Approaching the halfway point of the season

[southendkid]

Really it's all about WORDSWORTH.



Ignoring the Checkatrade games as they don't count, the only first team game we have won when he wasn't playing is Blackburn -the first game of the season.

We've only scored more than once in a game 5 times in 21 games.

As Paul Clark said after yesterday's game, the finishing is abysmal. It's abysmal in the pre-match warm up and they take it into the game.

Once the opposition score it's odds on we won't win. Mid-table looms.

This seemed to be the case last season as well, I haven't looked at the stats but our awful run seemed to coincide with him being injured. What we really need is another playmaker because without Wordsworth there is very little invention in the middle of the pitch, which makes it obvious that we're going to play it down the wings.

 

[mattitouk]

All this talk about "nearly half way through the season", has anyone else other than me, realised that there is just a slender 6 points (2 wins) between being in 17th place in the league table or flying high with confidence in 7th place!

The league this season, lat this stage, looks to be as close as it has been in many a year. Of course, we will win some games this season, some predictable, some surprising. We could probably say the same thing about some defeats. As we do every year!. Either which way, I am certain we are to good a side to go down, regardless of our injury problems etc.

After all, More so SZ members. I think we would all agree that we would rather be in our current situation in League One, over that of Colchester, Gillingham or Leyton Orient (or whom ever you consider us rivals). More importantly, we are "the only team in Essex"

UTB
:loyalsupporter:

 

[Silencer]

Sadly we will be much worse off when we lose Lenny and Wordsworth in the summer. Could be a couple of more mundane seasons ahead. We almost need a clean sweep through the management and playing staff.

I would like us to shift these overpaid, overaged but underperforming big names and get in some hungry non league and lower league players. Add in this promising batch of youngsters and it could be exciting. Keep the likes of Ricky Duncan, Cocko, Ben Clarkson and Kevin Maher but get in a new top dog with fresh ideas and less of an ego.

 

[Harry Bullocks]

Personally I'd wait until the January transfer market is complete...that'll set out our intentions for the rest of the season...mid table obscurity, or, play-off potential :unsure:

 

[kaymac]

Home form maybe not been great but the only team in League 1 unbeaten at home, though away form makes for pretty grim reading.

 

[AndyT]

Yep, was about to post the same thing.

We are one of only three sides in the EFL72 that are unbeaten at home.

The other two are Cardiff City and Notts County.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

Sadly we will be much worse off when we lose Lenny and Wordsworth in the summer..

My main concern is who will be our strike force next season?. MAF, not getting any younger. Same goe's for Cox, but guess he's the best of the current bunch?. No way can I see Robinson as first name on the team sheet?. Nile Ranger, as much as i'd to see the guy prove many wrong, just cant see him banging in 15 plus a season. So that leaves Ba, hurry up & get experience young man, your our main hope!.

 

[dan/]

In one word this season has been a disappointment. So much promise after the Blackburn game but injury, out of form players, a certain captain being the wrong side of the hill has derailed us. Still half a season to go, and someone surly has to start scoring.

 

[buffalowolf]

My main concern is who will be our strike force next season?. MAF, not getting any younger. Same goe's for Cox, but guess he's the best of the current bunch?. No way can I see Robinson as first name on the team sheet?. Nile Ranger, as much as i'd to see the guy prove many wrong, just cant see him banging in 15 plus a season. So that leaves Ba, hurry up & get experience young man, your our main hope!.

Also i think add Wabo into that as he seems to know where the back of the net is .I do believe before the season has finished he will get a chance also.good thing is we do seem to have some promising youngsters.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Thanks (not) for reminding me that we still have just over half the season to go...it feels like a very long season already.

i said at the end of last season that I thought we had over performed, with many players having their best seasons for many a years and so it has proved so far this season. The players that we brought in this season have not freshened up the team at all, with a number on wrong side of thirty and on contracts for the coming seasons, then it is going to be a case of treading water for a while I think (unless we unearth some youth or get lucky in the loan market).

i’ll leave the management team to worry about any targets set at the start of season, as I have to admit a good run and winning more than we lose would do for me...anything else is a bonus (we are Southend United, not Man United). But more important for me is having a few characters in the team and maybe the odd player that will get me off my seat when they have the ball at feet.

the real problem for me at present is the “beige” nature of the squad and I think we are seeing this in the fans apathy both at games and also for pre and post match threads. Who are the characters we’re going get behind like in the recent past (Moshni, BBBC, Bentley. Cresswell...even Deegan) and the flair players (Hall, Britt, Tomlin)?

to me it looks like a team going through the motions and there have been no fresh ideas on style of play, set peice approach et in the summer. When we eventually lose Ryan Leonard then the “gaps” are even going to be more transparent, as his performances cover up so much

it’s going to be interesting to see where we end up at the end of the season. Personally a promotion in an ever increasingly competitive championship could be a bit of a car crash at present. I would more than happy with a comfortable finish this year in league 1 and a review of the squad in the summer (with youth playing more in the second half of the season).

up the shrimpers

Great post.

This is a side lacking in characters and storylines.

In 5 years' time - with a couple of exceptions - we'll be struggling to remember the names of these players, other than when we name a jailbird XI.

Sadly we will be much worse off when we lose Lenny and Wordsworth in the summer. Could be a couple of more mundane seasons ahead. We almost need a clean sweep through the management and playing staff.

I would like us to shift these overpaid, overaged but underperforming big names and get in some hungry non league and lower league players. Add in this promising batch of youngsters and it could be exciting. Keep the likes of Ricky Duncan, Cocko, Ben Clarkson and Kevin Maher but get in a new top dog with fresh ideas and less of an ego.

I think hunger is the wrong word but they lack a spark, a bit of youthful spontaneity. To describe this side you'd be using words like stale, conservative, world-weary, functional rather than vibrant, exciting, inspiring and optimistic. They know their boundaries and play within them.