’s one on one scuffed miss in the first half was a better chance than Harris’s.
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No chance was easier than Harris's. He bottled it. Again. If we go down it'll be because we're not good enough and that miss will be prime evidence number one.

This is not personal. I like the guy but it's not right that he's being asked to perform as a Championship striker when he is clearly not one. It can't be good for him and it's certainly not good for us.
 
Sharp Edges said:
We were very good yesterday and should have won, i really want to just believe that as long as we play like that for the remaining games we will be okay and scrap our way out of this.
However there are so many, should have, could have, if onlys and wtf moments and any of them could be one hurdle too many:
We should have taken 6 points from our last two home games but its only been 2.
When the cross went in and Harris was on the end of it im sure im not the only one who had no expectation he would score.
Why didnt Spencer start?
Why did the investment only come in Jan? I think our first 11 would have kept us up with a bit to spare had it been assembled in August, the drop off when we make subs seems big.
We have a very large squad but generally lack depth/a lot of forwards that dont score.

Portsmouth is beyond massive, it really is.

If Millwall away matters lets hope they are in the play offs, cant get automatic promotion and rest everyone.
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To be fair Hull were in exactly the same situation as Millwall will be, and we almost got past them, so there's nothing to fear from them.

If anything, you can imagine we might even lose to Portsmouth and then get a couple of back to back wins. Position in the table doesn't seem to mean much at the moment.
 
battman said:
But that doesn't address my issue of strikers being really expensive, does it? Prelec was that gamble I was talking about, and it's not worked out so far on the goals front (although the one he did score vs Bristol City set us on our way to an invaluable three points away), and he's missed a decent chunk of the season either playing through the hernia or being out because of it.

Also we only play with one striker (any time we play with two we get overrun in midfield and don't create any service), so it's not like Harris and Prelec are getting many minutes to score their goals, nor until recent weeks were we actually creating anything for our strikers to feed off.

My point is that it's very easy to sit in the stands and say 'we should have done more to sign a striker', when it's not actually your job to do that for a Championship club with a small budget competing with a number of other sides for those signings.
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Scouring these shores, Europe, and probably beyond, the best we can come up with is no goal Romeny, one goal Prelec and two goal Harris to back up eight goal Lankshear ? I know it’s not easy but surely we could have done better than this. Chuck a couple of million plus at Orient and get Ballard. I am absolutely convinced he would have got - off the bench - more than the three Romeny, Prelec and Harris have managed. What are those three costing us in wages ? £20,000 per week combined ? It’s a pathetic return. Goodwin and O’Donkor would have got more than those three this season.
 
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East Stand Fan said:
Very entertaining game but we should’ve won. Results also not going our way was disappointing especially as once again, we were out of the zone for a period. The midfield were brilliant today especially Brannagan and Konak. I think he left the subs a bit late but after seeing Jin Woo sliding around and a falling over the very 2 minutes, maybe it was for the best.

Harris really should’ve scored and we did have a few good chances but their keeper was fantastic. Fair result and at least we didn’t lose. Monday is beyond massive.
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Should have been Placheta, he looked up for it today when warming up, hence him being royally pissed off that he didn’t come on. Hopefully he can focus that frustration on Monday if he starts/comes on. I was disappointed with MPH and thought he should have come off earlier. Also thought Prelec should have come on for Donley who also had a poor game.
 
dickwalton1964 said:
Scouring these shores, Europe, and probably beyond, the best we can come up with is no goal Romeny, one goal Prelec and two goal Harris to back up eight goal Lankshear ? I know it’s not easy but surely we could have done better than this. Chuck a couple of million plus at Orient and get Ballard. I am absolutely convinced he would have got - off the bench - more than the three Romeny, Prelec and Harris have managed. What are those three costing us in wages ? £20,000 per week combined ? It’s a pathetic return. Goodwin and O’Donkor would have got more than those three this season.
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Just to say everyone blames the strikers Millwall top scorer has 8 goals they are 2nd in the league
This mythical 20 goal striker does not not exist what you need is everyone scoring not just the striker
Brown helik long dont score enough
Mills mph Shemmy dont score enough
 
Mad Dog said:
I agree with all this.

We do look a lot better than when we were being subjected to that awful Rowettball shite, and we clearly now look like we can compete at this level.

However, the board took too long to get rid of Rowett, and that, combined with a slow, sticky start under Bloomfield, meant we’d left ourselves a mountain to climb, and although we’re clearly much better now, and have done fantastically well to claw ourselves back into the mix, and are finally holding our own at this level, I fear it’s gonna be a case of too little too late.

I hope to god I’m wrong!

Beat Pompey, and the dream is still very much alive, but lose, and I don’t see us staying up I’m afraid.

MASSIVE, MASSIVE game coming up…
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Or maybe all the new players took 3-4 games to blend together
 
dickwalton1964 said:
It’s not necessarily Lankshear it’s the back up strikers. Let’s assume every club needs three, if not four strikers, then we are p**s weak in that area for two consecutive seasons. Lankshear could go six games without a goal and he’s walking into that starting line up still - that can’t be right. He has no serious competition. Prelec has one and Harris has two (or is it one ?) this season- that’s why we are going down.
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Agreed look at Coventry
 
QR said:
No chance was easier than Harris's. He bottled it. Again. If we go down it'll be because we're not good enough and that miss will be prime evidence number one.

This is not personal. I like the guy but it's not right that he's being asked to perform as a Championship striker when he is clearly not one. It can't be good for him and it's certainly not good for us.
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About as personal as it gets. Whatever makes you happy.
 
Ok voice of reason back in the room

So yesterday was. A great result against a team who are one of the surprises! Hull attack attack attack and we weathered that and had 16 shots the Hull manager said he was happy with a point and felt lucky comments from a guy at the top playing a team at the bottom!

As long as we don't lose to Pompey it's all still to play for! Specially given the form table.

Finally it's fun to have something to play for at the end rather than the players are on the beach. Remember teams with players on the beach start poorly next season normally. Ours will be fired up with momentum.

Again as one of only a very small handful in Jan who thought we'd survive I still do

Voice of reason out! 🤣
 
I am going to take the positives from the game yesterday was a good team performance and hope we just continue playing like this to the end. of the season just six cup finals left we may run out of games and end up getting relegated but we have come along way as a team since January on to Pompey Monday that's be loud and proud at Fratton
 
QR said:
No chance was easier than Harris's. He bottled it. Again. If we go down it'll be because we're not good enough and that miss will be prime evidence number one.

This is not personal. I like the guy but it's not right that he's being asked to perform as a Championship striker when he is clearly not one. It can't be good for him and it's certainly not good for us.
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Unpopular opinion, I know, but the Harris chance wasn't a classic 'miss'.
If you watch the replay carefully, he doesn't check his run at all, he just keeps sprinting to where he thinks the ball will go. It's a great pass to find him, but he is at full stretch when he connects.
You can't fault his timing, because he is maxed out [if anything his anticipation makes the chance] and you can't fault the finish because he doesn't quite make it in time.
 
jaybeachjump said:
Unpopular opinion, I know, but the Harris chance wasn't a classic 'miss'.
If you watch the replay carefully, he doesn't check his run at all, he just keeps sprinting to where he thinks the ball will go. It's a great pass to find him, but he is at full stretch when he connects.
You can't fault his timing, because he is maxed out [if anything his anticipation makes the chance] and you can't fault the finish because he doesn't quite make it in time.
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Watching the replay he has to score. Maybe not as glaring as some of his infamous misses of last season and, while its maybe not a full chance, it’s better than a half chance and should score.
 
Billyox said:
Just to say everyone blames the strikers Millwall top scorer has 8 goals they are 2nd in the league
This mythical 20 goal striker does not not exist what you need is everyone scoring not just the striker
Brown helik long dont score enough
Mills mph Shemmy dont score enough
Click to expand...

Is Millwalls ‘second’ or ‘third’ striker stuck on 0, 1 or 2 though ? I don’t know but I doubt it. Brown has more this season than Romney, Prelec and Harris put together and Helik has more goals in one and a half Championship seasons with us than Harris does in two seasons. How the hell you can pin blame on centre backs Brown and Helik for our scoring issues while giving Romeny, Prelec and Harris a free pass is beyond me.
 
dickwalton1964 said:
Is Millwalls ‘second’ or ‘third’ striker stuck on 0, 1 or 2 though ? I don’t know but I doubt it. Brown has more this season than Romney, Prelec and Harris put together and Helik has more goals in one and a half Championship seasons with us than Harris does in two seasons. How the hell you can pin blame on centre backs Brown and Helik for our scoring issues while giving Romeny, Prelec and Harris a free pass is beyond me.
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Brown and helik play a lot more games and from the start not making bit part minutes

its not about giving anyone a free ride you need goals from all round because others dont score there is more pressure on the strikers to deliver
 
Billyox said:
Brown and helik play a lot more games and from the start not making bit part minutes

its not about giving anyone a free ride you need goals from all round because others dont score there is more pressure on the strikers to deliver
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That is a strikers job though - score. Pressure is part of it, that’s why they’re generally the most rewarded and lauded. Should we blame our strikers when the opposition score at a set piece ? I hardly ever read or hear of our strikers being blamed, the finger will always be pointed at one of the defenders. You can’t have it both ways. Lankshear’s one on one miss at Southampton was akin to a costly back pass from a defender - if that was Brown or Helik gifting a goal we’d be talking about it for weeks. That miss yesterday by Harris was the same as a defender making a mistake - should do better. Strikers - especially our back up ones - get it easy here. You need a better spread, yes, but you also need players in specific positions to do their specific job.
 
dickwalton1964 said:
That is a strikers job though - score. Pressure is part of it, that’s why they’re generally the most rewarded and lauded. Should we blame our strikers when the opposition score at a set piece ? I hardly ever read or hear of our strikers being blamed, the finger will always be pointed at one of the defenders. You can’t have it both ways. Lankshear’s one on one miss at Southampton was akin to a costly back pass from a defender - if that was Brown or Helik gifting a goal we’d be talking about it for weeks. That miss yesterday by Harris was the same as a defender making a mistake - should do better. Strikers - especially our back up ones - get it easy here. You need a better spread, yes, but you also need players in specific positions to do their specific job.
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If its a strikers man then obviously if we conceded from a set piece they would be criticised

Its everyone job to defend its everyone job to score

And believe it or not harris is a converted striker its only since he joined us that we have played him as a striker
His best position by far is in the withdrawn role where he can press and stop the defender passing into midfield ala Wembley

There is also a reason why the strikers we sign sign for us
If harris scored every chance that every keeps thinking he should he wouldn't be playing for us
 
The Voice Of Reason said:
Or maybe all the new players took 3-4 games to blend together
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Yeah, bit of both probably.

Either way, it took a while for things to settle down and start improving, by which time, we'd dropped too many points during that spell, at a time when we were already falling behind, but Bloomfield and the players have done brilliantly to get us back in the mix, because we looked doomed at one point.
 
dickwalton1964 said:
Watching the replay he has to score. Maybe not as glaring as some of his infamous misses of last season and, while it’s maybe not a full chance, it’s better than a half chance and should score.
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Im not sure what more he could have done to score, it’s one where he is at full stretch and does well to get to it - unfortunately doesn’t go in.
I am more frustrated that in the last minute he did t get is head up to feed prelic who would have been through one on one.
 
Twiggy85 said:
Im not sure what more he could have done to score, it’s one where he is at full stretch and does well to get to it - unfortunately doesn’t go in.
I am more frustrated that in the last minute he did t get is head up to feed prelic who would have been through one on one.
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It was right in front of me and I don’t think he did a lot wrong to be honest, all he can do is get contact on it, he was so stretched that he had no hope of steering it, unfortunately that contact took it wide.

It’s an easy game from the stands.
 
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