| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread 22:42 - Aug 12 with 48410 views | numptydumpty |
I think only ever started one match day thread
But have taken responsibility this season for our new found cup successes.
The cup run starts here.
Taylor Richards scores a 90th minute winner - an own goal - to set us on our merry way and few games later Richards gets cult hero status in being the beginning of the magic run towards Carabao Cup Final success !!! | |
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| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 23:03 - Aug 13 with 3336 views | A40Bosh |
Ordinarily brother Bosh I would concur.
But we go two nil up and we are looking comfortable and should have had 4.
Then tried to lose the game for the next 60 mins.
If we scraped a last gasp 1-0 win, then fair enough but it was the manner of the capitulation- we did not lay a glove on them 2nd half and regardless of it being a league 1 club, that is not good enough.
Two gulps of Gaviscon and will now sleep on it and we move on. | |
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| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 23:16 - Aug 13 with 3175 views | rbee |
Having heard The Beatles Decca audition I would cut the guy some slack! Others rejected them before Decca.
I think other labels would have signed the Stones but The Beatles needed the blind faith that Brian Epstein had in them and the pure genius and foresight of Sir George Martin. [Post edited 13 Aug 23:18]
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| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 23:17 - Aug 13 with 3154 views | Damo1962 |
Agree with your points...but I still love a Cup run. All Prem teams should be banned from them though. Would instantly make them more appealing to clubs in the EFL. Hope we get a good draw🙂 | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 23:45 - Aug 13 with 2972 views | CLAREMAN1995 |
I watched the second half and Cambridge dominated and like you mentioned should have won this game 4-2 IMO.
They cut through us so easily it was a bit shocking and we had 3 out of our 4 starting defenders in the line up with just Captain Cook rested . That is off the back of getting a good beating Saturday when WBA scored a bit too easily on the strength of this team.It looked like JCS was really angry a few times with the space they were getting or the midfielders getting played around so easily .
We should have pulled away tonight but when they scored the game swung their way .Lucky to advance I feel | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 00:09 - Aug 14 with 2823 views | Lblock |
Who was that joker who came on wearing Sam Field's shirt?
My God.... woeful and nowhere near the player Sam Field is. | |
| Cherish and enjoy life.... this ain't no dress rehearsal |
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| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 00:12 - Aug 14 with 2825 views | Hunterhoop |
There is something wrong with our shape, combined with our fitness levels.
I think (shout out to Jim Frayling for pointing it out) that Cifuentes is trying to play a more attacking system and shape this year, pushing up our 8 (today EBD, on Sat, Colback), and have our full backs push up and inside as inverted full backs to support the 6 holding. Remember we he joined, lots of online stuff about how he liked inverted full backs?
Anyway, that’s laudable, as an ambition. But it’s not working at present. We’re leaving huge gaps in behind us out wide. That is stretching the two centre halves wider creating all sorts of gaps. It also means they can’t attack the first ball up into a forward if the full back is high and not flat with them.
My gut feel is, at this moment, the squad isn’t fit enough to play that system and get back into a tight shape when we turnover possession, nor good enough at the execution to not turnover possession easily. That’s a bad combo.
We look undercooked on fitness AND technical execution. You won’t solve those overnight so I’d be more prudent, certainly against Sheff Utd. I’d play Field, Colback AND Varane in the middle. Drop Anderson. Bit of coagulant in there. Play Frey up top to hold it up, perhaps even Dykes for pressing, and perm 2 from Lloyd/Saito and Smyth/Dembele out wide giving us some pace. I think, at this stage of the season, the most important thing is to get better defensively. Shore things up a bit and build. Even if we lose at Sheff Utd a more robust defensive performance will give heart. At home to Plymouth, you can go more attacking and bring in Anderson potentially. We need to stop conceding so many chances though. | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 00:36 - Aug 14 with 2728 views | queensparker |
Always rated your defensive vibes Hunter on this board. Totally agree
We look wide fkin open at the moment both in centre midfield and wide.
Shut them out, get five clean sheets and build from there. We’ve got the players to do it | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 00:36 - Aug 14 with 2724 views | Northernr |
I think games like that are often about, and a good judge of, mentality.
And I didn't like ours.
Let's be honest Cambridge are a poor Lg1 side, 20th and 18th last two seasons, two final day survivals, both their top scorers from last year have gone.
First half it looked exactly like that, we scored twice without really trying, the keeper is abysmal for both of those. I wanted us to go on and put it to bed here, and instead we pissd about with some good chances, messed around with simple passes. All flicks and tricks cos it's all so easy.
The very second it stopped being easy after half time we wilted completely. You've got Sam Field, your senior midfielder, repeatedly kneeling down looking for cheap free kicks from a League One referee who's made it really clear he's not going to give you those. Players looking for short cuts.
I thought we panicked, got in a right mess, lost our shape, started doing daft stuff. We're really lucky to have won the game, they must have had 4 gilt edged chances that second half.
Morrison I exempt, he was the one who remained calm, composed and consistent throughout. He kept his head and played his game exactly the same pre and post Cambridge goal. Very impressed.
As for the rest of it... pfffff. Mentality. Bertie Big Potatoes. | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 00:44 - Aug 14 with 2709 views | CLAREMAN1995 |
Thats it in a nutshell nice and clean and easy , no need for a match report just take a few days off after the rough 7 days you deserve it . | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 01:51 - Aug 14 with 2596 views | The_Beast1976 |
At the moment I'd say Celar isn't going to give us anything at all, whether in or out of the box. He looks a terrible player | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 06:58 - Aug 14 with 2207 views | dmm |
A number have commented on the fitness levels of the players, particularly Hunterhoop, and I think most would agree we do look undercooked. This is similar to the opening games of last season when, under Ben Williams, we were even worse. It would appear to be his influence again. | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 07:10 - Aug 14 with 2136 views | Hunterhoop |
The fitness thing is a right pickle. Two games running now, we’ve been bright and good for 20 mins, then clearly taken a breather, stopped pressing and sat back. And then in the second half we gradually get slower and slower. That doesn’t scream we’re ready fitness wise.
Now, you can’t deny, Williams approach last year was either very lucky OR directly resulted in us suddenly having very few injuries and finishing the season strongly. Perhaps the same thing will happen again.
But simply playing league games will gradually get you fit. And you can’t just give up on the first month. I’m not aware of any other team who do this regarding their fitness programme or have done in the past. A full pre-season has been good enough throughout most of English football history to get the squad aerobically fit. Perhaps Williams would say that their data tells them the players are fit. It just doesn’t look like that. And if he’s right and they are, then the problem is worse one: attitude (as Clive says).
The execution issue is a Cifuentes problem. The passing has to be better. Finer details like passing to the right side of someone’s body is important if you want to transition up the pitch. At the minute we do we’ll go get it within 2 yards of our player. It’s all a bit lazy. | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 07:29 - Aug 14 with 2033 views | mart_Goblin |
It is strange isn’t it? That football clubs all over the world have been doing pre season for 140 years yet Ben Williams comes along and says “don’t worry about the first 10 games, we’ll be fit after that and everyone has been doing wrong !
Hands up , it appeared to work last season …in the end . But circling the drain and climbing out of the basin every year will catch you out in the end .
I think it’s complete arrogance and by all accounts the ‘A’ word is creeping in right at the top of the club, where by the way Williams has a lot of clout. More than you would believe. He and Nourry are very very tight indeed | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 07:43 - Aug 14 with 1963 views | priceyparkrangers |
We won.
We’ll get fitter.
Some of those players will be out on loan before the end of the month.
Early cup games are basically an extended pre season.
Better teams than us lost tonight, WBA, Sunderland, Bristol City | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 07:52 - Aug 14 with 1918 views | Antti_Heinola |
I think it's 'often forgotten' because that is not what happened.
At all.
We were absolutely thumped 4-0 by Cardiff, and then gubbed 3-0 by the mighty Notts County. We managed a draw v Brentford and scraped a win v those giants of football at Wycombe, beforte Tranmere gave us another 3-0 smacking.
Only after that did we finally go on a run. It was a spectacular run after Xmas, but we lost 6 more times after VM and the change in fortunes really came after the signing of Lee Cook (Olly sat in the back of Mel Johnson's car begging for 2 hours to David Davies to get him), rather than some sort of reaction to the worst result in our history. | |
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| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 07:57 - Aug 14 with 1886 views | Hugey |
On the fitness point, do we know if they are doing the slow, gradual build up to full fitness again? | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 07:57 - Aug 14 with 1879 views | Antti_Heinola |
Excellent post, but the very last person I'd be dropping at the moment is Anderson. | |
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| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 08:05 - Aug 14 with 1836 views | nix |
Interesting points from everyone. Not sure if anyone has said this too but I think a real issue is that we can't keep hold of possession in the opposition half. I'm guessing it's the Chair-shaped hole in the final third. Although he's driven many of us mad by holding on to the ball too long (guilty m'lud) the fact is he CAN hold onto it and that takes a massive pressure off our midfield and ultimately our defence.
In the first two games (and the pre-season ones I saw) the ball kept pinging it's way back almost immediately it left our half. So we either score, like we did early-ish in the first half last night, or we yield possession. This makes it a doddle for the opposition defence who only have to be organised for nano-seconds - and equally the midfield/wingers who don't have to track back that much - and very hard for our midfield/defence who are constantly having to win the ball back. You can tell this by the number of clearances we had to make compared to the oppo last night.
Anderssen is an excellent player but he doesn't really hang onto the ball like Chair. Smyth can't, Lloyd is too inexperienced, Celar is a cardboard cut-out at the moment (although may well come good, the way we are playing is not his style clearly), EDB doesn't have the mindset etc etc. You also need back up for that. Chair doesn't entirely do it on his own, he'd have Willock, Paal, Anderssen etc backing him up and we're not really backing up the person on the ball. Quite often Anderssen has three players round him while everyone else is admiriing his efforts (same for Smyth too - doing it for the team but all on his own). Now some of this may be lack of fitness to get up and back the field but does affect the team as managers love to say you defend from the front and part of that is having the ball there. | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 08:46 - Aug 14 with 1643 views | dmm |
I've noticed JCS has developed a habit of putting his foot on the ball and retaining it for an extended period. He's been doing it since the friendlies. He's clearly looking for a forward pass and has to wait until a player makes himself available or he has to pass sideways.
Having to repeatedly do this isn't a good sign the players ahead of him are working to plan. | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 08:51 - Aug 14 with 1592 views | GaryBannister86 |
I liked Morrison, but a word for Jimmy Dunne too. Thought he was great and I wish everyone else had his attitude. We were very lucky last night, I agree. If it wasn't for Smyth and his running and the ineptitude of their keeper and the strength / incompetence (couldn't see) of the referee then it would have been another cup defeat.
I was disappointed in EDB who I rate. I think he has the nice touches but he's got to get out of academy mode and into the rough and tumble.
I have hopes for Varane, didn't think it was a coincidence that we were cut open so much more after he was subbed.
Sam Field seemed to have one enormous brain fart that lasted the whole of his 45 minutes. | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 09:21 - Aug 14 with 1404 views | kernowhoop |
Until Saturday's unwelcome defeat by WBA, the last 'real' game that we had played was more than three months ago.
In the meantime, the players switched off on holiday and then played six matches which 'did not matter'. OK for building fitness, but of limited value otherwise, not least because there have been changes in the squad since then. Added to that, the one player who made things happen last season and who dictated the style of play (often effectively, but not always, as he sometimes slowed it down) has been missing with back/judicial problems.
With the recent acquisitions, the squad now looks good. But, we are going to need some time... and patience. | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 09:31 - Aug 14 with 1324 views | CiderwithRsie |
Personally I've taken to spending initial games in cup competitions looking in the opposite direction, only tuning in for final score on the radio so I can mutter FFS and move on or, just occasionally, note that we're into the next round.
This thread doesn't make good reading, some worrying thoughtful criticisms from people I respect, but it'd be nice if we could avoid writing off players after one or two matches. | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 09:32 - Aug 14 with 1306 views | Hunterhoop |
I thought Jimmy Dunne had a positional nightmare of a game - way too high up and too slow to get into shape when we turned it over - and when he did rampage forward he gave it away a lot selling our midfield down the river in the process.
He seemed willing, and we know he cares. But he also did not look remotely fit. One turnover saw him running back towards his goal with as much vigour as me after a long run. | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 09:33 - Aug 14 with 1299 views | Northernr |
Won every header at every corner though. | | | |
| Cambridge- the carabao cup adventure starts here - match thread on 09:40 - Aug 14 with 1247 views | GaryBannister86 |
Ha - we all see it differently. Don't get the fitness thing, he was the one still charging forward late in the game. And as Clive said, in the absence of Cook it was his bonce that got us out of trouble almost every time.
Positioning is not my thing so bow to you on that one! | | | |
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