‘Bolton can bring out the best in United’
CAMBRIDGE United interim head coach Barry Corr has acknowledged that his side are going to have to “play really well” to claim a positive result at Bolton Wanderers this afternoon.
The U’s take on third-placed Wanderers away from home today, with the hosts having registered 66 points from 34 matches so far this term.
United are 16th in the table ahead of today’s fixture, on 38 points from 34 games played, and were recently beaten 2-1 by their opponents at the Abbey.
“They’re a quality opposition, we know that. We only played them a couple of weeks ago, so we know what to expect from them,” Corr said. “I mentioned in this moment now where we’re at, we just need to turn up, put in a really good performance, give the best account of ourselves, and see where that takes us.
“I think I mentioned it against Peterborough, sometimes the style of a possession-based team can bring out some of our better characteristics. We have to be brilliant without the ball, and we have to stop them.
“At times, there can be spaces to exploit on the counter for fast attacks, so we’ll have to make the most of that. We’ll have to be really good, because we know how good Bolton are, how good they are with the ball, and we’ll have to stop them and then try to find moments ourselves that we can exploit.
“They’re a very good possession team, they can hurt you in loads of different ways. They can spend long periods with the ball, but also will have forward runners. They won’t just play it in front of you, they’ve got runners beyond. They’re a really top team in the division, we’ll have to play really well on Saturday.”
The U’s played Bolton at the Abbey in their reverse fixture on February 20, the day before Neil Harris’ departure to Millwall was confirmed.
United took an early lead in that contest, but the visitors soon began to start dominating proceedings, with second-half goals from Paris Maghoma and Carlos Mendes Gomes earning them the points.
The U’s had to soak up pressure for large spells of that game, but Corr insists he is eager for his side to engage their opponents high up the pitch this afternoon.
“I’ve watched a lot of Bolton, and when you say the tactic might be to sit in, sometimes it’s not the tactic, it’s just that they put you into that position, because they’re very good,” the interim boss added.
“We’ll want to go and get after them as high up the pitch as we can, but sometimes the quality that they have will pin you into a small, defensive shape. We’ll try to engage the ball as far from our goalline as possible.
“It’s not always possible, because of the quality they have, but sometimes with those type of teams, they leave transition moments, and hopefully we can find good counterattacking opportunities off the back of that.”