Oxford United have exited the Carabao Cup with defeat on the road at Coventry.

The U’s fell 1-0 at the Ricoh Arena courtesy of a heavily deflected effort.

Here are three talking points from the game.

Line-Up

As expected, both teams made several changes for this fixture with Des Buckingham making eight and Mark Robins overseeing nine.

It was a rusty game from both sides, which we’ll get to later, but this is how the U’s lined up.

Matt Ingram replaced Jamie Cumming in goal while Greg Leigh at left back for Joe Bennett was the only change from the defeat at Blackburn.

Josh McEachran, Louie Sibley and a return from illness for Cameron Brannagan finished the midfield three while there were starts for Owen Dale, Malcolm Ebiowei and Dane Scarlett in attack.

Lack of Attacking Impetus

However, that front three struggled from start to finish. It was a good opportunity for the two new boys in Ebiowei and Scarlett to stake a claim for regular minutes but neither put in a strong display.

It was similar for Dale on the opposing flank with both wingers really struggling to make an impact on the game. Scarlett looked lively at times but it looks as though it will take him time to get used to Buckingham’s system.

The U’s ended the match with eight shots on goal but none on target.

Ruben Rodrigues and Mark Harris entered the field late on, with Tyler Goodrham getting more minutes, and they were quicker in attack but still lacked the end product.

Rustiness in Midfield

Unfortunately, Oxford struggled behind the front three also. Despite missing just one game, Brannagan looked uncharacteristically rusty and often misplaced passes. It was similar for Sibley, with the former Derby man often failing to beat his man while making several misplaced passes.

In fairness, McEachran looked decent in the holding role, but he was hooked for Will Vaulks in the second half, which also saw Brannagan replaced by Idris El Mizouni.

They’ll need to sharpen up ahead of their next league game at home against Preston.