FAN FARE | Oxford on for the treble?

If you've kept up with Playmaker's Power Rankings, Oxford have been an absolute delight. At the start of the season they couldn't have been further from our radar, but since October there's been few better teams in England.

With their recovery now in full swing, and things getting better and better with progress in the cup competitions to boot, we spoke to Joe Mercer of @_theoxford, to find out how this astonishing turnaround came about, and what's next for a U's side that can't stop winning.

To most, Oxford's emphatic turn in form may have come as a surprise. Even to Oxford fans, the extent of the upturn in results has caught a few off guard.

While we were expected to fight for play-offs before the season began, and the summer's player recruitment was good, the start was very poor, and where we are right now didn't seem possible.

The worst way to start

©Getty / Alex Davidson

We looked, at times, no better than we did at the start of 2018/19, and on our way to another disappointing season. Performances at Fleetwood and Bristol Rovers, coupled with the results there made bad reading, and the fans that Karl Robinson had won over with survival and great form, were starting to turn on him again.

Positive signs of improvement were there though. Arguably our second-half performance away at early front runners Blackpool was as good as it gets, and on par with those more recently at Lincoln (6-0) and Southend (4-0). But we had already let ourselves down defensively in the first-half.

We were missing that consistency. During games, and across multiple fixtures. At the beginning of the season, a win was just a single win, and after that we would draw or lose and not look like the same team we'd seen a week earlier.

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Now, we always look like we're building on the previous game, which is usually a win. Defending was a problem and definitely a factor in the poor start, where at the other end Oxford went the first 10 games without failing to score, but we were shipping goals, at one point 14 in five games before our upturn in results began at Matchday 12.

Having known in the summer we had a centre back problem, it was frustrating to see goals going in left right and centre. So what changed, how did we go from that to 13-0 in the next three matches?

The turning point

©Getty / James Williamson - AMA

John Mousinho moving back into defense made a huge difference. As good as Elliott Moore is, him and Rob Dickie at the back was resulting in too many goals. Mous has the experience and just adds a different element to Moore.

Moore being able to come and win every ball in the air as our third choice centre back shows our strength in depth, and just how far the squad had come since last year. The cup runs also added a balance and something to build upon at a time where we were struggling with the league consistency.

📈 Most league wins by 3+ goals (top 4 tiers; 2019/20):

6⃣: 💥OXFORD💥
4⃣: Man C, Peterborough
3⃣: Burnley, Brentford, Fulham, Hull, Ipswich, Rotherham, Plymouth#OUFC @OUFCOfficial @matthewtaylor69 pic.twitter.com/kbncWbKPl7

— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) November 28, 2019

It kept players on their toes, and offered a new challenge, a different kind of refocusing every mid-week.

It breaks up the games if you will, and the confidence the 4-0 over West Ham brought towards League One form is obvious. A spring board for the next few wins.

What came after these fixes has just been extraordinary. A scoreless draw against Bolton away, which I see as the turning point in our season, is the moment something clicked and when we went into Lincoln we were ruthless. Bolton was the lowest point in a long time.

@OUFCOfficial in 2018/19

🔥Only team currently active in the FA & League Cup
🔥Best EFL goal difference (+18)
🔥Most away L1 goals (19)
🔥Second highest L1 scorers (37)
🔥Second longest unbeaten run in the EFL (10 games)
🔥Henry & Fosu 2nd most lethal L1 duo (15 goals 7 assists) pic.twitter.com/WowBXyfBGI

— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) December 5, 2019

Against a side that had been hit for six on the preceding Saturday, and previous weeks and we struggled to score. The fans turned and the frustrations in the Macron away end were evident. Looking back, we can now say Bolton away is arguably a good point but if didn't feel like that at the time.

After that we had to regroup quickly. We went in early against Lincoln and Tarique Fosu helped us to a big 6-0 win, followed by 4-0 against West Ham in the League Cup and 3-0 vs Gillingham. Outstanding stuff.

The next 14 games we've failed to lose, moved into the quarter-finals of the League Cup, the third round of the FA Cup and gone from 20th to as high as fourth in the league.

And the future?

©Getty / Bradley Collyer

With goals coming from all over the pitch, performing on three fronts, and Cameron Brannagan, Ben Woodburn and Simon Eastwood still to come back from injuries, it's a great time to be an Oxford fan.

The next few weeks are huge, with table-topping Wycombe at home standing out. We've shown now we can compete near the top, the real challenge will come when the form looks in danger, and how we react.

Back to the League on Saturday against Shrewsbury, and at home for the first time in over a month, long may this run continue.

©Getty / James Williamson - AMA