Are you fit to wear the scarf?

[Sean 2]

Dear A Century United..........

As i posted earlier,they weren't fit to wear the shirt.Honestly,i cannot remember a game where we had ONE shot only.
Where was the pass and move,movement off the ball,the calmness
of mind to bring the ball down and play which is our trademark.
I've seen better flowing football in L2.

Where was the encouragement to each other on the field when passes
go astray?Where was the effort to create space,to overlap and confuse
their distinctly average defence?

Where the hell were players who showed for the ball,coming off their
markers?Where the hell were our attacking full-backs?

I stand by what i posted and i feel strongly a day later.Fit to wear the
scarf? I'll support my club whilst they're playing and sing to let them
know we think they play like Brazil.But don't ever take the p1ss
Southend,your supporters won't like it.

Now i know how those Sunderland fans felt,throwing their shirts in
disgust at the players.

Losing hurts,but not half as much as feeling mugged off by a loved one

 

[Blues Trader]

We've got a tough game Friday. But with Macca back, I'm sure we can overcome this. Barrett may also be back soon. Hold your nerve lads generally we are doing ok at the moment. Home wins plus Plymouth away is the target for 3 points. Teams around us are still losing.

 

[Dustybin]

Predictably, after yesterday's debacle, there are a lot of very ****ed-off Shrimpers on the board. But I really can't believe some of the comments on here. Comments like:

"useless fat lump",

"you're not fit to wear the shirt",

"Tilson, however much I love you being our manager, I hope one day you'll become a real man",

"yup u gessed it, can we get a petition going or something? he truely is awful. does anyone know a hitman?"

I wasn't at the game yesterday, but I have been to more dire, awful away games than I can easily remember now. Every team will play poorly some of the time, and it is unfortunate that it was in such an important match. But at 17:00 yesterday we were in almost exactly the same position as we were at 15:00. Tilson, Brush and those players have performed wonders over the last three seasons. That doesn't mean that we should turn a blind eye to yesterday's performance but the bile, vitriol and down-right ignorance being displayed by some 'Zoners on here is beyond belief. You may ask if the team are fit to wear the shirt. I would ask, are some of the fans who have been tearing into the team and management

FIT TO WEAR THE SCARF?

We have six games left to rescue our championship status. The close season is the time to analyse, criticise, and propose. Now is NOT the time to be tearing into the players.

GET BEHIND THE TEAM!!!

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Hear hear!!
I can't believe some of the comments that have been made - totally over the top. So we had a bad game and players looked like they didn't commit. How many times has that happened this year?? If they played like that every game so far then maybe I'd underdstand. But a one off??
Call me old fasioned but I always understood the meaning of supporter was to SUPPORT!!
I'm not saying we should all be blind to what happened but a bit of reality and understanding would be nice. It's just so up and down, we win against Burnley (a very very lucky win) and it's "We're the greatest team and we're definitely staying up" and then we lose and "Oh we're rubbish - sack the team and manager" - brainless totally brainless.
Perhaps you should f*ck off and support Chelsea or Manchester United if you expect a 100% performance week in week out and let the real supporters cheer our team!!

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

Predictably, after yesterday's debacle, there are a lot of very ****ed-off Shrimpers on the board. But I really can't believe some of the comments on here. Comments like:

"useless fat lump",

"you're not fit to wear the shirt",

"Tilson, however much I love you being our manager, I hope one day you'll become a real man",

"yup u gessed it, can we get a petition going or something? he truely is awful. does anyone know a hitman?"

I wasn't at the game yesterday, but I have been to more dire, awful away games than I can easily remember now. Every team will play poorly some of the time, and it is unfortunate that it was in such an important match. But at 17:00 yesterday we were in almost exactly the same position as we were at 15:00. Tilson, Brush and those players have performed wonders over the last three seasons. That doesn't mean that we should turn a blind eye to yesterday's performance but the bile, vitriol and down-right ignorance being displayed by some 'Zoners on here is beyond belief. You may ask if the team are fit to wear the shirt. I would ask, are some of the fans who have been tearing into the team and management

FIT TO WEAR THE SCARF?

We have six games left to rescue our championship status. The close season is the time to analyse, criticise, and propose. Now is NOT the time to be tearing into the players.

GET BEHIND THE TEAM!!!

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Well there you go then!

To question if fans are fit to wear the scarf is not on. The fans who went, sang to the end, and did not even have the players come over at the end to clap thanks for that support. Having gone and sung hard, everyone is entitled to their opinion on the **** that they saw.

They did not give the players direct abuse or anything like that, so what is the problem?

 

[Ailsa Road Shrimper]

Hear hear!!
I'm not saying we should all be blind to what happened but a bit of reality and understanding would be nice. It's just so up and down, we win against Burnley (a very very lucky win) and it's "We're the greatest team and we're definitely staying up" and then we lose and "Oh we're rubbish - sack the team and manager" - brainless totally brainless.

I agree 100% with this statement. I went to Hull yesterday and was very disappointed with the result and terrible performance, the money I wasted and the weekend I wasted. However, I'm amazed people on here are saying 'that was the worst performance I have ever seen in 30 years, blah, blah'!! What about the bleak mid eighties?! Or from 1997 to 2003?! There are probably dozens of worse games for the club than yesterday's defeat!

It was very unusual to watch a game and not see Southend launch any attacks or achieve more than 30 seconds of domination. Hull are a mediocre Championship side, however they have quality players in Windass and Parlour plus one or two others. They also have an impressive stadium and nearly 20,000 fans attended. Losing 4-0 to them was bad, but nowhere near as bad as losing to terrible league 2 teams a few years ago in front of 2,000 fans and losing to players with far less ability than Windass and Parlour. I still have nightmares about players such as Connelly, Roach, Morley, Richards, Beard etc etc and managers such as Martin, Little etc and can recall countless matches featuring that pile of dross that were worse than yesterday.

A reality check is needed - although yesterday was the worst performance of the season and probably our worst for a couple of years, we are just one point off 21st place and we have one of our most influentual players back (McCormack) who provides all the qualities we lacked yesterday. I don't feel confident we will stay up after witnessing yesterday's performance, however we would've settled for this position after 40 games in December.

I'm hoping to logon to Shrimperzone on Friday evening and read about us being the best team in the World again after a win against Col U!

 

[Southampton Shrimper]

The fans who went, sang to the end, and did not even have the players come over at the end to clap thanks for that support.

But the players did come over at the end to clap the supporters - and Tilly made sure they did.

But there weren't many supporters left by then for them to clap...

 

[Sean 2]

But the players did come over at the end to clap the supporters - and Tilly made sure they did.

But there weren't many supporters left by then for them to clap...

I noticed they never came too close to us,barely over the half-way line.

The same could be said of the previous 90mins.

 

[A Century United]

Quote:
Originally Posted by EastStandBlue
Unless you went yesterday, I dont think you can really comment...

Yesterday was, quite possibly, the worst performance I've ever seen... certainly in the last 3 or 4 years. They lacked spirit, creativity, movement, passing... It looked like a completely different team in comparison to the positive performances of late.

Agree completely, its easy to say that in the comfort of your arm chair.

The players are paid, we drove up in our masses and got nothing, no fight, no passion and no football.

However lets not go OTT, this is the first type of performance like that for a couple of years away from home....

I really, really hate the tatic of denying someone their right to an opinion. If you read my post carefully, you would see that what I was criticising was what was, in my opinion, an unfair over-reaction to a deeply disappointing performance. After what the team and Tilly have managed over the past three years, they are surely entitled to some credit in the bank yet the name calling, and abuse of certain players by SOME of the people who have reported back after the match goes well beyond fair comment. Everyone was clearly angry, yet most managed to express that anger without resorting to mindless criticism and name calling. My objection is to those the Ingrates.

 

[A Century United]

Dear A Century United..........

As i posted earlier,they weren't fit to wear the shirt.Honestly,i cannot remember a game where we had ONE shot only.
Where was the pass and move,movement off the ball,the calmness
of mind to bring the ball down and play which is our trademark.
I've seen better flowing football in L2.

Where was the encouragement to each other on the field when passes
go astray?Where was the effort to create space,to overlap and confuse
their distinctly average defence?

Where the hell were players who showed for the ball,coming off their
markers?Where the hell were our attacking full-backs?

I stand by what i posted and i feel strongly a day later.Fit to wear the
scarf? I'll support my club whilst they're playing and sing to let them
know we think they play like Brazil.But don't ever take the p1ss
Southend,your supporters won't like it.

Now i know how those Sunderland fans felt,throwing their shirts in
disgust at the players.

Losing hurts,but not half as much as feeling mugged off by a loved one

But read my points, SATV. The team were crap yesterday, that seems to be undeniable. What I am objecting to is the LEVEL of abuse, which has in my opinion gone beyond the pale with some of the comments and abuse of certain players. Tilly and the squad have surely earned a bit of respect after all they have achieved. Does all that go out of the window because of ONE deeply disappointing display? My comment about "fit to wear the scarf" is designed (albeit somewhat crudely) to make them appreciate what it is like to have their ability, in this case as fans, questioned in the same way. And it isn't nice, and it isn't fair, is it?

 

[A Century United]

I noticed they never came too close to us,barely over the half-way line.

The same could be said of the previous 90mins.

:) :)

I think that says more about the performance than pages of abuse....

 

[Sean 2]

Without being patronising ACU and i say this purely because of footballing
terms but i'm guessing that you never went yesterday to Hull.

I swear it makes yer blood boil to see our beloved players just not bothering.

I can see where you're coming from because as a fan you will back the lads
to the hilt.Nothing wrong with that.I've now gotta do the same at work all
week to Spammers and Yids and Colfester fans that are my customers.

But OUR club should never send out a team that performs like that.

It breaks my heart to see it.

 

[A Century United]

Without being patronising ACU and i say this purely because of footballing
terms but i'm guessing that you never went yesterday to Hull.

I swear it makes yer blood boil to see our beloved players just not bothering.

I can see where you're coming from because as a fan you will back the lads
to the hilt.Nothing wrong with that.I've now gotta do the same at work all
week to Spammers and Yids and Colfester fans that are my customers.

But OUR club should never send out a team that performs like that.

It breaks my heart to see it.

No, SatV I wasn't there - but I have seen some of the most appaling ****e served up during our darkest years, and my blood has boiled too, and I have felt like throwing down my shirt and selling out to a "big" club. I would even go as far as to say that I have seen players who really weren't fit to wear the shirt, overpaid uninterested disloyal spongers milking the club for all that they could and giving nothing in return, encouraged by booze-sodden managers who would rather buy their "mates" another round than tell them some cold hard truths about how pathetic their latest performance had been. Were you at Grimsby that awful day in 1997 when, already down, we lost to the also relegated Fishy Ones 4-0 and the 5Live co-commentator called us "crap" which was being kind? Is this team anything like that bad, honestly, even after the Hull game?

 

[Sean 2]

No, SatV I wasn't there - but I have seen some of the most appaling ****e served up during our darkest years, and my blood has boiled too, and I have felt like throwing down my shirt and selling out to a "big" club. I would even go as far as to say that I have seen players who really weren't fit to wear the shirt, overpaid uninterested disloyal spongers milking the club for all that they could and giving nothing in return, encouraged by booze-sodden managers who would rather buy their "mates" another round than tell them some cold hard truths about how pathetic their latest performance had been. Were you at Grimsby that awful day in 1997 when, already down, we lost to the also relegated Fishy Ones 4-0 and the 5Live co-commentator called us "crap" which was being kind? Is this team anything like that bad, honestly, even after the Hull game?

I'm not saying i'm some kinda superfan as i've missed plenty of games over the years and only this year grabbed a seaso ticket but i can remember
standing in the snow on the South Bank watching us play Liverpool in a sell-out 30,000.
We have definetly played worse than our Hull effort,many,many times over.
But we know what this squad is capable of,then to see just ONE shot.........

 

[A Century United]

I'm not saying i'm some kinda superfan as i've missed plenty of games over the years and only this year grabbed a seaso ticket but i can remember
standing in the snow on the South Bank watching us play Liverpool in a sell-out 30,000.
We have definetly played worse than our Hull effort,many,many times over.
But we know what this squad is capable of,then to see just ONE shot.........

Yeah, I was there too, a great, great night, then rushing home to watch the highlights on match of the day. :)

We've had many happy days watching our beloved Shrimpers, and dare I say it, a fair percentage of them have been in the last three years. Time to put Hull behind us, and get behind the lads on Friday now. We know they CAN do it, all we can do is get behind them from the start and give them all the help we can.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Was it really a case of not trying, or was it a case of freezing under the pressure of playing an important game in front of a big crowd?

How many shots on target did we get in our two LDV final appearances? Was that due to a lack of effort, or a lack of composure?

This 2006-07 team's confidence is incredibly brittle. When they lose confidence they are afraid to make mistakes. Instead of closing someone down they then hold their position because they are too afraid of making a mistake by leaving the man they are supposed to be marking. Instead of breaking forward beyond the ball, they hold back in case the move breaks down.

 

[Sean 2]

Was it really a case of not trying, or was it a case of freezing under the pressure of playing an important game in front of a big crowd?

How many shots on target did we get in our two LDV final appearances? Was that due to a lack of effort, or a lack of composure?

This 2006-07 team's confidence is incredibly brittle. When they lose confidence they are afraid to make mistakes. Instead of closing someone down they then hold their position because they are too afraid of making a mistake by leaving the man they are supposed to be marking. Instead of breaking forward beyond the ball, they hold back in case the move breaks down.

Spot on there bruv.Reminded me also of the nervous team that crawled to the title after Sodge got carried off at Bournmuff.That last month was a
sweat just like it was the previous year when we should have romped off to the L2 title.

Just remember one thing,we always make life tough for ourselves.
That's why we love 'em!

ps:how come you were beaming yesterday each time i spotted yer?

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

ps:how come you were beaming yesterday each time i spotted yer?

Don't think we've had the pleasure of (knowingly) meeting. I think you may be confusing me with Si Twinn.

 

[Sean 2]

Don't think we've had the pleasure of (knowingly) meeting. I think you may be confusing me with Si Twinn.

Never met,but saw yer up at Chesterfield last year when you wore yer
"yorkshire Blues" top.guess that's you.Wouldn't want to live up there
this week after our tonking.

 

[Hawkwell Blue]

So you think after that ****e gutless boring effortless performance yesterday we should get behind them well here is one for you BOLLOX!

Mmmn, erudite as ever TB!

The fact is the game has gone, no good moaning about it, we need to look ahead to Friday which is undoubtedly the perfect type of game to bouce back. If we had lost five on the trot to be in the position we are now then fair enough but the fact is our recent form is good. We could have played really well and still lost to Hull which would have been more galling so apart from the dent to our goal difference the other results were pretty good. Despite what other people say the other teams' results do matter because their losing is like a win for us.

One problem though is despite following the Blues for 38 years I have never seen us beat Col U at home in a league match! Missed the 3-1 last year as away and there has only been one other league success in that time!

 

[Benfleet Blue]

I was at Hull on Saturday and cannot remember so many of the players playing so badly at the same time. However, what I cannot accept is Steve Tilson, in his post match comments, making the point that we were 'outworked'.
For God's sake we are fighting for survival and our future in the Championship !
As a manager, if the team were 'outworked' in the first half, what happened in the break that did not change that ?
Whan you look at our bench on Saturday, it hardly is awe inspiring. We brought in Hooper and Paynter only to loan them out and the only attacking option is Harrold !
Freddy and Bradbury as a striking pair doesn't work. Simple as that.
Against Leeds we looked comfortable and then Tilly takes off JCR for Harrold which I still cannot fathom as all he does is move Bradbury to right midfield and a change at that stage when you look comfortable is worrying, but why not bring on a defender if you want to sure up the game.
As bad as we were, Tilly makes the same change on Saturday at 1-0 and we end up conceding another 3 !
Freddy always has been th bright spark in our team, the one player who can create something out of nothing, but quite truthfully he has had no partner and no service for most of this season.
I am a staunch Maher fan but lost count of the number of times at Hull he chipped balls forward over the defence at nothing. We simply haven't got forwards to chase those type of balls and Freddy is always better playing into his feet.
I was at the Sponsors evening in October, and listened to Ron Martin tell eveyone in the room that if the stadium got the approval, then Tilly would have, in hs own words, 'a serious war chest in January'.
I now start to question the ambitions of the hierarchy when we make no signings and read in the papers that we are being linked with Ryman and Conference standard players.
Freddy was a one off for us before people refer back and ultimately will earn the club a lot of money.
But our aspirations to remain in this league I am now questioning with all teams in and around us getting loan players, quallity players, to help their fight. Oh for a Windass or the like to partner Freddy. Maybe we would have a chance.
I don't get on players backs or shout abuse, I support the team to the end.
I do question the current aspirations of the club when we have achieved so much, have obviously attained more money from gates than anticipated, have TV and prize money that wouldn't have been budgeted for and yet can only look to lower leagues for inspiration and really wonder what happened to that 'serious war chest' !!