Home Match Day Thread 05/11/2024 - Championship: Oxford United vs Hull City

[RgYellows]

Hull are probably the worst team I’ve seen this season so far. Pass the ball a lot, but don’t actually create much/really do anything with it.

Agreed - if you ignore the time they hit the post, the time they put their man clean through on goal six yards out, the two balls across the face of our goal that their striker couldn’t tap in, the two cut backs to open men on the edge of the area, and the missed chance at the end then they really had very little. Their xG was about 25% higher than ours last night.

 

[Yellowmania]

I gave MOTM to Tyler for 2 main reasons:

a) That exquisite pass across the pitch to start the goal

and more importantly……

b) that incredible lung busting, Duracell bunny display of tenacity and guts in the last 30 minutes.

What a will to win that lad has.

 

[Mad Dog]

I think Saturday will be a similar day to sunderland where we sit in and see what we can pinch

If we manage to pinch anything on Saturday, then we’ll be geniuses

 

[Village-Yellow]

If we manage to pinch anything on Saturday, then we’ll be geniuses

Expecting a clean sheet

 

[Mad Dog]

Expecting a clean sheet

 

[EastStandKieran]

Expecting a clean sheet

I would expect both teams to get clean sheets on Saturday , Friday night might be a different story tho

 

[EastStandKieran]

First half we made them look really good they could have scored 4 we seemed to carry on from our last three games certainly wasn’t expecting a point definitely not 3

Second half we seemed to come out with a bit of fire in our belly’s we pressed them more we had a bit more urgency about us which in turn got the fans behind the team

It most definitely was a smash and grab and I will take them all season if it means we stay up

 

[Matty Greens Left Boot]

Decent performance a clean sheet and a much needed 3 points in what looks like a tight league this year.

 

[Isle of Wight Yellow]

One other thing, Jamie Cumming is looking a genuine Championship quality keeper. Absolutely unrecognisable from the keeper who first arrived, not sure if it’s coaching/matches/both.

I think there’s a good argument for him to be our POTS so far. He’s made countless superb saves to keep us in games.

 

[Eaststanding]

Well done Des for making the, some enforced, changes before the game and doing whatever he did at half time to improve things.
The crowd got behind the boys in the first half until we started getting overrun, then the belief seemed to go in the stands and it went very quiet.
But…second half the boys start playing and it’s no coincidence that the crowd got behind them, more like the early games of the season again. Anyone who says the atmosphere was shite probably wasn’t there last night, there were plenty of people trying to get songs going and as the belief grew, so did the noise.
Did the drum get shoved somewhere…?

 

[WRox]

Thought we were both distinctly average last night and as good as we could have been under the circumstances.

Playing a new formation we’ve barely tested, I thought it took us a while to work it out. Leigh and HTA much better second half. First half we evened out some of the bad luck we’ve had of late with injuries (really hope the Nelson one isn’t too bad). Thought Vaulks was unsurprisingly much better with McEachran around, Cumming’s become so reliable we barely mention him, El Mizouni put an excellent shift in, and Tyler was nothing short of terrific again.

An enormous three points in the end. Regardless of what happens on Friday, the table will look positive going into a two week break and it feels like the momentum we’ve had all season is still there. Two more defeats this week after Swansea and things would have felt very different.

 

[derek]

Yeah

Doubling down

 

[Jster]

I think there’s a good argument for him to be our POTS so far. He’s made countless superb saves to keep us in games.

Second best keeper in the division (after Stoke's Johansson) according to saves and goals prevented metrics.

 

[dickwalton1964]

Cumming’s turnaround in form following the Bolton 5-0 has been astounding, talk about defining moments.

 

[Essexyellows]

Dug deep, won it......... shows a bit of character and mental strength. That`ll do.

 

[BigAlan]

Smash and grab.

Love it.

 

[Swaby39]

If we manage to pinch anything on Saturday, then we’ll be geniuses

Whoops, Friday!

 

[Bucks yellow]

That first half was to be expected to an extent. New formation which they only had a couple of days to work on plus being low on confidence after Saturday. Too many loose passes as well which meant the two 10s weren’t getting the ball. Thankfully cumming was on top form.

Whatever des did at half time was brilliant as the Second half we were much better. Much more composed in possession, started to get miz and tyler into the game to create attacks. Back line were fantastic again and Greg Leigh was getting into really good positions. Vaulks and Josh looked steady and snuffed out attacks too.

Well done lads for the shift

 

[werthersoriginal]

Des worked his magic at halftime , did he push the wing backs forward? Before then we’d been all over the place , quite literally in the case of Leigh.

Tyler was tremendous, so much better in the centre, and Long was great when he came on. We’re lucky to have such an excellent player as backup. Bit chastening to have to hang on like that against bloody Hull City, we need our players back! I think we’ll be signing a couple in January too.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

A strange match. I thought we were very poor in the first half after the first 5-10 minutes (when we pressed properly, were playing much further up the pitch and had a bit of energy about us). Apart from that, we had absolutely no control of the ball, no pace and it took us over half an hour to have a shot of any description. And then we had a decent chance just before half time which would have given us a totally undeserved lead. Hull flattered to deceive - they had quite a lot of the ball, but their finishing was abysmal. The second half started like the first had gone for the most part, but the goal really seemed to put a bit of belief back into the team and we improved for the rest of the half. Hull got more and more ragged and a bit desperate as time ticked away (eventually!).

I don't think we'd win many games having played as poorly as we did in the first half, but we will all take it.

Goodrham looked absolutely knackered from the start to me - he needs the international break!
Gregly started very poorly (how many times was he the wrong side of his man?!) but improved greatly in the second half and added some much needed energy.
Ter Avest looked good once he got into the game.
Vaulks looks *much* better playing next to someone rather than trying to do it himself.
When we are playing like this, that 'lone striker' role must be very disheartening, whether for Scarlett or Harris.

Let's get Friday over with, then hopefully reinforcements will start to appear in time for the next game.

 

[Marked Ox]

That first half was to be expected to an extent. New formation which they only had a couple of days to work on plus being low on confidence after Saturday. Too many loose passes as well which meant the two 10s weren’t getting the ball. Thankfully cumming was on top form.

Whatever des did at half time was brilliant as the Second half we were much better. Much more composed in possession, started to get miz and tyler into the game to create attacks. Back line were fantastic again and Greg Leigh was getting into really good positions. Vaulks and Josh looked steady and snuffed out attacks too.

Well done lads for the shift

I might be wrong but Tyler seemed to have more of free role after their 33 went down injured in the 1st half around 40 odd minutes. I wonder if the impact of this was seen in the 2nd half, albeit not straight away.

 

[East Stand Fan]

Great performance last night and despite absorbing a lot of Hull pressure, we remained composed, didn't tire ourselves out chasing aimlessly and the tactical changes made prior really seemed to work. Cumming made a vital save after an excellent move early on and they had about 3 wayward shots which we survived. Brown and Leigh struggled at the start but eventually settled and worked well together. Fantastic goal from Hidde who was also brilliant throughout and could've scored earlier. MOTM was Moore IMO as he cleared absolutely everything thrown into the box.

The most vital win of the season so far and if we can get anything out of Watford it'll be a bonus. Just worried about Nelson's injury but credit to Sam Long as always for filling in and being solid.

 

[tomoufc]

Massive win.

Never seen such a contrasting display over two halves as Greg tonight.

Struggling to figure out the tactical change from first to second. Goodrham and El Mizouni more central by 5 or so yards, perhaps? Whatever it was, it worked.

I think it’s pretty clear that Ter Avest is going to be a cult hero. 45-70 performance from him was the best 25 minutes from an Oxford player this season.

Yeah Des mentioned filing a couple of holes, and these two did seem very advanced on the press in the first half. So I think they withdrew to create a more solid low block and stop Hull playing. In other words, we went more defensive, but, in doing so, gave ourselves the platform to counterattack more effectively.

 

[tomoufc]

Bloody hell, just realised McEachran did the whole match! Very well done

He did and it makes you wonder how we’ll approach Friday, especially with Sibley also out. We’ve running on gas in midfield.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

Can we recall Jack Currie early? If we can, I think we need to.

Not until January. Stay fit Greg!

 

[Carlislehotdog]

Fantastic three points, if not a fantastic game. We desperately needed a win and we got one - it really eases the pressure on Friday night and then hopefully we can reset with the international break.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

Great to see Sam Long come on and put in a solid performance. He's Mr Oxford United and would run through brick walls for us and OUFC, he's exactly the sort of character we need this season.

 

[Dillon]

Two GREAT results.

 

[Big Ron]

Agreed - if you ignore the time they hit the post, the time they put their man clean through on goal six yards out, the two balls across the face of our goal that their striker couldn’t tap in, the two cut backs to open men on the edge of the area, and the missed chance at the end then they really had very little. Their xG was about 25% higher than ours last night.

But in a strange quirk, their actual goal tally was 100% less than ours.

I'm not arguing that they didn't create chances but importantly, they couldn't take them and after we scored they were guilty of trying to force the game.

 

[werthersoriginal]

But in a strange quirk, their actual goal tally was 100% less than ours.

I'm not arguing that they didn't create chances but importantly, they couldn't take them and after we scored they were guilty of trying to force the game.

They were good in the first half but a bit rubbish in the second - Des's magic did for them.