Generation Ox

Watching Oxford at points this season has been borderline painful.  Even when they have won, the tempo has been lethargic, and matches generally very closed and cagey.  In other words, Oxford's performances so far this season have been surprisingly un-Oxford in style, so to speak.  Karl Robinson could (and has) pointed to numerous reasons for this, stretching from injuries to new systems designed to be more defensively solid .  But United's slow tempo may come down to something which has been crucial but not always the most noticed over the last three seasons: pressing. From a sample size of just seven matches, we should be cautious of making sweeping statements, but their numbers when closing down their opponents have clearly dropped.  This is particularly surprising, and perhaps even worrying, given the sides Oxford have played this season. Five of the six teams they have faced are in the bottom half of the table, and four of those teams are in the bottom five...

League One this year looks more competitive than ever before.  At least half of the teams in the division have genuine promotion aims this season, with the early highflyers Portsmouth and Ipswich hoping to fend off the chasing pack, whilst the likes of Barnsley, Oxford, MK Dons and Wycombe are all playing catch up after the opening six matches.  After such a small number of games, though, it is difficult to tell what is to be believed, and whether the League table in May will look anything like this.  Through the use of underlying data, we are going to attack the early season standings, and uncover which team's form seems to be fact, and which could be fiction.  In for the Long Run The table a few matches in can be misleading, but some sides look set to continue at their early season pace, including a few at the top of the standings.  Sheffield Wednesday are one side who have stood out from their early season form, sitting one point off the lead after six games....