| Never mind the excuses we need to win today any win will do! 12:48 - Jan 16 with 1045 views | durham_exile |
Happy New Year. The vaccine is being administered to the most vulnerable and to date more than 3.5m doses have been given within the UK. At last, some encouraging news to combat this shocking COVID virus.
And of course, Colchester are unbeaten this year (we have not played a game yet!).
Today a local derby against Cambridge United, which will go a long way to determining how serious we are about challenging for any form of promotion this year.
A victory after 5 winless games is vital especially as we have slumped to 13th in the table.
Carlisle 21 39
Newport 20 38
Cambridge 22 37
FGR 21 37
Salford 22 36
Cheltenham 21 35
Crawley 22 34
Morecambe 20 34
Orient 22 33
Exeter 20 32
Walsall 22 30
Mansfield 23 29
COL U 21 39
Carlisle were exceptionally good when we played them at Brunton Park, Newport were fluky against us, Morecambe slaughtered us 2-1, Exeter are our bogey team, and Cambridge beat us when we should have drawn. Losing to Scummend was a disgrace.
Performances recently have been poor, no woeful. There has been no passion, no commitment, no effort, and no confidence. We were abysmal against Marine and that has cost us £250K this season in lost revenue.
Our real slump started at the Abbey Stadium and then we lost to an exceptionally good Morecambe side, we lost to relegation certainties Scummend and then clung on to draw with Cheltenham. Am I being too harsh, no definitely not? A lot of rubbish has been spoken this year about it will be a good season just to survive. The league is the weakest for years and however bad the finances may or may not be four teams will still be promoted. Why should it not be Colchester in the top seven mix.
Stevenage continue to be the Colchester B team with Chuck Norris the latest to depart to the Hertfordshire side. We wish him well. We could lose Cohen Bramall as well and that would be a disaster. He is valued at £225K and a decision will have to be made soon because he can leave at the end of the season for free. But would he go if we could guarantee League One football for him come August?
Certainly, there is no movement in to the club. A striker is definitely required. Kurtis Guthrie has moved to Port Vale, but he would not have returned to the JSCS under any circumstances. We do not want Sears back; he is past his best. We want a decent striker preferably 6ft plus and a physical presence, but they are not queuing up to come and in truth availability of such players is slim.
A new manager is also required but that is also not going to happen. SB has no clue when it comes to tactics involving strikers and after the success of Jevani Brown as a make shift number 9 other teams have found out the perfect way to stop him and we have given him no service whatsoever in recent games.
The injury to Harry Pell has restricted our midfield options, but he should be back today. SB does not know his best XI and his obsession with playing Courtney Senior is bizarre in the extreme. Given our squad I would play 4,3,3 today and make that a genuine 3 up front.
Dependent on fitness I would go with.
Gerken
Welch-Hayes Eastman Smith Bramall
Pell Stevenson Chilvers
Folivi Brown Harriott
Subs:
George Senior Lapslie Cowan-Hall Bohui Tchamadeu Tovide
We have had three weeks on the training ground to get the tactics right and to prepare for this game.
Stop the playing out from the back, which puts our defence under pressure, get the ball forward quickly and look to play the ball to the feet of our strikers, Brown and Folivi. When fit Harriott is our most skilful attacker and can deliver a decent cross plus he is not afraid to hit the ball from outside the box.
If SB is bold and the midfield is fit then Pell, Stevenson and Chilvers offer a combination of passing, intervention and linking up with the strikers.
Give Brown support from Folivi and play them as a genuine partnership. After all we cannot do any worse that we have been doing. But SB must be bold, adventurous, and confident.
Weather is 4 degrees Celsius and showery in Colchester. It is dry in Durham, but the view is seasonal with lying snow after two days of the white stuff.
Let us hope that the players can turn things around and deliver three points today. The supporters deserve it and after a miserable spell without any joy we are overdue a victory.
Try and enjoy the game.
2-1 Colchester (Brown and Bramall)
Up the U’s
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| Never mind the excuses we need to win today any win will do! on 10:59 - Jan 17 with 312 views | noah4x4 |
Reflecting on result.......
Surely we need a proper attacking right full back?
I rate Eastman as our best centre back, and am happy to see him paired with Smith or Sowumni. However, I think we suffered from not having a more appropriate selection at right back. Tchamadeu springs to mind. However, given growing criticism of results I can understand why Ball went for Tom's experience.
But Sowumni twice almost gifted a goal to the visitors. I don't think Tchamadeu would have been any more calamitous and does offer more going forward. So my back four would be Tchamadeu, Eastman, Smith, Bramall. But why not a five that can be three in attack, hence Tchamadeu, Eastman, Sowumni, Smith, Bramall, hence offering opportunity for the full backs to get forward with greater freedom.
Why wasn't the pitch protected with covers overnight prior to the snow? With Pell back in the side our flair players (like Harriott, Poku and Senior) can show their tricks. But not on sea of mud. |  | | |
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