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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's 13:06 - Mar 15 with 1131 viewsdurham_exile

JM takes his charges to St James's Park on Saturday after a shocking home performance against FGR on Tuesday which I watched on ifollow. It was a true horror show and is the reason why we now cannot achieve a top three finish this season. Too much inconsistency and too many defeats has put paid to any lingering automatic promotion hopes.

So it is now all about second best and the lottery that is the play offs. Even that is not nailed on because competition for places is very tight.

Lincoln 37 75
Bury 37 70
Mansfield 37 65
MK Dons 37 65
Tranmere 37 61
FGR 37 57
Colu 37 57
Carlisle 37 56
Exeter 36 55

Our fate still lies in our own hands but this has been a very difficult period since the crushing defeat at Carlisle before Christmas and recent performances have been the reason why we are now struggling to keep in the top seven.

Failure this season will be disastrous with an exodus of talent leaving at the end of the season unless we can win at Wembley.

This week saw the return of Roberts to Newcastle. Another under-utilised loanee. Newcastle allegedly told him that he will be surplus to requirements in the summer hardly conducive to his well being and his attitude and he has thus been recalled.

Sadly Ben Stevenson is also injured and joins Comley, Pell, Lapslie and the suspended Nouble all out for the visit to Devon.

This game is a must win and how many times have we said that this season. It is a ground where I watched successive defeats in the league but one where we have to upset the form guide on Saturday.

I reckon JM will be forced to line up and play the following

Gilmartin

Eastman Kent Prosser

Jackson Wright Szmodics Vincent-Young

Senior Mandron Dickenson

Subs

Barnes Chilvers Eisa Norris Miller Ager etc

9 games to play at least 18 points still required and then the play offs beckon. Anything else and it's game over and mid table obscurity.

I am currently in North Cornwall where it is wet and windy but the scenery is spectacular. The forecast for Exeter on Saturday is for strong winds and rain and 12 degrees Celsius.

Safe journey to the travelling faithful.

Here's hoping for a vital three points to promote those play off ambitions. We have already failed to achieve top three we must now push for the top seven and hope.

Up the U's

[Post edited 16 Mar 2019 9:26]

Durham_exile

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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 14:31 - Mar 16 with 1044 viewsLeadbelly

Same side as last game except Prosser in for the suspended Nouble.

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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 14:52 - Mar 16 with 1039 viewsgerry_us

Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 14:31 - Mar 16 by Leadbelly

Same side as last game except Prosser in for the suspended Nouble.


Let's just hope they have different game plan to Tuesday but not holding my breath.
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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 15:04 - Mar 16 with 1035 viewsLeadbelly

Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 14:52 - Mar 16 by gerry_us

Let's just hope they have different game plan to Tuesday but not holding my breath.


That would be unwise

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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 15:09 - Mar 16 with 1031 viewsRSCOSWORTH

Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 14:31 - Mar 16 by Leadbelly

Same side as last game except Prosser in for the suspended Nouble.


Think that’s pretty shocking personally. Most of them didn’t turn up second half but still get to start today. Doesn’t send out a great message to the rest of the squad.

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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 15:51 - Mar 16 with 1020 viewsRSCOSWORTH

Losing 1-0. Top corner from outside the box according to the BBC. Just before half time too.

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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 16:35 - Mar 16 with 1002 viewsLeadbelly

Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 15:51 - Mar 16 by RSCOSWORTH

Losing 1-0. Top corner from outside the box according to the BBC. Just before half time too.


Just made a cup of tea and return to find we are losing 3 - 0

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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 16:43 - Mar 16 with 992 viewsMoor_Pinot

Another hammering Lead. We have a manager who has made no progress in three years and yet our squad is decent. The ability to motivate has never existed. We play one way and since November most teams have worked out a method of nullifying this. Next Saturday should define the season against an opposition on the sort of run U's fans can only dream of.
Exasperating and unnecessary - we are better than what we have achieved.

Moor Pinot

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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 16:48 - Mar 16 with 987 viewsLeadbelly

Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 16:43 - Mar 16 by Moor_Pinot

Another hammering Lead. We have a manager who has made no progress in three years and yet our squad is decent. The ability to motivate has never existed. We play one way and since November most teams have worked out a method of nullifying this. Next Saturday should define the season against an opposition on the sort of run U's fans can only dream of.
Exasperating and unnecessary - we are better than what we have achieved.


Tramere will be a very tough game then on to Cambridge who will be scrapping for survival. We need to stop shipping goals and toughen up sharpish.

Poll: Safe standing at football; yes, know or don't know?

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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 16:54 - Mar 16 with 984 viewsLeadbelly

It’s only three points lost, we’ll regroup and go again...again.

Poll: Safe standing at football; yes, know or don't know?

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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 17:37 - Mar 16 with 964 viewsLeadbelly

Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 16:54 - Mar 16 by Leadbelly

It’s only three points lost, we’ll regroup and go again...again.


McGreal trots out the usual hackneyed cliches but apparently he was very comfortable with our performance until Exeter scored and thought the result was harsh. Also cites lack of confidence, young squad, wind. At no point did he mention anything he could or should have done to deal with any of that. Perhaps having the safest job in football leads to an absence of thinking about how to deal with the challenges you have to face every game.

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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 19:25 - Mar 16 with 926 viewsGOSBTS

Sadly, a team who have lost three out of the last four games 3-0 are not in the kind of form usually becoming of playoff contenders. I'd like to see us win 2-1 or draw 2-2, i.e. be able to recover from negative circumstances in matches. It seems like it's game over when we go a goal down.

I fear at the moment that even if we do make the playoffs, recent results suggest we wouldn't be able to outlast a team over two legs. Really hope I'm wrong. Hope to be in attendance next week against Tranmere!
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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 20:08 - Mar 16 with 898 viewsthrillseeker

A truly awful performance.

I really cannot comment on what I watched without it being full of expletives.

I feel mugged travelling on way home to Colchester
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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 21:01 - Mar 16 with 874 viewsmfb_cufc

"Perhaps having the safest job in football leads to an absence of thinking about how to deal with the challenges you have to face every game". So true Leadbelly. It is not worth the fans calling for McGreal's head, because we will only get the next puppet off the production line.
This is the frustration of being a Colchester fan. We all know a decent manager would have no problem getting this squad into a least a play-off place, but the stubborn owner wants to stick with this failed philosophy of employing internal managers.

mfb

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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 21:15 - Mar 16 with 870 viewsoxfcolu

We looked ragged today,at times totally unorganised and lacking any self-confidence. We are missing our injured midfield , but that is no excuse for their continuing lack of consistency. I totally agree with the comments about the management. Stop making excuses and pussy footing around and drop the golden boys. I would prefer to lose with a team showing some passion and commitment.
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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 10:40 - Mar 17 with 792 viewsdurham_exile

Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 20:08 - Mar 16 by thrillseeker

A truly awful performance.

I really cannot comment on what I watched without it being full of expletives.

I feel mugged travelling on way home to Colchester


Sunday morning do I feel any better NO a truly lamentable performance against a team that frankly we gifted goals to.

Yes the weather was cold wet and very windy and neither team coped well in the conditions.

The 167 of the faithful were strangely subdued from the start and were never at their best. The new stand on the railway side of the ground is good albeit limited by the proximity of the railway line but the new terracing behind the goal is awful shades of Fleetwood.

My son and I sat in our usual spot in the stand and no sooner had I sat down than the thought police were onto my case about my camera. A real jobsworth but I could video the entire game on my phone if I wanted but couldn't use my dslr camera. Absolute nonsense.

Anyway I will contain my comments to the players

Gilmartin - all I can say is come back Sam Walker who is not even getting a game at Reading.
Prosser - unfit and was at fault for the first goal strangely quiet and subdued before being subbed after 71 minutes
Kent - gave Eastman a real rifting at times was guilty of a shocking backpass but did at least show passion
Eastman - took a real whack in the face from a Gilmartin clearance which the keeper didn't apologise for. I thought he was not at his best at all
Jackson - my man of the match constructive going forward and sprayed passes sensibly and with a view to moving forward
Stevenson - always been a favourite of mine but he is not fit and Diaz Wright should have played in his place
Senior - ran Jackson close for MOTM lively and tried to make things happen
Vincent-Young - another player not at his best but at least tried to be productive
Mandron - must learn how to finish, perhaps he should become a midfield player
Norris - at Oldham earlier in the season was unplayable yesterday he was shockingly lazy idle and failed to link up with his strike partners
Szmodics - should have scored immediately after the interval but struck his point blank range effort straight at The keeper

Subs
Eisa - anonymous after his arrival on 71 minutes
Miller - at 16 years and 166 days the youngest ever debutante for Colchester. JM gave him three minutes plus stoppage time and he achieved more during that time than many players over the full 90 minutes.
His first touch was a clever intuitive pass in the box. He was very unlucky to be flagged offside after a decent Szmodics pass and he looked a real star in the making.

Chilvers Wright and Dickenson were all unused subs.

JM is simply not up to the job. I'm not even sure the team is serious about promotion. We will lose Kent Senior Dickenson Stevenson Pell etc if we fail to earn promotion and another year in this league is not appealing.

Tranmere up next and only 8 games to play. I might feel better next Friday but at present I am hurting. Three defeats out of four and all 3-0 is not promotion form. 57 points means that we are safe from relegation but this is turning into a shocking season.

The only way is up for the U's

I do hope that the changing room door was shut for 45 minutes to allow some venting to take place because the fans deserve much better than this dross.

Things can surely only get better.

Durham_exile

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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 11:44 - Mar 17 with 782 viewsMoor_Pinot

How horrid for you again Durham,

I have watched most games now since the end of October - we were okay then, p'raps it's my fault - and once again our forum has 'said it all'.

The players are good enough, better than in recent seasons so the deduction that - as termed by Leadbelly - the safest job in football is McGreal's is the root of all this. We have actually conceded 3 goals in a game 5 times in the last 11. Our manager was apparantly a defender.

I too have picked up some disharmony over the last 2 or 3 months, not only Prosser. I mentioned that things in the dressing room were maybe not as we'd wish a week or two ago. I have few issues with the players myself, although Nouble has been over played and one or two in midfield have been half fit [especially the totally underwhelming Stevenson] but the goalkeeper is a problem. It cannot be right that the coach plays, plays poorly, cannot kick and seems somewhat remote from the team in front of him. We have a problem [solvable] there, though Barnes may not be the solution.

I feel that we are unlikely to make the top 7 now. Northampton's well timed run could see them being the third of last year's 4 relegated sides from lg 1 in the running to return - with Bury & MK. As I said before the Tranmere game against a side on a run we can only dream of will be instructive.
As mfb says the manager is safe. Mr Cowling probably has the temporary Needham Market coach from the academy in line to be the next to 'have a go at being at football manager'. The policy has not worked yet and gives our owner such a meagre return on his huge investment......season after season of decline if you think about it. Has he the passion for this to matter ? I dunno, I like Robbie and am glad of him but our latest manager lacks passion and is inarticulate which isn't much help to young players with ability. I am beginning to resign myself to many years at this level [how many years were Rochdale in Div 2 .... 34 35 ?] because it has seemed this season when there was the genuine potential for progress, that potential has been wasted.
Hope I am wrong but, like you Durham, it will take me until at least Friday to believe we could make changes for the better in the last eight games. At the moment a day spent birdwatching is feeling favourite over the Tranmere game.
As I posted before.
Dis-spiriting stuff since November time. Nothing's changed, we just play the same way and are now gettting regularly stuffed. God.....3 three-nils in a fortnight. When did that last happen?

Tablets needed.

Moor Pinot

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Grecians to have hair raising experience against Super U's on 19:46 - Mar 17 with 727 viewsmfb_cufc

The default score for not turning up for a game is 3-0. Says it all really.

mfb

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