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Match day thread: Oxford

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  • edited May 2016

    Well that couldn't have gone any worse could it? 92nd minute winner for Rovers as well. Their fans spend more time on the pitch than in the stands anyway and that won't help.

  • Hope the horses are okay.

  • I see the flounce outs have started already.

    I do worry about next season after the dismal end to this one, but our situation is hardly likely to improve with people staying away in a huff.

    Ah well, see you all at the next cup run!

  • @arnos_grove Indeed. Some people have extremely short memories. This time two years ago we were still celebrating the miracle of Torquay. Some people need to be more grateful for what we've got.

  • Any idea what the table looks like just for matches in 2016? I'd imagine it's relegation form, but that could just be me seeing it through shit tinted spectacles.

  • @Rolo said:
    arnos_grove Indeed. Some people have extremely short memories. This time two years ago we were still celebrating the miracle of Torquay. Some people need to be more grateful for what we've got.

    I really wish people stop living in the past....yes we were almost relegated..last year we were almost promoted. Let's face it in 2016 we have been rubbish and boring...some people are happy with mediocrity.

  • i agree most of the fans happy with us just being in league two are old i bet

  • I can't fathom how Hayes is not the scapegoat. He is absolutely knackered at the end of a long season, but moved the ball around well and cleverly when he had to. Charging around up front wasting what energy he still won't make him a better player.

    Instead of Hayes, why don't we ask why Bean cannot pass a ball beyond the halfway line. Why Pierre and Stewart looked at times like they'd never seen a defensive line before today. And why Sido is getting played as a poor left back.

  • The team is desperately in need of investment but with no money, there is only so much Gareth can do. I think mid-season mediocrity is all we can hope for, for now. Things could get worse if fans continue to drift away.

  • edited May 2016

    @prufrock_91 said:
    And why Sido is getting played as a poor left back.

    I can answer that one - because Jacobson and Wood are both injured.

    I'd imagine Sido will be back at right back next season.

  • I love a good flounce out the best bit is when the following season starts the flouncers reappear as if nothings happened .

  • @Greg said:
    The team is desperately in need of investment but with no money, there is only so much Gareth can do. I think mid-season mediocrity is all we can hope for, for now. Things could get worse if fans continue to drift away.

    Bang on but I don't think people necessarily will drift away due to us not winning, they'll do so because the football is completely and utterly DIRE!

    I pray Ainsworth's philosophy changes because at present its hugely damaging to our future fanbase.

  • For the first time in 25 years I contemplated not renewing my season ticket due to the lack of passion and entertainment. Yes we finished mid table. Yes the money is tight but I asked myself was the playoffs last season in the budget was the cup run this year in the budget !!!!!!! Gareth please can we have the ball played on the deck.we look so much better when this happens and finely can we get a striker who knows where the goal is. Ps I have renewed my ST

  • I think the key to next seasons performances will be whether Hayes is given a new contract. If he is, then I am afraid we can expect the same old same old with Hayes and Thompson leading a powder puff attack.

  • I get the feeling that Ugwu, Kretzschmar and Liburd were all brought on today because Ainsworth is weighing up giving each a contract. Liburd's got a year left at Reading but given the change in management there maybe they're less keen to see how he develops, especially given he didn't set the world alight at Adams Park this season. I would sign Liburd and Kretzsch and lose Ugwu. I think Liburd and PCH could work well together, with better service from the midfield in a 4-4-2.

  • Decided weeks not to renew ST due to the football being so dire, Bizzare there was no variation or experimentation in the last few days.hayes/Thompson again !

  • Liburd has looked awful every time I've seen him.

  • I'll certainly have my season ticket next year fair play to people choosing not to, every team has floating fans and it is up to the team and manager to play in a way to get these floating fans more engaged.

    So what to do. Hayes being the fall guy is totally not fair. If he was missing chance after chance then fair do's but our stats show that we are simply not creating chances to score. Hayes has to drop so deep to win the ball there is no chance he can score as well.

    More creation in midfield to allow the strikers to their job. More width (tactically). More football on the deck. You get those sorted and Hayes will score more than he will miss. Given a choice of Hayes, Liburn or Ugwu I know which one I would want in the team with the right formation.

  • Agreed, Hayes should not be the scapegoat, he is still out vest finisher , he simply is not getting the opportunities to score as he playing deep as we are built not to lose rather than to win which makes for crap and negative football .

  • Totally agree @TheAndyGrahamFanClub.
    Before the Accrington game PCH and Sammy Wood came to chat in the Woodland. My immediate thought was what a different season it could have been if both had stayed fit. (I agree that Sammy had not been having his best season but then he had been asked quite often to play out of position and I also wonder whether he had been carrying an injury for some time.)
    As several people have suggested, Luke O'Nien and Danny Rowe in central midfield is an enticing prospect but there needs to be additional cover there for injuries and suspensions. Not sure that any of the "elderly" trio are the answer, admirable as they all are for varying reasons.
    As for Max, I've been an admirer for a long time and have been disappointed that, this season especially, injuries, (?) illness and very limited opportunities have made it hard to assess whether he really does have the right potential. I think he is probably most effective on the left of midfield - the Woody slot! Right midfield has to be "Harri " or PCH although the latter's heading ability (amazing leaps and timing) are perhaps best employed more centrally.

  • edited May 2016

    Pretty much agree that Hayes isn't to blame. IMHO it is pure and simple, when was the last time any of us witnessed a midfielder going beyond the forwards? I know I'm no youngster any more & my memory isn't what it used to be, but I can't remember a single occasion where the midfield have taken a chance and bombed on. Saunders used to do it, I remember him scoring from a Hayes flick, at home, (might have been Exeter), by making such a move. I believe the whole set up of playing not to concede is the problem. Let's face it, we have two strong and very pacey centre backs, so I don't understand why we don't "have a go", take the odd chance and see if we can worry the opposition a bit more? With Aaron and Anthony, they are very capable of rescuing us and sure we are going to leak a few extra goals over a season, but surely we can score a few more as well and add to the entertainment levels?

  • Agree wholeheartedly @EwanHoosaami .

  • O'Nien has got forward at times Ewan.

    Whilst Hayes is not entirely to blame, we just cannot play him with Thompson next season or a relegation fight will be likely due to a lack of goals. As Thompson will be going nowhere, it seems to me that Hayes regrettably has to be the fall guy.

  • @StrongestTeam said:
    Thommo can play wide and gossamer goals early season.

    Would that be the durex variety or (more appropriately and politely) gossamer wings? The perils of being a dictator I guess!

  • @StrongestTeam; so you don't class the Hayes and Thommo as fails? Who played the most minutes and games, never mind the replacements. There is no no one to blame than those on the pitch for the after Xmas shambles that it is. 2 wins in 14. Those replacements didn't play much either.

    If Hayes and Thommo are the answer next campaign I shudder to think if we don't change our setup it's going to be a bumpy 2016/17.

  • Hayes still has merit, Thompson doesn't. I genuinely didn't see him touch the ball yesterday. And he's squandered decent chances all season.

  • Of course Hayes isn't to blame as such - that has to lie with the manager for choosing a combination of formation, playing style and personnel that failed time and time and time again in the second half of the season. However when looking for solutions, I don't really see Hayes as the answer. Yes, he dropped deep in search of the ball, preventing him from scoring - but what did he do with the ball when he had it? How many assists did he get? Or even killer passes that led to assists? Given that we were playing for most of the second half of the season with three up front, there should have been plenty of people he could have got the ball to. A great player in his day, particularly when on loan to us and playing with Beavon, but the law of diminishing returns kicked in early with him and his form second half of this season, in particular, does not bode well for another full length campaign.

  • @aloysius ; Good post.

  • Good post indeed.

  • @drcongo This is a close approximation (allowing for postponed games in 2015 to be played in 2016) of a League Two table for results in 2016.

    http://www.twtd.co.uk/league-tables/competition:league-two/form/matches:22/type:home-and-away/

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