Oxford United and Chelsea Under 21s go head to head on Tuesday knowing that a win at the Kassam Stadium would send either team through to the knock-out stages of the newly sponsored Bristol Street Motors Trophy.
”The aim has always been to go as far as we can,” Liam Manning told iFollow today. “It’s a great competition for the under-21 sides to come up against more experienced players, and it’s getting to that stage now where both teams have an opportunity to go forward if they win this game. The objective in every single game I go into is to pick a team to win, whatever competition we are playing in.
“We have used this competition to give people game time here and there, but if that happens then it’s important that they know their roles and what we are trying to achieve. We can make changes and not see a major drop off in levels.
“We will make tweaks like we made changes for the FA Cup on Saturday, but that’s because we were in week three of playing Saturday/Tuesday, so it was a chance to give minutes to players who haven’t had a great deal of opportunity, but it’s also giving rest time for others, which is just as important.
“We will finalise the squad, but there is potential for one or two of the youth team players to be involved as well after their cup win last weekend, so we have a good balance in this group, lots of experience, lots of young players, and Tuesday will give us a chance to test ourselves against a really talented young side from Chelsea.”
Join us on Tuesday night (7pm)
CLICK HERE or call 01865 337533 to see Oxford United v Chelsea U21