Chin Up, Chaps

[Slipperduke]

Alright, so the carrot-munchers won, but what did anyone expect? Playing proper football on that pitch was like trying to ice-skate on gravel, it was always going to end in tears.

I'd rather get relegated playing the kind of stuff that Tilson believes in than watch a season of what gets served up in front of the Colchester fans. No wonder no-one turns up, they're all at home nursing sore necks.

We were hit by a sucker punch when our captain nearly drowned in a bog, we let another silly one in after a period of extended pressure and we had a perfectly good goal disallowed. But we never stopped working, never stopped trying to play football and never let our heads go down.

All that after the troubles we've been through this season? After fearing for our future, after losing our top goalscorer, after so many ins and outs that they should stick a revolving door on the training ground?

I don't know about anyone else, but I was quite proud of our mob last night. It's all very well putting the effort in when you're winning and you're on a high, but to keep clattering away at the grindstone when you're in the kind of form that we're in bodes well for the future.

That's our club, that is. The one trying to play the game with a bit of style.

 

[BrettieAngell]

Well said slip!

Its been turbulant off and on the pitch but we are still fighting.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Indeed, Myself and everybody I was with walked away last night not in the least disappointed. If we play that kind of stuff from now until May, we have no relegation worries whatsoever... On a pitch with even the slightest improvement, teams would be baffled by the speed at which we spread the ball and Scannell, Watt and Laurent are enough to give even the best of full backs at this level sleepless nights.

Nothing to worry about here, if you ask me.

 

[Blonde Shrimper]

Great post. My feelings exactly.

 

[Badboyshrimp]

If I was a ColU fan I would have bin embarrassed about that being my club on TV last night and I would have not taken the risk of my ugly mug being seen in that crap half empty stadium all over Sky and the papers eigher.

 

[bilbyboy]

I think Laurent is a great player, but sadly he cost us at least 2 goals last night with his selfishness or lack of ability to look up when he has the ball at his feet. We could/should have won that game. I was at the match and have today watched it on TV. Scannell was great, Francis was poor, Laurent could have been great. The pitch played a massive part in us losing and i seriously believe that the game should not have gone ahead. Col Ewe have played 2 or 3 games on that pitch in that condition, they are now used to it, we played great football which sadly was belittled by the terible conditions. Adam Barretts goal would have been given 9 times out of 10, add that to the goals that Laurent cost us and we would have been winners. We lost, but if we keep playing the way we did last night then we can only win games.
Anyone who has anything to do with Col Ewe should hang their heads in shame. UTB

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

My chin is up and I have some confidence that, with a settled team, we can get ourselves out of trouble. Didn't expect anything from last night, even allowing for the atrocious state of the pitch. My biggest disappointment was not the defeat but the fact that, on the rare occasion of actually being able to see us play, I was cheated out of a match of football. Just spoke to my brother-in-law, who is a gooner, and the first thing he said to me was that, he didn't believe pitches like that existed anymore..
.............and he's been watching football for longer than my 55 years!

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

Well said, we played all the football and on a normal pitch would've won. We created the better chances and if we'd taken them and if Barrett's goal hadn't been wrongly disallowed then we could've got something. Spencer and Scannell both showed signs of promise last night, and remember we were missing two key players in McCormack and Grant and maybe we missed their bite and energy last night. We'll be fine.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Absolutely right Slip, M'voto had improved a lot since his last game, we have Baldwin back in the meantime. Things WILL improve, they already have, we played some decent stuff last night, we just need to find that belief again.

 

[Harold Bishop Killer]

Well said that man. We have had the worst off-pitch season in my recent memory but yet the players are still giving everything on that pitch. If we go down, we will go down fighting but I think we have enough to stay up. Lets just hope Ron gets his house in order.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Sorry, but the reasons to be cheerful seem (to me at least) to be very thin on the ground here.:unsure:
If we don't get a win on Saturday then we'll probably start a long stay in the bottom four.:O

 

[Slipperduke]

Sorry, but the reasons to be cheerful seem (to me at least) to be very thin on the ground here.:unsure:
If we don't get a win on Saturday then we'll probably start a long stay in the bottom four.:O

Come on, Barna, be of stout heart! I'd be a lot more depressed if we had a good team who weren't trying. If the effort is there, the fortune will surely follow. We won't be troubling the play-offs this season, but I remain faithful that we'll survive.

 

[Jonny_Stokes]

For what it's worth (not much, I'm sure), I thought that you were easily the better side last night, and certainly the only one that tried to play football. That said, it did show a certain brainlessness in itself, as football on that quagmire was tantamount to suicide (and good news for the Ewe's awful long ball tactics, which they employ on all surfaces under that c*** Boothroyd).

Taking off my wind-up merchant's hat for a moment, the biggest challenge you face is converting the attacking opportunities into real chances. The decision-making from Laurent was at times dreadful, the set pieces woeful, and the final ball lacking outside of Scannell. Perhaps it's inexperience, but it seems to me that you just need to get in front in a game to settle the players down; there was a lot of anxiety about the forward play all night.

Having said that, you were far better last night than you were at Birdbrain, and more performances like that will - hopefully (and yes, I mean that) - see you safe. I've seen Tranmere three times this season, and they are complete guff who defend well enough but can't string three passes together. One result should kick-start your way to safety and joining Col Ewe in League One next season, as there really are a lot of worse sides.

J_S

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Come on, Barna, be of stout heart! I'd be a lot more depressed if we had a good team who weren't trying. If the effort is there, the fortune will surely follow. We won't be troubling the play-offs this season, but I remain faithful that we'll survive.

Slipper,
I admire your optimism(and your writing)but I just don't think we've got enough in our locker to turn things around.Granted our Cochester loanees and Macca couldn't play last night and things will improve once they're in the team again- starting against Tranmere on Saturday.
Scannell was excellent throughout yesterday but I didn't see too many other positives to take out of the game.M'voto quite understandly is a shadow of the excellent player I saw against Leeds in September.We didn't have any cutting edge at all yesterday.Laurent, while often exciting on the ball, has tunnel vision and never looks up to see where his team mates are.He has electrifying pace,can be relied upon to beat most players in a one to one but -as the Sky commentary team correctly pointed out-when he's through on goal - consistently makes the wrong decisions.That's precisely why he's playing at our level and not higher.
I never like to judge players on the basis of one game especially in a TV match.Having said that I thought Watt our new Arsenal loanee(pray God that we can keep him for more than a month)looked useful in the appalling conditions,especially as Tilly said, when we could get him on the ball.Patterson and Spencer didn't really cut it for me.Both might improve with time but that's a commodity we're in rather short supply of.
To sum up we have a defence that marks poorly and gives away soft goals.A midfield which (Scannell excepted)has little ability to create and forwards who are not really on the same wavelength and look unlikely to score whatever the conditions.How we missed Barney yesterday.
Tilly said he was satisfied with the performance.But it's results we need from now on and not just performances .I'd say we have a poor team who are trying.Sadly I don't think that's going to be enough to keep us in this division.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

For what it's worth (not much, I'm sure), I thought that you were easily the better side last night, and certainly the only one that tried to play football. That said, it did show a certain brainlessness in itself, as football on that quagmire was tantamount to suicide (and good news for the Ewe's awful long ball tactics, which they employ on all surfaces under that c*** Boothroyd).
J_S

Correct,Sir.

 

[Rob Noxious]

But it's results we need from now on and not just performances .I'd say we have a poor team who are trying.Sadly I don't think that's going to be enough to keep us in this division.

Five Southend pounds says we do! ;)

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Five Southend pounds says we do! ;)

You're obviously desperate to recoup the fiver you've already lost on Owen not making the squad for South Africa.:)
Okay I'll take the bet.;)

 

[Jam_Man]

Slipper,
I admire your optimism(and your writing)but I just don't think we've got enough in our locker to turn things around.Granted our Cochester loanees and Macca couldn't play last night and things will improve once they're in the team again- starting against Tranmere on Saturday.
Scannell was excellent throughout yesterday but I didn't see too many other positives to take out of the game.M'voto quite understandly is a shadow of the excellent player I saw against Leeds in September.We didn't have any cutting edge at all yesterday.Laurent, while often exciting on the ball, has tunnel vision and never looks up to see where his team mates are.He has electrifying pace,can be relied upon to beat most players in a one to one but -as the Sky commentary team correctly pointed out-when he's through on goal - consistently makes the wrong decisions.That's precisely why he's playing at our level and not higher.
I never like to judge players on the basis of one game especially in a TV match.Having said that I thought Watt our new Arsenal loanee(pray God that we can keep him for more than a month)looked useful in the appalling conditions,especially as Tilly said, when we could get him on the ball.Patterson and Spenser didn't really cut it for me.Both might improve with time but that's a commodity we're in rather short supply of.
To sum up we have a defence that marks poorly and gives away soft goals.A midfield which (Scannell excepted)has little ability to create and forwards who are not really on the same wavelength and look unlikely to score whatever the conditions.How we missed Barney yesterday.
Tilly said he was satisfied with the performance.But it's results we need from now on and not just performances .I'd say we have a poor team who are trying.Sadly I don't think that's going to be enough to keep us in this division.

You are basing that on a game away to one of the top 4 teams in the league, on a pitch not fit for playing on.

What you are omitting is that we wont survive in this league by beating the top teams away, we will do so by beating the likes of Tranmere, Exeter and Gillingham.

Now against Wycombe we showed that we dont have it in us to do so, however things have changed since then, we have got two decent players in Vernon and Baldwin, Mvoto is back and Spencer is settling in. Plus we have Watt who looks promising from what I saw on that cabbage patch of a pitch.

We really need to start getting results at home now as weve only won twice in two months, but Tranmere is a good place to start. Losing to them would be a massive blow as we arent going to pick up many points in February, but March looks far more promising with 3 home games in a row.

I just dont see us being relegated but the next month will be tough.

Edit : just looked and two of our last 3 games are against teams below us, could be an exciting finish, lets hope we need nothing from the Saints game...

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

You are basing that on a game away to one of the top 4 teams in the league, on a pitch not fit for playing on.

What you are omitting is that we wont survive in this league by beating the top teams away, we will do so by beating the likes of Tranmere, Exeter and Gillingham.

We're playing Gillingham away.It would be optimistic to think we will be able to beat them -we didn't in the cup remember.

Now against Wycombe we showed that we do
nt have it in us to do so, however things have changed since then, we have got two decent players in Vernon and Baldwin, Mvoto is back and Spencer is settling in. Plus we have Watt who looks promising from what I saw on that cabbage patch of a pitch.

Agreed.

We really need to start getting results at home now as weve only won twice in two months, but Tranmere is a good place to start. Losing to them would be a massive blow as we arent going to pick up many points in February, but March looks far more promising with 3 home games in a row.

Agreed.

I just dont see us being relegated but the next month will be tough.

Edit : just looked and two of our last 3 games are against teams below us, could be an exciting finish, lets hope we need nothing from the Saints game...

And one of those last three games is away to Oldham where I don't expect us to pick up anything.As you say let's hope we don't need anything from that last game at St Mary's.Given they're likely to want points from this game for their play off hopes.

 

[Jam_Man]

And one of those last three games is away to Oldham where I don't expect us to pick up anything.As you say let's hope we don't need anything from that last game at St Mary's.Given they're likely to want points from this game for their play off hopes.

The away games against Oldham and Gillingham are games where hopefully a draw will do.

As long as they are beneath us and need the points more we should have the edge.

However with current form I dont expect anything other than a defeat in every away match so we need to get some results at home and hopefully some self belief for those games.