+++ 25/09/2019 League Cup OUFC V West Ham United +++

[bazzer9461]

Wow well what can one say YYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS
Anyway that’s enough, what a game what we can’t do that having rested players after Saturdays thumping of Lincoln and yes worried and thought we may lose by a couple especially after their result against Manchester UTD. Should have had a bit more belief I think.

I was concerned in the first half that our full backs and midfield were being dragged in and there wingers were being left unmarked and on a couple of occasions near 1, 2’s but we coped.
2nd half what was that all about, we weren’t supposed to do that as Nick Harris said Moore turned on a sixpence and bang 1-0 well taken and looks strong.
Then Matty Taylor came on and in the right place and bang no 2 and he’s opened his account at home.
Then a player that a few wondered about in pre season scores a hat-trick against Lincoln how could he top that? Well their defender slipped and he didn’t miss an opportunity raced clear but being chased rounded the keeper and bang no 3.
Then and boy was it worth watching and keep re-watching one of our own Shannon Baptiste who deserves the MOM ( it has already been announced) but dribbled the ball and shot and bang no 4.

what a transformation this team has been more of the same please, Gillingham next and you can see the Farman and his prick of a side kick saying go in hard lads and you will win, but I have full confidence that whatever the team is on Saturday they will perform and do their thing.

oh I hadn’t forgot another clean sheet for the U’s well done Easty and what a fantastic to draw save near the end of the game.

 

[Scotchegg]

What an incredible performance!

Where do I start?!?

Baptiste was unbelievable, completely bossed the midfield with great tackling, passing, and driving forward with the ball, and that goal was an absolute worldie, I really believe he's gonna go on to be potentially world class!

Brannagan was awesome, again, great passing and energy, and he looked much better than Wilshire!

Long had a great game, absolutely immense, defended great, an absolute rock, and got forward really well, and on that performance, we've got nothing to worry about when Cadden leaves.

Moore was excellent, best game for us so far by a mile, and took his goal really well, very encouraging performance.

Sykes was amazing, he was scaring the life out of their left back, with great skilful runs and his cross for Taylors goals was perfect.

Ruffels was excellent, really solid display, and his last ditch tackle when West Ham were breaking on us was incredible.

Dickie was great, again, a few dodgy moments with the ball in the first half, but otherwise, excellent.

Eastwood had a quiet night, apart from one great save at 2-0, and his kicking was very good.

Mackie, again, put in a great shift, with awesome shithousery, and really galvanises the team and fans, and is becoming a bit of club legend!

Hall had his best game for a long time, and it was really encouraging to see him playing with more energy and enthusiasm, and was really unlucky not score with a great free kick, really encouraging signs from him.

Forde was great, ran the channels and kept the ball really well, with some nice neat work, looks like a cracking player.

Taylor took his goal well, and is starting to settle in nicely, looking forward to seeing more goals from him.

Fosu was brilliant when he came on, and when he raced clear for his goal, showed great pace, and composure, what a talent.

Thorne looked really good until the injury, with some really nice intelligent passes, hopefully the injury's not too serious, poor guy.

Overall, one of the best performances I've seen from us in years, we really battered them, and to a man, were on another level to them from start to finish.

10 goals from 2 games, and 4 clean sheets, the depth in quality in our squad is frightening, and it looks like its starting to really come together nicely now, everyone looks settled and there looks like there's a great togetherness throughout the whole squad.

Well done lads, keep it up!

Hard to disagree with any of that! The only thing I'll add is that Eastwood pulled off 2 or 3 great saves, caught most things in the box, and looks to be back to his very best.

I thought we were excellent all over the park and once we scored I just knew that we'd come out on top (but maybe not so comfortably!)

When you consider that Sam Long, Elliott Moore, Shandon Baptiste, Mark Sykes, Rob Hall, George Thorne and Anthony Forde are outside our regular starting 11, it shows you just how strong our squad is!

And also, Robinson deserves credit. He drove that team on for 90 minutes making sure we never gave West Ham an inch. Even after 2 minutes he was shouting at Eastwood to get the ball out quicker and keep the tempo high, and in the last few minutes he was telling Sykes and Baptiste to get up on the edge of their box for a corner. There was no trying to kick our way through or spoil the game. He believed in his players, in our style of play (not a fan of 442!!) and gave everyone to confidence to deliver!

What a time to be an Oxford fan!!!

 

[Cass63]

Just read their forum, one of em says they should have spent more in the summer?, don’t tell him we had a few reserves out tonight he may go into meltdown, oh wait ?

 

[headingtonoldboy]

I have been watching the Mighty Yellows since the early 60's and I can quite honestly say that it has been a very long time since I saw a performance like the one I saw in the second half tonight. West Ham didn't know what hit them and looked totally shell shocked at the end. I myself couldn't quite believe what I was witnessing. Fabulous evening.

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Tuned in to the West Ham geezer melting down on Talksport. The usual one eyed rubbish, failing to give us any credit whatsoever.
Actually felt quite sorry for him. ?It’s a story as old as time; overpaid over rated ‘superstars’ not doing their homework and getting legged over away from home. Plus we are a great young side. Loved Shandon brushing off Wilahere and Fosu contemptuously pushing the ball past old man Pablo.

Quite the best night’s football ever seen at the soulless wind tunnel.

Who’d have thought as we struggled to hang on for a point last week against Bolton that we’d score ten goals without reply in the following week?

Baptiste could play in the Premier now. What a talent.

 

[tonyw]

I think that's got to be the greatest two-game stretch in the history of the club, right?

I mean, I believe we have won consecutive games by a combined score of 10-0 before - but not when one of them included drubbing the team that sits 5th in the top division!

And my favorite part about it? To a man, everyone interviewed post-game (KR, Taylor, Moore) said the same thing - it means nothing if we don't now go and beat Gillingham on Saturday.

It could easily all go to hell - but for now, it's easy to imagine this group of players delivering a special season in 2019/20.

 

[Marked Ox]

Wow. What a performance. Make no mistake about it, we were by far the better team and could've won even more comfortably were it not for their keeper, the crossbar, and a couple of wayward finishes.

To a man every player had a great game, but I want to give a special mention to three in particular: Baptiste, Sykes and Long.

Baptiste showed once again what a talented footballer he is. His effortless changes of direction and the way he beats a man with just a drop of the shoulder is such a joy to watch. The goal was just ridiculous.

Sykes has been (unfairly, imo) on the fringes so far this season but on tonight's performance I don't see how that can continue. He has excellent worth ethic, great desire to get on the ball and theability to play the killer pass. I really hope this kick starts his season.

I've been critical of Long in the past but tonight he defended tremendously and even got forward well when necessary. One thing you can never question is his desire and willingness to put his body on the line, but tonight he took his overall game to the next level. His best performance in a yellow shirt by far.

Some of the football played by the entire team was absolutely superb; I can't wait to see Taylor's goal back in particular.

I think 433 suits the players we have so much better than 4231. We look a much more solid, cohesive unit and the likes of Baptise and Brannagan can find space in the areas of the pitch that they like to be the most. I really hope Robinson sticks to it now.

What a bloody match. Get yourselves to the Gillingham game people.

Firstly, what a performance. We don't do scrappy goals.

Agree on those 3 players. Sykes crossing was excellent, especially the cross for Matty Taylor's goal. Shandon Baptiste was just superb and THAT goal, just beautiful.

I want to focus a little bit more on Sam Long though as his defending was just magnificent, considering plenty of times he was facing 2 players attacking him with Robbie Hall not being the best defensively. What stood out was his reading of the game and anticipation stopping West Ham attacks.

Awesome tackle by Josh Ruffels in the 2nd half to stop a 3 on 3 West Ham attack.

The composure shown by Moore for his goal was really good to see.

I hope George Thorne recovers from this injury as he really doesn't have any luck.

 

[Oldham]

Where to start? Fantastic result, absolutely f***king fantastic result. Credit to all the club, great performance, we worked hard, didn't give an inch and fully deserved that result. The finishing was good, the focus was excellent and we looked like a team out there.

Gutted for Thorne, the lad has no luck. Looked a good player when he wasn't injured. Thought Hall struggled a bit, but Sykes was excellent out wide, thought Long worked hard and was diligent and Baptiste really got back to where he was - I am so, so happy for that lad. He really is showing his talent. Dickie was the best CB on the park, Moore not much different.

The draw is what it is, but winnable right?

As for West Ham. They looked like they could not have given a toss in the most part. Shocking performance. Sad to see what sort of player Jack Wilshere has become. Was given the run around by players who wanted it more and barely made an impact on the game.

Agree with everything you said except about Wilshere. Thought he was given too much space in the first half and he made some great passes to the young quick lad on the left (Holland?). But he’s he was played out of it in the second half by a stunning gutsy performance from our boys. Absolutely fookin great effort.

 

[jayhi1810]

last 4 games - scored 10 conceded 0.
brilliant

Incorrect....13!!!!

 

[sonofivan]

Some reaction from our friends in east London:

Useless c***s and that includes Pellegrini tonight. Just read his post match and he is just gibbering s**t.
The thing is nothing ever f*****g changes.
What just because we beat Utd at the weekend means we've f*****g arrived?
It'll be, oh the league's more important or these things happen, one off game, knee jerk reactions, but that is b******s. Oxford wanted it more, and Oxford played like proffesional players should play every game, with heart and passion and good luck to them.
We could of been playing Sunderland next round, another so called winnable game then who knows how far we could go.
Hang your heads you f****g jokers.

So I don’t think they’re happy.

 

[dickwalton1964]

After a team performance like that we shouldn’t be signalling out individuals but I will anyway ! Baptiste absolute class, Long’s best ever game in an Oxford shirt and Sykes in the second half was sensational. Thought Mackie was also very good before being subbed, I’d like to see Taylor starting but Mackie softening them up and letting Taylor loose on them seems to work !

 

[Teddydee1980]

Game changer - switching Sykes to the right, Hall in the middle and Baptiste picking up Wilshere in the 2nd half.

Respect KR. Worked like a charm

What a game.

 

[yellowbow]

3 games from Wembley. We need to end 33 years of hurt.. ?

 

[holdsteady]

Got to give Robinson some credit, waited till we were in front and they had to push up and put Fosu on to torment a shot Zabaleta, was pretty much carnage for them from that point on as we looked like we could score every time we broke.

A great night, 4 second half goals against a prem team will probably never happen again so got to enjoy it.

 

[West Oxon U’s]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1176987964087439362

 

[West Oxon U’s]

That call last night to TalkSPORT from Terry the West Ham fan:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1176998948269113345

 

[MC Yellow]

That call last night to TalkSPORT from Terry the West Ham fan:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1176998948269113345

Absolutely priceless ????

 

[Osei Yaw]

Thought Long was excellent.

Yeah he was. I didn't notice during the game as I was too busy losing my s**t, but if you watch the highlights then look where Long is for Fosu's goal. 2-0 up, 84th minute and he sprinted the length of the pitch to get in the box...not that Fosu needed him.

Absolute work horse.

 

[Oufcluke34]

Well what a fooking win that was throat hurts like a fooker from all that shouting but gives a toss, we just smashed a PREMIER LEAGUE team at home!!!! OTID

 

[Upthecowboys]

I hope the old Joey beauchamp songs get a good outing tonight

I hope the Karen Brady song gets rolled out tonight. Do we stick with the 90s ‘Barry Fry’ classic, or update with ‘Pellegrini’??

Yeah he was. I didn't notice during the game as I was too busy losing my s**t, but if you watch the highlights then look where Long is for Fosu's goal. 2-0 up, 84th minute and he sprinted the length of the pitch to get in the box...not that Fosu needed him.

Absolute work horse.

Long was very solid, as others have said he had very little protection in that first half.

It is hard to say anything new about Baptiste but that was one of the best all round midfield performances I have seen. Glided past players for fun, tracked back and made a great recovery tackle in the 2nd half, and lovely quick feet and a composed finish for the goal. An absolute pleasure to watch.