Oxford United boss Karl Robinson is hoping for a smoother run up to Saturday’s home game against Crewe Alexandra at the Kassam Stadium.
United came through a mountain of problems to win at Accrington last Saturday and now look to make it two wins in a row but hopefully with less going on in the build up.
“It was madness last week with the illnesses, injuries and then the team coach not starting” Karl told iFollow this morning. “This industry is the country’s release right now, the bit that is back and better than it was six months ago, so the worry for us last Friday morning was that we didn’t know if two of our players were seriously ill or not. Our biggest concern was making sure they were OK and then after that when the other problems came along we just laughed and said that our crazy week could not get any worse.
"The players all thought it was hilarious seeing me try and get things sorted when the bus wouldn’t start. I was trying to be serious and tell players who was starting and who wasn’t but at the same time telling them which cars they had to get in to get to the game!
“You have to adapt at the moment, but we have a growth mindset here and are always trying to see things in a different light and that flexibility helped but it was almost ‘jumpers for goalposts’ and to come through that and get a win was immense and the attitude of the players was spot on.
“We had a very long week that started at 7.30am on Sunday when we came in to watch the Sunderland game back. They were magnificent that day and then we built all week so I gave them a couple of days off at the start of this week and since they came back in they have been brilliant once again. There is a determination and a willingness to work. You can’t always win games of football but you can always wear the shirt with pride. We always try to do that; always try and out our best foot forward.
“The weather forecast isn’t great so the conditions will be testing but we had similar against Blackpool and Ipswich and got positive results. But don’t underestimate Crewe who are a very good side.”
Karl was at Stadium MK last night to watch the Oxford United Women's side win 3-1 and is hoping that fans will watch his team on iFollow on Saturday and then perhaps go along to support the Women in person on Sunday when they welcome Crawley Wasps to Court Place Far.
“I went and watched them on Sunday and it was nice to see a game again. It’s important that the whole club is totally together. The Women played some great football on Wednesday night and moved the ball really well. I went along with my wife and daughter and it was nice to see the team win. I hope fans go along and watch their game on Sunday and both the men’s and women’s sides have a positive weekend.”
See the whole interview in iFollow where we also have the thoughts of Anthony Forde, Women’s goalkeeper Rose Kite, Rob Atkinson, Chris Short and Dan Harris as we build up to the game. See it all iniFollow for just £10. CLICK HERE to buy a match pass
And Season ticket holders and anyone who buys a pass to see the Crewe game can get in to see the Women against Crawley for FREE on Sunday. Safe social distancing will be in place so why not get back to watching Oxford United play live football again...