Oxford United manager Karl Robinson 'respects every aspect' of Cambridge United ahead of season opener - Cambridgeshire Live

LIAM Manning is confident his playing style will bring results at Oxford United after the club suffered a troublesome start to the season.

The U’s lost 2-0 at Cambridge United on the opening day of the Sky Bet League One campaign, before being on the wrong end of a 5-1 mauling against Bristol City in the first round of the Carabao Cup.

Despite the defeats, Manning retains belief that his way of playing is the way forward for United and will prove difficult for opponents once in full flow.

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The 37-year-old said: “It’s a process that takes time and I do think we have to accelerate that because we have to win matches ultimately.

“I do think it’s one of those when I look at it, the group’s already shown the quality they’ve got and done flashes of it in all the games we’ve played so far.

“It’s now about bringing it all together and I think when you do, what you’ll find then no matter what the opposition do, it’s extremely hard to stop us.

“If they want to press, this is how we play, and if they want to drop off, this is what we do.

 

“It’s maintaining control in all phases of the game, which is ultimately so important.

“They’re the bits that because we are new and they’re being asked to do new things, that’s why sometimes you get that little bit of lack of alignment early on.

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“I see the work every day and I see the quality of the lads, so I’m confident that they’ll turn it round.”

When Manning became U’s head coach in March, making the team hard to beat was essential in keeping the club afloat in League One, with four clean sheets from 10 games the foundations for third tier survival.

The side only conceded more than once in the 2-0 defeat at play-off finalists Barnsley and against Accrington Stanley on the final day of the campaign, when safety was in the bag, barring a ridiculous goal swing.

However, United have conceded seven goals from their opening two games this season.

Asked whether the U’s need to blend being hard to beat with some of the new tactics worked on over the summer, Manning said: “If you saw us in the first half the other night, it was about being hard to beat.

“It’s around having clarity in all the phases and then trying to live in certain ones more than others.

“I want us to be, even when we’ve got the ball, hard to beat.

“Having 70 per cent of the ball away at Cambridge makes you hard to beat.

“It’s actually the little, small key moments that have ultimately cost us recently – it’s not major things, it’s little things that have cost us.

“It’s about tightening up on those and some of the aspects of the shape, the structure and the alignment in that.

“I’m confident when we get that right, we’ll be of the level I want.”