Oxford United v Exeter City Official Matchday Thread

[arthur]

Jules had his best game today.

Good to hear

 

[east_mid]

2 minutes into that interview Caldwell pointed out where we lost that match,it's half the battle to recognise where we went wrong.The next stage is to do something about it.I feel that teams know how to beat us now from our performance in this match and the Orient one.Exert pressure on our back line and we become ineffective further up the pitch.The players coming back from injury might resolve this ,but we will get more results like today if we don't.

 

[Grecian Max]

Gotta give The Admiral a little time. I think there is/will be goals in this team. Has been incredibly unsettled few weeks in terms of personnel.

Aitchison is a miss. He’s the sort of player who wants to be on the end of moves.

I’m still feeling pretty optimistic.

Rest of the team is decent so we can be relatively optimistic and sit 6th in League One

The bit where you actually have to score a goal has been neglected and many League 2 and Conference teams will have better options than us up front - something to be looked at in Janauary I'm sure but over half the season will have gone by then

As long as we stay up I'm happy and I like how we knock it about - we were good today on the ball but I feel sorry for the players tbh because there just isn't anyone to aim for in any sense

 

[jack101]

First game of the season for me. Kite should never be played at RB/RWB again. He’s great at breaking up play in the middle but was always looking to come inside while everyone else was wanting him to run into space. It made us really narrow and easy to defend against. Watts hugged the touchline a lot better when he came on and most of good play came down his flank in the second half. As mentioned by Max, the lack of forward options is a huge error by Gary. Feels like we are overloaded with technically gifted midfielders but no focal point upfront. My Luton supporting friend is convinced The Admiral isn’t the answer btw. I know Trevitt has had a really good start to his city career but I was underwhelmed today, wanted too much time and we were much better when Taylor was playing in that role. As others have said, Demi worked hard and tried to make something happen. I was really impressed with Jules, carried the ball well, quick to make up ground in defence, can’t believe MK didn’t want him. Final point, I know Sweeney has adjusted really well to league 1 but he looked like his mind was somewhere else in the first half, couldn’t complete a pass and kept blaming his teammates. Second half he got into loads of good crossing positions but was always reluctant to whip one into the box, something he’s normally very good at. Apprentice that could be down to instructions, or maybe just lack of faith that anyone would be there to get on the end of it. Overall, a disappointing performance however with a with a full strength XI I reckon we get a draw.

 

[Grecian Max]

Too early to write off the attacking recruitment yet.

Recruitment up top is below par because we don't have all the slots filled that we needed to, it's as simple as that

I'm not writing of Muskwe at all, he's an unknown quantity but we needed another player and didn't achieve it

Having the whole summer to sort it, with Nombe clearly being touted about the place with the numerous links we should have got a cover in before Muskwe but it is was it is

It looks to me to be a wasted opportunity to get points on the board as we don't have anyone attacking the ball in dangerous areas

Hence us huffing and puffing towards goal post Wycombe in every game

 

[Topsham Boy]

I mean it was, he stuck his foot out and tripped in the box, not winning the ball

Both pens were penalties and we didn't lose because of the referee

The first penalty was soft, second one looked a pen in my view.

 

[kuznetsov]

Sincere apologies, I am really not trying to wind anyone up or cause any offence but... TALK ABOUT KNEE JERK. I could pick any number of quotes...

"FFS. How many more games will we hear about bad days at the office and move on the next?" ... "Having supported City for many moons I can’t recall a time when we have been so bereft of a recognised striker " ... "Club/Trust need to get their chequebook out and bring in a free agent ASAP. I know GC has said no more signings, but surely this can be shifted - it's not working going forward."

Over the years I've seen some seriously bad City teams, watched strikers who couldn't hit a barn door. Some had pace but over ran everything, some had the turning circle of an oil tanker, others couldn't trap a bag of cement, whilst others still, played like they had biscuit tins on their feet. I've seen us apply for re-election more times than I care to remember (for the younger ones, that's when there was no automatic relegation from the football league) and when there was, we duly got relegated to the Conference. And yet here we are holding our own in L1, 6th in the table after just 9 games, having suffered an away defeat at the team currently sat in 2nd and the question is "FFS. How many more games will we hear about bad days at the office and move on the next?" Mate, I am not oblivious to the obvious problem BUT we have been spoiled. Of late, we have had plenty of good days at the office and we all know that you cannot win every game.

So, allow me to point out... we do have a recognised striker, he is not fully fit to play ay the moment (and yes I appreciate that it would be preferable to have more than one capable striker on the books and available to play). And, it may well not be working at the moment, but it is still very early days. Give the new boys a proper chance to get fully fit and bed in and some of the injured players time to come back from injury and then see whether it is working or not . I am NOT saying that you are wrong and I am NOT looking to insult anyone or argue with them. Time will tell and you may all be absolutely correct. I assure you, I do not see things through rose tinted spectacles, I am simply saying that in my opinion comments like these appear somewhat impatient to me and it is all too soon to be pronouncing doom and gloom over a season that has hardly got going. Let's see what happens shall we.

Every. Word. Of. This.

 

[Topsham Boy]

Demi Mitchell

Cole too…..played well.

 

[Topsham Boy]

I didnt think City played too badly today. Dominated for large periods but didnt just have the cutting edge up top. Also the defence, collectively, werent as good as they have been. 3-0 was harsh on City today and a draw would have bene a fairer result.

Jules had his best game today.

Don’t completely agree on saying
a draw would have been the right result . We gave the ball away too many times especially in the first half playing out from the back.Their first goal came from one of our mistakes …good cross and header to finish from Oxford. We lacked any real threat in the final third all game…lots of decent play in the middle third but no end product and too slow in our build up.

Oxford were more dynamic and direct in attack and forced us into defensive errors second half that resulted in penalties…..I thought one was soft and one not.
2-0 would have been a fair result.

Overall Oxford were solid but not spectacular, and we played some decent stuff particularly after half time until we conceded the first penalty .

Not a great game, but I don’t think many City fans could complain too much about the result. Many on this thread also agree the lack of a decent striker is a major problem at present. Opposition defenders need to be harried, physically pressured and unsettled…we don’t have that on the pitch at the moment.

 

[Red Devon]

Not a 3:0 game in a million years…Two evenly matched teams a draw would have been just about right….Saying that I thought City were a little too hesitant at times too push forward looking for a sideways pass too often when behind in the game….Jules and Carroll had very decent games Hartridge too…After nine games played we are in desperate need for our strikers to return to fitness to make the difference to what appears to be a good side we have this season.