Stockport County v Cambridge United: How might the U’s line-up for Sky Bet League One opener at Edgeley Park?

For the past three months, Garry Monk has been spared the stress of picking a Cambridge United starting line-up for a Sky Bet League One fixture.

But the U’s head coach will be back at it tomorrow when he names the 11 players that will take to the pitch for the season opener at Edgeley Park against newly-promoted Stockport County.

New signings Ryan Loft and Gary Gardner – along with midfielder Jordan Cousins – have been ruled out, but those three players aside, United will head north with no fresh injury concerns.

A number of players appear to be certain starters, but below the Independent has taken a look at four positions that could be giving Monk food for thought.

Who gets the gloves?

At the age of 27 and with almost 200 senior career appearances under his belt, it’s easy to see why many expect Jack Stevens to return between the posts after missing last season’s run-in through injury.

In contrast, loanee goalkeeper Vicente Reyes – recruited from Norwich City following Will Mannion’s departure to Charlton Athletic – has featured just 16 times in the Football League during a temporary spell at Forest Green Rovers last term.

And yet, it was the 20-year-old from Chile that was given the nod during last week’s friendly against West Bromwich Albion. That afforded Reyes the chance to play behind the back three that could well start at Stockport, while Stevens appeared a day later alongside a much more inexperienced backline that shipped six goals against Colchester United.

There may, of course, be nothing in that whatsoever – but there was certainly a feeling that the players who faced West Brom were in pole position with regards to starting places for this weekend.

Recall captain?

The initial concern when captain Michael Morrison missed last weekend’s double-header was that he may have suffered a reoccurrence of the injury that ruled him out of the final few weeks of last season. Those fears were soon eased, however, with confirmation that the skipper missed out because of personal issues and he’s been back in training this week.

Without Morrison, the trio of Kell Watts, Zeno Ibsen Rossi and Jubril Okedina looked to have a good understanding against West Brom and there is bound to be a temptation for Monk to stick with that.

And during an interview with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire earlier this week, Morrison himself hinted that he may have to bide his time.

“If you’re looking at the team, I don’t think there will be too many changes from the West Brom team. Obviously I wasn’t there, but I wouldn’t say the team would be far away from what people have guessed,” said the 36-year-old.

“I am fit and ready to play, but sometimes you have to be more patient than you’d like. I’m excited to keep playing and contributing – hopefully that’s on the pitch as much as possible. And if it’s not it’s about helping the younger players, certainly the ones in my position.”

Smith from the start?

Playing just 45 minutes of football in pre-season is not exactly ideal preparation going into a new campaign, but that is the situation new signing Korey Smith finds himself in.

But such is the impact that Smith is expected to have on Monk’s new style of play, the boss is bound to be giving plenty of consideration to starting the 33-year-old and perhaps bringing him off around the hour mark. Admittedly the intensity is going to be much greater on Saturday, but Smith showed qualities in the first half against West Brom that Cambridge have not had in the middle of the pitch for some time.

Asked during his media duties on Thursday if he would be happy to start his eighth addition of the summer, Monk said: “He’s available and he’s been training. He played that 45 against West Brom and he came through it fine.

“He’s naturally a very good professional and naturally fit in terms of looking after himself in the off-season.”

Fans’ favourite benched?

The mere suggestion of Liam Bennett not starting a game would be considered blasphemy by large sections of the United fanbase! After all, the 22-year-old is a multiple winner of the Love Cambridge Player of the Month accolade and he also claimed the club’s Player of the Season award by a big margin last term.

But with Bennett being part of the side that was hammered by Colchester and James Gibbons filling the right wing-back role against West Brom, maybe that is reason enough to suggest that there is a real battle on in that position.

Monk is expecting Stockport to pile on the pressure – particularly early on – and that may work in Gibbons’ favour. While he may not be as exciting as Bennett going forward, Gibbons is solid defensively and also offers a bit more height to deal with crosses into the box. As Bennett as previously stated himself, he is aware that he is often targeted in the air by opposition teams.

It could be that games like Saturday are set aside for Gibbons, while the following week at home against Crawley – when the onus will be on Cambridge to be on the front foot – is tailor-made for Bennett.

Predicted U’s XI v Stockport: Reyes; Okedina, Rossi, Watts; Gibbons, Andrew; Smith; Brophy, Kaikai; Kachunga, Lavery