MATCH THREAD: " OXFORD UNITED v CARDIFF CITY " MATCH THREAD

OXFORD UNITED v CARDIFF CITY
Thursday 26th December, 3pm
Sky Bet Championship - Match 22
Kassam Stadium 


Cardiff City Alnwick, Rinomhota, Goutas, Chambers, Bagan, O'Dowda; Siopis, Robertson; Colwill, Meite, Willock.

Subs: Horvath, Fish, Daland, Kpakio, T. Davies, El Ghazi, Ashford, Robinson, Kanga.




Cardiff have Sold their Full Away Allocation

It’s only about 1,487



Cardiff have not Won a game in their last 8 games.
3pts from 24 pts.

Just 1 Win in 10 games.


OXFORD 1 WIN IN THEIR LAST 16 GAMES:



TEAM NEWS:

NG out and Michael Rheindorf.

Joe Ralls out.

David Turnbull will be out for the long term after going under the knife for a hamstring issue.”

"Perry NG has got a problem with his hamstring. We will assess where he is at. Dave Turnbull has had an operation on his hamstring as well, so he's a long-term injury now.


Omer Riza:

Omer fitness update on Kion Etete.

“Kion is in full training, and he’s been training with us for a while now.”

“ He’s putting in a little bit more having had a bit of a setback in the friendly game we had during the international break, but now he’s back out on the grass and training.”

“ He’s still not quite there yet, but he’s working towards getting back with us.”


Ollie Tanner out for a couple of weeks due to Knee injury


RAMSEY HAS A RECURRENCE OF HIS INJURY / MAYBE BACK IN FEBRUARY? WHO KNOWS
Ramsey not able to train.

Isaak Davies is back in Training.



Chris Willock looks likely to be out, waiting on an update.

oxford_united_kassam_stadium.jpg

Club Connections

Oxford have plenty of ex-City players.

Mark Harris, Ciaron Brown and Will Vaulks all started for them on Saturday.

Rival Players

Przemyslaw Placheta was with Swansea last season.

The Opposition's Manager

Gary Rowett was appointed Oxford manager last week, this will be his first game in charge.

He was most recently in charge of Birmingham for the last eight games last season, in his second spell as their manager.

He has also managed Derby, Stoke, Millwall and Burton.

Opposition Dangerous Players

Mark Harris has struggled this season but scored 15 in League One last season.

Cameron Brannagan is an experienced midfielder.

Head To Head 

We won 3-1 at Oxford in our last competitive fixture with them, on our way to the EFL Cup final in 2011/12.

The last league fixture between us was back in 2000 and finished in a 1-1 draw at Ninian Park.

Team News - Predicted Line-Ups

Oxford United: Cumming, Kioso, Moore, Brown, Leigh, Vaulks, Brannagan, Goodrham, Dale, Placheta, Harris

Cardiff City: Alnwick, Rinomhota, Chambers, Goutas, Daland, Bagan, Siopis, Robertson, Willock, El Ghazi, Meite

Last Game

We lost 2-0 at home to Sheffield United on Saturday.

On the same day, Oxford lost 4-0 at Leeds.

Match Odds

Oxford United - 15/8
Cardiff City - 7/5
Draw - 23/10

Predictions

Post your predictions below 

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Must win for CITY NO EXCUSES 0-2 ROBINSON MUST START UP FRONT

We won't win this. A draw at best. They will have a new manager bounce, half our squad is injured and Riza can't motivate for big games. I've lost any faith in him now. Highly likely we'll lose it and maybe then the board will wake up to the crisis they have created. Another curious factor is our Boxing day hoodoo. We very rarely win at Christmas. I believe the last time we won at Christmas was twelve years ago in 2012. We beat Crystal Palace 2 v 1 with Gunnarson and Noone scoring. How I wish we had those two in our team now.

Chris Willock looks likely to be out, waiting on an update.

An absolutely must win game for us especially with all the players playing against us we deemed surplus.
Got to win it .
Riza is under a lot of pressure now so are the board

Cardiff have Sold their Full Away Allocation

It’s only about 1,300

TEAM NEWS:

David Turnbull will be out for the long term after going under the knife for a hamstring issue.”

"Perry NG has got a problem with his hamstring. We will assess where he is at. Dave Turnbull has had an operation on his hamstring as well, so he's a long-term injury now.


Omer Riza:

Omer fitness update on Kion Etete.

“Kion is in full training, and he’s been training with us for a while now.”

“ He’s putting in a little bit more having had a bit of a setback in the friendly game we had during the international break, but now he’s back out on the grass and training.”

“ He’s still not quite there yet, but he’s working towards getting back with us.”


Ollie Tanner out for a couple of weeks due to Knee injury


RAMSEY HAS A RECURRENCE OF HIS INJURY / MAYBE BACK IN FEBRUARY? WHO KNOWS
Ramsey not able to train.

Isaak Davies is back in Training.



Chris Willock looks likely to be out, waiting on an update.

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Oxford team very much up in the air with new manager.

Harris won’t start though Scarlett will start up front. Brannagan is very tidy in midfield and very much like Kavanagh.

OMER RIZA THE MANAGER:

NOT WON IN 8 GAMES

PLAYED 8 WON 0 DRAWN 3 LOST 5

3 PTS FROM 24PTS



06/11/2024 Luton Town 1 Cardiff City 0 Crowd 10,656 Away Support 1,030


09/11/2024 Cardiff City 1 Blackburn Rovers 3 Crowd 17,818 includes 801 Blackburn fans


23/11/2024 Sheffield Wednesday 1 Cardiff City 1 Crowd Away Support 635



27/11/2024 Cardiff City 0 Queens Park Rangers 2 Crowd 15,687 Away 370


30/11/2024 Coventry City 2 Cardiff City 2 Crowd 27,137 Away 1,790




11/12/2024 Cardiff City 0 Preston North End 2 Crowd 15,006 Away 260


14/12/2024 Stoke City 2 Cardiff City 2 Crowd 20,870 Away Support 803


21/12/2024 - Cardiff City 0 Sheffield United 2 Crowd 18,312 Away Support 1,667




26/12/2024 Oxford United v Cardiff City

29/12/2024 Watford v Cardiff City

01/01/2025 - 15:00 Cardiff City v Coventry City

04/01/2025 - 15:00 - Middlesbrough v Cardiff City

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Etete is still not quite there. He’s going a bit more now. Bloody hell - no rush then. Only half the season gone. Ramsey not even training. I despair.

Reindorf also unjured

Having officially joined the Club on Friday, Gary Rowett eventually got to work today (Monday) as the new Head Coach of Oxford United.

After taking charge of his first training session with the group, Rowett spoke to OUTV and he was impressed with the quality and application of the group.

With only a few days to go until his first game in the dugout against Cardiff City on Boxing Day, the Head Coach has got to work quickly to get his message across.

He said: “I have an idea of the things we need to do and it was key for me walking in today to meet the players and talk about the standards and expectations.

“I tried to be clear with the players in our first meeting, and then of course the main work is out on the training pitch.

“It’s difficult on a Monday just a few days after a game because you can’t do as much as you would like, so today was about getting some ideas into them about what we want to do when we’ve got the ball.

“Sometimes on the first day of a new manager, the players have a little bit of a zip in their stride and that was there which was good for the session.”

With Cardiff just three days away, and only two training sessions to work with the group, it’s a quick turnaround to get the playing style across, while also prepping for the test of an opposition.

But even in such a short space, Rowett is sure he and the supporters will able to see elements of what he wants from his team come Boxing Day.

He added: “The message early on is about how we want to play, and of course, if it doesn’t go to plan then you have a plan B, and a plan C.

“The first thing we do is work that out on the training pitch and this morning we have had about 30 minutes of quality work in getting the message across.

“I will then back that up with conversations with individual players and tomorrow we’ll come in and do something similar.

“The players have been very enthusiastic and receptive so far and I’ve been pleased with the application.
“We will be very organised out of possession because I think every team has to be. That doesn’t mean we’re going to sit and wait for the opposition to play their game, it means that we’re going to press at the right time and get on the front foot at the right time.

“We will try and work incredibly hard to maintain that for as long as we can within the game, hopefully the full 90 minutes.

“We are one of the lowest in the division in terms of shots and chances, so we need to change that and play forward with precision a bit quicker when the space is there.”

Cardiff Fans were informed that with in the days after the Erol Bulut sacking that these Tan, Dalman and Choo had commissioned a top European agency and 2x ex Professional Managers/Coaches to find and identify our new Manager and Coaching team.
I wonder how much they charged us for this?

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If we don’t get a result here, we don’t deserve to stay up.

If we don’t get a result here, we don’t deserve to stay up.

I tend to agree but we need be aware of the ‘new manager’ bump…

Omer Riza:

“We need to win at Oxford and we will be all out attack.”

"Every game is a big game for us, any points we can pick up is what we need. “

“But this one even more so. It's a big game Oxford.”


"Two teams at the bottom trying to pick up points. It'll be a tough game and one we need to win."

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Absent
Tanner NG O'Dowda Reindorf Ralls
Plus the usual suspects

Update:

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OXFORD United duo Siriki Dembele and Louie Sibley have both returned to training.

Dembele has been out with an ankle injury picked up in the first half of United’s draw at home to Derby County on October 22, while Sibley collected an ankle problem of his own at the beginning of November.

New U’s head coach Gary Rowett has worked with both players previously, at Birmingham City with Dembele last season, and with Sibley at Derby.

Rowett said: “Both have trained, but I’m not quite sure how many days they’d trained previously, but have both for different reasons missed games.

“Both are coming back into the fold, and both are very talented players.

“Dembs gets people one v one and stands them up. He’s got that ability to go past people and he knows what I expect from within the rest of performance for the team.
“Sibs is the same, he’s got that little bit of X factor in the final third at times, like you saw for his goal earlier in the season.

“Both players perhaps haven’t played as much as maybe they’d like, but for different reasons.

“It’s up to me to give them that framework and that platform to go and show what they can do.

“Both of those players at some opportunity, whether that’s game one or game 10, an opportunity to show that.”

We won't win this. A draw at best. They will have a new manager bounce, half our squad is injured and Riza can't motivate for big games. I've lost any faith in him now. Highly likely we'll lose it and maybe then the board will wake up to the crisis they have created. Another curious factor is our Boxing day hoodoo. We very rarely win at Christmas. I believe the last time we won at Christmas was twelve years ago in 2012. We beat Crystal Palace 2 v 1 with Gunnarson and Noone scoring. How I wish we had those two in our team now.

Mark Harris will come back to haunt us - mark my words - excuse the pun!!

TEAM NEWS:

David Turnbull will be out for the long term after going under the knife for a hamstring issue.”

"Perry NG has got a problem with his hamstring. We will assess where he is at. Dave Turnbull has had an operation on his hamstring as well, so he's a long-term injury now.


Omer Riza:

Omer fitness update on Kion Etete.

“Kion is in full training, and he’s been training with us for a while now.”

“ He’s putting in a little bit more having had a bit of a setback in the friendly game we had during the international break, but now he’s back out on the grass and training.”

“ He’s still not quite there yet, but he’s working towards getting back with us.”


Ollie Tanner out for a couple of weeks due to Knee injury


RAMSEY HAS A RECURRENCE OF HIS INJURY / MAYBE BACK IN FEBRUARY? WHO KNOWS
Ramsey not able to train.

Isaak Davies is back in Training.



Chris Willock looks likely to be out, waiting on an update.

The more I hear from Riza, he reminds me of Mr Mcawber - hoping "something will turn up"!!

Today is a real ‘six-pointer’ with the winner almost certain to lift themselves out of the bottom three…

It’s fair to say neither side really want a draw, as ‘wins’ are what matter for both sides from here on in…

Good luck to those loyal Bluebirds able to get tickets for the game today and I hope you are smiling broadly on your return…!

Today is a real ‘six-pointer’ with the winner almost certain to lift themselves out of the bottom three…

It’s fair to say neither side really want a draw, as ‘wins’ are what matter for both sides from here on in…

Good luck to those loyal Bluebirds able to get tickets for the game today and I hope you are smiling broadly on your return…!

Chris you are right, we cannot afford a draw in this game. We need to win it and win it well.

Today is a real ‘six-pointer’ with the winner almost certain to lift themselves out of the bottom three…

It’s fair to say neither side really want a draw, as ‘wins’ are what matter for both sides from here on in…

Good luck to those loyal Bluebirds able to get tickets for the game today and I hope you are smiling broadly on your return…!

Chris you are right, we cannot afford a draw in this game. We need to win it and win it well.

Absolutely, we cannot afford to carry on like this; we have some tough games to come and the XI on the pitch need to put in a performance not just a shift today…

Oxford are a league 1 outfit. If we don't beat them, it's another nail in the coffin.

Oxford are a league 1 outfit. If we don't beat them, it's another nail in the coffin.

We won't beat them. At best a draw. It's the law that we never win on Boxing day!

0- 2 To The Blooobirds (Robinson Ashford)

Oxford are a league 1 outfit. If we don't beat them, it's another nail in the coffin.

We won't beat them. At best a draw. It's the law that we never win on Boxing day!

This is true

Cardiff City: Alnwick, Rinomhota, Goutas, Chambers, Bagan, O'Dowda; Siopis, Robertson; Colwill, Meite, Willock.

Subs: Horvath, Fish, Daland, Kpakio, T. Davies, El Ghazi, Ashford, Robinson, Kanga.

BLURBIRDS