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Located in the Thames Valley and the oldest university in the country, Oxford in many tactics embodies the best society in the South East of England, but if the city’s professional football team reaches the championship on Monday night, good luck will have an impact. different scouse. Attention.
The Duke of Wellington reportedly proclaimed that the Battle of Waterloo “had taken place in the playgrounds of eton.”
Well, the March of Oxford United on the verge of returning to the key moment of English football, you can say that it has been forged on the educational grounds of the Liverpool FC Academy in Kirkby.
Although ”The Us’, as they are known through their fans, they have a budget from the back of Ligue 1, with their parties in conflict at Wembley Wycombe Wanderers (start at 7.30pm), fought against the monetary odds and threats of COVID-19 to end the season in the declining divisions, been 90 minutes from the escalation.
The guy who passed his Oxford exam to direct this is Scouser Karl Robinson, a former Liverpool youth coach and longtime Reds fan.
Robinson told ECHO: “Steve Heighway (the longtime Liverpool academy director) and his attention to detail, humility and disciplinary nature appeal to me.
“He’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, yet he’s also one of the most ruthless people in terms of becoming young players.
“I told him I was coming to one of our games a few years ago. We had the former Liverpool player with Darren Potter. I said, “Pottsy, Steve Heighway is coming.” I’ve never noticed a player getting so nervous 10 years later. I knew I’d have anything to say to make him a better player.
“Now we have Woody (Ben Woodburn), whom I met when I was 8 years old; and Cameron Brannagan, whom I’ve known since I was seven, has all gone through this system.”
Robinson added: “It was once known as England’s largest academy with the players it brought.
“There was a time when it was becoming a little sterile, but now Jurgen Klopp is back appearing a remarkable religion in him and they are reaping the rewards.”
“There are so many parts of my global that I use and respect.
“The only wonderful thing about Liverpool is what the badge means to other people on the street.
“It’s a collective force and with everyone running together, it becomes a much tougher institution, it’s anything you’re told about when you paint somewhere for so long.”
Although he was only 40 on September 13, Robinson already has more than a decade of control over his credits after starting 29-year-old MK Dons in May 2010.
After more than six years in his first job, he spent months at Charlton Athletic before taking over Oxford on 22 March 2018, the same day he left the South London club.
Long periods of painting in the South have not eroded Robinson’s self-destructive sense of humor, when asked how he has evolved as a manager, jokes: “I got worse, I got bigger!”
However, once the ice is damaged with a joke, its seriousness comes out soon.
He said: “I think I’ve become a bigger user. As I was so young when I started, I tried to be a manager explaining why I became one, who was a coach and a user looking to make other people bigger like footballers.
“I think you make mistakes from the beginning. I had the right to make these mistakes, but I hope that the young players I worked with would also allow them to be informed of their mistakes.
“Tactically, you’re more aware. Whether as an assistant or as a coach, I’ll have to have been out for over a thousand games now. From League Two, League One, the Championship, in addition to the Premier League as a coach with Black Burn.
“There’s no bachelor party that’s going through that I’m not informed of anything, whether it’s the good, the bad or the ugly.
“I think I’m better off from football, and the game has taught me that. Besides, my golf is much better now, which is just as important.
Preparations for the big game at Oxford United have been discreet and Robinson confirms that his team will not deviate from the same catering routine.
He said: “We’ll meet at the hotel and have our same boring bolognese and bean dinner.
“It’s the only thing we didn’t miss the blockade, the mundane meals before the game that looks like we have week after week.”
His players have also avoided the opportunity to take a look at Wembley before the game.
Robinson said: “They had a choice. They felt that if they were going to use pictures of themselves in Wembley, it would be unless they came out victorious.”
Besides, of course, none will cheer them on the national stage.
Less than 27 miles from the M40 separating Oxford from High Wycombe and general circumstances, the two amateur teams would have taken the same direction towards Wembley.
Robinson was particularly inspired by the way his beloved Liverpool maintained his remarkable degrees of intensity under Klopp to finish his Premier League name of Project Restart.
He was impressed with their demonstration in their first game at Anfield, a 4-0 Crystal Palace goal that left them at break point of their first league championship in 30 years, and hopes their own players can make an extra effort.
Robinson said: “The Liverpool demonstration opposite the Palace was the first time since the lockdown that I noticed a team play and gave the impression that there was a room full.
“We all attended the games at Anfield where we saw the enthusiasts watching, the players ahead.
“There’s a lot of internal motivation, even after winning the title, to keep betting with that intensity.
“We all know that enthusiasts can give you those few meters.
“It was a big concern for me to locate a rhythm for my players. We play safely, press the front foot and want enthusiasts to interact with that pressure intensity.
“I don’t compare myself to Liverpool in any way, we’re a million miles worse than them, yet you can use little pieces of inspiration and see how people can.”