The U's-letter: Issue #1
Barton is the new Wessi, lots of passes, and some nice new beers: welcome to the first of our weekly United roundups
Here we are then: new season, new…sletter?
As we host our website on Substack, we’ve decided to launch the thing that this platform is actually built to do: a newsletter. And obviously, because we’re not total idiots, we’re calling it ‘The U’s-letter’.
The U’s-letter is going to be a weekly offering that summarises all the goings on at Cambridge United over the past seven days. It will contain condensed match reports (replacing our individual posts after each game from last season), news from the Abbey, opposition views on United, little match previews, a view of all the important things you need to know around League One, and the best stats and social stuff we’ve seen over the course of the week.
Released every Thursday, and landing straight in your inbox if you’re subscribed, hopefully it becomes a one-stop-shop to catch up on everything you need to know, read, see or listen to, both at Cambridge United, League One and the wider footballing world.
For the first few weeks it might well be a work in progress as we get to grips with a format that works, so bare with us. Any feedback, comments, praise or abuse is welcome - preferably to our email hello@undertheabbeystand.com
So, onto this week’s U’s-letter! We’re less than a full week into the League One season and already we’ve seen shocks, shockers and screamers - and that’s not even counting Jack Stevens on Tuesday night.
Despite the U’s losing both their games, the story of those two matches couldn’t be more different. There’s been plenty of positives and negatives to draw from them both, and being still in mid-August there is the obvious shadow cast over any analysis of how our season has started by the transfer window still being wide open. Wide. Open. Just in case anyone fancies signing a striker or two.
Let’s get into what’s been going in in CB5 to kick off the new season…
📰 News From The U’s 📰
There are some lovely new beers from Brewboard to sample, all wrapped in our 24/25 kit designs. You might even be able to pick these up at King Street Cellar, but trust me they will have a good replacement if you can’t.
The Blackpool home game in a few weeks time is Former Players Appreciation Day. So not only should you be there to support the boys, but if for some mental reason a former player is reading this, get in touch with the club.
Well worth a look at the revamped club website, specifically CUFC TV which is where all player and manager interviews are now being housed. Very smart.
Slightly older news but it was great to see Amaru Kaundu pen pro terms, and come on in the second half against QPR - and show some lovely touches. Matt Ramsay wrote a great piece for the UTAS website looking at the youth players from that famous FA Youth Cup quarter-final team and what role they might have in the first team for Monk.
✍️ At The Match ✍️
Stockport 2-0 U’s
Opening weekend did not go to plan for the U’s. This was, in all honesty, a very regulation 2-0 home victory for newly-promoted Stockport. That pre-season naivety that is completely impossible for any rational football fan to avoid was quickly quashed inside 5 minutes when Louie Barry’s audacious lobbed volley (is that what we’re calling it?) from 25 or so yards found the back of the net. Reyes may well have been out of position, but the finish was pretty ludicrous.
It’s worth mentioning that United recovered well from this early setback. In the carnival atmosphere of opening day when the home team is getting it all their own way, the U’s managed to gain a bit of control for 20 minutes and at the very least not let the game get away from them. There were openings for Kaikai and Brophy in the first half, and a great chance for Lavery created by Barton within seconds of coming on for his first-team debut in the second, but nothing came of them.
In the second half the big lad up top - Kyle Wootton, who got his own way far too often throughout the game - rose to nod home a brilliant cross. And that was that, a goal in each half, two zip, game over. Regulation enough for Stockport, and for the U’s feelings were mixed: frustration that we managed to go into the first game so much lighter in terms of personnel than we should have, and hence couldn’t put up enough of a fight, but also perspective that Stockport will beat plenty of teams at home this season, and there were green shoots in our own performance still.
It’s important to remember we beat Oxford at home 2-0 in the first game of last season, and look where they are now. That’s all I’m saying…
U’s 1-2 QPR (EFL Cup)
Written by Owen Kiernan. Full report available at The Antler
I don’t want to put too many superlatives down about our second half performance because there’s still a lot of football to be played this season, but Monk seems to have got us playing like a proper, hardworking and creative football team. Previously we’ve been accused of setting up to not lose a game - last night we went out to win the game, and take it to our higher placed opponents. And we were within a whisker of not doing so.
A word for Dan Barton then - my God what a full debut. I don’t want to put too much pressure on him but he looks like one hell of a player. Always looking to get forward, a great touch, great vision and a decent shot on him - could he be the heir to Hoolahan? Let’s not get carried away, he’s only 19 and only has 100 minutes of first-team football behind him, but on this showing we’ve got something special on our hands. I feel we must mention his replacement Amaru Kaunda too - another youth team graduate, he got instantly busy when he came on and had a couple of decent forays forward, finding himself unlucky not to get a free kick in the dying seconds.
What can we take from this? As much as Saturday wasn’t the greatest U’s performance, this looked totally different. We know we’re still light on numbers, and another centre-forward is an absolute must. If we play like this for the season (which is a big ask, given the intensity) we look like we’ll be comfortable against anyone in the division. We might not have enough about us to stay up, and all it will take is a couple of injuries before we’re in real trouble, but we’re going to put on a hell of a show anyway. If this is Garry Monk’s U’s then I’m here for it.
🧐 View From The Away End 🧐
Stockport
We’ve lost our last five opening day fixtures so it felt like quite a relief to dispose of that curse on Saturday (even though we got walloped 6-1 off Blackburn three days later). I was in the Pop Side (directly next to you lot) for the game and had a wonderful view of Louie Barry’s impish moment of magic. Absolute pandemonium hugging friends and strangers for a few moments, feeling like this season had started exactly where we’d left off back in April as League Two champions.
Cambridge had a decent spell of pressure but if I’m honest I never felt like we wouldn’t win the game on Saturday once that Barry screamer has nestled in the net. I thought you got into some decent positions but didn’t seem to have the firepower that was going to get you back in the game. Subs looked decent I must say, especially Barton who absolutely skinned a couple of our lads just after he came on.
QPR
From Hoopsa
That was a tough watch for QPR fans! Cifuentes threw out seven first-teamers after Saturday’s loss to West Brom, but just like that match, after finding the first goal with a nice team move, we sat back and invited pressure which Cambridge applied well. The U’s were unlucky not to be level at the break after that great strike from Dan Barton (who I have to say looked excellent) and even unluckier to go in two behind.
The second half you totally dominated us after Varane and Andersen went off, but thankfully young R’s keeper Joe Walsh redeemed his mistake for Digby’s goal with several point blank instinct saves being the only thing stopping this one going to pens. Have to say I thought there were some lovely combinations from your midfield in the second half (even if ours were like statues) - good luck for the rest of the season.
FANCY BEATING US AT EFL FANTASY? LINK BELOW 👇
🔢 Stats Corner 🔢
From James, posted in the post-game thread on UTAS Chats: Our last competitive home game prior to this was vs Wycombe in April, where we completed 180 or so passes. On Tuesday we completed 540.
And it’s worth noting Wycombe was a decent performance by last season’s standards!
Digby had 90 passes with 92% success rate. Metronomic. (Unconfirmed what direction they were in).
Not a U’s one, but Bristol Rovers’ post-pandemic record in the EFL/Carabao/whatever Cup reads: P5 W0 D0 L5 F0 A10. Could be worse.
🔮 Opposition Preview 🔮
Crawley Town (H)
Last 5 (last 2, on this occasion): WW - A great start to the season for Scott Lindsey’s team who are predicted by nearly everyone to finish rock bottom. They beat Blackpool 2-1 at home on opening weekend and dispatched Swindon 4-2 in the cup on Tuesday.
Last time out: United 3-1 Crawley, 30th Jan 2021. Scorers: Ironside, Knoyle, Hoolahan. Glory days.
Our H2H: W7, D0, L5. A distinct lack of draws there.
Manager: Scott Lindsey. Performed miracles last season when nearly everyone had Crawley to finish in the bottom two of League Two, eventually taking them up via the play offs against all odds. This year the challenge is even bigger, but they will absolutely give it a fight - as much as no one reading this wants them to.
One to watch: Jack Roles - not that Roles was necessarily a bad player, but he played for United at a real low ebb in recent years and it feels strange to be facing him in League One. He’s done well to get his Football League career back on track after dropping to the National League with Woking.
Former players: Jack Roles and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy.
🏟️ Under The Other Stands 🏟️
This section I imagine will become most important when we get to the nitty gritty of the season, when we’re looking at fixtures and PPG of teams around us, desperately staring at a form table begging something to give us some positivity.
For now, let’s summarise a few big stories from the league:
Despite the gazillions invested, Birmingham only managed a 1-1 draw at home to Reading thanks to an 87th-minute Alfie May penalty. Does that say more about Blues stuttering, or that Selles’ well-coached Royals might be very decent?
Of the teams predicted to be around us, Shrews lost at Stevenage and looked fairly toothless by all accounts. Crawley beat Blackpool 2-1, as mentioned, with ‘Pool continuing their disastrous away from from last season. Northampton conceded a 91st-minute goal to lose at Bristol Rovers (we wouldn’t know anything about that would we… this time Chris Martin apparently managed to leave the ground without committing GBH). Exeter beat Rotherham which feels pretty good for them, Burton lost in a high-scoring game which I think we might say a lot this season. Who the hell knows what any of this will mean.
And Wrexham won. Obviously. (Screamer featured below)
💻 Social Digest 💻
Here we’ll put some funny, interesting or just ridiculous things that have done the rounds on football social media over the past week. Very much from beyond the Abbey, too - anything goes here:
Fair play, a screamer at The Racecourse. Better than Louie Barry’s against us, if that makes you feel better.
Crawley keeper doing this against Blackpool last week might give our one fit striker a bit of hope.
Remember Chris Brunt and James Morrison at West Brom? Proper Premier League Years stuff. This compilation of their screamers is well worth a go.
📚 The Reading List 📚
As mentioned previously, Matt Ramsay’s first monthly column for UTAS looking at the young players and if they can break into the first team.
We’ve done a bunch of season previews that are still worth a read or listen. A six-part written series (starting here) covering every team in the league, and an hour-long podcast with our predictions for the U’s this season.
Hear what Tom and Matt had to say on the latest pod in the Stockport review show.
Further afield, on the excellent NTT20, George Elek looks in-depth at managerial changes and what instigates them. One to bookmark maybe (hopefully not).