Oxford United’s Easter weekend ended with two defeats from their two games. Karl Robinson’s side lost 3-1 at Sunderland on Good Friday before a 2-1 defeat at home to Accrington Stanley.
Although there are still seven games remaining, the general feeling is that reaching the playoffs seems highly unlikely and the club should begin to focus on next season.
Another common theme is that manager Karl Robinson should now give some of the younger players some first-team action.
Mid table. Minds on the beach. Letโs do it properly when we can be there to enjoy it…..
— ๐๐๐ ๐ (@TimWalkerOUFC) April 5, 2021
Time to think about next season. This one is petering out
— Phil Gilman: YIMBY (@bookiemonster81) April 5, 2021
Not good enough to go up, needs more investment, deffo RB and LB cover. At least we didnโt get dragged into a relegation battle after the Playoff hangover. Oxford need to be nastier, smarter and a bit luckier next season.
— Swissyellow ๐จ๐ญ๐จ๐๐๐น๏ธ (@swissyellow) April 5, 2021
Last thing we wanted was playoffs if we werenโt going to win them. Players need a proper close season rest and some fans back in next season.
Weโre quite some way off being a good side in this league, sadly #oufc
— Hamish (@hraarmstrong) April 5, 2021
Today confirms it, but Iโve always felt that weโre just not top-six level this year.
Time to reduce the game-time of the loan players, give minutes to McNally and Chambers-Parillon and start building for next year. #oufc
— Joe Citrone (@Joe_Citrone) April 5, 2021
We said at the end of March that Oxford needed four points from these two fixtures (read here). If that had been the case, then the U’s would be sat in seventh place in League One and just two points behind sixth-placed Lincoln City.
While many are already focusing on next season, Robinson as a manager certainly won’t be. Until it is mathematically impossible, he will be looking for wins in all of the remaining fixtures.