With both Paul Carden and Jai Reason suspended for Saturday's FA Cup second round tie at home to York City, Martin Ling is weighing his midfield options.
Sam Ives will make his first start but his central midfield partner will be decided after the manager assesses the options in training on Thursday and Friday.
"We lost our left side to suspension on Tuesday and had to deal with that, and when you lose your midfield engine room it's a big ask for people to go in there. But that's what you have a squad of players for," Ling told cambridgeunited.com.
"If we'd lost one of them Sam Ives would go in and full the gap well, but losing them both together means we have to look at our options for the other place and there are two main options.
"One is to put Rory McAuley in there; he's played in there a lot for CRC but that makes it a young midfield.
"The other is Brian Saah, who's played there before at Orient, and bring Josh Coulson in at the back.
"The only thing about that is that Rory is more battle-hardened at the moment than Josh because Josh has had no football in recent times, but we'll have a good look at the options in training before deciding finally which way to go."
Ling was glad to see his former Leyton Orient protégé Brian Saah score his first goal for Cambridge United on Tuesday against Rushden & Diamonds, which doubled the defender's career tally!
"I'm pleased Brian has got off the mark," said the U's boss. "He wasn't a prolific goal scorer by any stretch of the imagination when he was at Orient, but with his physique and ability he should get more and maybe that will set him on the trail for a few more this season, too."
Robbie Willmott and Anthony Tonkin are available for Saturday's match after serving a one-match suspension on Tuesday.
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