OXFORD United cannot kid themselves time is on their side when it comes to turning results around, John Mousinho has warned.

With 39 fixtures still to play in Sky Bet League One, the season is still in its infancy.

The U’s can also point to having two games in hand on most sides as evidence not to be too concerned by their position in the bottom two.

Performances have generally been good enough to suggest this side will click, it’s a question of when it happens.

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But the past two campaigns neatly show what is at stake.

Last season, defeat at Fleetwood Town, tomorrow’s opponents, left them with five points from seven games – one fewer than at the same stage this term.

The following week it came together and United mounted a promotion charge.

But in the 2018/19 season, they had five points from 11 games before embarking on a long unbeaten run, which barely got them out of trouble.

And with the packed schedule this season the message is clear – the U’s cannot afford another bad fortnight.

“The season before last we left ourselves far too much to do, had a great finish and came 12th,” Mousinho said.

“Last season, we arguably also left ourselves too much to do, because in the end we didn’t go up automatically by two points.

“If you leave it a couple of weeks it’s five games this season.

“You just can’t afford to be 15 games in and still really scratching around at the bottom.”

He added: “We have to believe we have to get going soon, otherwise the gap between us and where we want to be in the league will be too big.”

Finding solutions to United’s issues this season are not straightforward.

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Not only do issues exist at both ends of the pitch, but despite the results there are long spells in games where Karl Robinson’s side are playing well.

Making big changes risk disrupting the elements which have worked.

But Mousinho put forward a few ideas on what is needed, starting with which of Charlton Athletic’s two goals on Tuesday night was the bigger concern.

He said: “There’s a difference with the glaring individual errors which no-one can do anything about.

“A great example is Easty (Simon Eastwood) for the second goal, he knows he should have saved it and no-one needed to tell him anything.

“The more subtle mistakes are the ones we need to demand we cut out.

“The first goal we were over-enthusiastic to get the ball on Charlton’s right and we left ourselves completely exposed in the middle and the left.

“That’s a discipline and a shape issue.”

He added: “Sometimes, I think we get too comfortable in games and start chasing it.

“We were comfortable after 25 minutes against Charlton and then we got slightly loose.

“We forget we’re away from home and 0-0 at half-time is a good result.

“I think we need to change our attitude slightly and make sure we are solid under the ball when we go forward, because we’re playing some good stuff.

“We just have to keep hammering home we can’t afford to make too many errors, but be in positions where we can help each other out.”