KARL Robinson demanded more from his back four after Oxford United crashed to a second successive defeat at the start of the season.

A week after criticising his midfielders following the 4-0 defeat at Barnsley, Saturday’s 2-0 loss at home to Fleetwood Town saw the U’s boss turn his attention to the defenders.

He said: “I think our back four need to stand up and be counted a bit more.

“You’ve got Rob Dickie – people were talking in the summer about him moving on – Curtis Nelson is the captain and then you’ve got Tony McMahon and Luke Garbutt.

“They’ve got to stand up and be counted, because they won’t have many chances, it’s as simple as that.”

The U’s have been affected by the loss of important players to injury in both games, with Simon Eastwood joining Samir Carruthers in the treatment room.

But Robinson knows that cannot be an excuse.

He said: “The punters aren’t going to let you off. It doesn’t matter if you have 20 injuries, they’re still going to criticise us.

“You have to take that, the fans have every right to criticise because they’ve paid to come and watch us.

“The players have to accept the criticism, as well as myself and the staff.”

The United head coach was buoyed by Ricky Holmes’s debut, while much is expected of Marcus Browne, who came on for the first time.

He said: “I’m disappointed with the result, but there’s a lot more to come from us.

“I know we’re nowhere near those levels yet, but once we get up and running, there won’t be many teams who can compete with us.

“It will take time and patience, you need to keep your head strong and mentality right.”