Oxford United v Cheltenham Town

[andgarod]

I am not going to blame nuttall
he did not do much but what did we expect
The problem is that the team gets pushed back in the last 10 if our opponents are chasing the game
We don't have subs that can change the game
Thomas is a money maker as is Ferry
can we cash in bond

[CTFC.Harry]

A player who couldn’t get into an average Conference side’s 11 can’t hack it in League 1? I am shocked. Another poor bit of recruitment

[RS1978]

With the ridiculous position we have left ourselves in with the striker situation Id say its good night Irene.......

El Glosico may well be back on next season

Very bad decisions on the striker front over the last year has left us where we are. Always chasing the quick £

Totally agree. The board have left DC high and dry. They knew we were going to make a big loss and we needed the cash so they sold Alfie for peanuts (League One top scorer again!!) and cashed in on Goodwin because they felt that short-term money was preferable to goals and therefore League One survival.

There was that stat last year - that only 3 male players had scored over 20 league goals for 2 consecutive seasons for their clubs in the top 4 leagues of English football - Kane, Mitrovic and Alfie. Obvs this was before Haaland went to Man C.

Yes - he was sold for less than he was worth - but he didn't want to stay. Same for Ben Tozer who basically went on strike before Wrecsam bought him. Goodwin went to DC when the offer came in from Oxford and said he wanted to go - so it's not as if they wanted to play for Cheltenham! You can tell them until you're blue in the face that bigger offers will come in if you stay, but what can you do if the players themselves want to go?

All of the creativity went out of the team last summer - May, Jackson, Broom may not have got many assists, but with them gone they haven't really been replaced. The creativity had to come from Long/Ferry as the wing backs rather than through the middle.

When we started the season badly, the youngsters that we had on loan had to go. Then with Street out and Goodwin sold the onus was to try and get strikers in - and Keena worked well alongside a dynamic striker like May - so we sort of got a replacement in Taylor - it hasn't really clicked as a partnership.

[Jerry St Clair]

I know DC likes to surprise everyone with team selections but starting with 10 men was bold. If Nuttall ever gets near the team again I will be shocked. Would rather start the youngsters.

Darrell completely dug him out in his post-match without actually naming him. Clearly referring to Nuttall though. I doubt we'll see much of him for the rest of the season.

[HamTown]

With the ridiculous position we have left ourselves in with the striker situation Id say its good night Irene.......

El Glosico may well be back on next season

Very bad decisions on the striker front over the last year has left us where we are. Always chasing the quick £

Totally agree. The board have left DC high and dry. They knew we were going to make a big loss and we needed the cash so they sold Alfie for peanuts (League One top scorer again!!) and cashed in on Goodwin because they felt that short-term money was preferable to goals and therefore League One survival.

Goodwin and league one survival? He's been injured at Oxford and has yet to manage more than 45 mins he also did sod all today when coming on

[Ihearye]

Very bad decisions on the striker front over the last year has left us where we are. Always chasing the quick £

Totally agree. The board have left DC high and dry. They knew we were going to make a big loss and we needed the cash so they sold Alfie for peanuts (League One top scorer again!!) and cashed in on Goodwin because they felt that short-term money was preferable to goals and therefore League One survival.

Goodwin and league one survival? He's been injured at Oxford and has yet to manage more than 45 mins he also did sod all today when coming on

But yet managed to do more than sod all for us, go figure

[HamTown]

Totally agree. The board have left DC high and dry. They knew we were going to make a big loss and we needed the cash so they sold Alfie for peanuts (League One top scorer again!!) and cashed in on Goodwin because they felt that short-term money was preferable to goals and therefore League One survival.

Goodwin and league one survival? He's been injured at Oxford and has yet to manage more than 45 mins he also did sod all today when coming on

But yet managed to do more than sod all for us, go figure

Over 6 weeks when he was fit, the other 12 months not alot.

[Horteng]

With the ridiculous position we have left ourselves in with the striker situation Id say its good night Irene.......

El Glosico may well be back on next season

Very bad decisions on the striker front over the last year has left us where we are. Always chasing the quick £

Totally agree. The board have left DC high and dry. They knew we were going to make a big loss and we needed the cash so they sold Alfie for peanuts (League One top scorer again!!) and cashed in on Goodwin because they felt that short-term money was preferable to goals and therefore League One survival.

To be fair to the board we are told the DC was on board with the player sales (As you'd expect him to be).

[Si Robin]

Indeed - there seems to be a wish to paint DC as a martyr and the Board as trying to trip him up left, right and centre.

In our interview with him he made it clear that Will Goodwin told him he wanted to go when Oxford came knocking so he was involved in the negotiations that got us £400k. He also said that the only player outgoing he wasn't a fan of was Liam Smith going to Grimsby, but he let him go when Smith sent him a text telling him he wanted to go.

The movements in January (incomings and outgoings) he had direct involvement in - and 100% the final decision.

[paperboy]

We really,really need thereto be a couple of free agent strikers at Seasons this morning.

[longmover]

Indeed - there seems to be a wish to paint DC as a martyr and the Board as trying to trip him up left, right and centre.

In our interview with him he made it clear that Will Goodwin told him he wanted to go when Oxford came knocking so he was involved in the negotiations that got us £400k. He also said that the only player outgoing he wasn't a fan of was Liam Smith going to Grimsby, but he let him go when Smith sent him a text telling him he wanted to go.

The movements in January (incomings and outgoings) he had direct involvement in - and 100% the final decision.

he signed off on Nuttall, I know he said it was a punt but that really is quite something, there was nothing else out there apart from Nuttall? (did he owe someone a favour?)

[Si Robin]

He remembered Nuttall from being at Blackburn. Given Nuttall got promoted with them and then played in the Championship with them, one assumes that he thought that he clearly had something and it was a case of finding it again. More than 40 games at League 1 level, and 15 in the Championship doesn't happen by accident.

As he says, we have to be a club of opportunity. Nuttall was a risk, but it's a risk he felt worth taking.

I'm not defending the signing, but I understand the logic.

[Jerry St Clair]

Nuttall is an interesting case.

Came through the Man City academy. Scored goals for Blackburn and Blackpool in League One. Was nominated as Player of the Season in Premier League 2 alongside Eddie Nketiah, Harry Wilson and others. He also scored plenty of goals for Oldham int he National League.

So, a proven L1 goalscorer with a great Academy pedigree who's struggled for the past two seasons. I can see why DC thought it might be worth a punt, and using his legendary man-management skills, to get Nuttall back on track. Clearly hasn't worked thus far though.

[longmover]

Can we send Nuttall back if we get a free agent in?

[1985CTFC]

How is it that every time one of their player’s hits the deck they get a free kick but when our players get fouled and go down we get nothing. Is it because they roll about and squeal and we don’t.

It's because we are Cheltenham.

Happens in every away game .Vs large crowds - decisions against Derby/Bolton/Wigan and now here don't go our way. Lloyd kicked in the guts - no penalty. Lloyd onside goal vs. Bolton not given. Taylor fouled vs. Wigan in the run up to their equaliser. 50/50s given against us today. The only positive for us today was that Lloyd wasn't given his usual kicking

Another positive from going down would be that I don't have to listen to that drivel from the Oxford commentators on iFollow...

Agreed, worse commentators I have heard all season. A right pair of twats.

[Shade]

I didn't think they were all that bad to be honest. I've heard a helluva lot worse. They were on the whole fair, but the main commentator was more biased and incorrect than the couple of co-comms they had, who were pretty complimentary about how we'd stopped Oxford playing and went after them, especially in the first half. At the end of the day, though, they're Oxford commentators, so it's not going to be amazing listening. Was still better than Radio Glos...

[Horteng]

He remembered Nuttall from being at Blackburn. Given Nuttall got promoted with them and then played in the Championship with them, one assumes that he thought that he clearly had something and it was a case of finding it again. More than 40 games at League 1 level, and 15 in the Championship doesn't happen by accident.

As he says, we have to be a club of opportunity. Nuttall was a risk, but it's a risk he felt worth taking.

I'm not defending the signing, but I understand the logic.

The logic is the club found themselves up sh!t creek without a paddle and signed Nuttall as a measure of desperation and/or panic.

[RS1978]

I didn't think they were all that bad to be honest. I've heard a helluva lot worse. They were on the whole fair, but the main commentator was more biased and incorrect than the couple of co-comms they had, who were pretty complimentary about how we'd stopped Oxford playing and went after them, especially in the first half. At the end of the day, though, they're Oxford commentators, so it's not going to be amazing listening. Was still better than Radio Glos...

It was that ridiculous need to shoehorn Oxford into virtually every conversation ( I'm sure that other commentators do it too!) and the assertion after it went 1-1 that "this is the whole season here - right here, right now" - whilst it was a very serious match for us, I don't really think that it was that important for Oxford considering all of their draws/losses this season (won 4/16 in all comps from the start of this year). They're in no danger of going down/ going up automatically (they're 8th) and I think that with the playoffs Satanage have 2 games in hand and are 1 point ahead in the last playoff place. Might be a bit of a longshot for the playoffs!

I assume that the commentators are having a right old moan tonight as they've just been done 5-0 away to Bolton. Cambridge have also lost 6-0 to Lincoln (!) so cue the "Monk prays for miracle cure as U's in freefall" headlines.