Michael looks for positive reaction on Tuesday night
Oxford United return to league action on Tuesday night as they try to put Saturday’s FA Cup heroics behind them. The U’s were desperately unlucky to lose 3-2 at Middlesbrough after dragging themselves back from two goals down, but have to try and forget all about that as they head for the Valley.Head Coach Michael Appleton believes his side will bounce back strongly:
“It’s difficult to reflect on games when they are coming at you Saturday-Tuesday, as they will be for a while” he told Yellow Player HD. “We had a staff meeting on Monday morning and the whole talk was about Charlton and who is going to be available and how we are going to go about it because the next couple of games between now and the Checkatrade game are going to be crucial. We have players who can’t play in certain games: Charlie Raglan can’t play against Chesterfield or Luton and then Toni Martinez and Conor McAleny can’t play against Luton. So it becomes a balancing act and you move on to the next game very quickly.
“The players were a bit frustrated on Saturday but they got a lot of pats on the back and plaudits from fans and newspapers so they will be feeling good about themselves. It’s our job to get them prepared properly and make sure they put in a performance like they did in the second half on Saturday, right from the start of the game.”
United’s one injury doubt from Saturday was on loan West Ham striker Toni Martinez who is expected to be fit:
“Toni got caught more than a few times on Saturday” Michael said” he had a bit of a tight calf but he should be fine for tomorrow.”
United come up against an Addicks side who have lost just one of their last none league games under Karl Robinson.
“Karl is stamping his authority on the place and you can see comparables with what he did at MK Dons starting to come through now” Michael said. “We know what they are about, what their strengths are. We have to be mindful of that but we also know what their weaknesses are and will look to try and exploit those.”
See the full interview plus the thoughts of Ryan Ledson in Yellow Player HD right now.