I don't know what's more frustrating; the obviously wrong decision by an incompetent official or the ludicrous situation whereby there's no mechanism to overturn it although everyone can see it's a wrong decision.
As someone else pointed out he’d already reached for his yellow when he realised that he’d booked Puerta earlier, but he wasn’t brave enough to put his yellow card back in his pocket, the total ****wit!
I still don't think that's what happened. A player was running in unmarked so he peeled off to mark him and McLoughlin just watched the player take a free shot.
Suspensions added to injuries is leaving us a bit light again. Matazo, Puerta and Alzate were a solid 3. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to bring in Slater who runs around a lot but doesn’t get on the ball as the above 3 do. Going to be a hard slog at WBA with not much possession.
I suggest you rewatch it Syd, he got totally fooled by their centre back, and if you watch it back Macca gave him daggers.
I think he’s dropped off in his last few games and probably could do with a break, but with Puerta suspended he’s not going to have that luxury. He can get his feet up when the international break comes.
'Quite frankly, we've thrown the game away' - Rowett Hull boss Ruben Selles, speaking to BBC Radio Humberside: "Oxford is a good opponent and it was difficult to break them in the first half. "The goal came when we were just about to make substitutions, but I think our substitutions were brilliant. "The game completely changed when we had the unpredictability of Kasey [Palmer], Mason [Burstow] on the left side giving us something different and Regan [Slater] in the middle. "We fought really hard, it's always difficult to win those games but I'm proud of the character that the team showed." Oxford boss Gary Rowett, speaking to BBC Radio Oxford: "I'm really angry if I'm being honest because, quite frankly, we've thrown the game away. That's how it feels. "It felt like an incredible opportunity, at 1-0, to win the game. It took a lot of hard work to get there. I don't think we necessarily started as well as we wanted to, we were a little bit passive early in the game but we grew into the game. "We got ourselves into a good position and, when you do that, you've got to protect the goal and the lead with your life. Earlier on in my tenure we were doing that, but today we allowed two very soft goals. "Unfortunately, if you're going to play with that sort of naivety in the Championship, you're going to make it a very difficult end to the season. "I'm just frustrated because we've gone from a position of winning games, seeing those moments out and looking very solid, to feeling like we've got more to give, we're not quite giving it and I'm not quite sure why. "That's probably the harshest I've been with the players in the dressing room and it really does feel as though we've thrown something away today."
Various bits of good and bad tonight. The first hour was such a typical 'home game against **** team'. It's absolutely incredible that we can so consistently follow the same script of looking dominant but not scoring, generally because of a poor final ball, and then going behind from a set piece - or sometimes an open play cross - where someone inexplicably has freedom to shoot at goal unchallenged in what should be a crowded area. I'm sure we all expected a half hour slog of us getting nowhere against a packed defence after that, so it's great credit to the team that we showed the character and quality to get back in the game and then win it. But on the flip side, we are so poor at converting promising counter attacks, so easily stopped. That one where the full back pulled Burstow down off the ball frustrated me because we always seem to get fouled out of the break too easily in those situations, almost like we don't mind going down and getting a free kick and booking when it's actually worth next to nothing to us compared to the break we've lost. And then the Puerta second yellow was another one. It never should've got to a challenge, it was 2 on 1, but Gus seemed to hesitate and allowed himself to get herded away from goal until it came to the ref making a decision, when really they should've never been able to get near us. We have to get more clinical in those situations. Haven't seen the second yellow back but it sounds like a bad decision. The frustrating thing for me is that he gladly gobbled it up when their defender dived onto the ball in first half injury time, but then was seemingly desperate to book us for it later on. It's one of those inconsistencies that's always irritated me about football; that defenders can go down under absolutely no contact, especially if facing their own goal in their area, and everyone just accepts they're allowed to buy a free kick and it's somehow different to diving as an attacking player, and it doesn't seem to bother anyone but me for some reason. He also allowed them to quite productively handle the ball on three separate occasions. One was a very effective block from Kamara's shot, and another one was a very good interception that turned over the ball. They were all at quite close range, but it's frustrating that they're allowed to get such productivity out of handling the ball even if it is accidental.
I think it's been slipping into his game a bit lately. He's very casual, he knows he's better than most players at this level and I think sometimes he enjoys the game too much and forgets that he still needs to be at 100% to help us win it. Especially at home.
Nobody seems to have mentioned it but that pass from Pandur to their forward was really lucky that the shot was poor
You could see it coming. He sort of rushed himself to drop the ball because nothing was on, but then got hurried into passing it and still nothing was on so he just went for an under-pressure Alzate who he didn't want to be passing it to but he ended up with little choice. I suppose at that point he should've hoofed it but he'll be told to avoid that.
Hardly anyone left in the ground a couple of minutes after final whistle. And this leaving in droves on the 85 minute mark, it’s getting worse as the season progresses. ****ing embarrassing.
I noticed that the Oxford players were quick to stifle Alzate tonight, and got stuck into him. It seemed to put him off his game.
I saw a number of replays and the mate I was with agreed but I'll take another look when highlights go up.
It felt a very nervy performance, whether there was a hangover from the effort they put in Saturday, difficult to say. When they scored it was starting to feel like many home games of the last 2 years, go behind to virtually their only chance, bar the free kick, and lose 1-0. However, credit to Ruben who made the right changes, Palmer and Burstow made a difference, and the team who fought back from a losing position. From what I have seen, Burstow, particularly on the wing, looks more affective than Joseph, Burstows first touch is better than Joseph IMO. Crook's up front didn't work, and we looked better when the subs came on. Both Gelhardt and Puerta's goals (I'm giving Gus it, because he deserves it) were lovely pieces of skill. I hope the coaching team get Kamara to work on using his right foot and getting to the by-line more often, invariably he comes onto his left which is predictable. Bowen became a much more accomplished player when he started using his right foot more, defenders are then in doubt which was he will go. Puerta's sending off was a joke, what the ref was thinking God only knows, as I understand it, after the match is concluded, the team could file an appeal if they had reasonable evidence to invalidate either of those two yellow cards. Ruben in his presser said you can't appeal a yellow, which is true, but if it leads to a red, then I believe you can. If so, hopefully it will get overturned. All that matters was the 3 points, so on to Saturday, let's hope we can get at least a point from the game.
