The M11 "Derby" - Cambridge vs Leyton Orient

[Tom_CUFC]

Roll up! Roll up! It's the Cambridge United points giveaway! Suspensions? Mystery injuries? Underperforming players? Bat-shit crazy manager? We've got them all! No-one leaves without a prize!

Confidence is understandably low at the moment, but hopefully we'll be able to play close to (and hopefully a bit better than) how we did for the first 60 minutes last Saturday and then we might have a chance. The Dunk suspension is really going to balls things up though and I can see Dosh sticking with some players who should be dropped, although luckily it sounds like Donaldson is injured which should help. As has been alluded to on our message board, it's a double-edged sword really, want Money to play a generally more settled team, but quite frankly he hasn't got it right yet this season and the results and performances don't justify us keeping it largely the same.

If he's going to stick with 4-4-2 then I'd go Dunn, Omozusi (if fit), Coulson, Legge, Demetriou, Newton, Berry, Keane/L. Hughes, J. Hughes, Simpson Corr. I would rather we tweak it slightly based on what we have available and either make that midfield 4 a diamond (probably dropping J. Hughes for Morrissey), or go 5-3-2, dropping J. Hughes and replacing him with Taft, but I suspect it will probably be that first XI though with Roberts for Coulson, and maybe Taylor for Omozusi depending on what his status is (injured, disliked, none of the above, who the hell knows).

Hopefully Orient's performance last week was indicative of what they really are and not just a blip in their excellent start. I fear it's the latter, and I'll be going for a 2-1 away win again, which is not something I'm looking forward to, but I am looking forward to having Orient back at the Abbey, proper game.

 

[E10rifle]

Orient have sold out the seating, so we're on to terrace tickets.

Think last week was a blip - we deserved to lose, but the scoreline was a freak. Orient had more of the ball and did most of the attacking, but Exeter defended extremely well and we made some uncharacteristic mistakes at the back. It didn't help much having a kid keeper making his first league appearance, and a right back at left back, but both of those issues should be resolved on Saturday.

We did love letting Leon Legge score against us from set pieces last season, mind.

 

[Arbury]

For years I've been looking forward to playing orient, was the biggest game I missed while we was in the conference, they were always good games with a slight edge, especially in the Taylor swapping years, but and its a big but, I've lost a huge appetite for the u's so far this season, the football has been dire in my eyes and after all the expectation it's a huge let down, so I won't be going this wk end, I've lost faith in the manager and off the field I'm concerned we're spending more money than what we actually have, the soul and community feel seems to have dwindled for me and it's all about money, on and off the pitch.

For me there's only one winner and that's orient.


KTF.

 

[The Terminator]

The return of the M11 derby after a ten year absence!

I must admit I am not really looking forward to this, we have only won twice here in the last 20 years - One of which was an LDV Vans trophy game, the other was a 4-1 back in November 2003 when Cambridge had a stupid amount of players ou injured. We always used to lose at the Abbey, ALL THE TIME.

Many players and managers have represented both clubs in the last 20 years.

Barrett
Joseph Omozusi Granville Howes
Simpson Raynor Guttridge Tudor
McGleish Richards
​

A side that I can think of off the top of my head alone! Alex Revell and Daniel Chillingworth are another two!

The days of when Tommy Taylor used to buy god knows how many players

I wouldn't be suprised if we lost 4-0 again to be honest.

You have given us tickets for the terrace on the side as well, which has pleased alot of people!

 

[Laker]

The return of the M11 derby after a ten year absence!

I must admit I am not really looking forward to this, we have only won twice here in the last 20 years - One of which was an LDV Vans trophy game, the other was a 4-1 back in November 2003 when Cambridge had a stupid amount of players ou injured. We always used to lose at the Abbey, ALL THE TIME.

Many players and managers have represented both clubs in the last 20 years.

Barrett
Joseph Omozusi Granville Howes
Simpson Raynor Guttridge Tudor
McGleish Richards
​

A side that I can think of off the top of my head alone! Alex Revell and Daniel Chillingworth are another two!

The days of when Tommy Taylor used to buy god knows how many players

I wouldn't be suprised if we lost 4-0 again to be honest.

You have given us tickets for the terrace on the side as well, which has pleased alot of people!

Managed by Tommy Taylor or we could pick Martin "Fwee Year Plan" Ling..... :-D

I am looking forward to playing Orient though I think we'll lose as we're fucking shite at the moment. Be good to have another sizeable away following at the Abbey - sounds daft but I'm so grateful of playing sides like Orient after our years in the Conference.

I posted on our message board that I'd go 4-4-2 with as few changes as possible, though my caveat was that I'd swap Hughes for Keane (if fit), Dunk is suspended, Roberts has been underwhelming so Coulson could come in, and Taylor can fuck off for anyone. But now Donaldson is out too which gives another enforced change. So erm, continuity may not happen this weekend!

Dunn

Omozusi Coulson/Roberts Legge Demetriou
Newton Lughes/Keane Berry Jughes
Corr Simpson

Let's stick to a formation our players understand rather than confusing things too much!

 

[Look Out There Are Llamas]

Imagine Shaw and Cisak will come back in. Payne will come on around the hour, failure to win and he'll start v Wycome. Be interesting to see if McAnuff is involved.

McCallum - Simpson
Cox
Moore - James - Pritchard
Shaw - Essam - Baudry - Clohessy
Cisak
​

1-1, Legge from a set piece will obviously be Cambridge's goal.

 

[Vanni]

Have to agree with Arbury. It's all about the money and I blame the new pr guy. I'm afraid that my faith in Richard Money is also diminishing, and I was one of the happy clappers who used to defend this guy, but I don't think his constant tinkering and his lack of faith he has in his reserves is not helping things atm. Perfect example of this lack of faith was the Luton match, and when he only subbed a couple of players with minutes to go. That in itself shows he doesn't think the ressies can change anything. Excuse me Mr Money, but it was you who brought these guys to the club.

Another thing is that whilst most fans were happy with the pre season signings, I was wary as I rather a young hungry player with passion for the game than a bunch of journeymen. This also has the added problem of the time it takes for new players to gel, if indeed they ever do, and I'm not quite so sure they will. At least, that's the impression I'm getting, though I have to be fair and say that I haven't watched all the games.

Only thing I don't agree with Arbs is that I've haven't yet lost my appetite for the U's. As I know that there will be several games that I simply can't get to, mostly midweek and away trips, I try to get to those that I can.

Re. this match, I have a feeling DD will be more preoccupied with avoiding another defeat, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's what Orient are thinking too, so we could be in for one of those 0-0 snoozefests. Hope not.

 

[Lee Watkins]

As demetriou is an attackive full back/left wing back, and dunk is unavailable, then I'd be more than happy pushing him up to left midfield and playing Taft at left back behind him. Newton on the right, and berry in the middle with corr and Simpson up top. Bradenton should start but won't. Omozusi at right back and legge and Roberts centre back.

 

[Habbinalan]

Predictions of team and score seem as relevant as Sock Tape and Alice Bands at the moment. Our midfield tyros look like a bunch of pussies, our much envied defensive signings have shipped 13 goals in 7 matches and we're not going to see a decent reassuring keeper behind that defence this side of Christmas.

As Arbury and Vanni have hinted, the thrill has gone - and we're barely into into September. I'll be there and in the moment for 90 minutes but I've identified Mick George, in combination with "PR Guy" Tom Stewart as the root of all that is getting up my nose outside the 90 minutes - Cheerleaders in Scum blue, creepy Mick the Skip, wheelie bins with no wheels, cluttered Twitter feeds, crap programme, no Coconuts since the opening game, need I go on?

You can only count your blessings for so long. I am looking forward to another 5,000 + gate at the Abbey, with some quality players on show and the definite prospect of goals and more goals. I'm not looking forward to slipping down the table in the coming weeks.

I've no confidence that we'll win any matches in September and at the moment clean sheets are a necessary (but unlikely) foundation for moving forward. Perhaps a change of avatar will help?

 

[Arbury]

Think a change in manager will be better but every little helps.

 

[The Terminator]

We're Leyton Orient and we're due a bad run, I'm not looking forward to this, we lost 4-0 last week and that usually means a solid month of being shit. Plus we always lose at Cambridge!

1995/96 - Lost 2-0
1996/97 - Lost 2-0
1997/98 - Lost 1-0
1998/99 - Lost 1-0
2002/03 - Lost 2-1
2003/04 - Won 4-1
2004/05 - Drew 1-1 & Won 2-0 in LDV

 

[Look Out There Are Llamas]

Barrett
Joseph Omozusi Granville Howes
Simpson Raynor Guttridge Tudor
McGleish Richards
​

A side that I can think of off the top of my head alone! Alex Revell and Daniel Chillingworth are another two!

​

​

Adam Tann.

 

[Vanni]

Billy Beall who didn't need to wear long sleeved shirts during the coldest spells of winter as the short sleeved ones did the job of covering his arms just fine.

 

[AtaturkOzgutson]

Terminator, it's how you tell them, a bolder fan would say "unbeaten in 12 years at The Abbey" or "not lost in three at Cambridge".

Anyway, I do hope we pull our finger out for this. As stated further up, this is one a lot of us looked forward to for a long long time in the Conference, so not getting our pants pulled down would be a decent start.

 

[Laker]

We are very good at ending a team's bad run - see Luton last weekend and Tranmere last season for recent examples. I wouldn't say one game makes a bad run but if Orient are claiming not winning at the Abbey in the league for 20 years as their bad run then I'm sure we can put an end to that one too.

 

[Look Out There Are Llamas]

But we did win, 4-1, which was my first ever visit to the Abbey!

 

[E10rifle]

That 1-1 draw is the only game I've been to at the Abbey. Orient scored the best team goal I've ever seen from them. Not that Andy Scott ever scored a bad goal in his career, but the move was something else. Carlisle fans will be unsurprised to know that the Jabonaut was involved in the build up.

 

[SVH]

That Orient starting 11 scares the life out of me but let's hope our fortunes change this weekend. Bumper crowd who are definitely owed a performance from the players after Crawley and Luton (although we only lost this game due to a poor decision).

My starting 11.

Beasant
Omozusi Legge Roberts Taylor
Newton L Hughes Berry Demetriou
Simpson Corr

 

[oakroader]

That Orient starting 11 scares the life out of me but let's hope our fortunes change this weekend. Bumper crowd who are definitely owed a performance from the players after Crawley and Luton (although we only lost this game due to a poor decision).

My starting 11.

Beasant
Omozusi Legge Roberts Taylor
Newton L Hughes Berry Demetriou
Simpson Corr

that was the only reason??.....

 

[SVH]

She's a big one

 

[The Terminator]

Cisak
Clohessy Baudry Essam Shaw
James
Moore Pritchard
Cox
Simpson McCallum

Subs:
Grainger
Dunne
Payne
Turgott
McAnuff
Palmer
Kashket
​

Cisak at least will return which is a big plus for us. Frazer Shaw should return at left back, Hendon tried to be too clever last week IMO as he thought Dunne would cope better with David Wheeler - Which backfired, unless Shaw couldn't play two in a week (As he's only a first year pro) for whatever reason then it was a big mistake.

Unless one of that XI can't play due to injury, I don't see any need to drop anyone just yet. Last week we had all of the ball at Exeter, but it was one of those days when the opposition defended well and took their chances, while all of our best players all had an off day at the same time.

Cambridge from what I've seen rely alot of set places with their power in the air of Corr, Legge and Roberts. Legge ALWAYS scores against us from set places when he was at Brentford and Gillingham.

Eliot Omozusi plays against us for the first time, will be interesting to see how he does. Robbie Simpson there as well, he was one of those players we had as a bench filler in our good season of 2013/14, he was in a good team, worked hard but was very poor overall and missed so many chances for us. But in his defence he didn't have a pre season under his belt.

Both teams are due a draw and we're due a few more defeats. We will lose.

 

[Look Out There Are Llamas]

Robbie Simpson was utterly woeful. Elliot Omozusi is my favourite side back excluding Matt Lockwood and Charlie Daniels.

 

[Laker]

Omozusi had been ill and therefore his start for us has been underwhelming so far. So Greg Taylor may start in his place and you will consequently tear us a new one down that flank.

Robbie Simpson is something of a legend after his Conference goals kept us up (yes we nearly went down!) in 06/07 and he's generally well thought of at the Abbey. I like him as he's got a bit more of a football brain compared to other forwards we have and he has done a job for us in midfield too. I hope he starts up front with Corr today.

We are reliant on set pieces, you are correct. We're generally struggling for goals at the moment and I think we'll struggle even more with Dunk missing.

 

[huddsmoose]

Cox worries me - normally Dickie relays on having a defensive midfielder sitting on top of the defence and kicking lumps out of any of the opposition surging from midfield.

This year that man is Keith Keane, but he's injured so we'll either have to shoehorn utility man Liam Hughes or attacking midfielder Luke Berry into the role. Neither are great options (particularly Berry as we miss his late runs into the box at the other end).

Dunk has been by far our best player this season so his suspension, particularly when we don't have enough natural wide players as it is, will hit us hard.

Away win.

 

[AtaturkOzgutson]

Champion before was hardly a kicking lumps type, but this Keith Keane bloke is definitely being spoken of in far less cultured terms.

People have been saying we need a new ''Wanless'' for years. We get a new, alcoholic, midfielder who kicks lumps out of people and no-one is calling him god yet. Disappointing.

 

[Vanni]

'Allegedly' Ataturk. I keep hearing this word helps a lot

 

[Vanni]

Just a couple of quick thoughts -

All in all draw was the right result, I think both sides deserved something for their efforts, and match was evenly balanced. Re. Slew, can't get my head round the fact someone paid 1 mil for a striker who doesn't even know what he's supposed to do, let alone find the back of the net. Well done to Dunn who kept us in the game esp. with those couple of saves at the end of the 1st half. A few other U's were also much improved after some of the poor showings they were putting in recently.

So overall, not disappointed with a point, since tbh, I expected a defeat.

Up the U's!

 

[Lee Watkins]

Orient fans who were slagging off Simpson, I hope you have seen how much he has improved and he consistently plays like that week in week out! Class technically and physically and would be one of the first names on my team sheet.

 

[AtaturkOzgutson]

'Allegedly' Ataturk. I keep hearing this word helps a lot

Indeed, I should add I have no idea or nor do I care. It'sa stupid thing for our fans to get wound up about.

Sure that's not the case.

 

[Laker]

Indeed, I should add I have no idea or nor do I care. It'sa stupid thing for our fans to get wound up about.

Sure that's not the case.

Haha I got a bit involved on this topic on our message board this week, not that I have the faintest idea or care whether it's true or not.