| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight 15:12 - Feb 11 with 2698 views | durham_exile |
After the euphoria of that famous victory over Plymouth Argyle at the weekend, it is back to League business at the JSCS this evening when Ian Holloway brings his Mariners to Town. Now it would be easy for our team to switch off after deservedly earning three points at the weekend, but there is much to be done to keep pace with the top three sides.
Earlier in the season I went to Blundell Park with Gerry and after enjoying fish “n” chips at Papas on Cleethorpes Pier, we watched the U’s throw away a two-goal lead to eventually draw 2-2. It was literally a game of two halves, where Nouble and Norris deservedly cemented a 2-0 lead at half time only for the U’s to gift a penalty early in the second half and then to concede the equaliser with only three minutes remaining.
This evening there can be no sentiment or concession made, it is all about being ruthless and putting the Mariners to the sword. I predict 4-0 to the Super U’s.
I was delighted that JM played the dream midfield on Saturday and he must replicate that line up this evening:
Gerken
Jackson Eastman Prosser Bramall
Pell Comley
Harriott Stevenson Nouble
Robinson
In truth this XI is probably our strongest position by position at present and in Ben Stevenson we have the ideal replacement for Jevani Brown at number 10. More importantly though we should have played all three in midfield some weeks ago (as I have been saying), but JM does like his wingers. However Senior and Gambin are often better as impact players from the bench. Kwame Poku may also be better and stronger next season (don’t forget he is a prodigious talent and still only 18) possibly at number 10, we will see.
Subs:
Ross Sowunmi Senior Clampin Poku Norris Gambin
It would be encouraging to be able to identify a firm timeframe for Paris Cowan-Hall to make an appearance after his injuries, but perhaps Easter might be the optimum time. He has been missed.
Table:
Swindon 32 60
Crewe 31 58
Exeter 31 57
Plymouth 30 54
COL U 32 52
Northampton 31 52
Cheltenham 30 48
FGR v Port Vale, Northampton v Swindon and Salford v Plymouth are all intriguing games this evening. The “Vegans” have slipped off the pace of late and the Valiants are hitting some form (just before we play them this weekend at Vale Park). Similarly, Salford have invested in more attacking options recently (Darron Gibson and James Wilson, both ex United) before we play them at the Peninsula Stadium on Saturday week. So, the tough games keep coming but if we can keep our form going then promotion beckons.
Remaining League fixtures after tonight:
Port Vale A
Salford A
Cheltenham H
Carlisle A
Scunthorpe H
Crewe H
Newport A
Mansfield H
Bradford A
Northampton A
Oldham H
Walsall A
FGR H
Weather tonight will be 4 degrees Celsius and breezy but dry. After Storm Ciara things are settling down for a day or so before the cooler temperatures return.
Hopefully the crowd will be buoyed by Saturday’s victory.
Enjoy the game.
Up the U’s
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| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 14:45 - Feb 12 with 770 views | Blue4U2 |
| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 10:11 - Feb 12 by durham_exile |
And Noah if we fall short this season it will be the inconsistency that will have cost us.
Defeat to Cambridge (now three straight wins) and to Grimsby (no disrespect but they should have been defeated last night) has again lost us vital points.
The top four all won as well to rub it in.
Port Vale will be tough even without two of their stars.
James Wilson also scored for Salford and that will be a tough game.
Time for the players to stand up and be counted.
Inconsistency is our only consistent feature at present.
Also under three thousand when we've just beaten Plymouth is simply pathetic.
UTU's |
Maybe the crowd inconsistencies match the teams performances?!
...just saying, unfortunately I was one of the sub 3000 crowd.
Woeful performance especially the third Grimsby goal, why someone didn't take Vermin out
sooner than letting him get anywhere near the goal - he's not Messi???
Still fuming... |  | | |
| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 18:45 - Feb 12 with 687 views | Moor_Pinot |
| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 06:08 - Feb 12 by noah4x4 |
Same old problems; greedy Harriott and Nouble (or Senior or Poku) refusing to pass to Robinson, instead wastefully shooting from distance or from poor angle, or worse, losing the ball allowing the opposition to counter attack. Their third goal came from such an incident where Harriott lost the ball on tne edge of their box and we were over committed and none of the midfield then chased back allowing Vernom a clear run at our (then) stretched and hence limited defence.
You could potentially see this happening at any of our attacking corners as (unlike the U's) they always left an attacker free and hence an outlet. Jackson and Harriott stood like statues for their second; but top marks for their first goal which was well crafted and gave Gerken no chance.
Holloway clearly out-thought McGreal. The U's were one dimensional (typically forced wide with no end product) whilst Grimsby always seemed to have a spare man. They cleverly set traps, conned the referee into awarding free kicks when they lost possession and were faster to pick up the scraps. The work rate of some of our forward flair players when not in possession just isn't good enough. Also, there is no point in throwing two up front when nobody will pass to them. In the limited time available to them Senior and Poku continued where Harriott left off, running down blind alleys and losing the ball (or hacked down). Plymouth (first half) we played like a team. Last night like disjointed individuals. I despair. |
Impossible to add more to that precis Noah.
We still have eigth written all over us because we don't have a switched on management. I felt beforehand that Holloway was a clever choice by Grimsby and wondered what he could have done with our squad but it's not Mr Cowling's way.
I predicted that our one dimensional management would be found out and as you say we were. Grimsby always had 12 on the pitch and mcgreal is just not intellectually up to analysing a methodology that will counteract this sort of thing. The half time talk should have been designed to thwart any comeback. 42nd minute, good time to go in 2-1 up, yet the opposition looked like they were the only ones who had made some decisions.
And you're right, amongst our ranks we have both selfish players - 5 or more in fact who don't understand or haven't been taught teamwork - & some who switch off and stop work when the weather's poor or we're losing.
Not feeling positive at all about the Port Vale game and isn't that sad after the hammering Plymouth were given. As Durham says, it's more inconsistency and I agree but by now this Colchester pattern is long past its sell buy date.
Top 3 - not good enough
Top 7 - depends on mood.
How does Mr Cowling reconcile this? |  |
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| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 18:48 - Feb 12 with 686 views | ghughes11 |
Very disappointing!
Everyone was saying keep the same team as Saturday (me included), but come on McGreal we could all see that they had a plan to stop Nouble and Harriott and it worked! Why not be proactive and make changes earlier? Poku and Senior were both fresh, having not started against Plymouth and we know that Gambin can unlock tight, tiring defenders.
As for the third goal, that came about because of the elbow to the face of Prosser for the 2nd goal. Prosser went screaming over to the ref after their 2nd goal and got a yellow card for it and so was unable to "take one for the team" for the third (you can see him think about it for a split second). Although Comley and Eastman should have done this years before Prosser got there. In hindsight, I wonder if Prosser is now thinking he should have taken the 2nd yellow and a sending off?
Grimsby played some nice football without really threatening our goal. We huffed and puffed without success. 10 shots for Grimsby, with 5 on target and 3 goals (according to the BBC).
We reacted superbly last Saturday, after the Cambridge defeat. Normally we would be happy with an away draw against a team chasing down the play-offs. However, we need to find a way to turn these 0-0/1-1s into 1-0/2-1s!
Big pitch at Port Vale. An ideal scenario for a well rested Senior and plenty of space for Harriott to weave some magic???
Would you have taken 5th at this stage of the season back in August? I think I would have!
As Durham said "13 more cup finals", let's get behind the team and go again!!!  |  |
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| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 15:25 - Feb 13 with 578 views | burnsieespana |
| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 18:48 - Feb 12 by ghughes11 |
Very disappointing!
Everyone was saying keep the same team as Saturday (me included), but come on McGreal we could all see that they had a plan to stop Nouble and Harriott and it worked! Why not be proactive and make changes earlier? Poku and Senior were both fresh, having not started against Plymouth and we know that Gambin can unlock tight, tiring defenders.
As for the third goal, that came about because of the elbow to the face of Prosser for the 2nd goal. Prosser went screaming over to the ref after their 2nd goal and got a yellow card for it and so was unable to "take one for the team" for the third (you can see him think about it for a split second). Although Comley and Eastman should have done this years before Prosser got there. In hindsight, I wonder if Prosser is now thinking he should have taken the 2nd yellow and a sending off?
Grimsby played some nice football without really threatening our goal. We huffed and puffed without success. 10 shots for Grimsby, with 5 on target and 3 goals (according to the BBC).
We reacted superbly last Saturday, after the Cambridge defeat. Normally we would be happy with an away draw against a team chasing down the play-offs. However, we need to find a way to turn these 0-0/1-1s into 1-0/2-1s!
Big pitch at Port Vale. An ideal scenario for a well rested Senior and plenty of space for Harriott to weave some magic???
Would you have taken 5th at this stage of the season back in August? I think I would have!
As Durham said "13 more cup finals", let's get behind the team and go again!!! |
A lot of what you say is true but the absolutely frustrating thing is we could easily be in the top three! |  | | |
| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 21:25 - Feb 13 with 532 views | GOSBTS |
| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 22:31 - Feb 11 by bwildered |
Gerken done by classic hat trick, one on his right , left and ugly one straight through. Great third goal to win a game, however U's lost possession on edge of their half & failed to take one for the team to stop the run.
However good managing the second half in the previous game, got undone by double substitution today, some days games are won just has much off it than on, today a typical example.
Hands up if last Fri you would have taken a defeat Sat & win tonight ? |
Not me! Less consequential losing to Grimsby than a play-off rival in Plymouth. As frustrating as Tuesday night was, if forced with a choice beating Vale on Saturday is of greater significance as it blunts them as a contender for playoffs. Plus beating all the big boys gives us hope that if the play-offs are our lot this year that we can go into it with some confidence. |  | | |
| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 10:07 - Feb 14 with 498 views | Moor_Pinot |
| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 21:25 - Feb 13 by GOSBTS |
Not me! Less consequential losing to Grimsby than a play-off rival in Plymouth. As frustrating as Tuesday night was, if forced with a choice beating Vale on Saturday is of greater significance as it blunts them as a contender for playoffs. Plus beating all the big boys gives us hope that if the play-offs are our lot this year that we can go into it with some confidence. |
Not sure about that GOSBTS, one thing the U's have to learn is how to capitalize on games like Plymouth. We rarely do and were outthought by Grimsby's more cued in management. We have done well against the top sides as you infer but losing to Grimsby,who I accept are probably on the up, requires us to go to Vale Park and win. It's never easy there,a bigger, noisier crowd etc. We will do well to get anything there although Pope is suspended. Points wasted against the supposedly lesser teams is a habit we have. You don't see Exeter or Crewe do this too often. It is a pattern which cost us last season and it could happen again. We need 100% from every player every game, often we don't sustain this from one game to the next. | |
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| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 11:01 - Feb 14 with 489 views | burnsieespana |
How right you are pinault because after Saturday we could see ourselves outside of even the play off places.
We need to win to push back Vale who have crept into the mix unnoticed and protect our position since several teams close to us have a game in hand.
If we had performed well against teams like Cambridge and Grimsby we would be sitting comfortably.
Yes still a fair bit of football to play but reality is games are running out and we are now five points adrift of the team ahead of us having been sucked back into a real scrap for the play offs. | | | |
| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 12:37 - Feb 14 with 481 views | GOSBTS |
| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 10:07 - Feb 14 by Moor_Pinot |
Not sure about that GOSBTS, one thing the U's have to learn is how to capitalize on games like Plymouth. We rarely do and were outthought by Grimsby's more cued in management. We have done well against the top sides as you infer but losing to Grimsby,who I accept are probably on the up, requires us to go to Vale Park and win. It's never easy there,a bigger, noisier crowd etc. We will do well to get anything there although Pope is suspended. Points wasted against the supposedly lesser teams is a habit we have. You don't see Exeter or Crewe do this too often. It is a pattern which cost us last season and it could happen again. We need 100% from every player every game, often we don't sustain this from one game to the next. |
Oh I don't disagree with any of that. I just meant in a hypothetical world where we had the choice of either beating Grimsby or Vale (following the theme of bwildered's post), mathematically beating Vale is more beneficial. Easier said than done though! | | | |
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| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 18:17 - Feb 14 with 446 views | wessex_exile |
| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 12:37 - Feb 14 by GOSBTS |
Oh I don't disagree with any of that. I just meant in a hypothetical world where we had the choice of either beating Grimsby or Vale (following the theme of bwildered's post), mathematically beating Vale is more beneficial. Easier said than done though! |
It's worth also remembering that Grimsby played very well - much better than their league position would have suggested. We still should have beaten them, but there you have it... |  |
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| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 18:43 - Feb 14 with 439 views | gerry_us |
It must be obvious to all by now that our manager has absolutely no clue how to motivate his players especially when playing mid table teams. Obviously playing 1st and 3rd teams can be somewhat self motivating for the players but why is it that teams in the lower echelons of the league seem to out think us every time. We are not going anywhere with this manager. Unless this is the master plan for us to flatter to deceive every season?.
I would normally be trecking towards Vale Park tomorrow but with the current abject management and the onset of Storm Dennis I am staying in the warm and dry. I fear the worst tommorow that could put auto promotion out of our reach and play-offs highly unlikely. I hope I am wrong but..... |  | | |
| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 19:10 - Feb 14 with 435 views | wessex_exile |
| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 18:43 - Feb 14 by gerry_us |
It must be obvious to all by now that our manager has absolutely no clue how to motivate his players especially when playing mid table teams. Obviously playing 1st and 3rd teams can be somewhat self motivating for the players but why is it that teams in the lower echelons of the league seem to out think us every time. We are not going anywhere with this manager. Unless this is the master plan for us to flatter to deceive every season?.
I would normally be trecking towards Vale Park tomorrow but with the current abject management and the onset of Storm Dennis I am staying in the warm and dry. I fear the worst tommorow that could put auto promotion out of our reach and play-offs highly unlikely. I hope I am wrong but..... |
You're right, tomorrow will be difficult, regardless of the weather, so fingers-crossed the proper U's turn up and perform. I would also say that the players have to take their share of the responsibility for the poorer performances - as you rightly say, if they can self-motivate for the big games, why don't they for the other games? It can't just be down to McGreal's changing room team talks surely? I would be interested to know how our first half performances compared to our second half performances, but on paper we've won 13 and lost 7, so that would suggest McGreal's inspirational team talks must have been working 2/3rds of the time? Like the mathematician with constipation, I could try and work it out with a pencil, but certainly not tonight... | |
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| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 22:03 - Feb 14 with 415 views | gerry_us |
| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 19:10 - Feb 14 by wessex_exile |
You're right, tomorrow will be difficult, regardless of the weather, so fingers-crossed the proper U's turn up and perform. I would also say that the players have to take their share of the responsibility for the poorer performances - as you rightly say, if they can self-motivate for the big games, why don't they for the other games? It can't just be down to McGreal's changing room team talks surely? I would be interested to know how our first half performances compared to our second half performances, but on paper we've won 13 and lost 7, so that would suggest McGreal's inspirational team talks must have been working 2/3rds of the time? Like the mathematician with constipation, I could try and work it out with a pencil, but certainly not tonight... |
I'll send the pencil sharpener! | | | |
| Mariners all at sea against the Super U's tonight on 10:41 - Feb 15 with 385 views | burnsieespana |
Maybe a calculator be quicker! | | | |
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