Cambridge United boss makes bold claim about Sheffield Wednesday’s ‘top players’ after Owls defeat

The Us boss, who reportedly turned down the option of managing in South Yorkshire when he was courted for the Rotherham United job, watched on as his side fell to their fourth League One defeat in a row thanks to a Lee Gregory double.

Cambridge switched to a 3-5-2 system for the visit of Wednesday, the first time they had moved from a four-at-the-back for some time.

Speaking after the defeat, Bonner explained the reasons behind the change and made a bold claim as to how he felt they dealt with Wednesday’s key men.

“For two and half years we’ve played a very similar system and we’ve had to do some learning live in front of 6,500 people against a Championship team,” he added.

“It’s obviously difficult when the first goal goes in after six minutes, it makes it even harder.

“We contained them really in terms of the free flowing stuff. The real top players in their team didn’t cause us huge problems, didn’t have so many saves to make or top opportunities.

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“I thought we had more ball, more possession, more passes (and) a few attempts on goal, but maybe just one on target.”

Bonner admitted his surprise system change was down to the quality of Wednesday’s side and his side’s struggle against the so-called ‘top teams’ in League One.

“We’ve been thinking about it for quite a while,” he said. “We thought getting an extra one in there as a central defender against two very, very powerful and direct strikers could help us. And we thought it might be able to help us build and have a bit more possession.

“We’ve found when we play the top teams, to play with four midfielders and four defenders, you really find it tough – our results reflect that. When we’ve played the top teams we haven’t won many of those games.

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“We’ve had some memorable ones in there and some competitive performances but we probably need to try and find a way of playing five in one of those live.”