Official Match Thread Oxford v Southend United

[buffalowolf]

I feel sorry for Smith, but as someone earlier said he is just one of eleven players on the ground and should be treated no differently ,i do hope he gets to the dressing room , sits down ,composes himself and realises he was wrong not to stay cheer the lads on and that he should have shaken Bentleys hand and wished him well.But by saying this i also think its about time people stopped babing him during games and actually got on his side , perhaps then he will become the keeper we all wished he was.
With this may i say well done Southend , you truly made my day:smile:. Well done PS, IT WAS A COURAGEOUS DECISION ON YOUR PART.

 

[Neil 24]

we are a squad smith contributed in 90 min Bentley won it genius stuff great team work

 

[wiggy]

Anyway apart from PS showing a crazy, ballsy side to his management style, let's congratulate all the players on a terrific win. Big congrats to our faithful at the Kassam this evening. :thumbsup:

To be honest it's the first time that he has ever shown any balls, at the expense of his chosen no.1!

 

[leeblue]

if he had brought on a striker who was a penalty specialist would you have the same opinion[/QUOTE
.............you'd all be crying ya eyes out if we'd have lost on penalties, the keeper situation here will cost us dear, neither are up to it........shoot from the hip you lot depending on results!

For what its worth i fully get your point about the potential smith situation, hopefully luggy will sort it and Smith will be a good pro about it. Come on wiggy we are well close to that massive stadium in london

 

[Jam_Man]

if he had brought on a striker who was a penalty specialist would you have the same opinion

.............you'd all be crying ya eyes out if we'd have lost on penalties, the keeper situation here will cost us dear, neither are up to it........shoot from the hip you lot depending on results!

Didnt though did we.

 

[madaboutblues]

Agree with the first point 100%. So many people say that penalties are about the mind more than anything. Sturrock played mind games , giving our penalty takers more confidence , therefore taking the pressure off them, and putting a seed of doubt in their penalty takers.

Definitely this. Sturrock is very canny, look at tonight's game. It sounded like Oxford were going to run away with it in the first half but in the 15 minutes at half time, PS sorts it out and has the team looking so much stronger in the second half. He knows what he's doing and he made a tactical change that just so happened to be the keeper. Definitely a genius in my eyes :-)))

 

[wiggy]

You are going too deep, look at the bench and tell me where we could have made an impact sub, Sturrock made a crazy mind game call and bought bentley on as if to say to the oxford lot here comes our young keeper who saves pens for fun, chill out wiggy

...yeah, full of it after the event, well done!

 

[dingleydangley]

Let Smith and Bentley sort this out. They work closely together every day. A crazy, apparently brilliant decision from a top manager, very brave and a wonderful result.

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

if he had brought on a striker who was a penalty specialist would you have the same opinion

I agree. Why are keepers different ? I think this was a very brave decision by Sturrock, and it paid off. Smithy should apologise and respect his decision. Clever mind games with their penalty takers, aswell. It must have been running through their heads that we had brought on a specialist penalty saver.

Can't wait until Orient !! UTB

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

if he had brought on a striker who was a penalty specialist would you have the same opinion

The equivalent would be if he subbed off a forward when we won a penalty at that forward had the ball in his hands and was placing the ball on the spot.

Agree with the first point 100%. So many people say that penalties are about the mind more than anything. Sturrock played mind games , giving our penalty takers more confidence , therefore taking the pressure off them, and putting a seed of doubt in their penalty takers.

I don't have a problem with Smiths reaction. Sturrock has just taken away his chance to be the hero, and to potentially win the crowd over. To a keeper what can be better than making the decisive save in a penalty shoot out --------nothing compares I would guess.

I bet Sturrock has explained his decision and diffused the issue already.

Yes, but the person's mind he's really ****ing with is his no.1 keeper's.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Let Smith and Bentley sort this out. They work closely together every day. A crazy, apparently brilliant decision from a top manager, very brave and a wonderful result.

It's not just for Bentley and Smith to sort out is it. Smith stormed off and disassociated himself from the team. That will take a bit of heaing

 

[leeblue]

...yeah, full of it after the event, well done!

look back at the thread I could not believe he done it, like i say crazy call but it did work

 

[onceknownasrab]

Some may say it is tactical genius and there may be a slim chance of no repercussions. Personally I think its a travesty. Bentley saved one. Smith may have saved one. Who knows? But I questioned man management of last season and I truly fear this is yet another example of how bad at times it can be. Most will applaud PS because we won. I will not.

 

[wiggy]

For what its worth i fully get your point about the potential smith situation, hopefully luggy will sort it and Smith will be a good pro about it. Come on wiggy we are well close to that massive stadium in london

Sorry, i hate Smith in goal but what Sturrock done was out of order, stuff Wembley, lets see if his tactics can actually get us up for once rather than blowing it as he did last year!

 

[Jam_Man]

The equivalent would be if he subbed off a forward when we won a penalty at that forward had the ball in his hands and was placing the ball on the spot.


.

Well the equivalent would be bringing a striker on in the 88th minute (or whatever minute Smith went off) to take a penalty in an imminent shootout.

That certainly wouldnt be unusual if it were to happen, not half as unusual as bringing a keeper on though.

 

[leeblue]

Some may say it is tactical genius and there may be a slim chance of no repercussions. Personally I think its a travesty. Bentley saved one. Smith may have saved one. Who knows? But I questioned man management of last season and I truly fear this is yet another example of how bad at times it can be. Most will applaud PS because we won. I will not.

will be very interesting to see what happens when the dust settles on this one

 

[leeblue]

Sorry, i hate Smith in goal but what Sturrock done was out of order, stuff Wembley, lets see if his tactics can actually get us up for once rather than blowing it as he did last year!

Again I kind of agree with you, but i have seen southend get promoted lots thanks, to see SUFC walk out at wembley would actually have me crying, seriously i would be in bits.

 

[dingleydangley]

It's not just for Bentley and Smith to sort out is it. Smith stormed off and disassociated himself from the team. That will take a bit of heaing

Yes, it will. I didn't say I wanted to be there when the 'healing' kicks off :'(

 

[wiggy]

Some may say it is tactical genius and there may be a slim chance of no repercussions. Personally I think its a travesty. Bentley saved one. Smith may have saved one. Who knows? But I questioned man management of last season and I truly fear this is yet another example of how bad at times it can be. Most will applaud PS because we won. I will not.

Spot on......this lot only look at the result......wet em self when he gets lucky and slag him off when it goes pear shaped!

 

[madaboutblues]

Some may say it is tactical genius and there may be a slim chance of no repercussions. Personally I think its a travesty. Bentley saved one. Smith may have saved one. Who knows? But I questioned man management of last season and I truly fear this is yet another example of how bad at times it can be. Most will applaud PS because we won. I will not.

It's tactics, surely that is what football is all about isn't it. For the record I like Smith and think he is a good keeper but I also think this was a very good call by PS. Just hope Smith can see the same.