Fan's View - 19/20 - FA Cup 4th Rd - Newcastle away

It was a good weekend away and an eye opener visiting Newcastle.
Sadly Mrs Lounger suffered a migraine on the Saturday morning which messed up our planned walk around the castle and down to the Tyne but, even then we enjoyed ourselves. Friendly locals, good service wherever we went and stewards that knew how to look after us without any fuss. A few clubs further down the divisions could learn a lot.

Now, onto the replay and a result in our favour!
 
Another good Fans View Paul, as they always are.

To satisfy your curiosity, I was sat on the halfway line, and yes the Oxford fans were very loud indeed, and in fact louder than the home fans for most of the afternoon. I was very proud indeed to look up, and listen, to the yellow masses from my seat. It's not just the North East that has proper fans!
 
Good read as usual Paul.
Mackie is having a bad time, but like you, I am a little surprised at some of the comments he is getting ( although some always seem to want to have a go at one player)
Yes Blackpool is now the big one.
 
Good read as usual Paul.
Mackie is having a bad time, but like you, I am a little surprised at some of the comments he is getting ( although some always seem to want to have a go at one player)
Yes Blackpool is now the big one.

There was a foul by Mackie in the second half which completely summed up why I find him so frustrating. Lascelles was running towards his own goal with a bouncing ball to deal with. He would have done extremely well to get it back to the keeper so was faced with putting it out for a corner or trying to direct it out for a throw-in. Mackie was chasing as well and just couldn't help himself with a blatant push which let Lascelles completely off the hook. All he had to do was stand off and wait to react.
It's the same when he is looking to challenge for a high ball, gets too focused on wrestling with the defender that it's very rare he actually tries to win the ball.

I wish he could apply the calmness he showed - as mentioned by Paul in his piece - more regularly, because he actually impacts the game in ways that work for us. We all love a bit of shithousery for entertainment value but in a team that is already missing goals in Henry and Brannagan, the lack of goalscoring threat that Mackie offers holds us back even more. Hylton and Maguire were also great shithousers but they offered goals and assists alongside this.

But let's be fair - any striker who isn't scoring gets criticised, despite what else they bring to the team. We've seen it with many strikers over time. Two recent instances being Paddy Hoban & Ryan Taylor.
 
There was a foul by Mackie in the second half which completely summed up why I find him so frustrating. Lascelles was running towards his own goal with a bouncing ball to deal with. He would have done extremely well to get it back to the keeper so was faced with putting it out for a corner or trying to direct it out for a throw-in. Mackie was chasing as well and just couldn't help himself with a blatant push which let Lascelles completely off the hook. All he had to do was stand off and wait to react.
It's the same when he is looking to challenge for a high ball, gets too focused on wrestling with the defender that it's very rare he actually tries to win the ball.

I wish he could apply the calmness he showed - as mentioned by Paul in his piece - more regularly, because he actually impacts the game in ways that work for us. We all love a bit of shithousery for entertainment value but in a team that is already missing goals in Henry and Brannagan, the lack of goalscoring threat that Mackie offers holds us back even more. Hylton and Maguire were also great shithousers but they offered goals and assists alongside this.

But let's be fair - any striker who isn't scoring gets criticised, despite what else they bring to the team. We've seen it with many strikers over time. Two recent instances being Paddy Hoban & Ryan Taylor.
Not surprised tbh but I honestly couldn't remember it.
 
But let's be fair - any striker who isn't scoring gets criticised, despite what else they bring to the team. We've seen it with many strikers over time. Two recent instances being Paddy Hoban & Ryan Taylor.
Both of those players had a better goal involvement rate than Mackie does this season, so if they took criticism then so can he. They actually contributed something occasionally.

Two goals and one assist in 32 appearances for Mackie this season. That means it takes more than 10 appearances for him to contribute to a goal in any way, shape or form. It’s positively Anthrobusic. By comparison, Matty Taylor has 10 goals and 4 assists in 25 appearances for us this season, and has also played some 200 minutes less overall. The sheer scale of the gulf between the two is too vast to just be shrugged off so readily. It is a shocking record.

Hell, even Dan Agyei has got as many goal involvements this season (I can recall one goal and two assists, purely off the top of my head), and he’s barely been allowed near the pitch.
 
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Mackie’s defence team claim he “is good for morale” and “useful in the changing room.” He does run around a lot, albeit not very quickly. Agyei, for all his inexperience, has more effect. A little naive, maybe, so let’s give him the experience (and with it the confidence that the management believe in his ability).
 
Both of those players had a better goal involvement rate than Mackie does this season, so if they took criticism then so can he. They actually contributed something occasionally.

Two goals and one assist in 32 appearances for Mackie this season. That means it takes more than 10 appearances for him to contribute to a goal in any way, shape or form. It’s positively Anthrobusic. By comparison, Matty Taylor has 10 goals and 4 assists in 25 appearances for us this season, and has also played some 200 minutes less overall. The sheer scale of the gulf between the two is too vast to just be shrugged off so readily. It is a shocking record.

Hell, even Dan Agyei has got as many goal involvements this season (I can recall one goal and two assists, purely off the top of my head), and he’s barely been allowed near the pitch.
Jeez. Can’t argue with the facts!

Does anyone happen to have the win % for games when Mackie starts as opposed to Taylor? I imagine that would be telling.
 
Mackie giving s**t only works when you have scoring midfielders to take advantage, unfortunately the likely beneficiaries have been out injured of late. To me it’s pretty pointless starting him.
 
Jeez. Can’t argue with the facts!

Does anyone happen to have the win % for games when Mackie starts as opposed to Taylor? I imagine that would be telling.
Just watch the game next time you go and clock how few meaningful shots we normally have with him on the pitch versus when he isn’t. You won’t need stats or graphs - long range efforts aside the landscape is usually rather barren.

As a little extra, by the end of January last year he also had 32 appearances, but had scored 5 goals - he ended the season with five assists but I can’t say how many of those were in the bag by end of Jan. But realistically, he was more than twice as effective by this stage last season as he has been this season, but even last season’s stats are half what Taylor’s are in less games.

Anybody who says they want Oxford United to be successful can’t also say they think Jamie Mackie is good enough to be on the pitch regularly. Running around like an old dog, shouting at the ref and trying to fight people shouldn’t be enough to get you a free pass, let alone some sort of hero status, especially when players like Ryan Taylor were abused to a disgusting level in the past while bringing more to the team. Taylor scored 8 in 57 appearances while being able to hold the ball, had a good touch and could win headers, and he was treated like some sort of stray dog. Mackie has scored 8 in 80, can barely run and spends more time fouling defenders than holding the ball in dangerous areas, let alone creating anything, and is apparently worthy of having his name sung on repeat.

It’s a weird old game.
 
Just watch the game next time you go and clock how few meaningful shots we normally have with him on the pitch versus when he isn’t. You won’t need stats or graphs - long range efforts aside the landscape is usually rather barren.

As a little extra, by the end of January last year he also had 32 appearances, but had scored 5 goals - he ended the season with five assists but I can’t say how many of those were in the bag by end of Jan. But realistically, he was more than twice as effective by this stage last season as he has been this season, but even last season’s stats are half what Taylor’s are in less games.

Anybody who says they want Oxford United to be successful can’t also say they think Jamie Mackie is good enough to be on the pitch regularly. Running around like an old dog, shouting at the ref and trying to fight people shouldn’t be enough to get you a free pass, let alone some sort of hero status, especially when players like Ryan Taylor were abused to a disgusting level in the past while bringing more to the team. Taylor scored 8 in 57 appearances while being able to hold the ball, had a good touch and could win headers, and he was treated like some sort of stray dog. Mackie has scored 8 in 80, can barely run and spends more time fouling defenders than holding the ball in dangerous areas, let alone creating anything, and is apparently worthy of having his name sung on repeat.

It’s a weird old game.
Yup, never understood this Mackie cult hero status either.
 
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