On The Spot

Will Jones tackles Roy McFarland - weekly!

This week has contrived to produce a mixture of emotions. United picked up their second league win of the season - thrashing Colchester United 5-2 - but lost at home to Burnley four days later. During that game Andy Duncan broke his leg in two places. Manager Roy McFarland discussed the week's events and looked forward to Saturday's trip to Gillingham with U's Net reporter Will Jones as once again he was put … "On The Spot".

Q. There was an awful injury to Andy Duncan during the game, resulting from a collision with team-mate Marc Joseph. How is he doing?

Andy only had the operation last night. We all wish him well at the club, and it is not a nice injury. It is, without doubt, a major one for him. He will get all our support in terms of getting back and recovering from it. I feel Andy is young enough to bounce back from this, and I think he will respond well. He has had the operation and is recovering now.

It is a sad blow to us, at a time when Andy was starting to pick his season up. We don't hide things here and Andy would be the first to admit he has had a poor start to the season, but I thought he was starting to pick up.

Q. Losing Andy Duncan during the match meant having to alter the shape of the team. Neil Mustoe reverted to right-back and played very well and got forward a lot. Is it fair to say that his final ball, and that of other members of the team, left a lot to be desired?

I think from the rest of the team as well as Neil. He coped very well at right back, he got up there and, like you say, got himself into two or three good positions. Normally the quality from Neil is a lot better than he produced. Sadly on the occasion the other night it wasn't and that was one of the things that let us down.

There is a player who we have pushed from midfield to play right back, and he has got on with it. He is a very enthusiastic and bubbly character, as are the other players. I have moved Ian Ashbee to centre-back when Andy went off and he coped very well. He has played in several positions for us this season, and I think has performed very well in all of them .

Q. Darren Byfield's one-month loan at the club has expired. You said you wanted the time to have a look at him, and assess his progress. Will you be offering him a contract or extending his loan period?

No, we won't extend the loan and that is through choice. To be fair to Darren, we played him in a position that he wouldn't really like to play in all the time. I got him here to have a look at him, because we had seen him several times and were impressed. The opportunity arose and I felt it was important to have a look at him properly.

There are, without doubt, other priorities at the football club but here we have to take our chances when they come. I thought Darren started quite brightly in the team over the first few games and then just petered out a little bit. His performance on the training ground didn't inspire us, that was a little bit disappointing. I think he would have preferred, in his defence, to have played in a front two rather than three. You have to respect that, even though he is a young player learning the game. I just thought I would have him here to have a look at him. I am sure he would respond to a situation where he was playing in a 4-4-2 rather than a 4-3-3.

So his loan is up, and we won't be extending it. Without doubt we will keep an eye on him during the next few months.

Q. With Andy Duncan out, I suspect you will be stepping up your search for a new defender. Is it true you have been monitoring Jason Kavanagh at Stoke City, a player who played for you at Derby County?

Yes I have been chasing Jason Kavanagh, but that has not been fruitful. So, in a sense, that is the end of that matter. That has been quite frustrating. Everyone knows the saga we have had with Neil Mackenzie. I have been chasing, or thinking about Jason for the last six weeks or so, again it has been very frustrating for us.

I think at this stage of the season clubs are reluctant to release players due to the fact that suspensions and injuries are starting to kick in. Clubs are reluctant to release players who, perhaps a month ago, were not in the plans. They tend not to let players go at this stage of the season, but hopefully in a month or so that will change. Football is almost like a cycle, as you can predict when is the best time to try and get players. At the moment it is difficult to get players who are on the fringe at their particular football club due to those circumstances.

Q. Does that indicate that you will be looking within the club - perhaps to our younger players such as Martin McNeil - to patch up the gaps left by injury and suspension?

At the moment it has not been fruitful in terms of the players I have asked about. I will keep trying. What I won't do is bring a young player into this football club and expect him to slot into our team and perform wonders. We have young players here who could do the job just as adequately.

I was hoping, right from the start of the season, that Martin McNeil would figure a little bit more than he has. He hasn't because of the way he has played and the way he has trained. He has been quite poor, but that doesn't surprise me as he is a young player trying to learn the game and understand what it is all about. He is a very enthusiastic boy and he does want to learn but at the moment he is finding football a little bit tough. We have got to help him as much as possible.

Last season he earned the right to go into our team, as he was training very well and playing very well in the reserves. So, if I am not going to take a chance on a young player from another club, I will stick with Martin McNeil because I know him.

Q. We face Gillingham on Saturday, just two weeks after we drew with them at the Abbey Stadium. How will you and the players be approaching the game tactically?

I think tactically they will change. They came here and defended quite deeply and played just one up front and supported well through the midfield. They do like to defend deep and therefore, in a sense, we might struggle to get Martin Butler clear from the halfway line, which he likes to do away from home. Therefore we are going to need a much better performance from our midfield players. I think generally our midfield has performed quite well over the last two home games, but we must get up there and support the front players a bit better. We need to have midfield players who can come onto things and strike the ball from outside the box. Certainly Neil Mackenzie and Scott Paterson can really strike the ball, and should be scoring goals for us.

We have had Gillingham watched and we know what their system will be. On this occasion we will have to, in a sense, patch up because of the injury to Andy Duncan. We will get by, and we will pull together and that will make us stronger .

Q. Last season the discipline of the side allowed us to go until after Christmas without losing a player through suspension. On Saturday we will be without Trevor Benjamin, who has picked up 5 yellow cards this season already. I was also surprised to learn this week that no other player has been deemed by the officials to have committed more fouls in the Second Division. Is this an area of concern for you?

I have gone into the dressing room of the officials a few times this season, to talk about the bookings Trevor has received. The explanations I have got weren't really what I was looking for. They have said Trevor's challenges were intentional. I think, because of his size and strength, he is being picked on. I think Trevor does use his hands and pull on shirts, but his booking have been from challenges when he has got the ball. I argue with the referees that if he is going for the football, then that is the idea of tackling. If you are catching the man before the ball that is a major problem, but Trevor isn't like that.

I think our crowd love it because when he goes for the ball he goes with everything he has got. Referees have seen it in a different light and think his tackling has been in a threatening and dangerous manner. I just can't understand that.

Q. Finally, you said last week you were expecting the results of Alex Russell's scans during this week. Have you received the results and thus have a better indication as to how long he is going to be out?

I can't give you that detail because although they have had a look at the scan, and thought it was quite good, there was something on it which means they need to have a longer and more detailed look at it. I can't give you any more information than I gave you last time other than the fact that the injury had settled down and he is progressing quite well in training, but he won't be involved on Saturday.

Will Jones

Apart from a couple of duplicates of recently asked questions, all those received were put to the manager this week.

Q. Andy from Cambridge asks: Do you see Ian Ashbee as a permanent right back, or is it likely to be just a temporary measure?

I see Ash as a very versatile player. He has slotted in various different positions for us so far; left back, centre back, right back and all across the midfield. He has put the shirt on and given it his best shot every time. I am pleased for him, and with a quarter of the season gone he has been, I think, by far our most consistent player. I say that knowing Martin Butler has scored 11 goals for us, and Martin has had a very good start, but Ian Ashbee has been our most consistent player.

Q. Ananíasson from Iceland asks: Is a Leeds United player named Shepherd at Cambridge on trial and what do you think of him. Is there any chance of him getting a contract?

Yes, we had him here on trial. To give Ananíasson a few examples, and I will answer his question in a bit, I have had a Frenchman, a Brazilian, a player from Scotland, a player from Zaire and a trialist from the European Champions Manchester United in a game we have played this week. We have players down and we get recommendations and people ask us for trials, and without doubt Shepherd was one of those players who we had down from Leeds United.

We felt he would not automatically go into our first team, and a move would not progress his career. The one thing we need to do if I am going to sign somebody is to make sure they could figure in the first team. It is no good me signing young prospects who might get into our first team, but players who will affect our first team at this particular stage of the season.

Q. Nader Khalifa from Westminster University asks: Last Friday, in the Cambridge Evening News, there was a column in which yourself, John Taylor and Michael Kyd all seemed convinced that he will leave the club. This is despite the fact that you have previously claimed that if he gains some consistent form he could still have a future at United. There seemed no consideration that that scenario could manifest itself, and therefore the overriding impression was that he is surplus to requirements. Any comment after his stormer against Colchester?

I am pleased he responded to it. No matter what stories he has read, I hope he listened to my comments when I first put him on the transfer list. Let's put the record straight. I put him on the transfer list because he was not performing well enough here. I needed to, in a sense, shock him. Either he will respond to the kick up the backside or somebody will come in and buy him, and Michael will further his career somewhere else, and Cambridge United could get some money to replace him. That was the idea behind it, as I felt he was going through the motions here and his career was almost at a standstill and something had to be done.

I think he did respond to it, and played very well against Colchester. I am delighted he played so well. If he played like he did against Colchester every week then he would be in the team every week, but he hasn't done that and hasn't been consistent. There were reasons for that in previous years as he has been hampered by two knee injuries. He has had enough time this season and I was hoping he would blossom and show the potential he has. Sadly that hasn't happened yet.

Q. Peter Laborne from Fenstanton asks: Clive Wilson likes to get forward, but when he does, and we lose possession, the opposition only need to ping the ball over the middle and they have a dangerous attack. Have you considered playing a sweeper system?

We consider and practice all systems on the training ground. I ask the players, once a week, to play in a different position to see things in a different light. The players quite enjoy that, and it is amazing the insight a manager can get from that.

I think for his standard Clive's last two games have been poor. He has come back from an injury, and I thought before he injured his hamstring he was performing very well and was very influential. He was helping the back four and his football and service to Trevor Benjamin was excellent. Since he has come back from injury we haven't seen the Clive Wilson that we saw before, and he needs to pick his game up. Against Burnley he didn't get forward enough for me, but that isn't why we pulled him off. I pulled him off to go with three at the back to try and get a goal, and brought David Preece on down the left-hand side. Clive knows he can play better than he has done in the last few games.

Q. Mike from Cambridge asks: If you had a magic wand and could change any one thing at the club - what would it be?

If I had a magic wand I would like the supporters to watch a team who could play decent football and hold it's own whatever the opposition. Besides that I would love them to be sitting, in three or four years time, in a stadium watching a team they want to come and watch, and have the facilities they deserve. We want to progress, and need a new stadium.

Q. Finally, Roy read the kind wishes many of you have left for Andy Duncan on the special page Andrea has erected on the Website. I asked him for a few comments.

It's nice to get all these messages, it's lovely. Myself and David Preece will pass these messages on their behalf to Andy later today, and I think he will be very grateful for them. It is amazing where they are coming from. Yes, there are lots from Cambridge but there are a lot from all around the country, and some from Sweden and Australia as well. I am glad our supporters are responding to it. They send me some rather interesting questions each week as well, and I must admit I thoroughly enjoy answering them.

A personal thank you to all the people who are using the U's Net and for all those really nice messages they have sent to Andy. On his behalf, thank you all very much.

We would like to thank Graham Eales for organising the opportunity to put these questions to Roy McFarland.

If you have any comments about this regular feature, either for Will or myself or for Roy or Graham, please use this e-mail address: feedback@cambridgeunited.com

If you would like to have your question asked next week, please follow this link and complete the form. Whenever possible the answers will be available every Thursday night.