Opposition Insight: Oxford United

Oxford have won the last five meetings against arch-rivals Swindon Town, Total Sport spoke to Oxford Mail Chief Sports Writer Dave Pritchard to get the lowdown on United.

How have Oxford adjusted and/or coped with the summer departure of star man Kemar Roofe to Leeds?

Losing someone of his class was always going to be tough and fairly unrealistic to replace straight away.

United have not attempted to bring in a like-for-like replacement, but have instead strengthened across the side. 

They have ended up signing 15 players this summer, although a couple of loans were forced to cover injuries, so it may take a little while before we see the side hit top gear. 

Manager Michael Appleton has garnered somewhat of a reputation for moving clubs regularly. Do you think he is found a club he is settled at in Oxford and do you think he has a long-term vision for the club in place?

Getting rid of that reputation has certainly been a goal since his arrival in July 2014. From the outset he made it clear he came to Oxford to build something over an extended period of time and it has worked so far.

He is nearly in the top 20 longest-serving managers currently in work in England and signed a new contract at the end of last season, so there is no intention of moving on.

Between Boxing Day and late April last season Oxford only managed two home wins. What was that down to? How can it be improved? And what is the likelihood of it being rectified?

Home form at the Kassam Stadium has been an issue for some time. I think the main issue was that, in League Two, most teams saw going to Oxford and taking a point as a good result, so more often than not they would sit back and attempt to frustrate. 

In terms of rectifying it, I think the simplest way was to earn promotion. Oxford are not as big a fish in League One, so there will be more teams coming to them looking to win. That leads to a more open game, which suits the home side and results so far on home soil have been promising.

Oxford announced a loss of £2.4 million in April. Has the Roofe money wiped that? If not, is the current Yellows model sustainable?

That figure covered the first year after a takeover of the club. I think the new board were always resigned to losing a siginificant amount in that period as they got things into the sort of shape they wanted.

The biggest problem United face - and it is not a new issue - is they do not own the ground.

This means there is a double whammy of paying rent and then not having access to the profitable conference facilities.

Until they own their own home, United will have to sell players like Roofe and Callum O'Dowda (who joined Bristol City for £1 million), to help balance the books.

What classifies as a successful season for Oxford this season? Obviously the club are newly-promoted, but are ambitions higher than just consolidation in League One for the year?

Like most of the division, the U's aim to reach the Championship.

But it has been 15 years since the club was last in the third tier, so there is very little expectation it will happen this season.

I think as long as they stay out of trouble and make progress over the 46 games the season will be a success. 

Who will the key man be for the U's on Saturday?

Oxford have a few players who could make a difference, but Chris Maguire will be worth watching.

The versatile forward has played in some big occasions during his career and they always seem to bring the best out of him.

Derby days can be too much for some players, but he will thrive on the pressure.

Total Sport Swindon would like to extend their thanks to David for taking the time and effort to answer our questions.