Oxford United

Image source, Rex Features

Oxford United midfielder Alex Matos says he is happy to play in a number of positions for his new side following the 1-0 defeat to Burnley on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old joined the U's until the end of the season on loan from Chelsea during the transfer window and is keen to show his versatility after failing to make a single appearance for the Blues in the first half of this season.

"No, I don't mind it at all," Matos told BBC Radio Oxford in response to being asked to play two separate roles during the narrow loss at Turf Moor.

"I've played in quite a lot of positions when I was younger, so, my natural position is that I'm more of a deeper player.

"But, I can definitely play more advanced and I thought today I showed my quality in the first half".

Matos started the match as an attacking midfielder behind sole striker Tom Bradshaw, but following the half-time introduction of Siriki Dembele, the Chelsea loanee moved back to his more familiar role as a holding midfielder.

"I don't think it's too hard for me [to play two different positions]," Matos added.

"I did it before, when I was younger, and I understand both roles very well. I'm very happy with my performance."

Image source, Getty Images

Oxford United boss Gary Rowett spoke to BBC Radio Oxford after the U's 1-0 defeat at promotion-chasing Burnley.

"We carried a threat, and I think we got into some good positions without perhaps creating as much as we'd like," he said.

"After a good start they settled into their game. You can clearly see they're a very good side which is why they're going to be competing for the top two positions.

"Sometimes when you're playing a good side who can stretch you in the way that they do it makes it very difficult to do anything other than to try and be compact, and that takes away from your ability to attack for long periods.

"When you look at the trajectory of our team and where the team's come from out of League One to, I think, more than competing in this division, and actually looking like the next step for us is to see if we can compete a little bit better in these types of games.

"I think that is a real positive and there were a lot of positives to come out of the game."

Janine Bailey
Chair of Oxford United Supporters' panel

Image source, Rex Features

For most football fans, January is a month for speculating on whether our club will land a 25-goal-a-season striker, manage to keep our best players and offload peripheral players to other clubs.

Most Oxford United fans would agree that, whilst we may not have signed the elusive striker, we have nonetheless had a successful transfer window that has strengthened the squad.

But for Oxford United fans there is a bigger transfer on the horizon as we leave January behind.

Having been given notice to leave the current stadium, which is not owned by the club, Oxford United hope to construct a new stadium and community facilities at the Triangle near Oxford Parkway station.

There have been consultations, thousands of pages of planning documents, comments from the local community, responses from the planning team and further documentation.

Now we head into the final straight, with the current consultation period ending on 8 February. The planning officers at Cherwell District Council will then review the latest submissions and make their recommendation to the planning committee.

The target decision date is the end of March. The January transfer window may well have set us up well for the rest of this season, but the long-term future of the club will only be assured by a positive decision in March.

Burnley could close the gap on Championship leaders Leeds to just two points if they can end their run of stalemates at Turf Moor when Oxford United visit on Tuesday night (19:45 GMT).

Burnley have scored the fewest number of goals of any team in the top six with 36 in 30 games, though the Clarets have by far the best defensive record across the entire top four divisions, conceding just nine league goals all season.

The Us could climb as high as 14th and put 13 points between themselves and the drop-zone if they can cause an upset in east Lancashire.

• Burnley have lost just two of their past 14 league games against Oxford United (W5 D7), winning their last such home match against the U's 3-2 in December 1999.

• Oxford United have won just one of their seven away league games against Burnley (D4 L2), a 2-0 victory at Turf Moor in January 1996.

• Each of Burnley's past three Championship home games have all finished 0-0. The only second tier side in English league history to have four successive home matches end goalless were Wolves in March/April 2016.

• Oxford United are unbeaten in four away league games (W1 D3), last going longer without defeat on the road in December 2022 (7 games).

• Oxford United's Gary Rowett has won none of his four Championship games against Burnley as a manager (D2 L2); only against Bournemouth (5) has he taken charge of more matches in the division without ever winning.

The latest episode of BBC Radio Oxford's podcast The Dub - covering all things Oxford United - is now available.

On this week's edition the team discuss Saturday's draw with Bristol City, the possibility of any transfer deadline day signings and look ahead to Tuesday night's trip to Burnley.

You can listen to more episodes of The Dub on BBC Sounds.

Image source, Rex Features

Oxford head coach Gary Rowett was left to rue the defensive lapse that denied his side a fifth consecutive home win as they drew 1-1 with nine-man Bristol City.

The U's were 1-0 up through Greg Leigh – with their opponents already down to 10 men – when Sinclair Armstrong drew a foul from Michal Helik and City took advantage to level through Mark Sykes.

"It's frustrating in some ways, when you go 1-0 up you expect to then control the rest of the game," Rowett told BBC Radio Oxford. "We give away one silly free-kick which gives them one chance – and you only need one chance to score.

"The way the game went, as soon as they got back to 1-1 I felt it'd be hard to break them down. It was one of those where you need something to drop for someone, you need a little bit of fortune and whenever it did, it seemed to drop to them.

"At the start of the game we didn't play with enough composure, I thought we were a little bit wasteful with our possession and didn't manage to break them down as much we'd like. When we played it wide quickly, we got into good areas.

"We'd won four games out of four here so we want to win every game, I don't think you're ever happy with a point at home."

Image source, Rex Features

Oxford United are currently meandering around the bottom half of the table but, with nine points between them and the relegation zone, many fans are beginning to feel optimistic about a second season in the Championship.

The U's are on a great run, unbeaten since new boss Gary Rowett took the helm in December, which has helped lift them to 16th on 36 points.

It puts them out of immediate striking distance from the bottom six and five points ahead of Cardiff City in 18th.

"It's pretty anomalous to go down with that many points," journalist George Elek told the Dub podcast.

"For these teams to all overtake us, they all have to massively improve."

Though Oxford do have some tough games ahead of them which threaten to end Rowett's dazzling start.

They welcome former boss Liam Manning back to the Kassam Stadium as eighth placed Bristol City visit on Saturday (12:30 GMT), before a trip to promotion-contenders Burnley three days later (19:45 GMT).

"When you look at our fixtures - especially at home, where we are playing some of the best teams in the league, and the home games are where we've relied on for our points so far - I definitely accept that it's hard to plot where we are going to pick up these points," Elek said.

"But, we now pick up points on the road.

"I don't want to jinx it but I don't think we are that far away."

Oxford United are currently 16th and welcome Bristol City to the Kassam Stadium on Saturday lunchtime looking to extend their eight-game unbeaten run.

The Robins are eighth and just three points shy of the play-off spots, having lost just one of their past seven games (W4 D2).

• Oxford United have lost just two of their past 15 league games against Bristol City (W6 D7), though those two defeats have come across their past three meetings with the Robins.

• After winning the reverse fixture 2-1 in September, Bristol City are looking to complete a first league double over Oxford United in the EFL.

• Oxford are unbeaten across their past eight league games (W5 D3), their longest run in the second tier since November 1992 (also eight games).

• Since winning on back-to-back trips in the Championship in early November (v Preston North End and Norwich City), Bristol City have gone winless in their past seven league away games (D3 L4).

• Oxford's Ciaron Brown has netted three goals in eight Championship appearances under Gary Rowett, after only netting once in his first 38 games in the competition beforehand.

Image source, PA Media

Bristol City boss Liam Manning says he has "good memories" of his time at Oxford United but is fully focused on "doing everything to win" on his return to the Kassam Stadium on Saturday.

Manning left the U's, who were in League One at the time, in November 2023 after six months in charge in order to become the Robins' head coach.

"Obviously I spent a period of time there and I had some good memories," Manning told BBC Radio Bristol when asked about facing Oxford.

"I'm all-in here and look forward to taking this group of players there to try and win.

"I'll see some familiar faces, some of the people I worked with there and some of the players, but football moves on quite quickly.

"Gary [Rowett] has gone in there and done a really good job and in the eight games he's had, you've only got to look at their form and how they're performing to show they're in a good spot.

"That's a good challenge for us to go there and hit the level we're capable of."

Bristol City are eighth in the Championship and three points off the play-off spots going into the weekend.

But Manning says his side are taking it game by game and "turn up excited" for matches regardless of their league position.

"We get bogged down so much by outcomes and results," he added.

"People forget to live in the moment a little bit, and get so concentrated on too far ahead.

"Enjoy it - that's been my message with the lads. It's all about trying to create special memories, so that's why I live in the present, enjoy the moment and let everybody give their all Saturday."

Image source, Getty Images

Oxford United boss Gary Rowett has said that there is transfer business that his side "may yet do" before Monday's deadline.

The U's have reduced their squad size that was previously over the 25-player limit down to 25.

Oxford may still look to bring in players as well as offload some more in the days remaining of this winter window.

"I think there's probably something else that we may still yet do," Rowett told BBC Radio Oxford

"There might be one or two more players that will attract interest from other teams and we'll make decisions around that.

"We left four or five players at the training ground last time that weren't in the squad so numbers certainly are not our issue, it's just to see if we can strengthen in different ways."

So far this window, Oxford have signed four players including striker Tom Bradshaw from Millwall, Ole Romeny from Eredivisie side FC Utrecht, defender Michal Helik from Huddersfield and Chelsea U20's player Alex Matos.

Rowett's side are next in Championship action on Saturday in the lunchtime kick-off when they host Bristol City at the Kassam Stadium.

Oxford United won't cash in on 21-year-old Tyler Goodrham during the transfer window despite interest from the likes of Leeds and Sunderland. (Oxford Mail, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column.

Stoke City welcome a buoyant Oxford United as they look to move away from the Championship relegation battle on Saturday (12:30 GMT).

The Potters have not won a league game under new boss Mark Robins since his appointment at the start of the year (D2 L1).

While the U's are unbeaten in the Championship under boss Gary Rowett (W5 D2), lifting them nine points above the bottom three.

• Stoke have won one of their past seven league games against Oxford (W1 D3 L3), a 4-0 home win in September 2000 in the third tier.

• After winning the reverse fixture 1-0 in September, Oxford will be looking to produce a first league double over Stoke since the 1989-90 season.

• Stoke have lost two of their past 11 home league games (W3 D6 L2) and will be looking to keep three clean sheets in successive outings at the Bet365 Stadium in the same season for the first time since February 2023.

• Oxford have won one of their 13 away league games this season (W1 D4 L8), with only Plymouth (0) winning fewer on the road in the Championship this term.

• Ruben Rodrigues has scored four of Oxford's last seven away goals in the Championship. His four goals on the road are twice as many as any other Oxford player.

Image source, Rex Features

Ruben Rodrigues was left out of the Oxford starting line-up for their 3-2 win over Luton because of an injury doubt, says boss Gary Rowett.

The forward, 28, has featured in all 28 of the U's Championship games this season, starting 22 of them, but came on as a second-half substitute on Tuesday night.

"Ruben has had a tight hamstring around 60 minutes in the last two games and I certainly didn't want to lose him," Rowett told BBC Radio Oxford.

Matt Phillips started the game in place of Rodrigues before being replaced by Alex Matos on 65 minutes.

"Matty has trained really well and when he's come into the team in different positions he's an intelligent footballer.

"Each game will be a different challenge and we will have to change things from the bench to get the relevant result."

Oxford will be looking to make it eight league games unbeaten since Rowett was appointed when they visit Stoke City on Saturday (12:30 GMT).

Chelsea academy graduate Harvey Vale has attracted the eye of Sunderland, Queens Park Rangers, West Bromwich Albion and Oxford United as well as overseas interest. (Sky Sports, external)

Wrexham have beaten Oxford for Hull City winger Ryan Longman with a bid worth £500,000. (Telegraph Sport, external)

Want more transfer news from the EFL? Take a look at Wednesday's gossip here.

Image source, Getty Images

Oxford United boss Gary Rowett spoke to BBC Radio Oxford after their 3-2 win over Luton stretched his unbeaten start in charge to seven league games.

"I felt this would be our toughest test in some ways. I hadn't watched them play," he said.

"They're a little bit different in terms of what they do. They're very direct and they play off second balls.

"It stretches the game, it opens the game and it means that if you turn the ball over, you end up running back 30 or 40 yards and having to defend.

"A little bit too much space for my liking, we didn't use the pockets as well as we have done in the first few games but I think that was partly down to Luton blocking them and creating those limited opportunities for us to get there."