Oxford United welcome Plymouth Argyle to the Kassam Stadium on Saturday looking to bounce back from defeat at AFC Wimbledon on Tuesday night.
That result moved the U’s out of the play-off places but boss Karl Robinson laughed off any suggestion that the pressure was off his team now as they chase the teams above
“If pressure clouds your thinking then this job isn’t for you” he told iFollow. “The pressure you put on yourself should always be the greatest. You strive for perfection, knowing you will never get there permanently. I probably put more pressure on myself than I used to do but the players know that if you are wearing yellow then you are always under pressure to perform. If you struggle with it when nobody is in the stands then you will struggle with it even more next season when fans are back.
“The points target has never changed. Externally maybe people think it became simpler after Tuesday but internally we always had clarity and that hasn’t changed.
“We come up against a team who had a difficult evening on Tuesday and I know 100% the Manager will have ironed that out today and they will be fully motivated. I know their Manager very well, he is a good man, very honest and does things right. They have really good staff and I am close to them, know how much they love working for Plymouth Argyle and know they will want to win on Saturday.
"We are under no illusions about how difficult the game is going to be but we have to focus completely on ourselves and what we need to do.
“Brandon Barker won’t be involved. His scan shows something slight and we can’t risk that, especially with him not being our player. It was touch and go, we always knew that and there are one or two other things we will wait on but Plymouth will also know they will have to play well because will be ready for this one.”
See the full interview and pick up a Match Pass to see the whole game live in iFollow.