Cambridge United Season Preview: progress under Dunne

With the 2018-19 League Two season coming up, The Football Lab spoke to Cambridge United fan Chris Vessey (@ChrisVesseyCUFC).

Since promotion to League Two in 2013-14, Cambridge have made a lot of high-profile signings but haven’t quite been able to make inroads into that top seven. What do you feel has been the missing ingredient?

Quite a few things! There was the curse of the Man Utd cup tie which seemed to cause the Club as a whole to lose focus, and was the beginning of the end for Richard Money and the majority of the Conference promotion side. The appointment of Shaun Derry, which despite looking positive during the early days of his tenure, turned into horrible, negative, turgid football to watch. With the former chairman blindly backing him without good reason, we were stuck in a rut until he resigned and it seemed almost moments after Paul Barry took full control of the Club, he disposed of Derry and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Joe Dunne took the reigns and introduced an attractive and carefree brand of football, but we were unfortunately too far behind to trouble the top seven.

Joe Dunne has taken charge of 15 games since taking the helm in February and the team has accrued 25 points; more than promoted Luton. You must be delighted Dunne has been given the permanent gig?

Yes, certainly. I’ll be honest in that I wasn’t too keen on Dunne getting the job, but he certainly proved his worth with the standard of football, approach to games and results. I will err a touch of caution though, as he came into the caretaker job under little to no pressure at all, and he was following one of the worst managers for standard of football i have ever seen at the Abbey Stadium, so things couldn’t have gone much worse. The true test for Joe will be this coming season, if he has targets and pressures of reaching the play-offs, and whether that pressure will still see him play the attacking brand of football that excited fans towards the end of last season.

Ball-winner Gary Deegan is one of the players who has reportedly improved since the change of manager. Do you expect him to start at Port Vale?

Almost certainly, considering he was the captain towards the end of the season after Leon Legge was out. He was unimpressive and largely anonymous under Derry, but as with most of the squad, seemed to have been given a new lease of life under Dunne and put in some excellent performances for Joe.

There seemed to be a few games last season when left-back Jake Carroll came off the bench to allow Harrison Dunk to move further forward on the left flank. Is that when you’re at your strongest going forward?

It can be, although if it means Harrison is not exposed as the left-back then that’s fine by me. I love Dunk, I think he’s a fantastic left-winger, but I’d be lying if I said he didn’t give me kittens at left-back! Jake is another contender for most improved player under Dunne. Shaky, easily beaten and nervous earlier in the season, he improved immensely under the new style of football. The two can make a great contribution down the left, and there’s no better sight seeing Harrison skinning an opposition right back to set up a goal.

Uche Ikpeazu was your top scorer last year with 13 goals. Now that he’s left for Hearts, is it important that Jabo Ibehre stays fit?

Certainly, and not just him, but Barry Corr too. It appears the biggest concern for supporters this pre-season is the lack of transfer activity with regards to strikers. We have the elder statesmen in Corr and Ibehre, a mis-firing and unimpressive Ade Azeez, and a youngster in Matt Foy. With the former two rightly described as injury prone, we need to wrap them up in cotton wool this season. Ibehre made some important contributions last season, is very experienced and an intelligent centre-forward, and we’ll need at least 30+ games out of him next season if possible.

Midfielder George Maris came in at second with 10. Do you feel he’s best centrally, or cutting in from the left?

Behind the striker, without a doubt. He’s a very talented and exciting player, and when he hits the right notes he’s unstoppable and a joy to watch. If Joe Dunne can get the best out of him, he could better the achievements of Luke Berry. Unfortunately he’s out of contract at the end of the coming season, so if he cracks on with his performances we will have a tough battle to keep hold of him.

Dimitar Mitov started the final three games and only conceded twice. With David Forde now 38, is the young goalkeeper’s rise timely?

The Club obviously think a lot of Dimitar, he signed a long term extension of his contract in the summer. Forde has one more season left in him and I can’t think of anyone better to tutor Mitov in the skills of goalkeeping. He’s being groomed for the number one spot and if he’s patient, it’ll be his to claim after this season.

Greg Taylor seemed to form a nice partnership with George Taft in the second half of last season. With the latter staying on and Louis John signing from Sutton, are you happy with your defensive options?

Defence is one area of the team we need not worry. Taylor was arguably the player of the season, he and Taft have a great understanding, and with the promising Louis John signing as competition (and he can play right back) we seem gifted in that position. Carroll and Dunk can slot in at left back, as can Taylor if needed, and Halliday is first choice at right back.

Right-back Bradley Halliday only missed three games last season. Did he rediscover some of the form that made him part of Accrington’s promotion push in 2015-16?

He’s never lost it! Bradley is a fantastic right back. Another player worryingly out of contract at the end of the season and will surely have higher division teams after him. Probably the most consistent player we have, and i can genuinely count on one hand the games that he’s put in poor performances. We were very lucky to get him when we did and we’ll be even luckier if we can persuade him to sign a contract extension

It felt like the season ended too early for David Amoo, who seemed to put together a purple patch after coming back from injury. Do you see him starting more games over new signing Reggie Lambe?

That’s hard to predict. Amoo had a difficult start to last season, I’m not sure whether he wasn’t fully fit or carrying an injury, but he didn’t look much use and then he was dropped from the squad, followed by time out with an injury. Then under Dunne he seemed to hit the right form and was a handy weapon going forward, looking composed and dangerous on the wing. So it all depends on whether he can stay fit. Lambe comes with a good reputation and can play anywhere in an attacking position, so i’m looking forward to seeing him in action.

Jevani Brown looks like a nice find from St Neots. Are you impressed by his technical ability?

There’s a lot to be impressed about with regards to Brown. He has the lot – skill, composure, touch, finishing and the ability to take teams apart. He’d only made a handful of appearances before other scouts were beginning to take notice of him. He had a rough start to professional football at Peterborough, some of it his own doing, so if he’s learned his lessons, works hard and keeps his head straight he will undoubtedly be playing at a much higher level in the future. Hopefully with Cambridge United, but in all honesty, probably not!

Cambridge aside, what are your thoughts ahead of the League Two season as a whole? Any potential dark horses for you?

Looking through the teams and squads of our rivals this season, not many teams strike me as a dark horse. Out of the two promoted sides, Tranmere will do OK and Macclesfield may struggle. There are a few Clubs spending silly money in an attempt at promotion, namely Notts County, Lincoln City and Mansfield Town, so you’d expect them to be up there. If i were pushed at picking a surprise package, i’d plump for Cheltenham Town, IF they can keep hold of Mohamed Eisa. A wily old manager in Gary Johnson, they play decent football and in Eisa have one of the best players in League Two

Where will you finish?

We’ll be mid-table, between 10th and 13th. We have a slashed budget and judging by Joe Dunne’s most recent interview, our transfer business is done for this summer. There’s little chance Ibehre and Corr will both be fully fit all season so we’ll struggle in the striker department at times. I’d be fairly happy with upper mid-table if Joe continues with the attacking approach to games that he did last season, then at least we’ll see a lot of entertainment if not the right result every week.

Thanks to Chris for his answers. The Football Lab’s verdict on Cambridge can be found on We Love Betting from late July.