Notes from the Habbin: Jack the glad, Joey the sad
U's go top by beating Barton's philosophy footballers.
The quality of the catering at United has been pretty patchy in recent seasons, so it’s perhaps no surprise that the Bristol Rovers staff and players chose to chew upon their own supply of sour grapes following their 2-0 defeat the Abbey on Saturday.
Listen to this snippet from Rovers assistant manager Andy Mangan’s post match interview, who starts by saying “credit to Cambridge”, before delivering a list of “compliments” which do not, in fact, give us much credit. Apologies for the slightly ropey audio quality.
Mangan wasn’t the only one feeling down in the dumps after the match. Captain Sam Finley and manager Joey Barton were similarly dismissive of our approach, with Barton looking completely perplexed as he uttered the words: “they’re top of the league… bizarrely”.
Joey, of course, is a big fan of Friedrich Nietzsche, so will be familiar with the quote from the German philosopher that goes: “To forget one’s purpose is the commonest form of stupidity”. It certainly felt like his players had forgotten what they were supposed to be doing at times on Saturday, with centre backs Tristan Crama and Connor Taylor completing 225 passes between them - mainly to each other - as they shuffled the ball slowly back and forth across their backline and, eventually, fell into United’s trap.
Nietzsche also said that “he who has a why to live can bear almost any how”, and while our playing style may not be to Barton’s taste, it’s certainly proving a useful means to achieve our end goal of accumulating points. The U’s left it late to secure their third win of the season, with substitutes Fejiri Okenabirhie and Sullay Kaikai scoring in the final 15 minutes to send Mark Bonner’s side top of the league.
I would agree with Bonner’s assessment that there was a lot to like about our performance. Our pressing is more measured than last season, with the players consistently making better choices about when to sit off and when to try and steal the ball. Once again it was a turn-over that led to Okenabirhie’s opener, with Jack Lankester dispossessing Grant Ward and setting us on the attack.
But the U’s were good with the ball too, with some quick passing football putting Rovers under sustained pressure in the first part of the second half, though admittedly this led to little in the way of shots on target. But eventually the substitutes came up with the goods, and it’s probably worth noting that in four league games so far we’ve already had six different scorers, compared to 12 in total last term. Pre-season concerns about where the goals might come from have so far proved unfounded.
Un-Shakin’ Stevens
Bonner also praised his team’s defensive shape, and while we largely kept the Rovers attack at arm’s length, we were also reliant on goalkeeper Jack Stevens to come to the rescue on several occasions, not least when Aaron Collins raced clear in the second half but saw his shot blocked by the U’s stopper.
It’s fair to say Stevens came with mixed reviews when he joined from Oxford in the summer, particularly after his time on loan at Port Vale last season which didn’t seem to go brilliantly. But so far the signs are that, as with much of our summer recruitment, we’ve acquired a slightly better version of a player that departed. Stevens is similar in style and stature to Dimitar Mitov, but more comfortable with the ball at both feet, and seems more pro-active in coming off his line.
Three clean sheets in four games is a record to be proud of, and, unsurprisingly, he has one of the best shots saved percentages in the division.
Stevens has also been well-protected by our back four, with United having conceded just 41 shots in the first four games, the joint fourth lowest in League One.
He still has some work to do, notably on communicating with his defence. Stevenage’s first goal on Tuesday night occurred following what appeared to be a mix-up between Stevens and Danny Andrew, and even on Saturday there were signs of him not being entirely on the same wavelength as his team-mates.
But these are minor quibbles after what has been a quietly impressive start to life in amber and black. Long may it continue.