Ah it's on TV, freakin sweet, gonna get smashed at home watching this! Oxford also got 3pm kick off on Saturday, so they should be just as knackered as us.
I know Chaos isn't around (or is he??) He says that a cup run and the extra games are a bad thing and he has a point but I didn't realise how few games there actually are. If we beat Oxford at the 2nd attempt then there are only 4 more games to TRY and win the bloody thing. Bear in mind that we've had 2 replays adding to our fixtures too, had we have performed better on those occasions it would only have been an additional 2 games. Looking at the teams left, Liverpool may not go through if they play their kids and we have beaten Man U, Chelsea and Tottenham this season. With 30pts before February we are hopefully safe (though we have the ability to **** everything up) so just bloody go for it! 5 games from winning a trophy and the next 2 are Oxford and West Brom Imagine, safe by February, takeover and potentially going for a trophy. Just to clarify, I don't expect us to win the cup but it would be nice to have a go at it and I'm sure we are more than capable of finding a way of still getting relegated and blowing any takeover
we will lose a key player to injury whayever happens ... west brom away really will be us out. embarrassing needed replays all the way vs rochdale and oxford ..
See Oxford sold 2 of their better players for a few Bob on transfer day so that'll balance the odds a bit. Might give us a chance now.
Disagree. Words like “embarrassing “ and “famous “ and “great” get way over used in sporting circles. Disappointing, yes but who would really care if we ever got to the Final and won. If we’d lost then that might have been embarrassing but not when you get through to the next round.
I suspect that we won't see much change in formation until we have a few more points on the board. But it might be very interesting to see what is tried on Tuesday. All the new boys have to play, and Bruce must start looking at changing something up front. I love watching ASM, but in truth, he has been poor in the last couple of games, especially making poor decisions about when to do his tricks and when to pass or cross. Almiron, now being feted largely for his defensive work. Joe-Linton trying harder, but...... 4 goals between them screams try something else. In the absence of much in the way of different personnel I hope Bruce plays 4-4-2 (or 4-1-3-2) for the Oxford game but I'm not holding my breath.
2-0 oxford. They’ll have picked up on our weaknesses from the first leg and use it to their strengths. They’ll show much urgency and passion. Atsu two OG’s. I just blame everything on Atsu. Even when he’s injured, it’s Atsu’s fault. Sorry Atsu.
Obviously we're going to aim for safety first, as usual, and play 5-4-1. But I'd like, again, to see us go to 4-1-4-1 for this one: Darlow; Yedlin, Schar, Lejeune, err, Gibson??; Hayden; Allan, Longstaff x 2, Atsu; Sorensen. Then we can leave the cup behind for another year, let Oxford have their moment of glory.