Uninspiring and easy to play against

[Vegas Claret]

We never got out of first gear and created very little. With the acknowledgement that it's still very early days and it's effectively a pre-season it's been a long while since we've been in the Championship and I go into games wondering if we will score. That was really bad

[paulatky]

Utter sh1te today
No firepower and no creativity in midfield
If Worrall out for a while lack of cover at CB
Whoever sanctioned the signing of Houdini wants a long hard look at himself.
Nowhere near the required standard

[RVclaret]

It wasn’t really bad.

[Safron]

I thought Laurent was a fantastic addition to midfield we played well got wins and then bam Cullen gets back in the team and now we are back to boring sideways football, who would of thought it eh

[paulatky]

Too defensive and build up too slow.
Oxford were very poor
We are 3rd to bottom on EG in this division. Says it all really.

[dvalley69]

I don't think Oxford will be saying they had an easy day at the office!

[TsarBomba]

Parker looked ****** in his post match interview.

Can’t legislate for missing guilt edge chances.

We need more creativity in the number 10 position, but it’s a conundrum as Hannibal’s pressing helps us to recover the ball quicker.

Hopefully Flemming and Roberts are back for Tuesday.

Kept the faith.

[123EasyasBFC]

If we take our clear chances we win the game 3-0. Today we didn’t take the chances

[Ric_C]

4th in the league
1 defeat
Best GD in the league
Starting to slowly control games
Tresor, Beyer, Ekdal, Ramsey, Flemming, Worrall, Roberts, Redmond, Benson all missing but will be back at some point.

Not too worried at the moment.

We do need to push the boat out for a clinical finisher in January if possible

[KRBFC]

So boring to watch

Side to side and backwards slowly, no pace to our play at all and we can’t create anything.

The jury is still out on Parker but so far I can see why other fans warned us. So boring, one of the lowest in the league for expected goals.

[CoolClaret]

So boring to watch

Side to side and backwards slowly, no pace to our play at all and we can’t create anything.

The jury is still out on Parker but so far I can see why other fans warned us. So boring, one of the lowest in the league for expected goals.

It was pretty much identical to some of the games early in the 22/23 season, only problem that we don't have the same quality on the wing and at fullback.

[KRBFC]

And Parker keeps picking this same 3 in midfield that just doesn’t work and we can all see it doesn’t work.

[paulatky]

So boring to watch

Side to side and backwards slowly, no pace to our play at all and we can’t create anything.

The jury is still out on Parker but so far I can see why other fans warned us. So boring, one of the lowest in the league for expected goals.

Just as I said above. Not often I agree with you

[Murger]

I find this brand of pass, pass, pass for the sake of it as entertaining as Cotterball.

[KRBFC]

It was pretty much identical to some of the games early in the 22/23 season, only problem that we don't have the same quality on the wing and at fullback.

No it’s not, we created plenty of chances in the early Kompany games. We were soft defensively and conceded a ton of late goals.

I agree about the quality though, this squad is lacking badly in wide areas and we have nothing upfront.

I think we badly need Tresor back and Agyei has to start getting a sniff. The balance in midfield is all wrong too.

[Anonymous Claret]

It really wasn't that bad. A few facts.

Oxford had won all of their previous 3 home games.

We had a massive amount of possession but just struggled to open them up. This was also a factor in a few of the opening games in the Kompany promotion season.

If we had scored 1 of the 2 gilt edged chances for Sarmiento or Hountondji most people would be saying how had won a tricky away fixture at a team who had a 100% home record.

Fair play to Oxford as they defended really well just as we did at Leeds.

3 games unbeaten and we are averaging 2 points a game.

[burnley007]

Could you imagine wanting to watch a full 90 minute repeat of that borefest?

Zzzzzz

[Newcastleclaret93]

I think a lot of our problems in attack stem from midfield.

Cullen, Brownhill and Hannibal have next to no creativity. Desperately need to mix it up in there.

I imagine Flemming will slot into Hannibal’s role as soon as he’s properly fit. Until then I would even be tempted to give someone like Sarmiento a go centrally.

I really really like Koleosho but I think this is a big season for him, he’s been found out in a few games so far this season. He had a good few bursts into the box first half then they doubled up on him and it was game over.

A lot for Parker to think about but right now I really don’t think there’s much to complain about. Two points off top and I still don’t think we have seen his settled side.

[CoolClaret]

No it’s not, we created plenty of chances in the early Kompany games. We were soft defensively and conceded a ton of late goals.

I agree about the quality though, this squad is lacking badly in wide areas and we have nothing upfront.

I think we badly need Tresor back and Agyei has to start getting a sniff. The balance in midfield is all wrong too.

... but we in fact did create chances today.

Can't hammer Parker for having a massive chunk of his side out injured and having 4 weeks to prepare the team in the summer, then effectively a new preseason in the international window?

Context matters.

Have every right to be cheesed if this is game 15/16 but it's not, we're still a work in progress.

[FCBurnley]

We have no strikers who are good enough

Foster ( not a lone striker. Lacking confidence)
The Benin Guy ( did we actually pay money for him )
Jay Rod ( been great for us but on the decline )
Flemming ( not a striker )

[Anonymous Claret]

No it’s not, we created plenty of chances in the early Kompany games. We were soft defensively and conceded a ton of late goals.

I agree about the quality though, this squad is lacking badly in wide areas and we have nothing upfront.

I think we badly need Tresor back and Agyei has to start getting a sniff. The balance in midfield is all wrong too.

We created loads of chances early in the Kompany promotion season? Really?

Hull, West Brom, Preston, Cardiff, Stoke and Birmingham.

Even later in the season I can't remember us creating much away at Blackpool or at home to Sunderland amongst others. We created two golden chances that should have been buried.

[ElectroClaret]

If we had scored 1 of the 2 gilt edged chances for Sarmiento or Hountondji most people would be saying how had won a tricky away fixture at a team who had a 100% home record.

This.^^^^

[KRBFC]

... but we in fact did create chances today.

Can't hammer Parker for having a massive chunk of his side out injured and having 4 weeks to prepare the team in the summer, then effectively a new preseason in the international window?

Context matters.

Have every right to be cheesed if this is game 15/16 but it's not, we're still a work in progress.

I know your game, you’re being overly positive about Parker because you hated Kompany. The jury is still out for me.

[bumba]

I know your game, you’re being overly positive about Parker because you hated Kompany. The jury is still out for me.

The jury is still out for everyone because it's still early days just as it was with VK.
71% possession and 16 attempts away from home isn't a poor performance though is it?
The problem is the striker VK brought in he isn't good enough.

[KRBFC]

We created loads of chances early in the Kompany promotion season? Really?

Hull, West Brom, Preston, Cardiff, Stoke and Birmingham.

Even later in the season I can't remember us creating much away at Blackpool or at home to Sunderland amongst others. We created two golden chances that should have been buried.

I’m talking about the early games, you’re on about Birmingham and Stoke which were 15+ games in.

At the moment we are one of the lowest XG sides in the league, you could never say that about VKs Championship side. Even the early Watford game we lost we absolutely battered them second half.

[CoolClaret]

I know your game, you’re being overly positive about Parker because you hated Kompany. The jury is still out for me.

really?

Just calling a spade a spade. Big fan of VK till he lost his rocker, and I don't 'hate' him at all.

Why does everything have to be like/dislike, love/hate, on/off, yes/no with you.. You do realise that there is more nuance and a wide range of positions between two extremes?

[Vegas Claret]

It wasn’t really bad.

look at the quality available to both managers, it was very poor with acknowledgment to the caveat I mentioned

[Culmclaret]

Bit of slack needed. We totally dominated a game against a side who had won all three of their home games. At no point did we look like losing. On another day we’d have won comfortably. We do need to gain the confidence to move the ball quicker and mix it up but that will come. Oxford had to run their socks off to stay in that game.

[Vegas Claret]

Genuine question as I don't remember - did their keeper make a single save ?

[Goliath]

It might have been many things but easy to play against it was not. The amount of work Oxford had to get through in that game to keep their defensive organisation was huge, let's not forget that.

But on the other side of it, as I and a few others have said when people got carried away against Leeds and Portsmouth. We lack quality in a lot of areas and we've downgraded hugely in terms of what we had last time at this level.

Bringing Anthony and Houtandji on is far less threatening than bringing Benson, Zaroury and JBG on. That's the massive difference and is why I wasn't too happy with our summer window.
Fleming will make a difference but I'm not sure he will be hugely creative which is what we are lacking. Missing out on O'Hare was a big blow.

[Stonehouse]

4th in the league
1 defeat
Best GD in the league
Starting to slowly control games
Tresor, Beyer, Ekdal, Ramsey, Flemming, Worrall, Roberts, Redmond, Benson all missing but will be back at some point.

Not too worried at the moment.

We do need to push the boat out for a clinical finisher in January if possible

Unfortunatel Fleming and Roberts are the only 2 that are going to improve the squad this side of Christmas ,if Worrall has broken his foot then only these 2 are liable to feature this year.

[RVclaret]

look at the quality available to both managers, it was very poor with acknowledgment to the caveat I mentioned

That’s the beauty of the Championship, games aren’t won on paper like they typically are in the Prem. We had our highest xG of the season today. Double the amount we had in a game we won 5-0.

[Walt]

I know your game, you’re being overly positive about Parker because you hated Kompany. The jury is still out for me.

The jury is still out either way, he needs time to be judged for good, or bad. In my opinion he deserves longer to get to grips with it As we all know the pre season turned out to be a futile exercise given the chaos that ensued.

On your point about the poster trying to bait you. Same could be said for you regarding your Kompany was a God stance. Can you just accept Parker will do certain things better than Kompany and Parker will also make mistakes. However, so did Kompany, he was great and he was also clueless at times, despite your blinkered view on him.

[Wo Didi]

This.^^^^

I don’t get this “if so and so had scored we’d have won a tough away fixture”, can’t be going down the if only route the world doesn’t work like that, it’s like the “if my auntie had b******s she’d be my uncle . I’m not criticising because I actually thought we played quite well but it’s painfully obvious we lack quality up front.

[Vegas Claret]

That’s the beauty of the Championship, games aren’t won on paper like they typically are in the Prem. We had our highest xG of the season today. Double the amount we had in a game we won 5-0.

Shows you how stupid XG is then

[Stonehouse]

Genuine question as I don't remember - did their keeper make a single save ?

Didn’t he save the one from Koleosho in the 2nd half?

[bumba]

To put it in to perspective we played PNE away our 3rd/4th away game in VKs first season so similar stage and we drew 1-1, 72%, 12 attempts and an XG of 0.5.

71% possession and 16 attempts away from home isn't bad, just need to start scoring a few more.

[Vegas Claret]

Didn’t he save the one from Koleosho in the 2nd half?

oh yes, told you I couldn't remember !

[KlyBfc]

The midfield 3 as it is is a problem, the changes out wide are also an issue, defensive fullbacks in Humphreys today and Egb Riley last week are also a huge issue. The latter slows out play right down and narrows the outch. The first point those in the middle lack creativity to unlock a line and dont get anywhere near close enough or beyond Foster. And the second point means we have no option to lift a game.

[JohnDearyMe]

If we had scored 1 of the 2 gilt edged chances for Sarmiento or Hountondji most people would be saying how had won a tricky away fixture at a team who had a 100% home record.

Flag went straight up after the Hountondji chance, wouldn't have been allowed if he had scored

[BurnleyFC]

We were shite today.

We’re the Man City/Liverpool/Arsenal of this division. Let’s stop pretending Oxford are actually any good.

[Newcastleclaret93]

We were shite today.

We’re the Man City/Liverpool/Arsenal of this division. Let’s stop pretending Oxford are actually any good.

We are in the top four after 7 games. Seriously calm down.

[BurnleyFC]

We are in the top four after 7 games. Seriously calm down.

I’m perfectly calm and points wise we’re doing OK.

Performances are crap, though. Devoid of ideas.

[Mattster]

To put it in to perspective we played PNE away our 3rd/4th away game in VKs first season so similar stage and we drew 1-1, 72%, 12 attempts and an XG of 0.5.

71% possession and 16 attempts away from home isn't bad, just need to start scoring a few more.

Preston was our fifth away game. Fourth was West Brom where we created 2.1 xG. Our 7th game that season was Millwall, where we created 2.6 xG.

If people must keep making comparisons to Kompany's start can they at least be accurate with them rather than pick and choose to suit their agenda?

Back on topic, I thought we were better today than against Portsmouth so it's funny seeing so many be negative off the back of the stick I got last week. People really do struggle to look beyond the result.

If we can up the pace of our buildup, even if it is still side to side a lot, so that we can sustain pressure on the opposition we'll improve.

Need to work on positioning in the box, too, so when we hit the byline (like we managed a few times today) there are options. No one was attacking the box late or dropping off their marker.

I'm still not convinced but feeling better than I did after last week. Hope the improvement ramps up from here and we see results matching performances soon.

[Vim Fuego]

Think the OP is overdoing it. We should have won yes, but the performance was fine. It was front foot and we got in behind them. Final ball was poor at times and we didn't take chances. We need to get used to this type of opponent that sits deep to frustrate us. Missed Flemming

[Sozturf7]

If we had scored today then most of tripe I've just read would not have appeared. Of course we do need to improve but for heaven's sake get a grip.

[lrac]

If only a Danny rings or Charlie Austin

[Swizzlestick]

Interestingly Sheffield United seem to be having similar issues to us and they started with O’Hare, Hamer and Rak-Sakyi today.

[bumba]

Preston was our fifth away game. Fourth was West Brom where we created 2.1 xG. Our 7th game that season was Millwall, where we created 2.6 xG.

If people must keep making comparisons to Kompany's start can they at least be accurate with them rather than pick and choose to suit their agenda?

Back on topic, I thought we were better today than against Portsmouth so it's funny seeing so many be negative off the back of the stick I got last week. People really do struggle to look beyond the result.

If we can up the pace of our buildup, even if it is still side to side a lot, so that we can sustain pressure on the opposition we'll improve.

Need to work on positioning in the box, too, so when we hit the byline (like we managed a few times today) there are options. No one was attacking the box late or dropping off their marker.

I'm still not convinced but feeling better than I did after last week. Hope the improvement ramps up from here and we see results matching performances soon.

What agenda?? Hells teeth.
Ok PNE was 5th away game I knew it was early doors as was Oxford (4th away) wasn't really being that picky just stating to a poster that can't move on from VK that there is similarities to the starts.
Today's performance was fine we just don't have enough goalscorers at the moment but it could all click soon.

[TPClaret]

Oxford won their first 3 home games conceding 1 goal, yet they sat back and showed us respect. They rarely attacked us in numbers. I wouldn’t say we are easy to play against.