Away Match Day Thread 12/03/25: Championship - Hull City v OUFC

[Carpy]

 

[bazzer9461]

We still have Watford and QPR at home, Sheff Weds, Cardiff and Swansea away, all games where I think we can get the required points.

Fans are going to give up now with 9 games left to play yet expect the players to keep putting 100% in? We are in it together and now is not the time to start throwing the towel in.

I hope so but after tonight I’m slowly fearing the worst

 

[Thomas/Brock/Jones]

Rowett managed to bring in Helik, Matos and Bradshaw plus Mills and Romeny also joined We can argue about the January quality but we did bring in five new players!

Quality not quantity is what we required and what I'm saying.

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

might have to duck away from this forum for a bit for my sanity.

Ironically, the most offensive stuff on here is, and will continue to be, the 'positive bus' narcissists who spend days on end telling us that Derby, Luton and Argyle are all hopeless, that we're picking up points here, there and everywhere and that the current manager and each and every player are perfection.

Until they're not, of course. Then the posters will just say the same for any new manager and players, and pretend that they either didn't say what they said, or that they didn't mean it, or that it was only a prediction.

When it starts to go tits up they'll even joke about it. And even worse, gaslight you into saying you have thrown the towel in.

These same individuals are pretty much wrong about everything on the pitch at OUFC.

Shameless.

 

[TailsWeWin]

No threat.
No goals.
Probably no points.

Well, I got that wrong

 

[OX14]

No we went 15 without a win under Des didn’t we?
So therefore did go 9 without one on the way.

No it was 1 win out of 15 for Des.

8 winless

We then beat Hull

Then 6 winless

But in those fixtures we had alot of injuries and played Burnley, West Brom, Sunderland, Sheffield United, Watford, Middlesbrough and Bristol city.

 

[bazzer9461]

View attachment 26081
The Positive Bus is still there, but it's getting a little small these days!!

As big as that? Well at least Tyler and Cam can get in there so that’s a start…..I suppose.

 

[Sarge]

That s**t white kit can take some of the blame

 

[Ewes]

Form guide over the last 8 games has us rooted to the bottom.

 

[Tobytrotters]

Matos defending for both goals was absolutely embarrassing

Brown and Helik have much more to be embarrassed about

 

[BS32]

Rowett to be fair spoke very well I thought. Most of these players are league 1 standard though aren’t they. It will be hell of an achievement if they stay up with this squad, and I think Rowett knows it.

He does but it,s just words isn,t it, the football and team selections are bad, I will be bloody pissed off if I see Phillips selected again.

 

[bazzer9461]

If we go down, who in our squad would Championship clubs be looking to snap up? Maybe Cam, Cumming, Brown and Moore would attract some interest but only probably if they were out of contract and a fee woulnt be required. I struggle to think of anyone else.

And the Romeny deal is really starting to concern me. He shows flashes but if we really splashed over a £1M for him I’m really worried about the levels of judgement when it comes to recruitment

TBF he hasn’t really been given a chance, he should have started with Harris as. 2 upfront for the start of the game tonight.

 

[uptheus]

It’s all what if’s re; Rowett v Buckingham. No one knows what would have happened if Buckingham had stayed.

We’ve just got to galvanise e.g. the whole club, from the fanbase to the players and club officials etc to aid our Championship survival.

 

[JayOx88]

We're right back in the dogfight now, but it's frustrating as we didn't need to be. I was very vocal about singing Rowett's praises after the unbeaten run when he first came in but it's as if we've become so scared of losing what we had after moving well clear of relegation that we now go out on the pitch simply to survive the game and tick it off. Players that were in the groove back in January have now lost their confidence and he's got to get back to sending us out playing front football football in games we know we have a chance of winning, like we did at home against Blackburn.

I'm all for battling away performances at Carrow Road but the mindset tonight was so unbelievably poor against a side that had one very good player and nothing else. As with Derby, we should have felt confident enough pushing more players forward at the right times knowing that their ability to punish us was incredibly limited. Putting Phillips out on the left wing is basically an admission that you've come to scrape your way through the game and I hope that's the last time we see him in one of the attacking wide roles. We can't afford to carry him anymore, as what he offers us defensively isn't good enough to make up for having no attacking threat down that side.

It's also really stark how badly we've been impacted by the Greg Leigh injury. He's the one who has flourished the most under Rowett and his ability to get up and down the left gave us such an outlet from deep, and his absence has really exposed how awful our midfield's passing is now he isn't the easy out and we're having to work it through more. I was hoping with Ter Avest in the team we could maybe get the same going down the right with Brown more defensive over on the left, but he doesn't have quite the same engine or instincts (although he's been solid enough these last 2 games).

The positive is that the sides below probably still need two more wins than us between now and the end of the season, and there is still time to change the approach to get another couple of wins. Starting with a game we really need to win on Saturday, he needs to put Placheta out on the left instead of the right to compensate for having no attacking left back and just tell him to fire balls into the box, which should suit him not having to cut in, and have Mills out on the right doing the same.

Hopefully, we've reached the point that Rowett is no longer only interested in preserving what we've got and reverts back to the escape mode we saw when he first came in.

 

[Chippy]

We’re up sh*t street, floating along without a paddle and without much of a clue.

The only thing I can be positive about is that it’s only a game, or so they say.

Angry Yes
Depressed Yes
Confident of staying up No

In about 6 weeks we’ve gone from the being the dogs bollox to complete and utter bollox

 

[TailsWeWin]

And if we lose then who?
At least our relegation fight keeps people interested in the forum.

Hold on a minute …. I thought you and you-know-who said we WEREN’T in a relegation fight. The teams below us can’t POSSIBLY catch us. The gap is FAR too big.

 

[West Oxon U’s]

Watford are a bit of a strange team. Have some big units with real power and pace and possess the impressive ball carrying Giorgi Chakvetadze.
Their defence though is not great. It will be still be very difficult game for sure as they are going for a play-off spot.

I’m not looking forward to it at all and we haven’t beaten Watford in Oxford since 1970.

 

[Chippy]

If we go down, who in our squad would Championship clubs be looking to snap up? Maybe Cam, Cumming, Brown and Moore would attract some interest but only probably if they were out of contract and a fee woulnt be required. I struggle to think of anyone else.

And the Romeny deal is really starting to concern me. He shows flashes but if we really splashed over a £1M for him I’m really worried about the levels of judgement when it comes to recruitment

Fair point, look at how many players we have brought in during the summer and Jan, and look at how many actually start and are really much better than those last season.

Recruitment has been by and large utterly terrible

 

[Oxford84]

He does but it,s just words isn,t it, the football and team selections are bad, I will be bloody pissed off if I see Phillips selected again.

Not sure if Rowett is trying to look good by what he was saying but the actions on the pitch dont really stand up.

Rowett was asking players just to get crosses in but then plays Phillips who cant move and Placheta on the right who always turns inside?

Then he was on about getting forward more when clearly we are playing the safety first game.

 

[Leysboy]

Thank god I’m off to Thailand on Monday afternoon.

 

[Eric Blair]

I wish could put things into perspective easier and look on the bright side. Go back to the start of last season and there was no expectation we'd be playing in the Championship this year, it was more a hope or dream.

So here we are, let's ride it out and see where we end up. Tonight and the majority of recent games have been extremely frustrating, but things are still in the club's hands.

Frankly I'm just bitter the person who got us here was jettisoned so quickly and it's starting to look like that decision won't necessarily pay off.

Good comment

 

[West Oxon U’s]

Not sure if Rowett is trying to look good by what he was saying but the actions on the pitch dont really stand up.

Rowett was asking players just to get crosses in but then plays Phillips who cant move and Placheta on the right who always turns inside?

Then he was on about getting forward more when clearly we are playing the safety first game.

Mills also was poor with his delivery. Not sure he should be starting games in the Champ.I was more than surprised that he started tonight.

 

[uptheus]

Just feel our whole existence is at jeopardy at this point.

Was really hoping that we’d survive the Championship and receive positive news about the stadium creating a feel good factor, but I feel we’re on that slippery slide into relegation, and if this happens, I’m not sure what the impact would be if we were successful on the stadium front position!

Yes, the stadium is the ultimate requirement, but I feel the two need to go hand in hand, so fingers crossed we survive and get the positive news about the stadium.

 

[StockholmOx]

I've got no problem with slating Rowett and his tactics, but let's not lie about it being any better under Des

Imagine Des not going over to applaud the hundreds of fans who traveled to Humberside on a Wednesday night in March because he was so angry with his players, who he then threw under the bus in his post-match whilst taking zero responsibility himself. That's despite a highly suspect starting XI, reverting to a formation which has failed again and again to offer us anything going forward, not making subs which were crying out to be made at 1-1 and very clearly again setting out from the beginning to play for a draw or, at best, a smash-and-grab, against a very poor side in a massive 6-pointer. Yes he's right some players had poor games today - but we also had Romeny, Dembele, Placheta warming the bench and not getting on until it was too late. Again Rowett's right, we made mistakes at the back that cost goals. But 2 mistakes are going to keep costing us games because since he's come in, we've not looked like trying to score more than the odd goal, and if you spend the entire game being super conservative, inviting pressure, well you're going to make probably 2 big mistakes a game.

I still cannot believe the board decided to let the homegrown hero who played that brilliant exciting reverse mullet, did that game plan at Wembley, and who had that connection with the fanbase go for this, to give us "a better chance" of staying up, because we went on a poor run in the midst of a crippling injury crisis in our first season back in the Championship in 25 years.

 

[Osei Yaw]

Who was it then ?

My understanding was that Richard Thomas (then of Wycombe) was one of the first interviewed. Buckingham liked him and wanted him, but we then made a derisory offer which would've amounted to a pay cut from his then wage at Wycombe, so understandably he turned it down. Nothing to do with relocation seeing as he's also been Bloomfield's assistant at Colchester and now Luton.

I believe others have alluded to 'Des turning down assistants', which may be true, but I think he had already been let down on his first choice. And then we had that shambolic announcement about Hackett, which was a brilliant combination of underselling a popular former player, as well as annoying our then Head Coach (Des clearly distanced himself from the decision in a Radio Oxford interview shortly after). All in all, it was a very different experience from Manning arriving with Hogg, or Sale following shortly after Rowett arrived.

 

[Northernyellow]

Just on my way back. Hmm. I just don't think we're going to make it, I'm afraid. I really rate Rowett. Tonight, we were well organised, worked hard, good shape etc, etc. But we lack the necessary quality for this level. We don't have enough players imo who are consistently comfortable playing Championship - Cumming, Brown, Helik, Brannagan are good enough , week in, week out. Nelson will be ok as well. Maybe Matos. The rest are sort of hanging on by playing limited roles in a pretty tight system. Hull were pretty poor as well. But I just can't see where three more wins come from.

 

[BillyTurleys CurlyWurly]

Same faces who don’t think we’re in trouble are the same people who backed KR till the very end I see.

We are in a huge mess.

Fail to win Saturday then for me it’s curtains for Rowett. He won’t be winning at Boro or when we face Sheff Utd.

That will then be 12 games without a win. Sackable as it was for Des.

Will the board have the minerals about them to make another decision to give us a chance at scraping staying up over the last few games?

 

[Chippy]

I wish could put things into perspective easier and look on the bright side. Go back to the start of last season and there was no expectation we'd be playing in the Championship this year, it was more a hope or dream.

So here we are, let's ride it out and see where we end up. Tonight and the majority of recent games have been extremely frustrating, but things are still in the club's hands.

Frankly I'm just bitter the person who got us here was jettisoned so quickly and it's starting to look like that decision won't necessarily pay off.

The thing is, the dream became a reality.

The reality is Des wasn’t up to it, Rowett may not be up to it, but is possibly a bit more up to it than Des, though admittedly we’re all having doubts.

The recruitment has certainly not been up to it, in fact it’s been a million miles off it!

The squad is realistically not up to it, though that’s partially down to funding and our limits at this level.

The progress on the new ground has not been up to it.

Many of the backroom team are not up to it.

Maybe I’m being harsh or maybe most of us negative and unhappy supporters are therefore not up to it! But we have a right to expect more in almost every aspect of what’s happening right now.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Hold on a minute …. I thought you and you-know-who said we WEREN’T in a relegation fight. The teams below us can’t POSSIBLY catch us. The gap is FAR too big.

You seem happier that we have been dragged back in so you can prove a point than anything else but I’ll humour you, while have been dragged back into it, we are still 4 points clear of the drop zone and I still believe we will be safe.

The thing with football is that it can change quickly and that’s why I say it is time for our players and management to step up and show us they have what it takes to get those 6 points.

Like I said though, if us getting dragged down helps you say ‘I told you so’ then that’s your prerogative.

 

[Bicester Yellow]

You seem happier that we have been dragged back in so you can prove a point than anything else but I’ll humour you, while have been dragged back into it, we are still 4 points clear of the drop zone and I still believe we will be safe.

The thing with football is that it can change quickly and that’s why I say it is time for our players and management to step up and show us they have what it takes to get those 6 points.

Like I said though, if us getting dragged down helps you say ‘I told you so’ then that’s your prerogative.

You ridiculed anyone who saw this coming along with scotch egg.

I don’t take any satisfaction saying I told you so.

But I told you so.

 

[Joey]

My understanding was that Richard Thomas (then of Wycombe) was one of the first interviewed. Buckingham liked him and wanted him, but we then made a derisory offer which would've amounted to a pay cut from his then wage at Wycombe, so understandably he turned it down. Nothing to do with relocation seeing as he's also been Bloomfield's assistant at Colchester and now Luton.

I believe others have alluded to 'Des turning down assistants', which may be true, but I think he had already been let down on his first choice. And then we had that shambolic announcement about Hackett, which was a brilliant combination of underselling a popular former player, as well as annoying our then Head Coach (Des clearly distanced himself from the decision in a Radio Oxford interview shortly after). All in all, it was a very different experience from Manning arriving with Hogg, or Sale following shortly after Rowett arrived.

Yes, that's about the long and short of it.