Oxford United saw their chances of Championship survival suffer a significant blow with a heavy home defeat against Norwich.
The U’s conceded three sloppy goals and failed to test the debutant Canaries goalkeeper at the other end.
Here are three talking points from the game.
Read More: Team News, Form and Predicted Line-Up as Oxford United Welcome Norwich
Oxford United Lose Against Norwich
Awful Defending
Switching from a back five to a back four, particularly at home, made sense but with just one of those players sitting in their natural position, the lack of organisation was clearly evident. Christ Makosso, a centre-back, played at right-back. Sam Long, a right-back, played centre-back and Ciaron Brown, a centre-back, played left-back.
It took fans by surprise when the players came out and Long was beaten by a long ball from the debutant goalkeeper just 53 seconds into the game, with Jamie Cumming also completely missing the ball to allow Norwich an early goal.
And it looked as though Long was asked to step into midfield with Makosso and Brown coming into a three but this also contributed to the Canaries’ opening goal.
Throughout the first half, the back four looked depleted of confidence and were all over the place when the visitors worked the ball into the box for their second.
At the break, Ruben Roosken replaced Long and Brown moved into the middle and, for the most part, looked more solid as a unit but once again, shot themselves in the foot by conceding within the opening 60 seconds of the restart, and that killed the game.
Awful Attacking
At the other end, Oxford didn’t have a shot on target until the 66th minute when Stan Mills saw a tame effort easily stopped by the debutant Norwich goalkeeper.
Myles Peart-Harris saw an early second-half effort sail just over the bar but besides that, the U’s offered very little in the final third.
And this has been a problem for weeks now with this squad now producing an unwanted club record of five home league games without scoring a goal.
Worst Performance of the Season
It was undoubtedly the worst Oxford performance of the season, and that includes the 3-0 loss against Stoke and the 6-0 battering against Brighton.
There was no cohesion or organisation amongst the defenders, while the press from the attack was non-existent and slow.
Admittedly, the substitutes did make an impact after the break but another mistake gifted the Canaries a third just one minute into the second half.
Stan Mills and Ruben Roosken brought width and pace, while Jeon Jin-woo, who was making his debut, certainly looked lively.
Featured image courtesy of IMAGO / Focus Images
