Oxford Win the Treble

In claiming the Europa League Cup, FA Cup, and League Cup also; I’ve proudly claimed the treble with Oxford United, managing to achieve what I’ll probably never be able to again. Playing Blackburn of the Championship in the FA Cup Final was a bit of a gimme, and beating Chelsea in the Europa League final should have been harder than it was, but although my players didn’t really do a lot in the game; we did manage to score a goal, and that was more than Chelsea ever looked like doing. Winning the League Cup was probably actually the hardest of the three, and that took a tense penalty shoot-out to achieve.

I’m pleased that we won the treble, but I do feel that we did so at the expense of a place in the Champions League next season. 5th place we finished, 3 points behind Tottenham, and 2 ahead of both Stoke and Portsmouth. Portsmouth thumped us 4-2 towards the end of the campaign, and I can’t help but think that if we hadn’t played so many cup games towards the end of the season then maybe we would have won more than 2 of our last 10 league games. Key players had to be rested for league games to be available for cup games, and if we hadn’t done so well in all of the cups then we’d have had more of a team to choose from.

My Oxford team has lacked strength in depth ever since arriving in the Premier League, and although we can beat most teams when all players are available; when important players are missing we tend to falter, and our cover is in most cases inadequate. We need a few more quality players in the squad to increase our options I feel, and in the transfer window I’ll be looking to bring a few new Premier League faces to the squad with the view to finish in the top four next season, hopefully combined with a quality cup run also.

Oxford Win the League Cup Again

For the second season running I’ve been able to win the League Cup, and I’ve once again done so in defeating Manchester City on penalties. Last season we were able to win the cup in seven penalties, this season it went to nine though, and ultimately we won it 8-7.

It’s quite a strange coincidence that we should two times running meet Manchester City at Wembley, what’s even weirder is defeating them both times in a shoot-out though, and I’m pleased that we’ve once again managed to defeat a side that is, in all honesty, a better team than us.

Star player Shaun Goddard was sadly injured in the match, and so too were Adam Kay and Jamie White. None of the injuries look too serious though, and we should have all three players back in the squad within the month.

We’re still in the FA Cup and European Super League also, so perhaps we’ll be able to win the treble this season? We did the double last year, so anything it seems is always possible.

Oxford Win the League Cup

In a tight game at Wembley, we were able to defeat Man City on penalties after a 1-1 draw over the course of 120 minutes. City’s star player was injured in the match, and two of our best performers were injured also; when it came down to it we were able to win the game on penalties though, and therefore guaranteed our place in Europe next season.

7-6 we won it, once more showing our penalty prowess in scoring all seven of our penalties. We’ve won quite a few shoot-outs now, and never in a shoot-out do we ever seem to miss anymore. We’ll miss the occasional penalty within a match, the players seem to thrive under pressure though, and I’m now always very confident when heading into a penalty shoot-out situation. It’s our best chance of beating better opposition, and once again we did so in overcoming impressive league leaders Manchester City.

The FA Cup last season and the League Cup this one; all I’d really like to win now is the Premier League, and then my domestic glory will be complete. I doubt I’ll be able to win the Premier League for some time yet (not unless I quit Oxford to manage a better club), but hopefully someday the Premier League trophy will be lifted by my Oxford United team, and we’ll officially be the best club in England.

League Cup Final for Oxford

We’re not doing very well in the league right now, but we are achieving fantastic success in cup competitions, so at least that’s certainly one thing.

Having defeated QPR in the League Cup Semi-Final, we’ve now got Manchester City to look forward to at Wembley. It wasn’t easy beating QPR, and it took a penalty shoot-out for us to progress after being reduced to ten men, but we’ve done it, and we now have another chance to win at Wembley.

Manchester City is top of the Premier League right now and there’s therefore a good chance that we’ll lose the game, we’ve done well to reach the final though, and I’m just pleased that we’ve been able to get so far.

I can only hope that we start beating teams in the Premier League soon, but right now that just doesn’t seem to be our forte. We’ve been picking up quite a few injuries recently as well and the squad is now looking seriously flimsy; I can see us falling into the bottom three before long, but hopefully our position will be a little more impressive come the end of the season.

I think cup success this season has ultimately been our downfall as we’ve just been playing too many games to handle. We’re now suffering as a result of our success and our squad has been seriously depleted.

My Oxford team just need to weather the storm right now, and hopefully when the team is back to full strength we’ll be able to start winning games in the league again.

The Plan For My Second Season in the Premier League

Next season my main priority will be Europe, and I’ll also be looking to achieve a top half finish in the Premier League. We almost did it last season, and with an improved team I’ll now look to do even better, and any position above 11th would just be absolutely brilliant. Premier League survival will be what I’ll be looking for at the very least, but I’d love to finish in the top half, and hopefully I’ll be able to do so.

I doubt we’ll win the FA Cup again, we’ll give it a go though, and failing winning the FA Cup, then perhaps we can win the League Cup! I’d love to make European qualification a regular thing, and unless we win a cup then I doubt we’ll qualify for Europe. The chances of winning the European Super League are slim, and a Top 6 finish is also pretty unlikely, so the two cup’s will be pretty important, and we’ll therefore be giving them both our best.

So a top half finish is what we’ll be looking for next season, and success in cup competitions will also be important. It’s going to be a tough season, but it should also be pretty fun, and I now look forward to bettering my final position in the Premier League.