***Colchester United Carabao Cup Matchday Thread***
Oct 30, 2019 17:18:29 GMT
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broadfielddave likes this
Post by cogfather on Oct 30, 2019 17:18:29 GMT
I can't remember the last time I was so angry with a performance as I was last night, though admittedly I wasn't able to attend on Saturday. Last night was a huge opportunity that will likely never happen again (a chance to reach a high profile cup quarter final by playing a League Two team at home). I'll have to break this down, as there's numerous things to analyse.
The team selection - Didn't have too much problem with this. Sesay has his issues but he's generally better than Young. I think Doherty is dreadful in the main, but we didn't bother to sign another viable left back in the summer so we were stuck. Starting Allarakhia and Bloomfield was frankly baffling. Taryn has his moments but is clearly not up to the required level, not as a starter anyway when you have significantly better players like Francomb, Camara and ANG on the bench. Bloomfield is simply woeful. Had a terrific first game for us, and since then has looked like he won a local radio competition to play for Crawley. Has an appalling first touch, gets bullied in the air, offers little to no goal threat and doesn't have all that much pace. With a fit Palmer and Nadesan on the bench, his selection in such a big game bordered on negligent. The only explanation is that he's immense in training, but surely Cioffi watches the same games that we do.
The goals conceded - After Bully's absolute thunderbolt, we had the momentum. We had been the better side, scored a wonder goal and Bully himself wasn't celebrating, just telling his teammates to concentrate. As they did then, and for the rest of the night, they let him down. Sesay is getting it a bit in the neck for allowing the cross, though I thought he was broadly the only one who managed Nouble well all night. For me, the fault was with Dallison for his pathetic attempt at dealing with the ball in the air, allowing Norris an easy header. Luyumbula should probably have done better too as it was straight at him more or less.
The second was unlucky, hitting the bar and hitting ML before going in. The concession of the free kick was inexplicable though. Tunnicliffe and Dallison for some reason stood so far up the pitch that when ML's kick got headed back over them, it was insanely easy for (Norris, I think it was) to get in behind. Dallison again at fault after that as he panicked and slipped at the wrong moment to concede a completely needless free kick in a very dangerous area, as it turned out to be.
The third was sloppy all round, but again, Dallison (or Dally-son) was far too slow to spot the danger. To allow Gambin to control, turn and shoot with no resistance at all was pathetic. Good finish mind.
The effort/approach - It can't be said enough how good Dannie Bulman was last night. His absence on Saturday showed how important he is to this team, and last night he stood out so far ahead of everyone else in both ability and attitude. I love the man, a true club legend, but let's face it, when your best and most important player is a 41 year old, you have serious problems. He seemed to be the only player who wanted to win, and was certainly the only one who believed we could get back into it at 2-1 down. Everyone else either lacked effort, ability, or in most cases, both. Colchester were first to nearly every loose ball, which is unforgivable. This team has shown fight at times this season, more than in previous ones, so it was absolutely bizarre to see them more or less give up as soon as the second Colchester goal went in.
The subs - Where do you start with this? The one good thing about leaving some of your best players on the bench is that you can bring them on to change the game. Palmer for Bloomfield was absolutely the right sub, but why did it happen so early in the second half, and not just at half time? What did Gab think Mason was going to achieve in the 5 mins or so he gave him after half time? Young for Sesay was baffling. Young perhaps offers more going forward, even if it does take 150 crosses for him to find a teammate, but Nouble was their clear danger man, and Sesay was handling him well. It's no coincidence that Nouble all of a sudden completely dominated us as soon as Sesay went off. Also, being 2-1 down, is swapping your right backs the best you can come up with to get back into it? When you have ANG and Camara on the bench, with players in their positions playing far worse than Sesay was? Bringing Nadesan on at the time made sense, albeit felt far too late. As it turned out, he was awful. Looked well off the pace. Surely ANG was the sub, but it would have been hard to anticipate Nadesan being so poor.
That's it really. Poor all round, barring the odd obvious exception. Bully phenomenal, Sesay largely good considering the hiding to nothing most are on up against Nouble and that insanely pacy left back they had. Luyumbala, first goal aside, was very good too. That's about it. Ferguson anonymous, Reece did good bits but couldn't do anything other than kick the ball straight into defenders once he got in position, Bez seems to have forgotten how to control a football, which is a worry. Tunnicliffe did okay but seemed to shank a lot of his clearances. Dallison was appalling, and at fault for all three goals.
Yet again, Crawley have found themselves in a position where they could get loads of potential new fans through the gate, and showed them why their previous decision not to bother coming was probably the correct one. An FA Cup run will be more money-spinning, but getting drawn away to United, Liverpool, City or whoever in a League Cup quarter final could have really put our little club on the map again. As it is, that honour will go to Colchester, simply because, for some reason, they wanted it a lot more. Fingers crossed that they draw Oxford away and get battered.
Agree with every word of this, do you fancy the managers job?
I’m just gutted that we so limply threw away the chance for us long suffering fans to have a chance to enjoy the possible hospitality of a big club in the next round.