Give Robinson some slack

[amershamdave]

What tickles my testicles, is that we held Slumberland twice, beat Pompey, beat Blackpool away, should really have beaten Scunthorpe and Barnsley, then had a great win at Coventry. Puzzled? Football's a funny old game, isn't it?

 

[Foley]

No. A couple of times ive gone away thinking hes got it bang on. Numerous times ive thought - WTAF.

So KR has won what 5 games last season and 9 league games this season (plus a few Cup wins).
You are suggesting that KR has been right on tactics in 2 games?
The Coventry manager suggested we were too street wise for them. We bettered Sunderland home and away (were unlucky to get 2 draws)
We beat Pompey at home and won 4 home games in a row.
We drew at Doncaster and Peterborough.
We won at Coventry and Blackpool (,all r of them were going for the play offs so presumably were reasonably sound tactically)
We drew at home to Barnsley.
Out of that lot KR got the tactics right twice? So tactics make little difference in League 1 or we have had huge slices of luck .

 

[Shaun Rice]

Whether there was a difference between MApp and KR or not, the fact remains that both had to change their styles when results mattered more than the football being played. MApp was rightly praised for this, Robinson is seen as "lucky".

Robinson's luck got us points against Fleetwood, Barnsley, Sunderland and beat Portsmouth against the odds. It has also got us 13 points in the last 6 games, again when most were only predicting doom. Since November we have seen form that would have us in 6th had it not been for the dreadful start. So if Robinson is to blame for the shocking first quarter of the season he much also be responsible for the significant improvements since. Take your blinkers off for a second and you might just see it!

No luck in some of those games you mentioned. Credit where it’s due there were some brilliant performances. In fact with a little luck we’d have won not drawn.

But picking out a few games where we played well does not vindicate KR from the fact that on the whole performances have been terrible.

We’ve been in and around the relegation zone all season and still are from a points perspective.

Playing well consistently is what’s important and making hard work of teams like Bradford ( the worst team I’ve seen for years) and Rochdale does not suddenly mean we’re top 6. Those games could’ve easily gone the other way. And relying on Coventry to miss their nailed on chances and bundle the ball in at the other end does not mean we should now be running around claiming KR is the messiah.

You’re right KR could blame poor performances on injuries or lack of players in the early season. I’m not sure why with our budget. But don’t you think with the team as it is , with the obvious quality on the flanks and in midfield as you’ve said should be doing better against these sides?

But it’s not just matches that annoys fans. Take Coventry post match. “ I thought we were rubbish “. I mean what decent manager says such a thing about his team? A team needing a bit of confidence. And in a relegation dog fight. Even if it’s what he thought inside. You say things like:
We weren’t on our game today?
Great teams can play badly and still win.
We could’ve improved in some areas but we got the three points.., etc etc.

 

[horseman]

The bloke cannot win can he had he of said as you suggested he would still be slated and some here would say no we were rubbish.

listen to some other managers even at the top level they say we were poor today.

Fergie was supposed to be one of the best yet he was constantly moaning about the officials yet when our boss does it he gets called all sorts of names.

i get people vent their frustration but some teams will have poor seasons idespite budgets etc t's football as somebody has to be relegated.

perhaps some fans need a reality check we are division 3 team and some need lower their expectations a little

 

[Scotchegg]

But it’s not just matches that annoys fans. Take Coventry post match. “ I thought we were rubbish “. I mean what decent manager says such a thing about his team?

Ferguson, Mourinho, Klopp, Guardiola!! In fact pretty much every manager has respond to a win by saying they were rubbish or have stated that they were brilliant in defeat. It's 3 minutes of air time seconds after a game and means absolutely nothing.

Confidence is about what happens on the training ground and in the changing room, and everything that has come out of the club indicates that the team and manager are together.

If we are judging Robinson on performances then there have been as many good defeats as there are bad wins. So absolutely a mixed bag.

If we judge on results, then whilst there is no hiding the first quarter which was awful, everything since has been playoff standard.

If we judge on transfers then the summer was poor but January much better.

If we judge on what is said on Radio Oxford then we really have missed the point!!!

 

[TailsWeWin]

Robinson should be judged on his WHOLE time here; not on a few selected games while we are going through a relatively good period. And it is relatively. His win % is poor since he came here; a number of managers with similar records (and quite possibly smaller budgets) have lost their jobs in this league. Robinson is fortunate that Tiger remains his advocate. I like the spirit the team is currently showing but the fact remains that the quality of a lot of our play this season has been poor and the team have appeared badly-coached despite having some talented players. If Robinson stays, and I’m sure he will, I am not optimistic that he will take us into next year’s top seven.

 

[horseman]

Has Tigers faith not currently been proven to be right? he appears to have steered us away the same as a new manager would have been expected too but of course had the new guy done so it would be thank fu*k we got rid of Robbo

why should we be top 7 based on? Ipswich Bolton Rotherham Millwall Reading Wigan 3 of those coming down + 4 coming up that will be on a high as well as bigger clubs missing out on promotion from this league add the rest in with ourselves and the league next season will be just as hard.

 

[Paul Cannell]

With Robbo here we will struggle to be top 15 for the second year in succession. For heaven's sake give us a real manager, Tiger!

 

[TailsWeWin]

Has Tigers faith not currently been proven to be right? he appears to have steered us away the same as a new manager would have been expected too but of course had the new guy done so it would be thank fu*k we got rid of Robbo

why should we be top 7 based on? Ipswich Bolton Rotherham Millwall Reading Wigan 3 of those coming down + 4 coming up that will be on a high as well as bigger clubs missing out on promotion from this league add the rest in with ourselves and the league next season will be just as hard.

So you’re not too confident in Robinson’s ability to do well next season either, then?!

 

[radicalox]

I personally couldn't give a monkey's what kr says or doesn't say. All that really matters is performances and results.

The situation in my view is very clear:

Kr comes in end of last season. Did what he needed to do keeping us up with 6 points to spare.

We had an underwhelming summer recruitment and truly awful start.

From around game 12, kr starts to turn things around. Since then, as many have stated many times, we have had playoff form. Issue is we have been doing catch up all season.

January window was a decent success.

KR is improving. Any calls to sack him now makes no sense, and in my opinion appears to be based on personal dislikes of kr.

 

[Pompeyyellows]

I have just read through this debate and from what I have read everyone is correct. Yes we had a bad summer transfer window, but would it of looked so bad if we had an easier start to the season. There has been times this season when it looked like KR didn't have a clue. Pompey at Fratton Park as an example, we were terrible that day and would of struggled to beat a pub team. Yes I was 1 of those who wanted KR out after the Luton game. On the other hand KR has occasionally got it spot on and we looked like we could be a match for even the best in this division.
If we had of sacked KR and installed a new manager and we had the same results we all would of be saying see we were right KR was useless etc. This new guy is the dogs do-dahs etc. But because it is KR getting those results he still gets slated by some people an here.
Thing is we are improving and it has been slow because everyone else is picking up points as well. At the end of this season we could potentially be as high as 10th and I bet most people would of taken that at the start of the season. We also could end up relegated which would be a disaster. An old cliché the league table doesn't lie where you end up is where you deserve to be. Lets get this season over we will then know where we are at and go from there.
I for 1 would rather be in our position with our current squad and management set up that a lot of other teams in our division. Saying that I would rather we were higher up the league than we currently are.
With regards to whether KR is the right man I would have to say at this moment in time with the way we are grinding out results etc. Yes he is the right man and we would of been mad to of sacked him. Now is he the right man for the future that's different. This summers transfer window is going to determine if KR is the right man going forward. Get it right then yes get it wrong again then no.

 

[horseman]

So you’re not too confident in Robinson’s ability to do well next season either, then?!

You said you would not be confident in Robbo getting us into the top 7 next season..i pointed out the reams coming down those coming up and better clubs not getting promoted from this league and questioned why given that you "should" expect a top 7 finish regardless of who is manager it will be a tough league again.

 

[Glover]

Robertson put outside hahahahahaha

 

[Marked Ox]

Robertson put outside hahahahahaha

What? Who? Sandy?

 

[Shaun Rice]

Ferguson, Mourinho, Klopp, Guardiola!! In fact pretty much every manager has respond to a win by saying they were rubbish or have stated that they were brilliant in defeat. It's 3 minutes of air time seconds after a game and means absolutely nothing.

Confidence is about what happens on the training ground and in the changing room, and everything that has come out of the club indicates that the team and manager are together.

If we are judging Robinson on performances then there have been as many good defeats as there are bad wins. So absolutely a mixed bag.

If we judge on results, then whilst there is no hiding the first quarter which was awful, everything since has been playoff standard.

If we judge on transfers then the summer was poor but January much better.

If we judge on what is said on Radio Oxford then we really have missed the point!!!

Oh come on those managers may have stated that they didn’t play very well and even made strong statements but using the word rubbish? I’ve never heard them.
Mourinho is worse than KR in interviews so you can forget him for a start.
Plus that was just one example of KR terrible press awareness.
Throwing Hanson under the bus,
Slating Browne after his best performance in a yellow shirt,
Admitting to arguing with Nelson about corners.
Moaning about Whyte being away. Prime example! Every manager in the same position would’ve been disappointed to lose such a player. But the way KR put it and so publicly too. So wrong.
Plus many other minor errors that make fans cringe.

Confidence you say. That’s exactly what his actions and comments don’t inspire.

As for the dressing room I hear rumours it’s not all a bed of roses. Or hasn’t been.

You go on thinking he’s a great manager. He may well become one. But I personally think he has under performed given his budget and starting point in the summer.
Our points total is terrible, been in and around the relegation zone all season. If that’s acceptable to you then good luck to you.

If a few points picked up from, on the whole, poor performances (even by KR own admission!) is good enough for you then again happy days.
For us in the real world KR has done nothing yet to change my mind that his has under performed and needs to be “cut some slack”.

 

[Foley]

Confidence you say. That’s exactly what his actions and comments don’t inspire.

As for the dressing room I hear rumours it’s not all a bed of roses. Or hasn’t been.

An interesting one. 5 points in 11 games and I would be amazed if the dressing room was 'a bed if roses'. Would any dressing room be good in that situation?
I have friends who have watched the odd game and have commented on how good the work rate and spirit appeared on the pitch.
As Henry said the other day, it is quite easy to see if the manager has lost the dressing. Room and KR clearly hasn't.
Some of KRs comments after games are daft. Results in the first 11 games were terrible, but some seem to want to therefore suggest that everything about KR is bad. After the first 11 games people on here were suggesting that we were down and we needed play off form to stay up. Surely he deserves some credit for nearly achieving playoff form (** proviso that we stay up)

 

[Scotchegg]

Oh come on those managers may have stated that they didn’t play very well and even made strong statements but using the word rubbish? I’ve never heard them.
Mourinho is worse than KR in interviews so you can forget him for a start.
Plus that was just one example of KR terrible press awareness.
Throwing Hanson under the bus,
Slating Browne after his best performance in a yellow shirt,
Admitting to arguing with Nelson about corners.
Moaning about Whyte being away. Prime example! Every manager in the same position would’ve been disappointed to lose such a player. But the way KR put it and so publicly too. So wrong.
Plus many other minor errors that make fans cringe.

Confidence you say. That’s exactly what his actions and comments don’t inspire.

As for the dressing room I hear rumours it’s not all a bed of roses. Or hasn’t been.

You go on thinking he’s a great manager. He may well become one. But I personally think he has under performed given his budget and starting point in January.
Our points total is terrible, been in and around the relegation zone all season. If that’s acceptable to you then good luck to you.

If a few points picked up from, on the whole, poor performances (even by KR own admission!) is good enough for you then again happy days.
For us in the real world KR has done nothing yet to change my mind that his has under performed and needs to be “cut some slack”.

"Us in the real world", but you are not. You are blinkered to everything and use sweeping statements without being able to back them up.

I can't be bothered to look, but I'd guarantee that Ferguson had called his team rubbish after a win, and on more than one occasion, and publically gave players a kick up the a**e. Mourinho, who you discount because it doesn't suit your agenda, was loved by the fans and press alike when he was winning. He was praised for telling it like it is, no holding back etc. It was only when results went against him that he got grief. And I 100% guarantee that if we were at the top of the league then no one would ever mention what Robinson said in the press.

"If a few points from poor performances is good enough?" 13 points in the last 6 games? 41 points in the last 28 games? And how many of them have been poor performances? Blackpool, Coventry? Bradford? Games where we certainly had our share of luck, but ultimately did a job against teams who were also battling for every point. So on the whole, we have picked up 1.5 points per game in the last 6 months from fairly decent performances, and over 2 points a game in our last 6 where we've apparently played poorly. And you're still not happy?!

Finally, you talk of rumours that things aren't a bed of roses in the dressing room. Firstly, rumours have been shown time and again on here to have no substance. Unpaid hotel bills, lawn mowers being removed, cold showers etc etc. But even if the dressing room wasn't perfect, show me one that is? Footballers are like kids. Everyone wants to play every game in their favoured position and in their own way. A manager has to pick 11 to do the job that he wants. Not everyone will like this and you will always get a few that won't fit in as a result. Every Oxford manager has had the same issues, and will in the future.

So you can carry on living in your real world, and will find those that support the "Robinson is rubbish" narrative, but I'll much rather look at the reality of our situation rather than making sweeping statements that are meaningless.

 

[Shropshire U]

It's still too early for much of this debate.
The unit of measurement in football is called "the season", not a sub-set of matches. We've only just emerged from the relegation places and are still in danger of falling back into them, depending on the results of others as well as our own.
Ultimately it might be in our favour that there are so many teams in trouble, we might win at Relegation Russian Roulette whilst others take the bullet.
I welcomed Robinson's appointment but am now very much in the doubters' camp. But he's still got time to prove he can sustain recent progress.

 

[yellowbow]

Karl Robinson: I've never feared the sack at Oxford United this season

THE precarious nature of life as a football manager has been on show with two departures in three days – but Karl Robinson says he has not feared…

www.oxfordmail.co.uk

 

[Sarge]

Karl Robinson: I've never feared the sack at Oxford United this season

THE precarious nature of life as a football manager has been on show with two departures in three days – but Karl Robinson says he has not feared…

www.oxfordmail.co.uk

With an absentee owner, who 'visits' every so often, for a few days & absentee board members, some of whom have yet to be seen at an OUFC match since they've been appointed, and 'cashflow problems' resulting in HMRC petions being issued, I'd say KR has probably the safest manager/ head coach job in English football, and knows it too