Saturday 18th December

[WhiteRussian]

Ours with Burton off now.

 

[Marked Ox]

We have one player and one staff member out after testing positive but asymptomatic.

 

[TractorBoys]

Well in excess of 29k there today, effectively a sellout - for the first packout PR game.

Let's hope the football isn't absolutely dire...

 

[CTFCfan99]

1-1 half time, we should be ahead with the chances we've had but Shrewsbury always dangerous going forward.

The red card looked a little harsh tbh, but by the letter of the law it was probably the right decision.

Got to go and win this now.

 

[TractorBoys]

Dominant and making Sunderland look ordinary at best. They simply can't handle Burns, Aluko, Norwood and Edmundson to name just four.

Now, can we have a 90 minute perfomance please as opposed to 45 mins we've become accustomed too?

 

[chipmunx]

Dominant and making Sunderland look ordinary at best. They simply can't handle Burns, Aluko, Norwood and Edmundson to name just four.

Now, can we have a 90 minute perfomance please as opposed to 45 mins we've become accustomed too?

given that 7 of your starting line up played a part on Wednesday and another 6 are on the bench i'm assuming Sunderland must be really shit...... Aluko and Norwood were totally anonymous against us....

 

[TractorBoys]

given that 7 of your starting line up played a part on Wednesday and another 6 are on the bench i'm assuming Sunderland must be really shit...... Aluko and Norwood were totally anonymous against us....

ALL our side were anonymous against you.

We've looked very capable. Players have clearly been given a kick as they couldnt give a fuck against your lot. Whereas this half Sunderland have been 2nd to every ball.

 

[chipmunx]

ALL our side were anonymous against you.

We've looked very capable. Players have clearly been given a kick as they couldnt give a fuck against your lot.

they needed it - i listened to the "Kings of Anglia" guys after the match and i've rarely seen such depressed fans.

 

[CTFCfan99]

Our defending is quite something

 

[Super_horns]

Our defending is quite something

Pollock not playing well ?

 

[CTFCfan99]

Pollock not playing well ?

He's been the best of a bad bunch but isn't playing today for some reason.

3-1 now, super Ellis Chapman with his second assist for Shrewsbury today. Absolutely woeful

 

[Si Robin]

We're shite away from home - I'd written this game off before today. Not sure what's going on in Duff's head though to put Raglan up front and Chapman at centre-back.

 

[CTFCfan99]

We're shite away from home - I'd written this game off before today. Not sure what's going on in Duff's head though to put Raglan up front and Chapman at centre-back.

I had too, but at half time we were well on top and should've been ahead already. All three goals were just schoolboy errors and agree that Duff has a few questions to answer.

Next few games look tough, we could be deep in the shit soon.

 

[TractorBoys]

Enjoyed that. Second half was much more even. On 3 occassions though they were forced into yellow cards as we threatened to break. New era now... in comes with McKenna who watched from the stands, he will hopefully think he's got something to work with based on that.

 

[GeneralLee]

So proud of OUFC this evening. 10 players out and a midfield essentially consisting of wingers who haven’t played all that much football and a right back playing left centre half.

We should have beaten Wigan. A really good game of football which we took the game and we’re on top for 90%; sadly the extra legs at the end and a bit of class from Max Power in the first half were the difference.

On another day we would have won that. Quite how we didn’t take something from the game however is staggering.

 

[beaufighter]

Well it staggered me, but for different reasons.. we were looking at being 4 points clear at the top until Wigan scored yet another late goal.

Cambridge have now played extremely well against us twice now. Their 16th place looks like a false position, but I don’t watch them every week.

 

[SMH]

That makes up slightly for the two points we were robbed of by the officials last weekend. Christ do we need January to come along soon so we can get Wyke's replacement in.

 

[codaplenty]

A draw the right result in this derby. Tbh it was so foggy it was hard to see the other end of the pitch. The biggest disappointment were the pies, after waiting all interval we bagged the last 2, the crusts were like rock and insides not much better. At one time the pies at Morecambe were the best in the football league..........

 

[NorthernSoul]

That makes up slightly for the two points we were robbed of by the officials last weekend. Christ do we need January to come along soon so we can get Wyke's replacement in.

I actually dont think a striker is that missed, we are still scoring goals throughout the whole team, I think after being rock solid defensively for the first 15 games or so we have started to get sloppy at the back, dont get why our best centre half in Kerr is sat on the bench. We certainly need to switch from a back 4 to a back 3 at home as we are far too narrow and easy for our opponents to frustrate us.

I would rather Aasgaard get more game time than necessarily buying a striker, special talent.

 

[Tom_CUFC]

Well it staggered me, but for different reasons.. we were looking at being 4 points clear at the top until Wigan scored yet another late goal.

Cambridge have now played extremely well against us twice now. Their 16th place looks like a false position, but I don’t watch them every week.

We've made a very annoying habit of playing well but not getting what we deserve. Means no alarm bells here yet about not doing enough to stay up but at some point got to convert losses to draws and draws to wins otherwise it'll be an unnecessarily nervy end to our season.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Felt a bit weird being at a match, and I am not sure we will be again in Home Park for a while. So the atmosphere was a bit odd before the game started.

First half we were awful. Could not win first ball, second ball or pass. Somehow we scored with pretty much the last kick of the half. Second half while not being great we were much better. Really Hardie and Agrad (especially the latter) should have extended the lead.

Don’t think Charlton threatened much in the second half. Our subs helped us, Charlton’s weakened them. What has happened to Charlie Kirk? Last year he was brilliant, if a bit mercurial. When he came on today he was very poor.

Not very pretty but we are all highly relieved to get a win, the rot appears to have been stopped.

 

[SMH]

I actually dont think a striker is that missed, we are still scoring goals throughout the whole team, I think after being rock solid defensively for the first 15 games or so we have started to get sloppy at the back, dont get why our best centre half in Kerr is sat on the bench. We certainly need to switch from a back 4 to a back 3 at home as we are far too narrow and easy for our opponents to frustrate us.

I would rather Aasgaard get more game time than necessarily buying a striker, special talent.

It is, because we defend right from the front. Wyke is our number one outlet who buys us time and allows us to push out of our own half when under the cosh. Without him we can't do that, which sees us pinned back in our own half. It's the reason Shrewsbury battered us (ultimately scoring) in the first half against them and Oxford battered us for about 30 minutes of the second half (again scoring), until they ran out of legs in the last 15 and we managed to get back control.

Agree with you on the defence though. It's all gone to shit since Richardson started chopping and changing and brought Tilt into the team. Whatmouth is notably weaker with him opposed to with Watts. Plus the constant rotation of central defenders doesn't help one bit, we can't gain any stability and build any defensive relationships. I think the keeper's struggled with it as well.

 

[BarrieOwl]

Rotherham relentless at the minute, it's them plus one for autos for me.

If we start being ruthless then we have a chance for 2nd imho, of the current Top 6 I'd say only Plymouth took us apart, Oxford beat us and fair play but was a game that was finely balanced, we've took 10 points off the top 4 so far.

Our issue is not finishing teams off and have drawn far too many.

I know you can't rule any club out from making a run from the top 6 but for me it is 6 from 9 to fill the 3 spots for the Champ.

Hope we can have a full season, be good to see how it pans out.

 

[NorthernSoul]

It is, because we defend right from the front. Wyke is our number one outlet who buys us time and allows us to push out of our own half when under the cosh. Without him we can't do that, which sees us pinned back in our own half. It's the reason Shrewsbury battered us (ultimately scoring) in the first half against them and Oxford battered us for about 30 minutes of the second half (again scoring), until they ran out of legs in the last 15 and we managed to get back control.

Agree with you on the defence though. It's all gone to shit since Richardson started chopping and changing and brought Tilt into the team. Whatmouth is notably weaker with him opposed to with Watts. Plus the constant rotation of central defenders doesn't help one bit, we can't gain any stability and build any defensive relationships. I think the keeper's struggled with it as well.

I think away from home it's more needed if we keep 4-2-3-1 but at home we haven't played as well and have scraped a lot of wins due to individual ability late on. Go 3-4-3 at home and stretch teams and with an interchangeable front 3, we will cause teams problems and if we fix our home form soon then I think we win the league. If we keep going with what doesn't work at home, Rotherham win the league.

 

[NorthernSoul]

Rotherham relentless at the minute, it's them plus one for autos for me.

If we start being ruthless then we have a chance for 2nd imho, of the current Top 6 I'd say only Plymouth took us apart, Oxford beat us and fair play but was a game that was finely balanced, we've took 10 points off the top 4 so far.

Our issue is not finishing teams off and have drawn far too many.

I know you can't rule any club out from making a run from the top 6 but for me it is 6 from 9 to fill the 3 spots for the Champ.

Hope we can have a full season, be good to see how it pans out.

Got to agree I think top 9 now for the top 6 unless Charlton or Ipswich go on a proper mad run.

The next 6 weeks will define the season one way or other for autos. The top 2 could potentially be 5 points ahead GD being a point if Wigan beat Morecambe in the game in hand. Add into that the tip 2 play only mid table or relegation battlers from now until February, teams from 3rd to 9th all seem to play each other a fair bit so there will be a lot of points dropped.

So it all depends on whether the current top 2 perform in the coming run of games or not.

Rotherham 16 unbeaten won't carry on forever, 9 easy games coming up though so interesting to see what happens. They don't look like losing any time soon but football runs always tend to get ended by a team least expected and often at home too.

 

[Arbury]

Another frustrating day results wise against Rotherham, played well but we seem to have this annoying habit of of gifting the opposition a goal if not 2, if we want to stay in this lge we’ve really got to sort it because hard luck stories get you no where.

created enough opportunities not to lose and Rotherham’s goal is a poor one from our point of view, not sure if dimi could have done anything to stop it as he just stood their but I’d have to watch it again.

KTF

 

[LeonTheGreen]

Good 3 points against Charlton today, who looked poor compared to when we faced them at their place a month ago. How did Pape Souare ever play in the Premier League?

Good to get back to winning ways and Schueys first win, hopefully the Cheltenham game is on next weekend.

 

[Bobbin']

What has happened to Charlie Kirk? Last year he was brilliant, if a bit mercurial. When he came on today he was very poor.

Been sold a dud there, Crewe have truly had our pants down, fair play.

Awful player.

The less said about Papa Souare the better, never mind how did he ever play in the premier league, how is he playing professional football at all?

Typical we have 3 covid cases and two of them are two of our most important players in recent weeks in Washington and Famewo, we missed both massively. Why couldn’t it have been Kirk and Souare!?

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Been sold a dud there, Crewe have truly had our pants down, fair play.

Awful player.

The less said about Papa Souare the better, never mind how did he ever play in the premier league, how is he playing professional football at all?

Typical we have 3 covid cases and two of them are two of our most important players in recent weeks in Washington and Famewo, we missed both massively. Why couldn’t it have been Kirk and Souare!?

Souare was without doubt the weakest player on show for both sides.

 

[longmover]

I had too, but at half time we were well on top and should've been ahead already. All three goals were just schoolboy errors and agree that Duff has a few questions to answer.

Next few games look tough, we could be deep in the shit soon.

Completely agree, Duff can't keep running with the 'look where we are' quotes, the last three league performances against teams below us in the league have been bad, sloppy play with no real plan and some quote odd management decisions. Something seems to have gone wrong as soon as we hit December, off field?? Duff still has credit but he needs to start addressing the playing issues and maybe realizing the limitations of some of his players. With Plymouth and Mk next we could be looking at six without a win.