Our Head Coach assessed Saturday's clash for the assembled media at Oakwell.
ON LUCA CONNELL
"Luca was at the training ground for the first time today in a while, that's a step in the right direction. It was great to see him. I think it was a great boost for everyone to see him. But again, as you can understand, it's very difficult. We'll start building him back up slowly and surely."
ON LIAM MANNING
"I've not met him before. He was Head of Coaching at New York City. I noticed the great job he did in his first season at MK Dons. Difficult in the second season, but you can see already he's having a mark at Oxford. We're looking forward to playing against them."
ON THE GAME
"They'll be coming here full of confidence having had that result [2-1 win over Derby at Pride Park]. To go to Derby and Barnsley in the space of five/six days is a really tough ask, but when you win the first one it certainly makes it feel a little bit more palatable for them. But we've got to make it as difficult as we possibly can."
ON OXFORD UNITED
"At Derby I think they did a good job of getting the balance right. They played some good football, they defended manfully as you'd expect at Pride Park. Defended set pieces well, countered very well. He [Manning] won a lot of games with a good side at MK Dons and a good style, but there's more to it than that. He obviously knows how to organise his teams to defend. We'll need to be good against the ball, be patient at times because they do like to try and keep it. But, we're at home and we want to implement our style."
ON THE DEATH OF SIR MICHAEL PARKINSON
"An icon. For people that grew up watching him on television, just a class act. The fact he's from Barnsley makes it even more sad. It just shows you, from a place like Barnsley anything is possible. To become that icon, it's sad news."
