Monday 11 June 2012

Wilder Under Pressure To Deliver

A seasont that promised so much ended in bitter disappointment for Oxford United. Despite an impressive start to the season and a memorable derby victory over Swindon Town, a late slump in form cost United a place in the play-offs. Chris Wilder will now go into new season under intense pressure to improve on the 9th place finish.


Following the spineless 3-0 defeat to Port Vale in the last game of the campaign, Wider cursed United’s crippling injury list as the cause of the downward spiral. While this certainly played a part, Wilder cannot escape the line of fire. It was his decision to bring in a string of hapless loan signings, including the sulky and arrogant Dean Morgan that did more to hinder, rather than bolster Oxford’s promotion push. Morgan’s ‘sit-in’ Gillingham’s penalty area mid-way through a turgid goalless draw was the icing on the cake for the majority of the Oxford supporters and they let their frustrations out on the strutting winger. Wilder ought to have taken this as a sign; the line-up he had persisted with the previous month was clearly not working. The loan signings did not possess the creative spark or quality to carry Oxford out of the division. However, Wilder stuck to his guns and Oxford inevitably bowed out with a whimper. The Kassam Stadium will play host to League 2 football once again next season.

For Wilder, the ‘rebuilding’ process begins once more. Mercifully, Oxford’s manager decided against making Morgan and Cristian Montano’s loan signings permanent. Scott Rendell, for all his effort and energy, is not the man to fire United to promotion glory and Oxford should aim higher than the Wycombe man. James Constable continues to be linked with a move away from the Kassam and after a testing campaign, United must decide whether to keep faith with their talisman or not. If Constable remains at Oxford, Wilder has to be prepared to build his team around the bulldozing striker, as ‘Beano’ is clearly ineffectual from the bench. With or without Constable, Oxford desperately require a goal-scoring centre-forward. Marc Richards, the Port Vale striker, fitted the bill perfectly, but elected to join relegated Chesterfield and instead Oxford snapped up his Vale team-mate, Sean Rigg. Wilder must make this his Summer priority.

Aside from this, Oxford have to work Peter Leven into a leaner physical shape, as he oozes a grace and class rarely seen at the Kassam. His goal from the half-way line at home to Port Vale was a truly majestic strike. However, towards the latter stages of the season, Leven was too immobile and sluggish to dictate proceedings. A fit Leven could be the secret to a successful future campaign for Oxford.
One piece of encouraging news for Oxford was Michael Duberry’s decision to remain with the club for a further season. The influence and experience of ‘Dubes’ shored up United’s defence last season and the serial Tweeter will certainly play an invaluable role in next season’s campaign.

After two successive seasons of narrowly missing out on the play-offs, one hopes that Wilder can build on the lessons learnt to steer Oxford to promotion glory. If not, it could be a case of three strikes and out for the Oxford boss.

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