Colchester 21.01.2020 away.

I'm certainly disappointed were not in the top 3 at this time of the season.
Im not having injuries suspensions as an excuse, happens to every team.
This squad should be top 3

 

I don't think we should be pissing the league either.

I just think that we shouldn't be outplayed in every match (bar this one) regardless of the opponent, and whether we're at home or not. 37% at home to Scunthorpe for example. A draw to a side like this isn't bad and no one's getting at that, it's the form we're in that's bad. 3 wins in 15 and you're wondering about automatics? It's not even playoff form

 

This is what I keep thinking also. How the hell are we still in the top six. However, I do think there's a house of cards waiting to collapse. I really hope we can start to turn one point into three and pull away before just one bad result changes the look of the table. Awful feeling that situation could happen during the closing few games of the season.

 

Its not nonsense at all, let me spell it out for you.

Donaldson injured, fine we have Vaughan, now Doyle.

Devitt injured, fine because we have McCartan and Cooke, both of whom are naturally attacking midfielders.

Pritchard has been injured for a few weeks a couple of times, not months on end so don't exaggerate that one. Although just for you, we once again have McCartan and Cooke who play attacking midfield.

Everyone likes to assume that because we've had injuries, we've been stuck with pub players like devine and Anderson playing every week, when it simply isn't true.

 

Give over, have you seen how bad this division is. You'd think no one got injuries the way some go on. Yes we've been affected but in a division as bad as this regardless of injuries we should be in the playoffs as a bare minimum. At least with Pritchard and Devitt we may see some creativity, because if you're asking Connolly to supply it we could be waiting till Christmas.

 

Says a lot about the rest of the division, given how poor we are, that we're 5th? Imagine what we'll be l

You're hilarious. Were you on here singing Bowyers praises when we won 6 out of 8, earlier this season

3 defeats in 15, pro-rata gives 9 for the season, is pretty impressive when you consider the injury list and the fact we've played the leaders twice

I love maths. But, I realised long ago, you can do anything with stats

FACT is, we're 5th firmly in the promotion race

Try giving us a negative stat about that!!

 

One of my midgets.

 

We have badly missed Donaldson we were scoring freely in the matches leading up to his injury at Morecambe our last away win.And Devitt who did really well last season for Carlisle would have been our main attacking midfielder

 

It was more dull and boring safety first stuff but let’s try focus on the positive - a clean sheet. We looked more solid than against Scunthorpe and defended well. Not a massive fan, but thought BRE looked good tonight, as did AOC, who has become Mr Dependable.

The problem we have is that three of the midfielders are negative players. Reeves keeps possession but won’t drive on and win you games. Wood is a LB and his natural instinct is to come backwards. Compare that to Connolly on the right who is gung ho. Taylor, crossbar effort aside, rarely offers anything going forward either.

It was an improvement on Sat so we’ll take that to some extent, but I can’t believe it took until 80 mins ish to bring subs on. Pritchard and Devitt would come in for me. Id drop Mellor and Taylor, then play Henley and Wood as fullbacks. Possibly Oteh for McCartan too. Fresher legs.

 

He set a beauty up for Doyle on Saturday only for it sail high over the bar

 

Don't forget we've missed Doyle for the best part of the season. All those goals he's scored and that.

 

The poor souls who went. Prayers for them all

 

I bet you actually believe what you're posting. Doyle and Vaughan have been available for two matches in the last three months - never mind that they don't offer what Donaldson does

If you think Cooke is a similar type of player to Devitt, Ismail or Prichard - then it's time to stop debating

McCartan is a player who is at his best playing behind a front two - but that needs a creative outlet on one of the wings to work

Incidentally, Prichard has started once in nearly two months (significantly it was IMO our best performance in that spell, Salford) and only made two other sub appearances. I think we can see who's exaggerating

 

If people think we're going to be playing Devitt, Donaldson, Vaughan, Doyle, McCartan, Pritchard and Cooke when we're back to full strength, they're nuts!

Some of those players being out does hurt us - but claiming Devitt's injury affected us, for example, is nonsense. Jamie being out is just one less option for Bowyer to keep on the bench.

Pritchard will play, that's for sure, and Donaldson will play with one of Doyle/Vaughan, but we were hardly prolific goalscorers with him in the team in the first place.

These are all good players, but we won't suddenly opt for an attacking set up, so their impact is going to be as limited upon their return as Doyle's has been since he returned.

 

Good point actually. Fitting them all in, is gonna be one hell of a problem. Bowyer, does seem to be good at dropping players and them still staying motivated. Could be that the team spirit he has built, is what makes the difference

If I'm choosing, then it's a back four, with Reeves, Cook, Prichard and Devitt. Then Donaldson with Vaughan or Doyle.

I'd be tempted to ease Devitt back in and play all three strikers. I don't see why it wouldn't work, i.e. a 4-3-2-1, with Prichard providing the width and Mellor encouraged to join on the other side

Then Connolly and Ismail come on to attack flagging defences

We shall see

 

Caught the second half and I thought it was alright to be honest - away against a promotion challenger we looked solid and had a decent 20 minute spell in the middle and Taylor hit the bar, Pritchard made the wrong decision which was a shame. Taken in isolation that’s a good point but like many have said it’s been negative all season. Four at the back looks much more balanced too.

 

Check this if you want we were averaging 2 goals a game over the last 4 matches until Donaldson injury. We were playing much more on the front foot .