Sounds like we played well even if we lost.

[Billy the Fish]

I thought Dicker was poor tonght, how he won MOM I'll never know. He got stuck in but kept giving the ball away. His brand of simple passing is ok as long as you always keep the ball.

Navarro is two yards off the pace. He does look skillfull sometimes when he has the ball, but he gave it away alot as well and is too lazy to win it back.

 

[Foolg]

He looks to be lacking in physical strength to me. He can play better football than Elphick, but lacks his determination. Time for a change I think, and Virgo deserves his chance.

I dont think either goal was directly Tunnicliffes fault. Certainly the second one was in part due to having no left back.............and the gloriously fat, slow, useless Navarro being left for dead, after stupidly committing his fat body to the the tackle, enabling the Colchester player to have all the time and space in the world to put a pinpoint cross for Wordsworth to nod in.

Yep, ill agree the second goal was far too simple with ifill cutting in and had mcnulty been on the pitch sooner after el abd went off then it probably would not have happened.
Back to the first point, ill have to agree to disagree, as to me Tunnicliffe looks very very strong physically and as you say is a far better distributor. I would really like Jake Wright to be given a chance (AT CB!!!) in his preffered position. Virgo has had a chance and was'nt up to it, Wright in the one game i've seen him at CB (orient jpt) was my and many others' m.o.t.m. and certainly deserves a chance!

 

[Poyningsgull]

Elphic had a storming game, Defending everything that came his way, in many ways coming forward and filling the "stopper" role in midfield.

On that note I'm off to bed before I get into trouble.

 

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

I think it's common knowledge that visiting teams know if they can get at the Albion early the crowd will turn on them very quickly which has a massive impact on the players confidence. That is what hapened again today. Our player don't only have to play their opponent but they also have to contend with a very fickle set of supporters. It is no coincidence that we are better away from home.

Apart form the firsdt 20mins we were easliy the best side tonight but we had no luck. If we continue to play as we are we will be ok.

My other observation from tonights game was the poor quality of our defensive heading and it is not the first time I have noticed this. Being able to head a ball is a defenders bread and butter yet time and time again we make weak headed clearances that drop straight in to the danger zone and hand possession straight back to the opposition.

 

[Taybha]

those that stayed until the end stood and gave the players a genuine round of applause , the players looked as devastated as we felt in the stands,i cant remember the last time i enjoyed a loss if thats possible but take away the the 1st clueless 15 mins and we played our hearts out with little luck in front of goal and 1 in particular world class save from colchesters keeper from bennetts free kick.

 

[Silent Bob]

I think it's common knowledge that visiting teams know if they can get at the Albion early the crowd will turn on them very quickly which has a massive impact on the players confidence. That is what hapened again today. Our player don't only have to play their opponent but they also have to contend with a very fickle set of supporters. It is no coincidence that we are better away from home.

The fans were right behind the team today. Even when we went 2 down. At least as far as I could tell.

 

[The Peanut Roaster]

Just got back myself.

We owned them after the first 15 mins, but by then the damage was done.

Colchester were nothing special at all, but I'm becoming a bit pissed off with our finishing.

Still, good game to watch.

 

[shwoody1]

sounds like nearly everyone that went tonight agree it was a good performance but unlucky with the result. if we can reproduce that level of performance week in week out we will climb the table. i hope tonight is a turning point in the season okay we did not get the result but watching colchester desperatly hanging on by the skin of their teeth instead of the other way round was something i hevent seen at withdean for a long time.

 

[cjd]

i cant remember the last time i enjoyed a loss if thats possible but take away the the 1st clueless 15 mins and we played our hearts out with little luck in front of goal and 1 in particular world class save from colchesters keeper from bennetts free kick.

I agree...pissed off with the loss, but one of the most enjoyable and exciting games of football for a long time.

 

[West Hoathly Seagull]

I agree...pissed off with the loss, but one of the most enjoyable and exciting games of football for a long time.

Agreed, one of the most exciting games at Withdean for a long time (most of our better football seems to be away these days). Poor finishing seems to be our main problem, though I haven't seen a visiting keeper play so well since Sullivan for Doncaster a couple of seasons ago. Murray's effort looked an absolute sitter from where I was (H Block low down), and looked easier to score than miss. Clearly Gus didn't want to change a winning team after Exeter, and I'm told El Abd was okay there, but he is not up to taking on a fast winger like Ifill. He may of course have been injured. We looked far sharper once McNulty came on and thankfully he got through unscathed. We also look unbalanced with Navarro. What does worry me a little, though, is that we need a long-term replacement for Forster. None of Davies, Dickinson or Murray seem up to the leading forward role. I noticed at least once a through ball which only a year ago Forster would have controlled, turned the defender and run through with, which this time he was unable to do anything with. Can't blame him - he is 36 or whatever. Also, as everyone has said, so this is nothing new, we need a dominant centre half.

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

. if we can reproduce that level of performance week in week out we will climb the table.

i hope tonight is a turning point .

But we won't produce that level of performance week in week out. That's why I'm pissed off we've got nothing out the game.

Is that the 48th turning point this season?

 

[1066familyman]

He looks to be lacking in physical strength to me. He can play better football than Elphick, but lacks his determination. Time for a change I think, and Virgo deserves his chance.

I don't think either goal was directly Tunnicliffes fault. Certainly the second one was in part due to having no left back.............and the gloriously fat, slow, useless Navarro being left for dead, after stupidly committing his fat body to the the tackle, enabling the Colchester player to have all the time and space in the world to put a pinpoint cross for Wordsworth to nod in.

I agree about their second goal. Navarro got turned inside out and I don't think that would have happened to El-Abd or McNulty. In that sense we were unlucky that El-Abd had to go off when he did. The upside though was that meant an early appearance for McNulty and he looks so good going forward that when fully back to fitness he HAS to start every game.

Overall I'm pleased with our performance tonight. We were by far the better team over the 90 mins and on any other night we would have got three points from a game like that. They punished us in the first 20 mins and unfortunately a mixture of bad luck and missed chances meant we didn't get the goals our possession and good attacking play deserved.

I feel positive tonight - especially about the way Poyet's mentality is to nearly always gamble with his subs when he needs to and go attack attack attack to try and get three points from every game.

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

Edit duplicate

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I feel positive tonight - especially about the way Poyet's mentality is to nearly always gamble with his subs when he needs to and go attack attack attack to try and get three points from every game.

Whilst being a commendable ethos, I hope it doesn't come back to bite us if we are relying on goal difference to stay up.

 

[Silent Bob]

But we won't produce that level of performance week in week out. That's why I'm pissed off we've got nothing out the game.

Is that the 48th turning point this season?

I don't necessarily buy into all this "turning point" stuff. Sure, very occasionally you will see a result that sparks off a turn around, but usually it is the result of steady progress beforehand. That's what we need, and I think we're making it. That said there is no doubt we need to get some points in the next three games and be out of the bottom four for January.

 

[BensGrandad]

The turning point could well be the 'lob' by Bennett that went over the keeper and just wide of the goal. Had that gone in who knows what may have happened.

 

[BatterSeagull]

Yep, ill agree the second goal was far too simple with ifill cutting in and had mcnulty been on the pitch sooner after el abd went off then it probably would not have happened.
Back to the first point, ill have to agree to disagree, as to me Tunnicliffe looks very very strong physically and as you say is a far better distributor. I would really like Jake Wright to be given a chance (AT CB!!!) in his preffered position. Virgo has had a chance and was'nt up to it, Wright in the one game i've seen him at CB (orient jpt) was my and many others' m.o.t.m. and certainly deserves a chance!

You are so right Foolg. Gus must try Wright at CB with Tunnicliffe. At Orient it worked so well and deserves another chance. He won the ball time after time and most importantly didnt just hoof it to the opposition but played it out sensibly and controlled. It's worth a try as we cannot keep leaking these crazy goals game after game. All of us at Orient saw something that we havent seen all season.

 

[shwoody1]

But we won't produce that level of performance week in week out. That's why I'm pissed off we've got nothing out the game.

Is that the 48th turning point this season?

i understand what your saying but there was something different about the team tonight,hopefully they are just as pissed off as we all are, and go on to prove we are not a bottom 4 side, i fancy lucky number 48!

 

[murraymint]

Yes we did play well, as we have done on several occasions this season. But yet again we give ourselves a mountain to climb by letting in two quickfire goals that almost immediately kill off the game.
Once we were back in it at 2-1 we had numerous good chances to equalise/go ahead and we fluffed it.
We can play 'well' like that all season but we will still be in the relegation mix-up. It is massively frustrating.

 

[Husty]

I thought Navarro played quite well, but eventually tired and began to misplace passes. Maybe it was just me..?

He can make a good pass, but isnt match fit and doesnt have great movement off the ball, im willing to give him the chance to get match fit though, i dont really see anything better in the team