Home Match Day Thread 22/11/2025 - MDT: OUFC v Middlesbrough

[Northstandboy]

 

[BicesterU]

View attachment 32053
I have just noticed that we are ‘top’ of the fair play table (least amount of cards for this season). I wonder if anyone more clued up than me with these things can analyse why this might be, and if this is good, bad, a result of being the ‘smallest team’? Or just a complete fluke…..

I'd be interested to see this against a fouls committed league table. Feels to me like we get twice any many given against us as we do for us. But there may be a certain amount of bias involved there!

 

[Jster]

I'd be interested to see this against a fouls committed league table. Feels to me like we get twice any many given against us as we do for us. But there may be a certain amount of bias involved there!

Interestingly, according to fbref, we've had exactly the same number of fouls given for us as against us this season, namely 172. It places us tenth highest in the division in both. Given we're 24th for bookings, either refs have been particularly lenient to us, or more likely we commit a lot of niggly fouls but not many bad ones.

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

Thought the atmosphere from our fans was very poor. Always start off fairly well, but fades away after 10-15mins!!

Getting nearly as bad as England fans who only seem to be able to sing the National Anthem!!!

It was fine but the start of the second half is always deathly quiet, why are so many people so late back?!

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

View attachment 32053
I have just noticed that we are ‘top’ of the fair play table (least amount of cards for this season). I wonder if anyone more clued up than me with these things can analyse why this might be, and if this is good, bad, a result of being the ‘smallest team’? Or just a complete fluke…..

Too nice or can't get near them?!

I think its the latter, given the superior athleticism of the opposition they can easily blast away from our lads.

 

[DanC]

Thought it was a decent performance yesterday, all things considered. I thought Boro looked decent, yet we kept them to not too much threat.

Funny old day. Got absolutely drenched pre-match and was slowly freezing to death during the game.

Did a lot of touting of the podcast in the East Stand concourse before the game. Was lovely to meet so many people who watch/listen to our pod already, and to try to convince a few others to give us a go. If you haven't tried us, please do. We do topical and noastalgic chat.

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

Too nice or can't get near them?!

Both Shemmy and Vaulks had ample opportunity to be shown (what would have been) sensible yellow cards yesterday in the 54th minute. Had either done so, we may well have won that game.

That's probably your answer.

 

[Malc]

It was fine but the start of the second half is always deathly quiet, why are so many people so late back?!

Still queing for the gold-plated loo under the london road stand?

 

[dabigfella]

Try being enthusiastic when you are being battered by torrential rain and the football ain't all thatgood

 

[Trevor L]

We can never hear it in the SSU, Rosie always sounds like the muffled announcer at the station!

It's inaudible to me in SSL too, loud but mostly inaudible. One of the many useless features of the Grenoble road dump.

 

[uptheus]

b*****s.
Where were you in the ground?
From the east stand I always felt that at the right times the crowd were doing their best to get the team going.

SSU halfway line.

Not saying the crowd weren’t trying to get behind the team, but the atmosphere wasn’t loud. Yes, there were a couple of times the atmosphere got louder e.g. for the first 5-10min, but I actually said to son I thought the atmosphere would have been better today, especially after the break, plus playing a team near the top etc.

 

[uptheus]

Same from the North Stand. Cannot fathom why we have about 50 singers in the East Stand and the rest are basically happy clappers

We have the least passionate set of home supporters I think I can remember, which if appalling considering the position we find ourselves in.

Ps. The only reason we're not in the East Stand contributing is because I have two young boys who wanted to get season tickets in the family stand.
That said, I reckon my eldest son and I are more vocal than at least 50% of those in the East Stand.

Where has our hardcore support gone?

I even tried to get the singing going in the SSU at one point!!

 

[carefreeoufc]

SSU halfway line.

Not saying the crowd weren’t trying to get behind the team, but the atmosphere wasn’t loud. Yes, there were a couple of times the atmosphere got louder e.g. for the first 5-10min, but I actually said to son I thought the atmosphere would have been better today, especially after the break, plus playing a team near the top etc.

Alright Grant! We were trying our best

 

[uptheus]

Alright Grant! We were trying our best

I couldn’t sit next to Tim!!

 

[Yellowarmy]

Accusing Tyler of being lazy when he hasn't played for months shows a clear lack of football knowledge. He needs match fitness and match minutes to sharpen up. Not his fault. Really is lack of very basic football knowledge to expect any different

 

[holdsteady]

Accusing Tyler of being lazy when he hasn't played for months shows a clear lack of football knowledge. He needs match fitness and match minutes to sharpen up. Not his fault. Really is lack of very basic football knowledge to expect any different

He hasn’t been training? What was the reason for his poor start to the season then when he was playing?

I would say the almost blind, he’s one of our own, type support that Goodrham gets shows less football knowledge. Always a reason for him not performing, from becoming a dad, played out of position, not playing enough, being to young, playing to much.

He’s not performed for getting on for a year now, rather than excuses he just needs to improve and justify being selected.

 

[90syeIlow]

He hasn’t been training? What was the reason for his poor start to the season then when he was playing?

I would say the almost blind, he’s one of our own, type support that Goodrham gets shows less football knowledge. Always a reason for him not performing, from becoming a dad, played out of position, not playing enough, being to young, playing to much.

He’s not performed for getting on for a year now, rather than excuses he just needs to improve and justify being selected.

Yep.

If he was being rushed back from injury then you could make an argument for his lack of fitness and sharpness, however he's not been overplayed and has continued training so it's really not a valid excuse for yet another mediocre performance.

 

[Ipad1977]

Boro fan here, but a pretty reasonable one I like to think. More Fmttm than COB or OneBoro anyway.

Tbf I thought Rowett set his gameplan out well and he'd done his homework. When sides sit deep, they tend to fare better against us. The likes of Brum, Ipswich and Millwall have tried going toe to toe with us and ended up getting beaten.

Our achilles heel is the fact that unlike our previous three seasons, when we had first Akpom, then the emergence of Morgan Rogers, followed by Azaz last season, we don't have a player who can play the number 10 role to any degree of excellence. Hackney for all his talent is a number 8. Therefore we have nothing to provide the final service to the number 9 which means they're often feeding off scraps.

When teams sit deep against us and park the bus, hoping for a quick counter once in a while, we often lack the ability to pierce the defence as often as we should because of the absence of this crucial piece of the jigsaw.

When teams play an open game against us, hoping to take us on at football, complete with tempo, press and quick fluid passing they often come unstick as we do at least have a fairly solid defence and can normally completely dominate the midfield. Them being more open gives us space to get in and have more shots from better areas. It remains to be seen what Cov will set out like against us on Tuesday tbh, though I have a feeling if they go toe to toe with us we may come unstuck for the first time this season against such a strategy.

With no number 10, our chance creation is dependant on either a longer ball from midfield OR a cross from the flanks amd it is here that our two wingers in this instance, Burgzorg and Whittaker have been thus lacking so far. Whittaker (as I've read comments about him on here) could well be one of the stand out performers in our side under Gordon Strachan over a decade ago, but for a side that is making it's aim to be promoted to the Premier league, his delivery is often woeful with such crosses, certainly not thus far in the bracket of a £6m acquisition. Would I get rid? No, buthe needs to be found another role, or rather we need to create more outlets from the centre (getting a number 10) or at the very least he needs serious practice with his crosses. Burgzorg for his part can beat a man, has the physical attributes to withstand barges etc, but his decision making is often poor when bearing down on the box, to our detriment.

As such Conway, Strelec, Sene (whoever is playing the number 9 role) is often starved of service to a sufficient degree. Fortunately we also have defenders amd midfielders who can shoot, which is why coupled with our pretty firm defence and quick passing control in the midfield we get results more than not

This is the main reason why we need space to exploit more often at the back.

As for the referee's performance, it seems that the standard of officiating in the championship leaves a lot to be desired. We've so many stone-wall penalties turned down this season that we're practically used to it tbh. FWIW I think that your goalscorer was lucky to still be on the pitch and we should have had a penalty given, however I also believe that you were entitled to a couple of free kicks that you didn't get.

I think Rowett deserves an enormous amount of credit for the way he approached the game and your side in general for the way they stuck to it. It may not have been the prettiest to watch, but it was the strategy that was most likely to get something from the game for you, and it did.


Oh and no Boro fan believes we have a divine right to be in the top flight. It's true we've been in it more than any other division in our nearly 150 years, and whilst I can only remember 2 of our 3 best periods (the 90s with Ravanelli, Juninho Emerson, etc & the 00s which in my opinion were actually our greatest era rather than the previous one as we had stelrength right through the side, Big Jack's years in the mid to late 70s were a bit beyond me) no side "deserves" to be there, they have to earn it which as we can testify firsthand isn't easy!

Still we keep trying for the chance to get our ar$es handed to us on a plate most weeks!

Good luck for the rest of the season, except when you play us at the Ruverside obviously! I'd quite like to see Oxford stay up again as you're what I'd call a proper club and have only had positive experiences from meeting your fans at the Riverside. Oh and I'd rather the Blades go down first and foremost, but thats a Boro thing because we tend to dislike Wilder. At least Wednesday seem to be taking one of the slots up this year, a bit like Wolves in the Prem. We've been where you are now, so can identify perfectly with that particular battle, and far worse besides (we actually ceased to exist in 86 before an almost teenage looking Steve Gibson was part of a consortium that stepped in and bought us in the 11th hour, having to then fight our way back up from what is now League One.)

 

[90syeIlow]

Boro fan here, but a pretty reasonable one I like to think. More Fmttm than COB or OneBoro anyway.

Tbf I thought Rowett set his gameplan out well and he'd done his homework. When sides sit deep, they tend to fare better against us. The likes of Brum, Ipswich and Millwall have tried going toe to toe with us and ended up getting beaten.

Our achilles heel is the fact that unlike our previous three seasons, when we had first Akpom, then the emergence of Morgan Rogers, followed by Azaz last season, we don't have a player who can play the number 10 role to any degree of excellence. Hackney for all his talent is a number 8. Therefore we have nothing to provide the final service to the number 9 which means they're often feeding off scraps.

When teams sit deep against us and park the bus, hoping for a quick counter once in a while, we often lack the ability to pierce the defence as often as we should because of the absence of this crucial piece of the jigsaw.

When teams play an open game against us, hoping to take us on at football, complete with tempo, press and quick fluid passing they often come unstick as we do at least have a fairly solid defence and can normally completely dominate the midfield. Them being more open gives us space to get in and have more shots from better areas. It remains to be seen what Cov will set out like against us on Tuesday tbh, though I have a feeling if they go toe to toe with us we may come unstuck for the first time this season against such a strategy.

With no number 10, our chance creation is dependant on either a longer ball from midfield OR a cross from the flanks amd it is here that our two wingers in this instance, Burgzorg and Whittaker have been thus lacking so far. Whittaker (as I've read comments about him on here) could well be one of the stand out performers in our side under Gordon Strachan over a decade ago, but for a side that is making it's aim to be promoted to the Premier league, his delivery is often woeful with such crosses, certainly not thus far in the bracket of a £6m acquisition. Would I get rid? No, buthe needs to be found another role, or rather we need to create more outlets from the centre (getting a number 10) or at the very least he needs serious practice with his crosses. Burgzorg for his part can beat a man, has the physical attributes to withstand barges etc, but his decision making is often poor when bearing down on the box, to our detriment.

As such Conway, Strelec, Sene (whoever is playing the number 9 role) is often starved of service to a sufficient degree. Fortunately we also have defenders amd midfielders who can shoot, which is why coupled with our pretty firm defence and quick passing control in the midfield we get results more than not

This is the main reason why we need space to exploit more often at the back.

As for the referee's performance, it seems that the standard of officiating in the championship leaves a lot to be desired. We've so many stone-wall penalties turned down this season that we're practically used to it tbh. FWIW I think that your goalscorer was lucky to still be on the pitch and we should have had a penalty given, however I also believe that you were entitled to a couple of free kicks that you didn't get.

I think Rowett deserves an enormous amount of credit for the way he approached the game and your side in general for the way they stuck to it. It may not have been the prettiest to watch, but it was the strategy that was most likely to get something from the game for you, and it did.


Oh and no Boro fan believes we have a divine right to be in the top flight. It's true we've been in it more than any other division in our nearly 150 years, and whilst I can only remember 2 of our 3 best periods (the 90s with Ravanelli, Juninho Emerson, etc & the 00s which in my opinion were actually our greatest era rather than the previous one as we had stelrength right through the side, Big Jack's years in the mid to late 70s were a bit beyond me) no side "deserves" to be there, they have to earn it which as we can testify firsthand isn't easy!

Still we keep trying for the chance to get our ar$es handed to us on a plate most weeks!

Good luck for the rest of the season, except when you play us at the Ruverside obviously! I'd quite like to see Oxford stay up again as you're what I'd call a proper club and have only had positive experiences from meeting your fans at the Riverside. Oh and I'd rather the Blades go down first and foremost, but thats a Boro thing because we tend to dislike Wilder. At least Wednesday seem to be taking one of the slots up this year, a bit like Wolves in the Prem. We've been where you are now, so can identify perfectly with that particular battle, and far worse besides (we actually ceased to exist in 86 before an almost teenage looking Steve Gibson was part of a consortium that stepped in and bought us in the 11th hour, having to then fight our way back up from what is now League One.)

Informative and well written, thank you.

 

[Discoland]

Same from the North Stand. Cannot fathom why we have about 50 singers in the East Stand and the rest are basically happy clappers

50 is generous based on yesterday.

Thought official attendance looked a little high, a lot of space in blocks 19 and 20 compared to usual, midweek and weather not helping. Hopefully better on Friday.

 

[bazzer9461]

On my way into the east stand yesterday a steward was asking a few younger looking people if they were 18/whether they were with an adult? Is that a thing now? You can’t attend matches on your own as an under 18?

Yes I saw that I was sent into the other gate but the ticket booked only did their tickets and wasn’t interested really rude bloke

 

[m]

Points at home aren’t good enough and speaking to Boro fans they have said they are in a false position and should be about midtable.

Yeah, but what if you were speaking to a Boro equivalent of yourself?

 

[Eric Blair]

Krastev showed what we were missing when Tyler came off. He is skilful, can find space, has a lovely touch and the ability to create chances IF he is played centrally. Surely he’s worth trying in the no 10 role? He’s the nearest thing we have to Ruben R as someone who has vision - just a little quicker in his thinking.

The comparison to Ruben is a good one I think. I’d like him tried in a 10 and then Dembele on the left and Mills on the right:

 

[Manorlounger]

I couldn’t sit next to Tim!!

I can recall, in the last days of KR, that we both did try but were thwarted by his security goons glaring at us. (and, in my case, Mrs L yanking on my kiddie reins and threatening me with the loss of all privileges!)

 

[JOHN BOY]

View attachment 32053
I have just noticed that we are ‘top’ of the fair play table (least amount of cards for this season). I wonder if anyone more clued up than me with these things can analyse why this might be, and if this is good, bad, a result of being the ‘smallest team’? Or just a complete fluke…..

Sometimes I think we are not cynical enough.when we played Stoke how many times did they bring Dembele down?

 

[Bicester Yellow]

Yeah, but what if you were speaking to a Boro equivalent of yourself?

Spoke to about 5 different ones who said the same thing.

They can’t all be wrong.

 

[Bicester Yellow]

He hasn’t been training? What was the reason for his poor start to the season then when he was playing?

I would say the almost blind, he’s one of our own, type support that Goodrham gets shows less football knowledge. Always a reason for him not performing, from becoming a dad, played out of position, not playing enough, being to young, playing to much.

He’s not performed for getting on for a year now, rather than excuses he just needs to improve and justify being selected.

Spot on, but then our fanbase makes excuses for some and vilify others.

He’s just not good enough and imo doesn’t work hard enough. That comes down to lack of work ethic.

 

[Oxford84]

Luke Harris should have been sent off if you want to split hairs.

Won the ball easily, which is why Rowett said after the game that it shouldnt have even been a yellow.

 

[Oxford84]

Also he barely tracked back and left Currie exposed on numerous occasions while slowly jogging back into position, Working hard & supporting your team mate doesn’t require you to have skill, it requires you to have the work ethic to get stuck in and help the team, Goodrham doesn’t have that.

Think that was tactical. Rowett sorted that at half time which is why Middlesbrough had less joy down our left in the second half.

Was watching Tylers position all through the first half and he placed himself in area which allowed Middlesbrough to just pass around him and leave him yards away from helping Currie out, although he did sprint back to help.

 

[Common Villager]

Had three Boro fans sat in the same row as me in SSL yesterday - to be fair they were well behaved (ish) and respectful (ish), no colours on show

When we went one up I suggested in their general direction 'good goal that was', and got a grudging agreement from one of them
When they equalised, they didnt celebrate, though one of them suggested to me 'that was a good goal wasnt it'- much to my youngest granddaughters amusement, I responded Nah, not really, it was s**t defending

There were four or five Boro fans in the SSU section behind the Executive Boxes who openly celebrated their goal. It really pisses me off I don't think there's any other ground in the country where you would feel comfortable doing so (I certainly wouldn't do the same at the Riverside). I tried to report them to the stewards (I don't want them kicked out, I just wanted them to be warned not to celebrate as, if they had scored a winner, I'm not sure I would've been able to bit my tongue again), but the steward I spoke to didn't seem to understand what I was saying (English wasn't his first language) and nothing seemed to happen. I've reported it to the club on multiple occasions but the club don't seem to take it seriously.

It happens week in, week out and is bloody frustrating, especially as we sit in the so-called 'Premium' SSU section. We shouldn't have to put up with opposition fans celebrating around us. As I say, if they are respectful and sit on their hands when their team scores (as is standard protocol all over the country), I don't mind, but far too often that doesn't happen.

If you want home and away fans to sit amongst each other and be able to celebrate openly, go to the rugby.

 

[Oxford84]

Rowett can only dream of Boro’s wingers. Both quick, unselfish and physically dwarfed our full backs, although I felt Currie did as much as could be asked. Long struggled and got done by the same skill 3 times in under 10 minutes - but we know by now he is weak 1vs1 and is a centre back so it’s nothing new. Not his fault we have no other options currently.

Mills is the only wide player we have with any physicality and power. His end product is mixed but at least the ball does find its way in to the box with him unlike all the other options. For me, at the moment, he has to play.

What a difference they would make to our team if we had the 2 Middlesbrough wingers.