Head Coach Karl Robinson can’t wait to get started now that the fixtures for 2019/20 are out. The U’s ended the season in fantastic form and kick off the new season with home and away games against two of the favourites this time around
“It’s a tough start but we will be ready” he told us this morning. “We played really well away at Sunderland last season and I’m sure the fans will be looking forward to that game plus a weekend in Blackpool in August.
“We also take on Peterborough at home: they have been in the mix for a few seasons now and will give us a good test to see where we are.
“The fans were amazing last season on the road and they have some long journeys in the first few weeks: Sunderland, Blackpool, Fleetwood, Bolton, Lincoln, Accrington and Rotherham with just a shorter trip to Bristol Rovers in that run as well. There are some big games in that list and you look at the clubs in this league and you realise how strong League 1 is going to be: Portsmouth, Sunderland, Ipswich, Bolton, Coventry, Rotherham; those clubs have all been in higher divisions for a lot of their recent history.
“Is there a good time to be playing teams? Is there an advantage to playing teams before things settle down? I’m not sure about that. All I know is that we started much too slowly last year and had to play catch up for the rest of the season. This time around we are more settled, we have the bulk of a squad that ended the games extremely strongly, and we have players coming in who we know will further strengthen us by the time the season starts.
“Suddenly the fixtures are there and everything looks that much closer. I came in today excited to go to work and looking forward to the players coming back on Saturday ready for testing and then a strong pre-season as we build towards August 3rd.”