It's hard to remember a meeker performance. Having not been atColchester, it's probably the debacle at Huddersfield when PT was onInternational duty. Barnsley were a poor team and we surrendered tothem. The first two goals were gifts, you'd laugh if it didn't hurt somuch. We started brightly and looked composed for 10 minutes until thefirst goal went in and then we collapsed. We never looked like gettingback into the game.
The criticism was all aimed at Parkin again, which is grossly unfair,because there were 11 other numptys alongside him. Parlour and Forsterare absolved, the rest are a disgrace, including Phil Brown, who looksmore clueless by the week. Did we think it was Brown who turned usaround? I'd say the evidence suggests it was Barmby. Brown's recordwith Barmby, Won 4, lost 1. Without Barmby, won 0, drawn 4, lost 5.
We have no idea how to play without him. There is no creativitywhatsoever, it's all long ball. They're not even good long balls, theyare aimless, lazy boots into the ozone that our strikers are expectedto do something with. If they are beaten to the ball, it drops to oneof theirs, every single time. No-one is coming from the midfield tosupport or pick up the pieces. Parlour did OK, he used the ball welland worked hard, but was very slow and didn't have it in him to burstaway from anyone. Ashbee played some good long passes early on, butfollowing their goal, he didn't make a telling pass or tackle for therest of the 90. Livermore was pathetic. He gifted the second goal,delivered poorly from set pieces and like his partner in our 'dumb anddumber' midfield, failed to break up anything. We had nothing on thebench to change things. We were unlucky that Daws and McPhee wereinjured, but even if they weren't, we had no options in reserve. Brownhas no other tactics. He chucks on strikers to get on the end of thelong balls, that's his plan B and it's crap.
Defensively, we were a shambles. Delaney thought it was a traininggame. The 12,000 spectators and hungry opposition failed to give him aclue as to otherwise. He wanted 10 minutes on the ball all of thetime, only to get robbed or boot it aimlessly. Ricketts isn't aChampionship full back. I won't comment on his distribution, becausethere isn't any and he couldn't tackle a paper bag. Coles worked totry and close them down when he came on, but he looked very awkward atfull back. Myhill's kicking was rubbish, simply rubbish.
Up front, Parkin failed to make anything of the scraps he was given.That'll be his fault. Duffy and MCPhee huffed and puffed but couldn'taffect the game. Forster was the exception. He showed exceptionalmovement and control to get into a few good positions and every chancecame from his sheer determination. He was unlucky not to slide McPheein for a tap in early on.
The future looks bleak. With Birmingham at home on Saturday, an awaywin is inevitable if we show the same cowardice as tonight. That willleave us with a mountain to climb. We need 8 wins from somewhere andwe need promotion form. In the last month we've managed to make Leedsand Barnsley, 2 abysmal teams, look like world beaters. We've got 7home games, 6 of them winnable and we have to make them count. I'dsuggest that to do that, Phil Brown has to come up with a minormiracle. We need belief, we need creativity, we need a plan B and weneed Barmby. teams have sussed our 4-3-3. They know if they pressureour defenders and defensive midfielders then we'll panic and hit itlong. They know Parkin and Windass aren't able to win a big share ofheaders and they know that even if they do, the other strikers arestuck out wide. On current form, we're going down and we're doing itwith a whimper. The current side is no different from the oneParkinson assembled.
I hope the players are ashamed. Tonight's performance was unforgivable.
Ratings:Bo 5, Ricketts 4, Dawson (Coles 5), Delaney 5, Turner 6, Ashbee 4,Livermore 4, Parlour 6, Forster 8, McPhee 6 (Duffy 6), Parkin 5(Windass 5).