Sideways Sammy

It was disappointing to exit the League Cup to two fairly soft set-piece goals in midweek but the truth is this season is not going to be judged on Coventry City’s progress in that competition and exiting it at this stage avoids any awkward fixture congestion over the coming months. Instead, the Sky Blues must look to build on wins in their last two league games against an Oxford United side yet to get off the mark this season.

The U’s enter the game off the back of a hefty, yet unfortunate, cup exit to Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday night and having lost all of their league games thus far by a single goal. The danger here is that Coventry City are up against an opponent already desperate for points. If the mentality here is that the Sky Blues will continue to rack up the goals as they have done over the past two games, they could be in for a surprise against an Oxford United side that can be very dogged under Gary Rowett’s management.

Expected Line-Up

Tuesday night’s game against Millwall was an exercise in getting minutes into the legs of as many fringe players as possible. With almost none of the back-up brigade staking a claim for greater involvement, Frank Lampard is unlikely to need to think twice about picking the exact same team as the one that has scored twelve goals over the past two league games.

A potential area of selection concern may have been in goal, where Carl Rushworth has looked shaky under high balls over the past two games. However, the fact that the team still managed to concede twice from set-pieces in midweek with Ben Wilson starting highlights that Rushworth is unlikely to be under serious pressure between the sticks until Oliver Dovin is back fit – which looks set to be months away.

Finally, Brandon Thomas-Asante’s performances over the past two league games on the right wing has made it so that there is little pressure to get Tatsuhiro Sakamoto back in the side, even if he were to be fit for this game. With no other injury news or major transfers, it is hard to see another other reason why Frank Lampard wouldn’t name an unchanged team for this game.

Last Time We Met

When Jack Rudoni put Coventry City ahead from a delightful Tatsuhiro Sakamoto cross early on against Oxford United back in March, the Sky Blues looked set to ease to victory at the Kassam Stadium against an opponent struggling for form. However, the U’s worked their way back into the game as the first-half wore on and eventually grabbed a deserved equaliser when Przemyslaw Placheta raced in behind Jake Bidwell early after the break and teed up Ole Romeny to score.

Oxford United rather shot themselves in the foot to let Coventry City reclaim the lead, with a poor attempted clearance in their defence leading to a bouncing ball that Ephron Mason-Clark managed to outjump Jamie Cumming in the opposing goal to put into the back of the net. However, a set-piece goal from Elliott Moore made up for that mistake to make it 2-2 in a chaotic opening to the second-half.

Coventry City were handed another chance to take the lead, when Bobby Thomas was clattered in the box by Oxford United’s Peter Kioso, only for Ellis Simms to tamely stroke the resulting penalty at a good height and pace for Cumming to save. There wasn’t much time to dwell upon that missed opportunity, with Tatsuhiro Sakamoto hitting a lovely strike on the half-volley soon after to take the lead for the third time and keep up Coventry’s strong winter form.

The Opposition

The Manager – Gary Rowett

A wily campaigner at Championship level, Gary Rowett is attempting to again keep Oxford United in the division despite having one of its lowest budgets. A chaotic pre-season tour in Indonesia during monsoon season has seemingly made Rowett’s preparations for a tough campaign all the harder and is having to use the first weeks of the campaign to get his team up to fitness, which is hardly ideal given the budgetary disadvantage the club already has.

The U’s have shown over the first few games that they are competitive at this level but may just be lacking the quality at either end of the pitch to consistently get results over the line. The plan seems to be to be as solid as possible at the back, before nicking something at the other end via set-pieces, long throws or counter-attacking play. It is a strategy that is yet to come to fruition, with Oxford falling behind in each of their league games this season.

Who To Look Out For?

Oxford United’s fortunes likely rest on the ability of their back-line to impose themselves on games this season, with the meaty trio of Michal Helik, Elliott Moore and Ciaron Brown still in place at the club. Their start has been made difficult as a result of Brown being injured and Moore out of form, with the addition of ex-Preston North End and Birmingham City centre-back, Ben Davies, an attempt to bolster the team’s defensive stability, along with that of the tackle-hungry Northern Ireland international, Brodie Spencer, who can play anywhere across the back-line.

Getting the balance between defence and attack right has been a key concern for Gary Rowett in the early weeks of the campaign, with the club a little short of quality in the final third. The manager has moved to a back three over the past few games to stop teams getting at their defence and also to attempt to reduce matches to stop-start set-piece affairs which looks to be Oxford’s best way of creating chances right now.

The hope is that getting summer signing, Brian de Keersmaecker, up to speed will help improve Oxford United’s open-play threat. The Belgian offers quality in possession from a deep midfield position that the team otherwise lacks. Finding his right midfield partner leaves the potentially thorny issue of having to drop club stalwart, Cameron Brannagan, who doesn’t provide much bite or defensive discipline to help De Keersmaecker get time on the ball. Whether Gary Rowett is quite ready to do that is a key question heading into this game.

Further forward, Oxford United have a lot of nice, nippy attacking midfielders and forwards but possibly lack anyone who can bear the responsibility of leading the team’s goal or creative threat. The hope is that the burly young Tottenham Hotspur loanee, Will Lankshear, can provide a presence in the final third to spearhead the team’s attack, allowing at least two from Stan Mills, Tyler Goodrham, Mark Harris, Siriki Dembele, or Przemyslaw Placheta to cause issues running at opponents. It’s not a lack of options that is Oxford’s attacking problems but the quality of them.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

The obvious alarm bell for Coventry City heading into this game is the fact that every goal they’ve conceded this season has been from a set-piece (if penalties are regarded as set-pieces) and they’re up against an opponent whose biggest threat is from such scenarios. Specifically, Carl Rushworth’s struggles to command his penalty area under high balls will surely be targeted by Oxford United and it will be up to the loanee to prove he has worked on that susceptibility over the last week.

In terms of open play, the challenge for Coventry here is breaking down a team that is likely to be happy to hand them possession as they sit in a defensive shape. It’s going to be a test of Brandon Thomas-Asante and Haji Wright’s ability to threaten in a game where there is going to be much less space for them to run into in the final third, which is hopefully where Victor Torp and Jack Rudoni can help out by making driving runs from midfield to commit defenders and open up room for the forward duo.