Not sure why always the difficult pass, bit risky and could be caught out but when we get it right it will unlock their defence.
Not the most riveting of matches so far. A lot of possession and sloppy, overhit passes in the final third by us. Cambridge poking a couple of holes on the counter attack, but largely contained comfortably. Hopefully we make that one incisive pass, as Cambridge are sitting back a fair bit (we’ve seen it a lot from away sides this season).
We opened them up a bit more towards the end of that first half. Our preferred tactic appears to be wide balls to Davis and Burns at wing back and then trying to cut the ball back to the edge of the penalty area. A lot of moves are breaking down and it doesn’t help there is almost a flat back Cambridge five-man defence camped out on the edge of their area and four midfielders not much further in front. There’s more congestion in that Cambridge half than what was on the A14 earlier! I’d like to think we’ll break the deadlock in the second half. We definitely seem more likely to score. Cambridge playing for the point. Aluko on the iFollow co-comms is great value. You can hear him audibly wince whenever Cambridge look dangerous and murmur noises of approval whenever one of our players does a bit of skill.
Get in! Harness with a low cross from out wide, Cambridge defender shanks a clearance and it loops to John-Jules at the back post to smash into the roof of the net. Slightly fortunate, but well deserved as we’re the only side actually looking to score! Hopefully we can hold this lead and secure all three points.
In the end, that was an emphatic victory playing our brand of possession-heavy football up against a team not overly interested in attacking. We got a sluggish first half, which we dominated but couldn’t find the cutting edge. The second half was much better as we turned the screws and the substitutes (looking to prove something) turned the match. John-Jules took his goal well. Kyle Edwards continued his mini-revival with a sparkling display. Lee Evans also pulled the strings well in midfield with some incisive passing. Edwards and Evans surely in the first team on Saturday?
I don’t think we’ve played them much? Do recall turning them over at the Abbey in the Cup. Chris Kiwomya the hero.
Decent first half performance without setting the world on fire, second half Edwards was a real live wire and really opened the game up...surely he's due a start at some point. Its interesting to observe the differences between us last season and the slight tweaks made in tactics and personnel now. Ladapo is clearly alot better at holding the ball up than anyone we had last season and is a decent all rounder, that's important when you've got alot of players around him who like to take risks. The negative in comparison to having Norwood and Bonne last season is he doesn't take up as good a positions when the ball is put into the box, despite his stature he doesn't look to attack the ball. Then bringing Harness in makes such a difference to our press, for an attacking player he really works hard off the ball and out of possession even if he goes missing on the ball sometimes, he does the stuff we wanted Celina to do...mind you if Celina did that he'd be a PL player. Great to see Edwards playing so well but I think it highlighted Burns is out of form. I don't think he's being afforded as much space down the right as he was last season both by opposition players but also due to our tactics. When Chaplin plays he occupies some of the space in which Burns would run into and it makes it more crowded over there, in addition it does look like we are playing Donacien as an orthodox RB this season which again appears to crowd the space out on that right hand side for Burns, it also I would suggest makes us a little less secure at the back. On the left Davis appears to now have that space Burns did and I would say if anything needs a bit more support as he ran his socks off up and down that left flank. I'd like in games like this to see Chaplin push up alongside Ladapo as a striker just having 1 ten behind 2 strikers, he does appear to have that bit more of a strikers instinct in the box and would free up some space for Burns but what do I know and who am I to argue when we're getting results how we are. We really look like we're at a minimum getting a playoff space this season, and feel like we've got enough about us should we get a few more innuries
I know if a forwards scores twice then he’ll be getting the MOTM but I thought Edmundson was immense today and kept us level for the other lads to come on and do the business.