S-Clarke

I don't buy that, at Championship level our squad is a top team. The depth on the bench yesterday was ridiculous. So because of that I don't think we can afford to 'bed in over half a season' - it simply has to be bearing fruits before Christmas, otherwise as sad as it will be Martin will be for the chop. This team needs to aim for the top 2, and you don't get Top 2 by bedding in for the first half of the season.

I would assume guys like Onuachu, Moussa and maybe there is still a slight chance Sulemana could be tempted by £$£ to another league.

Someone reminded me of the Norwich 1 - 7 Colchester L1 game from all those years back, they won the league that year. So there are reasons to believe it's just a blip, but the goals we have conceded generally in all games suggest it is a more ingrained issue.

Could still be some movement out...

It is a strange one. To me 9 times out of 10 it's the teams with the best players who get the success, it doesn't matter what their philosophy is, they just have the best players (as they have the money to do that). In the PL I understand why clubs look for alternatives to try and compete and get the extra via alternative means as they can't get the 'best' players, but when you're in a league you're expected to dominate - with the players for it - I think it's dangerous to over complicate something you don't really need to.

That's a good point actually, forgot about that result. They did sack Gunn shortly after that though and brought in Paul Lambert - who was in charge of Colchester that game I think.

I can't help but gravitate back to the Koeman years, or the Adkins years etc - were we fixated on a specific footballing strategy at that point? Or did we just buy good players, play them in their natural positions and then rest is history? I'd say that was what we did tbh. There's a lot that is to be said for just playing the game to win, rather than playing the game to fit a specific strategy or philosophy. I'm not against a philosophy as such, but there seems to be way too much focus on that at the expense of other elements. The biggest concern I have, not just from today but from our previous games, is our midfield. I think it's weak. Without Charles in there (who is a kid himself), we have guys like Armstrong, Downes, Smallbone and Charly - they're not big units, they're technically good but in the blood a thunder of the NPC I can't help but feel they'll lose more battles than they win without help around them. I do think we're 1 CM too short.

That's what I mentioned in the match thread - we can't let this result define our season, we need to react against Leicester. They lost as well so they'll be saying the same I'm sure. This month is going to be brutal and if we continue to defend like we are then we will end it in the bottom half of this league.

I'd have expected my GK to save at least 2 of the goals today, at any level. The scary thing though is that he did actually make some good saves in that second half, but still let in 5! What is going on in front of him is a huge concern for me, the openness of our game is there for all to see. We will probably refine it, I think we'll have to as we don't seem capable of stopping opposition attacks.

Yeah, we got done at Brighton 3-0 - I remember that one. But that was it, bad days at the office - take it on the chin and get home. But to let it get to 5-0 is not a good look on a team who want to be 'winners', very weak. They've got a lot to learn. The midfield worries me if I'm honest. We have no steal in there other than a 19 year old Charles. When we came up last time we had Morgan, Hammond, Cork and Chaplow snapping in and adding that bite. We were just played through today, no one got near the opposition. I don't want to get carried away as it's just 1 game, but the nature of it has rung some really big alarm bells in my head. Hopefully they come to nothing.

Yeah that's my feel, teams who get automatically promoted (i.e 80-90+ points) do not get stuffed 5-0 in any game. It shows a lack of grit and you need grit in this league. We seem incapable of keeping the ball out of the net and if we don't sort that out, we're never going to be in the race for automatics.

There is a level of bad and then there was that. He's behind everyone, even Charles, for that CB spot now - in my opinion. He's got a lot of work to do to get into the side after that. Thank god we got THB in.

A really worrying performance, yeah you can lose games at this level - but to lose a game 5-0 is not a good look on a team. Again, a lack of grit and leadership throughout. Someone to stamp their mark and stop it getting ugly, fair enough we might not win - but sometimes you have to take a 2-0 and get the fuck out of there, but we seem very dozy. This was reiminicent of games last season and the season before, at a lower level. Different players, but same basic braindead game management. Holgate was on Alan Bennett levels, he's demoted himself to 4th choice CB on that showing. THB in every week after that. Manning was horrendous I have to say, for his role in an attacking sense he lets it all go to shit defensively as christ alive it was bad. I know they're not helped by being left exposed somewhat, but he doesn't seem to have a defensive bone in his body - or have I missed something? He looks like he could play left mid, sure - but since when has he ever been able to defend? Stu was awful, sadly a consistent rating over the last few years. Since 'lockdown', he looks shot. I think we needed to cut ties in the summer if I'm honest, doesn't look like he can deal with the pace of any decent level of football anymore. The key will be how we react to this. Leicester will be saying the same - so it's an absolute game and a half in a couple of weeks. We can't let this result define our season, we'll learn a lot about this team during this month.

Yeah that needs to be sorted, you don't get anywhere near promotion with that sort of record.

There is going to be an annihilation if we're not careful. Not in it.

Edozie very dozy.

And quite incredibly it doesn't even contain Stewart, Sulemana....or Onuachu or Moussa...

What's the point of this post? As egg said, it's been good nature on here over the last few days because of the lack of digs and snipes. You might be coming from the angle of knocking down negativity, but all posts like this do is create it imo. People are entitled to their opinions and views, if you don't agree with it you don't have to highlight it after the event and take the piss.

Che did well to avoid going there.

He clearly wasn't around for last summer's transfer window then.

Now you've done it.

I guess you could say unproven international quality though, I don't think many of us saw them going to the 2014 world cup when we were promoted in 2012! They progressed with us which is what made that team so magical. We have more players this time round who have already played at international level, whether that makes them better quality for us this year is up for debate!

What happened yesterday has exceeded my expectations. Keeping KWP and Adams is a massive plus, KWP especially - how he's still here is beyond me, but we need to make the most out of that! If we compare this to our last NPC team - GK 2011 - Kelvin, Forecast (lol), Bart GK 2023 - Bazunu, McCarthy, Lumley GK Doesn't feel hugely different in terms of quality to me. RB 2011 - Richardson/Butterfield RB 2023 - Bree/ KWP/ Holgate You'd argue RB is stronger in 2023, as we have a proven PL player there. CB 2011 - Jos, Fonte, Aaaron Martin, Seabourne CB 2023 - THB, Bednarek, Stephens, Holgate I'd argue stronger CB options in 2023, as there is PL and international experience in there. LB 2011 - Fox (not sure we had another left back that year). LB 2023 - Manning, Larios Not a massive difference at LB apart from the fact we do have 2 natural left backs. Manning is someone on Fox's level in the Championship imo, nothing to be sniffed at. CM 2011 - Morgan, Hammond, Chaplow, Cork CM 2023 - Charles, Downes, Smallbone, Armstrong I loved the 2012 midfield, it was quality. 2023's effort has the potential, but it feels 1 player too short for me. AM 2011 - Lallana, Guly, Puncheon, De Ridder AM 2023 - Sulemana, Edozie, Fraser, SAA, Armstrong in AM Guly and Lallana were quality, but the other two not so much. I think we have better depth in the wide/AM areas in 2023 ST 2011 - Lambo, Connolly, Barnard, Sharp, Lee ST 2023 - Che, Stewart, Mara, Onuachu (lol), Armstrong We have better ST depth in my eyes in 2023, but obviously no one close to Lambo. Overall, as expected, our squad this time round has more PL experience and International experience in it's locker. The benefit we had last time was the momentum and the team spirit built up through the couple of L1 years, cannot be underestimated how important that is in football. Quality is only one part of it, but if we get the team spirit right then I think we're on course. The other big part is that the spine of our team in 2011 were our players on long contracts. We have a decent flurry of loans this year through the spine of the side, so if they commit the same as a permanent player then we should be fine. I'm positive though. The turnover has been huge, but we've filled the gaps with quality.

Tino and Tella were the surprises to me, I thought they'd stick around. The rest of the departures were expected. The biggest surprises have been who we've kept.

Did some fans genuinely think we'd spend £100m+ in the Championship? Got to wonder where some of these guys heads are at. They don't live on our planet.