PRENTON Park, the home of Tranmere Rovers may as well have been the JobServe Community Stadium last Friday night.

The U’s very unconvincing 2-0 away defeat ended our unbeaten away league record; we seemed to take our poor home performance on the road with us.

After the Salford game, my friend and fellow U's fan Aaron and I both said that it was the worst we had seen us play in a very long time, and that it could not get any worse.

Well, sadly under the lights on Friday we were proved wrong as the 2-0 scoreline flattered us.

If it were not for the saves pulled off by the ever-reliable Shamal George, we could have been looking at a heavier defeat.

Where is it going wrong and why are we arguably in a worse place than last season?

While the players are the ones in the firing line, I feel that they are playing at times with one hand behind their back.

The main point in question here is a certain Frank Nouble; he's a player who seemed intent on playing through the middle as the target man, yet anyone who watches even ten minutes of the games can see he is so much better out on the wing and impacts the game 100 times more when out there.

So, if we can see this, why can't those in the positions of power in order to actually utilise him to the best of his abilities?

Then play Sears though the middle and look to have Jasper out wide on the other flank; this for me will bring better balance into the final third.

Round pegs in round holes are much better than round pegs in square holes.

Then we have to look at why Chilvers isn’t starting, or Tovide isn’t getting the minutes I feel he deserves. At the end of the day if it’s not working, why persevere with it?

Surely it's better to start with something fresh and see how it goes; if it’s not working, then change it back?

Gazette:

But on the subject of change, it does appear to be something that Mullins is not very keen on, given that at Tranmere while being on the back foot most of the game and then going 1-0 down, we waited until the 66th minute to make the first two changes and then at 2-0 down, we didn’t use our final sub until the 82nd minute.

Eight minutes or so is very hard for any player to impact the game, let alone when losing away - why not make them sooner and allow time for things to happen?

The script to the TV programme 'Blackadder Goes Forth' comes to mind when they are discussing a spy in their mist, with the enemy always knowing their plan.

When Blackadder states that it is simply because it’s the same plan they have used time and time again, the General replies 'arrr yes, but they won’t be expecting this time'.

Which, of course, they do and the said General is left scratching his head as to why yet again this plan has not worked.

This, Ladies and Gentlemen, may be a comedy sketch but in my opinion, does sum up Colchester United’s matchday planning this season.

On top of all of the above, we are yet again covering the same ground of needing a striker and someone to put the ball in the back of the net.

Hopefully our scouting department are still looking but from what I have heard, they could not go far wrong with looking at Michael Cheek plying his trade for Bromley in the National League.

A golden boot winner last year and still banging them in this season, he has by all accounts had offers from EFL clubs up north, but rejected them as he wants to stay down south.

I’d like to think we are southern enough for him and at any rate, there is no harm in finding out as we need goals from somewhere.

While I could keep going, going and going on this week, and know I need to stop all this moaning soon, there is one final point I think needs sorting off the pitch and this is the manager’s post-match comments.

Coming out with statements to the effect that he is not worried about our goal drought etc, may be what he is thinking (why, I don’t know as I am very worried about it) but to publicly say it for fans to hear on their long Friday night trip home from Tranmere is not the best bit of PR for me.

Goals win games and we need them fast.

All this said, we have Harrogate at home this weekend and for all my moaning, I will be there to cheer the lads on.

Who knows, we may even see Nouble on the wing and the ball in the back of the net. Up the U’s.