Cambridge United season preview: Garry Monk eager to deliver a more entertaining brand of football during club’s fourth straight season in Sky Bet League One
While the previous two campaigns have been a case of job done when it comes to preserving Cambridge United’s Sky Bet League One status, the journey has not been overly enthralling.
The 2022/23 season may have ended with the nerve-jangling and unforgettable Great Escape, yet that only served to cover over what had been an arduous few months prior.
Mark Bonner’s side scored just 41 goals in 46 outings – a return only better than that of Accrington Stanley (40) and Forest Green Rovers (31), both of whom were relegated. Basement side Rovers were also the only team that lost more games than the U’s.
And while last term’s final-day survival away at Port Vale was much more of a muted affair, what had come before was far from entertaining.
All four sides that got relegated scored more goals than Cambridge, with only Shrewsbury troubling the opposition’s net on fewer occasions. And in terms of shots on goal, a United side managed by Bonner, Barry Corr (twice) Neil Harris and Garry Monk could only muster 472 attempts – the second worst return in the league ahead of only Burton Albion.
Now, there will be those that quite rightly point to the fact that United survived, and that they are now preparing for a fourth straight season in the third tier for the first time in the club’s history. What is there to really complain about when not so long ago supporters were trudging up and down the country visiting grounds in the National League?
But is there another way? Monk certainly believes so. The United head coach came in with 11 games remaining last term – and by hook or by crook the remit was to keep the club’s head above water. And while there were certainly flashes of a Monk team on route to survival, in the main the former Swansea City and Leeds United boss had to abandon many of his playing principles.
The summer, though, has afforded the 45-year-old the chance to implement a cultural reset. A double-figure number of the previous season’s squad have moved on, replaced by eight of Monk’s own additions with the hope that more will also follow in the near future.
It is – and will remain – an ongoing and ever-evolving process, but Monk has enjoyed working towards producing a more entertaining brand of football.
“I’ve really enjoyed it and I hope the players and the staff have as well. It’s not just about what you see on the pitch either, it’s about the environment around the training ground and the people we interact with on a daily basis,” he said.
“The way I viewed it coming in was about getting that first phase done, staying up in any way we could.
“But now is the right time to move it forward, especially with what we’re going to see on the pitch – that’s what we’re focusing on. We don’t want to be defending our own goal for 90 minutes.
“We want to have more of the ball, we want to have more control of games and that doesn’t mean we’re going to have full control of the ball and games every week – that’s too much, too soon.
“But we want to move that dial a bit more towards progressive football, with us having more of the ball and creating more. And we still want to defend well of course, you can’t win games if you don’t do that.”
Setbacks will happen – they always do in these situations. After all, those that remain from the previous two seasons are now being asked to take more risks in possession and press higher up the pitch, compared to the low blocks and counter-attacking football of the past.
Whether it comes to fruition only time will tell of course, but Monk is sure of one thing – the need for sticking together, particularly in the tough times.
He added: “The lads have been great in terms of taking things on tactically and the football side of it, but it’s a mental thing.
“A lot of the lads that have been involved over the last couple of years, they’re being asked to go from one style to a different one.
“It’s difficult, but I’ve been really pleased with their enthusiasm towards it.
“But it’s like anything, when you’re chasing something you know and you’re used to, you need to see success with it. That will be the proof and I’m sure it will come.
“What’s important for all of us to remember is that it doesn’t just happen quickly – it’s a path and a bit of a journey.
“There will be moments when it will be difficult and the want to go back to the comfort zone will be there. It’s at that moment where I want to see that strong mentality – and not just from the players, but from the staff and the club.
“We’ve got to stay strong with it because we’re doing the right work and that will be fruitful.
“There will always be teething problems, but at this moment in time I’m happy with where they’re at.
“I feel comfortable with it because that’s where I’m at in this stage of my career. I don’t fear the negative side of it all.
“I want to stand there on the sidelines – like our fans do – and enjoy what I’m watching. I enjoyed parts of the 11 games last season, but if I’m honest I didn’t look at it and think ‘this is getting me going’. And if that’s the way I was feeling, the players would have been feeling it and so would the fanbase.”
The bookmakers – as they have in each of the previous three summers – have United among the favourites to be relegated.
And survival is rightly the number one target for the club before a ball has been kicked.
But Monk, who has never previously managed below the EFL Championship, believes that now is the right time for Cambridge to have slightly loftier ambitions than simply staying up.
“It has to be (a bigger ambition than just trying to stay up), 100 per cent,” he said.
“The club has done incredibly well to come up from League Two and spend three years in League One, albeit with the last two years being a bit more difficult.
“But while it may be true that many see the club as still trying to establish itself at this level, it’s time to move away from that thinking.
“I’ve got experience from playing at a small club like Swansea. At that time we were a small club in terms of the realms of the teams we were playing against and the leagues we were in, but it didn’t mean that our mentality wasn’t big and our want for more wasn’t there.
“We still might end up down there, who knows? But the way that we want to go about it, I’d rather give it a go like that.
“We’ll need to stick together and create that mentality of wanting and expecting more from one another.”
United start on Saturday (10 August) with a trip to newly-promoted Stockport County – a game that is being screened live on Sky Sports at 5.30pm. And that is followed on Tuesday (13 August) evening by the visit of higher-league Queens Park Rangers in the first round of the League Cup.
