We'll Win Nothing With Kids?

Picture from @AlasdairLane

If there's one thing you can count on Oxford United for, it's that they will inevitably, at some point in the season, suffer some sort of injury crisis. Injury problems have struck once again at the Kassam, with the announcement at the weekend that both JamesConstable and Jake Wright will be out for four to six weeks, joining Jon Meades and Sean Rigg in the treatment room, and also that Deane Smalley has a recurring hamstring problem which has kept him from training.

All of which has left the squad looking rather thin. Saturday's starting XI against Cheltenham featured central midfielders Asa Hall and Scott Davies out wide, with winger Alfie Potter moving into a central position to partner Dave Kitson up front. Meanwhile, five of the Oxford bench were under-21 (loanee goalkeeper Shwan Jalal and the barely-fit Deane Smalley being the other two) with just 22 first-team appearances between them.

Not that the presence of so many young players around the matchday squad should come as much of a surprise. The decision was made during the summer to have a relatively small but talented crop of first-team players, backed up a new squad of development players who can provide cover while hopefully continuing their development in order to become gradually integrated into the first team. The risk with this approach – one which could possibly have dire consequences if things go wrong for us this season – is that a few injuries to important players can leave the team severely depleted, as we're now seeing. When injuries have occurred in previous seasons we've turned to the loan market to fill those gaps, with mixed results. That won't be happening this season, due to the existence of the aforementioned development squad.

Callum O'Dowda

The problem right now, though, is that even with injuries hitting hard the youngsters still aren't being given a chance. For example, having had great success playing wide men in the opening matches, the obvious choice to replace Sean Rigg would have been 18-year-old Callum O'Dowda, who impressed many during pre-season. Instead Asa Hall, already suffering a dubious reputation with sections of the Oxford support, was shoehorned into a wide position which has never suited him, placing him unfairly in the firing line as a scapegoat when things don't go exactly according to plan. Meanwhile, O'Dowda has watched on from the bench with just a solitary senior appearance to his name – when he and some of the other younger players were hung out to dry against Charlton in the League Cup.

The news about Constable and Smalley also leaves United looking very light up top, with Dave Kitson the only recognised striker to start on Saturday and after picking up his fourth booking of the season from just six appearances it seems likely that he'll be facing a suspension soon. That could present an opportunity to Tyrone Marsh, who has played about 25 minutes of first-team football this season in two substitute appearances, though again on Saturday an out-of-position Alfie Potter was favoured ahead of the 19-year-old striker.

What seems clear at the moment is that Chris Wilder is still a bit reluctant to use the younger players (with the notable exception of Ryan Williams, who of course isn't our player). That's not a situation I would expect to change on Saturday when league leaders Chesterfield come to town for what is looking like a potentially huge match, especially with the development team having already played on Wednesday against Luton.

But before we criticise Wilder for his apparent lack of faith in the younger players perhaps we should look at the reasons why the youngsters aren't currently seeing first-team action. Though pre-season performances should obviously be taken with a pinch of salt they do demonstrate the dangers of carrying too many inexperienced players. The embarrassing 5-1 defeat to Oxford City back in July was a demonstration of defensive frailties and non-threatening attack as we were outplayed by an experienced City side. Play too many of the younger lads and we risk adding to our burden if too many players have to be carried through the match by the more experienced pros.

Josh Shama v Gillingham

Development team results haven't exactly been fantastic either, with defeats to Birmingham, Bournemouth, Gillingham and Luton and a draw against Southend. That's not to say that our development squad players don't have talent, but obviously you can't expect a group of players who were just thrown together during the summer to be pulling off big results against sides who have been playing together for some time and some of whom boast some experienced first-team campaigners.*

Essentially we're still playing catch-up and presumably Wilder, whether rightly or wrongly, wants to give our players the chance to catch up and become integrated into the first team gradually, rather than being thrown in at the deep end in the first months of the season. There's also no urgent need to give these players game time now, because they are playing regularly in the development squad (unlike last season, when Tyrone Marsh and Max Crocombe were sat on the bench most of the time).

Of course, if we keep picking up injuries as we currently are we may not have a choice in the matter. The likes of Marsh and O'Dowda may just get their chance, whether they're ready for it or not.

*And besides, the results aren't what is important at that level of football, it's all about giving these players some game time and a chance to develop.

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MATCH REPORT: Didcot Town 0-3 Oxford United

Tyrone Marsh bagged himself a brace as the development squad strolled to a straightforward 3-0 win at Didcot Town. Triallist Dylan McGlade did his cause no harm with a fine performance, capping it with an excellent solo goal.

You could have been forgiven for thinking that Didcot were still in the changing room after 15 minutes, such was United's dominance in the opening stages of the match. Aidan Hawtin was the first to try his luck, shooting narrowly wide after just two minutes. Moments later Marsh drew the first save of the game as he connected with a cross from Hawtin. In fact, Didcot goalkeeper Gareth Tucker was all that stood between Oxford and a commanding early lead, making an exceptional reaction save to deny Marvin Ekpiteta who rose to meet another Hawtin cross. But the goal that Oxford had been threatening came soon enough, as Marsh darted in to nod home after McGlade had twisted and tricked his way past his man and delivered a dangerous ball in.

Didcot were stung into action and finally began to probe the young Oxford defence. Just minutes after falling behind, the hosts had the ball in the net themselves when Harry Halls rose to head in a free-kick. However, as Halls wheeled away in celebration the linesman's flag went up and the goal was disallowed. It looked a marginal decision which left the Didcot players and fans unhappy, but having dominated so far it would have been harsh for Oxford to be pulled back level after Didcot's first attack of the game.

But having started like a freight train, Oxford had by now slowed down to more of a slower chug (sorry, couldn't resist!), though they were still easily in control of the match. McGlade added a second just before the half-hour mark after twisting and turning past several challenges before slotting past Tucker.

Josh Shama was causing all sorts of problems for the Didcot defence as well and he came close to giving Oxford a third with a header, but Joel Meade was on hand to clear it off the line. But Crocombe was called into action shortly before half-time to palm away a free-kick as the Railwaymen sought a route back into the match.

Picture from @OxfordMailOUFC

But it was Oxford who remained on the front foot after the break and Hawtin came agonisingly close to adding a third as he saw his powerful shot come thundering back off the underside of the bar. Tucker again had to be on his toes to turn away shots from David Lynn, Josh Ruffels and Scott Davies (not all at the same time) but there was only so much he could do as the chances just kept coming. Marsh got his second of the night after some good work out wide from substitute Gregg Hackett, slipping the ball past the keeper for Oxford's third.

The yellows made several changes to give some of the youth team players some game-time, but still United's dominance continued. James Roberts came on for the final ten minutes and came close to grabbing a goal himself as he burst through the middle of the defence, but was unable to prod it past the goalkeeper.

Didcot could be in for a tough time this season, if their pre-season is anything to go by. As well as being comfortably beaten by United's development squad tonight, they suffered a worrying 4-0 defeat against an experimental Oxford City side, as well as troubling defeats against Hellenic League sides Milton United and Ardley United. Let's hope they're saving their best for when the season gets underway!

As for us, Marsh, Shama, Hawtin and McGlade put in impressive individual performances, but what impressed me most was that they put on such a coherent display having only been thrust together as a group this summer. Already there are signs of an understanding between several of these players and perhaps that bodes well for our development system as a whole. I'll be very interested to see how they develop over the course of the season.

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Twin Goals for Oxford this Season

“Failure to win promotion this season will be a disaster.”

We've all heard that phrase, or some form of equivalent, before. Inevitably it gets an airing at some stage every season and yet, after several seasons of failing to win promotion the club is still standing and, most importantly, still able to raise a competitive side in League Two. But by forcing ourselves to believe that every season is a potentially pivotal one in the history of the club are we piling unnecessary pressure on ourselves? It seems this kind of attitude remains something of a hangover from the Conference days, when the future of the club really was at stake - but is it any more? If the club remains at this level for too long with little sign of being promoted then, yes, its potential to grow will be stunted, but this is a gradual process over a number of years, not dependent on the result of one season.

Which is all a rather roundabout way of saying that the season ahead is important (as they all are) but not necessarily a pivotal one as far as the club's future is concerned. Promotion is again expected, and rightly so, but if we fail to achieve it the club will still be here next year. However, for one person in particular this season really is pivotal. If it turns out to be similar to the last one it seems difficult to believe that Chris Wilder will still be in the hotseat and preparing for another shot at promotion in 2014-15.

For a large section of the Oxford support, patience with Wilder dried up at some point during the last campaign. It was indeed a dreary, morale-sapping season with very few highlights and it's unsurprising that some of the supporters got a little tetchy. This summer's transfer dealings have certainly restored the faith among quite a few of those fans, but make no mistake that patience is most definitely not a virtue the United 'faithful' possess in droves at the moment and a poor start to the season could result in the atmosphere around the ground becoming poisonous very early into the season. The 'Wilder out campaign' has been noticeably quiet during the summer months, but it won't take much for those rumblings to stir once again. Fortunately, Ian Lenagan seems like a steady type and unless the club is in danger of relegation it seems likely that he will allow Wilder to see the season out no matter how loud the protests.

But there can certainly be no mistaking Wilder's intentions this year. He doesn't simply want to cling to his job for another year and see the season out; he knows that this season really is pivotal for his career and has gone about assembling a side that he believes will be lifting the League Two trophy at the end of the season. For all the noises last year about challenging for promotion, I suspect he knew very early on that it wouldn't happen and that for many of those players (most of whom had been signed on two-year deals the previous summer) it was simply a case of seeing out the remainder of their contract. That's given Wilder plenty of time to think about how he's going to build his side and to correct some of the problems that have dogged recent cohorts.

Gone are the injury-prone stars who missed much of last season. Gone are the mercurial wing-backs and forward three of previous Wilder sides. Gone is the 4-3-3 formation which often looked nice, but failed to deliver in the hustle and bustle of League Two. The buzzword for this year's vintage is 'robust'; unlike in previous years, this time we've made it a priority that new signings are physically capable of surviving the campaign, with a more stringent medical weeding out those potential recruits who would be likely to spend more time on the treatment table than the pitch.

Wilder has also built this side to fit into the more standard 4-4-2 formation favoured during the latter half of last season. Some might think that an unimaginative system but it proved last season to be more effective and with Wilder experimenting with 4-3-3/4-5-1 at times during pre-season as well, the side should hopefully be more tactically flexible this season than in previous years. With Alfie Potter and Sean Rigg on the wings (with Callum O'Dowda another realistic option if he continues his good form) the name of the game this season is getting the ball into the channels and then into the mixer for Kitson, Smalley, Beano et al to finish.

The side is packed with quality at either end of the pitch, with the marquee signings of Dave Kitson and Johnny Mullins meaning that we undoubtedly have among the most impressive defensive and attacking units in the league. Question marks remain, however, over our midfield and players like Asa Hall, Danny Rose and Jonathan Meades all have a point to prove this season for a variety of reasons. Should they fail to step up, we could be left with the same problems we've faced in recent seasons. You can have the best attackers in the world, but if they get no service we will again struggle to score goals. Likewise, even the most solid of back fours will leak goals if it's not protected adequately.

One other stated change in approach is the decision to recruit promising young hopefuls who have been discarded by other clubs' academies to fill out the development squad. With Josh Shama (Reading), Kenzer Lee (West Ham) and Matt Bevans (Watford) joining the recent youth team graduates – and with Josh Ruffels (Coventry) and Ryan Williams (Fulham) also looking likely to sign – the makeup of the squad this season is markedly different to what we're used to seeing. The majority of the budget is concentrated on a relatively small pool of first team players, with a large group of young and inexperienced players ready to step up and provide cover if needed.

This should reduce the need for so many loanees this term, which should avoid the problem of having to repeatedly stretch the budget to pay for them, but the result is that it is imperative that we don't suffer a similar injury crisis to recent seasons. The 5-1 demolition job at Oxford City demonstrated that, no matter how talented this crop of youngsters may be, we can't afford to carry more than one or two of them at a time in senior football.

That result may have set a few alarm bells ringing, but actually shouldn't have been such a surprise when viewed sensibly. City are a highly disciplined side with a good number of experienced former pros in their ranks and look strong this year (they destroyed Didcot Town the weekend before we played them and held a strong Wycombe side to a draw just days after). For many of these young players, this was the first time they had really played together in a proper match and they were to a certain extent thrown in at the deep end.

We should gain a better understanding as the season draws on which of those players will be able to step up to League Two, but there are some positive signs already that some could become future stars. Of course the priority for these players this season is progression, not a starring role. The real responsibility for the first team falls squarely on the shoulders of Messrs Kitson, Mullins et al, but that should distract from the fact that there is definitely a dual aim this season; immediate promotion for the first team, while producing the next generation of Oxford players with the new development squad. Not an easy balancing act to get right, but at this stage, with the season stretched ahead of us, the signs are good that we just might achieve both of those aims.

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