Oxford United boss Karl Robinson has some interesting choices to make as his side head for Portsmouth in Sky Bet League 1 on Saturday.
Karl, whose first game in charge of the U’s came at Fratton Park last season, gave youth its chance in the 2-0 win over Coventry on Tuesday and must decide whether to keep faith with those players or revert to the more experienced side that has played in the two league games so far.
“We are building” he explained to iFollow earlier. ”I came here for two years. The reason I am here, and why Shaun is as well, is because we spoke about what we want to achieve; what he wanted to achieve at Cambridge but wasn’t given time, what I did at MK over six years, what Michael and Faz did here. They didn’t do that straight away it was all about the long term future of Oxford United.
“I am so happy with life right now, what we are trying to achieve and the direction we are heading but it takes patience sometimes. I’m maybe not patient in the game itself but I do always have the bigger picture in mind. Sometimes patience and wanting to win don’t quite come together!
“But I will do what is right for the club. Giving Fabio his chance at 16, starting with Shandon when we could quite easily have gone with Ruffs in midfield. We went with the young players because of what we are building for the future.
"So yes we have decisions to make about who plays at Portsmouth. It’s important you respect the occasion, the home support and the Portsmouth team and we know it will be a tough away game but we are ready, we are confident and we will have plenty of fans behind us so it’s one to really look forward to.”
See the whole interview in iFollow.