Oxford vs Saints - Boxing Day 3pm

[Jack]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

Quarshie is a lot quicker than Harwood-Bellis 

He was clearly talking about speed of decision making and passing ability, not how fast he can run. 
 

Quarshie takes about 5 minutes to control a ball and think about where he’s going to pass it, and it’s a big issue with his game. 

[saintant]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

Quarshie is a lot quicker than Harwood-Bellis 

I meant he passes quicker - Quarshie is clumsy and takes too long to control the ball and make a pass.

[Football Special]

We haven't won away to Oxford for 50 years, not a good omen , I fancy this one to be 1-1 , Paul Moody to score for them 

[Obstacle1]

7 minutes ago, Football Special said:

We haven't won away to Oxford for 50 years, not a good omen , I fancy this one to be 1-1 , Paul Moody to score for them 

Do you factor in how many times we've played them into this sort of thing?

Also when did we last play them away?

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, Obstacle1 said:

Do you factor in how many times we've played them into this sort of thing?

Also when did we last play them away?

pre-season under Martin, prior to our PL season. A 2-0 or 3-0 defeat.

But yeah, we have only played them a handful of times - if that - since 1975.

[Badger]

Oxford haven’t been a regular fixture at all. 
 

I remember we played them in 1976 over Easter before the semi-final, then not again until the mid 80’s when we were both in Division One. This was during their Robert Maxwell era when they won the League Cup.

I’m pretty sure we played them at their old Manor Ground on a Boxing Day fixture, possibly 1986. Lost 3-1. Think John Aldridge was playing for them. 

 

[Gloucester Saint]

14 minutes ago, Football Special said:

We haven't won away to Oxford for 50 years, not a good omen , I fancy this one to be 1-1 , Paul Moody to score for them 

Won the replay 3-2 IIRC, Matt Elliott scoring for them, alas he signed for Leicester afterwards and not us. 

Got hammered there 3-0 on what might have been Boxing Day 1985, Trevor Hebbard getting his revenge for being left out of the League Cup Final squad in 1979. Drew the return at the Dell 1-1 midweek, was there for that one. Remember us beating them 3-0 at the Dell after that but possibly another Manor Ground defeat.

Other than that, can’t think of other competitive games against them. Records say we beat them 1-0 at the Dell in FACR4 Jan 1990 - anyone remember that? 

[Gloucester Saint]

1 minute ago, Badger said:

Oxford haven’t been a regular fixture at all. 
 

I remember we played them in 1976 over Easter before the semi-final, then not again until the mid 80’s when we were both in Division One. This was during their Robert Maxwell era when they won the League Cup.

I’m pretty sure we played them at their old Manor Ground on a Boxing Day fixture, possibly 1986. Lost 3-1. Think John Aldridge was playing for them. 

 

I think the Boxing Day was 3-0, Aldridge scored as did Hebberd, my parents remarked on it at the time. The 3-1 was the following season IIRC. Aldridge also scored in the 1-1 at the Dell with a header. 

Looked it up and that confirms it https://www.11v11.com/teams/oxford-united/tab/opposingTeams/opposition/Southampton/

Maxwell switched focus to Derby which is why Shilts and Mark Wright (originally from Oxford) went there along with Dean Saunders. 

[OneMrsWallace]

On 20/12/2025 at 22:44, Turkish said:

When Tonda started Armstrong would drop deep to receive the ball from the back and we’ve have runners in behind. Other teams quickly worked that out and now block the middle and press us back so that ball isn’t on. With Armstrong being a midget we can’t go long so our out balls are Fellows or Scienza when one of them is missing we’re in trouble 

And because AA can't do that, and we have nobody up front who can play with their back to goal and lay it off to runners, we're reduced to someone playing a worldy defence splitting through ball everytime. And that ain't gonna work more then a couple of times a game if we're lucky. 

[saintant]

9 hours ago, OneMrsWallace said:

And because AA can't do that, and we have nobody up front who can play with their back to goal and lay it off to runners, we're reduced to someone playing a worldy defence splitting through ball everytime. And that ain't gonna work more then a couple of times a game if we're lucky. 

The majority, if not all, of teams in the Prem play a big centre forward. Why are we trying to buck the trend?

[AlexLaw76]

 

[Football Special]

Caretaker manager in for boxing day then,  who knows what difference that will make , Craig Short rings a bell, played against us in the 90s? 

[Harry_SFC]

Might help us actually. They've done relatively well against the bigger sides at home this season with Rowett in charge. 

[for_heaven's_Saint]

32 minutes ago, saintant said:

The majority, if not all, of teams in the Prem play a big centre forward. Why are we trying to buck the trend?

I genuinely think SR were stupid enough to believe that Stewart would stay fit. 

[Turkish]

Great memories of the Kassam Stadium where our now infamous win of the Oxfordshire Benvelovant Cup in 2002 beating host team Oxford United. A great moment in our history, a real shame we failed at the final hurdle that that season and couldn't make it a double with the FA cup.

[leesaint88]

45 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Caretaker manager in for boxing day then,  who knows what difference that will make , Craig Short rings a bell, played against us in the 90s? 

Regular starter for Derby.

[Gloucester Saint]

4 minutes ago, leesaint88 said:

Regular starter for Derby.

And fouled Beattie for the penalty here (very harsh it seemed from my seat in Kingsland North) http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/3564570.stm

That win didn’t ease the pressure on Sturrock either. One of the strangest games I ever went to at SMS atmosphere-wise. You knew something was up.

[Appy]

25 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

And fouled Beattie for the penalty here (very harsh it seemed from my seat in Kingsland North) http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/3564570.stm

That win didn’t ease the pressure on Sturrock either. One of the strangest games I ever went to at SMS atmosphere-wise. You knew something was up.

Also the game where Barry Ferguson was booked twice and not sent off by Andy D’Urso. 

[Football Special]

49 minutes ago, leesaint88 said:

Regular starter for Derby.

I'm sure I remember him from Notts County, possibly a Neil Ruddock headbutt in 1990/91 season? 

He'll have a grudge against us 

[franniesTache]

1 hour ago, Football Special said:

I'm sure I remember him from Notts County, possibly a Neil Ruddock headbutt in 1990/91 season? 

He'll have a grudge against us 

Pretty sure he played for Everton too, definitely have memories of a player of that name playing there though it might not be the same one.

14 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

pre-season under Martin, prior to our PL season. A 2-0 or 3-0 defeat.

But yeah, we have only played them a handful of times - if that - since 1975.

That was the game where i realised just how screwed we were going to be in the premier league, it was a game that displayed all of the worst Martin traits and the only shining light was dibling, remember mentioning to the mates i was with that we were going down rock bottom

[Badger]

3 hours ago, Football Special said:

I'm sure I remember him from Notts County, possibly a Neil Ruddock headbutt in 1990/91 season? 

He'll have a grudge against us 

My recollection of him too

[Matthew Le God]

5 hours ago, Football Special said:

I'm sure I remember him from Notts County, possibly a Neil Ruddock headbutt in 1990/91 season? 

He'll have a grudge against us 

Shouldn't it be against Ruddock rather than Saints?

[Charlie Wayman]

On 22/12/2025 at 15:56, Jack said:

He was clearly talking about speed of decision making and passing ability, not how fast he can run. 
 

Quarshie takes about 5 minutes to control a ball and think about where he’s going to pass it, and it’s a big issue with his game. 

Be fair, he is super cool under pressure, clever with the ball at his feet and bear in mind he hasn't been given much game time to hone his skills. Given a settled run of 10 or 15 games as a starter I'm willing to bet he will turn out to be our best CB

[Football Special]

2 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Shouldn't it be against Ruddock rather than Saints?

I was just joking I doubt he'd remember a Saints player headbutting him 34 years ago and still want revenge 

[Jack]

27 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Be fair, he is super cool under pressure, clever with the ball at his feet and bear in mind he hasn't been given much game time to hone his skills. Given a settled run of 10 or 15 games as a starter I'm willing to bet he will turn out to be our best CB

I’d take that bet. His touch is shit and that puts him under pressure, and his range of passing is shit which puts the team under pressure, as it’s almost always going to be an obvious pass to either Manning, Wood or Bazunu

[Gloucester Saint]

12 minutes ago, Football Special said:

I was just joking I doubt he'd remember a Saints player headbutting him 34 years ago and still want revenge 

Ruddock probably has more of an issue with Short seeing it as was a final excuse/justification for Branfoot to sack him! 

[StrangelyBrown]

On 22/12/2025 at 15:56, Jack said:

takes about 5 minutes to control a ball and think about where he’s going to pass it

Sounds just like Stephens....

[Andy Hill]

They will be up for it. Surely we have to start on the front foot and shelve the back 5 “experiment”.