Cambridge United head coach Neil Harris reflects on attacking issues that have left U’s destined for League Two

Boss Neil Harris believes that his Cambridge United side have been hampered by a lack of ‘bravery’ and ‘killer instinct’ in the final third of the pitch this season.

The League One U’s, who could be relegated tomorrow afternoon away at Huddersfield Town if results go against them, have scored just 40 goals from their 42 fixtures so far this term.

Harris has only been at the helm for 11 of those matches, but even during that time he has seen enough to pinpoint one of the major reasons as to why Cambridge look destined for League Two.

“It’s that creative moment, isn’t it? Have we shown enough bravery? I see sometimes in training that players are not afraid to take people on and find that bit of end product,” he said.

“Sometimes that little bit of bravery can lead to a ‘keeper making a save and somebody taps the ball in, or it’s a shot that's turned into a cross and someone taps it in at the back post.

“They’re the little bits that I’ve maybe not seen in-game. Is there enough bravery from players to go and force a two-v-one situation around the penalty area? Or do the players attack a ball really believing that they’re going to score?

“That’s a big area I’ve not seen in the group – people attacking the ball thinking ‘right, I’m going to be the one that goes and scores a goal’. And that’s not just on the attacking players, that’s on the whole squad. That’s on everybody, it’s on the centre-halves when they go up for corners and things like that.

“In my 11 games we’ve conceded 10 goals. We’re right up there in the top six for goals conceded. Everyone can see we have a game-plan with the ball and against the ball. It’s just that final third where we’ve not had that killer instinct and if you want to be a team that achieves then you need to make sure you’ve got that killer instinct.

“That’s where we’ve been lacking in games. We’ve lost five games (since Harris took charge). Stevenage deserved to beat us, no problem, but the other four games teams have had the killer instinct and we haven’t.”

In terms of fixing the attacking issues, Harris believes that it will come down to a combination of time spent on training pitch alongside the recruitment work that is done during the summer transfer window.

He added: “It’s a little bit of both. Working on training pitch, yes, but we’re talking about a real short space of time at the moment.

“Working on the training pitch is repetitive finishing drills, creativity around the box, getting a certain amount of players in certain areas to create overloads – we work on all of the above obviously.

“But then it comes down to personnel as well. It becomes about form and that can be temporary but sometimes it can be over a period of time. It’s about trying to get the best out of every individual – that’s players that we’ve signed permanently or on loan. And then it becomes about adjustments in transfer windows.

“Belief is form a lot of the time as well, and confidence. It’s player ownership as well. You can do all of the drills you want, give all the messages, all of the video presentations you want to do, all of the mannequin work on the training pitch, but it’s got to be about the drive of the player and the determination of the player.

“Does the player want to do it? Can the player do it? They’re the two real questions that I ask my players. If they want to do it then you work with them to help them to do it and give them repetition. If they don’t want to do it then you need a transfer window.”