If we want to get to wembley we must play Freddy Eastwood up front.

[tia]

Id take a chance on Eastwood for Orient game.Yesterday we saw glimpses of what he can do.Him and Harris looked a good partnership at end of last season.

 

[philtalkin]

He was OK, few nice touches, but he didn't stand out.

the worse thing he did was midway through the second half. Corr brought the ball out of defence and was way out of position. He passed to Eastwood who, instead of holding onto it (as his centre half was out of position) decided to flick it down the wing and gave it away. Not clever and not what you'd expect from an experienced player.

Would be good to see him sit in the hole, but he's too lazy to continually chase players down. Did it a few times yeterday, but it doesn't come naturally to him.

 

[kentblues]

thought fat fred was dire! Uninterested and out of his depth. If had been a youth player we had never seen before, we would all be saying dont play him!

Utter unmitigated nonsense on a biblical scale.
Dire? He put in a shift and was chasing a lot down at the end, he put in what he could. He is still not 100% fit but actually his performance gave me a great deal of hope that he is not that far off. But he needs a run of games. If Freddy was dire today I assume you are sending Britt straight back to Watford.....

 

[kentblues]

People slag off Freddy very easily on here, a few times yesterday he sprinted and chased down the defenders over twenty/thirty yards which resulted in forcing errors and Southend regaining posession through throw on's and goal kicks. That seems to have gone unmissed amongst a few doubters on here.

The reason he is carrying weight and a little lacklustre is because of the way he has been treated by the management. He is a goalscorer and has scored goals at Championship and International level yet he has had loanees, defenders and youngsters picked ahead of him time and time again.

I believe if he was shown the same love as Sturrock has afforded the likes of his own son, Corr, Tomlin (When not scoring), then he would get goals. Maybe it's time and he can fire us to the play offs. I can't see what harm it would do in getting him game time, were are struggling form goals!!!

To be far I am sure PS would have played him as first choice if he was fully fit. He isn't, primarily because he has lots of niggling injuries which have limited training and match time. Getting match fit not playing is not easy i am afraid. And we don't even have a reserve side. A number of times he has been on the bench he has not been really fit. I don't think its fair to blame management, and equally I think many are too hard on Freddy.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Utter unmitigated nonsense on a biblical scale.
Dire? He put in a shift and was chasing a lot down at the end, he put in what he could. He is still not 100% fit but actually his performance gave me a great deal of hope that he is not that far off. But he needs a run of games. If Freddy was dire today I assume you are sending Britt straight back to Watford.....

Yesterday was one of the few times in 20+ years I've berated a player for lack of effort. He'd been going through the motions all afternoon and someone had a shot which their keeper parried and Eastwood just stood there. It was bad enough that he wasn't following up (particularly for a so-called goalscorer) but he then just stood there and made no attempt to get to the loose ball or even close down. Had I been manager I'd have hauled him off there and then.

I think he felt a bit guilty after that as he started to work a bit harder and actually forced Northampton to give the ball away on a few occasions. He certainly finished the game better than he started it, but for all his nice touches they all seem to be balls back to the full-back rather than anything incisive.

 

[WESTY_SUFC]

For those who thought Freddy was useless yesterday, please tell me why we were far better when he come on and we had only 10 men rather than 11? With 11 we were 1-0 down with no spark of creativity and Northampton were better. When Freddy come on we created far more chances and were the better team with only 10 men!

 

[Beefy]

thats exactly what they said on the radio, he just didnt look interested or up for the game.

You must have been listening to a different station than I was.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

If that was a player taking his chance to get a run in the team then I think he needs to hang his boots up. If it was Benyon, there would be booing from the stands.

 

[ldnfatso]

I didn't think Freddy was too bad yesterday, I've certainly seen him worse this season! Sure, he isn't the player he was and the sooner everyone people forget history the better (that's for reminiscing once he's gone).
IMHO he did ok, he chased a few defenders into mistakes and was unlucky with a decent free kick. However, he still needs to do more and match fitness is what he needs to do that. I think the time he got on Saturday and may get on Wednesday is exactly what's needed. Perhaps as has been said, the TV cams may be the added encouragement needed.
I don't think that 2 minutes of injury time Neil Harris time is really enough to judge. Ben Reeves is a different argument.

 

[dannypav]

People slag off Freddy very easily on here, a few times yesterday he sprinted and chased down the defenders over twenty/thirty yards which resulted in forcing errors and Southend regaining posession through throw on's and goal kicks. That seems to have gone unmissed amongst a few doubters on here.

The reason he is carrying weight and a little lacklustre is because of the way he has been treated by the management. He is a goalscorer and has scored goals at Championship and International level yet he has had loanees, defenders and youngsters picked ahead of him time and time again.

I believe if he was shown the same love as Sturrock has afforded the likes of his own son, Corr, Tomlin (When not scoring), then he would get goals. Maybe it's time and he can fire us to the play offs. I can't see what harm it would do in getting him game time, were are struggling form goals!!!

You say that as if it were something extra special.
All strikers 'should' chase down defenders and most good ones do - Tomlin has done it in every game I've seen him play , even when he was getting abuse from the stands.
I'm not knocking him and thought he was 'ok' yesterday , but nothing special.

 

[dingleydangley]

The reason he is carrying weight and a little lacklustre is because of the way he has been treated by the management.

Really? He arrived like that. His previous clubs just stopped playing him.

I believe if he was shown the same love as Sturrock has afforded the likes of his own son, Corr, Tomlin (When not scoring), then he would get goals.

Not love, just pragmatism. You can leave Jedi out of it, as he rarely played and has gone back to non-league. The other two showed desire and improved over time. In fact, they've just been consistently better than him, as has Neil Harris. I wasn't there yesterday, but I've read a few comments to the effect that Freddy was sharper yesterday. That's great, but small increments aren't enough at this point.

The argument will probably go on, simply because he probably won't get a run of games, but that won't be because Luggy loves the others more.

 

[dingleydangley]

Sorry, can't do the quote function properly.

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

Time for the king to shine

 

[southend4ever]

Hopefully the unfit man will return as King.

 

[Davros]

Sorry, i must have been watching a different game to the rest of you. Freddy was good for the last 10 mintues, Other than that, all he previously offered was a good free-kick.

Prior to the last 10 minutes, he was constantly on his heels, and not judging things at all well, as well as scuffing two efforts towards goal (shots he would have hit nice and cleanly in the 'golden era'). Never looked like scoring all day for me, and those around me would agree.

 

[Davros]

As for Harris, as i have said many times before, he is an eager linesmans dream... and took rougly 30 seconds to prove me right on that score (good clean hit though it has to be said!)

 

[Gremlin]

Other than that, all he previously offered was a good free-kick.

Not so good that it hit the target mind.

 

[Jam_Man]

Im not sure Eastwood 'has to play if we want to go through', but I would like to see him given another go.

No Tomlin and Assombalonga hasnt scored in 11 games now.

 

[Davros]

Not so good that it hit the target mind.

hey, i was trying to be positive, lol

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Make of break for him now, he's seen kids and loanees in ahead of him this season. This could well be his last chance saloon.

So far the move looks to have been a flop, but I'm sure we're all hanging on to the slim hope that he will do something to be the hero again. A winning goal to send us to Wembley would be just that, he needs no other incentive.