City v Oxford Utd Matchday Thread

[grecIAN Harris]

We set up to stop Oxford playing and ultimately stopped ourselves from playing in the first half. 4-4-2 didn't work and looked an alien concept to us. As I said earlier, it didn't help that Oxford strung four across the front and pressed us high and early. The first goal came from their pressing, the second was a joke of a penalty
The second half we reverted to type, back to 3 at the back, and looked so much more comfortable and turned in a much better performance.

 

[Exehausted]

Well at least Gary said it was his fault because he changed it to 4 2 2 2. The two number nines didn't work because we had no width to feed them. Once he changed it back to our normal shape in the second half we were much the better team. Today was the right day to try it though, even though it was disappointing for the fans to see us lose. For me Jules was MOTM closely followed by Milli Alli for his second half performance. Virtually everything was sticking to him and he has a delightful touch to move the ball on first time. He linked really well with Jack in particular. It just shows that it depends on the tactics as much as individual players. I'm going to say it for the last time this season........"It was a game of two halves"!

 

[Bridgy 81]

That was a bit frustrating today.
We weren’t at the races for the first half an hour. Our passing was poor and our movement was poor.
In fact everything was poor.
I agree we improved significantly in the second half and I think the personnel changes had a lot to do with that.
Alli took his goal well and is a good and willing runner and has a decent finish on him.
I’m hoping and expecting he’ll make a big impact next season.
I think the referee was absolutely hopeless.
Oxford manufactured i.e conned him into giving them free kicks on numerous occasions.
The more they saw he was falling for it the more they did it.
Any slight contact they threw themselves to the ground and in several cases without there having been any.
And he bought the lot.
He’s probably one of those officials who knows all the laws of the game but doesn’t know the game itself.
I think GC was more gracious in his post match interview then I would have been when he said the referee was poor but mostly focussed on Oxford’s experience and streetwise nature.
He said we need to learn to follow suit and about time too as far as I’m concerned.
It’s obvious that referees like this one somehow continue to fall for this sort of stuff time and time again, so we may as well do it too.
And of course he gave the obligatory 89th minute yellow card to the winning team’s goalkeeper for time wasting.
Presumably so his Assessor could record that he was on top of this when in reality leaving it so late, as most of the poor referees do, is completely pointless.
Anyway, I’d rather end on a high note.
13th place and more points than last season is a brilliant effort and result.
Very well done to all concerned.

 

[BigBankAl]

Nice to be back at the park post second baby, basically writing off games since January.

1st Half pre-Jan nonsense. 2nd Half enjoyed the tempo and getting after them. Pleased to see Alli score.

Looking forward to the new season now, and hopefully vanquishing any lingering GC Out/ we've got a 15 game losing streak in us sentiment I have. They've done really well to turn it round.

UTC

 

[Rosencrantz]

We tried something different in the first half, it didn't work and was matched by being a bit off the pace and then throw some sloppy passing in as well. A few coming back from injury also looked rusty to say the least.

Second half, back in a familiar shape, we were much better but just couldn't break Oxford down for an equaliser. Dion made a difference and playing as a lone striker seemed to simplify things for Milli. We did miss Woods all game though and a bit of quality around the area which are things to be improved on next season.

Good to see Harry given a proper send off. Along with Alex, we have handled this pretty well I think. Both players have chosen to move on but we have balanced giving game time to those players who are going to be here (or hope to be here) next season whilst still giving them a deserved farewell.

Ironically the end of this season was almost the opposite of last season with a run coming to the end on the final day. This season feels the better way round to do it if having to choose. Unlike last season though, we do have something to build on rather than starting from felt like scratch.

 

[PeteUSA]

Well, just seen the highlights, and no matter what anybody says, Sinisalo was very very poor on that first goal! The acrobatic save just after was good, but the way he allowed their player to shoot at an open goal like that was bad, he never gave himself a chance. His one on ones like that have been suspect all season, but his timng today, while I suspect minimising the risk of injury was uppermost, was as bad as I've seen hiim.

 

[CITYFANINCALNE]

1st half was embarrassingly bad- Sweenz error + soft penalty. I spent more time looking at the lady steward in the big bank with the bleached braids and facial tattoos than what was happening on the pitch. Much better 2nd half. Such a shame to have to travel away to see more than 1 City goal.

 

[Sexton Blake]

Cheers Brian, just downloaded it!

Me too

 

[Bridgy 81]

Such a shame to have to travel away to see more than 1 City goal.

That’s the reward for travelling
To be honest I prefer watching us play away and I currently go to more away matches than home ones.
Although I was at SJP today.
I used to be a frequent attender at home matches for many years, including being a season ticket holder.
But for various reasons I prefer watching us on the road these days.
I think it’s partly that if you’re able and willing to make the effort to be there, you’re likely to really want to be there.
Also, I like being in the minority as a general rule.

 

[CITYFANINCALNE]

Agreed. I was at Northampton and Wycombe among others. Apart from a couple of cup games at SJP it’s been very underwhelming at home.