After losing to Cambridge, Paul Simpson
Manager Paul Simpson commented after our defeat against Cambridge United.
After the game, we asked Simmo if it was one of our most disappointing games this season, and he answered, “It has to be up there with them, absolutely.
“But, let’s be honest, we’ve had a lot, and we’re in a bad spot right now, and I believe that shows; there was a bit of a capitulation at the end, and we simply fell apart.
“I think the disappointing thing is, I thought we started both halves well. People may laugh and say that’s a bit of a strong word, but we did.
“We passed the ball efficiently, got into nice positions, and advanced into the final third.
“I do think we were shooting a bit early or crossing in front of players instead of going past them and trying to get in behind.”
Sullay Kaikai’s well-placed shot broke the tie after 14 minutes for the U’s.
“I believe it was one of their initial attacks against us; we didn’t get close enough to Kaikai along the line, allowing him to check inside and get a shot off.
“Again, we start the second half strongly, but the second goal is a terrible goal to concede.
“After that, we just went to pieces. We talked before the game about being brave, brave to receive, brave to pass the ball, brave to run, all of those sorts of things and in the end I thought Cambridge made us look like a team of kids against a real experienced side.
“The second one is a mistake, we get that, Harry should’ve just collected it, it’s a comfortable one into him but the ball slipped through his hands.
“The third one we’ve given the ball away cheaply. We’ve given it away sort of three-quarters of the pitch away from our goal. The recovery runs are poor, every recovery run has to be a sprint.
“We looked as though we felt sorry for ourselves today when that second goal went in. We talked about positive reactions when things go against you and we haven’t had that today.
“We have to deal with that criticism that we’re going to get, we’re in a tough place at the moment, we’ve got to accept that and just try and come up with a formula with a group of players that are going to be strong enough to deal with this situation and see what we can do.”
Regardless of the outcome, United led throughout the first and second halves.
Paul stated, “You have to score when you’re on top, and we haven’t been able to do so all season.”
“We’ve gotten into some very good spots.
“I think it was this week in the press, I was told that everyone says we’re direct, well I don’t think we were first-half. I thought we tried to pass the ball, play out from the back and got into midfield areas.
“I wanted our full-backs to try and get a little bit higher and our wide players to stay higher and come inside off the line so our full backs could get it, but we didn’t, we were receiving the balls and not breaking their front three’s line, so we tried to change that.
“Second-half, we started okay again, we got forward and got into good areas and you’ve got to score, you’ve got to take chances, when you get opportunities you’ve got to finish things off, but our goals
For tally shows, we haven’t been able to accomplish that throughout the season, and that’s the criticism I have to face, despite the fact that I believe we are trying to be forward thinking and offensive.
“In the second half, we threw Anton [Dudik] on and attempted to go four-four-two, but we didn’t get anywhere, so we need to figure out a shape.
“I’ve gone away from playing three at the back because I believed we had to be a bit more optimistic and play three strikers in Diamond, Gibson, and Armstrong, but that’s not working at the moment, so we are
We’re going to have to look again and go back to the drawing board to find a shape that gives us some sturdiness while still allowing us to be creative and try to score goals because it’s simply not happening.”
Josh Vela and Jon Mellish both had penalty appeals turned down in the first half; speaking about both, the Gaffer said: “I felt Josh Vela’s was a strong shout for a penalty; it appears to me like he’s ready to take a shot and the lad nudges him in the back.
“I’ll be honest, I haven’t seen Jon Mellish’s again, but I don’t think that was a penalty.
“I believe Josh made a decent call.
“Listen, that might have put us into a strong position in that first-half, but over the whole of the game, the truth is we got what we deserved and we got the reaction from the supporters that we deserved as well.”
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