Colchester United fan Si Collinson gives his U's views

Perhaps they should rethink this and give all suffering fans a small brick wall to bang their heads against, as at the moment that's how it feels to watch our games.

The bottom line is that unless there are drastic changes, we will be going down.

We've been in this position way too much over the last few seasons however, this year it feels so much more likely.

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Given the squad on paper this makes it even more frustrating; no matter what we think of the standards of this level, we should have no issues about safety and be looking up the table, rather than balancing on the cusp of non-league abyss.

But sadly, football is not played on paper; it's the performances on the pitch that count and at the moment, we look a relegation-bound side.

Nothing is clicking, we are making basic errors all over the park, there is no obvious team chemistry, confidence has plummeted and a number of players are hiding in plain sight on match days.

Only a few want the ball and look to be trying to make things happen.

We are not clinical in the final third and defensively, we look like a sieve trying to hold back the sea.

The only positive that came from Saturday was that Matt Jay started and showed what a player he is.

He was putting in a shift, the fans could see this and the chorus of boos that rung around the stadium when he was replaced on 77 minutes summed up everyone’s frustrations.

We were 2-0 down at home, chasing the game, so why remove one of the only players trying to make things happen, while there are others who seem to get 90 minutes by virtue of turning up, no matter what they are doing?

It is all well and good saying it was tactical, but that shouts more of excuses and hopefulness rather than an actual plan.

The fact we actually scored was no more than a slight cover over a crack that is growing into a chasm with every passing game.

When Matt Etherington was appointed after his interim spell, I was happy to give him the support after the results he had produced; it seemed a fair choice to allow him the role on a permanent basis.

I now see it for the mistake I think it was. He seems to have shrunk into his shell and does not seem able to make any changes of note for the better on matchday. This has nothing to do with him as a person, but rather it is a pure football observation.

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In my opinion, Etherington is not the manager we need to get us out of this mess.

Until we can get that sorted then we are going round in circles and not making improvements in any area of importance.

Yes, there are players injured and once they are back, the squad depth will be greatly improved.

This is all well and good, but until the person at the helm is steering a straight and steady course we might as well play the first 11 fans who turn up on match day and see what happens.

I am happy to be proved completely wrong on all the above and have to eat my words when we suddenly do pull it out of the bag and go on a long unbeaten run.

But even in my most optimistic moments, I can't see anything beyond a relegation battle and given we are 22nd out of 24 teams with a five-point cushion on Forest Green Rovers below us, who have two games in hand, this shows what a predicament we are in.

We need to have a Christmas miracle to ensure we finish 2023 outside of the relegation zone and give us some hope for 2024.

One thing is for sure, if we do end up doing down, we could be looking at a long time until we see League football again. Up the U’s.