I’ll have to be careful here as I know our Eric (aka @eric_plant) (a) considers my judgement to be seriously impaired when it comes to my difficulty in sharing his unwavering admiration of Sam Vokes’ footballing talent and now (b) (tongue in cheek, surely) his handsome appearance.
On (a), I will happily acknowledge that yesterday was one of big Sam’s better performances - he hasn’t always managed to convert close range scoring opportunities when the ball is on the deck - and he did indeed make a telling pass in the build-up to Mehmeti’s superb strike.
On (b) I tend to rely on mrs micra’s judgement of what constitutes handsomeness. On the odd occasions when I’ve asked her whether she agreed with my perception that a particular player was handsome and (therefore, importantly) would be attractive to female fans, my perception has been endorsed about 50% of the time. I must ask her if she agrees with Eric.
We must remember that Vokes missed pre-season. Perhaps the lack of game time and games over the last four weeks has allowed him to replicate a pre-season and get up to match fitness again. He looked back to 2021/22 Vokes last night.
I also think the change to three players behind him who all offer something slightly different gave us more variety. Sometimes I think McCleary and Mehmeti are too similar, in what they offer, taking players on that it can be a bit easier to defend. With Wheelers intelligent movement and heading ability, plus Hanlan's explosiveness, I think it just became more difficult for Oxford. I do like Wheeler through the middle as well, he offers so much.
Hanlan should also be credited with doing a magnificent man marking job on the left sided Oxford player in the 2nd half, thought he really stuck to his task, although it did leave us a little light going forwards sometimes.
Grimmer is having an outstanding last few weeks, it's like the hand brake has been taken off and he is a new player. Long may this continue.
Overall a brilliant first half performance which allowed us to dictate the 2nd half without the ball, which is something we are masters at doing.
I think that having Wheels operating behind Vokes was inspired. I really feel that Wheels is significantly more than our "Swiss Army Knife" as he's a very intelligent lad with an excellent football brain.
After recent performances I was quite brutal about Vokes in another thread, especially with lack of goals in mind... wondering if we were seeing a Paul Hayesesque drop off from him as he enters his footballing twilight years...
Well ill shut the F up after last night... he still has plenty to offer us. Showed glimpses of pure and utter class we often don't see in this league last night.
Also agree with all the Wheeler comments. Superb superb superb . Best ever season for us from him.
I work for an American company, and one of the occupational hazards is a high exposure to US corporate jargon - one term of which is using the verb “socialise” meaning to spread/communicate an idea amongst your colleagues.
Same, it gets used to mean making sure all the right people have had a look at something new before it comes to pass, often informally when something doesn't quite merit a formal change process with approvals but where it's good practice to inform people who might later ask questions or be affected.
People do like their language corrections and moans on here but this does tend to be the way language evolves, innit.
This is a bit meta, but I think the novel meaning of the word "socialise" is being "socialised" as we post.
I think the novel use is the verb being used transitively with respect to a concept or idea, whereas normally it is only used intransitively or transitively with respect to a person or animal. In the context of 'social media' that does seem to enrich the language. [I am sure if I am wrong, someone will add to my understanding]
However if we are currently socialising a new meaning of the word socialise, I do want to indicate that there might be a problem with how one would understand - "Spend less time on the Gasroom and get out and socialise more"
Despite his lengthy layoff, missing 10 matches and as a consequence playing 9 fewer than Anis in 2nd and 3 fewer than Alfie in 3rd, Josh Scowen has shot back up to the top of the overall votes for the season:
Scowen - 216
Mehmeti - 203
Mawson - 191
With Josh actually having more votes per start than he had in his mammoth 21-22 season, the answer to who can possibly beat Josh Scowen's records appears to be: Josh Scowen.
How many players have we ever had that 'never' have a bad game?
It's an unbelievable quality to have.
I always find a little shortcut to knowing how good a player is is to see what the team is like when they're not playing. This absolutely works in Josh's case
It's even more than that, look at Man of the Match threads and how many times people comment that of course Scowen was excellent but they voted to share it round, or Scowen was excellent but Player A got the winner or did a bit of magic that won the game. The defence and midfield both look much weaker when he isn't "here, there and every f***in where"
The comments above about consistency are supported by the fact Scowen almost always picks up a chunk of votes each game, whereas other players might gain an enormous amount for one particular display but then have matches with no votes at all.
Comments
I’ll have to be careful here as I know our Eric (aka @eric_plant) (a) considers my judgement to be seriously impaired when it comes to my difficulty in sharing his unwavering admiration of Sam Vokes’ footballing talent and now (b) (tongue in cheek, surely) his handsome appearance.
On (a), I will happily acknowledge that yesterday was one of big Sam’s better performances - he hasn’t always managed to convert close range scoring opportunities when the ball is on the deck - and he did indeed make a telling pass in the build-up to Mehmeti’s superb strike.
On (b) I tend to rely on mrs micra’s judgement of what constitutes handsomeness. On the odd occasions when I’ve asked her whether she agreed with my perception that a particular player was handsome and (therefore, importantly) would be attractive to female fans, my perception has been endorsed about 50% of the time. I must ask her if she agrees with Eric.
Voakes played well, Wheeler really helped that by pulling defenders away with clever runs.
Wheels is definitely ‘most improved player’ so far.
Wheels is having his best season ever I'd argue.
Whenever I see "Voakes" I read it as "Vokes" but with the intonation of a man slipping on some ice and almost dropping his shopping.
We must remember that Vokes missed pre-season. Perhaps the lack of game time and games over the last four weeks has allowed him to replicate a pre-season and get up to match fitness again. He looked back to 2021/22 Vokes last night.
I also think the change to three players behind him who all offer something slightly different gave us more variety. Sometimes I think McCleary and Mehmeti are too similar, in what they offer, taking players on that it can be a bit easier to defend. With Wheelers intelligent movement and heading ability, plus Hanlan's explosiveness, I think it just became more difficult for Oxford. I do like Wheeler through the middle as well, he offers so much.
Hanlan should also be credited with doing a magnificent man marking job on the left sided Oxford player in the 2nd half, thought he really stuck to his task, although it did leave us a little light going forwards sometimes.
Grimmer is having an outstanding last few weeks, it's like the hand brake has been taken off and he is a new player. Long may this continue.
Overall a brilliant first half performance which allowed us to dictate the 2nd half without the ball, which is something we are masters at doing.
Or Jason McCarthy somehow staying on his feet when his studs started sliding across the turf late on last night
Undeniably handsome (I’d not seen a close-up before). And mrs micra agrees.
I think that having Wheels operating behind Vokes was inspired. I really feel that Wheels is significantly more than our "Swiss Army Knife" as he's a very intelligent lad with an excellent football brain.
Can’t quite socialise just how excellent he was yesterday. Almost certainly in my top 3 players of the season
Wheels is fantastic - though I must admit that I have about seven players in my top three!
After recent performances I was quite brutal about Vokes in another thread, especially with lack of goals in mind... wondering if we were seeing a Paul Hayesesque drop off from him as he enters his footballing twilight years...
Well ill shut the F up after last night... he still has plenty to offer us. Showed glimpses of pure and utter class we often don't see in this league last night.
Also agree with all the Wheeler comments. Superb superb superb . Best ever season for us from him.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Vokes#/media/File%3AAUT_vs._WAL_2016-10-06_(177).jpg
Been wracking me brains trying to think what word autocorrect could have been working on to come up with ‘socialise’ in that context.
But we know what you mean (I think!).
I work for an American company, and one of the occupational hazards is a high exposure to US corporate jargon - one term of which is using the verb “socialise” meaning to spread/communicate an idea amongst your colleagues.
Blech.
But my guess is that’s what’s being meant here.
It’s very much become a trendy corporate buzzword. I feel ashamed for using it (arguably incorrectly) in the example above.
Vokes very good least night. Wheeler played a good foil to him and drew the defenders near post for Vokes’ goal,
I like having two up front who can win headers. If it’s just one that makes for easy defending for the Centre backs who double up.
They should try socialising healthcare instead.
Socialise / vocalise?
Same, it gets used to mean making sure all the right people have had a look at something new before it comes to pass, often informally when something doesn't quite merit a formal change process with approvals but where it's good practice to inform people who might later ask questions or be affected.
People do like their language corrections and moans on here but this does tend to be the way language evolves, innit.
This is a bit meta, but I think the novel meaning of the word "socialise" is being "socialised" as we post.
I think the novel use is the verb being used transitively with respect to a concept or idea, whereas normally it is only used intransitively or transitively with respect to a person or animal. In the context of 'social media' that does seem to enrich the language. [I am sure if I am wrong, someone will add to my understanding]
However if we are currently socialising a new meaning of the word socialise, I do want to indicate that there might be a problem with how one would understand - "Spend less time on the Gasroom and get out and socialise more"
Despite his lengthy layoff, missing 10 matches and as a consequence playing 9 fewer than Anis in 2nd and 3 fewer than Alfie in 3rd, Josh Scowen has shot back up to the top of the overall votes for the season:
With Josh actually having more votes per start than he had in his mammoth 21-22 season, the answer to who can possibly beat Josh Scowen's records appears to be: Josh Scowen.
Deservedly so, Josh is the very epitome of consistent excellence.
I’m so glad I’ve seen a player like Scowen play for Wycombe as much as he has
Don't think he's had a single bad game since his return. Incredible.
How many players have we ever had that 'never' have a bad game?
It's an unbelievable quality to have.
I always find a little shortcut to knowing how good a player is is to see what the team is like when they're not playing. This absolutely works in Josh's case
It's even more than that, look at Man of the Match threads and how many times people comment that of course Scowen was excellent but they voted to share it round, or Scowen was excellent but Player A got the winner or did a bit of magic that won the game. The defence and midfield both look much weaker when he isn't "here, there and every f***in where"
Ah man. I must have seen Scowen play 100 times for us. I think I can count on one hand how many ‘bad’ games he’s had. That’s absurd.
Lincoln away last season probably the closest thing to it
and yet Sunderland didn’t rate him! Ridiculous!
The comments above about consistency are supported by the fact Scowen almost always picks up a chunk of votes each game, whereas other players might gain an enormous amount for one particular display but then have matches with no votes at all.
He is a simply sensational player.
In fairness, Sunderland did have Jozy Altidore, so their fans know a quality player when they see one.