Cambridge United boss Garry Monk has shared his opinion on Derby County ahead of this weekend’s meeting.
Derby County have never been closer to regaining promotion to the Championship. The Rams are three points ahead of third-place Bolton Wanderers, requiring only four points from their next two games to secure the deal.
Bolton manager Ian Evatt is focused on the play-offs, but Paul Warne believes there is still a lot of work to do.
Cambridge United, managed by former Swansea and Birmingham City manager Garry Monk, still need one more win to keep their League One status.
It means that, while Derby are the better team on paper, the U’s need a win just as much as Warne’s men, pointing to an exciting match at the Cledara Abbey Stadium.
Garry Monk explains why he fears Derby county.
An intriguing match is expected on Saturday afternoon as Monk encourages his team to play out from the back, while Derby excels on the counterattack.
Monk understands that Cambridge will need to bring their A game to face Derby, who have the division’s third-best away record behind only Portsmouth and Barnsley.
The Rams have won nine out of 14 games and kept nine clean sheets against teams in the league’s bottom ten.
Surprisingly, the former Swansea defender has not identified those numbers as reasons to dread the visitors, instead focusing on the talent they can deploy on the pitch.
Monk believes his team will have to go above and beyond to get a success tomorrow afternoon.
In an interview with Cambridge’s official YouTube channel, he stated that their squad is among the best in the league and has earned their success.
“I believe so; they’re really strong, physically strong, and enthusiastic, and they have some quality, a lot of individual quality, so we’ll have to go above and beyond what we’ve delivered in previous good games.
“We’re probably going to have to go above that to get the result we want.”
Derby County’s individual quality will make the difference
In the last two matches, Warne has set up his team in a 3-5-2 formation, and they won comfortably 3-0 over Leyton Orient last weekend.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and James Collins played together up front, while Liam Thompson was allowed to float in behind.
In a game of this magnitude, the Derby boss will rely on his top performers to make the difference.
On their day, Mendez-Laing and Collins can outperform any side in the division, having scored 27 goals in all competitions.
The Rams have also scored the second most goals on the road (36) in League One, so it’s no surprise Monk is concerned about the visitors’ quality.
Let’s hope they can deliver tomorrow afternoon and help Derby get a foot into the Championship.
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