Away Match Day Thread 23/12/2023 L1: Northampton Town v OUFC

[Carpy]

Another 3 points would be very welcome!

COYY

 

[Banbury2018]

Don’t expect a response, he’s gone, some strange folk in Northampton

I didn’t expect one to be fair as the facts don’t lie!!

 

[Eric Blair]

Sounded like a good game to miss.,The Rafio Northampton commentators,( why don’t we get Rad Ox on the audio stream), were making their team out to be as feted as Holland 1974; excrutiating broadcasting.

Several of our best players remain injured and that’s having an impact.

We’d have all taken 5th at Christmas at the beginning of the season though so this gnashing of teeth, (booing players!?) is frankly a bit pathetic.

Completely agree on not booing players. How does that help? Just gets everyone more pressured and feeling more negative

 

[Eric Blair]

In 2023 we've gone from what has been described as chaos management with a lack of tactics/instructions/favouritism to a very planned/drilled regime with plenty of staff to the change to Des someone who has no staff, of his own. The players don't know if they're coming or going. Let's judge at the end of the season, suffice to say this last few weeks has put me in one of those very dark football moods

Preach. I’m with you on all of that

 

[werthersoriginal]

Completely agree on not booing players. How does that help? Just gets everyone more pressured and feeling more negative

Who would boo their own players when we’re fifth?? Just babies who can’t cope with adversity

 

[behindthegoal]

DB, needs time, as we know,
January will be vital .
If it all goes tits up for him by the end of the season, I wonder who on here will own up to voting for him?

 

[Scrongo]

Come on everyone, did people seriously think we were 100% promotion certainties.
I didn't I'm not delusional, Christmas the New year was when I was going to see where we are. Well to me it looks like mid table at the moment.
A couple of big wins at Christmas could change the dynamics.
I wouldn't be surprised if it went all pear shaped though.. oh well I'll still be there , 56th year supporting the U's..

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

Too many hopes being pinned on the 'assistant manager-in-waiting' here.

This isn't an anti-Buckingham post by any stretch, but we've recruited a new manager from a large pool of excellent candidates for a highly desirable job and massive opportunity.

If said manager is entirely reliant on some guidance from an individual  beneath him then for me it completely undermines the quality of that recruitment.

Des should be doing better, regardless of the team around him and a handful of injuries.

 

[Scrongo]

Yes this No 2 situation ,is absolutely bizzarre. Never known anything like it, strange ...

 

[Niconamur]

From what I saw on I follow ( live ), we didn't want to win. I've the impression we played with the handbrake ( again ).

At 1-1, we had the game in hand and with a little desire the game was to catch ! It's more or less a copy paste with the Reading game .

Rodriguez didn't bring his usual flair and Harris pffff. I've to be fair, I like his work rate but at the end of the day, he is paid to score. Don't need to speak about those 2 silly fouls from O Donkor at the end of the game....I don't understand why he came in ??

For Buckingham, like a lot of fans, I give him some credit because the situation is not easy . He inherited a team from someone else ( we were 2nd ), and he has to deal with injuries. But sorry even with that available team, he has to do better...Maybe giving more freedom to the players , I mean they've to play without thinking too much. They've to go forward !!

As fans, we've also to be realistic. With the sports situation 2 months ago , we were on the moon ( we were second, the plans of the new stadium are there,..). So maybe we've put a higher expectation in this positivity ? And going back the feet on the ground can hurt. We'll see at the end of the season

But that strange situation won't stop me from coming to the Charlton away game ( all the way from Belgium ) !

COYY

 

[ZeroTheHero]

I'm not sure we are playing 'with the handbrake on' in any sort of deliberate way. I think we have painted ourselves into a corner by playing the way we do with the personnel we have. Playing this way is fairly dull much of the time - and it looks bloody awful if it isn't generating results. Sat there yesterday watching Moore standing there immobile with the ball at his feet while the rest of the outfield players just looked at him was excruciating.

 

[McXal]

Our so-called 'injury crisis' is a weak excuse, made by the usual suspects.

With respect, I’m not sure that’s totally fair. Every team in this league would miss a fullback of Leigh’s quality. He is a game changer - athletic, pacey, able to positively influence the game at both ends of the pitch AND outstanding in the air.

Similarly (and admittedly their fitness has been patchy) Buckingham is managing a team shorn of almost ANY game changers at the top end of the pitch. Edwards and Browne are two of our most potent x-factors, and both haven’t been fit for weeks. We’ve not had an adequate striker all season.

The argument that the spine of the team is intact therefore we shouldn’t be leaking stupid goals and should at the very least be drawing games 0-0 (or winning by scrappy goals to nil) is fair. But I don’t think it’s fair to criticise Buckingham’s playing style when we basically have no attackers. We’ve got woeful striking options, none of whom would be close to the starting line-up of any other ‘promotion challengers’. Our only wide options are a young PL kid in his first ever loan, a talented teenager and Murphy who is proven as only fit enough to play an impact sub role (and has excelled there this season, and immediately become an injury concern when we’ve asked him to start/play for longer).

We had a great start, and Manning was doing a great job. But he destabilised everything by leaving, and the squad was already only one transfer window into what was always going to be a 2-3 window transition to repair the damage from the final 18 months of Robinson. What we’re seeing is a pretty realistic reflection of where the squad is at. It’s frustrating - but if we can get 5-6 points from the rest of our festive fixtures we’ll be in and around the playoff pack.

It is CRITICAL that we’re poised to sign a striker quickly though, and we aren’t waiting around for most of January’s games ‘for the best players to become available’. Wait until the end of Jan and we really could be some way adrift.

 

[ChamonixOx]

Whatever you thought about Northampton before the three posters, two things are now clear. Firstly, like the scum, there is clearly far too much interbreeding going on there, and secondly, they have a one-sided rivalry with us (along with Cheltenham and Wycombe). Quite funny the latter really. Ignoring the sick user name of one, they’ve cheered us up with their funny, petulant rants (being a small time team that has and never will win anything of note).

 

[Jim Hall Fixit]

Have you actually read this thread?

Not much sign of delusion or arrogance, just the realisation that things aren’t going well at the moment, magnified by the fact that on todays showing we have lost against a poor side.

Anyway, enjoy your Christmas. Hope Santa brings you lots of goodies.

User name is a bit sick by the way.

Pre match there was 69 that voted.
Only 4 believed there would be a HOME win!

Arrogance, delusional or positive thinkers. It’s Christmas so I’ve changed my mind and I’m going for the later.
Have a good one Yellows.

PS Jim Hall was one of our finest strikers and regularly fixed it for us on a Saturday afternoon- you may not have registered his existence … being non-league at the time.

 

[Oxford84]

Too many hopes being pinned on the 'assistant manager-in-waiting' here.

This isn't an anti-Buckingham post by any stretch, but we've recruited a new manager from a large pool of excellent candidates for a highly desirable job and massive opportunity.

If said manager is entirely reliant on some guidance from an individual  beneath him then for me it completely undermines the quality of that recruitment.

Des should be doing better, regardless of the team around him and a handful of injuries.

Havent got a forward though have we?

Im pretty sure that if we had one of the better forwards in this division, we wouldve scored more goals won a few more games and at the very least given the opposition something to think about.
Even when Harris does get a chance he misses it.

 

[Oxford84]

Pre match there was 69 that voted.
Only 4 believed there would be a HOME win!

Arrogance, delusional or positive thinkers. It’s Christmas so I’ve changed my mind and I’m going for the later.
Have a good one Yellows.

PS Jim Hall was one of our finest strikers and regularly fixed it for us on a Saturday afternoon- you may not have registered his existence … being non-league at the time.

We hadnt won for 17 games last season and people still voted wed win games, i on the other hand always vote we lose every game. It means f**k all.

 

[Oxford84]

Pre match there was 69 that voted.
Only 4 believed there would be a HOME win!

Arrogance, delusional or positive thinkers. It’s Christmas so I’ve changed my mind and I’m going for the later.
Have a good one Yellows.

PS Jim Hall was one of our finest strikers and regularly fixed it for us on a Saturday afternoon- you may not have registered his existence … being non-league at the time.

Is it just the 3 seasons in your entire history that youve been above what is now league 1?

 

[Banbury2018]

Pre match there was 69 that voted.
Only 4 believed there would be a HOME win!

Arrogance, delusional or positive thinkers. It’s Christmas so I’ve changed my mind and I’m going for the later.
Have a good one Yellows.

PS Jim Hall was one of our finest strikers and regularly fixed it for us on a Saturday afternoon- you may not have registered his existence … being non-league at the time.

Out of interest what seasons are they?

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Pre match there was 69 that voted.
Only 4 believed there would be a HOME win!

Arrogance, delusional or positive thinkers. It’s Christmas so I’ve changed my mind and I’m going for the later.
Have a good one Yellows.

PS Jim Hall was one of our finest strikers and regularly fixed it for us on a Saturday afternoon- you may not have registered his existence … being non-league at the time.

Bloody hell, for a team who don't like us, you lot do seem to like coming over to this forum!

 

[Oxford84]

Out of interest what seasons are they?

good point.it was when we were a league club in both of his spells with Northampton!

 

[Dolly 51]

Only a couple of months ago we had a squad that was really strong and players not even making the bench that made us think wow we are on a journey. Suddenly injuries to a couple of standouts in Leigh and ???? (No one else really) And we are down to the bare bones.

Long is not good enough in a League One top half side, Browne great on his day but hardly ever plays so don’t consider him a regular and a huge miss, Edwards great for a couple of games but another we’ve rarely seen, Bodin decent League one player but slow and hardly an outstanding must be in the starting 11 player (tho decent squad back up), Negru again decent squad back up but not first choice ?? and Woltman who knows, but can’t consider him a miss as never seen enough evidence of whether there is a quality player ready now for the team or not.

Basically we need more steel, strength and power throughout the side, pretty tip tappy football at the back gets us nowhere and we have a general weakness against any teams of substance and strength. We have had the same old problems for years and nothing changes. We set up the same regardless of the opposition and have gameplan A and no other alternative or answer in the squad or coaching mentality to be any different. We just don’t have enough physicality in the side or the squad in general, we always look smaller and weaker than the opposition, and yes we deliver when the conditions prevail but when the going gets tough we simply don’t get going!

It hurts to say it but it’s fact!

When we and most sides play tippy tippy football from the back. Have you noticed the opposition doesn't have the ball?