Oxford United

Oxford United boss Gary Rowett faces a dilemma between being more attacking but being a bit short of quality compared to other Championship clubs, says former U's defender Ben Purkiss.

The U's were beaten 2-1 at Watford on Saturday, despite taking the lead, to leave them with just one point from their past three games and in the relegation zone.

"The team will be disappointed with the manner of the goals conceded (against Watford) but you look at the game overall and you saw more openness from the team, you saw more chances created," Purkiss told BBC Radio Oxford's podcast The Dub.

"On the opposite side we opened up and there were more chances for Watford than there were for Oxford. It shows you when we do open up we're a little bit deep during the game and it gives other teams more space."

Oxford's only win this season was a 3-1 victory at Bristol City last month and Purkiss believes head coach Rowett must try to find a balance between attack and defence.

"The dilemma Gary faces is he wants his team to go for it a bit more and be more attacking but the problem is if we go toe-to-toe with teams and one-for-one with players we're a little bit short," Purkiss added.

"The next five games there are opportunities there. Derby haven't started great, Wrexham is tricky but they haven't started brilliantly, Sheffield Wednesday, then Millwall and Stoke who I've seen and they've started well but I don't think they're that special - it's about regrouping and going again."

Listen to the latest episode of The Dub and more Oxford United content on BBC Sounds.

Joshua Adu-Donkor
BBC Final Score reporter

Image source, Rex Features

Oxford United have won just one of their nine Championship games so far this season after Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Watford.

However, there are some positives to take for manager Gary Rowett, the players and supporters from this loss.

Oxford created bundles of chances throughout the game and were unlucky not to score an equaliser - or a second when they were leading.

They attacked with great energy, with both captain Cameron Brannagan and substitute Przemyslaw Placheta impressing.

They're passing the eye test at the moment in the Championship, playing well but not getting the points they deserve from their performances.

This game was another example of that, where a draw would have been a fair result.

Plenty to ponder for everyone at Oxford United during the international break as they seek to turn things around.

Image source, Rex Features

Oxford United head coach Gary Rowett has said his side weren't "energetic enough" in their 2-1 loss at Watford on Saturday.

The Us took the initiative within three minutes thanks to Max Alleyne's own goal but the Hornets claimed the lead through a quickfire Jeremy Ngakia double before the break and held onto the score to register Oxford's fifth loss in the Championship.

"The start was excellent, and to get into that position," said former Derby defender Rowett to BBC Radio Oxford.

"I don't think our performance overall today was energetic enough or good enough. Of course, we keep going, [it's] a tight game again, we still have opportunities, but if I'm being honest, I'm bored of saying we've conceded poor goals once more.

"I think that's a frustration since the start of the season. We need to cut out the mistakes. We did [that] on Wednesday and got a point away from home.

"If you look at both goals, the first was a ball in the box we've got to deal with—simple as that, that's our job. The second one, Jamie (Cumming) just gets a little nudge on him, but I think he'll be disappointed he doesn't deal with it himself as well, so two moments that were really disappointing."

This is just Oxford's second league trip to Watford in the past 26 years.

The Hornets took the honours last season with a Vakoun Bayo goal sealing a 1-0 victory.

• Watford have won four out of the past five home league meetings against Oxford United (L1) , conceding just two goals during this run.

• Oxford United have won just three of their previous 25 league meetings with Watford (D11 L11), their last victory however being a 1-0 win in the pair's most recent meeting in March 2025. Prior to last season's meetings, the pair last played each other in the league in March 1999.

• After losing five consecutive league home matches between December 2024 and February 2025, Watford have lost just three of their past 11 home games (W5 D3).

• Since the start of last season, only Derby and Blackburn (15 each) have lost more Championship games on a Saturday than Oxford (14), with the U's still winless on Saturdays this season (D2 L3).

• Oxford boss Gary Rowett has won each of his past three league matches against Watford, keeping a clean sheet in all three victories.

Head coach Gary Rowett has credited the fans' support for Oxford United's ability to remain competitive in the Championship after securing "a big point" at QPR.

The U's hover just above the relegation places after taking four points from their past three games.

"The fans have been brilliant, so supportive of the team, followed in great numbers, been in great voice, same at home," Rowett told BBC Radio Oxford.

"It's a big point, it's a good away performance in terms of the defensive side of it, the hard work, the endeavour and the resilience."

Rowett is calling on the fans to stay with the team for the whole campaign no matter the results, as they seek to secure Championship football for a third season.

"Hopefully at the very least they see a team once again very competitive in this league doing everything we can to try and win games of football," he added.

Midfielder Filip Krastev was substituted in the 56th minute but Rowett expects him to be available on Saturday when Oxford visit Watford (15:00 BST).

"He just got a few whacks today," Rowett said. "I think he just got a whack to the back so I'm hopeful it's not too serious."

Listen to the full interview with Rowett and more on the U's on Sounds.

Image source, Opta

Julien Stephan's Queens Park Rangers side are unbeaten in the league since that heavy 7-1 defeat to Coventry City back in August. They host Gary Rowett's Oxford United team on Wednesday (19:45 BST), who have only recorded one victory so far.

The home side come into this one sitting 9th in the Championship league, with the travelling U's in 22nd, only the two Sheffield sides sit below them.

• Queens Park Rangers have won each of their past three league meetings with Oxford United, never before winning four in a row.

• Oxford United are winless in their past 10 league visits to QPR (D3 L7) since a 2-1 victory in December 1969.

• QPR have won both of their past two Championship home games and could avoid defeat in their first four home matches of a league campaign for the first time since 2017-18 (5).

• After their 3-1 win at Bristol City, Oxford United could win back-to-back away league games for the first time since April 2024, and the first time in the top two tiers since November 1998.

• Oxford's Gary Rowett has only won one of his eight managerial away league games at QPR (D3 L4), a 2-1 victory with Millwall in February 2023.

Image source, Getty Images

Oxford United head coach Gary Rowett says he is frustrated by his side's 1-0 loss to fellow strugglers Sheffield United.

A second-half Callum O'Hare goal was the difference between the sides as Oxford impressed in a goalless first half.

"When you play against a team like Sheffield United - we know where they are in the league, we know they're not at the most confident or been at their best - but they've still got a very good squad, still got very good players," he told BBC Radio Oxford.

"I think it's a sign of respect in some ways that they came, set up almost, it felt like, to go and frustrate us and maybe nick a point or maybe get something on the break.

"I thought we limited them to very, very little. First half was, again, another really, really good performance - maybe a little bit of quality in the last action wasn't quite there - but I thought it was a really dominant first-half performance.

"Second half we knew, perhaps, it would be a little more even, but what you can't do is you can't allow one moment, one ball, three in the box, takes as touch, finds the corner, and we didn't have that luxury.

"It feels like we keep leaving the door ajar for teams to get something out of the game where maybe it should be a 0-0 - we're frustrated, we don't take our chances, but we go away with something."

Sheffield United will seek their first points of the season against a resurgent Oxford United when they visit the Kassam on Saturday (15:00 BST).

Chris Wilder's return as Blades boss was marked with a loss against Charlton Athletic to see the side still yet to move off the mark.

In contrast, Oxford have come out of a tough trilogy of games against promotion-contenders to take five points out of nine, finding their first victory of the season against Bristol City last time out following two hard-fought draws with Leicester City and Coventry City.

• Oxford won this exact fixture 1-0 in April, but haven't beaten Sheffield United in consecutive league meetings since October 1984.

• Having won just one of their first 10 away league games against Oxford between 1969 and 1996 (D4 L5), Sheffield United have now won three of their last four visits to the U's (L1).

• Following a 3-1 win against Bristol City last time out, Oxford are looking to win consecutive league games for the first time since January.

• Sheffield United have lost all six of their league games so far this season. Since the rebrand in 2004, only two teams have lost each of their first seven to start a Championship campaign – Peterborough United in 2012-13 and Wycombe Wanderers in 2020-21.

• Oxford have scored more set-piece goals than any other side in the Championship this season (excl. pens), with seven of their nine strikes coming from a set play.

Image source, Getty Images

Oxford United boss Gary Rowett has been speaking to the media ahead of hosting bottom side Sheffield United on Saturday (15:00 BST).

Here are some of the key lines:

• Following their first win of the season against Bristol City, Rowett says that he felt the three points "was coming."

• He said: "It was another improvement on Coventry second half, another improvement on the Leicester first half and to put that into a three game run into three tough sides makes the win feel more important."

• However, he is keen for them to not "get too excited" and "maintain their hunger" as they look to back up the win against the Blades.

• Rowett admits that Sheffield United will be "a different animal" now boss Chris Wilder has taken over but that he's expecting them to "take time to gel"

• He also says that while he's encouraged by his side's creativity, he wants to work on their defence.

• He added: "We just need to find that defensive balance as well. I think if we were sat here having scored nine goals and conceded six, which was maybe our average last year, the league would look very different."

A potential move to take the Championship play-offs down to eighth place would damage the competition's credibility, according to former Huddersfield, Stoke and Middlesbrough defender Tommy Smith.

The EFL board is set to discuss proposals to increase the number of teams in the end-of-season play-offs from four to six but Smith, who was promoted to the Premier League with Huddersfield via the play-offs in 2017 is not a fan of the idea.

"It's not for me - I think it suits teams who don't really have a chance to get in the top six," he told the BBC's EFL podcast 72+.

"From a credibility point of view the top six is there to be aimed at and you have to earn your place in it."

The play-offs were first introduced for the 1986-87 season where sides finishing third down to fifth were involved along with the team third-from-bottom in the top flight.

After two seasons the format was changed to be played out between teams finishing third to sixth in the second tier.

"To finish eighth in the Championship and potentially get promoted to the Premier League it just doesn't sit right with me," added Smith.

"Notoriously over the past years getting into the top six is tough and when you get in there after a long hard season it feels brilliant, so to make it a top eight it dilutes it."

"In the last 10 days or so, we've gone from being a team that probably every club in the Championship was looking forward to facing, whereas now I can guarantee you Sheffield United fans, who would have been looking at Saturday's game as a massive opportunity, now are thinking, 'hmmm, I'm not sure I really fancy this'."

The Dub team talk Oxford United's first win of the season against a Bristol City side aiming for promotion and the message it sends to the rest of the Championship.

Listen to the full episode and more Oxford United content on BBC Sounds.

Image source, Rex Features

Gary Rowett has tipped summer signing Brian De Keersmaecker for the top and says the best is yet to come from the midfielder.

The 25-year-old Belgian arrived in the summer from Dutch club Heracles where he scored seven goals in 64 league appearances.

After injury curtailed his start to life with the U's, he has now played 90 minutes in three straight games, which has coincided with the end of the U's three-match losing streak to start the Championship season, earning home draws with Coventry and Leicester before Sunday's fine 3-1 win at Bristol City.

De Keersmaecker provided a superb assist from a free-kick for the opening goal for Nik Prelec, before an inswinging free-kick curled all the way in for the late third goal, with Greg Leigh credited with getting the faintest of touches.

U's boss Rowett is delighted with his new signing, telling BBC Sport: "He's brilliant. I said to him before the game, 'Go and be the best player on the pitch.'

"He's a brilliant signing for us, we watched a lot of him at Heracles last year. He was their captain, I think he was quite inspirational for them, and a very good age to come into the Championship. He's ready for that.

"He was injured for the first few games of the season but I've watched him train and seen little bits in games against Coventry and Leicester.

"I thought [it] was a more complete performance [at Ashton Gate] but I think he's got a lot more to come. He's going to be a top player."

Image source, Rex Features

Oxford United head coach Gary Rowett said his side showed "more confidence" as they picked up their first league win of the campaign away at Bristol City.

The U's followed up two draws with Coventry and Leicester with the 3-1 win to move out of the bottom three of the table.

"I thought first-half we were outstanding. We started the season poorly but we built on the second half against Coventry and first half against Leicester," Rowett said.

"We've taken that into today and showed a little bit more confidence, created some really good moments, had to ride a few moments defensively.

"I felt as though we gave them one or two moments easily, but we managed to get blocks in and the like.

"We more than deserved it today. I thought it was a good all-round performance."

Image source, Getty Images

Oxford United boss Gary Rowett has revealed winger Matt Phillips is likely to be out for "a few months" with a quadricep injury sustained against Leicester last week.

"This pre-season he has looked pretty sharp," Rowett told BBC Radio Oxford.

"He has good foundations and I thought you saw that in his performance against Leicester. It was one of his best performances, very bright, and then he has got an injury to curtail that.

"I think he actually felt something go in his quad. I'll leave the exact details down to the medical team - it looks like it is probably going to be a few months rather than a few weeks."

Oxford lost all three of their opening league fixtures, but have secured back-to-back 2-2 draws against Coventry and Leicester to sit 22nd in the Championship.

The U's travel on Saturday to face a Bristol City side (15:00 KO) which is unbeaten so far in the league, sitting two points behind early leaders Middlesbrough.

"We know we are playing a tough game," Rowett added. "We know we are playing away from home, which caused us some problems last season. However, it is about us trying to build on that and to build on those performances.

"They [City] are a very well coached team and are very structured and have scored a few goals in the early season so we will have to be mindful of their attacking threat."

Winless Oxford United head to unbeaten Bristol City on Sunday (15:00 BST) seeking to get their season started.

After losing their opening three Championship games of the season, Gary Rowett's men have responded with back-to-back 2-2 draws against Coventry and Leicester, though both came at home.

The Robins went into the weekend two points off the top after three wins and two draws in their opening five games and scored seven times in their past two fixtures against Hull City and Sheffield Wednesday.

• Bristol City are unbeaten in their last five league games against Oxford United (W2 D3) since losing 3-0 in October 1999.

• Oxford have lost one of their past eight away league visits to Bristol City (W2 D5) though that defeat was last season in a 2-1 defeat.

• Bristol City are enjoying their best start to a league season (11 points in 5 games) since winning 13 in their opening five games in 2020-21, though they went onto finish 19th that campaign.

• Oxford were unbeaten in their first nine league games under Gary Rowett but they've since won four of their past 21 matches (D6 L11). Since the date of this 21-game run (4 February), the only ever-present side to win fewer points than the U's (18) is Sheffield Wednesday (17).

• Bristol City's Anis Mehmeti has both scored and assisted in each of his last two Championship appearances – he had only achieved this once in his first 129 games in the competition beforehand.

Image source, Getty Images

Oxford United first-team coach Chris Hackett says there is a "massive emphasis" at the club on developing young players through their academy.

Former U's winger Hackett himself came through Oxford's youth ranks - and one of his first coaching roles at the club was with the youth team.

He worked his way up to becoming manager of the Under-18s side before taking up a first-team coaching role in 2023.

"The academy is massive at Oxford," Hackett told BBC Sport.

"It's a one-club county so it gives us the benefit of being able to 'own' our county and make sure we get the best players from the region into our club.

"There's been a massive emphasis on developing young players and progressing them into the first team."

Two prime examples of academy products in the first team are forward Tyler Goodrham and full-back Sam Long.

The pair came through the academy at Oxford and have had a big impact at senior level.

Both played 90 minutes at Wembley in 2024 when Oxford beat Bolton to win the League One play-off final, and since then have been key members of both Des Buckingham and Gary Rowett's sides.

"At the moment if you look at Sam and Tyler, they are playing regularly for us and are a massive part of what we do," Hackett added.

"They show there is a pathway for those academy players to come through if they put in the work.

"Behind them we have a group of talented young players as well. It's exciting times for the academy."