Colchester United have made a disappointing start to season

Indeed, the U’s disappointing performance in their 1-0 defeat at Walsall suggests it might take some time before they begin to reap the reward of their summer transfer window endeavour.

Of the 11 signings Colchester made in the window, only three – Joe Taylor, Mandela Egbo and Owen Goodman – started at Walsall.

READ MORE: U's fans have their say on Walsall defeat

Two of the new arrivals - Nico Lawrence and Ellis Iandolo - are sidelined for the foreseeable future while Owura Edwards is currently injured and Jay Mingi needs to build up his match fitness, having not started a competitive game since last December.

Yet only five of the players that started Colchester’s final game of last season against Mansfield Town were named in their starting line-up against Walsall, illustrating starkly the amount of change that has taken place at the club over the summer.

Add to that the fact that the U's players are still adjusting to a slightly different tactical approach - on and off the ball - under Garner.

The loss of Ossama Ashley and particularly last season's Player of the Season Junior Tchamadeu has also been a factor.

All in all, there’s been a lot of change at the U’s, over recent months.

READ MORE: Ben Garner's verdict on Colchester's defeat at Walsall

This is undoubtedly a transitional period and that might be a contributory factor to their disappointing early-season form, which has seen them lose four of their opening five games in League Two.

Colchester's new-look squad need time to find their identity.

But in football, time is not something clubs are blessed with when they are trying to get things right on the pitch.

The season marches on relentlessly.

Colchester did not seem to properly recover from their lethargic start against Walsall.

They were late in the press and encouraged Walsall onto them too many times, particularly in the first half.

A case in point was the Walsall goal; it was undoubtedly a wonderful strike by Isaac Hutchinson, who was arguably the best player on the pitch.

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But in truth he was afforded far too much time and space to unleash his shot and it seemed to reflect the nature of the game; the hosts were sharper and had more quality on the day against a U’s side that looked largely disjointed and a little lost, at times.

To be fair to Ben Garner, the Colchester head coach refused to hide behind any excuses for the Walsall defeat and was honest in his assessment of his side’s performance.

“We started slowly; we had to change shape, we had to change personnel,” said the U’s boss.

“We had too many not at it.

“There were some really good performances from three or four – I thought the midfield two, Arthur Read and Noah Chilvers, were excellent but there were too many who were nowhere near their levels.”

Garner reacted to his side’s sluggish start by changing formation and sending on Matt Jay for Alex Newby, after just 34 minutes.

READ MORE: Colchester United player ratings after Walsall defeat

"It was a tactical change and we had to change shape because what we'd worked on in the week seemed to go completely out of their heads,” said Garner.

The fact that Colchester were unable to carry out Garner's tactical instructions against Walsall having worked on them on the training pitch is concerning.

After the high of winning 3-0 at previous leaders Gillingham, and the manner of that display, the defeat at Walsall was a harsh comedown for the U’s.

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It is why Garner spoke of his young squad needing to discover some consistency in their performances and results.

It will take time but even at this embryonic stage of the season, Colchester’s home clash with Tranmere Rovers next Saturday already looks like a big game, with the two clubs having acquired just six points between them, so far.