Cambridge United head coach Garry Monk feels like he is repeating himself after Charlton Athletic win EFL Trophy clash at the Cledara Abbey Stadium

Garry Monk feels like he is starting to ‘sound like a broken record’ after seeing his Cambridge United side’s winless start to the new season stretch to eight matches in all competitions.

Yesterday’s 2-1 home defeat to Charlton Athletic in the EFL Trophy summed up United’s campaign to date in many ways. They enjoyed decent spells in possession and created some good openings, yet they only had Dan Nlundulu’s first-half penalty to show for their attacking efforts.

And at the other end of the pitch they continued to look fragile defensively, with the triumphant Addicks scoring twice inside the opening half an hour through Tayo Edun and Matt Gooden.

Monk said: “It was another really close game. I keep using the word frustration, but it’s quite a unique experience.

“The form that we’re in in terms of results doesn’t marry up always with the feeling that we have. It’s normally if you have a run of results like this it’s generally down to some disharmony in the squad, the organisation looks a shambles – it’s rock bottom. But the over-riding feeling is that we’ve actually played alright.

“But it’s the same thing, isn’t it? There are moments where we need to defend better and deal with those situations and those couple of occasions we don’t, we get punished for it.

“And then we respond, really good urgency and get back into the game. Then we have our opportunities and you see the difference. We’re in and around their box, they’re finding the blocks and their bodies are on the line.

“It’s a strange feeling – I don’t think I’ve ever been through a long period like this and I don’t think many of the players have either where you feel like a lot of the game is good, but it feels like any mistake we do make is punished in a goal.

“We need one of those games where it goes for you and when you do make a mistake it isn’t punished straight away. We’re searching for that game because it’s nothing to do with attitude or endeavour. For the run of results, it doesn’t look like a team playing with low confidence, but they need to take that burden off their back.

“The only way we can do that is securing a result. It’s hard to stand here in front of you guys (the media), I sound like a broken record. We’re working on the things we need to do to get better and their attitude towards it is good.”

Monk also confirmed that the half-time substitutions of Nlundulu, Korey Smith and Jordan Cousins were all pre-planned and none of the trio had picked up injuries.