MATT Bloomfield insists Colchester United will need formation flexibility in their quest to climb the League Two table.

The U’s have profited from a 3-4-1-2 system over recent weeks, with their decision to utilise wing-backs and two up front proving a big factor in their rise away from the relegation zone.

Bloomfield has not been afraid to change formation during games and did so in his side’s 1-0 defeat at Carlisle United last weekend, as Colchester chased an equaliser.

The U’s head coach says they have plenty of ideas about how to set up, both before and during matches.

Bloomfield said: “We’re 12 games in since we changed formation and we’ve got 21 points from those games, which I think we should be really pleased and proud about.

“At the same time, we’ve got to feel like we’re continually moving forward and we don’t want to feel like we’ve just got one plan.

Gazette:

“We’ve got different ideas of what we want to do.

“We changed formation during the game several times during those 12 games and we’ve not just been in that one formation.

“Of course, teams are going to know your strengths and try to guard against them.

“There’s a lot of teams now who seem to be really solid defensively.

“There’s not too many high-scoring games and maybe that’s because we do live in a world of a lot of analysis and everyone knows each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

“A lot of teams do want to be strong defensively and build from that which I completely understand and we’re no different especially where we’ve been in the league and where we are.

“We’re still trying to achieve the goal that we’ve set out for ourselves and we have to be strong and rugged defensively and build performances.”

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Bloomfield says he is keen to combine organisation and resilience with ‘intelligent’ football, as they bid to pull further away from relegation peril.

He added: “Individual errors and conceding goals was something that the season was kind of getting defined by and we knew first and foremost that we had to be resilient and organised and start building some games for ourselves.

“But at the same time, there’s a certain style of football that I want us to play.

Gazette:

“It’s a style of football that we believe in and we’ve done that at times, this year.

“If you’ve got players like John Akinde in the building, you’re going to try and play to his strengths.

“There’s no point trying to slide balls down the side too much when you’ve got John on the pitch.

“It’s about trying to be intelligent with our football, trying to make good decisions and trying to find ways of winning football matches, which is ultimately why we’re all here.”