{"id":636391,"date":"2024-02-23T05:39:23","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T10:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=636391"},"modified":"2024-02-23T05:39:23","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T10:39:23","slug":"des-buckingham-quotes-oxford-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/02\/23\/des-buckingham-quotes-oxford-united\/","title":{"rendered":"Des Buckingham: Quotes From the Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

After another league draw and ahead of another important fixture, we’ll take a look at some of the important quotes from Oxford United<\/a> head coach, Des Buckingham.<\/p>\n

Des Buckingham Quotes From the Week<\/h2>\n

‘He Needs to Keep Learning’<\/h3>\n

On Tuesday, Des Buckingham addressed the development of defender, Stephan Negru.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old was a key part as the U’s kept a clean sheet against Wycombe but has made errors in recent draws against Reading and Northampton.<\/p>\n

Despite that, and injuries aside, Buckingham believes he is on the right track. He said<\/a>: \u201cHe needs to keep learning, firstly from Elliott Moore, who is a wonderful role model.<\/p>\n

\u201cElliott\u2019s still young himself, but to have someone like Elliott, as club captain, to be around day-to-day, will help serve him in his development.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, to continue developing his own playing style with the coaches, and the way we want him to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether he plays in place of Elliott, as we saw at the weekend, or whether he\u2019s used in a different system, like we have done in a back three at times, that\u2019s two different ways he can play.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a young player trying to forge your career, when you\u2019ve got senior players in front of you, it can be difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pleasing thing is that Steph is one of many good people here. He knows what he\u2019s here for and he\u2019s working very hard on his game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he gets his opportunities, which he has got since I\u2019ve been here, he\u2019s ready to step in and step up, because he needs to contribute.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘It\u2019s Frustrating to Leave With What We Thought Was Going to be Three Points’<\/h3>\n

Later that evening, Oxford were held to another draw after conceding a late equaliser against Northampton.<\/p>\n

The U’s took an early lead and regained their advantage on 81 minutes but were pegged back twice, with the second goal coming in stoppage time.<\/p>\n

After the game, Buckingham said:<\/a> \u201cWe wanted to start fast. In the last couple of games, we\u2019ve been a little bit slow to get going and then finished strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went with a bit more of an attacking line-up, and you saw that with the formation and the players on the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get the goal after six minutes put us on a good front foot. They scored from their only chance, and it was us playing it out from the back, trying to play a way through them, with a mistake for them to equalise.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then in the second half, we\u2019ve done enough with the changes, to get ourselves back in front.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen it\u2019s making sure we manage those final few minutes of the game, to come away with the three points.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a big hint of offside in the equaliser, but there\u2019s still a lot more we can do better after that moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s frustrating to leave with what we thought was going to be three points, and leave with the one.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘We’ll See How He Is and Take It From There’<\/h3>\n

Against the Cobblers, Oxford lost key player Cameron Brannagan to injury. The midfielder slid in for a challenge but came off the worse.<\/p>\n

Despite playing on, Buckingham was forced to bring his star player off the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a little bit concerned when he went down, but the medical team cleared him of all the tests they did on the pitch,” Des Buckingham said<\/a> after the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was okay in himself to continue. He gave it a go but just wasn\u2019t comfortable in the end. We\u2019ll see how he is and take it from there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a worry but we\u2019ve got Jay Matete here, and we brought Josh McEachran on, so we\u2019ve got cover in those positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never want to be without players like Marcus McGuane and Cameron Brannagan because whether they\u2019re starters, or people that come on, they have a massive impact on what we want to do.”<\/p>\n

‘It\u2019s Down to Those Three or Four to Fight Amongst Themselves’<\/h3>\n

One player that has been omitted from the last two matchday squads is winger, Tyler Burey.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old had impressed off the bench before being handed his first start against Portsmouth, which was followed up against Reading and Blackpool.<\/p>\n

However, he was replaced at half-time against the Seasiders and is yet to feature since.<\/p>\n

Buckingham said:<\/a> \u201cWe\u2019ve gone from having no wingers three or four weeks ago, to now where we\u2019ve got Tyler Goodrham and Owen Dale coming off the bench, and Billy Bodin can play there too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve pushed Greg (Leigh) up there, so we\u2019ve got three or four options. It\u2019s down to those three or four to fight amongst themselves within training, and get themselves firstly in the matchday squad, and have an impact when they get a chance in the games.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll (Burey) get that, but it\u2019s important he shows that on the training pitch. He\u2019s been very good around the group, but it\u2019s just a numbers game with everybody else back.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘He Should Be In Full Contention for Saturday’<\/h3>\n

Providing an update on Brannagan, Des Buckingham said:<\/a> \u201cHe\u2019s a little bit sore on his knee, but should be okay for Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s gone and done an individual session and the intention is for him to train tomorrow, as long as the pain goes away, which it looks like it will.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe should be in full contention for Saturday. If he\u2019s fully fit, then yes, absolutely he\u2019ll start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buckingham also spoke on the injuries to Elliott Moore, Marcus McGuane and Fin Stevens, adding: \u201cElliott is unlikely for the weekend, but Marcus and Fin are both back in contention.\u201d<\/p>\n

’75 Points Will Be Enough to Make the Play-Offs’<\/h3>\n

Oxford United are currently fifth in League One, on 57 points, meaning another 18 points will be required from their final 12 games if they are to hit the 75-point mark, according to Buckingham.<\/p>\n

He said<\/a>: \u201cWe think that if we look at how the league is trending, that 75 points will be enough to make the play-offs, and then 90 to get automatics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a target, but I think there\u2019ll be a target for everyone trying to make those positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look back across the last three games, at Blackpool, we\u2019ve had a really good chance to win the game with a header that\u2019s come off the post from Billy Bodin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think we played particularly well at Wycombe, but we\u2019ve done enough to come away with the result, and there was a penalty for me, that wasn\u2019t given, that could\u2019ve given us three points.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other night, we were two or three minutes from leaving with another two points instead of one.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s those moments that are very important, but we know that will change. We\u2019ve seen the impact that whether it\u2019s from the start, like on Tuesday night, we can come flying out of the blocks and get goals early, rather than having to react like we had done in previous games.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After another league draw and ahead of another important fixture, we’ll take a look at some of the important quotes from Oxford United head coach, Des Buckingham. Des Buckingham Quotes From the Week ‘He Needs to Keep Learning’ On Tuesday, Des Buckingham addressed the development of defender, Stephan Negru. The 21-year-old was a key part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":335,"featured_media":636393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8430,32,34],"tags":[9756],"class_list":["post-636391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oxford-united","category-league-football","category-league12","tag-des-buckingham"],"modified_by":"Dale Ventham, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/335"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}