Home Match Day Thread 09/04/25: Championship - OUFC v QPR

[Northstandboy]

 

[Bicester Yellow]

How many of the bottom 8 won in this round of mid week fixtures?

Doesn’t really matter.

Play like last night and we will find ourselves in the bottom 3 in about 10 days time.

QPR were in the bottom 8 with horrific injuries. Yet we didn’t lay a glove on them.

What’s your excuse for that?

 

[Followtheox1]

He is a liability if he can’t get around the pitch and close the space down? There was massive gaps that were left because of him and Vaulks not being able to get around the pitch.

Just because he’s been here years doesn’t make him immune from criticism.

It probably isn’t an opinion had by many but it’s mine and I think we’ve overestimated how good he is at this level. He’s just okay, he is nothing standout of special.

Not a stand out and him being a liability are two different things. There are 15 million plus midfielders at this level so I wouldn't except him to be stand out midfielder in the Championship but he has certainly had some stand out games this season and we have generally been better with him in the starting eleven than not. Of course it's your opinion about him being a liability and you are entitled to it and it's mine that your opinion is an over the top reaction to one poor performance where there was an argument at half time that any one of the players could have been hauled off.

 

[Followtheox1]

Doesn’t really matter.

Play like last night and we will find ourselves in the bottom 3 in about 10 days time.

QPR were in the bottom 8 with horrific injuries. Yet we didn’t lay a glove on them.

What’s your excuse for that?

When you say we didn't lay a glove on them, we did actually score and were fairly close to equalising too. Their third goal was against the run of play when we were pushing. As bad as the first half was and it was bad, the second half we were much better which gives me hope there is some fight in this team. Remember four days ago lots were stating it was out best league performance ever etc. if we can beat Sheffield United then we are capable of getting a result against anyone. While it's important not get too high after a result like Saturday, it's also important to not get too panicky about last night's loss.

 

[Gregortheox]

I’ve had to take a deep breath after last night.

Firstly, I thought we gave the players a great platform from about 7.30pm. Great weather, fans going first as is the right the thing to do. Players let themselves down last night.

I thought the pitch looked lumpy and although that’s fine v sheff utd, I was surprised it ran so slowly vs a depleted QPR.

Those first two goals were farcical at this level…and that’s not the first time I’ve said that on here.

We have it in us to stay up no doubt…but you can’t have errors and starts to a game like we have just seen. Really scratching my head today…so frustrated.

 

[greatunclekip]

What about the goal he created though?

Dembele did alright last night and needs to stay in the team. I bet our last 5 opponents would be delighted to see him benched.

I actually think you need a Dembele option in the squad. Run at players, bit of trickery, unpredictable. The problem is we have literally nothing else in those forward positions of the appropriate quality. I’m not even sure it’s a top end League 1 attacking third.

I said in January our failure to strengthen properly up front would see us down. It will.

 

[Osleroad]

How often have we played badly against lower end teams - quite a lot above expectation. But heavens did we need those victories against Cardiff and Plymouth.

 

[holdsteady]

If we played like we did last night, or anywhere close to that level, and stayed up - we would be lucky.

We were unlucky to lose a point at Coventry when Will Vaulks misplaced his backpass and we lost in the last minute. How valuable would that point be in our current situation?

Luck does come into football. Of course it does.

If we play like we did in the first half and stay up it won't be luck if we stay up up it will be a miracle, the Pope will skip all the stages and just give Rowett the sainthood straight away.

But you can't isolate single games or moments, you have 46 games to right any wrongs, no luck in where you finish in a league season.

 

[holdsteady]

We may just be lucky enough that a lot of the sides around us have to play each other and may nullify each other.

Thats not luck, that's a fixture list.

 

[werthersoriginal]

l

I actually think you need a Dembele option in the squad. Run at players, bit of trickery, unpredictable. The problem is we have literally nothing else in those forward positions of the appropriate quality. I’m not even sure it’s a top end League 1 attacking third.

I said in January our failure to strengthen properly up front would see us down. It will.

LOL why didn't you say that on Sunday?

 

[Basham Wonderland]

Who else would take a Dan Agyei straight swap for Mark Harris right now.

I miss my boy.

 

[Up The Manor]

Placheta. Why didn't he shoot when the keeper passed straight to him in the 1st half.

He was looking to pass it back to our goalie .
Anti social football doesn't require shooting much .

 

[holdsteady]

l

LOL why didn't you say that on Sunday?

You don't tend to see much of kip after anything good has happened, was a lovely summer without him.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Doesn’t really matter.

Play like last night and we will find ourselves in the bottom 3 in about 10 days time.

QPR were in the bottom 8 with horrific injuries. Yet we didn’t lay a glove on them.

What’s your excuse for that?

How many times is it now where people have said we will be in the relegation zone in 2 games times, 3 games times. We have been in the bottom 3 once all season.
How many sides below us do you think will pick up maximum points?
Stoke and Cardiff play each other so they both can't win, Derby have a tough game away to Pompey, Luton have Blackburn at home but have just lost one of their strikers for the rest of the season and Hull have a tough home game against Coventry who are fighting for the play offs.

I also expect us to pick up at least a point against Wednesday.

Then good friday....
Derby play Luton, both can't win, Cardiff are away to Sheff Utd, Stoke have Sheff Weds at home and Hull play Swansea away, another round of fixtures where there will be a lot of dropped points.

So yes we could be in the bottom 3 in 10 days time but I would say it is very very unlikely.

 

[Corbo]

Really gutting result. However a positive spin on it if not already mentioned - we didn’t expect to get anything against Sheffield United and we were expecting to win last night, therefore we are on par expectation wise

 

[Bicester Yellow]

How many times is it now where people have said we will be in the relegation zone in 2 games times, 3 games times. We have been in the bottom 3 once all season.
How many sides below us do you think will pick up maximum points?
Stoke and Cardiff play each other so they both can't win, Derby have a tough game away to Pompey, Luton have Blackburn at home but have just lost one of their strikers for the rest of the season and Hull have a tough home game against Coventry who are fighting for the play offs.

I also expect us to pick up at least a point against Wednesday.

Then good friday....
Derby play Luton, both can't win, Cardiff are away to Sheff Utd, Stoke have Sheff Weds at home and Hull play Swansea away, another round of fixtures where there will be a lot of dropped points.

So yes we could be in the bottom 3 in 10 days time but I would say it is very very unlikely.

Point against Wednesday, how you can confidently suggest that I don’t know . Yes their home form is dross, but then so is our away form & we are now without our best defender for the rest of the season.

Let’s dissect your fixtures you’ve just put up.

Derby vs Luton - You really want Derby winning. Not Luton getting closer.

Cardiff could easily go and get something at Sheffield United, they are stumbling. Just writing it off as a home win is dangerous.

Stoke could easily win that as Sheffield Weds are inconsistent and need the points more.

Hull vs Swansea - You really want Swansea winning, they are not going down in a million years.

Luton vs Blackburn - Luton will beat Blackburn, I expect Luton to stay up actually and they are unbeaten in 5 I think? They won’t be in the bottom 3 come the end of the season imo

 

[Essexyellows]

Really gutting result. However a positive spin on it if not already mentioned - we didn’t expect to get anything against Sheffield United and we were expecting to win last night, therefore we are on par expectation wise

^^^^^^^^ this.

Win the unexpected and lose the ones you thought you would win and the end result is the same.

Albeit the two wins would have been far more preferable and would have kept the doomsayers in their crypts.

 

[Bicester Yellow]

^^^^^^^^ this.

Win the unexpected and lose the ones you thought you would win and the end result is the same.

Albeit the two wins would have been far more preferable and would have kept the doomsayers in their crypts.

You say ‘Doomsayers’

What are we supposed to do, accept a gutless performance like last night? Our run in is now extremely difficult.

If being pissed off we didn’t show guts and some heart last night is being a Doomsayer.

Call me a Doomsayer.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Point against Wednesday, how you can confidently suggest that I don’t know . Yes their home form is dross, but then so is our away form & we are now without our best defender for the rest of the season.

Let’s dissect your fixtures you’ve just put up.

Derby vs Luton - You really want Derby winning. Not Luton getting closer.

Cardiff could easily go and get something at Sheffield United, they are stumbling. Just writing it off as a home win is dangerous.

Stoke could easily win that as Sheffield Weds are inconsistent and need the points more.

Hull vs Swansea - You really want Swansea winning, they are not going down in a million years.

Luton vs Blackburn - Luton will beat Blackburn, I expect Luton to stay up actually and they are unbeaten in 5 I think? They won’t be in the bottom 3 come the end of the season imo

No one expected us to beat Sheff U but we did. We generally do quite well at Wednesday too.

Cardiff easily getting 'something', that could be a point, still would be behind us.
Stoke could easily win at Sheff Weds but then we can't? Stoke have gained just 1 more point than us in the last 6.
Luton can beat Blackburn and they will still be below us by 2 points.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

You say ‘Doomsayers’

What are we supposed to do, accept a gutless performance like last night? Our run in is now extremely difficult.

If being pissed off we didn’t show guts and some heart last night is being a Doomsayer.

Call me a Doomsayer.

It is the same run of fixtures that we had before we played last night so I am not sure how it has suddenly changed to an 'extremely difficult' run in when it is still a run in that I would expect to see us pick up at least 4 points.

Being pissed off with last nights performance and result is completely fair, I would be surprised if we weren't all a bit pissed off with it but then saying we now have an extremely difficult run in or assuming that we are going to lose the next 2 and everyone below us will be picking up points is a doomsayer IMO.

 

[TailsWeWin]

How many times is it now where people have said we will be in the relegation zone in 2 games times, 3 games times. We have been in the bottom 3 once all season.
How many sides below us do you think will pick up maximum points?
Stoke and Cardiff play each other so they both can't win, Derby have a tough game away to Pompey, Luton have Blackburn at home but have just lost one of their strikers for the rest of the season and Hull have a tough home game against Coventry who are fighting for the play offs.

I also expect us to pick up at least a point against Wednesday.

Then good friday....
Derby play Luton, both can't win, Cardiff are away to Sheff Utd, Stoke have Sheff Weds at home and Hull play Swansea away, another round of fixtures where there will be a lot of dropped points.

So yes we could be in the bottom 3 in 10 days time but I would say it is very very unlikely.

Hhhmmm. I think if you look back at your posts of a few weeks ago (I can’t be bothered to, though) you’ll see that your predictions around teams towards the bottom of the league - and our chances of remaining well clear - weren’t exactly accurate then.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Hhhmmm. I think if you look back at your posts of a few weeks ago (I can’t be bothered to, though) you’ll see that your predictions around teams towards the bottom of the league - and our chances of remaining well clear - weren’t exactly accurate then.

They were slightly out, you’re right. We still aren’t bottom 3 though and actually 1 point more than we were a few weeks ago.
We have also just achieved the amount of points from the last 2 games that most people were expecting us to get.

If we had done it the other way round then IMO, people would be a lot more positive and confident that they are being right now, the fact is though, we would be in the exact same position as we are now.

 

[brassmonkey]

They were slightly out, you’re right. We still aren’t bottom 3 though and actually 1 point more than we were a few weeks ago.
We have also just achieved the amount of points from the last 2 games that most people were expecting us to get.

If we had done it the other way round then IMO, people would be a lot more positive and confident that they are being right now, the fact is though, we would be in the exact same position as we are now.

No we would be above qpr and they would likely be relegated considering how dross they are

 

[tonyw]

Thats not luck, that's a fixture list.

Just to be pedantic - there can be a bit of luck with regards when you play teams.

For example, Blackburn would probably be in League One rather than Birmingham this season if it wasn't for the fact that they played Leicester away on the final day of last season when they were too busy celebrating their championship and having a big party. Given the respective quality of the two sides, they probably wouldn't have won there at any other time of year.

In that respect, I think we've been moderately lucky with our fixture list, because of our last five games, we've got two away games (Wednesday, Swansea) against teams that have nothing to play for, and may or may not mail it in. And we've got one home game (Sunderland) against one of the best sides in the division who we're almost certainly going to catch with an eye on the playoffs.

Certainly more fortunate than, say, Derby, who have nothing but desperate teams left on their schedule.

 

[tonyw]

Beyond disappointing last night.

Was losing my mind at the constant references on commentary to them having no strikers - they won because by luck or design they flooded the midfield, and we didn’t react at all to it. In fact we gifted them a goal straight away so their structure and game plan worked even better. They wouldn’t have done that with everyone fit. They didn’t at Loftus Road anyway.

Will be keeping an eye out for Greg Leigh and Elliott Moore injury updates, because we offer no attacking threat from set pieces without Brown and no attacking threat in open play with 5 or 6 players in the team who very rarely go beyond the ball.

100% this. It was obvious that this was their tactic before kickoff - I even said as much on here an hour beforehand when I read their team sheet.

But we instead decided to leave Vaulks and a clearly struggling Cam to deal with what was essentially four central midfielders.

Romeny pushed up into an in-between no mans land, in which he had exactly zero impact on the proceedings. And Dembele and Placheta stayed wide with chalk on their boots. Net result - we barely got the ball in the first half; and although QPR had absolutely nothing up front, they didn't need it with our calamitous set piece defending.

I don't think Tyler had a great game second half - he was caught in possession too often - but we were much better because he was constantly dropping deep and buzzing around, getting involved. And then we got even more control when we went to three at the back.

But not reacting at all to either Rangers' team sheet or what was so blatantly playing out in front of of eyes in the first half hour (either by having Romeny drop back into midfield, or have the wingers pinch in way more than they did) just seemed crazy, and it cost us any chance of winning that game.

 

[OtteryYellow]

He was looking to pass it back to our goalie .
Anti social football doesn't require shooting much .

Because it came to him on his wrong foot and by the time he had switched it the moment had passed.

 

[OtteryYellow]

100% this. It was obvious that this was their tactic before kickoff - I even said as much on here an hour beforehand when I read their team sheet.

But we instead decided to leave Vaulks and a clearly struggling Cam to deal with what was essentially four central midfielders.

Romeny pushed up into an in-between no mans land, in which he had exactly zero impact on the proceedings. And Dembele and Placheta stayed wide with chalk on their boots. Net result - we barely got the ball in the first half; and although QPR had absolutely nothing up front, they didn't need it with our calamitous set piece defending.

I don't think Tyler had a great game second half - he was caught in possession too often - but we were much better because he was constantly dropping deep and buzzing around, getting involved. And then we got even more control when we went to three at the back.

But not reacting at all to either Rangers' team sheet or what was so blatantly playing out in front of of eyes in the first half hour (either by having Romeny drop back into midfield, or have the wingers pinch in way more than they did) just seemed crazy, and it cost us any chance of winning that game.

Also, I think we have to look at their team, I thought varane was head and shoulders the best player on the pitch and destined for the top.

 

[uptheus]

That’s never a foul on Brown,it was a 50/50 and they both went in full blooded for the ball, both got the ball, you can’t expect the QPR player to look at where Browns feet are when he goes in.

Not saying it was a foul, just saying that Brown wasn’t set for the challenge and it definitely wasn’t 50/50. Like I said, if Brown doesn’t go in for that challenge then that ball ends up in west London because all their player wanted to do was blart the ball, so with no intent of making a tackle and coming away with the ball. Like I thought with Brannagan a few years ago and Brown last night, I’d rather they hadn’t gone in for challenges where it’s clear they’ll come off second best with a serious injury.

 

[OtteryYellow]

I was very happy with the second half and it gives me hope for Saturday, I'm hoping that we will go with that more aggressive formation with placheta and mills as wing backs and I would like to see Bradshaw given a start as I thought he looked really up for it and pretty decent when he came on.

 

[OtteryYellow]

Not saying it was a foul, just saying that Brown wasn’t set for the challenge and it definitely wasn’t 50/50. Like I said, if Brown doesn’t go in for that challenge then that ball ends up in west London because all their player wanted to do was blart the ball, so with no intent of making a tackle and coming away with the ball. Like I thought with Brannagan a few years ago and Brown last night, I’d rather they hadn’t gone in for challenges where it’s clear they’ll come off second best with a serious injury.

So easy to say that after the event but when you're in the battle you don't have rational thoughts like that plus imagine the crowd reaction if he 'wimped out' of a tackle

 

[Oxford84]

We just did not start the game. We were so passive.There was no intensity.

It was apparent after just a few minutes that Romeny was playing in too high a position and we were seriously outnumbered in the middle of the park especially as Rangers did not play with an orthodox centre forward.

This allowed Rangers to dominate centrally and they were able to easily pass through us and around us. Brannagan and Vaulks were really struggling . It was six minutes before we were able to muster a passing sequence such was Rangers early dominance. The early pressure led to a cheap corner being given up and Edwards was able to easily flick in a header which Cumming appeared to fumble into the net. It was a disastrous start to such an important match and it was to get worse.

Losing Brown after 12 minutes was a hammer blow. Sloppy play again meant Brown had to go for a 40-60 and there was a huge sound on impact with Brown
coming off second best in the block tackle with Sam Field. I pray the damage is not too serious. It was similar to the injury Brannagan picked up against Stoke last September that saw him out for six weeks or so.

Another cheap corner saw Rangers in the second phase float a ball to the back post from where they made first contact with the looping header taking Cumming out of the game. Field was left a yard out with ball at his feet but Romeny knocked it past Cumming for an O.G.

QPR were dominant, winning all the duels especially aerially.

We improved second half - it could not get any worse - but still made basic errors and gave away so many free-kicks. We lack physicality in too many areas.

With sub Mills halving the deficit and Rangers on the rack with a further 11 minutes added on, Dembele squandered possession cheaply and Yang was played in
and was able to shoot across Cumming with no defender in sight.

It was a really bad night.

It actually came off Edwards shoulder which is probably why it looked so crap and surprsied Cumming.

Field actually missed the ball when running into the 6 yard box but as Romeny was so close it hit him and went in, if Romeny is in a slightly different position and that ball doesnt go in. Field missed a tap in.