This one will be interesting. There will be many a poster somewhere who thinks this is a 6 point must win sack the manager disaster waiting to happen match. But, I say don't panic Mr Mainwaring they don't like it up em. I see no reason why we can't win this one. We aren't playing a team in top form or at the top of the table and have proved previously we can beat those around us at Home Park. There is a rumour that it is going to be a bit breezy on Saturday afternoon. It could turn out to be one of those lotery games where the weather plays it's own part in proceedings. All I know is it's an unusual kick off time. I mean who would have thought of having a 3pm Saturday kick off............madness. COYG
Not surprised it has been postponed early....because of the traveling involved for some. Not a bad result for injury hit Argyle....will give players time to get fit and forget the trauma of the last two games.
Both good points! Will we ever get another 3pm? https://www.pafc.co.uk/news/oxford-united-game-postponed I think the biggest worry for the club is part of the stadium coming off and landing on the pitch or in the crowd. Getting stuck on a train is annoying but not something to be too worried about but something landing in the crowd is potentially fatal, so even if the probability is low, you can't proceed. Obviously there are other ways to get killed like a tree falling on a car travelling to the match. Technically, that's not the club's fault but if the authorities are advising people not to travel, you don't have a choice but to cancel a mass event. Although the next game is on Tuesday, so at best we may see Hazard, Szucs and Galloway in the squad. None of the others will make it according to the latest updates.
never mind a tree falling on a car, have you ever walked through Central Park? Lovely setting until the wind blows. The lane down to the Barn Park entrance is a tree lined leathal stroll waiting to happen.
We need 3 points. If we keep getting 3 at home and 1 away then goal difference will take care of itself and be irrelevant in the end. I've decided to give this one a go and see how I get on. I need a result to justify it. Or maybe I should follow Saturdays prediction and go a 5 - 0 loss. Decisions decisions.
Grimshaw, Mumba, Pleguezuelo, Whittaker, Puchacz, Gyabi, Randell, Galloway, Al Hajj, Baidoo, Palsson. Subs Baker, Ogbeta, Houghton, Cissoko, Wright, Obafemi, Bundu, Sorinola, Roberts. Grimshaw in and Sorinola dropped to the bench. Marosi has been released ?.....I assume Hazard is injured ? No Szucs in the squad...is he injured as well.
1-1.....F/T Al Hajj...63mins. Vaulks...44mins. Not the best of results....very late with the subbing.....maybe Cissoko should have come on earlier Cardiff drew as well..
After Saturday’s heroics and a personable new manager coming in. I had high hopes for this one but was disappointed. We had the better of the first half by quite a margin but didn’t convert that into chances. I’m not going to form an opinion on Baidoo because he’s clearly not cut out to be a lone central striker and without a focus in that vital area we struggled to get what our general play deserved. Oxford are a very irritating side. Every throw in takes 20 minutes and players drop like flies with mystery injuries and then refuse to go off by the shortest route. This was not helped by having an inconsistent and ineffective referee. It seemed to me that we conceded due to someone giving the ball away in the RB position. I couldn’t see who it was but I have my suspicions. The second half was more even but bizarrely that was when we equalised. This was a messy, unsatisfactory game really and the large crowd didn’t really get going any more than the team. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t as good as we expected nor as good as we need. The total attendance was I think down on last time out but there were fewer home seats empty than ever and the reduction will be due to fewer away fans taking up a lot more space than they needed. Now then, the player I shall call Number 17. I believe he’s on loan with a right to buy. If we can, we should abandon those thoughts right now. We need to buy him now. He’s up and down the pitch relentlessly and he’s a big strong lad. I was surprised when he came over to take a corner…. surely we had someone better. He proceeded to whip the most vicious curving ball into the box I think I’ve ever seen. I think he’s some unholy crossbreed of Paul Wotton and Graham Carey. Sign him up now.
What a funny ole game this was. I'll do the Ref first. He virtually let everything go for the entire match until it got to the 11th hour. He then blew for virtually everything. He was the same for both sides though. The Lyndhurst lino was for once quite decent but there was very little for him to do. They took the lead by virtue of a thunderbolt. I'm not sure Grimshaw saw it until it stopped in the back of his net. It was a good move by Oxford but sort of out of sinc with the game as a whole. Apart from the first few minutes I didn't think Oxford had done anything much for the half and Grimshaw surely didn't have much to save. The half was just about 50/50 and in some respects their goal came out of nothing much. Second half and it started the same as the first with Argyle being very tentative. We had one of those games where we were either really really good or very very poor. We equalised and it wasn't against the run of play. It was after a good bit by us. We then turned bad again for a while. Mention for Baidoo. He is not a striker. He tried and tried but was given no sort of service at all. Puchacz for me. He ran his bollocks off and put in a real shift for the cause. Think he might do well here if he keeps it up. Overall it was a fair result although Oxford did do the black arts stuff in falling down at regular intervals and wasting time whenever they could. Not sure either manager will be happy with a point each in the end.
And we posted within 1 minute of each other. There will be accusations we are in fact the same person. Juat a word on Grimshaw. He made what from a pitch’s length away looked like two very good saves in the first half - certainly spectacular ones anyway. Once the ball had been lost in a dangerous area, nobody could have done much to stop their goal and the scorer couldn’t have hit it better if he tried 100 times. Grimshaw has no chance of stopping that. Although Hazard has improved, my heart is in my mouth every time he has the ball at his feet. I know they’re asked to play that way but for me, I feel more comfortable with Grimshaw in goal. I see Muslic has actually more or less agreed with us too Sensible, warts and all. Perhaps we should apply for jobs. He was pacing the touchline for 90 minutes, pointing and shouting. It’s early days but I do like him. Rooney was like a statue out there at times and this guy isn’t. Despite not being English and never having worked here, he talks really, really well. I watched the first press conference yesterday, which was for obvious reasons well attended - even someone from ITV and a local and a national team from the BBC. You might wonder if his speeches to the team and ArgyleTV were so smooth as to look scripted but he handled the press in the same calm, informative and humorous way. None of this “yeah, no….” at the start of every sentence.. Let’s hope it’s not all talk and no trousers but I have a good feeling about him. Objectively, there wasn’t any significant improvement over the games managed by Nance and Joe Edwards, but as Muslic pointed out, he’s only had 1 day of training since the Liverpool game. Fair comment but the hectic fixture schedule, spread these days over 7 days a week, means that’s not uncommon. The ‘Erald also made Puchacz MotM. We’re getting good at this.
Ironically the day that Marko Morosi's contract expired..... Hazard was sidelined and young Baker had to be sub keeper on the bench. In hindsight the disappointment of dropping two home points in the cold light of day is off set with the fact that under their new manager Oxford are one of the form teams in this division. Even though they lost last weekend in the FA Cup to that mob up the road. PS.....Marosi signs for Cambridge.
Just checked the match video.....alarming at times how our defence left Oxford attackers in oceans of space....hoping that Muslic will work on these lapses of defending. Moans about Grimshaws keeping compared to Hazard....but he did some great saves ...especially near the end when he pushed the ball away twice. I assume Hazard had picked up an injury and that is why young Zac Baker was on the bench....ironical it happened on the day Marosi left at end of contract. We cannot afford to keep drawing at home....two points dropped everytime.....unless we start winning regularly away. It seems that Szucs is out for two weeks.....injuries continue happening unfortunately. We're becoming desperate for a striker at the moment....can't keep playing Baidoo out of position......we need more goals to take the pressure off our defence.
I have more confidence in Grimshaw with the ball is at his feet too, rightly or wrongly. Hazard did make two good saves at Brentford to be fair. I have watched all the Muslic video, including the training session. Muhamed Tijani was present in training kit, so that's a hopeful sign.
