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Home Match Thread 21/04/2026: Oxford United v Wrexham

Who Will Win?

  • Total voters
    113
  • Poll closed .
 
I do recall that ED interview with Radio Oxford, around the time of the MB appointment, always prepared, always had his next list he was working through - whilst I hope he's already in touch with managers/coaches who may have some tactical nous and a bit more an attacking philosophy, sadly, I have no faith in Ed Waldron to get much right, as has been proved over the last two seasons (in the main).

Absolutely spunked away Erick's investment, had a couple of transfer successes (but some s**t will always stick if you throw enough of it) and now we probably find ourselves with a need to sell and cash in (don't question the owner's ambition) and have an astronomical L1 wage bill.

As for Brodie playing left back because the three of our designated ones are all out of favour then that's another unbelievable position to get yourself into.
 
Does anyone have a clip of Brown having his shirt removed? I missed it in the goalmouth melee.
 
Eric Blair said:
Yep, it was great. The high points for me for atmosphere over the two seasons was the last ten minutes of the home game against Watford and the Sheffield Utd home game. The noise from the East Stand last night was immense though.
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Agreed my best memories of the last two seasons.
 
Jaboysmith said:
Unless we get 90+ points in league one, I do not particularly fancy coming back to be honest. I would far sooner see us have seasons like we did under KR in League One than I would these last two in the Championship. There is about 8 good memories made in this division, and it was thoroughly unenjoyable to try and play for a point every week.

People joke about Burton away or Middlesborough, but I would get far more enjoyment out of the former, rather than being the plucky underdog.
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Strange outlook.

I understand what you're saying, in regards to how it's not been enjoyable watching us this season, as we've been horribly awful all season, firstly under a manager who should be nowhere the Championship, and set us up to play in such an uninspiring, dull and cowardly, "just don't lose" way, that it was just painful to watch.

Then we've brought in another manager, who although he instilled more fight and front foot thinking than the previous joke of a manager, he's also tactically pretty clueless, and we continued to look like a league one side, playing a Championship side in a cup game, feeding off scraps, with zero genuine attacking threat, albeit with a bit more about us in games, but still nowhere near enough.

It's been great to see us back at this level after so long away, but I agree it hasn't been fun to watch, particularly this season, we've been too far off the level required to be anything more than a plucky little side, trying to just hang in there, when in our 2nd season at this level, we should've been kicking on, to try to make ourselves genuinely competitive with every team outside the top ten.

We should've progressed this season, but instead we've regressed.

But if we can rebuild properly, get rid of the awful current recruitment team and replace them with people who actually know what a proper good player looks like, a decent manager who has a bit of tactical nous and who is capable of a bit of out the box thinking when needed, and a much better, more accomplished coaching staff, and give them every chance of succeeding by giving them a highly competitive budget, and providing a proper, well thought out and well planned preseason, then I'd take us returning to this level ASAP.

If we could get promoted with a much better squad than we did last time, and with better foundations to build on at this level than we did last time, then it would be much more enjoyable to be at this level, actually competing.
But we have to get everything right this summer, or we could end up stuck in league one for years again.

I actually think going down could do us good, if we approach it in the right way, and learn from the mistakes we've made whilst at this level, so when we hopefully return, sooner rather than later, we're better prepared.
 
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Its everyone's choice but how anyone can have anything but the first game back against Norwich as their favourite memory I don't know, I was off on holiday early the next morning so did it completely sober but I was buzzing so much of the atmosphere and result that I felt drunk anyway, one of my favourite Oxford games. Like doing coke the high is slightly dampened down the more you do it but that one was special.
 
holdsteady said:
Its everyone's choice but how anyone can have anything but the first game back against Norwich as their favourite memory I don't know, I was off on holiday early the next morning so did it completely sober but I was buzzing so much of the atmosphere and result that I felt drunk anyway, one of my favourite Oxford games. Like doing coke the high is slightly dampened down the more you do it but that one was special.
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Swansea away on the final day of last season for me.

Hands down.

Beers. Sunshine. Bouncing away end. Three goals. All safe in the knowledge that we were all set to do it again (and better) the following season.

🎶 Championship Again Olé Olé 🎶
 
uptheus said:
Players like Dembele, Romeny, Woo, MPH are just not good enough/consistent enough and I’m sure there’s many more.
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Surely too early to write-off Jeon Jin-Woo (to give him his actual name)? He's only made two league starts and four sub appearances. Not long enough to form any kind of true opinion
 
holdsteady said:
But a relagation scrap in the championship doesn't translate to a relagation scrap in league one. Cardiff bounced straight back and Luton and Plymouth are around the play offs.

People keep on about the 25 years but we were owned by Kassam, who did nothing good on the footballing side for us ever, whereas we are now owned by a man who bankrolled us into the championship only recently. Also the time previous to the last relegation, the 1994 one, we bounced back in two years and it was a fun time seeing us play some really good football.

So people are cherry picking to make the worst case scenario, we don't know enough to really guess yet, have to wait and see what sort of team we put together and how quick we can get over the relegation.
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Yep I know what you mean ,but there's no way I'm as gutted & upset at getting relegated, As in times of old..
Way before 1994.. As they say life is full of ups & downs... Hopefully we'll be back & get even higher, that's the six million Dollar question... WHEN??
 
bazzer9461 said:
Wrong! Emakhu is a decent player and was certainly miles better than MPH. Ha can and beat his man take the ball to the byline and get a cross in which is far better the man what we have in the left wing position.
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My Nan would be better than MPH, so not a best comparison for Emakhu, but he has shown a bit more about himself in the last 2 games and I would have definitely started him over MPH last night, based upon their indifferent performances at Derby e.g. Emakhu offered a lot more than MPH did.

In terms of Emakhu, I haven’t been a fan of his, but in these last 2 games he has showed more potential, but the jury still out for me.
 
Boris said:
Surely too early to write-off Jeon Jin-Woo (to give him his actual name)? He's only made two league starts and four sub appearances. Not long enough to form any kind of true opinion
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Just lacks the basics for me Boris e.g. touch, movement, strength etc, but we’ll see I guess.
 
SirAndyOfCrosby said:
Swansea away on the final day of last season for me.

Hands down.

Beers. Sunshine. Bouncing away end. Three goals. All safe in the knowledge that we were all set to do it again (and better) the following season.

🎶 Championship Again Olé Olé 🎶
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Yeah that was fun. Bristol City and Leicester away this season also awesome. And there have been some great home games with top atmospheres too.

Sure, there will be fun games in whatever league we're in. But below this level there is too much expectation to succeed, so people become angry every game we don't win. Beating Stevenage 1-0 at home in L1 is not particularly fun, it's a minimum expectation. And a draw feels like a loss. Beating Watford or West Brom 1-0 at home in the Championship is hugely enjoyable. And a draw feels ok. The highs feel much higher when you have to trawl through a few losses to get to them. And regularly playing in front (and being part) of 25,000+ crowds? Yes please.

Not that I'm too angry about going down - we thoroughly deserve it this season. No-one sets out to be relegated, and it's always gutting when it happens, but it hasn't happened to us for 20 years, and now it's our turn again. That's football for a club our size - occasional promotions and relegations. I bloody hope we get back to this level before too long though. And that is not a given by any stretch.
 
Boris said:
I'd love it if Stevenage beat Bolton 2-0 in the play-off final
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The way they treated us as away fans at our first away game there in the Conference, coupled with the fact they only brought 86 fans that time when they were flying high (comparatively for them), has always given me an irrational dislike of Stevenage. And it's bloody Stevenage - the most soulless place imaginable. It depresses me to think we'll be in the same division as them next season. To be below them would be positively nauseating!
 
holdsteady said:
Its a very small sample size but movement? Seems to cover a lot of ground and his touch looks ok.
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Players can run and run, but if you’re not making the right runs then it can all be in vain and quite tiring.

There’s are certain bunch of fans on here who constantly stick their heads in the sand believing all is great e.g. all signings are great, all managers know what they’re doing etc, but the truth is, Rowett was shite, Robinson was okay for the first few years, but we kept him too long after the shinnanigans etc. The club management and a number of players have under-delivered this season with fundamental mistakes (that we don’t tend to learn from).

I will be absolutely staggered if we make a good fist of it next season in League One, but we should. The 3 teams that went down last season have made a good account of themselves eventually, with one getting automatic promotion (Cardiff) and the other 2 making a late push for the play offs after poor starts.

Reading who have gone through a lot in the last season or two off the field (managers leaving, transfer embargoes etc) have even made a good account of themselves under those circumstances e.g. nearly making the play offs, but I know if we were in that position we’d be fighting relegation, mainly because we have certain fans who talk us into these situations e.g. well, what do you expect in our situation, transfer embargoes, low budget, income, this player’s good when he clearly isn’t, saying manager’s are good when they’re making fundamental mistakes etc.

We’re too bloody accepting/nice. Even when you listen to Radio Oxford e.g. argh well, it was good whilst it lasted, and it was 2 seasons rather than one etc. And saying stuff throughout the season like, Rowett will turn it around when it was as clear as day is day and night is night he wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great service with Jerome and the team etc, but we need to be more real sometimes. It’s like when Nathan asks a question to the respective manager e.g. what do you think went wrong tonight Matt, was it just a bridge too far, players being tired after Saturday etc, so gives him an out/closed question which inevitably he just agrees. Yeah, Saturday took it out of us (even though we didn’t turn up in the first half in both games!). So instead of just saying, what went wrong tonight Matt? Wait for the response/answer. Do you think it worked playing Brannagan in the no.10 role etc. Just straight open ended questions which they truly have to answer rather than giving them an out!

I’m saying the above because we have to be more real with ourselves. Did we know it was going to be hard this season, yes. But did we truly give it a go, let the shackles off etc, no. I think there were games this season, whereby, if we had gone at teams, especially at home, then I think we would have picked up more points and survived.

I said at the start of this season that I hope we don’t suffer 2nd season syndrome, but unfortunately it looks like we have.

Await the responses from Foley, Jericho, Banbury, potentially SE/normal crew!! Sorry guys! Edit; Chris on a bike!!

ps I hope I haven’t written/vented all this and we end up staying up, but I’d be pretty dam happy if we did!
 
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ZeroTheHero said:
Interesting. Unfortunately the squad also lacks the speed for breakaways and the accuracy for set pieces!
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The word 'athletism' also cropped up, as I can now recall. So the lack of pace/speed is very true.
Set pieces are just appalling. No intricate movement, no clever changes to the norm. It's almost as if we didn't have a set piece coach?
 
Kernow Yellow said:
Yeah that was fun. Bristol City and Leicester away this season also awesome. And there have been some great home games with top atmospheres too.

Sure, there will be fun games in whatever league we're in. But below this level there is too much expectation to succeed, so people become angry every game we don't win. Beating Stevenage 1-0 at home in L1 is not particularly fun, it's a minimum expectation. And a draw feels like a loss. Beating Watford or West Brom 1-0 at home in the Championship is hugely enjoyable. And a draw feels ok. The highs feel much higher when you have to trawl through a few losses to get to them. And regularly playing in front (and being part) of 25,000+ crowds? Yes please.

Not that I'm too angry about going down - we thoroughly deserve it this season. No-one sets out to be relegated, and it's always gutting when it happens, but it hasn't happened to us for 20 years, and now it's our turn again. That's football for a club our size - occasional promotions and relegations. I bloody hope we get back to this level before too long though. And that is not a given by any stretch.
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Do we still want to be a top 30 club!

When we beat West Brom and Blackburn at home and their fans turned against the team/management, a number of people on here were saying that because of this we were in a better place to escape relegation as we were still happy clapping poor performances/selections/systems. Almost as though we are too scared to provide, say, constructive criticism in the only way we cam e.g. by showing disapproval of what has been delivered.

Yes, by all means support the team etc when they’re playing, but at half time or more so after the final whistle I think it’s acceptable to show your dissatisfaction.

We also hear that players are giving it their all, but I’ve seen players e.g. MPH and Donley to a certain extent who haven’t given it their all. I watched Donley play for Northern Ireland and saw him giving it his all, but I truly can say that in the last 4 or 5 games he hasn’t. Players like Sam Long or Brannagan who may be not the most technical of players (not Brannagan) have given it their all.
 
Swinny said:
Grateful to Bloomfield to getting us to this point and still somehow having a (massively unlikely) chance of staying up considering how desperate things looked when he joined…but…

It’s Luton again really - nearly, but not quite - and I don’t want us to go into next season knowing that he’s not all that at L1 level either.

If the (almost) inevitable happens then I hope we are brave and look elsewhere, as well as letting Short and Hackett etc go so that we make a real go of learning our lessons and looking to get back within a season or 2 with a proper plan.

Tonight was miserable - the season in microcosm as Jerome said - but that selection and those tactics just don’t sit well for me in the context of a literal must win game. I’d much rather have lost that 2-3 knowing we’d had a go but been undone by a better side, but yet again we’ve rolled over and let an average side take all the points without even really having to try.
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Fully agree that Short and Hackett really need to be moved on, taking Bloomfield with them🤡
Give Ed Waldron a final written warning!
 
TailsWeWin said:
Parkinson : “Oxford surprised us a bit and sat off us and let us have the ball.”
And there you have it. The most important game of the season to WIN and we revert to defence.
Astonishing
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We've been doing that for weeks. They didn't really hurt us for all their possession, did they? Helik just decided to be really s**t for a bit for their goal.

It's a tactic that has worked well for us, so don't come slagging it off now, John.
 
Very disappointing night yesterday. Once again we did not play well and both Long and Brannagan had their worst games at this level. Longy was very sloppy and Cam really couldn’t settle playing higher up the pitch. Some wayward moments on the ball really culminated into a poor display but other players have had far worse games over the course of the season.

Credit to Emakhu who came on and should’ve been MOTM. Fantastic effort and looked very dangerous aside from one careless pass. I would start him over Peary-Harris on Saturday for the hell of it.
 
TailsWeWin said:
Parkinson : “Oxford surprised us a bit and sat off us and let us have the ball.”
And there you have it. The most important game of the season to WIN and we revert to defence.
Astonishing
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Where’s the likes/thumbs up from the ‘everything’ is rosey fans? Don’t like to admit the truth, even though the opposition manager makes the comment?

Bet they’ll say it was good tactics by Bloomfield as it caught them off guard. Yeah right, rather looked like it bothered them, especially with them dominating the first half and essentially controlling a game that we needed to win!
 
East Stand Fan said:
Very disappointing night yesterday. Once again we did not play well and both Long and Brannagan had their worst games at this level. Longy was very sloppy and Cam really couldn’t settle playing higher up the pitch. Some wayward moments on the ball really culminated into a poor display but other players have had far worse games over the course of the season.

Credit to Emakhu who came on and should’ve been MOTM. Fantastic effort and looked very dangerous aside from one careless pass. I would start him over Peary-Harris on Saturday for the hell of it.
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Not for the hell of it, because MPH played poorly again and Emakhu played better.
 
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