A very drab affair between two sides who will surely be meeting again in League 2 next year on this evidence. We came the closest when Ogogo hit the post but apart from that I cannot remember either keeper making a save of any note. Colchester were the poorest side I have ever seen us play in League 1 but they still bossed our utterly pathetic midfield. Black gets worse every game I see him play and how Cole (who does nothing apart from continually lose the ball) can be preferred to Clark is beyond me. I think we are starting to see the repercussions from MMs ludicrous decision to loan out both Collins and Barnett as we were crying out for a bit of strength in the box today against a very shaky looking defence. Akpa-Apro put in his second feeble performance in a week and Mangan is falling into the trap of trying to do too much and be everywhere though to be fair he is one of the few who actually appears to be trying. On a day of few plusses for us Whitbread was steady at the back but Brown stood out head and shoulders above the rest in terms of performance. If all the other players took his lead and went in for challenges like he does and gave 100% like he does we would have won that game. I don't know why Grandin wasn't given a go at the end - he could not have been any worse. I watched the pre-game warm-up shooting practice with interest and he was the only one that seemed able to stick the ball in the corner consistently. How we are going to win any of our home games with a team where most of the players seem woefully out of touch is a mystery and I suspect we are in for another difficult evening on Tuesday.
Surprised not to see Grandin come on. Black is an odd thing, seems to split opinion in terms of playing style and fouls but yet has an ability to pass and tackle. I really am feeling that central midfield is where it has all gone wrong ALL season. If we'd have spent more in that area in replacing Woods then our strikers might have scored more. I know we had Kaikai, but he was a shining star that dimmed over time.
Absolutely agree Matster - several times yesterday one of their players ran 50 yards without a challenge to the centre of our penalty area. Our first line of defence seems to be the back four (or five).
