How do you assess Sol’s start at the hall

[duncan bulgaria]

Big name , little experience as a manager , no league one experience. Big strong character who has said the right things so far BUT :

what has actually changed / improved since he took over , this is not a Sol bashing thread but honest assessment of his start .
I’m unimpressed and am not sure It could of been much worse to be fair ......thoughts ?

 

[davewebbsbrain]

The only thing that has changed is the players are fitter which means they run around like headless chickens for longer

 

[Angell Delight]

You can't judge Sol until the end of the season, or at least until several weeks after the January window closes. The players he's inherited are utterly horrific....

 

[Steve Giles]

Needs more time than a few games to be judged,me personally believe we should be preparing for next season like Ipswich did. Need at least 6 better players to make a difference. At the moment bit like asking Lewis Hamilton to win a F1 race in a Fiat Panda !

 

[Hazey]

Honestly, last year was terrible, but did anyone really expect this? This is so bizarre. It's hard because Sol has inherited an awful team, but it's hard to look at his start as anything other than awful.

 

[Blueronron]

He’s fast closing on Dick Bates record and I never thought that would happen

 

[gazza]

I will not judge him until he has had the January & summer transfer windows and we are 10-15 games into next season.

 

[thenobster]

uninspired

 

[palexander]

Horrific isn't it - and yes, most of the blame is on the players absolutely. But I'm also surprised not much has changed. im surprised we haven't gone to a solid 442 and tried to play long ball to hopper and humps or something. Anything. Anything different to just picking the same players that have let us down for so long now and trying to play same system.

clean sheets are a must. Play 7 at the back. I don't care. Do it. Stop the rot.

i gave sol the grace of Ipswich, Sunderland and Portsmouth as thats a horrific start at this level with our confidence and the cup I could care less about - my target was alwaye "the season starts today" and flip me, we got done 4-0 at home. I'm out of ideas.

 

[Thundersley Blue]

Sol's start is exactly what I expected. Just being realistic, he hasn't a prayer of beginning to change things until January. He will need at least 2 transfer windows. In my opinion he has almost a free hit until this time next year.

Totally agree with gazza. Next season's pre season starts in January. We are going down and at least that will give us a chance of starting next season on the front foot.

Down to Ron to back Sol to the hilt.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

. im surprised we haven't gone to a solid 442 and tried to play long ball to hopper and humps or something. Anything. Anything different to just picking the same players that have let us down for so long now and trying to play same system.

Next season in League 2, playing 'triangle' tactics passing the ball along the ground etc dosn't work. Most of the teams are 'cloggers' & just lump it forward as they havn't the ability to do anything different. If you cant beat them, join them?.
When we beat Lincoln in the play off final, Steve Tilson said they were a team of 'giants', which they were.
Fortunately we beat them, but they were still 90 mins from being promoted with those tactics.
We've got nothing to lose now by playing that way?. Midfield non existent, so just lump it forward & let Goodship, Hopper, Cox & Humphreys ( when fit ) do the business.

 

[GBJ]

In a word; expected.

I won’t turn on Sol, yet.

He will need at least 3 transfer windows to sort this mess out.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

Where exactly is the money for these "at least two windows" coming from?

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

Where exactly is the money for these "at least two windows" coming from?

Reckon that's a case for Mulder & Scully to investigate?.

 

[duncan bulgaria]

Trouble is we will lose our next 2 games this week and our home form is woeful so I think Rotherham will turn us - that’s 8 loses on the bounce for Sol (AFC was a non competitive stroll )
I honestly can’t think of another manager that can match that record on their first 8 games

 

[AndyT]

I don't think we have any games this week. We actually have 10 days off.

Two the following week at Burton and Bristol Rovers, though.

 

[Welly7]

The general consensus was it wouldn't matter who was in charge of this lot post Bond and I think it will stay that way until next season at the earliest. It's unlikely to change dramatically in January such is the sheer number of problems that need addressing. The best we can hope for is to see small signs of some progress after Jan.

 

[AndyT]

Would there really be any risk now in just putting a young side out and a couple of experienced pros and gelling a team together the way Sol wants to play, accepting mistakes along the way.

This mish-mash of players at present is just treading water and going through the motions, devoid of confidence.

 

[RHB]

We have a squad of players totally bereft of confidence and used to losing, we also have a sprinkling of older legs which can't quite keep up with the pace. We have forwards that allegedly play computer games to the detriment of their game and haven't yet learn to pass to another player. We have two keepers that between them are not quite up to the task of inspiring confidence. We have defenders that should be far better than they are showing at the moment and and we have midfield players that are as combative as not very combative people. All of these facets have been evident firstly towards the end of PB's reign, then SCP got the injury virus and our shortcomings became more obvious. New season and Bond encouraged even more of our nether bits to be exposed to the each and every opposition we came up against. So finally we arrive at Sol Campbell.

As for his start with us, well, it's what you would expect with what he has available. He wants to play a style which is very similar to Mr Bond's, we are definitely going to struggle with watching that as we have already been mentally scared by the Bond way. Will he continue with it? who knows. He has his work cut out getting the players fitter than they are at the moment. All of this stuff takes time and he just hasn't had enough of that so far for there to be any tangible improvement. I see Sol Campbell as being at Southend for the long haul and that probably means next season so that's when I'll start thinking about his time with us. Ron is going to stick with our man as he probably can't afford not to financially.

 

[duncan bulgaria]

I agree but Sol must of been extremely confident of coming in and making an impression like he did at Macclesfield, this has not happened , I really don’t see any improvement at all and this will if damaged his stock as let’s face it we are a stepping stone for Campbell .
If he has higher aspirations which of course he has , Other clubs will just see his record on paper regardless of what he has to work with.
How long do you realistically see him staying with us should he still not be able to get a tune out of this lot in another 6 games