KARL Robinson has concerns over Oxford United’s workload as he admits tonight’s Carabao Cup clash comes at a bad time.

A 1-0 victory over Peterborough United a fortnight ago set up a second round meeting at home to Millwall.

It added an extra fixture to an already crowded start to the season, with the U’s playing nine games in 28 days.

Robinson lost Matty Taylor and Cameron Brannagan to groin injuries in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Bristol Rovers.

When asked if this was a match his side could do without, he replied: “Yes, but we’re not the only club that will be saying that.

“Punished for winning, we’ll call it.

“It’s more about the welfare of the players and not getting injured.

“We’ve got a big decision about what we do on Tuesday now.

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“We’ve just got to make sure we pick a team that’s ready and raring to compete with Millwall, but equally will be ready to go against Coventry (in Sky Bet League One) on Saturday.”

Millwall boss Neil Harris made eight changes for their first-round win at West Brom and will shuffle his pack again with one eye on their Championship game this weekend.

Robinson believes the congested fixture list in the opening month needs reviewing.

The head coach has his own proposal, by replacing the final two pre-season games with the first matches in the Leasing.com Trophy and the Carabao Cup.

He said: “Why not start with your first two games being in the cups and then start the league?

“I think if you spoke to any manager they would like that because it’s competitive.

“It’s amazing, we’re more creative with the draw than we are with the actual competition.

“The load that’s put on players in League One and League Two is far too much.

“This is nothing to do with results.”

United go into the game on the back of three successive defeats, but that will not interfere with Robinson’s selection plans.

He said: “You’ve got to be braver than that to not worry about one individual game.

“I want to win 100 per cent, but I won’t worry about losing four on the spin.

“It’s about keeping players fit and ready to move forward in the league.”

Shandon Baptiste and George Thorne could be included, but Dan Agyei is still a week away from being ready.

TONIGHT’S LINE-UPS

Oxford Utd: Eastwood, Long, Dickie, Moore, Ruffels, Gorrin, Hanson, Hall, Henry, Forde, Mackie, Woodburn, Fosu, Lofthouse, Baptiste, Sykes, Thorne, Mousinho, Berkoe, Stevens.

Millwall: from Steele, McCarthy, Hutchinson, M Wallace, Ferguson, Mahoney, Leonard, Molumby, O’Brien, Bradshaw, Bodvarsson, Elliott, Smith, Thompson, Williams, Pearce, Cooper, Bialkowski.