Home Match Day Thread 04/11/2025 - MDT: Oxford United V Stoke City

[Carpy]

 

[derek]

So where did I say it was better?

Can't be bothered to wade back to check but pretty sure you said that was our worst performance (it wasn't) so therefore you said Wrexham was better.

 

[QR]

Yes, the better team won last night but what was most frustrating was that we let the better team win. We had 16 shots to their 14 with only one on target (Mills's misfired cross) to their 6. And ultimately that was everything about the result. Two of their attempts were saved only for the parry to be tucked away. You've got to hit the target as they say because if your don't you don't get those second chances.

 

[Bret chill]

Empty blue seats galore across the South Stand, North Stand & East Stand. 1000+ empty seats. Could hear a pin drop bar Delilah being sung from the away end.

West Brom away still not even close to selling out either..

What’s changed?
Where’s the excitement & club growth/progression?

Players certainly not the only ones not turning up regularly this season..

Could it by something to do with the style of football.

 

[m]

Could it by something to do with the style of football.

Low down on the list compared to traffic management issues and general stadium experience I'd suggest.

Not to mention the fact that this will prove to be one of our highest ever averages anyway.

 

[EastStandKieran]

I keep reading we weren't that bad because we had 16 shots and I keeep thinking to myself how many of those 16 shots got near to troubling the goalie and then I remembered ONE and that wasn't really a shot more of a mis hit cross

Stole weren't the best team but by golly they didn't need to be if they wanted they could have scored 5 or 6 last night and we couldn't get near them

I said to my son that was like watching a cup match between a lower league team against a premier league team we had some huff but no puff and they just strolled to victory

My son said to me it's time to replace the manager but I replied Gary Rowett is here for one reason and that is to keep us in the championship not to compete in the top half if we finished 21st he's done his job

It was a depressing night but you have come to expect it

 

[TailsWeWin]

Bit of a reality check for those saying there’s little difference in quality between all the teams in the league.
The most worrying aspect is that we DIDN’T play that badly … but we were totally outclassed. All over the pitch. Not one of our players would have got into that Stoke team and, as someone pointed out, Stoke never needed to move into top gear to win easily.

 

[Royalstandard74]

Currie and Spencer are big misses for the way Rowett wants us to play, we looked lost in parts at the back last night.

 

[Teddydee1980]

Have we established yet if the sponsor was having a laugh nominating Leigh for Motm? Looked well off it for me and given endless problems with Manhoef.

They were too sharp for our press and comfortably played around it, then were merciless on front of goal.

Rowett talks about having too many attacking options, but I'm not sure if many/any of them give defenders much concern to the extent that opposition attackers give us.

And two home games in a row where opposition fans have sung about our s**t football, all while Erik and Co were in the stands...not a good look

 

[ECYellow]

Empty blue seats galore across the South Stand, North Stand & East Stand. 1000+ empty seats. Could hear a pin drop bar Delilah being sung from the away end.

West Brom away still not even close to selling out either..

What’s changed?
Where’s the excitement & club growth/progression?

Players certainly not the only ones not turning up regularly this season..

There were never 10,300 in that ground last night.

You’ll get the usual suspects using the same old excuses - traffic, roadworks, stadium & parking. Yet, none of this is new.

If you don’t want to sit in traffic on Grenoble Road or in the car park to get out after the game, then park in Blackbird Leys or Littlemore and walk through. If you aren’t particularly mobile, then arrange to get one of the dedicated football special buses to the ground, the ones that drop you outside. They pick up from various points across Oxfordshire.

If you don’t particularly like the stadium, then that is understandable, but if you’ve been supporting us throughout our time at the Kass then you cannot tell me it’s any worse now that we are in the Champ than when we were watching dross on a Tuesday night in tiers 4 and 5! Just get on with it and support YOUR team, my god they need every one of us.

Mark my words, if it were a big FA Cup game, people will have battled through their excuses to get there.

The club cannot allow a malaise to set in, where it is normalised to see empty seats at home games this season. Hopefully they are all over this for Ipswich (Friday night - end of the working week, Friday traffic and before pay day for some).

Siege mentality is required on and off the pitch and to create that we need our house full to bursting and noisy.

 

[holdsteady]

Have we established yet if the sponsor was having a laugh nominating Leigh for Motm? Looked well off it for me and given endless problems with Manhoef.

They were too sharp for our press and comfortably played around it, then were merciless on front of goal.

Rowett talks about having too many attacking options, but I'm not sure if many/any of them give defenders much concern to the extent that opposition attackers give us.

And two home games in a row where opposition fans have sung about our s**t football, all while Erik and Co were in the stands...not a good look

Both ex clubs for the manager though, although not a shortage of those for him in this division.

 

[Followtheox1]

Bit of a reality check for those saying there’s little difference in quality between all the teams in the league.
The most worrying aspect is that we DIDN’T play that badly … but we were totally outclassed. All over the pitch. Not one of our players would have got into that Stoke team and, as someone pointed out, Stoke never needed to move into top gear to win easily.

I'm not that worried. We have been in every other league game we have played. They put 5 past Bristol City on Saturday. I don't think it will be reflective of our season. Lack of current defensive options is a slight concern.

 

[Older Shotts]

He is S. L. O. W..

Made me laugh last night.. our wingers were so ineffective that Helik was on the wing at one point.

 

[Village-Yellow]

And two home games in a row where opposition fans have sung about our s**t football, all while Erik and Co were in the stands...not a good look

Well, they didn't start singing "you're getting sacked in the morning", so that is something, I guess.

 

[Marked Ox]

Well that was rubbish.

We really need to get tougher in the challenge with pushing and pulling. Either stand up better to it or start doing it more firmly ourselves. I wish our players would read what the Ref is allowing to happen earlier.

Also, please emphasis and let the Ref know when being pulled or pushed in the box. It was irrelevant to the result but near the end Ciaron Brown's shirt was almost being pulled off when he was trying to run in for a corner. CB just ran back past the Ref, he doesn't need to stop to tell the Ref but as running by calmly say "My shirt was almost ripped off there". You won't get that decision but you may put the idea in their head.

It has been noticeable in games that many of the opposition have been doing this.

I'm not saying become cheats etc but at least play the game to the level that others are doing.

 

[Under The Cuckoo Lane]

Currently it seems opposition teams just need to be patient. Eventually we present them with chances, either through an obvious mistake or through poor discipline eg where was Greg when they scored their 1st?

 

[Followtheox1]

Well that was rubbish.

We really need to get tougher in the challenge with pushing and pulling. Either stand up better to it or start doing it more firmly ourselves. I wish our players would read what the Ref is allowing to happen earlier.

Also, please emphasis and let the Ref know when being pulled or pushed in the box. It was irrelevant to the result but near the end Ciaron Brown's shirt was almost being pulled off when he was trying to run in for a corner. CB just ran back past the Ref, he doesn't need to stop to tell the Ref but as running by calmly say "My shirt was almost ripped off there". You won't get that decision but you may put the idea in their head.

It has been noticeable in games that many of the opposition have been doing this.

I'm not saying become cheats etc but at least play the game to the level that others are doing.

To be fair, our defenders were just as bad. If their second goal hadn't gone in, it should have been a penalty. Cam literally threw their attacker to the floor. Our defenders were at it all night from corners.

 

[BicesterU]

"Stoke didn't get out of second gear."

That's the way they play, and should prove a valuable lesson to the 'get it forward!' brigade.

They weren't gung ho, they weren't camped on the edge of our box for 80 minutes, they weren't pumping long balls into the channels all night and chasing them like maniacs. They kept possession and recycled it in their defensive two thirds to try and pull us out of position so they could attack the spaces, and tried to pick us off on the counter when we committed players to a high press, or had committed players forward in attack. It worked perfectly twice, and is the sort of tactic that works best when you're gifted an early goal and can sit back and pick your moments.

I said last night that we were watching two teams happy for the other to have the ball, and the key differences I saw were that when they had the ball they looked composed and controlled, and when they won it off us, they were quick a clinical on the counter.

 

[dickwalton1964]

I think that was possibly our lowest gate since returning to the championship, maybe Millwall at home last season was close but that was the emptiest I’ve seen it, albeit still a healthy turn out. I couldn’t believe how easily the traffic flowed coming in last night from the A34 Botley interchange direction considering there was a car fully ablaze on the Boars Hill roundabout. It seems the traffic stacked up far more when we got 6,000 each week ! Weird !

 

[McXal]

Having had a night to sleep on it, I don’t feel desperately despondent - even though I completely agree that overall on the night we were a distant second best and after their goal in the second half they barely broke sweat for the remainder of the game; content with swatting us away with relative ease whilst saving their legs and rotating off their best players.

But if Leigh scores one of his two chances from corners. If Shemmy scores. If Mills’ mis-hit cross goes in. If one of the 5 or 6 balls we fizzed across their penalty area without an Oxford man getting on the end of it reaches a yellow shirt. It COULD have been different. Stoke were better - but the real difference was simply that they scored their key chances and we fluffed ours.

And actually that was my big frustration with Cam & Rowett’s interviews. Yes we weren’t at our best. But actually even with that the gulf in teams wasn’t THAT vast. But our ability to be clinical and composed, in key moments, in both boxes, was found sorely lacking - and hardly for the first time. I still think it was a considerably better attacking display than Wrexham, Hull & Watford this season though…

Although ultimately my feeling in the second half is that it was a game which probably summed up why I think we’re in deep trouble this season. We’re a better side, and look more threatening as an attacking force. But that isn’t reflected in our results. And instead we’ve become a real soft touch at the back; we concede SO many goals of our own making. The overall quality of the league has jumped up (even if the top-end quality with the parachute teams is lower this year); we just haven’t done enough to bridge the gap and I’m concerned we’re going to fall away as fixtures start to grind us down through late November/December/early January before reinforcements could potentially arrive.

And our home form is now a massive concern. I’m aware our away form is somewhat better this year. And if we’d clung on to beat 10-man Leicester like we could, and/or if we’d scraped a 1-0 in any of the other games it would look better. But when you’re a ‘team like Oxford’ you can’t afford to drop the volume of points we are in your home games. It needs a huge uplift.

On the game last night specifically I’m certainly not as negative as some. But for our season prospects as a whole it probably left me feeling more gloomy…

 

[pommy80]

I emphatically disagree.

Good on you then.

 

[dickwalton1964]

Having had a night to sleep on it, I don’t feel desperately despondent - even though I completely agree that overall on the night we were a distant second best and after their goal in the second half they barely broke sweat for the remainder of the game; content with swatting us away with relative ease whilst saving their legs and rotating off their best players.

But if Leigh scores one of his two chances from corners. If Shemmy scores. If Mills’ mis-hit cross goes in. If one of the 5 or 6 balls we fizzed across their penalty area without an Oxford man getting on the end of it reach a yellow shirt. It COULD have been different. Stoke were better - but the real difference was simply that they scored their key chances and we fluffed ours.

And actually that was my big frustration with Cam & Rowett’s interviews. Yes we weren’t at our best. But actually even with that the gulf in teams wasn’t THAT vast. But our ability to be clinical and composed, in key moments, in both boxes, was found sorely lacking - and hardly for the first time. I still think it was a considerably better attacking display than Wrexham, Hull & Watford this season though…

Although ultimately my feeling in the second half is that it was a game which probably summed up why I think we’re in deep trouble this season. We’re a better side, and look more threatening as an attacking force. But that isn’t reflected in our results. And instead we’ve become a real soft touch at the back; we concede SO many goals of our own making. The overall quality of the league has jumped up (even if the top-end quality with the parachute teams is lower this year); we just haven’t done enough to bridge the gap and I’m concerned we’re going to fall away as fixtures start to grind us down through late November/December/early January before reinforcements could potentially arrive.

And our home form is now a massive concern. I’m aware our away form is somewhat better this year. And if we’d clung on to beat 10-man Leicester like we could, and/or if we’d scraped a 1-0 in any of the other games it would look better. But when you’re a ‘team like Oxford’ you can’t afford to drop the volume of points we are in your home games. It needs a huge uplift.

On the game last night specifically I’m certainly not as negative as some. But for our season prospects as a whole it probably left me feeling more gloomy…

Agree with that. Cam was particularly downbeat and critical and I don’t think the performance over all warranted that. We were undeniably second best, just as we were to Leeds, Sheffield United and one or two others last season, so why all the doom and gloom ? Why can’t we accept that we were dismantled by a team that are right up there for a reason and could be the 26/26 version of Leeds. We had chances, yes any control went but at 3-0 down after 48 minutes it’s a difficult mindset as to what you do - do you go hell for leather, risk another Wigan and possibly never recover or do we try and stay in the game in terms of damage limitation.

 

[yellowbow]

After a night of sleep I’ve calmed down a little bit now but I’m still quite depressed about last night. I’m probably going to get some pelters for my pessimistic post because, reading some posts on here and listening to RO after the game, we were apparently playing Real Madrid last night not Stoke? (The swap probably explains why the scousers got a win last night)

Stoke were competent - I won’t say brilliant - they were strong, athletic, well drilled and had pace in key areas. The difference was the way they broke when we turned the ball over and how they controlled the two key areas of the pitch - both penalty boxes. But I wouldn’t say they were world beaters. They didn’t really have any stand out flair players and had a 38 year old playing at the back. I’m pretty sure there would’ve been a meltdown on here if we’d announced his signing in the summer. We should’ve competed a lot better.

What really concerned me was the gulf between the two teams. We looked like a league 2 team playing them in the third round of the FA Cup. We didn’t lay a glove on them. We were totally inept in both boxes. Schoolboy defending and a total inability to hit the target. Gray Leigh missed two headers from about 3 yards out. Didn’t even hit the target. But the biggest concern for me is our total lack of fitness. We looked totally knackered and it was obvious again that, for some reason, we don’t have the physical attributes to play two games in a week.

There’s a lot of areas where we aren’t ever going to match the established teams in this division, but we should be able to match them on fight and desire. To be fair we have done that previously this season and maybe the effort of punching above our weight for the last season and a bit is starting to catch up with us, but last night something was horribly lacking.

 

[The Mighty Aldo]

Forgive me if I am repeating some points already made but haven’t had a chance to read the whole thread
@Nadi- said their forwards were quick and he was right, their transition was lightning fast
Have to say our back four apart from Long had their worst games for a long time
When one player at the back has an off day you can cope but certainly not 3
How Leigh got MoM was a joke
Brown and Helik were just pumping aimless balls forward some of which went straight to their midfield. But if you continue to pass backwards sooner or later one of those back two are forced to hit a long ball
We as a team are knocked off the ball far too easily. A bit more nous and savvy required
Teams have now worked us out if you hassle Brannagan and BDK and give them no time they can’t be creative and pass square or backwards
If we are going to press we need to do it as a team, Lankshear does it but they played around him and got out far too easily
Have to give credit to Stoke, Mark Robins teams are usually very good
Need Spencer, Currie back and Ter Avest asap
On that showing I would play Long and Davies as central defenders and hope Currie and Ter Avest are available
Give Luke Harris a game as well

 

[OtteryYellow]

Having had a night to sleep on it, I don’t feel desperately despondent - even though I completely agree that overall on the night we were a distant second best and after their goal in the second half they barely broke sweat for the remainder of the game; content with swatting us away with relative ease whilst saving their legs and rotating off their best players.

But if Leigh scores one of his two chances from corners. If Shemmy scores. If Mills’ mis-hit cross goes in. If one of the 5 or 6 balls we fizzed across their penalty area without an Oxford man getting on the end of it reach a yellow shirt. It COULD have been different. Stoke were better - but the real difference was simply that they scored their key chances and we fluffed ours.

And actually that was my big frustration with Cam & Rowett’s interviews. Yes we weren’t at our best. But actually even with that the gulf in teams wasn’t THAT vast. But our ability to be clinical and composed, in key moments, in both boxes, was found sorely lacking - and hardly for the first time. I still think it was a considerably better attacking display than Wrexham, Hull & Watford this season though…

Although ultimately my feeling in the second half is that it was a game which probably summed up why I think we’re in deep trouble this season. We’re a better side, and look more threatening as an attacking force. But that isn’t reflected in our results. And instead we’ve become a real soft touch at the back; we concede SO many goals of our own making. The overall quality of the league has jumped up (even if the top-end quality with the parachute teams is lower this year); we just haven’t done enough to bridge the gap and I’m concerned we’re going to fall away as fixtures start to grind us down through late November/December/early January before reinforcements could potentially arrive.

And our home form is now a massive concern. I’m aware our away form is somewhat better this year. And if we’d clung on to beat 10-man Leicester like we could, and/or if we’d scraped a 1-0 in any of the other games it would look better. But when you’re a ‘team like Oxford’ you can’t afford to drop the volume of points we are in your home games. It needs a huge uplift.

On the game last night specifically I’m certainly not as negative as some. But for our season prospects as a whole it probably left me feeling more gloomy…

Very fair comments, I think we can't underestimate how long it takes to transform the squad from league 1 to championship level meaning staying up this season is looking really important to give us three more rather than one more window to finish the job and start to establish.

I am purely looking for two teams to finish above, at the moment my list of possibles is Norwich, Portsmouth, QPR, Swansea and Watford. Having seen derby I thought they were nailed on fodder but somehow they have flown recently.

I was also pretty fed up last night but we have to expect games where we drop back to L1 level until the job is complete, I would not at all be surprised if we get something at wba.

Living down here in the southwest I hear a lot about the pilgrims, now that is properly depressing, I'm glad we're still in the fight.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

I must have been watching a different game to some on here, we were nowhere near as bad as we were at Wrexham for a start and Stoke weren’t miles better than us. There was little in the way between the teams and the stats show that but the one thing Stoke were was clinical and we weren’t. Helik and Leigh both should have scored their chances in the 1st minute, Placheta on another day has that shot creep in, Mills needs to make a better connection for his chance, Placheta has time to take a touch before shooting when he blazed it over.
People go on about how defensive Rowett is, well we weren’t in the 1st half and that led to us conceding because we had committed too many players forward.
Second half was a non event, you could see the energy evaporate out of the team as time went on and Stoke were sticking 10 men behind the ball.
A bad night at the office but there is no need to go over board.

 

[Oxymoron]

I thought Brannagan and Rowett were a bit OTT in the "not good enough" stakes in the post match interviews, almost as if they were trotting out a reason to placate people, a sort of "Yes we know, we'll sort it" .

Granted, you can't come on the radio and just say "Weren't they great, we had no answer" but that was the reality; Stoke were just better than us in everything they did, maybe not by much, but on the night they just were.

One positive for me was that the crowd stayed with the team. Sure we got a few moans when we mis-controlled and gave away cheap possession as the game drew to a close, but plenty of noise and support for the team and manager throughout.

 

[McXal]

One other thing I wanted to point out is that I was really disappointed with Helik and Brown last night. Having seen how good, grizzled, experienced CB’s have somewhat nullified Lankshear and made him anonymous in games this season I really hoped they could do similar to Mubama (someone of similar experience and profile to Lankshear). But on the night he was miles too good for them. He made both of them look foolish on multiple occasions, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Helik caught out of position, slow and on the turn quite so often.

Leigh has been getting a lot of pelters (and I understand his MOM award was slightly comical). And the whole defence was left cruelly exposed by Stoke’s pace and precision in transition which our midfield was woefully too one-dimensional to combat - leaving the back four exposed. But I thought both with and without the ball Helik and Brown were disappointing. We were never going to beat a side of Stoke’s potential and form this season without our first choice full-backs, with a plodding, isolated Vaulks in holding midfield and with our best CB’s having a really poor night…

 

[dickwalton1964]

I must have been watching a different game to some on here, we were nowhere near as bad as we were at Wrexham for a start and Stoke weren’t miles better than us. There was little in the way between the teams and the stats show that but the one thing Stoke were was clinical and we weren’t. Helik and Leigh both should have scored their chances in the 1st minute, Placheta on another day has that shot creep in, Mills needs to make a better connection for his chance, Placheta has time to take a touch before shooting when he blazed it over.
People go on about how defensive Rowett is, well we weren’t in the 1st half and that led to us conceding because we had committed too many players forward.
Second half was a non event, you could see the energy evaporate out of the team as time went on and Stoke were sticking 10 men behind the ball.
A bad night at the office but there is no need to go over board.

Agree with most of that. We don’t generally lose by 3 goal margins and are in the vast majority of matches until the death. I think people are seeing the scoreline and making an awful lot more of it than they should. Stoke were lethal on the break, PL quality in that respect but I didn’t think there was much in it between the boxes - we played some nice one touch stuff in a few passages of play.

 

[Yellowmania]

To be fair, our defenders were just as bad. If their second goal hadn't gone in, it should have been a penalty. Cam literally threw their attacker to the floor. Our defenders were at it all night from corners.

And I think that’s one of our problems, we spend far too much time looking and jostling the player rather than seeing where the ball is landing and defending/attacking it.

 

[holdsteady]

I am hoping, and its just that, not based on anything solid, that last night losing by more than one goal will be a catalyst to an improvement rather than clinging to the "we have only lost any game by a single goal" boast which is nothing spectacular really and we can pick ourselves up and go on a run. Obviously every chance last nights scores become the norm and we really struggle for the rest of the season, looking at our run of games coming up not much of a light at the end of the tunnel.