Colchester United fan Si Collinson gives his views on U's

Surely a line in the sand would be drawn and the only way forward would be that of improvement and positivity?

Post match, and in the days that followed, all the talk was of resetting; changes would be made and that it simply was not good enough.

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All things that we as fans not only wanted to hear, but also expected.

As the great Albert Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.”

With all that said, we were presented with the almost perfect opportunity to start to right the wrongs.

A trip to face a Forest Green Rovers side who had not won at home since March was the place that all the talk of changes and resets could begin to take shape.

But clearly someone forgot to release the memo, as what followed was beyond a shambles.

The first sign of the kind of disastrous day we were about to have came when the team was announced.

Given all that was said about changes etc, it was a surprise to say the least when we saw there were just two alterations, one of which was forced due to an international call-up. For me, not the best of starts.

But then maybe the players had put down such a marker in training that we would see a revitalised performance and changes were not needed?

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Alas, this was never the case and from the off, we were second best.

Although the half-time scoreline was only 1-0, the writing was already taking shape on the wall.

Two of our three midfield players were on a yellow card and given how frustrations were building, it was clear that one, if not both, would have to be withdrawn to prevent a second booking.

The team were booed off by a section of the away support at half-time and that was down to the frustrations and the fact that we were struggling to hold our heads above the water against a team who should have been the ones struggling.

There was changes at half-time but maybe not the ones we were expecting, with Joe Taylor and Al-Amin Kazeem both replaced, but the yellow card threat was still there.

The worry was confirmed when Mingi was shown a second yellow soon after the restart, reducing us to ten men and adding another midfielder to join Read on the suspended list.

We now have more red cards than wins, this season.

From that point on, the result was only going to be heading in one direction and frankly, we were destroyed.

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5-0 was actually kind to us and on another day, it could have been eight or nine.

Full-time brought the inevitable chorus of boos and strong words.

Fair play to Taylor, Egbo, and Hall for having the decency to face the away fans that were left when the whistle finally ended our misery.

Yes, there were words exchanged in the heat of the moment between players and fans but at least they bothered; the majority couldn’t get down the tunnel fast enough.

The M4 seemed to go on forever on the trip home, with frustration and conversation of just where we go from here being the topic in the car.

It is something that needs drastic action, as soon as possible.

The fans are losing faith, and, in my opinion, I think Ben Garner has misread the room massively in that he talks the talk, but does not seem to back it up with actions.

Last week, it was the players' fault and changes needed, which did not happen; this week, it was seemingly the fans' fault for getting on players' backs and the fact he will always face up to issues and never hide, despite him departing down the tunnel speedily upon the full-time whistle.

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The fanbase will support and get behind the team when there is something there.

Earlier on in the season, we were playing some good football and it seemed that it just had to click to get results.

As fans, that was encouraging and we all got behind it. Now even that spark has gone out.

I and others I know will be there week in, week out, but as soon as the away fans start to turn, you know it is getting bad and these are the ones who follow through thick and thin.

Even by our low bar of recent seasons, the last 180 minutes of football have been a new low and summed up by the Forest Green fans signing ‘Southend United, they're laughing at you’.

Sadly, something very few could disagree.

Up the U’s.