Oxford United manager Gary Rowett has hit back at Marti Cifuentes after the Leicester City boss downplayed the U’s attacking threat in their dramatic 2-2 Championship clash on Saturday.
Cifuentes, whose Foxes fought back with 10 men after Aaron Ramsey’s first-half red card, stirred debate post-match by suggesting Oxford were rarely dangerous despite the numerical advantage. He claimed Leicester carried “more threat in the box” during the second half and hinted his side could have stolen all three points.
Rowett, though, wasn’t having it. Speaking after the game, the Oxford boss bristled at the implication his side underperformed and pointed instead to where Leicester benefited from fortunate breaks.
“My emotion is one of a bit of frustration – it feels as though we have dropped points – and I don’t want that to cloud all the good bits about today,” Rowett said.
“It’s always frustrating when you’ve gone 1-0 up and 2-1 up and they’ve had a man sent off, and you don’t come away with a win.
“But on the back of Coventry where we saw a much-improved performance second half, I thought today we were absolutely excellent first half against a former Premier League side with a lot of Premier League players still there.
“But we made a mistake for the first goal, which gets them back in the game, we go 2-1 up again, with a little bit of fortune, but after a lot of pressure.
“Then it’s just a question of how do you handle the second period of the game?
“They scored one very good goal, poor from our point of view, and that’s the frustration really because they haven’t had a lot of chances.”
Oxford twice led through Will Lankshear and a Boubakary Soumare own goal, only to be pegged back by Jordan Ayew and a crisp Ricardo Pereira strike after the break. Despite Leicester playing over an hour with 10 men, Cifuentes’ side dominated possession in the second half and forced the draw that maintained their unbeaten start.
Rowett’s defiant response makes clear he believes his team’s first-half control and the pressure they exerted deserved more than a single point—and that any suggestion Oxford lacked quality with a man advantage simply doesn’t tell the full story.