Garry Monk was left disappointed by his ‘below par’ Cambridge United in their 4-0 defeat to Huddersfield Town on Friday night.
The Terriers were ahead on 12 minutes, winning a corner through Koroma, and the resulting delivery found Lees who headed toward goal, only to see his effort blocked on the line. Kasumu was in the right place at the right time though, and he poked home from close range.
Huddersfield doubled their lead on 33 minutes, Marshall’s ball found Spencer, who nodded home to make it two-in-two.
It was 3-0 shortly after, wonderful from Danny Ward down the right wing, sent a cross in for Wiles who saw his header come back off the crossbar. Marshall didn’t let it go far though, and managed to scramble it over the line.
With around 20 minutes of the game remaining, it was 4-0 Huddersfield, Wiles producing a sublime ball over the top to meet Koroma, joinked inside from the left onto his right to shoot, forced a great save from Reyes. The ball though just missed Ladapo, but not Marshall behind him, who smashed home.
The result, going into Saturday, sees Huddersfield sitting 4th in the League One table with 39 points from 20 games played, while Cambridge are 22nd with 17 points after the same amount of games played and 4 points from safety.
Monk said, per Cambridge Independent: “We didn’t help ourselves at all tonight. We had a good start, the first 10 or 15 minutes we were really good and it was difficult to see that coming.
“The simple fact of it is there was too many below par in terms of what we’ve been really good at and what we saw in that first 10 or 15 minutes.
“We conceded a really poor first goal and quickly compounded that – we’ve seen that a couple of times where we’ve compounded it again with some other mistakes and then obviously there’s a mountain to climb.
“We’re all hugely disappointed with the result and the performance. There was too many below par and we’re not a team that can afford to have one or two below par, let alone pretty much everyone.
“It was tough to see that coming but it’s a lesson to learn. We cannot afford, as a team, to be anything other than at least close to our best, especially in the fundamentals of the game – the defensive solidity, the competing side of it and the first and second balls.
“We’ve built this period around that first and then given ourselves an opportunity – we saw it in the first 10 or 15 minutes, but as soon as that first goal goes in we saw that level of performance drop.”
“You have to guard against becoming too desperate”
Cambridge boss Garry Monk on recovering from a poor start to the season ⤵️#CamUTD | #BBCEFL pic.twitter.com/A4wTiVZvcn
— BBC Cambs Sport (@BBCCambsSport) December 20, 2024
Huddersfield boss Michael Duff said: “I thought we were good value for the win. We took control after seven or eight minutes, played through them and looked a real threat.
“We scored some really good goals.
“We had to make blocks as their front players are a threat, but we had that mentality to keep them out.
“No victory is easy so it’s important that the players enjoy it.
“We have to be bang at it each and every game. January is difficult on paper but all we can do is keep focused and continue to produce performances like that.”
Here’s how fans reacted with Garry Monk disappointed by his ‘below par’ Cambridge side in their 4-0 defeat to Huddersfield…
@NotAFrenchPersn: Monk out Strang out Brophy out ClappersintheMainStand out
@Avesycufc: 3 rebounds goal sure but we just got schooled by a side that probably shouldn’t even be in the league, brophy and bennett awful and Reyes needs to stop palming the ball out. we also missed 2 good chances in the second half while it was 3-0, yikes.
@JoshuaC51511011: This team’s ability to switch off defensively at any time is a huge huge worry. Cannot gift goals away like we have tonight.
@FreddieBoyle4: Monk out, Bring Back harris- James brophy is shit. Merry christmas 👍
@DanJordan90: Well that was the nightmare before Christmas
@jsabjsabjsab: how people blame monk when this is so clearly down to recruitment is crazy. People forget we have 1 midfielder available, 1???? Recruitment has been poor, not down to monk
@luke_watson94: Poor game all round, don’t think we were as bad as people will make out, there were some moments in that game, but Huddersfield were a different class, best team I’ve seen play all season. All 4 goals come from us not being alert in our box. Forget about it and move onto Charlton
@palmerstonblues: Watch it again, the U’s were bad especially in the first half, could have been much worse than 3. Huddersfield eased up in the second half as the game was done. Yes they are a very good team, but once they scored sadly it was game over.
@luke_watson94: I won’t say it was good by any stretch but we got in situations where with a bit of composure and quality we could’ve created something. We started the 2nd half alright and if Lavs scores who knows what the game looks like. Ultimately HTFC were a class above and deserved to win
@Tristan_IviCUFC: How can a PROFESSIONAL football team switch off defensively that easily?
@chrwil82: Can’t really say much to the performance as I wasn’t there, but Huddersfield home and away is always an L if you look at the fixtures. Take it and move on to Charlton I guess?
@Cameron10786620: Awful performance last night. Another poor performance from Liam Bennett and we looked better with Okedina (who also had a poor game) at RB in the 2nd half. Only Cousins, Reyes and Lavery had a half decent game.
@Tom91422707: You Have been Duffed Merry Duffing Christmas #htafc
@NotAFrenchPersn: Best team I’ve seen all season, best fans I’ve seen here all season. Luckily we’ll go down and not have to play you next season
@mambo_andrew: Fair play. Best team we’ve had at the Abbey this season. Fully deserved win. All the best for the rest of the season.
@RoryHarper1: The Wrexham performance shows what we’re dealing with, players playing for themselves when it suits them. We have the ability of a mid table league two squad with an even worse mentality.
@JoeJoe830344122: Yep, Monk said far too many off it tonight and we can’t afford that. You’ve got experienced players in this squad who all too often perform way off what’s required at this level. It’s part and parcel of the modern game, sadly.
@JoeJoe830344122: Outclassed. Didn’t make Huddersfield work for it for one moment which was the most disappointing thing. Brophy in midfield absolute disaster class as was the defending (or lack of it) for all four goals.
Monk masterclass lads xx pic.twitter.com/COIF8ap6qJ
— Dentz (@TheRealDentz) December 20, 2024
— Matthew tinker (@Matthewtinker10) December 20, 2024
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