Ref Watch +++ 13/07/20 L1 Play Off FINAL - OUFC v Wycombe+++

[Osei Yaw]

I feel as if 4 months off and straight into playoffs suited Wycombe more than anyone else. When your game plan is essentially get the ball and send it forward, and play for set pieces, it must be much easier to pick things back up again. All you've got to do in training is practice for the second ball, it's very one dimensional.

Over the 3 games I don't think we ever really got going. Too many times we had wayward passes that didn't find the runner, the sort of things that get ironed out after 5 to 10 games into a season when players start to click again. Even then, we lost on fine margins last night. s**t happens. This will probably sound like sour grapes, but I'd rather watch us in League 1 playing entertaining football, then pump it long in the Championship. It works for Wycombe, so good luck to them, but I want to be entertained when I go and watch football.

Don't get me wrong, I am gutted we didn't win but I take some comfort in the fact that we were unlikely to get many away days at top stadiums with the ongoing crisis.

This is absolutely nothing like relegation for me. I just want an honest team to go and watch (probably virtually) in 2 months time, who play attractive football and work hard. With all the s**t the world has gone through, that will do for me.

 

[bazzer9461]

Bazzer , Wycombe don't have any debt now and with the expected £5m in central payments from the EFL are unlikely to enter Administration.

We lost and it hurts but lets try and be sensible.

But do they get the money up front? Do they borrow with interest with no guarantee of a fixed income?
don’t forget there will be no fans for Sometime yet maybe no earlier than October. They’ve got rid of staff before next season starts or this one is over. But s**t happens we lost night to a very negative team but that’s football

 

[bazzer9461]

Bazzer , Wycombe don't have any debt now and with the expected £5m in central payments from the EFL are unlikely to enter Administration.

We lost and it hurts but lets try and be sensible.

But then again there is talk of a salary cap that should bring all clubs in an even keel, although there will be clubs finding ways of getting round the cap

 

[Didcotox]

I got to page 3 and couldn’t read anymore. The way some were going on was like reading the Pompey forum.

The simple answer is we have been poor in all of the play off games, very lucky to be at Wembley in the first place. Disappointed and I’ll look forward to the transfer speculation during the close season.

 

[Wallop]

Anyone else think the ref favoured wycombe? Allowed them to time waste from about 10 minutes in. 50/50s went in their favour. Gave a foul against sykes when their defender ran across him. Exactly the same as the penalty decision which again went to wycombe. Gave a yellow for that two footed challenge which should have been a red and missed the off-side for their goal.

No I really don't and that line of thinking is a bit desperate. We got beat by ugly tactics but WE GOT BEAT, time some of our fanbase accepted that.

 

[Stuartjames]

A lot of talk on here about KR walking, is everyone forgetting it was his team out there last night?

I honestly thought he seemed resigned in his post match interview, like he knew 3 or 4 players are off and he knows his budget for next season is going to be smaller. When the interviewer asked him, do you think you have the backing to keep this side together and strengthen, he basically said that’s what he needs to find out, worrying that tiger hasn’t given him that assurance already..

 

[Wallop]

Could they afford any of our players, they have no back room staff and no money and hopefully the negative football team go into administration

They are about to get £5m in extra revenue.

 

[Osei Yaw]

I left my phone upstairs after the game last night. WhatsApps went upread and I simply got on with the washing up and watching an old episode of QI. I needed a break from it but feel I can dissect it now that it’s all over.

If another dissection in a 20-page thread is needed – losing is part and parcel of football. You can accept it when you’re beaten by a superior side or you’ve made your task harder by having a player sent off early. When both goals were self inflicted and we were on top with chances in the second half is what makes it so much harder to stomach. If Sykes hadn’t scored and we’d lost 2-0 with those goals, I’d be disappointed and probably frustrated we didn’t create enough. As it is, I’m ruing the Henry chance most at 1-1.

Wycombe’s set up was excellent. Not just on the pitch but the crowing from the sidelines. They managed to generate a slice of atmosphere in an otherwise empty 90k stadium and you can’t knock that. It certainly helped them, I feel. It makes you wonder whether we underestimated the impact that the ‘12th man’ could have. Those who are allowed in are entitled to make some noise and I didn’t hear much of a peep from the Oxford side.

Did we really deserve promotion based on our performances over the playoffs? We showed inklings of what we’re capable of but we’re slow starters and need that rhythm over a few games to get into stride. It was always going to be a tall order to get going again but that was the same for all sides. Wycombe just did it better.

One final point to note that prior to lockdown, Wycombe hasn’t been out of the top four all season, only dropping out because they were due to play Bury. That’s 34 weeks in the automatics and playoff places. We spent 13 weeks in the playoff places with one week in second. ‘Deserved’ is a funny word in football. On balance, Wycombe deserved to be there.

For all his headlines this morning, Akinfenwa did nothing as per usual against us. He was a burden to them so why he’s sitting there Facetiming Klopp and crowing about a promotion he barely did anything towards is a mystery. Get the mic in front of Stewart, Grimmer, Jacobson and Charles – they were Wycombe’s real heroes and not the bloated physique and ego that is Akinfenwa.

Good post and the point about Akinfenwa is spot on. For all the talk about how united and hard working Wycombe are, he really stands out as having an ego the size of his appetite.

If I was busting a gut working in that Wycombe team, I think I'd take exception to how he gets revered as some sort of inspirational god for waddling round, meaning everyone else has to start working even harder.

He's going to need to spend the off season praying even more than usual, as he's going to need a miracle to even get close to the ball against Championship centre backs next season.

 

[unification]

Didn't think I could find anything funny this morning. Then, after several years, the single cell amoebae suddenly find a way to climb out of their gene puddle down the A420. How long have they been waiting for something like last night?

Anyway, social distancing won't be a problem when we play them. They don't come within 200 meters of us let alone two.

Yeah, imagine losing at Wembley ... bob bob bob bob bobble ...

 

[Gary Baldi]

I honestly thought he seemed resigned in his post match interview, like he knew 3 or 4 players are off and he knows his budget for next season is going to be smaller. When the interviewer asked him, do you think you have the backing to keep this side together and strengthen, he basically said that’s what he needs to find out, worrying that tiger hasn’t given him that assurance already..

KR is emotional and would no doubt want to keep managing some of those players. Let's see what happens. Football is a funny old game eh!

 

[nick68]

You know what i was gutted last night about the result but remained positive for the future.

Then i started to reading this thread and all the comments slating certain players and how they let us down, they haven't they've been brilliant all season and won't be defined by the 3 play off games for me. If anything some fans have let us down being so quick to criticise players who took us so close this season.

There's plenty to look forward to next season and if it's half as entertaining as this season then we'll have a great chance.

 

[OUFC OX3]

Why was Ainsworth dressed as an extra from Miami Vice?

 

[m]

KR is emotional and would no doubt want to keep managing some of those players. Let's see what happens. Football is a funny old game eh!

Exactly. He wears his heart on his sleeve.

 

[unification]

Mark Sykes proved himself to be a better player than any of us thought. That kid deserves a look from higher up clubs as he really stepped it up and bossed it.

Based on the playoff games, if the scouts were there for Brannagan, they'd be clamouring around Sykes' agent instead.

Of all our players who have played post-lockdown, Sykes has looked the best, followed by Dickie. They seemed to have the energy and looked the least rusty.

 

[Gary Baldi]

Based on the playoff games, if the scouts were there for Brannagan, they'd be clamouring around Sykes' agent instead.

Of all our players who have played post-lockdown, Sykes has looked the best, followed by Dickie. They seemed to have the energy and looked the least rusty.

Sykes played with such freedom - where others looked nervous and tentative, the playoffs weren't too big for him. He's also improved his game a lot too

 

[Johnf]

We had chances to win last night but didn’t take them, it’s hard to take I know but we’ve had a good season, good runs in both cups and if it wasn’t for the virus we may well of gone up automatically instead of the lottery of the playoffs. I just hope Karl stays and can start to build for next season, and most importantly get back to watching football the way it should be watched.
Just a side note I wonder if drug testing was in operation after the game, because a big bloke on the Wycombe team looked like he had been taking some serious stuff.

 

[Sarge]

cold light of day on the morning after the night(mare) before

Still not best pleased we lost, at wembley, again

Wycombe's tactics, basic, agricultural & overloaded with 'dark arts', worked for them

Our players gave their all in a surreal , empty Wembley, cliched it may be , but the narrowest of narrow margins
defined the result. Desperate defending throughout the 2nd half from Wycombe kept us from getting a deserved 2nd goal
during the 2nd half

Re watched that pen situation several times ... the body language of Moore ducking out really does seem
like 'someone' shouted 'Leave it', & I dont think it was Eastwood!

Jones, the referee, was hoodwinked many a time by Wycombe's utilisation of 'gamesmanship', generally for petty
incidents, nonetheless Ainsworth did a job on us

if that match had been played in front of a huge crowd Im certain the result wouldve been different,
It wasnt though, the U's lost 2-1

Keep KR as manager, and the majority of the squad together , with incoming wage cap for league 1 , itll be a bit of a leveller, I really do feel OUFC will be up there in the autos come the end of the forthcoming season

 

[Tenbury Yellow]

I've woken this morning, mourning. I hope the players and staff are too. However, tomorrow I hope we have a few key players/staff who get us going and put fire in bellies! With KR and a decent start to the season - ie not being in bottom half at Christmas - we can go up next year.

I replied to the caretaker as I left work yesterday when asked 'do you think you'll win?' 'We should, but Wycombe have a grotesque habit of winning when rubbish and outplayed'. Sadly it played out. Missed chances and that penalty, fifteen seconds of utter utter shambles I do not want to see again.

Next season will heavily depend on what players are at the squad and if KR stays. I think KR wants to stay, however he could be tempted away with bigger money. Not sure who are in the market for a new manager right now mind.

I'm truly gutted, but I'm not giving up. My first game in '94 against Oldham was the beginning. The end is hopefully a long way off.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

... or shield the ball and wait for one of ours to get behind you and try to jockey for it, and then flop to the floor.

The be fair though, I saw both Taylor and Browne do exactly the same thing and get free kicks.
The ref was fine.

 

[Followtheox1]

I need to rewatch but for their second goal I thought Browne was at fault. Typically he stops playing all the time to claim for a throw on/free kick etc. Last night instead of stopping and claiming for a throw on, he should of played to the whistle and chased down a poor back pass which lead to their keeper kicking it unapposed for their goal.