Colchester United 1-1 Crewe Alex 26-27 Review - Drew Alex!

6 games unbeaten. Somehow. And yes, I'm blatantly stealing that title as well. It's more than fitting for a side that has drawn 4 of their opening 6 games and if we're being honest, could easily have drawn the other 2 had things broke ever so slightly differently. They, like 3 other teams in L2, have shown their abilty to avoid defeat but not find that quality to win more often. The funny middle ground. Here is my review of their late salvaging of a point against Colchester:

Struggles

The discourse around this game will now be very different, but again, let's not pretend there aren't various that need addressing. Had the Alex gone down 1-0 as they arguably should have done given the amount of chances in Colchester's favour, then there would have been a lot of criticisms to share around. No shot on target until the 93rd minute and only 1 in the whole game. Only 9 all game.

The majority of the game spent trailing. More no shows from some of their key attackers. Calum Agius at RB. We can't keep sweeping all the issues under the carpet just because they managed to scrap out another result. Eventually, those issues need to be properly addressed and rectified.

Fighting Spirit

Luca Moore in the 85th minute against Accrington. Josh March in the 95th minute against Crawley. The almost comeback against Barnsley. Hutchinson in the 92nd minute against Walsall. And now a 93rd minute equaliser against Colchester today. There is no doubt there are still issues the Alex need to fix, but the fighting spirit in the group is a really promising sign. They need some players to step up. They need others to get fit and start contributing. But, even with all the above issues, they are still scrapping away and grinding out points from long away days like Crawley and Colchester.

Defenders Stepping Up

Whilst the form of the attackers(March and maybe Tabiner aside) is a big concern, at least the defenders are stepping up and showing them how it's done. Hutchinson off the mark. Offord off the mark. Now Josh Stephenson with his first professional goal in just his 5th league match. It's hopefully a good thing that the back line can bail the team out at both ends whilst we wait for the attackers to catch fire.

Comments

I don't normally do this, but the managers post match comments for once have really stood out and got me very riled up. It stems from 2 things he said. The first was him talking about the decision to start Agius at RB. His logic was that he did so because he wanted to make them more attacking. Which is ridiculous.

Why not start McNeill and Thibaut in defence next week, it'll make them more attacking right? Of course not. If you're formation is 4-2-3-1, then logic says the 4 at the back should be defenders or at least players who have a feel for the spot. Calum Agius does not. You can't defend a decision when you watch your out of place winger painfully misread a cross which sees them score.

It comes across as painfully naive from a manager in his 5th full season and almost 4 years into the job that he still thinks just putting out extra attackers and saying 'we tried to go more attacking' makes sense.

Oh and then there are the 'going long too quickly' comments. He said the same after Port Vale. So if the players are still doing it, it comes down to 1 of 2 things. Either they are being told to do it and he's lying. Or he's telling them not to do it and they are ignoring him. Either way, it reflects really poorly on him that it's still happening. And it once again doesn't get to the root of why they are doing it. Until he grasps that, things won't improve.

Referee Assessment

The usual inconsistency, but his decision to blow up in the 86th minute simply because one of their players was on the ground and then give a deal ball on the restart was ridiculous.

Management Assessment

I've said above what I want to say about them. Not great.

Player Assessments

Tom Booth

Solid enough, not a lot he could do for the goal as usual and made a few decent enough saves in the 2nd half.

Calum Agius

I feel for him. He's trying to find his confidence on the wing, yet the manager then chucks him at RB and it's his poor defending that leads to Colchester's goal. Jesus Lee, give the lad a chance.

Luke Offord

Solid enough, as per with him.

Josh Stephenson MOTM

A resolute defensive display, but his finish deserves all the praise. 93rd minute, the ball drops unexpectedly to him. He could have lashed at it as you would expect him to do. But instead he leathers it into the top corner for a finish that a striker would be proud of. Superb.

Lewis Billington

He'll get the assist on Stephenson's goal, even if it wasn't what he intended. Did his best at LB.

Joe White

Had an early shot whistle just wide and it's pleasing he got through the full game, but I'd like to see if he can find himself getting into dangerous positions on the edge of the box more often.

Matus Holicek

I know he's a midfielder and being asked to play a deeper role. But he do his natural attacking instincts just seem to disappear every week. Midfielders are allowed to get forward and create and score. He....isn't.

Jordan Gibson

Perhaps nothing has summed up his frustrating start to the season more than him being taken off, rightly or wrongly, on 54 minutes. It's just not happening at the moment for him.

Jack Lankester

Perhaps deserved to see his name on the stats sheet in some form, especially with that 1st half chance which bounced just wide. But the fact is, that is now 6 games without a goal involvement. It's not good enough, simple as that.

Joel Tabiner

People are raving about him during these early weeks. I'm not so sure. These are the sorts of games where Tabiner needs to shine. And he rarely does.

Josh March

Arguably should have done better with those 2 chances with 20 minutes to go, especially the latter one which he screwed wide.

Subs:

Adrien Thibaut

I'm glad to see him getting a longer run out, but in 40 minutes of play he managed 6 touches. Not great.

Charlie McNeill

10 touches in 25 minutes, so slightly better, but still not great.

Kyle Ure

Is the lad any good or not? Why not start him for a change and find out?

Overall Verdict

The last 2 games before this one had real positives. This one, you can only really take Stephenson's finish and the fact they didn't lose. And so we move on to Shrewsbury with a little bit of pressure and expectation on them. Fail to win that and things could start to become interesting and not in a good way.