Another rung on the ladder.

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highpeakblade

Shoreham Street - Til Death Us Do Part
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Not long been in from another good days football and a game that I found overall entertaining and another step in the right direction with plenty of positives.

To start of with Cambridge is overall a nice place to go and watch football in fact I would say that it was a great shame that it was an early kick off because I would have liked to have spent a few more ours down there pre kick off. Managed to get a couple of jars in pre match with a group of their fans and had a good laugh and a good bit of banter.

You all probably saw the game on TV or online but heres my interpretation of what I saw from the sideline.....

The game itself started in typical "david v goliath" F.A Cup style, they started bright and threw everything but the kitchen sink at us in the starting exchanges but despite them getting round the back of us a couple of times which disappointed me a little (because we do need to get out of the traps a bit quicker in games) but overall we mopped it up pretty well and still tried to play football.

As the game went on a little we tried to play with a little bit of width. Cloughy looks like he likes the full backs to get in more advanced positions which I like and it worked today. Flynn looked lively early on and put a nice ball in that baxter put away very nicely. The goal came in a period where we started to get a grip on the game and a apply a bit of our own pressure and was well deserved.

I think after the goal we took the foot off the pedal again a bit and they came at us again which disappointed me a little, I would have liked us to push on straight after the goal and get another and put it to bed early days but we didn't and they knew they were still in the game and got at us a little.

Second half the lads must have been told that they needed to put it to bed and came back bright again. I think we put the ball around very well and got back to our usual style of dictating he tempo and controlling the game. We must have had the better share of possession and we worked it both left and right which was great. Murphy impressed on the wing but also Maguire impressed with his composure at the back and his distribution, some of his long range passes were great and rather than trying to slam it down their throats we looked to get players out wide and use the width and space and it worked.

The second goal was class and was overdue in my opinion, I think it was just a matter of time before we got it. Murphy was cracking and deserved it. But at that point in the game I think the front two were playing very well as well dropping deep to receive the ball and putting it around well left and right.

Overall another step in the right direction. Maybe lacked consistency for the whole 90 minutes but without being overly dominant we were the better team overall and went to a ground where confidence is currently sky high and controlled things regardless of them being a conference team. We didn't get dragged into scrappy football but instead kept patient and tried to play football.

Lots to work on still but we are building momentum and we keep doing the right things. If we carry on like this, start brighter and play for 90 minutes we won't go far wrong this season. Our back four are looking better again. Need to work on the middle of the park because that bit isn't working fully yet but Baxter looked comfy up front today and sharper and it looks like weve found natural wide men in Flynn and Murphy.

Well done cloughy and management team, well done players for the work they are putting in to put things right. We are laying some very sound foundations now lets build on them and aim for that top half of the table!
 

As the game went on a little we tried to play with a little bit of width. Cloughy looks like he likes the full backs to get in more advanced positions which I like and it worked today

I thought it was interesting that we saw players genuinely go and take up positions physically on the sideline, not something I've seen from United in a long time.
 
I thought it was interesting that we saw players genuinely go and take up positions physically on the sideline, not something I've seen from United in a long time.

Definitely, agree 100%

Although playing as previous managers have wanted us to by putting the bodies into the middle of the park to stifle games and dominate possession I don't think this helped us going forward and took a lot of the tempo and momentum out of the game. Not only did we have proper wingers using the full width of the pitch but we also had wingers who were instructed to and were confident enough to run at the full backs and beat them to get the ball into the box which again is something we haven't seen a great deal of.

That is something I would like to see a lot more of because Miller, Porter, Baxter and even Taylor are all decent enough poachers if the ball is put into the right position.

Dawned on me as well today, I don't really think we are missing King in this team at the minute either.
 
come on , own up, how many 6 weeks ago just before Weir got sacked thought wed get to play at Aston Villa this season

I can honestly say that I think we would get to the third round of the cup under Weir, I couldn't understand how he had got an otherwise established and steady team player worse. I can also say that I didn't expect to see Cloughy put his stamp on things as quick as he has but without getting overly carried away him and his team including Morgan who you can see plays a part on the touchline have all done a great job so far. They are working on the basics and shape and it is showing, the foundations of a "steady" team are coming back and gives us something to build on again.
 
Baby steps , learn to walk , then go on a run

Defo mate, If we can grind our way through christmas in the same way that we have been doing over the last month and pick up some points on the way then we can look at moving on dead wood etc in January, possibly adding a player of quality and pushing on to see what we can achieve in the second half of the season hopefully looking up without having to worry about looking down.
 
I really liked the way we played with width, as though Cloughie had said, play with width and you'll tire them out, which is what happened. They seemed to run out of steam.
 
I really liked the way we played with width, as though Cloughie had said, play with width and you'll tire them out, which is what happened. They seemed to run out of steam.

There is no reason why we can't continue playing with width in the league, it worked today against them and I see your point because I think you are trying to highlight that the fitness levels of a conference team might not be up to those of a league one team which is probably right but for me it is the basics of football and something we need to be looking at employing in parts week in week out, if you get the ball out wide an hit the by-line and get the ball into the danger zone then you 1. score goals and 2. win set pieces 3. have less chance of conceding as you are in advance in their half of the pitch.

Flynny's delivery today for me was text book. The amount of balls into the box earlier on this season that couldn't be described as anything other than poor I would need more than my fingers and toes to count. You see it in the top leagues in the world, crosses drilled hard and low in and around the 6 yard box are horrible to defend, get anything on it and it's got a great chance of going in, if the defender gets owt on it equally it has every chance of going in o.g and if it doesn't go in then you have a top chance of winning a corner.

For me we need to look at how much success we had with Flynn and Murphy playing so wide and having the confidence to run at and beat full backs and look at building on it.
 
A very enjoyable day out at Cambridge. Nice relaxed atmosphere.

I agree the team played with width today and it was noticeable the difference this made. The first goal coming from a Flynn cross after taking on and beating the defender. Murphy on the other hand does have a habit of cutting in, which is not bad if gets a shot in, or scores, but sometimes he should try and get to the line for a cross.

Porter was good again, and Maguire solid.

We should be beating teams like Cambridge, but after this season nothing should be taken for granted, it looked a potential banana skin.

Next Villa which will be a big challenge. Hope we don't have to play at noon again, gash time.

HH
 
A very enjoyable day out at Cambridge. Nice relaxed atmosphere.

I agree the team played with width today and it was noticeable the difference this made. The first goal coming from a Flynn cross after taking on and beating the defender. Murphy on the other hand does have a habit of cutting in, which is not bad if gets a shot in, or scores, but sometimes he should try and get to the line for a cross.

Porter was good again, and Maguire solid.

We should be beating teams like Cambridge, but after this season nothing should be taken for granted, it looked a potential banana skin.

Next Villa which will be a big challenge. Hope we don't have to play at noon again, gash time.

HH

Agreed at times he could cross but he beats the full back and makes direct runs towards the by line in the box and pulls the ball back. Still good play and hard to defend against.
 
I thought it was a good, professional performance.

Cambridge were a decent side and played some really nice football at times, with Berry at the heart of everything they did. I was impressed with him and I can see why they're doing so well this season. If they had a better striker I think they would have caused us more problems but the back three were solid on the whole.

Flynn played really well for me and so did Murphy when he came on. I was surprised to see him replace McGinn and play wing back and thought Cuvelier would have come on with Lappin staying wide but he had a good game.

An important thing for me was that we didn't cave in to the pressure that we were under at times. I've said it before and so have many others, what Clough has done is made us more resilient and that's job number one. Yesterday we looked decent going forward and even though it was against a Conference side it's still promising.

Oh, and we got away with a certain handball in the second half. We were lucky it was the opposite side to the linesman and that the referee didn't have X-ray vision!
 
A very enjoyable day out at Cambridge. Nice relaxed atmosphere.

I agree the team played with width today and it was noticeable the difference this made. The first goal coming from a Flynn cross after taking on and beating the defender. Murphy on the other hand does have a habit of cutting in, which is not bad if gets a shot in, or scores, but sometimes he should try and get to the line for a cross.

Porter was good again, and Maguire solid.

We should be beating teams like Cambridge, but after this season nothing should be taken for granted, it looked a potential banana skin.

Next Villa which will be a big challenge. Hope we don't have to play at noon again, gash time.

HH

You also got yourself clearly pictured on my TV at the start HH, nice flatcap :)
 
I am a celebrity, don't you know. :cool:

I was sitting with Guernsey Neil, in front of two rather nice ladies, the type mummy told me to avoid. :rolleyes:

Cheers, Tony.
 

Definitely, agree 100%

Although playing as previous managers have wanted us to by putting the bodies into the middle of the park to stifle games and dominate possession I don't think this helped us going forward and took a lot of the tempo and momentum out of the game. Not only did we have proper wingers using the full width of the pitch but we also had wingers who were instructed to and were confident enough to run at the full backs and beat them to get the ball into the box which again is something we haven't seen a great deal of.

That is something I would like to see a lot more of because Miller, Porter, Baxter and even Taylor are all decent enough poachers if the ball is put into the right position.

Dawned on me as well today, I don't really think we are missing King in this team at the minute either.
 
Definitely, agree 100%

Although playing as previous managers have wanted us to by putting the bodies into the middle of the park to stifle games and dominate possession I don't think this helped us going forward and took a lot of the tempo and momentum out of the game. Not only did we have proper wingers using the full width of the pitch but we also had wingers who were instructed to and were confident enough to run at the full backs and beat them to get the ball into the box which again is something we haven't seen a great deal of.

That is something I would like to see a lot more of because Miller, Porter, Baxter and even Taylor are all decent enough poachers if the ball is put into the right position.

Dawned on me as well today, I don't really think we are missing King in this team at the minute either.

Porter is certainly no poacher - Decent enough holding the ball up for either Baxter or Miller to feed off but again yesterday should have scored at 1-0 with a header that he tamely put straight to the goalkeeper !
I have lost count of the times he has failed to score from gilt edged opportunities that could be the differnece of winning or losing !
 
Porter is certainly no poacher - Decent enough holding the ball up for either Baxter or Miller to feed off but again yesterday should have scored at 1-0 with a header that he tamely put straight to the goalkeeper !
I have lost count of the times he has failed to score from gilt edged opportunities that could be the differnece of winning or losing !

This, just this.
 

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