Away Match Day Thread 07/02/2026 - MDT: Coventry City v Oxford United

[Northstandboy]

 

[Mateo Corbo's Tackle]

It’s a decent result. A win is outstanding. They are in our league..

Nope. Remember: we’re in your League One.

 

[OX14]

Yeah but you’re not allowed to do that to the ref as per the last couple of seasons. Captains and the people involved in the foul only.

Football is much better for it. You don’t get these stupid crowding the referee for a decision moments.

Lankshear deserved both of his yellows - his second was so stupid.

Brown, I think, was probably on his last warning after that foul - it wasn’t a serious one or a DOGSO.

And the MPH one was a foul by him in the first place.

I do think the referee got some things wrong but the Brown and Lankshear ones were fine.

(This will be an unpopular opinion because it doesn’t fit the narrative)

So Lankshear gets booked for disagreeing with the ref but the 3 Coventry players doing the exact same during the game didn't receive a card?

I didn't even add the worst one when
Romeny was booked late on for kicking the ball out to touch, the linesman flagged for offside and ref blew but neither Romeny or the Cov attacker heard it and they continued playing/ competing for the ball with Romeny shanking the ball out of play upfield.

Absolute clown of a ref.

 

[Belgium Yellow]

Key learning from today.

Lanks needs to stop playing like Harris and concentrate on winning the ball fairly, not fouling whilst not getting offside.

Long, still a good defender but pace wise for this level too slow.

Shemmy. To me his basic ball playing skills very poor.

With Currie and BDK return pending we could have a decent side

Can we really play 5 at the back at home.

Romney to my mind is the only forward who wins an ariel ball. A number 9 in waiting ?

Mr Woo. Is he really that poor ?

We can still avoid this drop but next Tuesday is now a must win game before our free hit against Sunderland

Bit weird to call all this learning when we know all that already - except you are wrong about Romeny, we’ll always be “in waiting” as far as he’s concerned.
Key things we learned that you don’t mention at all are that Makosso looks bloody good and that Roosken is potentially a lot better than we might have first thought.

 

[The Curragh Of Kildare]

Makosso looks a great prospect - has been outstanding both his matches - and really like McDonnell as well.

Sales have been sluggish/poor for Norwich with 1,583 seats currently available but hopefully they will pick up over the next couple of days for what is a must win game.

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

They've only lost 1 game at home this season though or does that mean nothing to you Mr negative?

He's right though. It's not 'outstanding'.

At the risk of getting into semantics - it's a very good result. But even a skanky 1-0 would perhaps only be 'excellent'.

Whereas 'outstanding' would surely be if you go there and win 2-0 with a couple of really well taken goals on the counter (on top of all of the defensive qualities we undoubtedly did show).

We can recognise how good today was without using unnecessary superlatives.

 

[uptheus]

Key learning from today.

Lanks needs to stop playing like Harris and concentrate on winning the ball fairly, not fouling whilst not getting offside.

Long, still a good defender but pace wise for this level too slow.

Shemmy. To me his basic ball playing skills very poor.

With Currie and BDK return pending we could have a decent side

Can we really play 5 at the back at home.

Romney to my mind is the only forward who wins an ariel ball. A number 9 in waiting ?

Mr Woo. Is he really that poor ?

We can still avoid this drop but next Tuesday is now a must win game before our free hit against Sunderland

Romeny is not a Championship player

 

[uptheus]

Tbf he didn't send Brown off and he quite easily could have done. That would have had more of a negative effect than Lankshear going off.

It was a foul on Brown, and he didn’t even book their player when he clattered into Cumming or their player when he pulled back Roosken after he tackled him, then a few minutes later he books one of ours for virtually the same foul!

The referee was absolutely shite and a homer

 

[Made-in-Jericho]

Fack off you bladdy mudderfukin, stupid bladdy bast’d mudderfuker bast’d fukin referee fukker. You bladdy biased, fukkin, Lampard Coventry loving stupid one-eyed, cheating excuse of a ref. How much did they pay you? What about fairness? Neutral? Bladdy son of beaches! Mudderfukkah.
You were desperate for them to win.
Bladdy faking, fukkin bast’d.


Feels better.

 

[Mateo Corbo's Tackle]

It was a foul on Brown, and he didn’t even book their player when he clattered into Cumming or their player when he pulled back Roosken after he tackled him, then a few minutes later he books one of ours for virtually the same foul!

The referee was absolutely shite and a homer

Yep, first foul was by Wright. Not a foul by Brown. Ref realised quickly he’d got it wrong otherwise he would have given a second yellow.

Sakamoto dissent.

Cumming assault in the air which could easily have led to a goal.

Advantage given for foul on Brannagan and then immediately forgotten.

Grimes’ chest high challenge - no yellow.

Apologetic attitude to Coventry players when (limited) things went against them.

It was so bad that it actually made me wonder…

 

[Eaststanding]

But why not a stick him on for 20 mins, he’s just sitting in the bench getting no fitness.

Doesn’t sound like the blood and thunder of today’s game was one for him to make his debut.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

What the hell was Lankshear thinking for the 2nd yellow? That could have easily been a straight red. I like the guy but sometimes his young age shows.

 

[Aussi86]

Great result, but like Leicester, was more down to the opposition being dire.

Well cup half empty guy or what point at the league leaders away with players who haven’t played together yet. what’s not to like?

 

[Manorlounger]

With regard to recent officials, I have started to believe that, as far fetched as it sounds, that we are being regarded by officials as unworthy of the Championship and therefore, are treated with disdain. We have already out stayed our welcome as that insignificant team that, heaven only knows how, managed to get promoted. We really should know our place and b****r off back whence we came from.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Doesn’t sound like the blood and thunder of today’s game was one for him to make his debut.

I think people forget this isn’t football manager. Jin-Woo hadn’t played for 7 weeks when he signed. He has come into a league and culture that he has no experience of. We are in a relegation battle so I imagine it will be some time before we see him.

 

[90syeIlow]

But why not a stick him on for 20 mins, he’s just sitting in the bench getting no fitness.

That’s a fair point, but I’m not sure it’s worth the risk against the league leaders. I expect we’ll see him at Norwich though

 

[Yellowmania]

Yep, first foul was by Wright. Not a foul by Brown. Ref realised quickly he’d got it wrong otherwise he would have given a second yellow.

Sakamoto dissent.

Cumming assault in the air which could easily have led to a goal.

Advantage given for foul on Brannagan and then immediately forgotten.

Grimes’ chest high challenge - no yellow.

Apologetic attitude to Coventry players when (limited) things went against them.

It was so bad that it actually made me wonder…

I’d add that blatant dive by their player in our penalty area in the first half.
That was a nailed on yellow card and the ref did nothing.

 

[TailsWeWin]

Enjoyed that game no end. Felt like a win.
That ref needs to be prosecuted. COYY

Really enjoyable game. Great entertainment. Feel sorry for all those supporters who decided not to go …….. for whatever reasons.

 

[Mateo Corbo's Tackle]

I’d add that blatant dive by their player in our penalty area in the first half.
That was a nailed on yellow card and the ref did nothing.

You mean the one where he dived into Makosso, brought him down…and we didn’t get a free kick?

 

[Orkney Islands Yellow]

 

[ubermeistervonmeat]

I think people forget this isn’t football manager. Jin-Woo hadn’t played for 7 weeks when he signed. He has come into a league and culture that he has no experience of. We are in a relegation battle so I imagine it will be some time before we see him.

In which case why buy him

 

[Steve Gilbert]

In which case why buy him

Long term project maybe. Not every signing the club make is for the here and now.

 

[ttg17]

What the hell was Lankshear thinking for the 2nd yellow? That could have easily been a straight red. I like the guy but sometimes his young age shows.

I’d like to think I can look at things a bit objectively (after the initial heat of the moment has died down, at least) but I really don’t see how people are reaching this conclusion. He didn’t lead with an elbow or go to injure the opponent - he just went to give the defender a bit of a bump, which is what any centre forward would do, surely? The Coventry player collapsing made it look more dramatic than it was.

 

[tonyw]

I’d like to think I can look at things a bit objectively (after the initial heat of the moment has died down, at least) but I really don’t see how people are reaching this conclusion. He didn’t lead with an elbow or go to injure the opponent - he just went to give the defender a bit of a bump, which is what any centre forward would do, surely? The Coventry player collapsing made it look more dramatic than it was.

It was......unsubtle.

I'm not suggesting that it was a bad or dangerous foul, but he wasn't paying the ball any attention whatsoever, he was just trying to lay something on the defender. I certainly don't think it's an automatic booking, but it was a foul and it did give the ref a decision to make.......and given that this particular ref seemed to be making his decisions completely at random, that's not a situation you want to put yourself in when you're scrapping like hell to get something from the game.

Chalk it up as a learning experience, I guess.......

 

[sonofivan]

But why not a stick him on for 20 mins, he’s just sitting in the bench getting no fitness.

Down to ten men against the league leaders? No thanks! He will get his chance when the time is right.

 

[uptheus]

Let’s be honest, we rode our luck quite a bit yesterday, and feel if Coventry had taken the lead they may have gone on to win 2 or 3 nil.

Don’t get me wrong, if you would have offered me a draw away to the league leaders before the game I would have bitten your hand off.

But what I found disappointing was, we kept giving the ball away to cheaply, meaning it kept putting us on the back foot. At no point did we have any sustained period on the ball or really get into their half. Spencer is a liability waiting to happen, reminds me so much of Kioso. Romeny, Harris and Placheta are just not good enough, but unfortunately we’re going to have to rely on them!!

Yesterday masked our inefficiencies e.g. ball retention, shape and some players abilities as we got a draw against the league leaders, who quite frankly didn’t look like league leaders yesterday. For example, I don’t think MPH had a good game yesterday, yet we talked on the radio as though he did. Emakhu didn’t look that good either, and again there was talk that he did well/grew into the game, but I was disappointed in him, but I know it’s still early days so hopefully he’ll improve as he settles in. Having said that, Makisso’s settled in from the off and looks the best bit of business in the January window, so long may it continue.

Re; McDonnell, I like his tenacity etc, but not his pass/lacks on the distribution front, needs to quicken it up, plus be more decisive, so hopefully that picks up too.

Like I said earlier, it was a great result, but I just wonder what we’ll be like when we play the likes of Norwich, WBA, Pompey, Charlton etc, as I don’t really think the 3/5 at the back works as we look less offensive etc, so when there is a higher expectancy I’m concerned/worried that we’ll fail to produce.

I just hope that yesterday didn’t take too much out of us, but I feel it did which was mainly down to ball retention/shape, so hope we have enough in the tank against Norwich as it’s going to be a tough game. ps I’ll just put my rose tinted glasses back on!

 

[Oxfordpete]

I don’t say this often but (a point away Coventry was excellent) but Norwich is a huge game we need 3 points

 

[uptheus]

So Lankshear gets booked for disagreeing with the ref but the 3 Coventry players doing the exact same during the game didn't receive a card?

I didn't even add the worst one when
Romeny was booked late on for kicking the ball out to touch, the linesman flagged for offside and ref blew but neither Romeny or the Cov attacker heard it and they continued playing/ competing for the ball with Romeny shanking the ball out of play upfield.

Absolute clown of a ref.

I couldn’t believe that booking, Romeny was actually about to kick the ball as the referee blew the whistle.

 

[uptheus]

I don’t say this often but (a point away Coventry was excellent) but Norwich is a huge game we need 3 points

I think it’s going to be a very tough game as Norwich seemed to have turned a corner, so could be similar to the Birmingham performance if we’re not at it, but feel like the Leicester game, in that yesterday took a lot out of us (I think mainly down to the system, just don’t think we have the personnel to play wingbacks etc), but with less time to recover.

 

[holdsteady]

Let’s be honest, we rode our luck quite a bit yesterday, and feel if Coventry had taken the lead they may have gone on to win 2 or 3 nil.

Don’t get me wrong, if you would have offered me a draw away to the league leaders before the game I would have bitten your hand off.

But what I found disappointing was, we kept giving the ball away to cheaply, meaning it kept putting us on the back foot. At no point did we have any sustained period on the ball or really get into their half. Spencer is a liability waiting to happen, reminds me so much of Kioso. Romeny, Harris and Placheta are just not good enough, but unfortunately we’re going to have to rely on them!!

Yesterday masked our inefficiencies e.g. ball retention, shape and some players abilities as we got a draw against the league leaders, who quite frankly didn’t look like league leaders yesterday. For example, I don’t think MPH had a good game yesterday, yet we talked on the radio as though he did. Emakhu didn’t look that good, but I know it’s early days so hopefully he’ll improve as he settles in, but saying that Makosso’s settled in from the off and looks the best bit of business in the January window, so long may it continue.

Re; McDonnell, I like his tenacity etc, but not his pass, but lacks on the distribution front, so hopefully that picks up too.

Like I said earlier, it was a great result, but I just wonder what we’ll be like when we play the likes of Norwich, WBA, Pompey, Charlton etc, as I don’t really think the 3/5 at the back works as we look less offensive etc, so when there is a higher expectancy I’m concerned/worried that we’ll fail to produce.

I just hope that yesterday didn’t take too much out of us, but I feel it did which was mainly down to ball retention/shape, so hope we have enough in the tank against Norwich as it’s going to be a tough game. ps I’ll just put my rose tinted glasses back on!

I think you make some valid points, but I suppose you have to get the away point against the league leaders away however you can and then worry about Norwich later, even if it is only a couple of days later.

Big night Tuesday, we really need to get over the Saturday/Tuesday problem, hoping that because yesterday was a real defensive effort we have something in the tank attack wise, the coaching staff need to find some goal threat from somewhere.

 

[TailsWeWin]

Lack of goal threat is going to be an issue against a team which we need to attack (and win) rather than sit back, absorb pressure, and snatch a goal. It’s beginning to look as though we are better suited to playing away, to be honest.