Football Season Review

After having a massively disappointing 2017/18 season, Oxford entered the new campaign hoping to maintain the progress made under Karl Robinson late in the previous season, and push for a play-off place. Things did not go according to plan, mostly due to the U's bizarre away form, as they drew just under half of their away games, and did not record their first away win until late February. This was despite them actually playing some decent stuff on their travels, but the lack of ability to grind out results is a well-known shortcoming of Robinson's coaching philosophy. While Oxford had shown signs of promise earlier in the season, their lack of results on their travels made it impossible for them to move away from the relegation zone, and only their fine run in the last two months of the campaign allowed them to move into the midtable places. The U's needing a lot of time to hit top form is not too much of a surprise, given that they underwent a lot of changes not only in the summer, but also throughout the previous season. At the moment, it seems that Robinson has finally got the side to gel and the U's will enter the upcoming season with optimism and the hope that they can improve on this season's finish.

Player of the Season: Josh Ruffels