Match Day Thread Oxford United v Sunderland - Tuesday 29th October - KO 19:45

Oxford United v Sunderland – Carabao Cup

Last time out Sunderland lost at Shrewsbury and Oxford beat Rochdale.
Sunderland travel to the Kassam Stadium to face Oxford United in the 4th round of the League Cup. The Black Cats have beaten two Premier League teams in this competition, but they will face a tough challenge against an in-form Oxford side.
Oxford beat West Ham 4-0 to reach this stage and will be in confident mood after winning 3-0 on Saturday. The U's have collected 20 points from their last 8 games, scoring 22 goals in the process.

Phil Parkinson:
“It is concerning, but the way that we played on Saturday was good. It wasn’t a performance where you'd say we were second best or we weren’t right up for the game or didn’t implement a plan - we did all of those things but we just couldn’t score.”
“Without doubt, if we keep playing like that we will win a lot of games at this level.
“The last two games we have created chances and we have looked threatening - keep playing like that and we will win a lot of games, I’m sure.”
“Some days it just does not go for you. Anybody here at the game would say we looked a good side, but in that six-yard box we needed someone to stick one in.”
“It’s just a slight thigh strain (Burge), but we weren’t going to take a risk when we’ve got a goalkeeper of Jon’s quality on the bench.”
“It’s not a serious injury (Gooch), but you are looking at a couple of weeks. He won’t make Tuesday”
“There are some tired legs after that game, as you’d imagine, but we will have a good chat on the coach on the way back and make the decisions for Tuesday.”

Match Appointments:
Referee: JEREMY SIMPSON
Assistants: Graham Kane and Nigel Lugg
Fourth Official: Darren Drysdale

Team Line ups
Sunderland: J.McLaughlin, C.McLaughlin, Flanagan, Ozturk, De Bock, McGeouch, Leadbitter, Dobson, O’Nien, Kimpioka McNulty.
Subs:Patterson, Bainbridge, Mumba,
Injured: Embleton, Wyke, Gooch, Burge

Oxford United: Eastwood, Cadden, Dickie, Mousinho, Ruffels, Gorrin, Henry, Brannagan, Sykes, Mackie, Fosu
Subs: Stevens, Moore, Hall, Long, Forde, Baptiste, Agyei
Injured: tbc

Betting Odds:
Home 6/4 Away 17/10 Draw 5/2

My two pence:
After a poor result at the weekend it’s difficult to guess what Phil Parkinson will do. Does he keep the defensive partnerships together or does he make wholesale changes and look at the fringe players in the squad. From his post match comments it’s likely to be the latter. Free scoring Oxford have won 6 of their last 8 games and will provide a tough test to progress to the next round.

My guess is a 2-2 draw and we win 5-4 on penalties

Ha’way the Lads

 

I have a ticket for this and should make it.

I think there'll be lots of goals so I'll go 4-3 Sunderland.

Haway the Lads!

 

Whilst I want a good performance.. I will not shed any tears if we are knocked out...promotion is my only aim this year@

 

One win away from the quarter finals with a winnable game. We have to go for it now.

 

True to be honest with you,just hope that we have a few new face's lined up for january to get promotion and get out of this league.f.t.m. & k.t.f.

 

0-3 Kimpi hat-trick!!

Bart

 

Already looking quite debatable on us going up this year. May as well have a cup run!

 

Good post but you've got the odds the wrong way round. We are 17/10 they are 6/4.

 

2nd half of the season we will storm it (fingers crossed)

 

Oxford are flying and how i do not know, we will get hammered tomorrow, but on to Saturday and another big win i should think. We are never going to win the league cup and as Liverpool get off with that fine(other teams get kicked out) and while Man c are still in it we cannot have an interest, but phil can start Kimp and Mumba finally i hope i want to see them play for 90 mins, and next month that leasing .com trophy adds more fixture pile ups.

 

DENIS SMITH: Former boss previews Oxford clash
https://www.not606.com/threads/oxfo...y-29th-october-ko-15-00.378604/#post-13278977
Back in the summer of 1987, Sunderland hired Denis Smith from York City and began a meteoric rise back to the top flight.
Promotion from the third tier came in his first season, and top division football arrived two years later.
The Smith era was a treasured time for supporters, as he set the foundations for building the Stadium of Light and the infrastructure that still exists at the club.
We caught up with him to talk about his time at Sunderland and Oxford, as well as preview our game in the Carabao Cup at the Kassam Stadium.
“It is difficult for a club like Sunderland in League One. Everything about the club is Premier League, it is a massive footballing institution,” he said.
“They have now gone with Parkinson, who is a safe bet as he knows exactly what he is doing, and he knows all about that league, he has gone in and you can tell straight away that he is making a difference.”
He continued: “At this level, he is the perfect candidate because he can squeeze everything out of the players.
“I am delighted for Phil as he is a good honest pro and he deserves the chance at a big job like Sunderland.”
The pressure for a Sunderland boss has always been huge, and Smith knows from his own experiences what Parkinson can expect.
“I had two press conferences a day when I was at the club - 9am and 1pm every day - and that was the case whether we were playing one or two games in a week,” he said.
“I tried to work with the media, and they gave me a chance because I was so good with them. I used to let them travel on the coach with us, but that meant that they would think twice about criticising the players because they were sat with them and knew them.”
While it was often plain sailing for Smith at Sunderland in the third tier, there were periods where positive results were hard to come by.
But Smith dealt with the pressure and never panicked.
“You look at performances, you look at why you aren’t winning. You aren’t always going to win even if you play well,” said Smith.
“But as a manager, you have to understand where you are. You know what players you have, and I knew what we were capable of.
He continued: “You need luck, there isn’t a manager in the world who doesn’t rely on luck. If you get it right and luck is with you, you know that you will be a success.
“Sunderland shouldn’t be in that league, but they are, and they need to deal with that, and Parkinson looks like a great fit.”
One of the best decisions Smith made at Sunderland was the signing of Marco Gabbiadini, but he was just one of the key components of his promotion-winning side.
“You need goalscorers,” he explained. “I had Marco Gabbiadini and Eric Gates and they were brilliant together. You need a good defence, John MacPhail scored 17 goals for me from defence!”
“We committed people, it was a way of playing and it suited the area and fans. We had players prepared to graft for 90 minutes.”
After leaving Sunderland, Smith eventually found himself at Oxford United in 1993 and he helped guide them out of the third division and had them battling to get out the second tier.
“I got a promotion at Oxford. With Sunderland I took them up as we were trying to build the Stadium of Light, so we didn’t have much to spend. We had the same problem at Oxford as the owner was trying to build a new stadium as well,” he said.
“So, I had to get rid of big players like Matt Elliot. We were fifth in the Championship when we had to sell players and I even ended up selling myself to West Brom.”
He continued: “You can’t compare the two clubs – Sunderland is a massive club. Oxford is known for different reasons like the university, so the club isn’t the identity of the city like it is for the north-east clubs.
“Of course, they have passionate fans like any club, but the microscope isn’t quite as intense as it is in Sunderland.”
Ahead of the game on Tuesday night, Smith is looking forward to the game but wants both sides to stay focused on their league campaigns.
“I think first and foremost, both clubs want to get out this league.”
“The cup is not as important as the league, but it can be used positively. It is great for building momentum and both teams will be desperate to win because there is a chance of going far in the competition,” said Smith.
“For Oxford, well they will be excited about the game. Sunderland will have a huge following and the atmosphere will be good because the home fans will come out in big numbers.
He continued: “You look at what Oxford did to West Ham, and you think wow, that was impressive.
“I think Premier League teams often underestimate teams at this level. Just look at the results that both Sunderland and Oxford have had against top clubs in this competition.”

 

First class again RTB...as usual...

That team look half decent, I would maybe rest 09, give maybe Jack Diamond a game...

09 could probably need a break, he's more valuable to us in the league.

 

Carl Robinson is working wonders with a small budget, he could have done a decent job for us. I'm warming to Parkinson, I think we'll be ok with him .

 

This bloke has far too much time on his hands...

 

1-0 home win is the new 1-1

 

KO 1500 ???

 

Just can’t see an away win unfortunately. Current form especially oxfords home record. Happy to be proved wrong though. Haway the lads.

 

Had a chortle reading through parkins press transcript.
Burgey ( gk )
Brandi ( physio )
Goochy ..
Good lads, great lads, tired lads
The swine missed out on jumpers for goalposts.

 

https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/2019/october/press-conference-v-oxford-united