MATT Bloomfield is eager to ensure his Colchester United side is more settled as they bid to move away from the League Two danger zone.

The U's boss has had to make plenty of alterations to his starting line-up on a match-by-match basis since taking over, at the end of September.

A combination of injuries and a hectic schedule have meant that Bloomfield has had to make changes to his first XI on a regular basis, over the past two months.

However, Bloomfield has made only one adjustment to his starting team in each of the U's last two matches, in order for his side to become more consistent.

He said: “With the amount of games we’ve had and three-game weeks we’ve had since I came into the building, there have been changes aplenty.

“That was one of the questions I was asked after the game at Crewe, about the amount of changes.

“Unfortunately, I wouldn’t have wanted to do that so much because of injury.

“But with the amount of games we’ve had, we’ve had to stretch it around, week on week.

“We want to get a more settled side, a more consistent group to pick from and I think that consistency can help us, moving forward.

“But you’ve also got to be open minded and know that we have a big squad here and you want to utilise that, if it’s the right thing to do."

Gazette:

Bloomfield says he does not want to make in-game changes for the sake of it, with more substitution options now at the disposal of clubs.

The U's boss has made a triple change in each of his last two league games, with teams permitted to make five substitutions instead of the traditional three during matches this season.

But Bloomfield said: “I don’t want to use five subs, just because they’re there.

“The game’s been spent for many years having three subs and it’s not been a problem.

“They’re an option but I don’t think you need to base everything around the fact that you have to use all five of them, in one game.

“We want our lads to be robust and fit to play 90 minutes amongst themselves.

“But you still need to be forward thinking enough that if a sub can make a change or a change of shape or a change of personnel, we don’t want to make changes for the sake of it.

“But at the same time, you’ve got to be open minded to try and see if you can help the boys who are on the pitch.

“We’ve got some real good players on the bench at the moment and they need to have those minutes on the pitch.

"(Against Bristol Rovers) we made a couple of changes, altered the formation and the boys came on and really drove it forward, which was pleasing."