Away Match Thread 18/04/2026: Derby County v Oxford United

[Carpy]

 

[Bretch Hill]

That's a very good post.

The positives outweigh the negatives for me regarding Bloomfield, but I can certainly see his mistakes like you've pointed out and unfortunately we've been the architects of our downfall all season, under both managers.

Iv no problem with him making mistakes it’s whether he learns from them and doesn’t repeat them. It’s a tough job he has for sure but i really believe he hasn’t done to badly with the players we have.

 

[uptheus]

Yesterday was a sad denouement of a season where we barely got ourselves going.
The only time I really felt we were finding some kind of traction results wise was in the last four or five weeks where we started to look reasonably competitive.
There had to be a game where we came unstuck and I am afraid that our juddering performance at Derby was it.
I believe that the players have given it all they have although I am not sure that we have seen the best of a few previously mentioned.

As a club, we have to concede that the whole financial world of championship football is a yawning gap that we have difficulty bridging.
You only have to look at the Stadiums of these clubs to see the gulf and span of what it is to compete here, let alone the fiscal talent package required on their pitches to sustain their survival.
Not that it hasn’t been a brilliant ride. One that has given me great pleasure (and palpitations of frustration).
We are not quite done yet but how ironic that Netflix comes to town next to hammer in the nail!

And if you’re basing on others stadia then even when we’ve got our new stadium we’ll still be batting uphill!

But it hasn’t stopped Brentford, Bournemouth etc

 

[Browny]

Am I the only one who thinks are defence are been so good this season so underrated it’s ridiculous are attack has let us down

We have let less goals than the teams below we’re on 55
Hull city 61 goals they are 6th btw
Wrexham 60 goals 7th
Bristol city 55 the same
qpr 65 goals
Sheffield untied 59 goals
Swansea 56 goals
Preston 55 goals
Portsmouth 57 goals
West Brom 56 goals
Leicester 65 goals
Sheffield wed 83 goals

And are defence is under constant pressure people need to put more praise on the likes
Of
Sam long
Helik
Brown

Agree with this. Our defence has kept us in games. Again we are rarely beaten by more than the odd goal and that is not because of how many we concede but our goal scoring numbers. That is of course not due only to the attackers. In fact Leigh and Heliks goal contribution is way down this season

 

[Followtheox1]

No i am realistic i dont cling on delusion.I have watched every game to make my assumption.

I was just pointing out you are not a happy fan as your username suggests. That is all!

 

[Paul Cannell]

Starters yes but apart from Konak for the past month they haven't quite had the effect on the team you would be looking for a la Murphy when we got promoted

Um, wasn't Murphy in his 3rd season here when he burst into usefulness?

I'd not be surprised if that's Ed's plan.

 

[ubermeistervonmeat]

Um, wasn't Murphy in his 3rd season here when he burst into usefulness?

I'd not be surprised if that's Ed's plan.

2nd season

 

[Thomas/Brock/Jones]

Um, wasn't Murphy in his 3rd season here when he burst into usefulness?

I'd not be surprised if that's Ed's plan.

A very cunning plan

 

[HillBilly]

Am I the only one who thinks are defence are been so good this season so underrated it’s ridiculous are attack has let us down

No back line has come under more pressure than ours in this league.

That's what makes the Goals Against record doubly impressive.

We're miles ahead of any other Championship team for the number of clearances and interceptions per match. Very few players make more defensive contributions per 90 than Helik and Brown. Both Spencer and Currie are in the top ten in the league for tackles per 90 (and most of the others are defensive midfielders).

With the one exception of our first game against Derby, I think all of our wins this season have come with 40% possession or less (often much less), so I'm not at all fixated on that as a route to success, but it does pile extra pressure on our defenders.

If we tried to control the ball a bit more in midfield (setting up in the way Bloomfield did against Bristol and QPR, for example, or as we did against Derby at home), I'm not sure we'd win more games, but I'm pretty confident our defensive record would look a whole lot better.

They say you build a team from the back don't they?

I really am hoping they're not all about to jump ship.

 

[Symp59]

Our defence is and has been excellent, our midfield is very average thats including the wingers ,Stan has been good. Cam is average in the championship, Vaulks who was used alot early on ,BDK played alot when Cam was injured. The left wing postion has been average most of the season .And the 10 postion has not been filled during both years in the championship and sadly when you look at lanksher back up of Harris ,Romeny and Prelec is the reason we will probably go down ,the recruitment has been poor when you think 4 out the 5 at the back are the same as last year and as much as we love Currie we have missed the goals from Leigh. And if we go down might yet keep .Alot of work to do if we go down and if we do yet stay up unless something unbelievable happens expect another season down the bottom next season.

 

[m]

Our defence is and has been excellent, our midfield is very average thats including the wingers ,Stan has been good. Cam is average in the championship, Vaulks who was used alot early on ,BDK played alot when Cam was injured. The left wing postion has been average most of the season .And the 10 postion has not been filled during both years in the championship and sadly when you look at lanksher back up of Harris ,Romeny and Prelec is the reason we will probably go down ,the recruitment has been poor when you think 4 out the 5 at the back are the same as last year and as much as we love Currie we have missed the goals from Leigh. And if we go down might yet keep .Alot of work to do if we go down and if we do yet stay up unless something unbelievable happens expect another season down the bottom next season.

If our midfield and attack had been very average we'd have stayed up at a canter!

 

[holdsteady]

No back line has come under more pressure than ours in this league.

That's what makes the Goals Against record doubly impressive.

We're miles ahead of any other Championship team for the number of clearances and interceptions per match. Very few players make more defensive contributions per 90 than Helik and Brown. Both Spencer and Currie are in the top ten in the league for tackles per 90 (and most of the others are defensive midfielders).

With the one exception of our first game against Derby, I think all of our wins this season have come with 40% possession or less (often much less), so I'm not at all fixated on that as a route to success, but it does pile extra pressure on our defenders.

If we tried to control the ball a bit more in midfield (setting up in the way Bloomfield did against Bristol and QPR, for example, or as we did against Derby at home), I'm not sure we'd win more games, but I'm pretty confident our defensive record would look a whole lot better.

They say you build a team from the back don't they?

I really am hoping they're not all about to jump ship.

Cumming
Spencer, Helik, Brown, Currie
McDonnell, Brannagan

As a defensive unit, with Long in as completion cover, is good enough to get promotion from league one, I just don’t think they will all be here if we go down. However we should be able to replace one or two and still be competitive. It’s further forward we need to improve.

 

[JOHN BOY]

Am I the only one who thinks are defence are been so good this season so underrated it’s ridiculous are attack has let us down

We have let less goals than the teams below we’re on 55
Hull city 61 goals they are 6th btw
Wrexham 60 goals 7th
Bristol city 55 the same
qpr 65 goals
Sheffield untied 59 goals
Swansea 56 goals
Preston 55 goals
Portsmouth 57 goals
West Brom 56 goals
Leicester 65 goals
Sheffield wed 83 goals

And are defence is under constant pressure people need to put more praise on the likes
Of
Sam long
Helik
Brown

What annoyed me was Allison when warming up shook a couple of their players hands.Did anyone else notice this?

 

[Chris on a Bike]

Anyway, sad that Yellowcrunchie12 won't be back - he was quite amamusing.

He really wasn't.

 

[Chris on a Bike]

I’m not going to say how I know

Haha!

 

[Common Villager]

A bit late to the party as I couldn't face reading this thread over the weekend.

I went to the match on Saturday still hopeful that we would find a way to survive. After the performance I saw and the results of our nearest competetion, I am pretty certain that we are down.

In a match that we had to get something from we were seriously lacking in desire and attacking intent. There were some really poor performances from the likes of MPH and Donley - all of a sudden they looked very much like loanees seeing out the clock here.

Regardless of what the manager and players said on the radio after the Watford win, I think the Portsmouth result against Boro (and subsequent win vs Ipswich) was a real gut punch that took the wind out of the whole club's sails.

I'm sure the full inquest will start when relegation is confirmed, but this season will go down as one with so many 'what ifs'. Staying up was always going to be a challenge but we have undoubtedly made it harder for ourselves through bad decisions, mis-management and haphazard recruitment.

 

[Byrne Baby Byrne]

West brom havent lost a game since we played them at the end of February, at the time they looked one of the worst teams in the league and heading for relegation.

Same with Blackburn. Another season we might have climbed out of trouble after winning a few.Sadly not this season. Too many teams around us have picked up

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Going down with a limp. The players just aren’t good enough for this level and you can only tread water for so long.