Baggies return to action with a visit to Oxford

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·18 October 2024

Baggies return to action with a visit to Oxford

Oxford United v West Bromwich Albion; Kassam Stadium, Saturday 19th October 2024, 12.30pm

Carlos Corberán and his team return to action after the second international break of the campaign with a first competitive visit to the Kassam Stadium. This is the first season this century that Oxford United have shared a division with the Baggies, and they last hosted Albion in a league match at the Manor Ground in September 1998.

Despite finishing fifth in League One last season, the U’s won through the play-offs beating Bolton Wanderers in the final and have started their first second tier season of this millennium better than most would have expected. They won their first four home games of the season, three of which were in the Championship, and are still to lose on their own patch having earned a 0-0 draw with Burnley at the end of last month. Conversely, they are yet to win on the road but earned draws at Luton and Portsmouth in their last two away games.

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Manager, Des Buckingham, only took over at the Kassam Stadium in November last year after Liam Manning left to take over Bristol City. Having never played senior football, he started his coaching career with the Oxford United youth teams at the age of 18 and was part of Chris Wilder’s first team coaching setup at the Kassam a decade later. He then moved to New Zealand and became the youngest A-League coach in history when he took over Wellington Phoenix at the age of 31. He had a spell as first team coach with Stoke City in the Premier League in 2017/18 before returning to New Zealand to work with the U20 and U23 teams. He also spent two years in India as head coach of Mumbai City before returning to Oxford.

Buckingham had a busy summer bringing in 16 players, three of which are on loan from Premier League clubs, while only three have left permanently and three have gone out on loan. One name moving to the Kassam that will be familiar to Baggies’ fans is Matt Phillips – released by Albion in the summer, he signed for United and has made four appearances so far, scoring in their EFL Cup win over Peterborough United. He is unlikely to feature this weekend, however, having picked up a muscle injury that has seen him out of the squad since the end of August. Another ex-Baggie is Kyle Edwards who moved to the U’s from Ipswich on a free transfer in January after a successful loan spell. He made his first start of the season at Portsmouth last time out.

United’s stand out player of the season has been Northern Irish international defender, Ciaron Brown – normally a centre-back, he has switched to left back in the last three games and is one of four players to have started every league game for Buckingham’s team. Another is centre forward and top scorer, Mark Harris, who has continued his good scoring form from last season – he has four goals this term having scored nineteen in all competitions in the last campaign. Another ever-present is winger Tyler Goodrham who has three goals this season having scored ten in their promotion campaign.

Albion will be looking to get their own promotion campaign back on track having failed to win any of their last three games following a blistering start to the campaign. The last two games, both at the Hawthorns, produced no goals and just one point and it may be something of a relief to get back on the road. Corberán’s team have found scoring somewhat easier away from home with ten of their twelve Championship goals this season coming on their travels. No Championship team has won more points on the road than the nine that the Baggies have earned this season and the next best away goalscorers are Sunderland with eight – that is despite the fact that half of the division has played a game more on the road than Albion.

That teams tend to set up to contain at the Hawthorns is an obvious factor in those stats, but whether Oxford will be prepared to play to win the game on Saturday remains to be seen. That their last home game was a 0-0 draw with another promotion contender, Burnley, may suggest that they will be happy to play for a point. Either way, Corberán and his coaching team need to find a way to break through a low block – they failed to find a way past Millwall last time out, and the 1-0 wins over Swansea and Plymouth were not as convincing as Albion’s dominance of the ball would suggest.

The Spaniard should have a near full squad to pick from with Daryl Dike the only known absentee barring any late issues. Dike himself could well be back in action soon, potentially after the next international break should his recovery continue as scheduled. Mikey Johnston was given his first start of the season against Millwall but failed to really sparkle, while Diangana was employed in the number ten role in place of John Swift and, again, didn’t really offer enough. However, it’s unfair to pick on those individuals as it was an all round below par display against a very dogged Millwall defence. Had Maja taken the very presentable chance after 15 minutes, it could have been a very different game.

And on such moments, games can turn. When it was missed, there was frustration but an expectation that further chances would come – after all, in the two previous victories at the Hawthorns, Albion had created plenty of opportunities but only managed to convert one in each game. Against the Lions, however, there wasn’t anything that could have been described as a “good chance” in the remainder of the game.

Hopefully, the international break came at a good time and has provided an opportunity to both refresh the legs and also work further on the training ground. The quick sharp passing we saw in the early games this season seems to have disappeared, whether because opposition coaches have worked out how to block the lines through the middle of the pitch, or the players are not making the same types of moves – it’s probably a combination of the two. That is for Corberán and his coaching team to work out, and then find a solution. I have faith in them to do just that – there have been similar periods in the Spaniard’s two year tenure that he has navigated through and, this season, the general feeling is that the squad is as strong as it has been, or at least it will be when Dike is fit.

Saturday’s match at Oxford will be a good indicator as to whether they are close to finding a solution. The team selection will be interesting. I don’t expect the back four to change – Semi Ajayi was delayed in Africa on international duty but was due to return on Thursday and should be available for selection, whereas Darnell Furlong has this week signed a contract extension that could keep him at the Hawthorns for another three and a half years. The right back has played a part in every one of Albion’s Championship games since Corberán came to the club, starting all but three of them.

I would also expect Mowatt and Molumby to occupy the midfield as the most consistent and complementary pairing so far this season. Maja and Fellows should also start leaving the number ten and left wing spots up for grabs. Diangana could occupy either role, as could Lewis Dobbin – he has been used both as a second striker and a winger by both Everton and on his loan spell at Derby County. We all know what Mikey Johnston can do, and he would be a shoe-in on the left if he was at his best, and then we have Karlan Grant who started this season extremely well. Johnston has been away with Ireland, playing just 17 minutes off the bench in their 2-0 defeat in Greece, so will have had less opportunity to stake his claim in training.

It’s another three game week with a visit to Blackburn on Wednesday before Cardiff City come to the Hawthorns next Saturday, so Corberán might choose to mix things up to protect his squad, but if they can get back to winning ways at Oxford, thereby inflicting their first home defeat of the season, it would be a massive boost ahead of a tricky trip to Ewood Park.

It is another sold out following at the Kassam, although with an allocation of just 1,400 it is no surprise, and I’m sure the noise from the Baggies faithful will make up for the missing stand behind one goal! Let’s hope their devotion is rewarded with another away win!

History

Saturday’s game will be Albion’s first competitive fixture in Oxford this century having last visited the U’s in September 1998 when they fell to a 3-0 defeat thanks to goals from Joey Beauchamp, Paul Powell and Simon Marsh. That match was at the Manor Ground that Oxford left in 2001 to move to the Kassam Stadium – Albion’s only visit to their new home was for a friendly fixture in the summer of 2022, a game that the Baggies won 3-0.

The most recent meeting between the teams came at the Hawthorns in a League Cup tie in August 2014 – the game finished 1-1 after Danny Hylton scored a late equaliser for the visitors but Albion went through after winning 7-6 in a penalty shoot out.

That was just the 23rd competitive meeting between the sides with the first coming at the Hawthorns in a Division Two fixture in December 1973 – David Shaw scored the only goal of the game to earn the Baggies a 1-0 victory. The first game at the Manor Ground in April 1974 also finished in a 1-0 home win, Steve Aylott scoring the goal for the U’s.

The Baggies have won three of their eleven games in Oxford. Joe Mayo grabbed the winner in a 1-0 win in November 1975 while the other two victories both came in 1990. Craig Shakespeare bagged the only goal of the game in February while in September, Gary Bannister’s opening goal was followed up by a brace from Colin West to earn the Baggies a 3-1 win despite having Graham Harbey dismissed in the 24th minute.

The clubs have only ever been in the top flight together for one season, 1985/86, when both matches ended in draws. Oxford only spent three seasons at the top level and were relegated in 1988, but not before they won the only major trophy in their history lifting the League Cup in 1986 with a 3-0 win over QPR in the final.