Home Match Build-Up 18/04/25: Championship - OUFC v Leeds United

What will the result be?

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dickwalton1964 said:
I didn’t expect to see anyone on here say it’s OK for us to lose a game when we desperately need another point or so to stay up - and with just four games left, three left if you discount the one it’s ’OK to lose’ ……
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My point was, if we lose a player or two to injury whilst trying to get something out of a game against table-topping Leeds, then I think that's baaaaaaad, when we have a 6-pointer against Cardiff that I'd much rather we went all out in. I'd rather just take the L, protect the players with a two-day turnaround before arguably our most important game of the season. We beat Cardiff, most likely we stay up.

We already lost Ciaron Brown the other day, for example.

I guess my point wasn't well made.

Didn't think the personal attack was warranted!
 
Scotchegg said:
I generally agree with you, but we also have a squad that will be fatigued, and this is when injuries can occur. I know that he wants to play every second of every game, but I'd be looking to keep Cam iced up and recovering as early as possible. 2 weeks is not long, but tweaking something in those 2 weeks could be far more damaging.

Harris has also played non-stop for two seasons, and whilst he clearly has some limitations at this level, his work rate is never questioned. We could be looking to Bradshaw and Romeny taking the lions share and give him a rest, although, like Cam, I'm sure he'd want to play, especially in Wales.

These games are not charity games or pre-season friendlies, and we should still be targeting as many points as possible. But resting a few and giving some youngsters a taste of being in the first team squad could be a benefit for all concerned.
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Can’t see Harris playing more than 90 minutes over the two games anyway, he will start one and play 60 then come on for the last 30 of the other, ditto Bradshaw, just which game he starts is the question. Bradshaw won’t be able to start two over the weekend I would think.

That’s not really resting players, I think if you have it in you to play and it’s the tactically right decision to play you then resting someone this close to the end of the season is a bit pointless, no gain to a player being fresh at the end of May for us this season.
 
TobyDavis34 said:
My point was, if we lose a player or two to injury whilst trying to get something out of a game against table-topping Leeds, then I think that's baaaaaaad, when we have a 6-pointer against Cardiff that I'd much rather we went all out in. I'd rather just take the L, protect the players with a two-day turnaround before arguably our most important game of the season. We beat Cardiff, most likely we stay up.

We already lost Ciaron Brown the other day, for example.

I guess my point wasn't well made.

Didn't think the personal attack was warranted!
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Firstly, apologies if you feel it was a personal attack ! I was speaking more generally about anyone holding that view !

There aren't enough games left to worry about injuries. suspensions etc. To put all our eggs into one six pointer basket (and away from home !) is crazy when we have a home fixture staring us right in the face and a glorious chance to preserve our Championship status. Right now, our most important game of the season is unquestionably Leeds. It's a ridiculous mentality to sort of bypass the Leeds game and create a nerve racking, tension filled afternoon at Cardiff. Do that, lose against Cardiff and then what ?

Would you then suggest we go easy at home to Sunderland in preparation for Swansea on the last day ? Sunderland, along with Leeds and Sheffield United away, are probably the three teams who have bossed us the most comprehensively all season. Take Leeds lightly and we may as well do the same with Sunderland and go all guns blazing at Swansea on the last day - sheer madness.
 
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dickwalton1964 said:
Firstly, apologies if you feel it was a personal attack ! I was speaking more generally about anyone holding that view !

There aren't enough games left to worry about injuries. suspensions etc. To put all our eggs into one six pointer basket (and away from home !) is crazy when we have a home fixture staring us right in the face and a glorious chance to preserve our Championship status. Right now, our most important game of the season is unquestionably Leeds. It's a ridiculous mentality to sort of bypass the Leeds game and create a nerve racking, tension filled afternoon at Cardiff. Do that, lose against Cardiff and then what ?

Would you then suggest we go easy at home to Sunderland in preparation for Swansea on the last day ? Sunderland, along with Leeds and Sheffield United away, are probably the three teams who have bossed us the most comprehensively all season. Take Leeds lightly and we may as well do the same with Sunderland and go all guns blazing at Swansea on the last day - sheer madness.
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We've also just had the perfect example of why we should go full pelt at Leeds. Had we not approached Sheffield United in this way, we could well have still lost to QPR and been three points worse off.
 
I understand your guys POV. I just worry that with it being a Friday night kickoff, having to go again on the Monday in what is probably a determining factor in both Oxford and Cardiff's fate is troubling if we have a few players carrying knocks, especially those who have clearly struggled recently or are only just coming back (Leigh, Brannagan, even Bennett).

I absolutely don't think we hang about from Sunderland to Swansea. There's a week between those games. Massive difference :)
 
dickwalton1964 said:
There aren't enough games left to worry about injuries.
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We've just lost Ciaron Brown for what may still be a big chunk of next season, so I dispute the idea that we shouldn't worry about injuries.

Cam has been playing through injuries for the last month, and looks knackered. Of course he'll want to play, but what if doing so meant that he also ended up with a long term absence?

I want to beat Leeds, and think that we've shown against the Sheffield clubs that we're good enough to get results against anyone. But the idea that injuries are a price worth paying is ridiculous.
 
Village-Yellow said:
Yeah, Cam does have a real problem and carrying an injury needing regular injections by the sound of it.

I think it is a case of getting him to the end of the season and using him where we can, so maybe he will indeed be rested if playing two games over Easter is just going to be too much.

But, if he feels he can play/contribute then we use him, even if he gets pulled off after 60 to prep for Cardiff.

Who would be a manager, hey?
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Would that be on the pitch by a fellow player or in the changing rooms by a physio? 😳.

I suppose it would relax him.
 
Scotchegg said:
I generally agree with you, but we also have a squad that will be fatigued, and this is when injuries can occur. I know that he wants to play every second of every game, but I'd be looking to keep Cam iced up and recovering as early as possible. 2 weeks is not long, but tweaking something in those 2 weeks could be far more damaging.

Harris has also played non-stop for two seasons, and whilst he clearly has some limitations at this level, his work rate is never questioned. We could be looking to Bradshaw and Romeny taking the lions share and give him a rest, although, like Cam, I'm sure he'd want to play, especially in Wales.

These games are not charity games or pre-season friendlies, and we should still be targeting as many points as possible. But resting a few and giving some youngsters a taste of being in the first team squad could be a benefit for all concerned.
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I think we forget that Leeds have played all season too.

I wonder if they will be resting half of their squad against little Oxford as they push for auto's.
 
Scotchegg said:
We've just lost Ciaron Brown for what may still be a big chunk of next season, so I dispute the idea that we shouldn't worry about injuries.

Cam has been playing through injuries for the last month, and looks knackered. Of course he'll want to play, but what if doing so meant that he also ended up with a long term absence?

I want to beat Leeds, and think that we've shown against the Sheffield clubs that we're good enough to get results against anyone. But the idea that injuries are a price worth paying is ridiculous.
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Dwindling opportunities to get the required points against protecting a player ? Each to their own but I see these limited opportunities left as far, far more crucial that being overly concerned about picking up an injury. Injuries are part and parcel of the game and any team should be able to absorb the odd injury, that's why you build a quality squad - unless you're suggesting Cumming, Brannagan, Vaulks and Helik are all going to get injured against Leeds, ruling them out of Cardiff. If Brannagan or any other key player can get through 70 minutes against Leeds, get us the point we need but miss the rest of the season then I for one am taking that.
 
TobyDavis34 said:
I understand your guys POV. I just worry that with it being a Friday night kickoff, having to go again on the Monday in what is probably a determining factor in both Oxford and Cardiff's fate is troubling if we have a few players carrying knocks, especially those who have clearly struggled recently or are only just coming back (Leigh, Brannagan, even Bennett).

I absolutely don't think we hang about from Sunderland to Swansea. There's a week between those games. Massive difference :)
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My concern is that Cardiff could be another messy QPR scenario, away from home. Approaching Leeds with a mentality that it is okay to lose or to make sure players pull out of challenges to avoid injury is just too risky and defeatest.

We need a max of 3 points (probably 1 point ) from our remaining games and we should be looking to wobbly Leeds at home to try to secure that.

I appreciate that two games in close succession is going to be draining but this is about survival and the players need to find it within themselves to get us over the line.

I would also say the the CB injury was more bad luck rather than fatigue. It was just a crunching (legal) challenge and he came off badly unfortunately.
 
Village-Yellow said:
I think we forget that Leeds have played all season too.

I wonder if they will be resting half of their squad against little Oxford as they push for auto's.
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Of course Leeds have also played all season, but I couldn't care less whether they get injuries as a result. I do care about our players and being as strong as we can be for our second season in the Championship next August.

That doesn't mean that I'd expect us to roll over against anyone, and have already said that I think we'll get a result against Leeds (and hopefully a win). But not at the expense of the long term health of anyone.
 
Scotchegg said:
Of course Leeds have also played all season, but I couldn't care less whether they get injuries as a result. I do care about our players and being as strong as we can be for our second season in the Championship next August.

That doesn't mean that I'd expect us to roll over against anyone, and have already said that I think we'll get a result against Leeds (and hopefully a win). But not at the expense of the long term health of anyone.
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Talk about run before you can walk ! We haven't secured our survival yet, surely it's worth risking a key player not quite at 100% to help aid our push for survival THIS SEASON ? I wouldn't wish injuries on anyone but take Nelson, for example. He clearly wont be here next season, are you that concerned if he picks up an injury with us, meaning that he loses out on a dream move and Leicester lose out on £20m ? I couldn't care less to be honest, as long as we stay up.
 
carefreeoufc said:
As the Sheffield Utd and QPR games have shown, we can't throw away a game against a 'table topping' side in the hope we'll get three points out of a easier (on paper) fixture. We need to pick up the points as quickly as regularly as we can.
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There's two key differences though.

- Between Sheffield United and QPR we had Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to recover. We have one fewer recovery day between Leeds and Cardiff, AND the Leeds game is 8pm, and then 3pm on the Monday versus 3pm on the Saturday, 7:45pm on the Wednesday between SU and QPR.
- The Cardiff game is a proper 6 pointer. They are THE team that are currently (as of right now) in the relegation positions and that 6 point gap we currently have could easily be 0 at the end of play Monday. Equally, it could be 12 points.
 
Our home form is far better than our away form, and our performances away against the likes of Derby and Hull show the danger of expecting the Cardiff game to be the one where can pick up more points.

Whilst our performance against Wednesday was obviously much better, we're now facing a team in do or die territory that will not be easy to play against at all. I'm of the opinion that the Leeds game is actually our best chance to get more points - we're at home, under the lights, have just recently had a similar performance we're looking for against Sheff Utd, and will be facing a team under severe pressure who are prone to wobbling at this stage of the season.

Let's go all out Friday, please.
 
TobyDavis34 said:
There's two key differences though.

- Between Sheffield United and QPR we had Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to recover. We have one fewer recovery day between Leeds and Cardiff, AND the Leeds game is 8pm, and then 3pm on the Monday versus 3pm on the Saturday, 7:45pm on the Wednesday between SU and QPR.
- The Cardiff game is a proper 6 pointer. They are THE team that are currently (as of right now) in the relegation positions and that 6 point gap we currently have could easily be 0 at the end of play Monday. Equally, it could be 12 points.
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All the others are playing too. It's not just poor old Oxford players who will be fatigued. I will be absolutely astonished if Cardiff go weak at Sheffield United on Friday, they will 100% be at full strength or as near as they can get to it. No chance their fans will accept anything less than a team committed to winning at Bramall Lane - and ours should be appalled too if we handed Leeds the game on the back of an under strength team.

With all you recovery times etc Cardiff have a lot more travelling than us over the Easter period - Cardiff to Sheffield is a lot further than Oxford to Cardiff but I'm really not sure that the odd hour or two makes that much, if any, difference.
 
dickwalton1964 said:
I wouldn't wish injuries on anyone but take Nelson, for example. He clearly wont be here next season, are you that concerned if he picks up an injury with us, meaning that he loses out on a dream move and Leicester lose out on £20m ? I couldn't care less to be honest
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And that's where we differ. I've seen far too many promising players picking up career threatening injuries and Nelson has only just come back from a long term injury himself. So it doesn't matter whether or not he is our player next season, he's our player now and being willing to sacrificing him for a point or more seems a bit of a shitty attitude.

And for the record, it's all entirely irrelevant because we will stay up with points to spare.
 
Scotchegg said:
Of course Leeds have also played all season, but I couldn't care less whether they get injuries as a result. I do care about our players and being as strong as we can be for our second season in the Championship next August.

That doesn't mean that I'd expect us to roll over against anyone, and have already said that I think we'll get a result against Leeds (and hopefully a win). But not at the expense of the long term health of anyone.
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??

Completely missed my point. I couldn't care about Leeds either.

But from a Leeds perspective will they rest players because they think we will be a walk over and save themselves for a tougher game?? I very much doubt it, but that is what it is being suggested we do by assuming Leeds will get the win and so we save ourselves to go to Cardiff for the points (dangerous)

Long term health of anyone! Give me a bloody break.

They are footballers trained and paid to deal with exactly this situation and you can't just wrap them up in cotton wool if you want to achieve something.
 
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Scotchegg said:
And that's where we differ. I've seen far too many promising players picking up career threatening injuries and Nelson has only just come back from a long term injury himself. So it doesn't matter whether or not he is our player next season, he's our player now and being willing to sacrificing him for a point or more seems a bit of a shitty attitude.

And for the record, it's all entirely irrelevant because we will stay up with points to spare.
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Christ, you'll be telling us you tuck your inmates up in bed and reading them a bedtime story soon.
 
Essexyellows said:
"Resting players"..................... get away, its their job.

Not sure many of us get "rested" when we feel a twinge or two and we do 5 days work.

Their career is short, the rewards are good and we deserve to see the best team we have every game.
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So there must be zero point in having sports science departments if professional football is as easy as you make it.
 
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