LIAM Manning hopes to wow the crowds by implementing attacking football at Oxford United after taking on the head coach vacancy at the club.
The 37-year-old former MK Dons boss this afternoon held his first press conference since his arrival at United was announced on Saturday.
During the 2021/22 season, Manning led MK Dons to third in Sky Bet League One and was praised for the swashbuckling style of football he introduced.
Just left the press conference with new #oufc boss Liam Manning. One of the talking points after his announcement on Saturday was the length of his contract. CEO Tim Williams said it’s ‘long-term’ but exact length would remain confidential
— Liam Rice (@OxMailLiamRice) March 13, 2023
He believes translating elements of that to United should be achievable.
“That word gets used a lot in terms of philosophy, and I’m quite clear it’s about winning games,” said Manning.
“How we work is giving players understanding of what they need to do in each of the phases.
“I want a team that dominates the ball, plays on the front foot and scores goals.
“At times, you have to understand what to do if you’re blocking for example.
“I want a team that’s smart, intelligent and adaptable, and able to solve problems and find ways to win games.
“That’s underpinned a majority of the time by doing that with the ball, and creating and scoring goals.”
When quizzed on whether he has a preferred formation, Manning said he is flexible when it comes to tactical set-ups.
“There’s two broad formations – one is definitely out of possession in terms of a more solid and consistent formation,” he said.
“In possession is more about creating structures and rotations, we give the players real clarity on.
“We’re quite flexible and the biggest thing is players in positions where they can bring their strengths to the team.”
Outlining what attracted him to the U’s, Manning said: “Coming here before and the games we’ve had previously, knowing a lot about the current squad was definitely a big attraction in terms of the quality of the players, and how I see the game and how I like to set a team up.
“We’re very aligned and closely matched on that front.
“Outside that, meeting Tim [Williams, chief executive] and Grant [Ferguson, chairman] and some of the other directors.
“In terms of where the club wants to get to and most importantly how they want to get there aligns with me in the way I want to work and my ambition.
“It ticked a huge number of boxes and it’s one I’m really excited about.”
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