Aaron Ramsey’s Oxford United want to ‘dominate’, says defender

Brown scored a 95th-minute equaliser at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday as the U’s rescued a late point in their first League One fixture of the season.

Mark Harris opened the scoring in the first half to put Oxford ahead before the Dons came back to lead 2-1 thanks to goals from Charlie Goode and Aaron Collins.

United started and ended the game well under their new head coach, Ramsey, but struggled to contain the physical, high-pressing Dons for large portions.

The new boss’ style largely differs from their previous tactical setups in the Championship under Matt Bloomfield and Gary Rowett.

Centre back, Brown, stated after the game his side’s desire to dominant in their return to the third tier.

“Opening day, of course, you want to get off to a good start,” the 28-year-old declared.

Ciaron Brown scores for Oxford United (Image: ©Jason Dawson)

“But we’re at home; we want to make it difficult for any teams to come here and we want to dominate the ball if it is home or away, but especially at home with all the fans kind of behind you.

“You want to implement the way we want to play because it is a big change from what we were.

“I think there was glimpses of that today on the front foot, pressing, playing the ball forward, keeping the ball.

“I think we would be overall happy with the performance, but we know there’s a lot more to come.”

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Despite difficulties in Oxford’s first two competitive matches of the season – the U’s lost 2-0 to Leyton Orient in the Carabao Cup before the Dons draw – Brown insists that he is enjoying the change of playing style.

“If you’re asking a football player if they want the ball and stuff like that then, yeah, of course.

“I think it’s different; we were in a different circumstance where we were last year.

“We were underdogs last year and maybe a bit on the back foot. We had to do whatever was necessary to stay in that league.

Oxford United defender Ciaron Brown (Image: Oxford United)

“Unfortunately, we didn’t, but a new manager has come in with new ideas and we’ve just got to believe in what he says.

“Yes, I enjoy the ball. I want to show my kind of footballing traits.

“I know the last couple of years I’ve probably showed more of my defensive traits, but I’ve got good footballing traits with the ball and stuff.

“So I want to show people that I know I can do it and I know the manager believes in every single one of us. So that’s what we’re going to do.”