Away Match Day Thread 04/10/2025 - MDT: Watford v Oxford United

[Carpy]

 

[trainingcone]

I think we still haven't resolved up front, really surprised that Mark harris has stayed, also poor pre season with that Indonesian tour and also bad injuries in the mix. Tough season this, getting rid of rowett not the answer. I think we will go down this season unless things change not just in January but mainly before then when potential injured players come back. It's not looking good.

 

[Osleroad]

I thought Tyler made it known he didn't want a call up with his personal situation and the baby and all.

 

[Oufccraig45]

We need a big change in fortune to stay in this league.

January transfer window is now looking like a vital last chance saloon.

Could be cut well adrift by then if nothing changes

 

[RBNO]

Could be cut well adrift by then if nothing changes

could? will be at this rate

 

[Osleroad]

Now we are bemoaning the wingers - well if we had someone who could cross/pass as well as BDK then....

 

[Yellow Dog]

Something very strange happens in the minds of the players every time we take the lead in a football match. Bristol City was a rare exception that we should have learned from. Who is telling the players to s**t themselves and go into complete defence once they've gone in front, Rowett?

 

[OxRox]

1)No shame in losing to a better team.

2)No team has completely played us off the park.

3)Lots of points to play for.

COYY!!!!!

 

[90syeIlow]

Surprised it’s taken so long for some to see the issue with GR.

For every great win like against Bristol City, there’s 4-5 mediocre tactical and player performances afterward.

 

[Northstandboy]

What has Luke Harris done to not make an appearance today? Did well on Wednesday.

 

[Symp59]

worrying how far January is off ,hopefully after the break we will play Lanksher at 9 luke Harris at 10 ,when lanksher goes off Prelec comes on or vice versa it's not working with the 2 together .And it fell for us last year Helik and Browne and Leigh scored for fun .The next few games will be massive Derby and Sheff wed 6 points are needed any less and Port Vale here we come .Lets be honest though one of the smallest budgets and we are probably where we should be ,Sheff Utd and Sheff wed have no excuse.

 

[Mr Perfect]

All three goals farcical and real Cumming blunder for their second.

 

[Oxymoron]

Could be cut well adrift by then if nothing changes

Why are we not "well adrift" at the moment?

 

[Essexyellows]

i hate to say this ... time for a change all over the club

Do tell the class how this will happen?

 

[m]

1)No shame in losing to a better team.

Yeah, there is if 22 or 23 teams are better. Today was embarrassing, let's not pretend otherwise.

 

[RBNO]

Do tell the class how this will happen?

it wont ..... but league 1 is a great leveller

 

[Victor1986]

How long do the board give GR?

All season. They haven't got the wonga to sack him and be able to replace him with someone better!

 

[carefreeoufc]

After Bristol I was looking at our next three and hoping to pick up four points from a possible nine (optimistically). To pick up one is pretty poor.

We lack so much depth beyond a solid starting eleven and it’s clear that eleven can’t play week in week out. Nor should they be expected to.

 

[Swaby39]

1)No shame in losing to a better team.

2)No team has completely played us off the park.

3)Lots of points to play for.

COYY!!!!!

All for a sunny side up view - we need those around… But at current run rate we’re on for 30 points, and the worst part is it isn’t a surprise. It was all within our gift in May and we blew it with daft summer schedules designed by the wrong people and a total mix up on transfer resource/capability/strategy. Bristol City, at the time, felt like a line in the sand but it’s proven to be a total anomaly.

Something has to give. This is not a Rowett squad of players, it doesn’t have the oomf up top to take the rare opportunities we get in attack so we’re just sitting ducks.

I’m not sure what the answer is but we haven’t answered the call for quality creative players which is going to make it tough for any manager. Rowett will continue to try and grind the points out which is arguably right with an inferior squad to most opponents but as ever, if you play that way, you best be getting points to justify it. otherwise you may as well have a manager that has a proper go with a bit more caution to the wind and throws the bodies forward in the hope one of them finds the goal.

Looking bleak for Rowett and for our season, it’s starting to feel like a wholesale change is going to be needed again to inject some life in to us. It’s looking stale.

 

[Victor1986]

Radical thought... Is GR the problem? I'm not saying he should be sacked, but maybe he should be having a rethink.

A VERY good point!

 

[Twiggy85]

Surprised it’s taken so long for some to see the issue with GR.

For every great win like against Bristol City, there’s 4-5 mediocre tactical and player performances afterward.

His record against teams the lower placed teams in the league is pretty shocking …it’s a concern. This season was always going to be hard with the teams that came up….but we need to start to find some wins.

 

[bicesterox]

It was like a pinball out there with the passing, trying little triangles when we needed to switch it around.
Yes they were better than us, but not as good as we made them look by our poor play.
No outlets, no control , felt sorry for Cumming on the first goal as good stop initially and no chance from follow up, 2nd he should have punched it away.
So disappointed so far this season, maybe the break will prove to have come at a good time, but the Derby game to me is now a must win, we can't keep not winning at home, and we can't hope the Sheffield clubs stay even worse than us and someone else gets there worse.

 

[OX14]

Yeah, there is if 22 or 23 teams are better. Today was embarrassing, let's not pretend otherwise.

Score line flattered us to be honest. If we grabbed a point late on it would have been the biggest crime of the century.

I'm not sure what exactly the players do in training or how long they spend on the training pitch but it doesn't look long enough to me.

: first touches from most players like they are wearing Ronald McDonald's boots
: players not shouting at others to leave the ball which causes confusion and getting each others way.
: Players not turning on the ball when they have time and instead play a sloppy pass back and putting ourselves under pressure.
: Sloppy throw ins giving the opposition the ball back instantly.
: Players being shifted out of position which causes an over load.

That was as bad as the Brighton game but fortunately for us the other 9 Watford players forgot their scoring boots.

Yes we don't have great players but we also don't have a great manager!

 

[Isle of Wight Yellow]

I think Rowett made a mistake by starting Prelec and Lankshear up front together.

It hasn’t really worked recently and has left us short in midfield - and Lankshear’s lost form over the last few games to the point of looking pretty ineffective.

We looked much better when Vaulks came on, Prelec was the striker and Brannagan went in behind - it would have been better to start like that (especially with the wind meaning Vaulks’ throws were important) or go with Luke Harris or Goodrham behind Prelec, beefing up the midfield a bit.

It seemed pretty obvious after Wednesday night that Lankshear needed resting and we should put another midfielder in there, so it’s a little worrying that apparently Rowett and the coaching team couldn’t see that.

 

[Victor1986]

Spot on OX14. Not fit enough &, dare I say it, not " intelligent " enough.

 

[Nadi-]

We’re not far off getting results, results have been close all within a goal.
2 individual errors, in goal and infront of goal. cost a point or more today

 

[MiddleBartonYellow]

Goodrham hasn’t featured for five games now has he, I reckon he has been off it since the beginning of the year.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Really depressing to lose before the crappy international break, and I thought we’d get something from that. However even if we do stay up we’re likely to lose a lot of games, maybe as many as half. Let’s not give up yet.

 

[Manorlounger]

We’re not far off getting results, results have been close all within a goal.
2 individual errors, in goal and infront of goal. cost a point or more today

I think there was a bit more to it than that. Far too simplistic view. We lack depth in our squad. Basic skill levels are inconsistent. Team play is haphazard. And, sadly, some players are not performing to their previous abilities.

 

[Vancouver Yellow]

We’re not far off getting results, results have been close all within a goal.
2 individual errors, in goal and infront of goal. cost a point or more today

Sorry but regardless of goal difference, Watford completely dominated that match, could’ve have 5/6 easily, and QPR deserved to win the other day.

We’re just not up to it. IMO GR wasn’t supported properly by the money men over summer and that’s the biggest problem. We’ve not fixed our glaring issues sufficiently in the attacking department, and now that our two loanees are beginning to struggle, we’re seeing how threadbare our transfer window was.

It’s not over by any means but it looks bloody bleak, and I feel for GR. He can only work with the tools he has been provided with.

 

[Northernyellow]

Just back. Not particularly good, but we could still have scrambled a point. Just checking, some posters do realise we are the smallest club (in terms of revenues) in the Championship? This season is pretty much what I expected. We're well organised and aggressive, but lack quality. That's the sort of quality that other teams in this league can buy, but we can't. We're obviously a bottom six team, but we're always competitive. Will we stay up? Possibly, but it's no more than 50:50. We're a better team than last season, but the Championship is unusually strong this season. BDK, Spencer and Cumming are very good players at this level, and probably the only three that would get into most other Championship teams. So ....I'm not sure what else we can expect this season, other than trying to scrap to 50+ points again. .