We owe ourselves and the fans a much better performance

It was a bitterly disappointing day for us against Barnet – we know we were poor and there are no excuses really.

We were in the changing room for a long time afterwards and we spoke at length about what we needed to address.

It was a positive discussion and it was a sombre place to be but we went away over the weekend and we’ve come back with a steely determination to put things right, over our last 11 games.

We have put in two pretty abject performances over the last two games and we owe it to not only ourselves but also the fans who travel all the way up to see us at Morecambe - and also those who don’t go to the game - to put in a much better performance.

We know that it was a terrible performance against Barnet and it made for a pretty miserable weekend all round.

Sometimes, you can play well in a match and still lose but the performance wasn’t there last Saturday.

Unfortunately, it’s the second weekend in a row where we’ve put in a pretty flat performance.

We had gone into a two-game spell where we were looking to get two wins and two clean sheets and we’ve come away with two very disappointing results.

They’ve been two very tight games decided by one goal – against Crewe the opposition have had a bit of a stroke of luck with their goal and against Barnet, we switched off for a few seconds and it cost us.

We didn’t create much which was disappointing, as we’ve always tended to do that in our games this season.

We must be wary of sharp Rose

We make the long trip up to play Morecambe this weekend and they had a great 4-2 win at Wycombe Wanderers, last Saturday.

It shows how volatile the league can be in terms of results, with sides near the bottom beating teams near the top.

It’s a long journey and a tough place to go and play.

Like a lot of places at this time of the season, the pitch might not be brilliant but that’s something you have to contend with.

We could come up against my old Colchester United team-mate Michael Rose, on Saturday.

He has a decent left foot and scored their penalty in the 88th minute when we played them up there last season and drew 1-1, which was a disappointing result after we had been winning for a long time.

We will have to be aware of what he has and not give away any silly set pieces or free-kicks, to allow him to make use of it.

I'm a little cold on winter break proposals

THE possibility of introducing a winter break in this country is another hot topic of conversation – if you pardon the pun.

Personally, I’m not really sure if it’s of huge benefit.

Certainly, with the lower league teams like us who play 46 league games in a season, there’s not really that much of a window for a weekend off.

For the Premier League clubs, it might be a different and the possibility of a 13-day break without a match is being talked about.

But part of that break will be spent preparing for the next game anyway and is there any real value in that?

You will still have to do the physical work in preparing for a game.

It would literally turn out to be a week’s break and as a player, you wouldn’t want to lose your fitness levels and sharpness that you have.

The other big talking point is the FA Cup fifth round taking place in midweek, with no replays.

That would be detrimental for teams like ourselves, Newport County and Rochdale, who this season have had big Wembley pay days against Spurs.

FA Cup replays for clubs that size can be everything and can bring two or three seasons’ worth of money in, in one go.

I can understand the idea of a winter break in principal but I think it needs a bit of a rethink.

Water a blunder!

Did you hear about the MSV Duisburg keeper, Mark Flekken?

He gifted Ingolstadt a goal in a game in Germany, after turning his back on play to drink from his water bottle.

Apparently he went back to his goal for a quick drink after thinking his team had scored but the effort was disallowed and Ingolstadt counter-attacked to score.

It’s baffling!

I can’t see how the ball has gone from one end of the pitch to the other and he hasn’t heard a shout or the crowd, or just checked the play.

Personally, the only I would do during a game is take a quick sip of my water or adjust my gloves – but only if the ball has gone out of play or off for a free-kick.

The water bottle in question is apparently going to be auctioned for charity which is a great idea – but it probably won’t make him feel any better!

I'd love to see Premier League take on La Liga

Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku’s idea of a seasonal Premier League ‘All-Star’ game has certainly got people talking.

Apparently, he came up with the notion after watching an NBA game and says he would like to see an annual North v South match, involving the best Premier League players around.

It’s certainly an idea.

As we all know, the Premier League is certainly a global game and business and I’m sure people would love to see its stars all together, on the same pitch.

I think the big stumbling block would be the potential for injury, especially if the proposed game took place before a World Cup or European Championships.

I think I personally would like to see a Premier League versus La Liga game.

But with all of the talk about a winter break, this would just be another game for clubs to worry about!