Same old, Same old

Business as Usual

Q. How long does it take for an optimism bubble to burst?
A. About 47 minutes

I may be being a bit harsh here, but this was not the start of the season anyone at Cambridge United wanted. It took just 47 minutes for most of us there to realize, that if we do not get some good strikers in we are never going to get out of this league. Give Northwich some credit, they came for their point, they came to spoil and they ended up leaving with everything. They took their game plan and executed it perfectly.

Cambridge created a few opportunities, but like last season, they all seemed to fall to midfield men, and the strikers were horribly absent. This was typified just after Northwich scored when Hanlon forced the keeper to make a good save, and as the ball spilled out, there was not striker in sight to tuck it away. They will certainly have to redeem themselves on Tuesday night at St. Albans or the promotion dreams will all be over before we even start.

So what must they do, sharpen up the defence, watch the runners and get the ball into feet as quickly as possible. It all sounds easy, it won't be St. Albans are a hungry side, and if we allow them to bully us, like Northwich did we are sunk. We also need a referee who can take control of the game and give the right decisions at the right time. We didn't have this on Saturday, but we cannot hide behind it as an excuse. Rob Newman said it was a collective bad day at the office, let us hope so, for his sake anyway.

New Season, New Start

Cambridge United vs Northwich Victoria

Well after all the waiting it is finally here, the new season kicks off tomorrow with a massive air of optimism around the Abbey Stadium. This week has been a good week for the club. A new chairman has been appointed, the rent has been paid for the next three years and our pre-season has gone very well. So how will they get on tomorrow.

Cambridge are traditionally slow starters to the season, and they face a tough opener against Northwich. Northwich are a promoted team and will be keen to stamp their mark on this season. Cambridge will need to come out all guns blazing, there is no room for excuses like last year, it has to be a good solid start. There have been a lot of changes to the team that finished strongly at the end of last season. Steve Smith will make his debut at right back, and Andy Duncan will be missing, but this will be a stronger team than started last year.

The key to everything this season will be have we got the twenty goal a season striker we need to sustain the promotion push. We have three new strikers none of whom have delivered at this level. With Brady and Pitt on the wings the service will be there it will all be down to them to put them away. In tandem with this the defence will need to make sure they do not get bullied by some of the larger strikers in the league. If these things work we'll do well, if they don't its back to eleventh place for us.