Are you fit to wear the scarf?

[palexander]

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' !!

Superb post, certainly sums up my feelings too - but I bet you get shot to pieces for it!

I just still cannot believe that - ok, we struggle to get players in, but to LOAN OUT players from a small squad is madness!

Me and my mate wonder if there is a problem behind the scenes with Tillys policy and the players as it appears none of the fringe players want to stay and fight for their places, knowing full well that Tilly will always play the 'trusted' 442 with his favourite players.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

i couldn't make it on saturday so i can't comment too much although i have heard it a dyer performance for friends. i agree that with macca back things should hopefully go back to normal. we lack so much without him.

i also think that we shouldn't give any of the players a hard time at the hall as they say every week in the program that they really do need our support like any team. i would hate to play surrounded by moans and groans.

being a southend supporter you have to take the highs with the lows as this season there has been so many of them. this season has been such an emotional season as we have achieved so much yet we let little collampses of concerntration punish us. i.e hull x2 etc etc.

we need to make fridays game electric, i want to win this game so bad as i can't stand col u plus the more important thing is 3 points. i couldn't care less if it the worst game ever, as long as we give it our all. points are what we need!

 

[NZamba Legend]

I always felt that Tilson is very fair in his selection policy. He even kept Hunt at left-back because the team won when Hammell is obviously the better option. He left out Freddy last year when Lawson came in and did a job.

However I do agree with the general sway of opinions here. I (obviously) dont want Ron to bankrupt the club but our effort to stay in the championship has been half-arsed to say the least. It is going to be difficult from now on to convince players of the club's ambition. If I was one of our better (and more aspiring) players like Freddy, Kev or Gower I would be starting to seriously doubt this. Like I said, I don't want big names on big wages, but with two or three more players as good as what we've got, at least they'd be some competition for places. At the moment who is pushing Maher, Macca, Freddy, Bradbury, Hunt (!!!), JCR or Gower for their place?

 

[sufcintheprem]

Superb post, certainly sums up my feelings too - but I bet you get shot to pieces for it!

Yeah, god forbid other people have different opinions and have the nerve to mention them.

Having been to some rubbish away games, I have a lot of sympathy and will rarely try and judge the team without having seen them. In this case, I'm going to have to go with what has been said. There are times when the players have to be held accountable for failure. Such is the nature of football and I don't recall any player having a problem being accountable for successs (aside from probably Jupp when scoring the second playoff goal).

I only hope we keep up our impressive derby form and play at a high tempo against Colchester because it would be soul-destroying to see them put another nail in our coffin, as it were.

 

[Grayson]

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 have a feeling he was saying this with the opinion that Mr Eastwood would be attracting decent bids in January and that we'd sell and re-invest. I'm not so sure we had a serious one in the first place, and that Ron was almost certain Freddy would receive offers.

 

[ashingdon-shrimper]

thing is my freind, it really was that bad no fight no passion nothing from nobody atall. we wont stay up like that simple as. its not acceptable u would of seen that if u went

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Can we get the club shop to get copies of the Hull game on DVD. I'm sure 500 copies would fly off the shelf. Then those of you that were not there can see how bad we were:)

 

[Jay_Shrimper]

Can we get the club shop to get copies of the Hull game on DVD. I'm sure 500 copies would fly off the shelf. Then those of you that were not there can see how bad we were:)

I'd buy a copy! :thump: x 3 actually..1 for my next door neighbour and 1 for his cousin in australia - they both love southend and support them! :thump:

 

[SUFC_Al]

always look on the bright side of life do-do do-do-do-do-do

while I agree the level of performance was as bad as I've seen for a long time I've forgotten about it already and hoping it's a one off.

There's no point in wondering why it happened or anything like that it just did, every player had an off-day and although Hull were **** as well, they did not allow us to play.

And they ARE fit to wear the shirts, that's the kind of thing West Ham fans say!

 

[CC51DAS]

Can we get the club shop to get copies of the Hull game on DVD. I'm sure 500 copies would fly off the shelf. Then those of you that were not there can see how bad we were:)

I would buy 15 copies . And hand them to each player , T+B and RM - just to remind them of something that should never ever happen again . After all I've already wasted 100 odd quid

 

[Groyne Strain]

There has certainly been a lot worse in the recent past - indeed, Hull at home during the last miserable hours of Alvin Martin's reign surpasses it by country miles in terms of gutlessness and lack of pride or ability - but it's always the last one that you remember the most so it's always the one you feel the most.

This intranetweb message thingy stuff has simply speeded up the process of how we convey it and so the knee-jerk reaction in the pub afterwards now finds it way onto the web. The media have encouraged this reaction, too, in order to fatten their profits rather than contribute something worthwhile to read or listen to.

I'm sure those who wrote some of the dafter comments, which was just abuse, regret the lack of eloquence rather than the message of hurt they were trying to convey. It all depends how much of twin imposters you greet victory and defeat. In my case I sort of don't worry too much so don't get too het up with an abysmal defeat but I do understand others having a lower tolerance than me.

If you think they're crap and a disgrace and the worst performance in decades - even if everyone else thinks you're wrong - no problems with that here.

 

[CC51DAS]

Fair enough GS , but can you or anyone else remember any match where we failed to win a corner and had only one shot ?

 

[canveyshrimper]

Fair enough GS , but can you or anyone else remember any match where we failed to win a corner and had only one shot ?

Probably Gillingham when we lost 8-1, and they scored our bloody goal.:fury:

 

[Groyne Strain]

Fair enough GS , but can you or anyone else remember any match where we failed to win a corner and had only one shot ?

Possibly at Scarborough in the Cup?

Like I say though, if you're more upset than me and it means more to you, I can well understand where you're coming from.

 

[DTS]

I work as a mortgage broker, and on the hole without sounding like I love myself I think I am pretty good at what I do. But sometimes once in a blue moon I have a stinker and maybe dont do as well with a sales pitch as I might have liked.

Its not because I dont care or I dont want to the business - Its just that once in a blue moon I have an off day. I fail to see why the players cannot be allowed an off day too.

To the same point they have over performed beating Cardiff and Birmingham away and Southampton and Sunderland at home.

I wasnt there sadly but dont miss many away and I can honestly say whilst it was a poor result we are still right in the mixer for escaping the drop - Somewhere we certainly werent at the start of the year.

Lets write it off, wipe our mouths and move on. Its a poor result but if we beat the scum on Friday it will all be forgotten.

DtS

 

[SUFC_Al]

I work as a mortgage broker, and on the hole without sounding like I love myself I think I am pretty good at what I do. But sometimes once in a blue moon I have a stinker and maybe dont do as well with a sales pitch as I might have liked.

Its not because I dont care or I dont want to the business - Its just that once in a blue moon I have an off day. I fail to see why the players cannot be allowed an off day too.

To the same point they have over performed beating Cardiff and Birmingham away and Southampton and Sunderland at home.

I wasnt there sadly but dont miss many away and I can honestly say whilst it was a poor result we are still right in the mixer for escaping the drop - Somewhere we certainly werent at the start of the year.

Lets write it off, wipe our mouths and move on. Its a poor result but if we beat the scum on Friday it will all be forgotten.

DtS

very well said that man.

 

[Hawkwell Blue]

I work as a mortgage broker, and on the hole without sounding like I love myself I think I am pretty good at what I do. But sometimes once in a blue moon I have a stinker and maybe dont do as well with a sales pitch as I might have liked.

Its not because I dont care or I dont want to the business - Its just that once in a blue moon I have an off day. I fail to see why the players cannot be allowed an off day too.

To the same point they have over performed beating Cardiff and Birmingham away and Southampton and Sunderland at home.

I wasnt there sadly but dont miss many away and I can honestly say whilst it was a poor result we are still right in the mixer for escaping the drop - Somewhere we certainly werent at the start of the year.

Lets write it off, wipe our mouths and move on. Its a poor result but if we beat the scum on Friday it will all be forgotten.

DtS

Absolutely spot on, there is very little logic in football and these days just happen. No point going over and over what's happened, let's just hope it doesn't happen again this season.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

How fit do you have to be to wear the scarf? I try to go to the gym at least once a week - am I ok?

 

[DTS]

very well said that man.

Thanks - What a fitting way to see in my 4000th post.

DtS

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Fair enough GS , but can you or anyone else remember any match where we failed to win a corner and had only one shot ?

I think you are betraying your youth there.

I have seen plenty enough away games where we haven't won a corner or had a shot worthy of the name.

The games all tend to merge into one, and its all a bit painful to recall, but I'm sure there were a fair few examples 1994-1997 at places like Wolves and West Brom. I seem to recall one game against West Brom when our best chance was a Ronnie Whelan shot from the half-way line. Back in those days that was actually a highlight and it was a novelty to actually score away from home. I'd have probably gone home fairly satisfied if we'd actually threatened on a couple of occasions and Roycie had kept the score below 3.

At least in those days it was up against 2nd division teams. Roll on a few years and under Alan Little and we played the most insipid football away from home you could imagine, particularly at places like Halifax. We didn't concede many, but we didn't exactly threaten either. One game, I think it might have been against Lincoln, I don't think either team made it into the other half all game it was so dull.