Cambridge United manager Gary Monk has insisted that his side approach every fixture with the objective of coming away with three points, despite The U’s only winning three of their fourteen matches this season.
Cambridge are 22nd in League One and have one of the worst goalscoring records in the division, having only found the back of the net 13 times so far this campaign. They also hold the worst away record in the division, losing six out of their seven matches on the road.
Gary Monk’s side head to midtable Northampton Town tomorrow, after an encouraging draw against Barnsley last weekend. The Cobblers return from the international break following two very impressive away draws, against Birmingham City and Blackpool.
As The Northampton Chronicle reports, Monk acknowledges that this will not be an easy outing:
“You don’t get the type of results they’ve had without having a really committed squad and quality amongst it. We are under no illusions as to how difficult tomorrow will be and the conditions might play a part, but we just focus on ourselves.”
“If our level of performance is where we want, we know we can compete with any team but we don’t have the luxury of being below that. We need to be at 100 percent to get something out of the game.”
The U’s only picked up one point from their opening nine matches but a run of three successive league wins at the end of October kickstarted their season, before a demoralizing 6-1 defeat away to rivals Peterborough United. They have also progressed to the second round of the FA Cup where they will face fellow League One strugglers Wigan Athletic, and have also advanced to the last 32 of the EFL Trophy.
Monk has outlined that tactical and mentality switch that his squad has been through since the beginning of the season, and hopes to carry on picking up points as they head into the festive period of the season where games come thick and fast.
“We’ve simplified our game a bit in the last few weeks but we’ve kept some key principles and we need to continue with that mentality. Our attitude will be to go and win the game.”
He’ll be hoping that on loan Bolton Wanderers forward Dan Nlundulu can build on his goal in the 1-1 draw against Barnsley, and have a real go against a Northampton Town side who are yet to win a league game in November.
Writers View
You have to say that at the start of the season Cambridge United looked destined to be involved in a relegation dogfight this season, but Gary Monk has reinstalled the belief around the football club and if you ignore the hammering at Peterborough, they have really improved in recent weeks.
Victory tomorrow could see them climb out the bottom four if results go their way, however they also have 2 games in hand over Crawley Town in 21st.
