Oxley is terrible.

[southendkid]

I feel like there's a bit of bias towards Bishop because he's local and his flaws are overlooked a lot more than Oxley's are as a result. Whilst he is better in the air he isn't as good a shot stopper as Oxley (he was beaten near post several times last season), he does have time on his side to improve but I don't think he's league 1 standard yet.

 

[RHB]

Elvis was off balance and their bloke spotted that and clearly went in to hurt him....Again it was only Cox from our team that reacted....Something doesn't seem right....We shall see.

@rigsby, What I did notice at the time, and again in the video, was that it looked like Milligan was bollocking Coxy for racing in to front the guy.

 

[OldBlueLady]

I can't be the only one on here who has seen plenty of free kicks given for that two man challenge on Oxley for the first goal.....The one Cox had disallowed at Yeovil would be a good example.

The sad thing was our fans weren't appealing and even worse nor were the players.

We certainly did - commented on it on Twitter too, seen plenty of free kicks given for less on the keeper!

 

[londonblue]

Ox got down really fast and well to stop an almost nailed on cert 4th goal.He isn't good at coming for balls or calling. We know that, the team know that, collectively they made a dogs dinner of the high balls in the first half. Ox needs to distribute better and faster but today same could be said of the whole defensive 6/7 players.

Do you think the 50+mph winds had anything to do with it?

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Do you think the 50+mph winds had anything to do with it?

For sure the conditions caused issues, what I thought was not helping was that they ( the centre backs, Liam and Lennon and Shaun plus OX) didn't scream "MINE" and take responsibility but went in seeming as a pair for it-the ball, or left it to the other - hence my comment.
I also believe they might not have been instructed with a Pat Scully esq formula of furthest into row Z if in doubt; as they seemed to worry more on position/placement than immediate safety. Ist half ought to have been safety first and with the wind 2nd half some craft when possible, probably safer to do so.
I felt for Liam, he was trying perhaps too hard but wasn't up to match speed or fitness; however he tried to do what he wasn't ready for.

 

[GNH]

Do you think the 50+mph winds had anything to do with it?

That didn't stop us trying to play 50+ yard long diagonal balls on at least 7-8 occasions with a completion rate of 0%, a truly baffling way of playing given the awful conditions.

 

[Shrimp and two veg]

Oxley seems to make some howlers before settling down after about 3 games and finishing the season as best player or gets injured. But those howlers are normally real shockers. In my view, i'd swap him.

 

[GBJ]

That didn't stop us trying to play 50+ yard long diagonal balls on at least 7-8 occasions with a completion rate of 0%, a truly baffling way of playing given the awful conditions.

This drove me nuts.

It was blatantly obvious that this tactic wasn’t going to work, yet it was done time & time again.

I don’t want to knock him, as I thought he played alright, but I thought one of Milligan’s roles was to link the defence and the attack-minded players? For whatever reason, that didn’t happen a lot on Saturday, which I’m hoping is just because the team is still bedding in. But it is slightly concerning to say the least.

 

[RHB]

This drove me nuts.

It was blatantly obvious that this tactic wasn’t going to work, yet it was done time & time again.

I don’t want to knock him, as I thought he played alright, but I thought one of Milligan’s roles was to link the defence and the attack-minded players? For whatever reason, that didn’t happen a lot on Saturday, which I’m hoping is just because the team is still bedding in. But it is slightly concerning to say the least.

I thought Milligan was going to burst a blood vessel in frustration at times in both halves. Time and again he broke up play and bought the ball out desperate for our mid boys to make themselves available for the pass. That, sadly, didn't happen all that much, and when it did a lot of the time they positioned themselves next to a Blackpool player rather than moving into space.

 

[GBJ]

I thought Milligan was going to burst a blood vessel in frustration at times in both halves. Time and again he broke up play and bought the ball out desperate for our mid boys to make themselves available for the pass. That, sadly, didn't happen all that much, and when it did a lot of the time they positioned themselves next to a Blackpool player rather than moving into space.

Yep good point, and another thing that bothered me about Saturday that I hadn’t mentioned, was the lack of movement.

Blackpool picked up on it early on, and settled into a comfortable system, where they just pressed the spare man, forcing whoever was on the ball to commit hospital balls, or hoof it long.

The sad part of all this, was that it was so obvious to us in the stands, but not to those on the pitch, or in the dugout.

 

[onceknownasrab]

Oxley is not a terrible keeper. We have seen some outstanding saves and displays from him. The problem is he lacks consistency and seems to regularly have a mistake in him. I have called for Bish to be selected, not because he is a home grown, but because I believe he has real potential. He is young, learning and will make mistakes too but with experience the mistakes may subside. Oxley has the experience but the mistakes persist.

Take the errors out of Oxleys game and he is, currently, a better keeper than Bish and of course I would want him to play. Sadly he just isn't quite up to the 'mark.'

 

[Napster]

I think we've been blessed recently with some amazing keepers, so in the back of our minds he's not as good as Bentley, Flahavan or Capleton.

 

[Blueronron]

Ooh to have a local lower league management team... we will get totally owned next week ... I reckon bond will last 7 games ..

Genuine question, how ill we pay him off, unless Ron made him sign a clause he will go after xxx games, which I doubt happened

 

[twobob]

There was no logical reason to keep Smith. He has had long term injuries and most who want him to stay are basing this on when he had a run a couple of years ago. As far as I'm aware he's had a couple of trials and is with Swindon, who do not seem in a hurry to sign him

 

[GBJ]

Genuine question, how ill we pay him off, unless Ron made him sign a clause he will go after xxx games, which I doubt happened

Firstly, I wouldn’t have thought Bond will be on extravagant wages.

Secondly, I think Ron needs promotion, (or a genuine promotion push at the very least) this season, judging by the investment in the team. Relegation could be very costly, and much more so than paying off Bond.

By that logic, it wouldn’t surprise me if Ron pulled the trigger this season, earlier than he’s ever done, IF after a few months, it doesn’t look promising under Bond.

 

[Barry.C]

Ox is a good keeper, It seems only 5 minutes ago lorded as POTY. His back injury probably set him back a bit, but he is above Bish at this point in time. He is bigger, more experienced, I suspect more of a leader than people give him credit for and made some stunning saves that have kept us in games. He can score goals from a goal kick as well !!
Funnily enough I dont agree with the just come and catch it in swirling winds view, that by any standards is not easy, perhaps some should go and try it in a wind tunnel ?? He was also up against some pretty big herberts and not helped greatly by our defence in the conditions, a lot of bad luck came into play

 

[LBBlue]

My theory is that he can't perform when he is under pressure. He was pretty poor when he first came in and soon lost his place to Ted Smith. He then of course got injured in December 17 and didn't play again that season.

The next year he was player of the season and rightly so . Ted got injured in September 2018 and Oxley played in every game bar one. We only had a very young Nathan Bishop as back up and he was never going to lose his place to him.

Roll on a year Oxley gets injured in December doesn't play again until March when he has serious competition for his place. He has not looked assured in any way. I don't think he is brave enough either.

The first goal on Saturday was a catalogue of errors and he should have made sure that he was fouled.

The free kick Ralph gave away was totally unnecessary, Ridgewell's header was calamitous. The bloke no5 who ended up in Oxley's way had bounced off Harry Lennon and Shaughnessy let no.16 knock him out of the way and into Oxley. Oxley would have been much better off if he had fallen back into the goal. The Blackpool players all thought a free kick would be given- we were just weak though - the ref probably thought Shaughnessy was impeding Oxley.

 

[blue pilot]

Oxley has two big weaknesses... 1. Doesn't come off his line/command his area. 2. Too slow to distribute when he has the ball. Those 2 things could (and should) have been coached out of him over the past couple of years but haven' been.

 

[marlow17101032]

He just can’t come of his line can he ,so there fore he needs more help from the defence in theory .if you keep on changing the defence every week it’s not going to work out is it,by the way have we got a defensive coach

 

[Weston's left foot]

I think we've been blessed recently with some amazing keepers, so in the back of our minds he's not as good as Bentley, Flahavan or Capleton.

Capelton?? He was awful