Capaldi admits Oxford United are at a real low

9:40am Monday 24th September 2012 in Sport Photograph of the Author By Mark Edwards, Sports Editor. Call me on 01865 425451

Tony Capaldi sums up the feeling around the Kassam Stadium on Saturday Tony Capaldi sums up the feeling around the Kassam Stadium on Saturday

TONY Capaldi admits confidence in the Oxford United camp is now at rock bottom.

The U’s slumped to a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Bradford City on Saturday – their fifth straight loss.

But it was the manner of the performance that was the most alarming, United’s dismal display seeing them manage just one shot on target in the 90 minutes.

Capaldi, who was forced to play in an unfamiliar left-sided midfield role with the club’s horrific injury list, knows the performance was not acceptable.

And he says that it is up to the players to turn things around – and quickly.

“It’s now five defeats on the bounce and confidence is as low as you can get,” he said.

“We’ve got to stick together more than ever and try and work our way through it.

“At the moment it’s nowhere near good enough and we need to each look at ourselves in the mirror and do better.

“It will turn and we will start winning again, but it’s a really difficult time at the moment.

“I’m sure it’s difficult for the fans as well because confidence is so fragile and when you concede a goal, energy just drains out of you – and I think you saw that today.

“We need to work hard and do a lot better.”

The two goals United conceded were extremely poor ones, both coming from corners.

Capaldi says that while the U’s have been the victim of stunning strikes of late, there are no excuses for Saturday’s efforts.

“The goals were shocking,” he said. “There is no other word to describe conceding goals from set-pieces.

“We can’t have any complaints there whatsoever.”

Boss Chris Wilder added: “We gave ourselves a platform by getting to half-time at 0-0, but then conceding two goals from set-pieces, that was really poor.

“As soon as the second goal went in there was just a flatness about us.”

Comments (12)

9:53am Mon 24 Sep 12

BigOx22 says...

Well sort it out then CW. Don't just say there was a flatness about us. Motivate the team or leave. Simple you need to win 5 on the trot to have any hope of staying and I can't see if coming in the next 5 games. So good bye CW!
Well sort it out then CW. Don't just say there was a flatness about us. Motivate the team or leave. Simple you need to win 5 on the trot to have any hope of staying and I can't see if coming in the next 5 games. So good bye CW! BigOx22

10:41am Mon 24 Sep 12

Oxfordfan-52 says...

Getting bored with the same excuses, whilst having a big injury list is valid excuse why is it that we have had that excuse every season for the past four years. That is simply not good enough, if we want to compete at the top we need a top squad, and I'm sorry to say we don't , same failings year after year. We have not had a target man up front for years, Smally and Constable are both good players but they feed off target men. No experience in midfield, average age is 20? And no captain you gets a grip on the team, Wright is a good defender but not a captain, and Wilder? A good manager but maybe not good enough to take us further?
Getting bored with the same excuses, whilst having a big injury list is valid excuse why is it that we have had that excuse every season for the past four years. That is simply not good enough, if we want to compete at the top we need a top squad, and I'm sorry to say we don't , same failings year after year. We have not had a target man up front for years, Smally and Constable are both good players but they feed off target men. No experience in midfield, average age is 20? And no captain you gets a grip on the team, Wright is a good defender but not a captain, and Wilder? A good manager but maybe not good enough to take us further? Oxfordfan-52

10:43am Mon 24 Sep 12

Joe1 says...

It all seems rather strange. There must be something going on behind the scenes. All clubs have injuries not just ours. Our squad must be too small innearly all positions. We just can't score & the defence is playing really poorly.The confidence will get even lower as we keep loosing games. It will not be long before we are in the religation area. CW seems incapable in using the players he ahs got to the best advantage of the team. He seems to lack any idea how to motivate the etam or plan any good stratgies prior to the game. We are fighting on the pitch, not condusive to success. I saw our Chairman on the box last Eve re igan Rugby. That seems to be his point of interest @ the moment. Something needs doing on an urgent basis.Biring in some new decent players & possibly a GOOD Manager. CW's comments re injuries does excuse how the team is playing. It is so typical of CW to using these poor reasons after 5 poor games.CW get real & smell the coffee..Our gates will start to reduce as the fans drift away, they will NOT pay to see this rubbish. Why o why did they not sell Constable when they ahad the cahnce & then use the cash to bring in a useful striker?
"COME ON YOU YELLOWS"
It all seems rather strange. There must be something going on behind the scenes. All clubs have injuries not just ours. Our squad must be too small innearly all positions. We just can't score & the defence is playing really poorly.The confidence will get even lower as we keep loosing games. It will not be long before we are in the religation area. CW seems incapable in using the players he ahs got to the best advantage of the team. He seems to lack any idea how to motivate the etam or plan any good stratgies prior to the game. We are fighting on the pitch, not condusive to success. I saw our Chairman on the box last Eve re igan Rugby. That seems to be his point of interest @ the moment. Something needs doing on an urgent basis.Biring in some new decent players & possibly a GOOD Manager. CW's comments re injuries does excuse how the team is playing. It is so typical of CW to using these poor reasons after 5 poor games.CW get real & smell the coffee..Our gates will start to reduce as the fans drift away, they will NOT pay to see this rubbish. Why o why did they not sell Constable when they ahad the cahnce & then use the cash to bring in a useful striker? "COME ON YOU YELLOWS" Joe1

1:17pm Mon 24 Sep 12

ox85 says...

Beano didn't want to go, so you can't sell a play who is in contract if he doesn't want to leave. There are many things wrong with the team. Some of them are enhanced by our injury situation so I do have some sympathy there, but even with those injured players available I don't see it hugely impacting on performances. There are deeper problems in the team and the way we play. We are so one - paced it is unbelievable, our build up play is so slow the opposition just regroup. We have nobody who can stretch the game with out and out pace. We are too narrow when we attack, and we seem to insist on playing 4-3-3 even though we have a crisis in central midfield. The last few games have been screaming out for a change to 4-4-2, if only to counter the number of missing players. We are not good enough to carve teams open like Barcelona. Get the ball down, get the ball wide into space, play the simple game! It isn't rocket science but Wilder seems to insist on playing the same every week. I believe it was Albert Einstein who said that the definition of insanity was 'doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results'. About time you showed us you haven't lost your marbles Wilder. I would always prefer stability over chopping and changing managers, but if Wilder doesn't do something different he is going to end up leaving on a very sour note, which would be a great shame considering his overall impact at the club.
Beano didn't want to go, so you can't sell a play who is in contract if he doesn't want to leave. There are many things wrong with the team. Some of them are enhanced by our injury situation so I do have some sympathy there, but even with those injured players available I don't see it hugely impacting on performances. There are deeper problems in the team and the way we play. We are so one - paced it is unbelievable, our build up play is so slow the opposition just regroup. We have nobody who can stretch the game with out and out pace. We are too narrow when we attack, and we seem to insist on playing 4-3-3 even though we have a crisis in central midfield. The last few games have been screaming out for a change to 4-4-2, if only to counter the number of missing players. We are not good enough to carve teams open like Barcelona. Get the ball down, get the ball wide into space, play the simple game! It isn't rocket science but Wilder seems to insist on playing the same every week. I believe it was Albert Einstein who said that the definition of insanity was 'doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results'. About time you showed us you haven't lost your marbles Wilder. I would always prefer stability over chopping and changing managers, but if Wilder doesn't do something different he is going to end up leaving on a very sour note, which would be a great shame considering his overall impact at the club. ox85

2:22pm Mon 24 Sep 12

BigOx22 says...

ox85 I agree with your post but getting the ball wide doesn't work for us. Against Exeter we have 18 crosses in the first half and managed to get 2 headers out of it. We don't have anyone to header the ball and haven't done for a few years. Ian Atkins said when asked 'why do you play 5 at the back?' 'We simply aren't good enough' We were top of the league at that point. I know with a different set of players but CW needs to be honest with the players and tell sort out a formation that they can play.
ox85 I agree with your post but getting the ball wide doesn't work for us. Against Exeter we have 18 crosses in the first half and managed to get 2 headers out of it. We don't have anyone to header the ball and haven't done for a few years. Ian Atkins said when asked 'why do you play 5 at the back?' 'We simply aren't good enough' We were top of the league at that point. I know with a different set of players but CW needs to be honest with the players and tell sort out a formation that they can play. BigOx22

4:59pm Mon 24 Sep 12

mandate says...

At Rotherham the best we can hope for is a draw. The only way to do this would be to play 5-3-2. I'd rather be boring Oxford at the moment, as opposed to losing every game. Sort it CW, because the fans can't take much more of this.
At Rotherham the best we can hope for is a draw. The only way to do this would be to play 5-3-2. I'd rather be boring Oxford at the moment, as opposed to losing every game. Sort it CW, because the fans can't take much more of this. mandate

5:07pm Mon 24 Sep 12

ox85 says...

You are right BigOx that against Exeter we crossed the ball an incredible amount of times, but how many of those were crosses where we broke at speed, the winger beat a man and put a ball into the box? The majority of those balls in came from a layoff to Capaldi and Batt who then put a floated ball into the box. You could do that 100 times a game and you're not going to score many goals unless you have someone with real aerial presence (which we clearly don't). What I would like to see is us attacking at speed out wide and putting the ball in the box. It doesn't have to be at 'headable' height, just a ball that gets in between the defence and goalkeeper that allows someone to attack it. By time we put a ball into the box the opposition have their entire defence and midfield in there. If it was me, and I don't claim to know all the answers to our problems, I would tell Potter and Rigg to hog either touchline and tell them to be positive when they get the ball and run at the full back. The amount of space that will be opened up in the middle for our front two will be much increased when centre backs are having to come wide to cover the full backs. The whole mentality of the team is wrong at the moment. Too much slow passing trying to carve teams open and not enough positive forward thinking football. What do I know anyway! :-)
You are right BigOx that against Exeter we crossed the ball an incredible amount of times, but how many of those were crosses where we broke at speed, the winger beat a man and put a ball into the box? The majority of those balls in came from a layoff to Capaldi and Batt who then put a floated ball into the box. You could do that 100 times a game and you're not going to score many goals unless you have someone with real aerial presence (which we clearly don't). What I would like to see is us attacking at speed out wide and putting the ball in the box. It doesn't have to be at 'headable' height, just a ball that gets in between the defence and goalkeeper that allows someone to attack it. By time we put a ball into the box the opposition have their entire defence and midfield in there. If it was me, and I don't claim to know all the answers to our problems, I would tell Potter and Rigg to hog either touchline and tell them to be positive when they get the ball and run at the full back. The amount of space that will be opened up in the middle for our front two will be much increased when centre backs are having to come wide to cover the full backs. The whole mentality of the team is wrong at the moment. Too much slow passing trying to carve teams open and not enough positive forward thinking football. What do I know anyway! :-) ox85

5:36pm Mon 24 Sep 12

hokuspokus says...

Agree wholeheartedly with the above.
5-3-2.
Solid at the back.
Two out wide.
Two strikers.
At least it has a chance of working with our players and budget.
As has already been said, we were boring under Ian Atkins but we were also firmly on our way up and out of this division until Kassam spat his dummy and sacked him.
Agree wholeheartedly with the above. 5-3-2. Solid at the back. Two out wide. Two strikers. At least it has a chance of working with our players and budget. As has already been said, we were boring under Ian Atkins but we were also firmly on our way up and out of this division until Kassam spat his dummy and sacked him. hokuspokus

6:33pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Beau champ mummy says...

Calpadi u r one of the worst players we have signed in years plz give this bloke his p45 lenagan
Calpadi u r one of the worst players we have signed in years plz give this bloke his p45 lenagan Beau champ mummy

6:33pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Beau champ mummy says...

Calpadi u r one of the worst players we have signed in years plz give this bloke his p45 lenagan
Calpadi u r one of the worst players we have signed in years plz give this bloke his p45 lenagan Beau champ mummy

6:33pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Beau champ mummy says...

Calpadi u r one of the worst players we have signed in years plz give this bloke his p45 lenagan
Calpadi u r one of the worst players we have signed in years plz give this bloke his p45 lenagan Beau champ mummy

1:33pm Tue 25 Sep 12

martico1 says...

Good stuff ox85 - some real logic in place of the anti-CW rants and Joey.s mother's straight - and unnecessary - abuse..... I agreed with CW that there were encouraging signs at Cheltenham - but Saturday was just dire, devoid of all skill and any sense of motivation. CW has been the best we have had for YEARS and from where I sit in SS Lower there are very few keen to see him out and gone. He was a bold and sensible appointment by St Kelvin, and stands as good a chance as any likely replacement of solving the current problems. But long ball??!! We see too much of that already, and we have no-one looking like they are itching to score ten goals with headers.... And what has happened to the defence - from rock-solid to dire in one game??! Do we have the coaching nous to sort it all out? And Ian L, after your brilliant pre-season note to supporters - let's hear from YOU now all the chips are down: not least on where all this fitness investment has got us?!
Good stuff ox85 - some real logic in place of the anti-CW rants and Joey.s mother's straight - and unnecessary - abuse..... I agreed with CW that there were encouraging signs at Cheltenham - but Saturday was just dire, devoid of all skill and any sense of motivation. CW has been the best we have had for YEARS and from where I sit in SS Lower there are very few keen to see him out and gone. He was a bold and sensible appointment by St Kelvin, and stands as good a chance as any likely replacement of solving the current problems. But long ball??!! We see too much of that already, and we have no-one looking like they are itching to score ten goals with headers.... And what has happened to the defence - from rock-solid to dire in one game??! Do we have the coaching nous to sort it all out? And Ian L, after your brilliant pre-season note to supporters - let's hear from YOU now all the chips are down: not least on where all this fitness investment has got us?! martico1

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