MICHAEL Appleton has revealed Oxford United have considered fielding a back three, but will only deploy the system if he is convinced it was not a risk.

The U’s boss has used a variety of formations this season, without finding anything which has worked consistently in Sky Bet League One.

With the squad containing four fit senior centre backs, one option could be to play some variation of a 3-5-2.

It had also occurred to Appleton, who has not dismissed the move at some stage but has so far resisted the temptation.

He said: “We have considered it, we considered it last season a couple of times because of the opposition.

“We did it in our first season and it didn’t work as I wanted.

“We’ve gone with a diamond a couple of times in the cup competitions, which has worked really well.

“Personnel dictate what you can and can’t do.

“With a three you’ve got to make sure you have players who understand the wing back role and centre halves who are more than happy to come and deal with things in wide areas.

“We have discussed it as a group and have looked at different things in training.

“If I was going to do that I’d want to spend quite a bit of time working on it, but sometimes people pick it up pretty quickly.

“We have centre halves who are pretty versatile.

“It’s not something I’m too worried about, it’s just something I have to make sure they’re 100 per cent comfortable with.”

He added: “You’ve got to be confident enough that you’ve spent the time doing it before you unleash it.”