BBC Radio Oxford posed an interesting question on the Wasn’t At The Game podcast – is something missing at Oxford United? The consensus seemed to be that a combination of the big things – cost of living – and the small things – form – have left fans adrift and all that was needed was a jolly good dose of wins.

The theme was pursued in the match commentary against Ipswich; we took just over 500 fans to Portman Road which Jerome Sale thought was underwhelming. Not an unreasonable point; we took over 3,000 to Derby on the first day of the season. Personally, the negotiations about abandoning my family for a five hour round trip for a game we were almost certainly going to lose was always going to be difficult. On balance, iFollow was a perfectly acceptable compromise in the circumstances.

So, while the family gathered together to spend much of the afternoon searching for places to get away from each other, I commandeered the TV and logged on. I started alone in the living room, but like survivors of a nuclear attack emerging from their bunker, they shuffled in; a Spurs fan, an Everton fan and a Chelsea fan – which sounds like the opening line to a joke. They don’t understand why I follow a team like Oxford, less still why I do it this avidly. The combination of Boxing Day, football, family and togetherness; perhaps they did it out of duty, even if it felt as awkward as a Tory MP volunteering in a foodbank.

I felt the pressure, every missed pass was somehow my fault, it was as if I’d introduced my new 25-year-old Latvian wife to my grown up children. There was a slight sense of shame, my absurdities writ large, my sanity questioned.

They started offering opinions – “Elliot Moore’s boots look old” and “They’ve got that left back (Ciaron Brown) on toast” – I felt compelled to defend us against the criticism – “Actually he’s the most committed player in the squad and he’s out of position, and he has nice hair, and…”.

They didn’t care, of course, it’s like when I come home from a game and they ask me how we played. Then I ACTUALLY tell them and they suddenly find something urgent to do like clean mud from their wellies with a pen lid. When half-time came and we were 2-0 down everyone left the room, only one returned, the other two urgently needed to pick some bits off the turkey.

Before that, when Djavan Anderson rippled the outside of the net and Matt Taylor did the same a few minutes later. I jumped to my feet, yelped something incomprehensible thinking we’d scored before landing back on the sofa with my head in my hands. Looking through my fingers, I could see everyone looking at me with pity; damn you, deceptive camera angle.

Talking of which, let’s get some decent perspective. Ipswich are clearly a very good side, perhaps the best in the division. Even if we’ve come to expect more, I don’t think anyone truly thought we’d we’d beat a side of this quality away from home. It was asking a lot for McGinty to come in and keep them at bay and, for a while, we looked OK and could have taken the lead.

It’s also true that the Busy Christmas Period^TM is heavily front loaded this year – Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town away, Charlton and Exeter at home. If we do win the last two, the ‘if’ is doing a lot of work here, then we can reasonably call the period a success.

But, more generally, there’s no doubt that we’ve stalled, which might be semi-deliberate – the stadium must be the club’s priority. I doubt anyone plans for mid-table, but in terms of where you direct your energies, I imagine the club will accept a transitional year if the stadium progresses.

That exposes Karl Robinson, he might play his way out of our current malaise but each dip leaves another lingering doubt, those doubts eventually pile up which is exhausting. He does seem to be tired of digging himself out of the holes he finds himself in.

People talk about the importance of the January transfer window; the need to address imbalances in the squad. I’m less sure, those most active in January tend to be those who are most desperate. Prices go up, judgment blurs, the pressure to sign anyone grows. A club in control of its destiny won’t snatch at solutions, they might add the odd face to fill a couple of gaps, but a few signings to buy some short term positive PR usually fails. Anyone who lived through the signings of Andy Scott and Rob Quinn in 2001 will testify as to how much money you can waste and how little return you can get for it. I’d also prefer we worked towards a good summer than run around wasting money for a quick fillip.

For me, the next three games are more important; win the next two and not only will our league position improve, it will sign Christmas off as a broad success, then a decent performance against Arsenal will give us a boost, even if it ends in defeat. It may get the wheels turning and some forward momentum going. Because what we need above all else is hope.