After such a successful first stint at the club, it is perhaps not a surprise that Gavin Whyte has struggled to hit the same heights the second time round.
His raw pace is less threatening in a division who have seen much more of him than when he first transferred from Crusaders FC in Northern Ireland's top division back in 2018.
Whyte has failed to score in any of his 20 appearances this year, having netted seven in his debut 2018-19 season. His confidence in front of goal is down, and it's difficult to see where the first goal is going to come from.
With only two assists to his name, it has been an underwhelming start for Whyte, but perhaps his performances have justified more praise than he has got from the Oxford faithful.
Whyte has been a key part of United's squad this year, playing 90 minutes in 11 of Oxford's 22 League matches, and appearing in 17. The games he has missed have been through injury, international duty or COVID.
The Northern Ireland international offers positional versatility to manager Karl Robinson, too, helping make him such a crucial player for Oxford.
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| Gavin Whyte has started in four different positions this season |
Whyte's confidence may have dropped, but he is clearly still an extremely dangerous player with the ball at his feet.
This can be explored through the use of Opta Analyst's data, which provide in depth analysis on the EFL.
Opta define a carry as an move where a single player moves the ball five metres or further up the field. Gavin Whyte averages 12 carries per 90, placing him in the top ten for all League One players by this metric.
Whyte is comfortably the strongest Oxford player for carries, too, and he is still a key part of United's ball progression, with only Nathan Holland offering a similar level of forward dribbling.
This ball progression is a particularly strong component of Whyte's game, as shown by the average distance of his ball carries which, at 12.31 metres, is the sixth highest in League One, illustrating his ability to bring the ball forward for Oxford, and showing why he is so key for United's attacking plays.
The figure you see on the right of the table is a measure of how far a player's carry moves the ball forwards towards the oppositions goal, and is perhaps an area in which Whyte struggles.
Whyte ranks 14th in League One for vertical ball progression per carry, and this perhaps explains why it appears Whyte is not completing as many driving runs towards goal as in his first spell at the club, as his carries generally are not directly towards goal.
However, within the top 15 League One players for this metric, along with one of the furthest average carry distances is not to be frowned upon, and this data shows that Whyte is still extremely adept at carrying the ball forward with pace, making him a very difficult player to handle for opposition defenders.
Another reason why United fans may not be recognising Whyte's exploits is because they often don't lead to particularly significant chances.
Gavin Whyte's carries this season have created 22 chances, the joint 17th best in the division, but a fair way behind Oladapo Afolayan at top spot with 59 chances created from his carries.
However, this is somewhat misleading given Afolayan has played almost all of Bolton's minutes this season, whilst Whyte has been unavailable at various points. Transferring those numbers to per 90 statistics still sees Afolayan top the charts, but Gavin Whyte does rise the ranks to twelfth.
Again, with 1.56 per 90 Whyte is by far the highest Oxford player for chances created from carries.
Whyte may well claim that these chances are going unnoticed due to the lack of clinical edge which seems to surround Oxford this season.
His carries have led to just 11 shots, just the 16th highest in the League, and a quarter of Afolayan's total, the leader again with 44.
Similarly, the only assist Whyte has claimed from his carries was his fabulous run and pass to Sykes to open the scoring against Doncaster. That this is the only goal scored directly from one of Whyte's carries indicates that there is a general failure from Oxford to capitalise on his 22 chance creating carries.
Had United capitalised on just a fifth of Whyte's chances created, then they would have scored an additional three to four League One goals this term.
Gavin Whyte has certainly not shone in front of goal himself, and he has been partly responsible for Oxford's finishing woes, but he cannot be blamed entirely for Oxford's failure in front of goal, particularly as his passing when building attacks has actually been very strong.
Opta's data suggests that Whyte has made 11 key passes following carries, the joint seventh highest in League One. Again, transferring this to a per 90 basis sees Whyte rise to fifth place for key passes off carries.
Whilst it can be dangerous to assume that players will continue their trajectory across a wider scope of games, using a per 90 basis shows us that, when available, Whyte is one of the strongest creators in the division with the ball at his feet.
It is notable that two Sunderland players top the charts for this metric, exemplifying the abundance of riches they have. A caveat of this is that McGeady only just reaches the threshold for 800+ minutes played, but as the third placed team in League One, it is clear how important these players are in making marginal gains which turn one point into three.
Oxford certainly have players who can produce magic moments, but Whyte is the one who consistently drives Oxford up the pitch, and he will be the key for Oxford in tight games.
Opta's data provides a slightly more in depth look at plays which may not be immediately obvious, and can explain why Whyte's performances have appeared slightly underwhelming when he is actually proving a highly creative player when dribbling.
More simple statistics show us that Whyte is engaging in less one on one dribbles, and suggest that he is instead becoming a more tactical player, focussing on maintaining possession rather than simply running with the ball down the wing.
Whyte doesn't even average the most dribbles in the Oxford United squad, with his 0.7 dribbles per game lower than both Nathan Holland (0.8) and Mark Sykes (0.9).
However, Gavin Whyte averages double the number of key passes (1.2) than both Holland and Sykes (both 0.6), indicating that his role has perhaps become more advanced, as he looks to create chances through both dribbles and passing, whereas Holland is charged with simply running directly at the opposition defence.
Both are strong tools, but Whyte's more possesion based game explains why Holland is getting people off their seats more than the Cardiff loanee.
Whyte's low raw attacking numbers is further illustrated as he has few shots per game (1.1) compared to his fellow wingers in Holland (1.2), Billy Bodin (1.4) and James Henry (2.3). Perhaps this is more down to confidence than a tactical role, but still goes some way to show how Whyte is no longer engaging in the direct 'run and shoot' football which made him so exciting when he arrived in 2018-19.
Comparing the raw numbers from 2018-19 and 2021-22 make the point even clearer.
In 2018-19, Whyte averaged 1.1 shots per game to 0.7 this time round, but this year he has created more than double the number of chances at 1.6 per 90.
He might not be the same player he was in 2018, but during his time at Hull and Cardiff he has been refined into a more technical player, working within advanced attacking systems.
It is no way justifying Whyte's chronic lack of goal involvements, and he must improve on his final product, but not all of this can be blamed on Whyte and a general lack of efficiency in front of goal from his teammates has minimised the influence of Whyte's impressive ball carrying.
Whyte may be very low on confidence, but his start to the season has certainly not been as bad as some fans and pundits have suggested.
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