BTFG Cambridge

[Royal Ginger]

I think we’re using Hutchinson wrong. He’s not creative, he’s probably not even a midfielder at this point but I think he’s useful. I thought he was immense shepherding the defensive line as the linchpin of a back 3 at the beginning of last season and I’d like to see a bit more of that now that we have numbers in midfield.

[Snowflake Royal]

I think we’re using Hutchinson wrong. He’s not creative, he’s probably not even a midfielder at this point but I think he’s useful. I thought he was immense shepherding the defensive line as the linchpin of a back 3 at the beginning of last season and I’d like to see a bit more of that now that we have numbers in midfield.

I think we're using him right. The problem is much like Holmes and McIntyre are decent CBs who can't play together, he and Savage can't because neither has any real creativity.

We've brought in a lot of tidy stolid midfielders who can put work in, and very few who can score or create. It's Elliott who is playing as a winger or Ejaria who hasn't been fit for 18 months and never actually created much anyway.

While Smith is out and Ballard is getting match fit, we should have been playing 4-2-3-1 imo. Someone in behind Kelv to break the lines and tuck wide players into support him. Something like:

.....................Button
Yiadom, Binden, Abbey, NGW
.........Hutchinson, Savage
...Azeez.......Knibbs........Vickers
..............Ehibhatiomhan

Elliott really needs to start in midfield alongside Savage or Hutch or Wing if we're going to stick with this shape. But for some reason Selles expects us to pass out from the back by having no one show for the ball in midfield, and no link between midfield and attack in the middle of the pitch.

It's bonkers that our shape for passing out frequently seems to be:

.............................GK
.......CB................CM................CB

................CM



FB......................................................FB


...........W..................................W
...................ST
...................................ST


Or

.............................GK
............CB..........................CB

....................CM


..........................................CM
FB......................................................FB


...........W..................................W
...................ST
...................................ST

So the only passes are longer percentage ones or sideways and back. Funnily enough it's not hard to mark the one midfielder who is close enough to pass to.

[Snowflake Royal]

There's two obvious ways to defeat passing out.

1) let the centrebacks have the ball and give them no options. You now have 10 outfield players to mark 8.

2) press high and give the centrebacks no time on the ball to force an error

Recently 2 has been our achilles heel because our CBs were slow and awkard. It's currently 1.

[Hound]

The one player who I’ve seen this year really come and ask for the ball from midfield is Rushesha. Whether he has the quality to be first team is debatable but his thought process is right. Craig maybe as well but seen less of him

Think Hutch and Savage are too similar. Would like to see Wing/Savage see how that goes

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I haven't seen that much of Rushesha but, from the little I have, is he potentially going to be another Dele-Bashiru? Did we bring him in as a CM, but then he came on out wide the other night? Could be one of those where we don't know where his best position will be.

I think the midfield set up will change when Wing is fit and I'd expect it to be Wing and Savage as the starting pair, assuming we stick to our current 4-4-2. I think Hutchinson is best at CB personally and I thought that was his position.

[Hound]

I haven't seen that much of Rushesha but, from the little I have, is he potentially going to be another Dele-Bashiru? Did we bring him in as a CM, but then he came on out wide the other night? Could be one of those where we don't know where his best position will be.

I think the midfield set up will change when Wing is fit and I'd expect it to be Wing and Savage as the starting pair, assuming we stick to our current 4-4-2. I think Hutchinson is best at CB personally and I thought that was his position.

All seemed chaotic by the time he came on against Cambridge but no he’s very much a DCM/makele role type player from the games I’ve seen him start

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I haven't seen that much of Rushesha but, from the little I have, is he potentially going to be another Dele-Bashiru? Did we bring him in as a CM, but then he came on out wide the other night? Could be one of those where we don't know where his best position will be.

I think the midfield set up will change when Wing is fit and I'd expect it to be Wing and Savage as the starting pair, assuming we stick to our current 4-4-2. I think Hutchinson is best at CB personally and I thought that was his position.

All seemed chaotic by the time he came on against Cambridge but no he’s very much a DCM/makele role type player from the games I’ve seen him start

Fair enough. Begs the question then, why did we bring a holding midfield player on out wide?

[Snowflake Royal]

I haven't seen that much of Rushesha but, from the little I have, is he potentially going to be another Dele-Bashiru? Did we bring him in as a CM, but then he came on out wide the other night? Could be one of those where we don't know where his best position will be.

I think the midfield set up will change when Wing is fit and I'd expect it to be Wing and Savage as the starting pair, assuming we stick to our current 4-4-2. I think Hutchinson is best at CB personally and I thought that was his position.

All seemed chaotic by the time he came on against Cambridge but no he’s very much a DCM/makele role type player from the games I’ve seen him start

He's a fullback / DM. Don’t think he's got the creativity to be the answer, but he does always look for the ball.

[Sutekh]

I haven't seen that much of Rushesha but, from the little I have, is he potentially going to be another Dele-Bashiru? Did we bring him in as a CM, but then he came on out wide the other night? Could be one of those where we don't know where his best position will be.

I think the midfield set up will change when Wing is fit and I'd expect it to be Wing and Savage as the starting pair, assuming we stick to our current 4-4-2. I think Hutchinson is best at CB personally and I thought that was his position.

All seemed chaotic by the time he came on against Cambridge but no he’s very much a DCM/makele role type player from the games I’ve seen him start

He's a fullback / DM. Don’t think he's got the creativity to be the answer, but he does always look for the ball.

Wing is a right footed play anywhere central midfielder. Apparently he can play AM as well as DM so who knows how he's going to be used by Selles.

[Clyde1998]

I haven't seen that much of Rushesha but, from the little I have, is he potentially going to be another Dele-Bashiru? Did we bring him in as a CM, but then he came on out wide the other night? Could be one of those where we don't know where his best position will be.

I think the midfield set up will change when Wing is fit and I'd expect it to be Wing and Savage as the starting pair, assuming we stick to our current 4-4-2. I think Hutchinson is best at CB personally and I thought that was his position.

I think we only brought him because Azeez was injured (cramp?) and the only other outfield option was McIntyre.

I think the shape should've been a 4-3-2-1/4-3-3, such as:

Button
Yiadom - Dean - Abbey - Mola
Rushesha - Hutch - Craig
Knibbs - Vickers
Ehib

as opposed to directly putting Rushesha in Azeez's position.

Rushesha did play out wide against Ipswich however, IIRC, so it may be that Selles will play him there going forward or perhaps he'll only be there until a couple of Smith, Camara, Mukairu and Ejaria are available as we don't have many options for a wide attacking player right now.

I can see us playing a midfield box (or a diamond) once Wing is back:

GK
DF - DF - DF - DF
Hutch - Savage
Wing - Elliott
ST - ST

I'm not convinced Savage and Wing would be a great pairing in central midfield without a midfielder to sit in front of the defence also on the pitch (whether Hutch, McIntyre, Rushesha, etc). I'm not yet convinced either is good enough defensively to win the ball in the middle and would leave our defence exposed.

I think Hutch will be used as a DM, as it appears McIntyre and Mbengue would play CB before him (putting him at least behind Abbey, Dean, Bindon, McIntyre and Mbengue in that position) and because we don't have many other viable ball-winning midfield options.

[CountryRoyal]

One of the Cambridge fans after the game was shocked they won, seems a common theme so far - a lot of fans think we’re better than we are just because we are (were) an established championship team, which is fair enough I suppose.

[Snowflake Royal]

One of the Cambridge fans after the game was shocked they won, seems a common theme so far - a lot of fans think we’re better than we are just because we are (were) an established championship team, which is fair enough I suppose.

Tbf i think they're mainly shocked to be top 6.

Exeter and Cambridge in the Championship would be a bit of a culture shock for some of the bigger boys on visits.

[Hound]

Fair play to them both. Was impressed with Cambridge - certainly not a brilliant side but fought hard, fit, determined, good tactics, some decent players

[Snowflake Royal]

Watching back that Kaikai run in the first 30 seconds, the three players he beats on Cambridge's left wing - well inside the 18 yard line - are Azeez, Vickers, and Savage, with Knibbs spectating nearby. Mbengue is hugging the six yard box and the cross goes over his, Dean's and Abbey's heads with Ahadme beating Carson to win the header.

I still don't fully understand how we set ourselves up last night, but that feels like a lot of players way out of position from the off.

In hindsight I think I let my anger/disappointment get the better of me last night, and was probably unduly harsh on a couple of players. But still think that they had far too much joy running at us, and that we didn't try and run at them anywhere near enough.

Might have to have another look because I thought Mbengue got turned inside out on that early chance.

Fair play yuomi, spot on. Vickers not a full back by the looks. A case of too many cooks none of them defenders getting in each other's way.

Interesting rewatching the highlights. For what felt like two sides lacking much goal threat when watching it live, there were some really good chances to score for both teams.

They had the first 60 seconds header, a narrowly wide header from a corner with a bit of pinball, and their goal.
We had the scramble with 3 shots in 5 seconds that Vickers nearly turned in, a corner Dean just put over, Kelv's deflected shot just wide and the Knibbs shot off the bar

Should really have been higher scoring.

[under the tin]

Amazed that no one has picked up on the Cambridge manager's probable reaction when seeing the Reading team sheet an hour before kick off:
"They've benched the big guy up front, put that creative kid from Chelsea in.
They're coming at us with quick lads up top. Wanna play balls through us. Stop the supply to them"

Watch the highlights again.

[CountryRoyal]

Fair play to them both. Was impressed with Cambridge - certainly not a brilliant side but fought hard, fit, determined, good tactics, some decent players

Thought they were quite loud too tbh, shit ground mind.

It took me a minute to work out who the “blues” were in that god awful forest/derby “if you don’t oxf*rd bounce then you’re a [insert team name]” then I realised it would be Peterborough even tho it’s like 40+ miles away…

[CountryRoyal]

Amazed that no one has picked up on the Cambridge manager's probable reaction when seeing the Reading team sheet an hour before kick off:
"They've benched the big guy up front, put that creative kid from Chelsea in.
They're coming at us with quick lads up top. Wanna play balls through us. Stop the supply to them"

Watch the highlights again.

Now I’m no tactician but I’m fairly certain stopping supply to the forward(s) is at the heart of most defensive game plans…

[Jackson Corner]

The simple truth is we are not good enough. We may only have lost by the odd goal in all the games so far but we have deserved to lose them all. Don’t be surprised if Bolton give us a real thrashing next game..

[Clyde1998]

The simple truth is we are not good enough. We may only have lost by the odd goal in all the games so far but we have deserved to lose them all. Don’t be surprised if Bolton give us a real thrashing next game..

I've got a feeling Bolton could be different on the basis that Bolton will be willing to take the game to us and not put large amounts of players behind the ball for extended periods. This will increase the opportunities we'll have on the counter attack - which is where I think we've looked most dangerous so far.

[Sutekh]

Watching back that Kaikai run in the first 30 seconds, the three players he beats on Cambridge's left wing - well inside the 18 yard line - are Azeez, Vickers, and Savage, with Knibbs spectating nearby. Mbengue is hugging the six yard box and the cross goes over his, Dean's and Abbey's heads with Ahadme beating Carson to win the header.

I still don't fully understand how we set ourselves up last night, but that feels like a lot of players way out of position from the off.

In hindsight I think I let my anger/disappointment get the better of me last night, and was probably unduly harsh on a couple of players. But still think that they had far too much joy running at us, and that we didn't try and run at them anywhere near enough.

Might have to have another look because I thought Mbengue got turned inside out on that early chance.

Fair play yuomi, spot on. Vickers not a full back by the looks. A case of too many cooks none of them defenders getting in each other's way.

Interesting rewatching the highlights. For what felt like two sides lacking much goal threat when watching it live, there were some really good chances to score for both teams.

They had the first 60 seconds header, a narrowly wide header from a corner with a bit of pinball, and their goal.
We had the scramble with 3 shots in 5 seconds that Vickers nearly turned in, a corner Dean just put over, Kelv's deflected shot just wide and the Knibbs shot off the bar

Should really have been higher scoring.

And Knibbs scored.