Cambridge United head coach Mark Bonner opens up on search for regular centre-back pairing
Head coach Mark Bonner has been explaining the reasons as to why he has found it tough to cement together a regular partnership at the heart of the Cambridge United defence since taking charge of the club in 2020.
A number of centre-backs have been used throughout Bonner’s tenure, but due to a combination of injuries and inconsistent form he has so far been unable to nail down a regular pairing.
This season alone Lloyd Jones has featured in all 12 of United’s Sky Bet League One fixtures, yet during those he has played alongside Jubril Okedina, Zeno Ibsen-Rossi and Greg Taylor.
It is a situation Bonner would be keen to rectify, but he also believes it is a consequence of the demands that are placed on the U's at this level of football.
He said: “That will come down to physical condition and whether people can stay fit and then the consistency of a pairing that really gives us that chance.
“Over two and a half years, we must be into double figures for centre-backs that have played.
“Sometimes that’s a consequence of having younger ones. We’ve rarely had two senior ones and some of the consistency issues around younger players is just part of the development. You want to change things and that’s the right thing to do as well.
“Eventually we’d like to get to that point (of having settled centre-backs), but the one thing that I’m always wary of is that I believe that all of our players are able to play at the level and be competitive firstly. And secondly I’m not really one to moan about what is and isn’t available, you just make do with what you’ve got and when players are fit or out of form, we’re more than capable with the team that we’ve got.
“I don’t really want to make excuses around that because all our players are players that can play at this level and the more often we can get a consistent team on the pitch, obviously that helps us, but that’s almost impossible when you’ve had the ridiculous start to the season we’ve had.
“We had a busy, busy pre-season and the first month or so is crazy – 10 games in five weeks. And then this month is crazy with eight games, all to make sure we’re not playing in November when 5,000 miles away there is another football tournament taking place.
“You look across the league, loads of managers have got this same issue at the moment where players are not quite fit or not quite ready and available. It’s a consequence of having to play quite a lot and having to play players in that early part of the season when they’re not quite right to play and they need a bit more recovery time.”
Captain Taylor completed 90 minutes for just the second time in the league this season on Tuesday night during the 3-0 defeat at Ipswich Town as he continues to work his way back to full fitness after suffering a serious ankle injury last term.
And Bonner revealed that the 32-year-old will be closely monitored ahead of Saturday’s trip to Bristol Rovers.
“He did really well to get through 90 minutes, it was a really tough game for him and us,” he added. “Hopefully he can settle down. It’s just (about) how quickly he can recover from that, but he’ll have done everything he can to get himself ready to go again.
“He did well at Portsmouth as well when we went there. That’s two big games he’s come in on after a long while out of the team and then it’s just how quickly he can recover from those games.
“It can take a little bit of time when you’re really chasing that fitness and you’ve had a little bit of a disrupted pre-season off the back of it. It’s all natural really, it takes time to get back to that real regularity.
“We’ll see where he’s at but hopefully he’s another good option for us at the weekend.”
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