Q&A - John Taylor
U's Manager John Taylor answers your questions in the latest Cambridge United club website Q&A, and this week you can listen to the interview too, by clicking on this link.
Q. John, in the recent reserve game in which you nearly scored a Pele-style goal, you were extremely annoyed and vocal towards the referee in the second half. I think you were telling him to "not treat your players"? Please explain.
Peter Mathews
A. What it was, during the game he made a remark to one of my players in a condescending way and it was something that I didn't think was in a referee's overall picture of his job to do that. I couldn't talk to him all game, he wouldn't listen to me and he gave some decisions that I thought were wrong, and my players weren't allowed to talk to him and then he said something to Neil Mustoe which annoyed me greatly so I was telling him literally where to go, really.
Q. The other question from Peter is: Don't you think there is a chance this season that one or even two clubs will survive the drop with less than 50 points?
A. Yes, possibly. It may be 46/47 but we've got our target of 50 and I think if we get to 50 we'll probably be certainties. We might get away with less but I think if we aim for around there and we come one or two short we'll have a decent chance.
Q. To get more talent into the team, shouldn't we look into the Premiership or Division One reserve teams and try and snatch up someone on a free transfer or get him on loan?
Nick Yates, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
A. Yes absolutely, and that's what we're doing week in, week out. So it's a great question but that's what we're in the process of doing. You can see by the fact that we've got Fred Murray from Blackburn reserves and Danny Jackman from Aston Villa reserves shows we are scouring the country to try and pick up young lads and obviously they're two that have come our way.
Q. Would there be any chance of getting Dion back at the Abbey?
Robin Cooper
A. Only if Mr Cooper could come up with £25,000 a week (smiles).
Q. Are there any players which you have been looking at to sign, if allocated any funds?
Mattster, Hitchin
A. Always looking, we look on a weekly basis. We've got some players in the frame who we would perhaps like to bring in, certainly for next season. Some may be available for nothing - their contracts are up - so we are looking and we've got a few in our minds but obviously until we can move in the transfer market ourselves nothing will probably happen until then.
Q. Shaggy, how can we manage to win at Bristol City in the LDV with their good home record when we have such a pitiful away record in the league? Was the absence of pressure a factor?
Matt Aldridge, Reading
A. I don't think so. I think that we've been playing some decent football away from home without picking up the correct results that perhaps our play has deserved - certainly at Wycombe we played as if we should have won the football match - but I just think that when you go away from home and you defend as well as we did on Tuesday you get your just rewards. I think you make slight mistakes and you'll pay the penalty.
We went to Brighton and on any other day to score three goals away from home would have guaranteed you three points, but unfortunately we couldn't look after the boy Zamora on the day and again you come away with nothing. It might have a little bit to do with it but I don't think pressure is a major factor with us.
Matt's other question was for an update on Kevin Austin's position. He says: Any news on offering Kevin Austin a contract? He looks the business to me.
A. We're in conversations with Kevin about next season but obviously it may depend on where we are so that'll probably be put on the back-burner until the summer.
Q. If the young players are 'knackered' now, how will they cope with two games a week for the next three weeks?
Jamie, Cambridge
A. That's a very good question. We will try to use our squad that we have with perhaps the extra one or two that we manage to bring in, and tinker with the team, with the shape, with the pattern, with the players. We've got some coming back from injuries so hopefully if we can get a few people fit then we can move one or two in and out by the game.
Q. The other week you stated that you were 'unconcerned' at the amount of sendings off due to the fact that only one was for violent conduct. Do you not agree though that these have literally lost us points and therefore contributed to our precarious position? Whatever the reasons they do reflect badly on the team and the management.
Mick Peters, Cambridge
A. It's a good question. I think that in the heat of the battle some things happen i.e. with Lionel's sending-off for the two handballs. When the ball's flying through the air at 50 miles per hour, as a goalkeeper your reaction is to throw your arms up and hope against hope that you're in the box. I think with Andy's sending-off and Stev's sending-off, they are matters that would be cause for concern if they happened on a regular basis.
Obviously Stev (pictured) had a rush of blood after being booked two minutes earlier at Huddersfield, Andy got involved in retaliation with the boy Zamora, and they are concerns for me but we've spoken about them, we hope we've nailed them on the head. All in all I certainly don't think we're a dirty side. I think Luke's sending-off was very harsh, he's genuinely gone for the ball in the second incident and I honestly don't believe it was a bookable offence, but obviously we live and die by referee's decisions, rightly or wrongly.
Q. John, your testimonial season for you on the way, have any arrangements or details for a fixture been made. If not, is there a certain way you'd like this fixture to happen? Would you like for example to play a Cambridge Utd XI versus a current Cambridge Utd, or a Cambridge Utd XI versus another team?
Richard, Huntingdon
A. Yes it's on the way. No date has been fixed for the match, it will probably come later on in the year. There will obviously be one or two important things to do in pre-season so we will probably put the game back to later on in the season. For supporters I would probably like to bring down a side maybe that we haven't played for a long time. Obviously if we can get hold of a Premiership side it would be first class so we're looking at that - or my committee is looking at that - but obviously whoever it's going to be we hope to have an entertaining night.
Q. Many congratulations on taking the team to the LDV Final. I was interested to see that you went with a more normal 4-4-2 formation than we did for the home leg. Do you think that by playing our own game we did better than by adjusting our formation to stop the opponents? Although Terry Fleming marked Scott Murray out of the game in the first half, we didn't offer too much going forward after Tom Youngs went off injured, and maybe this is because we were set up to defend rather than attack? Do you think you might have learnt something from this?
Ben, Cambridge
A. In the first game, yes we put Terry Fleming (left) to do a man-to-man marking job on Scott Murray and I thought for 20 minutes we dominated the game using Tom Youngs 'in the hole'. Obviously when you have someone of Tom's ability and you lose his influence early, and then of course Paul went off (Paul Wanless), you do lose a little bit of shape and pattern about the game. At the end of the day we've come away with a 0-0 result at home, we haven't conceded, and as we all know we now go down to Bristol and come away with a 2-0 victory.
Now we did play 4-4-2 on Tuesday night, we knew they were a good side, we knew they had got quality players, we knew that they were going to play 4-4-2 or had a very good insight into the fact that they were going to play 4-4-2, and we honestly feel that when we match up, team for team, man for man against the opposition we are a good bet to come out on top. Should Bristol have played 3-5-2 again on Tuesday we'd have probably have gone like for like and fancied our players to be better than them on the night.
So that's the reason why we look at systems and shapes of teams to play because we feel we have got people who can go on and be better than their opposite player.
So it was very much a deliberate tactic on Tuesday night, to go 4-4-2?
Very much so. We went like for like, thinking that our 4-4-2 man for man could be better than theirs, and in the end that's how it worked out. They just couldn't look after Armand and Tom Youngs up front, and we - as a back four and Lionel - whatever you say about the pressure they've had, stopped their two from scoring. So, very much so.
Q. Ben's other question is about Scott Taylor: I know he has been released, but has he found another club? If we could get the squad down to the necessary size over the summer, would you be interested in bringing him back into the fold? His experience and quality could be crucial next year.
A. I don't know whether he's found another club, and for next year I think it would be highly unlikely and doesn't happen very often that someone is released from one football club and then is asked to re-join. I don't think that will happen next year. We wish Scott all the best, we thank him for his time and his contribution to the football club, but we felt that because of the injuries he sustained we could probably use the money that he was earning in slightly more advantageous ways.
Q. Ben's final question is: Can we still survive in Division Two?
A. Absolutely. No question.
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Tom Youngs is the subject of the next Q&A, which will be published weekly from now on so you must hurry to send your questions! If you have any questions for last season's top scorer please send them by Thursday 28th February including your name, town and with 'Tom Youngs' in the subject field.
Previous Q&As:
17Feb02 - Gary Harwood - Chairman
10Feb02 - Richard Summerfield - Finance Director
03Feb02 - Lionel Perez
27Jan02 - Stuart Ayles - First Team Physio
20Jan02 - Paul Wanless
13Jan02 - Dale Brooks - New Assistant Manager
06Jan02 - Mark Johnson - Match Programme
27Nov01 - John Taylor and Dale Brooks - The New Management Team
17Nov01 - Gary Harwood and Colin Davies - Redevelopment
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