Colchester match thread

[up the line]

Totally disagree. While Grant had a torrid time at left back, the real weakness was in defensive midfield, where Colchester had free access to attack us. Backinson was terrible and Cooper did not start defending until we were deep in a hole. Moore showed how a wingback should play - a real threat going forward and always there to help in defence. I was surprised that Edwards did not come on for Backinson, and McFadzean for Copper, after the first goal.

Cooper is a total liability at LWB but to be fair to the manager he was pretty much the best option with McFadzean out.
If he's going to play he needs to be higher up the park.
He's cost us several goals but hopefully thats the end of it and a bona fide LWB (McFadzean) will play in that spot the rest of the season. It may be the biggest positive of the day and it might even release Cooper to do what he'd prefer to be doing.. creating chances and trying to score

 

[Army green]

Fadz needs to start at LWB, coops really struggles defensively. Also mayor seems to play better with fadz playing. Trouble is where do we play coops? He’s brilliant with assists.

 

[Tugboat]

Fadz needs to start at LWB, coops really struggles defensively. Also mayor seems to play better with fadz playing. Trouble is where do we play coops? He’s brilliant with assists.

Take the second striker away and play him or mayor in the hole

 

[Green 1886]

Fadz needs to start at LWB, coops really struggles defensively. Also mayor seems to play better with fadz playing. Trouble is where do we play coops? He’s brilliant with assists.

Take the second striker away and play him or mayor in the hole

Absolutely. Mayor in the hole. We’re missing Telfords energy up front and the runs he offers as an out ball from the back

 

[oldage]

I’m not sure why people are questioning the tactics that have us 4th with a game in hand? The tactics that have given some top performances & some delightful football? We were off it today but the system & the style are what give us continuity & are what will enable us to bounce back.

Top performances and some delightful football is a bit OTT.
Better football than last season and riding our luck is more accurate. Where we are at the end of February will be interesting! We are far from convincing despite our recent results.

 

[oldage]

Seems Bakinson is not the player we all hoped he would be.
Josh Grant is far better in that position

 

[Andy Maidenhead]

Remainder of Feb gonna be absolutely critical to our fortunes this season....so much travelling to be done.

Not gonna be easy to prepare d Boys for difficult Tuesday game at Salford.

True test of management ability n squad character now..

 

[Mdgreener]

Seems Bakinson is not the player we all hoped he would be.
Josh Grant is far better in that position

Bakinson is simply young and young players are always inconsistent - brilliant for a few games and then terrible. The price of young players is that they sometimes leave their talent in the locker room. Josh Grant has also sometimes faded out of games. It’s the nature of the game and we need to not over-react to one terrible game.

 

[briangreen]

Seems Bakinson is not the player we all hoped he would be.
Josh Grant is far better in that position

Bakinson is simply young and young players are always inconsistent - brilliant for a few games and then terrible. The price of young players is that they sometimes leave their talent in the locker room. Josh Grant has also sometimes faded out of games. It’s the nature of the game and we need to not over-react to one terrible game.

I guess Jephcott must be the exception to the rule then.

 

[cufcfan]

Colchester fan in peace etc etc

It's always interesting reading opposition match threads after a game and contrasting them with our own. I find that football fans are pretty much the same in their responses.
We were appalling last week at Cambridge, barely a player coming out of the game with any credit. You seem to be thinking the same about your team tonight. Our defeat last week followed a 16 game unbeaten run, too many draws but not a bad achievement although if you read our boards you'd find many who didn't quite see it the same way. They tended just to focus on the draws.
You've been on a very good run, probably the form team in the division. We were fortunate to catch you on an off day but we also do better against the better sides, they tend to give us more space to play rather than camping out and inviting us on. We're not very good at breaking teams down.
I thought we were unfortunate to lose at your place and, from the teams currently above us, that was our only defeat. We've beaten Swindon twice and drawn twice against Exeter and drew away at Crewe, which emphasises my point about the teams we like to play.
All of this is a long winded way of saying that you shouldn't be despairing too much. This division gives you a number of bad days at the office. We can all win games we shouldn't and lose games we shouldn't and sometimes we get what we deserve. We deserved the points today but it's over and there's no reason your form up until now shouldn't continue. You have good enough players to still have a shot at the top three and it's going to be tight come April.
Your run in is pretty good and, right now, I'd rather be in your position than ours. I think we are in a decent position for the play-offs but we've come too close and missed out recently to be overly optimistic.
Anyway, the usual great support from the Green Army, thanks for the cash! Enjoy the rest of the season, it will go to the wire and you'll be there or thereabouts.

 

[PL2 3DQ]

Thanks 'cufcfan' and perhaps we haven't given your team enough credit, instead focusing on our poor performance and poor tactical nous early in the game.
We were beaten by a much better team on the day.

 

[Green 1886]

Colchester fan in peace etc etc

It's always interesting reading opposition match threads after a game and contrasting them with our own. I find that football fans are pretty much the same in their responses.
We were appalling last week at Cambridge, barely a player coming out of the game with any credit. You seem to be thinking the same about your team tonight. Our defeat last week followed a 16 game unbeaten run, too many draws but not a bad achievement although if you read our boards you'd find many who didn't quite see it the same way. They tended just to focus on the draws.
You've been on a very good run, probably the form team in the division. We were fortunate to catch you on an off day but we also do better against the better sides, they tend to give us more space to play rather than camping out and inviting us on. We're not very good at breaking teams down.
I thought we were unfortunate to lose at your place and, from the teams currently above us, that was our only defeat. We've beaten Swindon twice and drawn twice against Exeter and drew away at Crewe, which emphasises my point about the teams we like to play.
All of this is a long winded way of saying that you shouldn't be despairing too much. This division gives you a number of bad days at the office. We can all win games we shouldn't and lose games we shouldn't and sometimes we get what we deserve. We deserved the points today but it's over and there's no reason your form up until now shouldn't continue. You have good enough players to still have a shot at the top three and it's going to be tight come April.
Your run in is pretty good and, right now, I'd rather be in your position than ours. I think we are in a decent position for the play-offs but we've come too close and missed out recently to be overly optimistic.
Anyway, the usual great support from the Green Army, thanks for the cash! Enjoy the rest of the season, it will go to the wire and you'll be there or thereabouts.

:thumbs:
Actually thought Colchester were a decent side down at HP in August just couldn’t finish. Today you could.

 

[Keepitgreen]

Thanks 'cufcfan' and perhaps we haven't given your team enough credit, instead focusing on our poor performance and poor tactical nous early in the game.
We were beaten by a much better team on the day.

You have a PM Ian.

 

[demportdave]

I'm glad he is no longer our Manager and I wish he had been sacked a lot earlier, but sat there this afternoon watching this shambles of a performance with the other Argyle fans and seeing us comfortably out-played and out-fought and Lowe totally beaten tactically by McGreal, l wished Lowe had used Adams tactics today.

I'm not saying we should have parked the bus but you can't go gung-ho every game. He picked the wrong team and employed the wrong tactics.

To go with Hardie and Jephcott up front was a big mistake, they are too similar in style and are both too lightweight. We improved when Taylor came on and we were able to have some possession in their half. But it was too late, Lowe should have made that change at 2-0.

We needed a proper Left Back against their speedy wide man.

Mayor had yet another one of those games which make a lot of people ask what all the big fuss was about signing him. Very ineffective in open play and corners and free kicks that hit the first defender at about knee height.

Wooton and Canavan were absolutely shocking, with Bakinson and Sarcevic equally ineffective in midfield.

We really could have lost 6-nil today. As well as hitting the post and the bar, they missed 3 clear one on one chances.

I'd like to think we will bounce back on Tuesday but realistically, with Crewe to follow on Saturday I think this will be the week when our chance of automatic promotion was fatally damaged.

If we do make the Play-offs, we better hope we don't get Colchester, they will certainly want to play us.

 

[Midsomer Green]

Colchester fan in peace etc etc

It's always interesting reading opposition match threads after a game and contrasting them with our own. I find that football fans are pretty much the same in their responses.
We were appalling last week at Cambridge, barely a player coming out of the game with any credit. You seem to be thinking the same about your team tonight. Our defeat last week followed a 16 game unbeaten run, too many draws but not a bad achievement although if you read our boards you'd find many who didn't quite see it the same way. They tended just to focus on the draws.
You've been on a very good run, probably the form team in the division. We were fortunate to catch you on an off day but we also do better against the better sides, they tend to give us more space to play rather than camping out and inviting us on. We're not very good at breaking teams down.
I thought we were unfortunate to lose at your place and, from the teams currently above us, that was our only defeat. We've beaten Swindon twice and drawn twice against Exeter and drew away at Crewe, which emphasises my point about the teams we like to play.
All of this is a long winded way of saying that you shouldn't be despairing too much. This division gives you a number of bad days at the office. We can all win games we shouldn't and lose games we shouldn't and sometimes we get what we deserve. We deserved the points today but it's over and there's no reason your form up until now shouldn't continue. You have good enough players to still have a shot at the top three and it's going to be tight come April.
Your run in is pretty good and, right now, I'd rather be in your position than ours. I think we are in a decent position for the play-offs but we've come too close and missed out recently to be overly optimistic.
Anyway, the usual great support from the Green Army, thanks for the cash! Enjoy the rest of the season, it will go to the wire and you'll be there or thereabouts.

You were undoubtedly the better team today and deserved your 3 points.

I have to say I was very impressed with the setup at Colchester today.

Great fan zone with a really big large screen showing the football before kickoff, free programme, Ruddles CountyAle, sensible stewards and my 13 year olds ticket was just a fiver and the 10 year olds ticket was free!