
8 ways Liam Manning has transformed Oxford United

Liam Manning has led Oxford United to three straight league wins, including two away triumphs against last season’s promotion candidates, Derby and Barnsley, as he aims to turn 2022/23’s underachievers into 2023/24’s success story.
With the team sitting pretty in fourth four games in, he’s started nicely – here’s how he’s gone about the job at the Kassam Stadium…
Collaborative Recruitment
In 2022, Karl Robinson reportedly bypassed a lot of the advice he was given by his recruitment team, and the result was a poor window.
Ciaron Brown was a success after signing from Cardiff, but it was otherwise an unwanted mixture of some players with questionable attitudes, and others with poor fitness records – so the resultant injury-crisis seemed self-inflicted and the team languished in the bottom half, ultimately finishing 19th.
This summer, Head Coach Liam Manning has co-operated better in the process, welcoming the insight of highly-rated Head of Recruitment Ed Waldron, who returned to the club from Bordeaux, among others.
Of the eight players signed this summer, three have been immediate, roaring successes – Mark Harris, James Beadle and Stanley Mills – Ruben Rodrigues looks a smart addition on paper, while Josh McEachran, Fin Stevens, Jordan Thorniley and Max Woltman haven’t played much yet for different reasons.
Lovely Loans
Manning’s high-end contacts have been a factor in some strong loan business, with Beadle and Mills being the pick of the bunch.
Brighton have an appealing crop of talented young goalkeepers and Beadle is another high-rated prospect at the south coast club, who enjoyed a positive half-season at Crewe.
The England Under-20s star is a strong shot stopper, who can also distribute nicely which allows the U’s to play good football on the deck.
Mills, meanwhile, is a 19-year-old – despite his name sounding like he played in the 1950s! – and the quick, direct Everton winger has enjoyed a strong start to life at the Kassam Stadium, producing perhaps his best performance yet at Oakwell.
Stevens is yet to get ahead of Sam Long after joining on loan from Brentford, but the driven right-back brings a more attacking dimension and his time will certainly come – his ability to play at right wing-back also allows Manning to switch system in game.
Mixing the Game Up
Oxford are capable of playing smooth, controlled football through midfield, building play patiently, but at certain moments, they can also be a bit more pragmatic and play on the counter-attack.
In Saturday’s 3-1 victory at Barnsley, for example, Oxford were different things at different times: they got their press spot on from the beginning, at certain moments they controlled play through Cameron Brannagan and Marcus McGuane in midfield, but then they had the adaptability in the second half.
Manning’s opposite number, Neill Collins, made a triple alteration on 66 minutes, bringing on two strikers whilst only taking one off, meaning Barnsley had effectively three up top – Max Watters, Devante Cole, and Aiden Marsh.
The first five minutes after that alteration was hellish for Oxford, and the Reds got a goal back through Cole’s header from a corner – but then Manning made a crucial system change.
He withdrew attacking midfielder Billy Bodin for right-back Fin Stevens and, as above, put the Bees loanee at wing-back by moving Sam Long into a back-three, whilst pushing left-back Ciaron Brown into the other wing-back spot.
This meant the Yellows had Long marking Marsh, Stephan Negru on Watters and Elliott Moore on Devante Cole to match up their hosts, with the wing-backs providing defensive support in a 5-2-3.
Striker Gatlin O’Donkor also came on, for Harris, and carried a counter-attacking threat with his powerful running and hold-up play, along with Tyler Goodrham, who got the crucial third goal on the break.
Manning’s in-game management looks very strong and could be crucial to Oxford taking points off the top sides.
Brave with Youth
O’Donkor’s finishing might still be slightly raw, but his all-round game looks more refined than it did last season, especially in terms of hold-up play, while Goodrham appears to have a smoother link-up play about him too.
The involvement of both represents a risk for Manning, with only one year of senior football under their belts, and the Head Coach would have been within his rights to call for more established options on his substitutes’ bench.
Manning, though, has been willing to develop O’Donkor and Goodrham to new heights, which is great for the U’s because it means that even if 2023/24 isn’t a roaring success in terms of incredible results on the field, they will still come out of it with two or three major assets which is ideal for sustainability.
It’s a similar story for Stephane Negru, who came to Oxford from Shelbourne last summer with just nine senior games under his belt in Ireland, before a quiet debut campaign for the 21-year-old.
This season, however, the early injury to summer recruit Jordan Thorniley in week two’s 1-0 home victory over Carlisle saw Negru get his chance, and he’s not since let it go.
An earthy barker to complement Moore’s cool, assured presence, Negru offers the aggression required to thrive at the fundamentals, but also enough ball-playing talent to slot into the system, and attract attention from Brighton.
Oxford have thrived with centre-backs in recent years, and Negru could be another one on that production line.
Rock-solid Rear-guard
Moore’s experience will be crucial to helping Negru along, while the solidity provided by Long and Brown in full-back areas is a huge plus.
The duo bore the brunt of criticism after the opening day 2-0 loss at Cambridge, but since then they’ve not put a foot wrong, and have kept the shape of the back-four very much in place.
It could be argued that Oxford miss some attacking thrust from their full-backs when both play in Manning’s 4-2-3-1, and it’s reported the club are aiming to bring in an attacking left-back to compete with Brown, like Stevens does with Long on the right.
Having two rampaging, adventurous full-backs, though, would arguably leave the Yellows wide open and deprive them of the solidity they’ve enjoyed in their three consecutive league wins.
A midfield pairing of Cameron Brannagan and Marcus McGuane, behind Billy Bodin or Ruben Rodrigues in the number 10 role, is rather attacking, and short of an orthodox destroyer, even if the deeper duo can chip in defensively.
With the solid full-backs, Oxford are tough to dislodge.
Trust in Harris
When Mark Harris was at Cardiff, he was an industrious second striker who did his best work grafting in the channels, and creating space for other forwards to grab the headlines.
The question for Oxford was, having had Matty Taylor offering the ‘fox-in-the-box’ presence in Play-Off pushes between 2019/20 and 2021/22, whether Harris could do likewise after nine goals in 87 appearances for Cardiff, albeit in the league above.
Manning, though, has given him the confidence to channel his work rate in more individualistic fashion, and focus more on getting in on goal, rather than helping others do so – he’s since scored three in four.
It shows excellent man management and coaching ability to get that skill out of Harris, when it’s not something that’s been associated with him previously.
Maximizing the Midfield
Because Oxford were so disappointing last season, it can be easy to forget how good their squad is on paper.
Midfield is the case in point, where Brannagan and McGuane are two of the best in the league – but still, they’ve gone up another gear under Manning.
Brannagan has added defensive discipline to game, as well as the dynamic, driven qualities with which he’s always been associated, while McGuane has gone from being simply an enigmatic technician who can ping a diagonal, to this complete, ‘do-it-all’ midfielder with an outstanding work ethic.
Manning can not only improve young players, he’s also developing the star performers!
Calm and Collected
Manning has learnt a lot from his time at MK Dons, where he oversaw an impressive 89-point haul before a Play-Off Semi-Final defeat to Wycombe in his first season, prior to a deeply disappointing 2022/23 that ultimately ended in relegation after he left in January.
So far, it seems as though Oxford are getting not only more like the 2021/22 version of Manning, they’re also getting a wizened, matured version of the Head Coach who has more depth to his management.
At just 37, Manning could be one to watch as he aims to lead Oxford into the Championship – do that and suitors may come calling!