Schumacher's Oxford Preview

On Tuesday night, Argyle head to Oxford United in Sky Bet League One, in the midst of a particularly busy run of fixtures.

The trip to the Kassam Stadium is one of three midweek games in four weeks, on top of regular Saturday matches.

Argyle began this recent spate of fixtures with a 3-1 win over Portsmouth at Home Park in which manager Steven Schumacher heavily rotated his squad, making eight changes to his previous starting line-up.

Any raised eyebrows were soon lowered by the result and performance as Argyle moved back to the top of the table, and speaking to Argyle TV on Monday morning, Schumacher explained the rotation, citing the desire to keep as many players at peak condition as a driving factor.

“Part of the reasoning of why we made some changes on Saturday was it was our first game of five in 14 days,” he said. “It's not possible to play with the same 11 players for five games straight and be able to play with the intensity that we need to for us to play well and get results.

“It's so good to have a strong squad to choose from. It was good to get Mickel [Miller] minutes. He’s been out for so long and I thought he played really well for an hour. We're going to have to manage his body and make sure that he's right for the next time he's available.

“That's the same with everybody we need. It's that balance of getting the team that's going to go on and have a chance of winning the game, but also getting everybody physically right so that when they play, they're ready. That's not only just my job, that's the performance team's job as well, to make sure everyone's fit, firing and raring to go when they get the opportunity.

“We have a constant measure on the data: on the training loads and game loads.

"It's a tricky job, but it's one you just try your best on. Sometimes you need a little bit of luck. Sometimes you need players just to get into a rhythm and into a bit of a flow.

“That's just part of the constant battle through the week of keeping an eye on everything as much as you can, the detail, which probably sounds a bit boring.

“With new players coming, since January we've gone back to: ‘look, this is how we do things.’ We've gone through some attacking patterns of play unopposed, so you can work on the detail. We've gone through out-of-possession stuff where you need to go around every player and make sure that they're taking on the information.

“I sat with Jay Matete last week. He's been a brilliant player and everyone's seen him, but there's still little details in his game, in the way we defend, the way we play that he has just got to get right. That's our job, that's the battle from that side of it to make sure everybody understands what they're doing.”

Over the past three seasons, Karl Robinson’s Oxford have finished fourth, sixth and eighth in the league, but are finding things tougher this season.

United are 16th in the division, with 36 points from their 31 games. They took the notable scalp of high-flying Ipswich Town in mid-January, but lost four in a row after that, then drew 1-1 with Milton Keynes Dons at the weekend.

When Oxford came to Home Park earlier in the campaign, Argyle won 1-0. In fact, the Pilgrims have won the last three meetings between the sides, including a 3-1 victory at the Kassam last season.

“I think everyone's surprised to see where Oxford are in the league because they've been one of the stronger teams in the division for years under Karl and their staff,” said Steven.

“They always seem to be in and around the playoffs but, this year, for whatever reason, they find themselves in the bottom half of the division unexpectedly.

“We'd be stupid to take them lightly or think that this is going to be an easy game. They are in the bottom half of the division, but it was only a few weeks ago that they beat Ipswich at home 2-1.

“I know they're in a bit of a tough run at the moment. They've lost a few on the spin and got a draw on the weekend against MK Dons, but they are still a threat.

“It was a real tough game here. It was a close game at the start of the season, so I'm sure it'll be the same and they'll be desperate to turn their form around.

“They've always been a team that can create chances, that always play nice football. They've always got good movement. That's one of the things that stands out about Karl’s teams, the rotation that they have throughout the attacking players. That takes a little bit of figuring out about how we're going to press and what we're going to do when we haven't got the ball. Then, obviously, we need to have a plan as well for when we do get the ball.

“I think there will be times where we might have spells of possession. I remember last time we played there, we defended very well then counter-attacked and scored a couple of times.”

Once again, Schumacher will have decisions to make about his selection on Tuesday night. His decisions against Portsmouth were partially informed by injuries ruling out Mike Cooper and Dan Scarr. Niall Ennis also missed out against Pompey, while Adam Randell limped off early in the second half.

Schumacher offered an update on Randell and Ennis, while once against extolling the virtues of the strong squad he has put together.

“Niall Ennis is back on the grass training,” said Schumacher. “He trained Saturday and he's doing a bit today (Monday), so we'll have to have a chat about that one.

“Adam Randall might be a bit sore. He rolled his ankle a little bit in a tackle, that's why he had to come off. Adam wouldn't come off unless it was a serious injury, so we'll have to have a little look at him today, see how he is. If he's not 100%, then he won't be risked because we have got that squad.

“We left Jordan Houghton out of the squad on Saturday because we didn't need an extra midfield player, and he's been a brilliant player for us.

“That's the benefit of having a strong squad; if we do have an injury or a knock, then somebody who’s a really good player will step in.”