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Post by davep on Apr 21, 2023 4:39:00 GMT
The form guide very much favours Colchester - unbeaten in their last 5. A win for Colchester in front of their own fans, regardless of other results, will secure their EFL status for next season. We badly need a win to regain some positive momentum before next season. Arguably one of the biggest games of the season tomorrow when Hartlepool play Crawley - a one goal win for Hartlepool would put the two sides level on points and goal difference with two each to play (Hartlepool would have scored more goals). For those not going to Colchester, Jeff Stelling should be worth watching on Sky on Saturday afternoon.
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Post by Amber Aleman on Apr 21, 2023 6:30:53 GMT
We have a 100% record against Colchester since joining League Two; if the Papa John's Trophy is included, we've beaten them four times out of four. However, I'm not very confident about extending that run tomorrow.
Most of their recent games have been tight affairs; twelve of their last fourteen featured no more than two goals, with three 0-0s among them. They did beat Crewe 4-0 on Easter Monday.
There were encouraging signs for us against Northampton on Tuesday, even though we lost the game, and if we show the same verve going forward, whilst avoiding defensive lapses, we have a decent chance. It would be good to have Lee Angol back in the squad.
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Post by since62 on Apr 21, 2023 7:53:43 GMT
In anticipation of Matt's preview, for an additional topic I wonder whether an update on the progress of our loanees to other clubs could be included as it has been somewhile since a data driven report has been published. I.e. how many matches goals assists etc have they contributed towards their presents clubs progress.
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Post by is4 on Apr 21, 2023 10:46:24 GMT
Hoping we can continue with the way we played on Tuesday,but scoring more goals. Good luck to all who are travelling to Colchester. SOL. What's your prediction?
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Post by sol on Apr 21, 2023 20:26:15 GMT
3 to play and then it’s back to swatting the flies away on a Saturday watching my nephews play cricket 🏏…
Colchester 1 v 2 SU W.Randall 38’, 77’
🎈⚽️
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Post by manonthemoon on Apr 22, 2023 14:58:49 GMT
I know we have been on a downward spiral in the last few weeks but we seem to be very open in this game and even though we are loosing can see some positive play. Last night Arsenal got back to 3-3 maybe our next 45mins will produce the same score line.
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Post by davep on Apr 22, 2023 16:08:19 GMT
Rochdale relegated - Hartlepool all but relegated. The way that we are playing at the moment, I imagine that we will be the bookies' favourites to join them in a years' time.
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Post by banjo on Apr 22, 2023 16:10:18 GMT
Really poor to day, not one player played well. Yes injuries have played apart in this run off form and the players look tired, but when all fit we have more than enough to stay in this league. So like others have said we do need strengthening because the depth of our squad is not good enough.⚽️⚽️⚽️
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Post by is4 on Apr 22, 2023 19:23:13 GMT
With 2 games to the end of this season. After a season of bad injuries etc. we have been able to consolidate our place for next season. I hope the management team and squad will be able to get back to winning ways in the next 2 games. Tuesdays game we really looked good but today we were very poor ( as been said by others posters ) We have nothing to loss but how about we bring in a few of of the academy players for the experience of first team playing. As I have posted in previous posts we started the season with injuries and we will finish with injuries. Hoping of course for next season to be more injury free. On to Rochdale next where we can hopefully get a result.
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Post by halftimet on Apr 22, 2023 19:42:25 GMT
I say again wholesale changes in midfield and up front are required. We have no one anywhere near the quality of Eastmond in midfield. Enzio played well for the first 15 minutes but otherwise our wingers and other midfielders were ineffective.
Even at 4-1 down we kept the 4-4-2. We’ve really missed the chance to try something different and I would suggest we will limp to the end of the season repeating the same ineffective tactics.
Some players on the bench are destined never to come on. I cannot see where the next point is coming from.
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Post by localboy86 on Apr 22, 2023 20:19:02 GMT
All clubs have injuries though.. it’s part and parcel of a season isn’t it. I don’t think we have adequate depth for our very key players - hopefully this gets addressed for next season.
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Post by Amber Aleman on Apr 22, 2023 21:29:16 GMT
Today was the first time this season that we've conceded four goals in one game. We'd started the match well and taken the lead, so it was all the more disappointing to let in so many goals, largely through sloppy defending, against a frankly very average side.
Fans spend a lot of time and money following the team away, and, irrespective of the result, expect their team to at least get the basics right. Today it looked as it looked as if some of our players were already on the beach. That's five defeats on the spin now. Next weekend's game at relegated Rochdale will be a strange experience, but the team perhaps need to remind themselves that they're professionals and still have a job to do.
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Post by Andy K on Apr 22, 2023 22:04:55 GMT
In all honesty, I've not seen such an inept defensive performance from a Sutton side in quite a while. Some may say that is because Goodliffe went off at half time, but he got injured after their 3rd goal. The positioning was all over the shop from the back 4, and this was especially evident for their 3rd goal.
We're currently 16th in the "goals conceded" table. Whilst there has been plenty said about our lack of goals up front, I think our defence may well be more of an issue than we think. Now I know that we've had various issues with defenders and injuries (I think only Kizzi has been pretty much unaffected), you'd hope they would do a job. Today, for example, we had 3 out of 4 first choice defenders for the first half and a first choice back up (one would expect a fit Louis John would have played instead of Coby). And we let in 3 poor goals from a pretty average side.
We also have fallen apart since Eastmond has been injured. Relying on one player (who, don't get me wrong, is amazing) isn't great either.
I'm not getting into which players are "good enough for L2" rubbish either. We win as a team, and we lose as a team. No one player was to blame, and in all honesty, I don't agree that there were players out there who couldn't be bothered. We've just run out of ideas.
The close season can't come soon enough for us to regroup and learn from this run. When we look back at this, this April could be valuable to us as a learning experience.
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Post by os on Apr 22, 2023 22:51:39 GMT
Not sure we even put a team out today, missing the likes of Randall and Eastmond really shows our short commings. I cannot see any holding player in there or anyone who is going to put their foot on the ball in midfield.
Our first choice 11 all fit and on form are good enough for ELF2 football, but on the evidence over the past few weeks anything less will see us get dragged into a relegation battle.
No point getting an extra 2000 seats if we are going to be playing in the National, the squad needs strengthening in the summer.
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Post by davep on Apr 23, 2023 1:08:48 GMT
Considering where we were a few weeks ago, hard to believe that we're currently 15 points off the play offs and 18 points above Hartlepool.
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