Match Thread Colchester A

Well it will come down to the Swindon game. If we can’t get a point  from that we deserve to go down.

I don’t remember ever seeing such a Jeckyll and Hyde team as this one.

Only managed to watch the second half and up until they got their 2nd we absolutely dominated them and they looked awful. Goal out of nowhere then it went to excrement.

Very interested to see the season ticket pricing , the 5-10% increase seen by most other clubs  (it would take some over £400) seems hard to justify after this awful season .

Inflation has been high over the past couple of years, prices don't go down when inflation falls, so what else is the choice? If all your costs have gone up, not raising ticket prices means you start to lose more money.

Quoted from Mappers

Very interested to see the season ticket pricing , the 5-10% increase seen by most other clubs  (it would take some over £400) seems hard to justify after this awful season .

If we stay up the price will go up, remember we’re paying to watch next season not this debacle.

The bit I don’t understand & what makes me really angry is how careless & irresponsible our players are with the ball. When they get close to the box they either just sling it in & hope for the best or take a pot shot, there is zero composure & even less quality.

Quoted from Maringer

Inflation has been high over the past couple of years, prices don't go down when inflation falls, so what else is the choice? If all your costs have gone up, not raising ticket prices means you start to lose more money.

I do understand that .

I just think it's too high for a club in an area not particularly flush for cash , after such a rough season especially .

Last season our prices (i was intrigued last summer because I'm sad ) for the cheapest adult season ticket was the 4th highest in the league - so we have effectively paid the 4th highest to be the 4th worst at best . If we raise the price by inflation it will probably be 2nd or 3rd highest judging on the pricing of other clubs so far .

For early bird tickets last season we were top 6 over all the categories (junior/oap etc) for season tickets .

I just think it's getting to the stage (not just us)that it's too expensive , maybe I'm on my own and people will be quite happy to run with inflation and pay £500-£600 for a ST in 4 or 5 years .

Quoted from HertsGTFC

If we stay up the price will go up, remember we’re paying to watch next season not this debacle.

The bit I don’t understand & what makes me really angry is how careless & irresponsible our players are with the ball. When they get close to the box they either just sling it in & hope for the best or take a pot shot, there is zero composure & even less quality.

Makes me angry too. There is a marked lack of intelligence in both players and manager. All the evidence is that Obikwu and Wilson operate as individuals rather than a partnership and the ball is lost very quickly. This means our midfield has too much space to cover defensively. Go with one up top, extra midfielder and play a shorter game so fewer gaps appear. Thompson was asked to do too much after his exertions at Crewe.

If Artell thought we were the better team because Colchester stayed compact, as we should have done, then he is no tactician. We were never going to have the same energy as at Crewe so keeping the ball was crucial.

Wood is an attacking midfielder with a good eye for a shot and should replace Obikwu on Saturday.

One thing I have been surprised about is the tactical nous of the manager.

He spoke when he arrived of watching the games from the stands to get a better overall view of the game and being able to change things as a result.

Apart from the clear the air meeting after Doncaster,  there hasn't been much evidence of a tactical genius at work in our formations or changes within games. Perhaps he knows the players aren't up to it so is keeping his powder dry for next season.

I'm desperate for him, anybody really, to put together a decent side which is not a lot to ask given our support and financial stability as a club.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

One thing I have been surprised about is the tactical nous of the manager.

He spoke when he arrived of watching the games from the stands to get a better overall view of the game and being able to change things as a result.

Apart from the clear the air meeting after Doncaster,  there hasn't been much evidence of a tactical genius at work in our formations or changes within games. Perhaps he knows the players aren't up to it so is keeping his powder dry for next season.

I'm desperate for him, anybody really, to put together a decent side which is not a lot to ask given our support and financial stability as a club.

I think he's exceptionally limited tactically by the fact we're just so short of quality and pace throughout the side. What can you do to change things up? Most of our central midfielders aren't good enough and are much of a muchness. The wide players we have are Vernam who has been injured a lot, Eisa who's one of the laziest and least contributing players we've ever had barring his worldies and Gnahoua who although tidy and hard working has really not delivered an end product at all.  Our strikers are Rose who is excellent, Wilson who is inconsistent as his career stats show, Pyke who's shite up front and Obikwu who's a young lad who often looks uninterested. We've not really got any defenders capable of playing in a back four, certainly not in a back four behind our inept midfield. So what can you do? He's shored things up for sure on the mess we were in at the start of this year but you can't go more direct as we have no height or pace, we can't not have five at the back cause we'd start conceding loads again and our strikers are generally a bit shite. He showed against MK Dons that he can get it tactically spot on in the right circumstances and although some of his substitutions and starting line ups have baffled me, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until he has a squad that isn't fooking terrible.

Quoted from mariner91

I think he's exceptionally limited tactically by the fact we're just so short of quality and pace throughout the side. What can you do to change things up? Most of our central midfielders aren't good enough and are much of a muchness. The wide players we have are Vernam who has been injured a lot, Eisa who's one of the laziest and least contributing players we've ever had barring his worldies and Gnahoua who although tidy and hard working has really not delivered an end product at all.  Our strikers are Rose who is excellent, Wilson who is inconsistent as his career stats show, Pyke who's shite up front and Obikwu who's a young lad who often looks uninterested. We've not really got any defenders capable of playing in a back four, certainly not in a back four behind our inept midfield. So what can you do? He's shored things up for sure on the mess we were in at the start of this year but you can't go more direct as we have no height or pace, we can't not have five at the back cause we'd start conceding loads again and our strikers are generally a bit shite. He showed against MK Dons that he can get it tactically spot on in the right circumstances and although some of his substitutions and starting line ups have baffled me, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until he has a squad that isn't fooking terrible.

I said a while back and my thinking hasn't changed

Either Artell will be a massive success or it will end in disaster with nothing much it between , I guess we will find out next season with a summer to shape his own squad .