Oxford United boss Liam Manning on formations and MK Dons comparisons

The U’s have played with three centre backs in their last three games, beginning with the trip to Stevenage on September 30.

United won 3-1 that afternoon, with Manning retaining the 3-4-2-1 formation in the home victories against Shrewsbury Town and Bristol Rovers earlier this month.

There has been an underlying feeling that Manning would eventually switch to a three-man defence at some point after he became head coach in March.

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While in charge at MK Dons, Manning’s side was synonymous with playing three at the back, with the side receiving plaudits for their expansive style and third-placed finish in Sky Bet League One during the 2021/22 campaign.

However, having guided the U’s to safety using a 4-2-3-1 set-up last season, he stuck with that shape at the beginning of this campaign until the visit to Stevenage.

Manning said: “We recruited to play a back four. The system element is an interesting one in football.

“It’s quite common now that people talk around structures and principles of play, which we are definitely driven by.

“I think the system is more so out of possession, you probably see it more evident then.

“What the back three has allowed us to do in possession is to try and create a certain shape or certain rotation that we want, that is probably a little easier at the minute in terms of getting people in slots where they can bring their strengths to the team.

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“We will go back to a four at some point, and when that will be, I won’t be saying obviously.

“The quality we’ve got and set-up in terms of game plans, we know what we want it to look like.

“We want to dominate the ball, we want to attack, we want to be hard to beat, and whether you do that with a three, four or five at the back is kind of irrelevant.”

Manning also played down comparisons between his Dons side which reached the play-offs and a U’s team which is currently riding high in the third tier.

“It’s a completely different group. We’ve got different qualities in this group to what we had at MK,” he said.

“Of course, I’ve learnt from the experience but it’s not something that I’m directly comparing, or reliving and recalling.

“I learnt a lot over the course of last season in terms of the final 10 games here and the start we had at MK, and being out of work for three months.

“It was a huge learning year for me, and I was ready to get back in

“For me, it’s about how have we evolved since that year?

“I feel as staff we work better, and as a coach and manager, I feel I’ve improved since that time.

“I don’t spend time looking back at it. For me, it’s just living in the present and how do we move forward?”