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cambscanary

Cambs United

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I live in Cambridge so i got myself down there for the game.

first off Bentley is gonna be amazing for us, shame he aint our player.

Secondly, i know its only a friendly but i think we are gonna be really lack for wide players this season and that worries me.

Zema is finished and i guarantee he will leave at the end of his 3 months. He is no good!

Safri looked good, really good actually. he''s very much in the Gary Holt mold (just realised i don''t know how you spell mold/mould, hate it when that happens)

Henderson is far from the answer especially at prem level!

It was a piss poor game and i know you cant judge a lot from it but Charlton looked a little small and fat and Francis seems like a new player. he is massive now. i swear he werent that big last season.

anyway. we need wingers, a centre half and a powerfull striker!

Cheers


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Thanks for the feedback - looks like Bentley has made a favourable impression - where did he play - and what was the general formation?

I see McVeigh played - was he not one of the wide players? And where/how well did Charlton play?

OTBC

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I thought Charlton looked handy, you can see he has a lot of experience & for a shortish player he''s good in the air. Bentley played on the left to begin with, then swapped flanks with Mcveigh later on... Bentley did look very impressive, he''s gonna scare some defences in the coming months!! Saffri too looked good (didnt get sent off) & will prove his doubters wrong!!!!!!!!

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Thought Charlton was pretty good too. He knew exactly where poeple were going and when to jump, so he won most ballls in the air despite his height. Eddie had a great game along with Holt. Poor old Zema looks well short of match fitness and quality. Looked scared to keep hold of the ball.

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I enjoyed the game though thought we lacked some drive in the second half. Svensson was very useful, what do we think of him playing as the target man all the time? Some of our our strength came from the exploitation and delviery from Bentley and McVeigh on the wings, and I thought it was better when they swapped, with Bentley on the left. Everyone looking confident, especially Francis who drew comments from where I was sitting about his presence and ability - he is going to be good for us this season again.

Safri was commited and getting involved, often doing enough to get a leg in and divert the ball, seems a quiet player within himself but nonetheless had a good degree of play in the match, I notice he took all the free kicks and corners until Mulryne came on (btw thanks for the autograph Phil!) and I think he will be useful for us.

Again with Charlton he was present when needed and was able to defend well and place the ball afterwards thoughtfully.

Second half as I say personally for me was a bit flat, with the lack of a target man or someone wanting really to take the ball on and forward, if we were playing Premiership sides we would have been a bit pinned back, but in fairness, we werent, and we were good enough to maintain the slight edge over a more determined U''s.

Gallacher took a few confident takes of the ball and did well in a near scramble against their tall number 11.

Shame to see a yellow card in the first half I dont think the ref quite had a handle but stayed out of it the second half and I think the game benefited.

Well thats my match report! A good evening out and it didnt matter I was incognito in the Cambridge end it was all pretty good natured. Wicked goal for them straight from a corner, no one was expecting that!

On the ball City!

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I think we were playing a 4-3-3 anyway, so we weren''t supposed to have as much width as you''d expect if we were playing a 4-4-2. However, we are definitely short of a quality wide man or two.

I think we need to be looking at Brennan/McVeigh on the left, and Bentley on the right. Bentley needs some cover though.

If we get Primus I would like to see him in the side alongside Fleming.

I am quite keen on a sort of 5-3-2 formation with two wing-backs, namely Helveg and Brennan. With (Right to Left) Primus, Fleming and Drury in the centre of defence.

Then any 2 of Holt, Francis, Safri, Mulryne in the centre of midfield.

Huckerby and Bentley working off Svensson, one of the two playing just behind the Sven, and one alongside.

This formation allows us to have pace upfront along with a solid defence. With wing-backs we will effectively have 4 in midfield to shut down the opposition, and the possibility of those wing-backs getting forward when we have the ball.

Holt, Francis, and Safri are capable of forming a shield infront of the defence and their stamina and distribution will see them getting forward and increasing options, as and when required.

As cambscanary said, we don''t have much talent on the flanks, so let''s not play to our weaknesses.

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Very much a game of two halves. The starting line-up didn''t give me or Woodford Canary many concerns and probably the majority of them will be starting against Palace. Played very much like a team with a good understanding of one other''s abilities and positioning.
Majority of the substitutions were made on 60 minutes and for the last halfhour, we weren''t much better than Cambridge and their team of cloggers. Couldn''t see any of the second string, except for Malky, displacing the stating XI
As for the new signings, Charlton and Bentley impressed. Safri looks like he could be a liability and Gallacher wasn''t really tested.

Player Ratings
Green - didn''t really have anything much to do - 7

Edworthy - strong performance down the right, second half - lost some mobility and tended to play the safe ball - 8/7 (first half / second half)

Fleming - solid reliable intelligent play - 8

Charlton - had my doubts before kickoff with his Fleck-esque physique but was proved wrong. Very influential and great commander of the defence. Looks to be a snip at £250k - 9

Drury - solid game, got forward and linked well down the left - 7

Holt - started the game on the left but moved inside as things progressed. In the thick of things as would be expected - 7

Safri - possible liability as he committed a number of late / unnecessary and/or niggling fouls. Game improved in second half as he pushed further forward - 5/6

Francis - all over the place - and I mean that in a good way. Hadn''t quite realised how athletic and fast he was. - 8

McVeigh - a game in which Paul needed to impress if he was to win a place in Nigel''s preferred starting XI. Probably tried too hard and got involved in a number of little spats. Good to see him on scoresheet. - 7 (6 if he hadn''t scored)

Svensson - "does what it says on the tin". You want a striker who knows where the back of the net is and Big Matt is the man for the job - 9

Bentley - impressive. Skillful, fast and played a key role in the second goal. A great acquisition if only for one season - 8

Subs
Gallacher - didn''t have much to do. Probably a better distributor of the ball than Greeno -7

Mackay - came on and did the business as one would expect - 6

Brennan - hadn''t really realised he was on the pitch. Did nothing wrong but nothing too impressive - 6

Mulryne - started well but drifted into midfield obscurity for the remaining 20mins of his run out - 6

Henderson - control was lacking for Hendo out of the left. Didn''t do anything to make me think he will get many appearances in the Premiership -5

McKenzie - where was his pace, his power. Admittedly the service from midfield was poor but Leon didn''t do anything for me -5

Abbey - if Zema plays a competitive game for Norwich, I''ll eat not only my hat but my whole wardrobe. Slow and lacking in confidence. A sad end for a player so cruelly blighted by injury - 4

Jarvis - we learned last night that Jarvis is not a right sided player. Seemed lost on the flanks - 5

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Pretty much agree with all of the above. Thought Safri looked very good. Francis was a bit far forward at times as was Holt and I think it will take time for those 3 to get used to playing as a unit.

My only concern about Bentley is that he is a bit lightweight but the boy does have some quality!

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Agree with you cambs cananary - since when was DF that size?! How old is he? Could he still be growing?!
Don''t agree with you about the wingers though - 4-3-3 looked the goolies because it is so adaptable. When the other team has posession it essentially becomes 4-5-1 with Bentley and WLY dropping back to join Francis Safri and Holt. It totally shut them down and they couldn''t find a way through us at all. In posession the middle three totally controlled things and spread play to Bentley and WLY who fed Super Matt and onrushing midfielders. It worked a dream if you ask me - albeit against a shocking side defensively. It also allowed Holt to move forward more than usual as Safri seemed to be the holding player although that may be better the other way around.

Other plus points has to be Charlton - led the line superbly and got in the way of everything, spread the play well out of defence too, were you watching Malky?! Yes he looks a bit short and seems to be carrying a few pounds but he''s far from lazy so either that''s just the way he''s built or it''ll soon come off.

Downsides all in the second half:
Helveg. Right midfield? Perhaps not! Was shown up by the brilliance of Bentley and WLY before him. If he''s essentially a right back, we''re a bit right sided in defence with Charlton and Edworthy who was superb last night. I really hope he doesn''t turn out to be another Euro/World Cup Wonder who can''t perform at club level a la Jordi Cryff, Karel Poborsky, Diouf and Diao to name but a few. He hasn''t played competitively at club level for a long time apparently.

Zema - really hoped for some evidence of what he might offer but he looks the same to me as he did before he did his second cruciate. Just a big target man who consistently wins the ball and consistently does nothing with it.

Mulryne - confirmed all my suspicions that the premier league will be too fast for him. He just wants too much time on the ball. Or he goes backwards. If he can''t do anything creative against Cambridge (and he did NOTHING) how will he fare in the Prem? Will struggle to hold his own in the squad against Safri Holt and Francis imo.

Brennan - am a big fan but didn''t really perform

Overall, some really good signs, especially the first half 4-3-3/4-5-1 formation but 4-4-2, with the personnel used, looked very average.

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see "steddy eddy and keith briggs" for my full admission of stupidity! we just couldn''t think who else it could be - turned out to be jarvis!
glad of that tho - he didn''t look like a seasoned international pro of some 10 years - we were getting worried about who we''d signed!!!

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Jarvis mistaken for Helveg? LOL, he''s old enough to be his father!

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Good summary by my mate Enfield Canary - though I''d like to add to his comments on Charlton that he looked a whole bunch better once he moved to left back. Not too shoddy at centre back but I can''t see him being anything other than cover for that role. Against a better side I think he''d have been more exposed in terms of pace, and probably with his (relative) lack of height.

On the left in the second half, once Jukebox went off, he was still making a good defensive contribution, bossing the line AND bombing forwards encouragingly. Actually, on the night, I thought he looked more of an attacking threat than Drury did in the 1st half... but then again Drury probably had better options ahead of him than Charlton did - very poor showing from Henderson.

Still, I can''t see him supplanting Drury for the left back role, which means he''s a useful utility player plus cover/competition for Drury. A good buy at £250k.

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Amazing how times have changed. Last year if we had spent £250k on a player, we would have expected him to feature in every game.

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Disagree - I can see Charlton being a serious contender at centre back. He''s got more pace than Malks and Flem but it''s his marshalling of the line, his covering and effective tight marking that impressed me. Height is less of a problem in the Prem because against the likes of Arsenal for whom the long ball is almost extinct, it''s man marking and anticipation of Henry and co''s movement that will be vital - not defending long balls into the box. Obviously there will be occasions when height is important and NW can pick his team accordingly but i saw some evidence last night as to why Charlton earned himself a rep last season for keeping the big guns quiet.

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