Back in late December, Gary Rowett was sacked as head coach of Oxford University. What went wrong?
I think in any managerial tenure, there comes a time when everyone gets tired of each other. There’s no doubt in my mind that it happened here and I don’t think Gary Rowett was disappointed at all about being sacked.
With the club struggling in the Championship, he achieved only one goal: safety. The question was always going to be season two and whether the pragmatic style of ensuring survival with a limited squad could develop into a more exciting blend in the summer. It’s safe to say that this didn’t happen.
He wasn’t helped by a chaotic pre-season, when the trip to Indonesia (our boss was Indonesian) left us with a lack of time on the grass and, ironically, a serious injury to our Indonesian international, who was the headline star of the entire trip.
As a result we slowly announced the season, recruiting hit and miss, and by the end, Rowett’s attitude was “support me or fire me.” I suspect there were differences of opinion over recruitment, with Rowett favoring more experienced players and the club wanting to reinvest in talented young players, all of which resulted in Rowett not seeing out the January window.
Former Wycombe and Luton coach Matt Bloomfield has been hired to replace him – what has he brought to the table so far?
He’s passionate and clearly wants to do better for the club, but what manager doesn’t? ! The victory against Leicester City was based on excellent possession and amazing work rate. Bloomfield went on the road to celebrate, feeling like this might be the start of something.
Unfortunately we couldn’t get going under him and didn’t score at home. In a world where fans are hungry for a wider variety of playing styles than Rowett, our current setup seems to be very similar, but still fails to create a ton of games in the game.
It’s early days yet, but early optimism was dashed by Tuesday’s messy loss to Norwich.
His assistant coach is former Sunderland manager Mike Dodds. What kind of impact have you heard about him so far?
Word from the training ground is that the players are enjoying the sessions he has put in place and his reputation as an excellent coach appears to be well-deserved. However, part of his role is to provide advice to managers. In my opinion, anyone and everyone involved with Tuesday night’s back four has some explaining to do.
After looking stable with a back five, we moved to a back four, which Bloomfield said was partly because fans wanted more at home. However, the back four includes two full-backs and an experienced part-time centre-back who plays at centre-back. It was a chaotic performance with one of the back four playing their part.
I don’t know if the coaching staff feel they can’t drop players who have performed well defensively against Coventry away from home, but it’s a decision that needs to be made.
Currently four points away from the safety zone, how confident are you in avoiding relegation?
I said when I arrived at the stadium on Tuesday that if we beat a tired Norwich City tonight we would stay up. After 20 minutes, all optimism was gone.
We do have a very favorable home game and the Sheffield Wednesday game, but everyone around us looks like there’s a lot more games in the future. If we don’t find a way to be a consistent threat on offense, then I fear the worst.
Oxford are yet to win at Kassam Stadium under Bloomfield. Is the current situation stable?
Win, or score. With that in mind, it’s probably no surprise that there was a lack of capacity at the stadium and the game was over as soon as it started, with empty seats becoming more apparent as the game wore on.
By the end, the game looked like an early League Cup tie, with the only people having fun being the dominant visiting fans. It was a bleak night where a home performance could be crucial and some enthusiasm needed to be injected quickly.
Which Oxford players have excelled this season and who do you think will cause Sunderland problems?
Oxford’s summer regular Brian de Kolsmaek has been out injured for several weeks and struggled in midfield.
January signing Myles Peart-Harris is off to a strong start and is clearly talented. He has the physical attributes of a winger and is able to move the ball upfield effectively. The entire time I was complaining about the attack, it was hard to actually believe there was much of a threat.
I like the efforts of Stan Mills, a defensive winger who beats the opposition and gets crosses in early, but we are constantly fighting for numbers in the box so it doesn’t always get the desired results. Our biggest threats are likely to come from set pieces and long balls.
On the other hand, if you were Regis LeBris, how would you exploit Oxford’s weaknesses?
I’d be surprised if Sunderland don’t get a tight low at the weekend, unless Bloomfield treat this game as a free hit and roll the dice in the hope of finding something for the rest of the league season.
If we do build up strength defensively, we can be difficult to beat, as Coventry found out. In this case, rotation of offensive players seemed like a reasonable option to beat us. Norwich scored a lovely second goal on Tuesday, with players roaming around and dragging defenders with them.
A quality team should be able to unlock this if they can move the ball quickly. However, if we defend like we did for the other two goals on Tuesday night, a smart guy like Regis LeBris won’t need my help.
How do you think Bloomfield will prepare tactically for this game?
As mentioned above, it can be tight, frustrating, and rhythm-breaking. Part of me thinks we have nothing to lose, is this really going to excite the paying public after the last game?
Oxford’s recent history of cup upsets under Carl Robinson has been based on attacking anyone who comes to town. Newcastle and Swansea are two teams that are playing against each other, and their game is very exciting. We also hold the long-standing record for shots against Guardiola’s side.
If you gave me a 2-0 loss where we tried to frustrate the opponent, or a 4-1 loss where we threw a few punches but got caught late in the game, I know which one I would choose.
If any players are out, who do you think will start?
After a busy schedule, it wouldn’t shock me to see some fringe players play. If anything, they deserve a chance to get the jersey. It’s always nice to win the cup, but Bloomfield’s success will depend on league results.
Key players such as Brian De Korsmark and Jake Curry have been sidelined through injury, while Jamie Donley suffered an injury early in his debut. The latter two are set to return and could get valuable playing time here.
I hope we get to see more of Jin Woo, who was signed from South Korea in January. He has not played a game since November but looked sharp away to Norwich. If he happens to be an attacker who gets fans out of their seats, that would be great news.
Sunderland lost 2-0 when they last visited Oxford. Why did you predict the score this time?
It was a very nice day, but I’m not sure this day will feel the same.
I expect Sunderland to make changes as well, but every time I’ve been to a Sunderland game this season the quality of the team has been evident. It was an underwhelming draw as the game against Sunderland was familiar (although they are much better now) and the ticket sales reflected that.
I expected Sunderland to pull off a pretty pedestrian win and everyone would get the result they expected today. 3-0 Sunderland, but if I could see a goal scored again I would break your arm.