MATCHWATCH : Colchester United (a)

[Sutekh]

Anyone claiming we should have played the first team can't have gone to Birmingham. Mbengue, Smith, knibbs, Craig were all struggling to walk when they came over to the fans at the end. We don't have the squad to compete in the cups at the moment. Imagine if one or two first teamers got injured yesterday, there would be uproar on here that Selles didn't rest them.

The challenge of a manager these days eh! Draw away at a team who spent 14 million in the summer, lose on penalties in a game 3 days after half our team ran themselves into the ground and still 'fans' constantly complain that Selles doesn't know what he's doing.

It shouldn't actually matter, they are professionals and should be able to handle Sat-Tue-Sat games every so often. Wigan also played last night (home v Barnsley) and were beaten on penalties. They only made 2 changes from their side that lost to Charlton last Saturday (of the "dropped" pair Kerr was on the bench while Sessegnon was completely rested). Therefore I don't think last night's game should have much bearing on the result Saturday, possibly the bigger impact will be Wigan having to travel 200 miles to an unfamiliar environment.

Ruben obviously wanted to win the game last night as he started "panicking", as soon as Kanu started "losing it", and began introducing the regulars. The overall performance was utterly awful for the first hour (but then the team selection was a bit weird with Garcia playing as a right winger and Abrefa suddenly becoming a left back). He'll be safe in his job when the new owners are confirmed, it's only another stinking run of clueless defeats that'll (rightly) do for him and that does not really appear to be all that likely based on current form.

[Snowflake Royal]

Oh goody, the they're professionals so should be able to run themselves into the ground with no consequences 3 times a week argument.

[windermereROYAL]

We`ve put weakened sides out in this tournament for as long back as I care to remember, even super Steve used to do it, so last nights line up came as no real surprise.
When we resembled something like a full strength side in the last 20 minutes we took complete control and could/should have won it if it hadn`t been for the Colchester keepers blatant time wasting.

[On Strings]

Absolutely not bothered about the League Cup. It's not like we'd win it, and the monetary value for progression is abysmal. It's an unnecessary distraction and fitness killer we don't need.

I hope we bail out of the Bristol Twat Motors cup quickly as well. Only interested in L1 survival and then start rebuilding when we're allowed to sign players again!

[Royal_jimmy]

Anyone claiming we should have played the first team can't have gone to Birmingham. Mbengue, Smith, knibbs, Craig were all struggling to walk when they came over to the fans at the end. We don't have the squad to compete in the cups at the moment. Imagine if one or two first teamers got injured yesterday, there would be uproar on here that Selles didn't rest them.

The challenge of a manager these days eh! Draw away at a team who spent 14 million in the summer, lose on penalties in a game 3 days after half our team ran themselves into the ground and still 'fans' constantly complain that Selles doesn't know what he's doing.

This.

We need fewer games until we can sign players, not more games. It's pivotal the takeover goes through this month so we can bring a few in to add depth to the team. So cups aren't a priority for me.

The side we started probably have barely played together before (even in training) so we looked disjointed and confused.

[South Coast Royal]

Oh goody, the they're professionals so should be able to run themselves into the ground with no consequences 3 times a week argument.

And yet Knibbs, who looked the most knackered of all on Saturday, started ,as well as our best player Wing.

People have mentioned Coppell playing weaker teams in the past but that was in the days (remember them? ) of us being a Premier League side where survival was a big deal.
Now we are regrettably a 3rd division side with not much money and not much hope of promotion so surely cup runs are good for revenue and for keeping fans' interest as was the case when we used to be a 3rd or 4th division team and looked forward to a bit of glamour in one of the cup competitions.

I watched the game on i-follow with the Colchester commentary and , quite rightly IMHO, the commentator was apoplectic that Kanu wasn't sent off for a second yellow after blatantly pulling their player down.
The fact that the ref didn't book him again made it feel even more like a pre-season friendly with the ref possibly suggesting to Selles that he should sub the player.

Two great finishes for our goals but nothing much else was positive last night apart from a couple of touches from Garcia -two negatives in that Wareham (admittedly with so little service) is looking like a poor man's Simon Cox and Abrefa at right-back for the first team is a scary prospect.

[skipper]

Oh goody, the they're professionals so should be able to run themselves into the ground with no consequences 3 times a week argument.

And yet Knibbs, who looked the most knackered of all on Saturday, started ,as well as our best player Wing.

People have mentioned Coppell playing weaker teams in the past but that was in the days (remember them? ) of us being a Premier League side where survival was a big deal.
Now we are regrettably a 3rd division side with not much money and not much hope of promotion so surely cup runs are good for revenue and for keeping fans' interest as was the case when we used to be a 3rd or 4th division team and looked forward to a bit of glamour in one of the cup competitions.

I watched the game on i-follow with the Colchester commentary and , quite rightly IMHO, the commentator was apoplectic that Kanu wasn't sent off for a second yellow after blatantly pulling their player down.
The fact that the ref didn't book him again made it feel even more like a pre-season friendly with the ref possibly suggesting to Selles that he should sub the player.

Two great finishes for our goals but nothing much else was positive last night apart from a couple of touches from Garcia -two negatives in that Wareham (admittedly with so little service) is looking like a poor man's Simon Cox and Abrefa at right-back for the first team is a scary prospect.

I guess the positive is that the first teamers that we did bring on showed their class immediately.

I'd have liked a few extra games to give fringe / rotational players the chance to get games under their belts, but overall it's no bad thing that we've let the competition so early. Lets hope we benefit from the extra games off down the line!

[Hound]

We just don’t have the numbers to play cup comps currently I’m afraid

You see how rubbish we looked up top without Smith? How much better Kelv E and Camara made us when they came on? How much the defence improved with Bindon and Mbengue

That’s why we need to protect those players best we can, same goes for Knibbs, Wing and possibly Azeez if he doesn’t move on

There were positives. Garcia looked pretty good if still lightweight. Thought Osho did ok generally. CBC did ok.

Missing a lot of players currently who I’d have liked to have seen and would have done better I expect - Senga, Rushesha, John Clarke, Ryan, Azeez

[Silver Fox]

Ruben obviously wanted to win the game last night as he started "panicking", as soon as Kanu started "losing it",.

Or he "realised" that Kanu was having a mare on debut and was "walking " a red card "tightrope" and he didn't want his first pro start to go awry so subbed him. Great management

[leon]

Ruben obviously wanted to win the game last night as he started "panicking", as soon as Kanu started "losing it",.

Or he "realised" that Kanu was having a mare on debut and was "walking " a red card "tightrope" and he didn't want his first pro start to go awry so subbed him. Great management

As with all of these things the truth is somewhere in the middle.

[windermereROYAL]

Ruben obviously wanted to win the game last night as he started "panicking", as soon as Kanu started "losing it",.

Or he "realised" that Kanu was having a mare on debut and was "walking " a red card "tightrope" and he didn't want his first pro start to go awry so subbed him. Great management

I still don`t know how that foul when he rugby tackled the guy wasn`t a second yellow.

[scumbag]

639 away fans . Not bad from our travelling contingent.

[Clyde1998]

Just my impression on the players last night:

1. CBC - I think he did okay and didn't deserve any of the criticism he got on social media after the game. Wasn't at fault for either of the goals and I don't think any goalkeeper can be expected to save penalties. Made a good save immediately after Savage's goal to prevent us going 3-1 down. Unfortunate to not save the final Colchester penalty.
2. Osho - Almost like he wasn't on the pitch at times; Colchester seemed to easily play the ball around him. Made sense for him to come off at half-time.
3. Abrefa - Gave away an unnecessary penalty, but looked as defensively assured out of any of the starters. Hopefully will learn from his mistake.
4. Dean - Typical Harlee Dean performance. FWIW, he wasn't our worst player last night. He did win a few headers and make a few blocks. Can't lose a yard of pace, as he'd have negative velocity. Only two wins from ten starts for us (both in last season's Trophy against Exeter and Arsenal U21s).
5. Kanu - Had to come off after thirty minutes, as he probably would've been sent off. Felt he was forced into his yellow card by Dean(?) allowing their attacker through too easily and Kanu had to make a challenge to prevent a one-on-one. Appeared to have kicked out a couple of minutes later, which lead to Selles taking him off.
6. Wing - Fairly typical performance from Wing, albeit without the players around him to benefit us for a lot of the game. Good free-kick and kept trying to get on the ball even when things weren't going well.
7. Savage - Don't remember much of Savage, aside from his spectacular goal. Didn't really seem to be involved much defensively.
8. Knibbs - A lot of hard work; helped out defensively; a few blocked efforts.
9. Garcia - Struggled to get into the game in the first half. Switched to LB in the second half and grew into the game more. Of our debutants (first start in Garcia's case), he looked the best.
10. Akande - Didn't get into the game. Didn't seem to have any understanding with other players as to when he'll make runs, so was often static waiting for the ball.
11. Wareham - Very isolated up top. Was always going to struggle winning duels with the centre-backs. Did force a save at 2-2, although it would've been surprising if he actually scored from it.
12. Bindon - Helped steady things defensively once he came on.
13. Camara - Seemed to cause some problems for their defence once he came on. More involved that either winger in the first half.
14. Ehib - See Camara.
15. Elliot - Not much to comment of after he came on.
16. Mbengue - Got down the wing well as a RB.

As some general points: I think both of the missed penalties in the shootout were good saves; more than they were poor penalties.

In the first half, there was a lot of 'horseshoeing' around the back with little options for progressing the ball - like watching us under Stam again. We seemed very static off the ball, but didn't seem to take advantage of opportunities to advance the ball once we did have that ability. A lot better in this regard in the second half.

We've seen again how important Sam Smith is up top with his all-round play. None of our other attacking options seem to have anything like Smith's ability to hold up the ball, compete with defenders and be a nuisance.

We've seen our lack of depth, with all three of the debutants looking off the pace. I think most of our inexperienced players would benefit from a loan, but we don't have that ability in our situation. I would be very concerned if we needed to play multiple of them at the same time in the league. It may have been the issue of too many inexperienced players at once though. We basically had to go to a side I could see us starting in the league to get into the game.

[Sutekh]

Ruben obviously wanted to win the game last night as he started "panicking", as soon as Kanu started "losing it",.

Or he "realised" that Kanu was having a mare on debut and was "walking " a red card "tightrope" and he didn't want his first pro start to go awry so subbed him. Great management

I still don`t know how that foul when he rugby tackled the guy wasn`t a second yellow.

Kanu should have been sent off but thankfully the standard of refereeing is deplorable these days, esp. in the lower leagues and the early cup rounds.

[South Coast Royal]

So we would have had a financially worthwhile home tie against local rivals Brentford.
Oh well we might get an FA Cup run as long as we don't put out a weakened side against somebody like Eastleigh.

[LUX]

RFC’s needs are Maslowian, Vic, at the moment. In descending order:

1. Survive as a club.
2. Survive in this Division
3. Try to get near the play-offs, or better.
4. FA Cup
5. Carabao Cup ( gone)

[South Coast Royal]

RFC’s needs are Maslowian, Vic, at the moment. In descending order:

1. Survive as a club.
2. Survive in this Division
3. Try to get near the play-offs, or better.
4. FA Cup
5. Carabao Cup ( gone)

The only thing I would say is that cup runs can help towards your 1,2,3 and let's not forget the fans who will spend the league season watching mainly the dirge that is the 3rd division-cup games can bring a bit of light to another dark season ahead.

BTW re-point 1 our saviour arrives tomorrow doesn't he?

[Mr Angry]

I appreciate that our resources are so stretched, with priority given to the League, that we have to play a really inexperienced side in the cup competitions, but it is frustrating to think that a victory would have given us a (relative) money spinning home tie against local Premier League opposition, and that is revenue I feel we need in order to move forward.

But, as I said, I can understand where we are at the moment.

[Snowflake Royal]

I feel like we should be able to find a satisfactory middleground where its not just a weak youth side, nor a full strength side.

Like, we didn’t need Savage, Wing and Knibbs, but we could have used one of Camara, Kelvin or Smith.

We shouldn't really have been playing a 16 year old left back at right wing, when there were other options.

If you're going to include experience, put it as a spine through the team, not just all in central midfield.

Selles does have a habit of going too far with the experimental inexperienced teams when a slight tweak would probably have done the job.