U's vs Hatters match #20

[Vanni]

Yes siree, this will be the 20th meeting between the two sides in only seven years, and it's fair to say both sets of fans are as ecstatic at this prospect as they were back in 2009

Looks like our new signing with the unpronounceable name won't be in the starting line up, though he may well be sitting on the bench taking in the lovely surroundings of the Cambs Glass Stadium. If he is, then I fully expect Derry to send him on circa the 80th minute when we're 2 nil down and chasing the game, because that's one of things our Shauny's good at.

Still, while an away win is all but inevitable (that is, if Luton aren't entirely hopeless on the day), there remains a a few doubts about other things. Like what will be the total number of arrests made? Will any Hatters fan make a cut throat gesture to the U's fans so we then can immediately run off to our nearest police station to file a complaint? Will the ref send off one of our players for absolutely no reason at all (poor Harrison D.)?

 

[Judge Dredd]

Doesn't seem like the Luton fans are particularly up for this one - for the first time in a long time we aren't going to sell out by the looks of things (last couple of seasons it never even made it to general sale).

Not sure if that is just a case of apathy towards a fixture we have seen so much in recent years or more of a symptom of people being on holiday/saving money - we didn't quite sell out at Stevenage last week either which again usually never gets close to general sale. Disappointing really but there you go, should still be 1800-2000 there I think.

Always a highlight on the calendar for me as my family and many old friends are Cambridgeshire-based so it's a good excuse for a visit and an absolute skinful with an easy taxi home (or bus depending on how early the endurance limits are reached!). Undisputed best pub choice in the division now that York are out of the running, even if it is a pain in the arse to get to the ground from the town centre (who wants to see kick off anyway though...).

No idea what to expect on the football front though. The pre-match press conference has almost gone completely under the radar with the stuff about the planning application taking centre stage this week (rightly so of course), bit of a weird/non-existent build-up. Could see us giving someone a real hiding in the near future as we are creating loads of chances but can't finish. Don't think it'll be this weekend though, despite Cambridge's poor start it's always a close affair between us two and I could see us slipping up again honestly (I'm a natural pessimist whenever we play Cambs for some reason even though we have a decent record at the Abbey). Hope not, it's important to avoid a loss after the Stevenage disappointment. Got a feeling we'll be resting Marriott too which would be the wrong call for me.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Being a resident of this fair city this is actually my closest game of the season and with family connections as well it's always a good weekend, even if son in law/father in law bragging rights rest on the games outcome!

I'd get Cuthbert back in at centre half and move Rea back into midfield (really becoming a big fan of his) and get Pelly in there for Smith. Like JD think we should keep Marriott in there, he is young and after his misses midweek he looked a bit down and despondent, but more often than not he is in the right place and with the amount we are creating I'm confident he'll put one away soon and he'll be off and running again.

Really liking how the team is trying to play so hopefully should be a good game with a decent atmosphere.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Also, and I sense U's fans may disagree with me here, it's a real shame Richard Money isn't involved anymore. Can you imagine what would be going on on the touch line in a game involving Nathan Jones and Money, both slightly unhinged individuals at the best of times let alone together!

 

[Tom_CUFC]

If we play like we did on Tuesday it should be a really good game, if we play like we did in the 3 games prior to that we'll get turned over quite convincingly.

I'll trust they've turned a corner and go for a 2-1 Cambridge win, as much as our recent league history against Luton suggests this is unlikely to happen.

 

[Arbury]

Me being the natural pessimist on this board its only natural to think we'll get beat, whether it's as tight as usual(suits you) is another matter, we're really struggling for form and are desperate to get our injured players back, sounds like it's to early for any of them to return so whilst Tuesday was an improvement I still think we'll lacking come Saturday.

COME ON YOU U'S


KTF

 

[Habbinalan]

I think it's (just) possible we might stop Luton scoring. If we are not behind by half-time, I can also see us winning this one to get the season started. Oh, and Medy Elito will probably get the red card that he's been ducking all season.

I've clearly inherited the natural optimist mantle for this season.

Norris, Taylor, Legge, Coulson, Adams, Dunne, Clark, Berry, Mingoia, Elito, Williamson.

1-0 to the U's in front of a disappointing 6,020 (only 1,680 from Luton)

 

[Laker]

I'm not going, should be the only home game I miss this season (unless the wife does something dastardly like giving birth on a home match day). I'm in Belgium for the GP, if you're wondering.

I always remember Jez saying that you're never as good as you think you are when you win and never as bad as you think you are when you lose. There's a lot of truth in that though we've been woeful from what I've seen so far this season. Sounded like Wolves may have been an improvement so hopefully we can continue that and convert it into a win.

Alan's team looks good to me, especially with Ikpeazu off the bench.

 

[Vanni]

All I'm going to say at this moment is this - cheers Pompey, Grimsby. Morecambe and Donny. Much appreciated.

 

[jacobncfc]

Oh dear, Shaun.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

3-0 flatters us a little really but think we deserved the victory in the end.

First half we looked poor and conceivably Cambridge could have been ahead had Walton not produced some smart saves. Wasn't all bad though as Pelly and Cook missed good chances so quite an open game. Think it was the right call to take Lee off and put Rea in midfield.

Second half was better and we looked a lot more solid and taken our chances clinically. Once we got the goal it was comfortable. Pleased Marriott got his goal should be a weight of his mind and a class finish too.

Nice cherry on the top at the end with Hytlon, but like I say perhaps flatters us.

 

[huddsmoose]

We played well for an hour but as soon as Luton scored we imploded. Confidence is so low at the moment but disappointing none the less.

 

[Kenneth E End]

A deserved victory in what was a battling and different performance from Luton Town. I'd argue we played better v Stevenage and Leeds in the last week, didn't take the chances offered and as such came away empty handed on both occasions.

The first half we could've easily gone in behind; Christian Walton making 3 fantastic saves. Jones made a tactical change about midway through the half, hauling off Olly Lee, who was clearly losing the midfield battle, to be replaced by Scott Cuthbert, who put in another resolute performance at the back.

We started off the second half just as we finished the first; struggling to dictate terms and really the goal came against the run of play. Went down as a Josh Coulson OG, although not sure where his supposed touch came from? A great strike from the next attack from Jack Marriott seemed to seal the contest. We were more clinical in our chances today; summed up by an assured finish from Danny Hylton.

10 points from 5 games - not to be sniffed at, at all.

 

[hellogregory]

Makes our result last week look all the more shit.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Makes our result last week look all the more shit.

Grimsby's 5-2 win makes our result last Saturday look shit, but this is L2, and everyone can beat each other. It is still only August and the league and the individual teams are still sorting themselves out.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

A deserved victory in what was a battling and different performance from Luton Town. I'd argue we played better v Stevenage and Leeds in the last week, didn't take the chances offered and as such came away empty handed on both occasions.

The first half we could've easily gone in behind; Christian Walton making 3 fantastic saves. Jones made a tactical change about midway through the half, hauling off Olly Lee, who was clearly losing the midfield battle, to be replaced by Scott Cuthbert, who put in another resolute performance at the back.

We started off the second half just as we finished the first; struggling to dictate terms and really the goal came against the run of play. Went down as a Josh Coulson OG, although not sure where his supposed touch came from? A great strike from the next attack from Jack Marriott seemed to seal the contest. We were more clinical in our chances today; summed up by an assured finish from Danny Hylton.

10 points from 5 games - not to be sniffed at, at all.

Looked a definite OG to me, Rea headed it down (Cambridge will be very disappointed as he was totally unmarked) and Coulson (EDIT: Wasnt Coulson it was Dunn) flicked his foot out and it span passed Norris and in. Would have been a fairly simple take for the keeper without the touch I think.

 

[Hatter86]

Probably our weakest performance of the season thus far. Felt we played a lot better against Stevenage and and Leeds for no reward. However this season we do have goals in the team so always have that punchers chance when it comes to a turgid draw. We need to start taking our chances as on another week (last week) it's going to cost us. Dodgy own goal, great solo goal and a nice breakaway goal at the end.

Probably the weakest Cambridge side I have seen for a while. Decent enough approach play but then nothing really in the final third. Berry is always lively and wins a frankly unfeasible amount of headers for someone his size. Elito looked most likely to do something. Really look like they are missing some quality up top.

Also, I think I might love Danny Hylton...

 

[ambernuts]

By far the best performance of our season so far, and how any Luton can think they deserved a win is beyond me. I reckon we won every individual battle on the pitch for the most part.

 

[Kenneth E End]

By far the best performance of our season so far, and how any Luton can think they deserved a win is beyond me.

Well we scored three goals.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

By far the best performance of our season so far, and how any Luton can think they deserved a win is beyond me. I reckon we won every individual battle on the pitch for the most part.

It was largely even on chances despite that though. Hypothetically could have been 2-2 at half time. Once Lee went off I don't think it's true you were winning all the battles on the pitch either as Rea gave us much more of a foothold there.

Second half id dispute you were even really in the game to be honest, don't recall Walton having anything of note to do second half whereas we have created and scored from 3 openings.

I heard a lot of Cambridge fans say it was there best performance of the season last night which surprised me as it looked like our worst. Really felt that up to the first 60 minutes or so it was largely both teams playing as badly as each other (especially defensively, lots of poor defending out there from both sides) and the last 30 we've pulled away.

I'd say it wasn't a 3-0 game certainly though. It's definitely a flattering score line for us.

 

[Habbinalan]

Are we bottom because we've played 4 of the current top 6.......or are they in the top 6 because they've played us?

I know what I think.

Our next 3 proper matches are against 5th, 7th and 1st. We don't do dull at the Abbey.

 

[Hatter86]

Seeing a lot of Cambridge fans saying this was their best performance so far. This was definitely our worst. I suppose thats in someway indicative of where we are both currently at.

 

[huddsmoose]

It probably was our best performance, which shows how utterly useless we've been this season.

We've got a core of good players but it's just not happening. Any team in this league would struggle up front having Corr, Dunk and Mcgurk injured at the same time, but we should have enough left to be competitive.

I thought Luton looked like a much more mobile and technically gifted team this year - McGeehan and Pelly are a good mix in midfield and Marriott and Hylton are the strike force you've been lacking in the last two seasons.

If you fail to get promoted it'll be because of your defence - that O'Donnell looked out of his depth and could've had 4 or 5 yellow cards! Our front two have zero physical presence yet you didn't win a header until Cuthbert came on. Why didn't he start?

I think Luton will finish in the top 3 and we should be ok for mid-table eventually, however bad we are at the moment. Once Dunk's back we'll start scoring some goals. I hope...

 

[Judge Dredd]

Cuthbert didn't start because he can't pass a ball in a straight line, Jones wants us to build from the back so prefers ball-players at centre half. We never got our passing game going yesterday though and the game suited Cuthbert's strengths, it was an excellent sub at the right time.

 

[Hatter86]

Also I heard somewhere that Cuthbert left this weeks open training session early with a minor injury so he may not have been 100%. He also didn't have a full pre season.

I agree in regards to the defense. One issue is Jones hasn't been able to pick his first choice defense yet due to Sheehans injury in the warm up at Plymouth. Cuthbert has been sporadically injured and Mullins was suspended, so it's been a bit of a merry go round at center half so far. We should get stronger once it is settled. O'Donnell wasn't great yesterday but has had a solid start to the season. He's much better going forward than defending and we just have to accept that. Potts it's sort of the inverse although I thought his defensive decision making yesterday wasn't great.

 

[Tom_CUFC]

Beginning to feel like an enivatibility now. First 60 minutes was fine but the implosion afterwards was unforgiveable.

Probably got 3 more league games to save yourself Mr Derry.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Beginning to feel like an enivatibility now. First 60 minutes was fine but the implosion afterwards was unforgiveable.

Probably got 3 more league games to save yourself Mr Derry.

When are Dunk, Corr, McGurk back? Will surely improve when you have those back.

Obviously you haven't started well but you are missing 3 of your better players there, so it's tough.

 

[oakroader]

it won't necessarily mean things automatically get better when injured players return....they'll need games to get match fitness and run the risk of re injuring themselves again...we've seen this ourselves...you'll end up mid table at worse....early signs are discouraging agreed...but best to be shit now than later

 

[Habbinalan]

When are Dunk, Corr, McGurk back? Will surely improve when you have those back.

Obviously you haven't started well but you are missing 3 of your better players there, so it's tough.

They're not expected back for those 3 games (McGurk might get on the bench in a couple of weeks), not that you can believe all that we're told.

We're assuming that Corr MAY be back around Xmas - he's just gone to St George's for a week's rehab.