Colchester United - Can 'The Eagles' soar?

While many across the country were engrossed by one of the greatest sporting weekends in living memory (Rory McIlroy excelling at the Masters, punters and bookies alike struggling to call the Grand National, the excitement of the Malaysian Grand Prix and a packed football schedule) I too sampled the delights of being a sports fan, but not at a Premier League ground or at Aintree, but in League One with Colchester United.

I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to visit Colchester United's Media Manager Matt Hudson at the Weston Homes Community Stadium for the Eagles' match against promotion-chasing Rochdale to discover what his job entailed, and how one goes about 'managing' the media in the modern game. Upon arrival, my first visit to Colchester's home since 2008, I was pleasantly surprised by the ground. It is a spacious, impressive site: the large stands wouldn't look out of place in the Championship. Unlike many grounds, the Community Stadium isn't packed in to a tiny space. There is space on every side for fans of both teams to mill around before kick-off, and on this sunny Saturday a local band had been given a small marquee to play a set. Such occurences are not rare, part of Colchester's ethos is a focus on community that goes beyond that of many modern football clubs. Mr. Hudson spoke at length about Colchester's desire to find even more local acts who wish to perform before games, in no doubt due to the palpable increased atmosphere yesterday's band provided.

This sense of community was only added to by Matt's attitude towards the fans of the club. Walking around on the sun-drenched concourse outside the ground before the match, I lost count of the amount of supporters of all ages who came up to us and addressed Matt by name and warmly shook him by the hand. Any request made was not too much to ask, any enquiry immediately addressed. Put simply, the experience was an education in how to treat football fans, Mr. Hudson at one point even saying how much he disliked referring to them as 'customers'. This attitude strikes me as so refreshing in the modern game, where so often fans are left feeling like cattle being processed by the great machine of their club. Perhaps the ability of such an important figure at the club to amble around on matchday meeting fans is increased in the lower leagues, but nevertheless it clearly made an impression not just on me, but on the dozens of fans I saw enthusiastically greeting Matt Hudson.

Matt's colleague, David Gregory, served as a player at Colchester for 7 years and is now the Communications and PR Officer - emphasising The Eagle's eagerness for continuity after their move from the diminutive Layer Road in 2008. Gregory spoke to me about the advantage given by ex-playing staff remaining at their club's after they have retired in another capacity, a concept that I suspect is more seldom seen in the Premier League outside of a coaching role. He too was open and approachable, greeting fans as they came in to the ground. It strikes me as a great thing for fans, to be able to see faithful servants of the club not only being given the chance to stay around but mixing directly with supporters. This seems to sum up Colchester United - a truly supporter-driven club.

Inside the stadium itself, the corporate facilities are impressive for a League One team. Built during Colchester's brief stay in the Championship, during which they finished tenth, The Community Stadium was probably intended to be welcoming QPR, Middlesbrough and Cardiff rather than Yeovil, Tranmere and Walsall. The corridors around the stadium speak volumes for the direction Colchester want to be heading in: pictures of past greats and current players, trophies and achievements but with an emphasis on the history of the club. Matt Hudson spoke about the concerns Colchester had that an aspect of history would be lost with the move from Layer Road, and that gradually the Eagles seem to be regaining some of that sense of history now as more matches are played at their new home. One thing that might help this process along is a draw against a big club in either the F.A Cup or Carling Cup, something that Colchester are still waiting for. As it is, Colchester are struggling to get attendances of 4,000 (the attendance against Rochdale 4,052), less than half of the capacity of their impressive stadium. All of the backroom staff are hoping that Colchester will soon, ideally next season, start to challenge for promotion or experience a cup run that might kick-start a surge in attendances.

The game itself yesterday was a typical battling League One affair. Rochdale, placed 7th and vying for a play-off place before kick off, put in a performance of typical grit and physical strength, with striker Chris O'Grady particularly impressing. The home side struggled to string many passes together and their disjointed first half performance drew groans from a few supporters. In the second half, Colchester were able to play with more freedom, growing in to the game as Kemal Izzet exerted more influence. The Eagles had a goal disallowed before Izzet threaded a ball through the Rochdale defence to find substitue Ian Henderson, who managed to clip past goalkeeper fon Williams and the despairing Holness on the line to give Colchester the three points. With the win the home side climbed to 9th, just six points off the play-offs with five games to play, while Rochdale are still in 7th, two points behind Bournemouth with a game in hand.

Colchester certainly showed yesterday that they have what it takes to challenge the teams at the top of League One, fans and staff alike will hope that in fact they can do even more next season as they grow increasingly comfortable in their surroundings. Couple this ability with the community ethos that seems to direct the club in its relationship with supporters, and I personally believe that Colchester United could become a very healthy force in English football indeed.

Toothless Arsenal stutter on typical Premier League Saturday.

If one were asked to condense the recent history of Premier League football in to one day, a microcosm of the most typical performances one can expect from the majority of teams, then perhaps this Saturday is as close as we will see to the perfect example.  Manchester United staged another great comeback (add that one to the file marked "the last twenty years"), Tottenham struggled again to replicate the sensational Champion's League form that has seen them advance to a mouth-watering Quarter-Final against Real Madrid in a drab 0-0 draw with Wigan, and Arsenal once again choked when put under pressure to pull out a result in a very winnable game against Blackburn.

Nothing can be taken away from Manchester United. The ability of every squad Sir Alex Ferguson has built over the last twenty years to churn out results is nothing less than remarkable. It is testament to the unquestionable strength and character of Manchester United that even at half-time, 2-0 down away from home and not much going their way, they are not dismissed. In many ways United's comeback this afternoon felt inevitable. With the score at 2-0 the last I had heard, I received four text messages in half an hour that summed up the way Manchester United operate. My friend texted: "2-1 Rooney free-kick", "2-2 Rooney", "3-2 Rooney pen. Just so typical" and "4-2 Chicharito", and with that the game was over. The manner of the win was just as ruthless as the incessant speed at which the texts flooded through. No more explanation is needed. When the score reached 2-1, a heavy inevitability hung in the air, and in no way was I surprised when the score reached 4-2. Manchester United are never out of games; the same was true in 1999 as it is today, they are just perpetually resilient.

Wayne Rooney has come in for a lot of criticism this season from many who accuse him of being in poor form compared to the last campaign. Obviously, when a player goes from scoring 30+ goals in a season to just over 10 the next, there is a frustration at the inability to replicate his form. However, Rooney's contributions this campaign have been vital: a superb bicycle kick to win the Manchester derby at Old Trafford, assists in vital games as well as a superbly taken hat-trick today to completely turn a crucial game on its head. Rooney has struggled this season at times, especially early on as tabloid tales of his indiscretions impacted hugely on his confidence. He has, however, come in to the kind of form that he is most known for and is once again scoring goals. More than this, he works as hard for his team as probably any other player in the Premier League. Extraordinary clips of him tracking back all the way to the left-back position, and then winning the ball, were shown on Match of the Day amongst other highlights that emphasise the role he is playing in United's title charge. Manchester United seem to have all of their big players playing well at the right time, something that cannot be said for their title rivals Arsenal.

The Gunners are currently in a state of stagnation, as witnessed by their utterly toothless display against Blackburn. One win in seven games is quite simply not good enough for a team who claim to be ready to challenge at the highest level and win trophies. Arsenal have drawn three games in a row, including Manuel Almunia doing a pretty convincing Lukasz Fabianski impression to gift West Bromich Albion a goal at the Hawthorns and two lacklustre draws against Sunderland and Blackburn. There are three factors which I don't think are helping Arsenal in their title run-in, things that other teams do not suffer from. They are:

- Psychological unpreparedness. 


Arsenal seem to be starting every game with the attitude that the world owes them something. Arsene Wenger continuously drums on about the strength of character of his Arsenal team, but where is it? Arsenal started to get frustrated after only twenty minutes against Blackburn, annoyed that these big bullies hadn't been swept away by their magnificent football. Where is the ability to stay calm and score a last minute goal, like Manchester United against Bolton a fortnight ago? No, instead Arsenal squandered chance after chance, the worst being a headed opportunity for Robin van Persie which was nodded high over the bar.

Are Arsenal actually aware that they are involved in a battle for the title? The way that players like Alex Song were swanning around the pitch on Saturday certainly doesn't imply so. There was a total lack of urgency, no one showed the attitude of Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs or Javier Hernandez, no one willing to track back sixty yards in order to simply win the ball back. Even Jack Wilshere, a player who I highly praise on a regular basis, continually looked for a complicated pass in the final third, even with an opportunity to shoot - something that players who are absolutely desperate for victory do not do. Wenger lambasted the lack of pace in Arsenal's performance after the game, and perhaps the international break would be a valid excuse if Arsenal's rivals hadn't all been in the same situation. No, this performance belied a fundamental lack of belief from an Arsenal team who are constantly talking up their own chances in the title race. I have lost count of the amount of times i've seen Arsenal players in the press talking about how good a chance their team have. How many United players do the same? Maybe one or two in a season, max.

 - Questionable tactics


I am never normally someone who criticises Arsene Wenger, I tend to support the Arsenal manager in the decisions he makes. However, I find some of his recent decisions very questionable indeed. Wenger is obsessed with persevering with a 4-5-1 system, currently with van Persie as the lone striker, and probably Arshavin and Walcott as the preferable wide players. However, in this system, if Arsenal play wide through the channels van Persie is not prolific enough in the air to justify sending crosses in to the box, and so the wingers keep checking back inside and looking for a pass to one of the three central midfielders. This lends itself to teams being able to play solid banks of four players, tightening up their defense and preventing Arsenal from picking holes through the middle, as both Sunderland and Blackburn have done.

 Now, when Wenger realises this system isn't working, he tends to throw on either Marouane Chamakh or Nicklas Bendtner, or both against Blackburn, to provide a target centrally for aerial balls. Against Blackburn, however, Wenger substituted Theo Walcott, Arshavin and Nasri - essentially all three players capable of getting to the byline and swinging in crosses. Consequently, with all three strikers on the pitch, van Persie continually got in Chamakh's way, Chamakh being a far better header of the ball, while it was Bendtner providing the crosses. This kind of tactical naivety, the attitude that just putting the bodies on the pitch with no system is enough, will not work. Sir Alex Ferguson will throw on Hernandez and play with three strikers, sure, but it is a system that United have trained with and are comfortable in. Again, today's Arsenal performance belied a lack of ideas from their manager.

 - Players going missing


As previously said, it seems Manchester United's key players are all in good form going in to the title run-in. Arsenal's key men, however, have seemingly peaked too early and are now struggling to regain the electric form they displayed earlier in the season. Where is the Robin van Persie who up to and including the first leg of Arsenal's Champion's League tie against Barcelona couldn't stop scoring? Where is Barclay's Premier League Player of the Month for December Samir Nasri? Cesc Fabregas?

Unfortunately for Arsenal, once again they appear to be choking when the going gets tough. One can only hope that with United still to visit the Emirates, as well as a trip to White Hart Lane still to come, this season doesn't get any more painful for Arsenal fans.



A predictable day in the most unpredictable league in world football. Who can wait for the next?