Cambridge United ready to put their inconsistent form behind them against the resurgent Ipswich Town

Cambridge United have been a bit of a mystery in League One this season.

When the U’s have been tipped to lose a game against much stronger opposition, they often provide a shock and come away with a result that nobody expected them to. On the other hand, in the games they’re predicted to win, they usually struggle and often drop points against sides beneath them in the table.

In short, Cambridge United thrive when they’re the underdogs, and this will certainly be the case when Ipswich Town visit The Abbey for their first competitive meeting since 1993.

At the time, the Tractor Boys were a Premier League outfit, and their overall trajectory has been vastly different to that of the U’s. While Ipswich kept their place in the upper echelons of the English football pyramid, Cambridge spent much of the time languishing in the depths of non-league.

That all changed when Mark Bonner guided his boyhood club to promotion from League Two last season, meaning that the two sides find themselves in the same division for the first time in almost 20 years.

However, Cambridge and Ipswich have very different expectations for the current campaign. The U’s are fully focused on maintaining their third-tier status, while Paul Cook is aware that promotion to the Championship is a must given the Tractor Boys’ summer transfer business.

Unfortunately for the latter, it hasn’t quite worked out that way. Ipswich, who were firm favourites to win the League One title before the start of the season, are sat in 14th place after 11 games. Of those, the Suffolk-based club has won just three, conceding a whopping 20 goals in the process.

This still places them above Cambridge, who now have a game in hand following the postponement of their trip to Morecambe over the international break. With their schedule now having to be reorganised, the U’s are facing the prospect of seven away games in less than a month.

There may be home comforts for the U’s, who’ve lost just twice at The Abbey in all competitions this season. Facing Ipswich, however, could be a much harder prospect than anything they’ve faced before.

For the first time in over four years, Cambridge will have a capacity crowd in their own backyard, with the Tractor Boys backed by 2,500 travelling supporters. The hosts have confirmed that they’re expecting 7,944 fans to be in attendance, a figure only bettered by recent cup games against Manchester United and Leeds United.

This will put a lot of pressure on the U’s, with many members of the squad having played the entire 2020/21 campaign behind closed doors. In fact, when Cambridge fans were allowed to watch their team last season, they crumbled in shock defeats to Mansfield Town and Oldham Athletic.

However, this Cambridge side is very different to that of their promotion-winning campaign, and Bonner’s side seem to perform better when they’re playing against stronger teams. As a result, there’s a real sense of optimism that they can get a result in this controversially dubbed East Anglian derby.

The U’s will have to improve on their recent performances, however, as they come into Saturday’s game on the back of a three-match winless run. While they impressed in their draw against Fleetwood Town, their defeat at home to Gillingham and draw away at Crewe Alexandra created cause for concern given their underwhelming performances.

One area in particular that they’ll need to focus on is their defence, with centre-backs Conor Masterson and Lloyd Jones providing the backbone of a team that kept clean sheets against the likes of Bolton Wanderers and Burton Albion. However, they’ve now conceded two goals in each of their last three games against teams below them in the league table.

Wes Hoolahan, who spent the vast majority of his career at Ipswich’s arch-rivals, Norwich City will certainly be up for the challenge. The 39-year-old has faced the Tractor Boys 10 times during his stint at Carrow Road, winning seven and drawing three.

He famously scored the opening goal in the second leg of their 2015 Championship play-off semi-final game, where the Canaries earned a 3-1 win and went on to earn promotion to the Premier League. A slight injury has kept the former Republic of Ireland international out of the U’s side in recent weeks, but he looks set to return to the starting lineup on Saturday.

His inclusion raises the question as to what formation Bonner will opt to play. 4-4-2 has been one of his favourites in recent weeks, but it forces Hoolahan out of position and leaves Cambridge open in midfield against the best attacking side in the division.

Alternatively, they move to a 4-2-3-1 formation with Hoolahan playing centrally but Bonner would have to choose whether Liam O’Neil or Adam May plays next to Paul Digby in midfield. The former has only missed 20 minutes of league football so far this season, but the latter has been in red-hot form that could make him undroppable.

Similarly, Cambridge face a dilemma of whether or not to include Jack Lankester in the matchday squad. The young winger was part of Ipswich’s academy from the age of nine, before leaving in search of first-team football over the summer. However, the 21-year-old has managed just one league start this season, and is now an injury doubt after picking up a knock in training.

Of course, the U’s efforts will mainly be focused on nullifying the Tractor Boys’ attacking threat. Macauley Bonne has established himself as a first-choice striker, with nine league goals to his name already this season, including four in his last three games.

That being said, Ipswich’s attacking output has been incredibly inconsistent. Despite scoring seven more goals than the U’s have this season, their expected goals (xG) ratio is exactly the same, according to The Analyst.

While the Tractor Boys are the highest scoring side in the division, they often struggle to break sides down. This was most evident against Accrington Stanley, where Cook’s side failed to take a single shot after Bonne’s 38th-minute goal, going on to lose 2-1 at the Wham Stadium.

Bonner and his team will undoubtedly have studied the tapes of that game and will be fully aware of how to frustrate their upcoming opponents, while also being well aware of the immense threat that they can carry in the final third of the pitch.

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