Robinson is a clown

I think prior to OUFC it looks like his win percentage was more around the 40% margin as opposed to what it is now.

He inherited a crap team and in my opinion kept us up. I think he certainly deserves some time as the bloke quite obviously isn’t a bad manager.

I’m not entirely sure he’s brought the right people in or is trusting some existing players too much but we’ll see.
 
Far too early to call for anyone's head and far too early as well to say whether he is the right man or not. Certainly didn't have a strong foundation to start from (where as the opposite was true of Clotet) which doesn't help but it is his side now and on that he will be judged.

Early days but some worrying results and signs. Firstly, he might want to start managing the PR. Lots of statements that haven't materialised and currently sounding a little bit rattled which hardly installs confidence in the fans or the team. Needs to ease off on such (let someone else do most of the interviews) and start getting the team to do the talking for him!

The above said, based on the one friendly I managed to get across to see (Leeds U23) I wasn't convinced he has assembled the team to do the talking (I realised that day how much we had been spoilt in recent seasons). At half-time and on the way out I thought and stated that relegation survival was probably our best hope (compared to at least challenging for play-offs previous seasons) without substantial signings as there seemed to be holes throughout the team. Dickie looked far to raw (light-weight, naive and a little slow) to be first choice CB, and the full backs looked anything but a 'class above' with the right side horribly slow and exposed by youngsters (can only hope it was / is match fitness). Midfield without the exception of Brannagan was non-existant (Carruthers classy moments but in and out, Ruffels the game passed him by (against U23's just one league above(!)) and Henry quiet too) and only Hall looked really threatening. Obika had a good game but clear that was probably based on the fact that he was against kids who he could through his weight around with a little!

I know some on here seemed happy with the signings on transfer day (Hanson seems a good signing on paper and based on seeing him for Charlton Holmes is a great signing), but I have to say that I was somewhat underwhelmed as I felt that we needed four, ideally five quality signings (who doesn't I know - but in our case I felt this was the minimum needed for survival and perhaps an optimistic top half finish) and therefore was surprised we only got the two and one prospect for the future. Whether that is Robinsons fault or elsewhere I of course don't know.

As stated above, it is still early days and one can only hope that what I saw, and the results to date are about players getting up to speed and gelling. Being fair to Robinson he needs to be judged over a couple of months not a couple of weeks. He has however I think a mountain to climb now but that doesn't mean he can't do such. We will know soon enough although I hope we don't leave it as long as Clotet if i becomes clear it is another mistake we've made!

Looking forward to the Autumn and the next trip across to see the U's - and Robinson proving he know far more about football than most of us on here!
 
I still have confidence in KR. But it is slowly eroding. He clearly didnt get many of his first choices this summer, i dont think he was expecting a reduced budget, far from it. Defeats are ok with a team finding their feet. Its the ineptness of pretty much all players that isnt in terms of execution.

But from what i can see so far theres been scattergun recruitment. The team doesnt seem to have a clue on how to play, change tactics, or defend.

With Appy, he had a plan and recruited players brilliantly to play it. Robbo said he wanted swift positive wing play and signs Jamie Mackie to play there!

Needs to get a grip fast.

On the positive side (as promised) Robbo has great fashion sense.
 
I still have confidence in KR. But it is slowly eroding. He clearly didnt get many of his first choices this summer, i dont think he was expecting a reduced budget, far from it. Defeats are ok with a team finding their feet. Its the ineptness of pretty much all players that isnt in terms of execution.

But from what i can see so far theres been scattergun recruitment. The team doesnt seem to have a clue on how to play, change tactics, or defend.

With Appy, he had a plan and recruited players brilliantly to play it. Robbo said he wanted swift positive wing play and signs Jamie Mackie to play there!

Needs to get a grip fast.

On the positive side (as promised) Robbo has great fashion sense.
Many more performances like the two we have just witnessed would leave Tiger with little option but to cut him loose. Football management is a brutal business. Its not the fact we have lost, its the manner in which we have lost. I pray God it does not happen, but I wont be surprised if it does. So many problems ALL OVER the pitch. Massive, massive game at Fratton Park. Just give us something to cheer about.
 
I think KR needs to learn to put his brain in gear before he opens his mouth.
Sometimes I think he needs to think a bit more before speaking . I also think listening to some of those around me on Saturday they could do with getting a brain .
 
I don't think he was expecting a reduced budget, far from it.

In the patchy radio interview after the game, KR said something like "I've never spent so much money. Whether that's because I've got a lot more to spend or whether it's because I've been a tight so-and-so, I'll leave you to decide".
 
In the patchy radio interview after the game, KR said something like "I've never spent so much money. Whether that's because I've got a lot more to spend or whether it's because I've been a tight so-and-so, I'll leave you to decide".

He admitted hes working on a reduced budget to last season.
 
It is of course early days, and with both KR and S.Derry at the helm you would expect things to improve. Both know the league well enough to understand the level we need to be at, and they type of players needed. Whether or not Tiger has the patience to wait for this to come to fruition is another matter!
For me, as many have already said, the lack of effort is most worrying. Even if tactically we are immature, surely the players should be "up for the fight" to grind out a messy 1-0.
Get Fordy in to do pre-match warm up! Actually forget Fordy. Get John Sitton is for half time!
Kids cover your ears....
 
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It is of course early days, and with both KR and S.Derry at the helm you would expect things to improve. Both know the league well enough to understand the level we need to be at, and they type of players needed. Whether or not Tiger has the patience to wait for this to come to fruition is another matter!
For me, as many have already said, the lack of effort is most worrying. Even if tactically we are immature, surely the players should be "up for the fight" to grind out a messy 1-0.
Get Fordy in to do pre-match warm up! Actually forget Fordy. Get John Sitton is for half time!
Kids cover your ears....
Great stuff. Anyone know how they did in the second half?
 
KR says what he thinks the fans want to hear.

He also has a tendency to start many comments with "It's not an excuse, but..."

I'm yet to see decent strategy come together on the pitch, or evidence of any degree of tactical nous.

In fact, he's done little more than be a good man manager.

Would be delighted to be proven wrong over the course of the season.
 
He admitted hes working on a reduced budget to last season.

he didnt say he was working with a reduced budget. he said he had built this squad cheaper than last seasons squad - “We’ve come back on our budget a little bit as well – from where we were last year we’ve certainly got a better team for less money, which is great.

i think this is more KR blowing his own trumpet about how great he is that he can do that, not that the budget is less than last year. Tiger is clearly spending more across all areas of the club than DE did in the last year.
 
I admire Robinson’s honesty and openness but I can’t help thinking he’s shot himself in the foot a little bit again with his latest comments about having another outfield player lined up to come in but having to now cancel that to bring Mitchell in. Idont think it was necessary and just adds a little more pressure on the relatively inexperienced goalkeeper to be a success due to an important sacrifice that had to be made to get him here.

I’ll also add while I’m at it that I’m slightly pissed off that our ‘back-up’ goalkeeper in the squad can’t be trusted as back-up..?
 
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KR says what he thinks the fans want to hear.

He also has a tendency to start many comments with "It's not an excuse, but..."

I'm yet to see decent strategy come together on the pitch, or evidence of any degree of tactical nous.

In fact, he's done little more than be a good man manager.

Would be delighted to be proven wrong over the course of the season.

Last season showed he was a good manager,getting an absolute s**t team to get the points to stay up.
 
As someone put on twitter earlier, we’ve already got to the stage of analysing every word Robinson says and finding fault with it. He is right when he said even for Oxford fans that’s impressive.
Of course every manager says what he thinks fans want to hear. What managers say in the press really does have very little meaning considering the chances are they have said what they really think to the players and staff.
An example of this is Robinson saying the fans kept with the side on Saturday and backed the players the whole game. I lost count how many times the Radio Ox team said how poor the crowd were and they were almost in shock at how quiet the fans were for a first game of the season.
 
he didnt say he was working with a reduced budget. he said he had built this squad cheaper than last seasons squad - “We’ve come back on our budget a little bit as well – from where we were last year we’ve certainly got a better team for less money, which is great.

i think this is more KR blowing his own trumpet about how great he is that he can do that, not that the budget is less than last year. Tiger is clearly spending more across all areas of the club than DE did in the last year.

That’s generous in the extreme.
The budget is not as big as last season. Nor should it be
 
I take the point about the fans being quiet. But in truth, we didn’t really provide enough excitement on the pitch to get the crowd going.
I guess we rely pretty heavily on the players to provide the spark.
 
he didnt say he was working with a reduced budget. he said he had built this squad cheaper than last seasons squad - “We’ve come back on our budget a little bit as well – from where we were last year we’ve certainly got a better team for less money, which is great.

i think this is more KR blowing his own trumpet about how great he is that he can do that, not that the budget is less than last year. Tiger is clearly spending more across all areas of the club than DE did in the last year.

So you think the budget is the same/more than last season, but KR choose to pay less?
 
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